As Northampton prepare for Friday’s Champions Cup clash at Bath, their South African lock reflects on how bigger forwards ‘can do things other people can’t’ Cometh the hour, cometh the big man. There are certain situations when size matters on a rugby field and the 6ft 7in tall, 23 stone JJ van der Mescht is the larger-than-life proof. If spectators at the Rec on Friday feel the ground beneath the...
As Northampton prepare for Friday’s Champions Cup clash at Bath, their South African lock reflects on how bigger forwards ‘can do things other people can’t’ Cometh the hour, cometh the big man. There are certain situations when size matters on a rugby field and the 6ft 7in tall, 23 stone JJ van der Mescht is the larger-than-life proof. If spectators at the Rec on Friday feel the ground beneath them shake as Northampton run out to face Bath in their keenly awaited Champions Cup quarter-final, there will be a giant-sized reason why. Clearly Saints will also bring their razor-sharp running game but even Bath’s meatier forwards should brace themselves. There is invariably a major collision when the massive Van der Mescht thunders into contact and asks the direct questions that led South Africa to include their exiled lock in an alignment squad ahead of their July Tests against England, Scotland and Wales. Continue reading...
Nio (NYSE:NIO) stock rose 4% in early trading on Thursday, April 9, as the company hosts its ES9 flagship SUV Product and Technology Launch event today. NIO shares closed at $6.38 on April 8, and the move adds to yesterday’s 3.91% gain that snapped a two-day losing streak. ES9 display cars have already arrived at ... Nio Gains 4% on ES9 Launch Day: Delivery Growth and a Historic First Profit Signa...
Nio (NYSE:NIO) stock rose 4% in early trading on Thursday, April 9, as the company hosts its ES9 flagship SUV Product and Technology Launch event today. NIO shares closed at $6.38 on April 8, and the move adds to yesterday’s 3.91% gain that snapped a two-day losing streak. ES9 display cars have already arrived at ... Nio Gains 4% on ES9 Launch Day: Delivery Growth and a Historic First Profit Signal a Real Turnaround
Abu Dhabi and Qatar have placed billions of dollars through private bond sales in recent weeks as the war in Iran stokes market volatility. The United Arab Emirates’ capital on Thursday raised $500 million by reopening a 2034 bond, a day after tapping the same bond and a separate 2029 issue for $2 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The private deals were arranged by Standard Charter...
Abu Dhabi and Qatar have placed billions of dollars through private bond sales in recent weeks as the war in Iran stokes market volatility. The United Arab Emirates’ capital on Thursday raised $500 million by reopening a 2034 bond, a day after tapping the same bond and a separate 2029 issue for $2 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The private deals were arranged by Standard Chartered Plc, according to people familiar with the matter. The sales came days after Qatar’s Ministry of Finance issued $3 billion in a private placement arranged by JPMorgan Chase & Co., the data show. State-backed lender Qatar National Bank QSPC also sold a $1.75 billion bond in a private deal in March. In total, Gulf issuers have raised about $7.76 billion in US dollar-denominated private placements since the conflict began on Feb. 28, including Emirati lenders such as First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC and Mashreqbank PSC, the data show. Emirates NBD Bank PJSC placed a further $200 million on Friday, bringing its total since the war to $325 million. Although the US and Iran are currently in a two-week ceasefire, energy markets have yet to return to normal. Abu Dhabi was forced to suspend operations at the UAE’s largest natural gas processing facility earlier this month. Meanwhile, Iranian strikes in March damaged infrastructure at Qatar’s liquefied natural gas export complex — the world’s largest — knocking out about 17% of the country’s annual export capacity for potentially up to five years. Public bond markets in the Gulf — among the busiest globally in recent years — have effectively shut since the war began, and sentiment remains fragile despite the ceasefire. Issuers in the region sold $50 billion of debt on public markets before the start of the conflict. The yield on Qatar bonds maturing in May 2034 is around 4.4%, slightly below the nine-month high reached in March. Abu Dhabi bonds of comparable maturities are trading at around 4.6%, having climbed to a near one-year high of...
Electricity demand is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade. According to Bank of America , U.S. electricity demand is projected to grow 2.5% annually, or five times faster than the previous decade's growth rate, driven by the expansion of data centers. Constellation Energy (NASDAQ: CEG) is well-positioned to capitalize on this trend. With its strong presence in the energy sector and a mas...
