Australia’s requirement for liquefied natural gas producers to reserve a fifth of exports for local use is set to apply to all projects and existing contracts, intensifying pressure on them to secure more supply. Export contracts signed on or before Dec. 22, 2025, will be “respected,” but only if the projects prove they cannot meet their obligation to set aside or source 20% of produced gas for do...
Australia’s requirement for liquefied natural gas producers to reserve a fifth of exports for local use is set to apply to all projects and existing contracts, intensifying pressure on them to secure more supply. Export contracts signed on or before Dec. 22, 2025, will be “respected,” but only if the projects prove they cannot meet their obligation to set aside or source 20% of produced gas for domestic markets without breaching those deals, according to a draft policy released by the government on Monday. The proposal has faced a backlash from the industry, which says it would stymie investment and damage the nation’s reputation as a reliable exporter. The move comes as Australia seeks to address forecast shortages on its east coast and as the war in Iran cuts off about a fifth of the world’s LNG — mostly from Qatar — from international markets. While the framework “leaves many key questions unanswered,” it appears that Santos Ltd.’s Gladstone LNG project is “most at risk,” according to Saul Kavonic , head of energy research at MST Marquee. “Given GLNG’s purchases of gas from the domestic market have arguably contributed to worsening market conditions, it is not surprising the government has designed the policy in a way that seeks to ensure GLNG contributes gas supply domestically,” said Josh Runciman, Australian gas analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Alternatives to reserving gas for domestic markets include buying third-party gas, location swaps, flexing down export deliveries or sourcing LNG from company portfolios or international markets, according to the report. The proposal seeks to create a “modest oversupply” on the domestic market, after which the regulator can allow volumes to be exported, so in practice a lot less than 20% of Australian shipments will be affected. However, the policy does mark a harder-edged version of earlier government assurances. Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on May 7 the policy applied to the sp...
Italy’s state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA plans to raise its stake in Nexi SpA to as much as 29.9%, backing the Italian digital payment company’s long-term strategy. The board of directors of CDP Equity, the investment arm of the state-owned lender, approved the procedures needed to increase the stake, according to a statement Monday. The process would include the subscription of derivati...
Italy’s state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA plans to raise its stake in Nexi SpA to as much as 29.9%, backing the Italian digital payment company’s long-term strategy. The board of directors of CDP Equity, the investment arm of the state-owned lender, approved the procedures needed to increase the stake, according to a statement Monday. The process would include the subscription of derivative contracts tied to 8% of Nexi share capital. CDP Equity is Nexi’s second-largest investor with a 19.14% stake. The firm said it does not intend to launch a takeover offer and that the move is aimed at supporting shareholding stability. This is the first major move by Fabio Barchiesi since he was named chief executive officer of CDP Equity in October. The executive is seeking to strengthen the state-backed investor’s influence over a company considered strategic for Italy, while backing efforts to build a European digital payments infrastructure less dependent on US providers. Read more: Italy’s Cassa Depositi Names Barchiesi CEO of CDP Equity Unit Traditional payment processors such as Nexi and France’s Worldline SA , which mainly serve banks and large merchants, have faced mounting pressure from newer cloud-based competitors and softer consumer spending across Europe. In a bid to regain investor trust, Nexi has replaced longtime CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo with Bernardo Mingrone in March. The company expects net revenue this year broadly in line with 2025 and an excess cash of about €750 million. CDP Equity was advised by Mediobanca, JPMorgan and PricewaterhouseCoopers Business Services as financial advisors and by Hogan Lovells as legal advisor. Italy’s state-backed lender’s unit CDP Equity takes stakes in companies deemed vital to national interests, from energy and infrastructure to technology and defense. It often partners with private investors to spur growth and preserve Italian ownership.
AlexSecret/iStock via Getty Images Written by Nick Ackerman, co-produced by Stanford Chemist PGIM Global High Yield Fund ( GHY ) provides investors with exposure to a fixed-income portfolio from around the globe. With the U.S. being at around 45%, that leaves a fairly significant allocation of international diversification. The portfolio is also skewed toward investing in primarily below-investmen...
