Microsoft said on Thursday that it will invest A$25 billion ($17.9 billion) in Australia by the end of 2029 to boost computing and artificial intelligence capacity, betting on growing demand for the technology in the country. The U.S. tech giant's latest investment reflects rising demand for AI technologies and positions Australia as a key growth market. Microsoft said the investment will suppor...
Microsoft said on Thursday that it will invest A$25 billion ($17.9 billion) in Australia by the end of 2029 to boost computing and artificial intelligence capacity, betting on growing demand for the technology in the country. The U.S. tech giant's latest investment reflects rising demand for AI technologies and positions Australia as a key growth market. Microsoft said the investment will support the expansion of its Azure AI supercomputing and cloud infrastructure, strengthen cybersecurity and promote AI skills development across the country.
China has reported a staggering amount of domestic artificial intelligence power, pointing to what some experts say could be a “dark pool” of compute thousands of times larger than its public reports suggest. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China has achieved 1,882 exaflops – short for exa floating-point operations per second – which translates to 1,882 qui...
China has reported a staggering amount of domestic artificial intelligence power, pointing to what some experts say could be a “dark pool” of compute thousands of times larger than its public reports suggest. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China has achieved 1,882 exaflops – short for exa floating-point operations per second – which translates to 1,882 quintillion, or billion billion, calculations per second. The figure is more than 6,000 times higher...
Chinese teenagers dressed in camouflage uniforms express gratitude in front of cameras at a youth correction centre, but the off-camera reality tells a completely different story. According to a Chinese state media report they are beaten or sexually assaulted, leading to calls for better supervision and monitoring of such institutions. Such schools accept teenagers who are rebellious, weary of stu...
Chinese teenagers dressed in camouflage uniforms express gratitude in front of cameras at a youth correction centre, but the off-camera reality tells a completely different story. According to a Chinese state media report they are beaten or sexually assaulted, leading to calls for better supervision and monitoring of such institutions. Such schools accept teenagers who are rebellious, weary of studying, addicted to playing electronic games, or suffer from depression. The institutions generally...
ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Conventum Alluvium Global Fund Q1 2026 Quarterly Report The most significant news from our perspective is the Fund's latest investment - Amazon ( AMZN ) (down 9.8%). We have long admired Amazon. Its "Day 1" philosophy is quite remarkable, with an obsession to satisfy its customers, an eagerness to embrace external trend...
ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Conventum Alluvium Global Fund Q1 2026 Quarterly Report The most significant news from our perspective is the Fund's latest investment - Amazon ( AMZN ) (down 9.8%). We have long admired Amazon. Its "Day 1" philosophy is quite remarkable, with an obsession to satisfy its customers, an eagerness to embrace external trends, and a propensity to make quick decisions. The business has expanded aggressively: CDs, electronics, toys in late 90s; market place in 2000; free 2-day shipping in 2005; AWS cloud in 2006; the Kindle in 2007; physical retail (WholeFoods) in 2017; and media with the acquisition of MGM in 2022. Relentlessly focused on the long-term, Amazon's growth has been fueled by its "Flywheel" effect: lower prices lead to more customers, which attracts more third-party sellers, allowing for greater economies of scale. It stands today as a serious player in AI and a leader in both logistics and cloud computing. It has far evolved from that humble online bookstore of 30 years ago. Since we tweaked our quality/value criteria a few years back we have seen it flutter in and out of our quantitative screen depending on its share price. For a few reasons, we think now is an appropriate time to buy. Let us explain. Our core holding in the technology platform space is Alphabet ( GOOG ) . It had a poor quarter (down 8.1%), but it has had a stellar run over the last 12 months (it returned 86.6%). A year ago its shares traded at a 12% discount to our valuation. Our valuation has increased since then, but with that share price rise, it now trades at a premium of 43%. On the other hand, Amazon traded at 30% premium to our valuation one year ago. Our valuation has also increased, but with its more modest share price increase (9.5%), that premium is now 17%. Some may question our buying at a price higher than our valuation. But our reasoning is that all valuations are subjective, and particularly so wh...