Electricity demand is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade. According to Bank of America , U.S. electricity demand is projected to grow 2.5% annually, or five times faster than the previous decade's growth rate, driven by the expansion of data centers. Constellation Energy (NASDAQ: CEG) is well-positioned to capitalize on this trend. With its strong presence in the energy sector and a massive nuclear footprint, Constellation's ability to meet the growing demand of data centers bodes well for its future outlook. Here's what investors have to look forward to from the utility provider over the next three years. Continue reading
Welcome to Bloomberg’s Banking Monitor . Every Thursday we’ll deliver you the top news of the global banking industry with emerging trends, winners and losers and market opportunities. Sign up now if you’re not already on the list. Amid hopes for a robust peace and restored navigation in the Hormuz Strait, bankers are gingerly returning to their offices in the Middle East. Meanwhile their global c...
Welcome to Bloomberg’s Banking Monitor . Every Thursday we’ll deliver you the top news of the global banking industry with emerging trends, winners and losers and market opportunities. Sign up now if you’re not already on the list. Amid hopes for a robust peace and restored navigation in the Hormuz Strait, bankers are gingerly returning to their offices in the Middle East. Meanwhile their global colleagues return to more prosaic problems that were there before the war broke out, including the turmoil in private credit. And right on schedule, here comes earnings week , with Wall Street banks expected to report a record $18 billion stock-trading haul, in part because of volatility caused by the war and private lending. Oaktree’s Howard Marks, the dean of distressed investing, likes to say that there are no bad assets, only bad prices. Wall Street is taking this to heart: Morgan Stanley is setting up an interval fund to buy private credit at a time when some investors are dumping holdings in a near panic. Deutsche Bank’s US distressed specialists doubled their quarterly profit . Some nonbanks also are set to take advantage of hasty exits: Blackstone took in $10 billion for a new opportunistic credit fund , and Ares Management raised almost as much for a similar portfolio. Fans of irony will note that even Blue Owl, the firm at the center of the tumult, raised $2.9 billion for a new opportunistic credit fund. The firm gamely cited “an increasingly attractive opportunity set, driven by market dislocation, complexity and the demand for flexible capital.” Goldman Sachs Group, which has a knack for doing well where others do badly, persuaded customers to keep redemptions in its Private Credit Fund to just 4.999% of their cash in the first quarter, a sliver under the 5% limit. UBS Group did some financial alchemy by packaging stakes in private credit funds into debt that’s backed by an insurance company, allowing it to cash out of the positions without having to unload them ...
phive2015 Market breadth has strengthened notably, with more than 75% of S&P 500 ( SP500 ) constituents now trading above their 20-day moving average—marking the most robust participation since November. The broad-based advance reflects improving short-term momentum across equities. Gains accelerated midweek following a sharp rally on Wednesday, driven by news of a conditional ceasefire between th...
phive2015 Market breadth has strengthened notably, with more than 75% of S&P 500 ( SP500 ) constituents now trading above their 20-day moving average—marking the most robust participation since November. The broad-based advance reflects improving short-term momentum across equities. Gains accelerated midweek following a sharp rally on Wednesday, driven by news of a conditional ceasefire between the United States and Iran. The development eased geopolitical tensions and supported risk appetite, helping fuel widespread buying activity. As a result, several stocks have delivered outsized moves, contributing to the market’s upward push. The latest data highlights the top 20 S&P 500 performers over the past week, underscoring how leadership has expanded beyond a narrow group and into a more diverse set of sectors. S&P 500 stocks ranked by weekly performance: Intel ( INTC ), +33.58% Lumentum ( LITE ), +27.50% Ciena ( CIEN ), +27.25% SBA Communications ( SBAC ), +27.08% Seagate Technology ( STX ), +26.68% Western Digital ( WDC ), +25.25% Synopsys ( SNPS ), +22.91% Corning ( GLW ), +21.42% Teradyne ( TER ), +20.86% Micron Technology ( MU ), +20.39% Monolithic Power Systems ( MPWR ), +20.08% Skyworks Solutions ( SWKS ), +19.96% Coherent ( COHR ), +18.29% Arista Networks ( ANET ), +18.15% Lam Research ( LRCX ), +15.37% Humana ( HUM ), +14.42% Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ), +13.96% Centene ( CNC ), +13.87% KLA Corporation ( KLAC ), +13.58% Broadcom ( AVGO ), +13.29% S&P 500 Funds: ( SPY ), ( VOO ), ( IVV ), ( RSP ), ( SSO ), ( UPRO ), ( SH ), ( SDS ), ( SPXU ), ( FXAIX ), ( VFIAX ), ( VFFSX ), and ( SWPPX ). More on markets VIX falls below 20 for the first time since the conflict began in the Middle East Why this oil rally isn’t crashing stocks—Deutsche Bank breaks it down Ceasefire uncertainty looms large as prediction markets signal a long road to de-escalation Cantor Fitzgerald calls the market pullback a buying opportunity despite Middle East risks From oil surge to econo...