AlexSecret/iStock via Getty Images Written by Nick Ackerman, co-produced by Stanford Chemist PGIM Global High Yield Fund ( GHY ) provides investors with exposure to a fixed-income portfolio from around the globe. With the U.S. being at around 45%, that leaves a fairly significant allocation of international diversification. The portfolio is also skewed toward investing in primarily below-investment-grade exposure but has significant diversification through hundreds of holdings. As a closed-end fund, the fund's current discount looks somewhat attractive but not a significant bargain. The fund also has a high distribution yield, but a lack of coverage is something to be mindful of. GHY Basics 1-Year Z-score: -1.02 Discount/Premium: -7.30% Distribution Yield: 10.55% Expense Ratio: 1.09% (2.01% including leverage) Leverage: 15.79% Managed Assets: $663 million Structure: Perpetual GHY seeks "to provide a high level of current income by investing primarily in below-investment-grade fixed income instruments of issuers located around the world, including emerging markets." Performance - Discounted and Decent Results We recently covered its sister fund, the PGIM Short Duration High Yield Opportunities Fund ( SDHY ). That fund's primary focus is to target a portfolio duration of three years or less. In the case of GHY, the duration comes in at a leverage-adjusted duration of 4.8 years, making the fund more interest rate sensitive. In general, though, given the high-yield-focused exposure, that still limits it relative to what we generally see for investment grade. A look at the historical returns, and we see the fund has been able to deliver positive total returns through nearly every time frame on a total market and NAV return basis. The last five-year period, being relatively weaker, highlights the 2022/2023 period, where the Fed was raising interest rates aggressively and negatively impacting all fixed-income investments. GHY Annualized Returns (PGIM) When looking at some ...
(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening sharply higher on Monday as expectations rise that the U.S. and Iran are closing in on a deal to end the three-month-old war. That said, trading volumes are likely to remain thin due to a holiday in the United States for Memorial Day. Media reports suggest that the U.S. and Iran have developed a memorandum of understanding 'framework' to reach a final d...
(RTTNews) - European stocks are seen opening sharply higher on Monday as expectations rise that the U.S. and Iran are closing in on a deal to end the three-month-old war. That said, trading volumes are likely to remain thin due to a holiday in the United States for Memorial Day. Media reports suggest that the U.S. and Iran have developed a memorandum of understanding 'framework' to reach a final deal. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a "pretty solid" proposal is on the table to reach an agreement with Iran, while insisting that President Donald Trump is "not going to make a bad deal." Trump said on Saturday a peace deal with Iran had been "largely negotiated." A U.S. official reportedly said that both the sides have in principle agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and that Tehran has agreed to dispose highly enriched uranium. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X that any final agreement would require dismantling Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities and removing enriched nuclear material from its territory. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday said that Tehran is "ready to reassure the world that we are not seeking nuclear weapons." Tasnim news agency reported that the United States is still obstructing certain clauses of the potential peace MoU, including the release of Iran's frozen assets. Even if the Strait of Hormuz is opened, analysts say that there is so much uncertainty over how long it will take to repair production facilities and infrastructure to ramp up production of energy and other goods in the region to pre-war levels. Beyond the geopolitical headlines, inflation readings across Europe, the April reading of the U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, and earnings from the likes of Dell, HP, Costco and Best Buy will be in the spotlight as the week progresses. Bond strategists expect global bond yields to remain elevated even if the Iran war ends. Traders currently price in a Federal Reserve rate hike ...
Futu Holdings ( FUTU ) announced on Monday that it has repurchased ~$160M worth of its ADSs as of May 23, 2026, under its previously announced share repurchase program. The company may continue repurchasing shares occasionally under the existing buyback program, depending on market conditions. The stock closed ~27.53 lower at ~$89.76 on 22 May. Source: Press Release More on Futu Holdings Futu Hold...