peepo/E+ via Getty Images Dear Clients and Friends: I have a weakness for historical quotes that may be relevant to the current environment, and as a reasonable fan of Bill Shakespeare, I cannot help but think of his admonition to Julius Caesar: “Beware the ides of March.” Unfortunately for Caesar, he did not heed the warning, and we all know how that turned out. But seriously, what is it about th...
peepo/E+ via Getty Images Dear Clients and Friends: I have a weakness for historical quotes that may be relevant to the current environment, and as a reasonable fan of Bill Shakespeare, I cannot help but think of his admonition to Julius Caesar: “Beware the ides of March.” Unfortunately for Caesar, he did not heed the warning, and we all know how that turned out. But seriously, what is it about the month of March? October gets a bad rap, but over the last 20 years, March has brought us the collapse of Bear Stearns in 2008, Covid in 2020, the beginning of the Federal Reserve’s historic hiking cycle in 2022, the “liberation day” tariffs of 2025 (off by a week), and of course, the current military incursion - or war, depending on which side you happen to be on. While all radically different, these events share at least two commonalities. The first is the endless stream of opinions about where things were headed, most of which ended up being wildly incorrect. Ben Bernanke, then chair of the Federal Reserve, dismissed the Bear Stearns failure and gave us the all-clear; we know how that turned out. Anthony Fauci stated unequivocally that the millennia-old practice of shaking hands would meet the fate of the dodo bird, which is currently being brought back to life via science straight out of Jurassic Park . Yes, the prediction business is tough and rarely accurate, and even the forecasts that “land” are often questionable, as timing is usually an issue. Most of the folks who supposedly “called” prior calamities, upon closer inspection, did no such thing. The second commonality is related to the first: the dependence on forecasting and predicting to drive decisions. As humans, we are biased toward fear when outcomes are uncertain, which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. Simple upside versus downside—when the downside is death, that forecast will always get your attention. This is why gloom and doom sells. Last April, we were told by very smart people (you know t...
Just two weeks before voters in India’s eastern state of West Bengal were due to go to the polls, about 9 million names were removed from the registered roll, causing an uproar among opposition groups. The Election Commission stripped approximately 12% of voters from the list to weed out fake voters and illegal migrants. Opposition groups, however, allege that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s party...
Just two weeks before voters in India’s eastern state of West Bengal were due to go to the polls, about 9 million names were removed from the registered roll, causing an uproar among opposition groups. The Election Commission stripped approximately 12% of voters from the list to weed out fake voters and illegal migrants. Opposition groups, however, allege that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s party is using the exercise to target mainly the poor and Muslim voters, and tilt the election outcome in its favor. A similar revision was carried out before elections in Bihar state last year, which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won with its regional ally. The voter roll changes, known as the Special Intensive Revision, has become a major political flashpoint in the state elections and overshadowed traditional campaign issues such as jobs, inflation and welfare in the state. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee , who has ruled West Bengal for 15 years, has gone as far as asking the Supreme Court to intervene to halt the exercise. West Bengal will vote in two phases starting Thursday, with election results due on May 4, alongside the outcome of other key state polls this month. Ashutosh Biswas, 42, had been a regular voter in Ranaghat, a small town in West Bengal near the Bangladesh border for years, but was shocked to find his name missing this year. Although he left home two decades ago to earn a living doing odd jobs like brick-laying and plumbing in the capital city, New Delhi, he’s always made his way home to vote. Biswas and his family are part of the exodus of thousands of migrant workers returning home to West Bengal this week, fearing they will lose their access to welfare schemes and basic services without the right to vote. Many worry that their citizenship status will also be at risk. The BJP has repeatedly cited a rise in voter numbers in areas near the Bangladesh border as evidence of illegal immigration, and the need to weed them out of the voters roll. Modi is making ...
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is solidifying the US dollar’s dominant role in global trade, according to one measure of activity in the interbank foreign-exchange markets. The greenback’s portion of international transactions rose to a record 51.1% in March, up from 49.2% a month earlier, according to the latest data compiled by global financial messaging service Swift, or the Society fo...
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is solidifying the US dollar’s dominant role in global trade, according to one measure of activity in the interbank foreign-exchange markets. The greenback’s portion of international transactions rose to a record 51.1% in March, up from 49.2% a month earlier, according to the latest data compiled by global financial messaging service Swift, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication . That’s the highest share since 2023 when the Belgium-headquartered consortium revised how it collects the transaction data. Large global banks use Swift to communicate with each other and facilitate interbank currency deals. The world’s primary reserve currency was followed by the euro, which carried about a 21% share via Swift, then the pound, yen, Chinese yuan and Canadian dollar. Read More: Unpredictable America Shakes Foundations of the Global Economy “Dollar weakness seen last year has not translated into any clear decline in the dollar’s role as a reserve or base currency for capital markets,” a JPMorgan research team led by Joyce Chang said in an April 21 note. In 2025, a gauge of the greenback fell by 8% to its lowest level in four years. Since the start of the Iran war in late February, it has gained about 0.8%. Trading in the currency markets was exceptionally choppy last month following the launch of US and Israeli strikes against Iran, driving a global selloff in risky assets, a surge in oil prices and demand for the haven dollar. A gauge of the greenback’s expected volatility over the next month surged to a 10-month high in March, although gyrations have quieted since as investors focus on the outlook of ceasefire negotiations between the US and Iran. What Bloomberg Strategists Say... “Markets are putting a lot of faith in President Trump’s desire to end the Iran war, treating renewed escalation as a low-probability risk even though the facts on the ground remain highly uncertain. Investors have gone back to t...
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) has long been the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind Bitcoin . The blockchain builds on Bitcoin's idea, introducing smart contracts, and it's powered by the native Ether token. Many other companies have since introduced their own blockchains and tokens optimized for certain applications. One of the most successful is Ripple's XRP Ledger. XRP Ledger is design...
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) has long been the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind Bitcoin . The blockchain builds on Bitcoin's idea, introducing smart contracts, and it's powered by the native Ether token. Many other companies have since introduced their own blockchains and tokens optimized for certain applications. One of the most successful is Ripple's XRP Ledger. XRP Ledger is designed to facilitate fast, low-cost financial transfers, and Ripple has been driving adoption among banks and other financial institutions for years. Every transaction on the ledger requires a small amount of native token XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) , and it can also be used as a bridge currency for cross-border transactions. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently suggested that XRP could overtake Ether as the second-largest digital asset, driven by strong adoption of its blockchain. Despite the strong bias of Garlinghouse, there are reasons to remain bullish on XRP. Continue reading
kodda/iStock via Getty Images Kinder Morgan ( KMI ) reported first-quarter earnings above Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, helped by stronger natural gas demand tied to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and rising power needs from data centers. Shares rose 1% in extended trading; they've risen about 20% in the 12 months through today's close. Pipeline operators in the United States ha...