Futu Holdings ( FUTU ) announced on Monday that it has repurchased ~$160M worth of its ADSs as of May 23, 2026, under its previously announced share repurchase program. The company may continue repurchasing shares occasionally under the existing buyback program, depending on market conditions. The stock closed ~27.53 lower at ~$89.76 on 22 May. Source: Press Release More on Futu Holdings Futu Holdings: The Market Is Mispricing 45% Revenue Growth And International Expansion Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Why Futu Holdings Has Strong Upside For 2026 Futu stock plunges on investigation, penalty-related letter from China's regulator Futu targets 800,000 new funded accounts in 2026 while expanding AI and crypto capabilities
A housewife (R) buys vegetables at a wet market in Singapore Roslan Rahman | Afp | Getty Images Singapore on Monday reported lower-than-expected inflation for April at 1.8% on the back of lower increase in services and retail inflation. Reuters-polled economists had estimated inflation at 2%. Core inflation — which strips out prices of private transport and accommodation — came in at 1.4%. The Mon...
A housewife (R) buys vegetables at a wet market in Singapore Roslan Rahman | Afp | Getty Images Singapore on Monday reported lower-than-expected inflation for April at 1.8% on the back of lower increase in services and retail inflation. Reuters-polled economists had estimated inflation at 2%. Core inflation — which strips out prices of private transport and accommodation — came in at 1.4%. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, however, said that the city-state's imported cost pressures are expected to pick up and broaden in the months ahead. "As higher energy and other input costs arising from the developments in the Middle East pass through global supply chains, they will raise production and transport costs for a wider range of Singapore's imported goods and services," according to the government statement. The MAS had projected both headline and core inflation would come in at 1.5%-2.5% for the whole of 2026. Earlier in the day, Singapore revised its first-quarter GDP growth sharply higher to 6%, up from 4.6% in advanced estimates, and topping Reuters estimates of 5.1%. The country's ministry of trade and industry said that Singapore's full year growth will come in between 2%-4% in 2026, amid energy-related disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. The MAS in April tightened its monetary policy for the first time in over three years due to the inflation outlook. Unlike most nations, Singapore does not use interest rates to manage its monetary policy, but instead guides the Singapore dollar within a policy band against a trade-weighted basket of currencies. Singapore dollar is managed within the set policy band, whose precise levels are not disclosed. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Key Points Litecoin was originally based heavily on Bitcoin. It hasn't done much to differentiate itself since its launch. It could soon add a major new capability that Bitcoin doesn't have. 10 stocks we like better than Litecoin › When Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC) launched in 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: BTC) code, it was pitched as digital silver to Bitcoin's digital gold, with faster block ti...
Key Points Litecoin was originally based heavily on Bitcoin. It hasn't done much to differentiate itself since its launch. It could soon add a major new capability that Bitcoin doesn't have. 10 stocks we like better than Litecoin › When Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC) launched in 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: BTC) code, it was pitched as digital silver to Bitcoin's digital gold, with faster block times, lower fees, and a leaner chain designed for everyday payments. For a while, that earned it a loyal following and a spot among the most recognized cryptoassets in the world. Today, outside of their bones, these two coins don't seem like they're very alike whatsoever. Let's evaluate Litecoin's investment thesis and determine whether it can outperform its older and bigger brother. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » The digital silver story doesn't hold up anymore Litecoin's core selling point was its speed, which was a major stumbling block for Bitcoin at the time. Its 2.5-minute block time was four times faster than Bitcoin's, and its transaction fees were and are vastly lower. For the prospect of one day processing retail payments at scale, that was a real edge back in 2013. But since then, Bitcoin's Lightning Network, a layer-2 (L2) protocol enabling near-instant settlement of Bitcoin transactions at a relatively low cost, has neutralized that advantage -- not to mention the development of many other, vastly faster and cheaper networks like Solana, which can serve demand even more efficiently. Beyond payments, Litecoin offers almost nothing today. It has no smart contract functionality, no decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, and it does nothing to attract developers or investors. Presently, only 32 full-time developers are contributing to its codebase, whereas Bitcoin has close to 1,...