kodda/iStock via Getty Images Kinder Morgan ( KMI ) reported first-quarter earnings above Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, helped by stronger natural gas demand tied to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and rising power needs from data centers. Shares rose 1% in extended trading; they've risen about 20% in the 12 months through today's close. Pipeline operators in the United States have benefited from steady oil and gas production in the Permian Basin, while uncertainty surrounding shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz has increased demand for U.S.-sourced liquefied natural gas. “The geopolitical landscape became even more turbulent this quarter, with conflict in the Middle East joining the ongoing war in Ukraine as a source of significant commodity price volatility,” Executive Chairman Richard Kinder said in a statement. The company said disruptions affecting competing LNG suppliers could also improve the longer-term outlook for U.S. gas consumption. Kinder Morgan ( KMI ) projects total U.S. natural gas demand will reach 150 billion cubic feet per day by 2031, up roughly 27% from current levels. Kinder Morgan ( KMI ), one of North America’s largest energy infrastructure companies, also said it has agreed to buy Monument Pipeline, a 225-mile natural gas pipeline network serving Houston and surrounding markets, for $505 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. Looking ahead, the company forecast 2026 net income attributable to Kinder Morgan to remain steady at $3.1 billion, while adjusted earnings per share are expected to increase 5% to $1.36. It also reiterated expectations for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $8.6 billion this year. For the quarter ended March 31, Kinder Morgan ( KMI ) posted adjusted earnings of $0.48 a share, topping analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.39. Revenue rose to $4.83 billion, ahead of expectations for $4.55 billion. Kinder Morgan ( KMI ) ...
Olstein Capital Management, L.P. increased its stake in Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) by 43,050 shares during the first quarter, an estimated $2.78 million trade based on quarterly average pricing, according to an April 21, 2026, SEC filing. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing dated April 21, 2026, Olstein Capital Management, L.P. increased its holdings in Korn Ferry by 43,050 s...
Olstein Capital Management, L.P. increased its stake in Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) by 43,050 shares during the first quarter, an estimated $2.78 million trade based on quarterly average pricing, according to an April 21, 2026, SEC filing. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing dated April 21, 2026, Olstein Capital Management, L.P. increased its holdings in Korn Ferry by 43,050 shares during the first quarter. The estimated transaction value was $2.78 million based on the average closing price for the quarter. At quarter end, the value of the Korn Ferry position rose by $2.47 million, a figure that includes both trading and stock price movements. Korn Ferry is a global leader in organizational consulting, leveraging a diversified business model across consulting, executive search, digital, and RPO segments. The company combines human capital expertise with technology-driven solutions to address complex talent and organizational challenges for clients worldwide. Continue reading
US Blocks Regular $500 Million Cash Pallets Flown To Iraq, Over Pro-Iran Militias In confirmation of some early reporting we featured at the start of this week, The Wall Street Journal has verified something that Iraqi officials themselves were denying just days ago: the US is blocking Iraq's regular dollar shipments in order to pressure it's Iran-backed militias . "The Trump administration has su...
US Blocks Regular $500 Million Cash Pallets Flown To Iraq, Over Pro-Iran Militias In confirmation of some early reporting we featured at the start of this week, The Wall Street Journal has verified something that Iraqi officials themselves were denying just days ago: the US is blocking Iraq's regular dollar shipments in order to pressure it's Iran-backed militias . "The Trump administration has suspended U.S. dollar shipments to Iraq and frozen security cooperation programs with its military, escalating the pressure on Baghdad to dismantle powerful Iranian-backed militias," said Iraqi and US officials interviewed in the report . Pallets of cash and the Middle East should ring familiar, stretching from the Bush-Cheney years to even the Obama years (and Iran sanctions relief as part of the original nuclear deal). In this case, like with the Obama/Iran deal saga before, this is actually Iraq's own oil revenue money . Memory lane via CNBC: The New York Federal Reserve shipped billions of dollars in physical cash to Baghdad to pay for the reopening of the government & restoration of basic services. Much of it went missing. In this latest case, a US military plane carrying a half-billion dollars has been delayed on its regularly scheduled delivery. "A cargo-plane delivery of nearly $500 million in U.S. banknotes, the proceeds from Iraqi oil sales from Federal Reserve Bank of New York accounts, was blocked recently by Treasury Department officials because of U.S. concerns about the militias ," WSJ continues, citing the officials. The publication details, "It was the second scheduled shipment of dollars to the Central Bank of Iraq delayed by the U.S. since the start of the Iran war in late February, the U.S. and Iraqi officials said." During the height of the March fighting between Iran and Israel, several American facilities across Iraq came under attack, even including the US Embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone . Typically these were drones, or rocket fire, and Erbil and nort...