adamkaz/iStock via Getty Images While Energy Vault's ( NRGV ) rapid rally has cooled from its 52-week high, the utility-scale energy storage company is still underway with a rapid buildup of its order book and corresponding revenue growth. Revenue for its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter came in at $153.3 million , up a material 358% over its year-ago comp and a beat by $740,000 on consensus estimates. ...
adamkaz/iStock via Getty Images While Energy Vault's ( NRGV ) rapid rally has cooled from its 52-week high, the utility-scale energy storage company is still underway with a rapid buildup of its order book and corresponding revenue growth. Revenue for its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter came in at $153.3 million , up a material 358% over its year-ago comp and a beat by $740,000 on consensus estimates. Critically, NRGV saw its contract backlog grow to $1.3 billion as of the end of the fourth quarter, adding $380 million of orders sequentially and up 3x from the year-ago comp. The company's product offerings include its proprietary battery, gravity, and green hydrogen energy storage technology stacks sold to a range of customers, including industrial energy users, utilities, and independent power producers ("IPPs"). NRGV was originally listed on the NYSE via a special purpose acquisition company in 2022, offering only a novel gravity-based long-duration energy storage ("LDES") technology stack. This was an intense solution that would use excess renewable energy to lift huge composite blocks that would then be dropped for dispatchable energy, smoothing out the peaks and troughs of intermittent renewable energy generation. NRGV has since expanded its technology portfolio to deliver short, long, and ultra-long duration energy storage solutions. Energy Vault Fiscal 2025 Fourth Quarter Presentation The bullish thesis here comes from the ongoing transition to renewables to limit carbon emissions and load growth as the global electric grid takes on more data centers every year on the back of AI demand for compute. U.S. utility Duke Energy ( DUK ) is increasing its 5-year capital expenditure plan by $16 billion to meet higher load demand through to the end of the decade, with Southern Energy ( SO ) set to boost its capital spending plan by as much as $15 billion to meet roughly 8 gigawatts of additional load over the next six years. These spending plans are centered on new electri...
J Studios Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, predicts inflation will remain stubbornly elevated at 3-4% through the end of the year, far exceeding the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. In an interview with CNBC, Boockvar suggested that any rate cut by Fed Chair Kevin Walsh would be “more symbolic than anything” given persistent price pressures, noting that recent ...
J Studios Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, predicts inflation will remain stubbornly elevated at 3-4% through the end of the year, far exceeding the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. In an interview with CNBC, Boockvar suggested that any rate cut by Fed Chair Kevin Walsh would be “more symbolic than anything” given persistent price pressures, noting that recent economic data showed a “very hot PPI for February” and “much higher than expected import prices.” Boockvar expressed cautious optimism that the ceasefire with Iran will hold, calling the de-escalation “a big deal” driven by mounting economic pain from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. While price shocks have been global, he warned that the U.S. may soon face “volume shocks” if shipping lanes remain blocked. “I think at the end of the day, the Iranians want to get this done,” Boockvar said, adding that failure to reach a deal would only “sow the seeds of their own demise economically” as supply chains are redrawn around them. Even with a resolution to the conflict, Boockvar believes the global economy has entered a sustained commodity bull market that will prevent any return to the “prewar environment.” He anticipates widespread global stockpiling and the creation of strategic reserves across nations, which will “keep a bid under inflation and interest rates” and effectively tie the hands of central banks for the foreseeable future. The persistent inflation creates significant friction throughout the economy, particularly for low-to-middle-income consumers who remain in “their own sort of personal recession” compared to upper-income spenders. Small businesses facing intense cost pressures are responding by reducing hiring, which Boockvar says prevents the economy from breaking out of its roughly 2% growth rate. On equities, Boockvar suggested that the initial GenAI technology trade driven by hyperscalers has “exhausted itself” due to slowing cash flows, though he remains ...
Strikes that killed more than 200 people spark outrage amid global efforts to salvage truce Middle East crisis – live updates Israel’s devastating bombardment of Lebanon in the hours after a US-Iranian ceasefire was announced has been widely condemned amid global efforts to salvage the truce. More than 200 people were killed by Israeli bombing including strikes with heavy munitions on densely popu...
Strikes that killed more than 200 people spark outrage amid global efforts to salvage truce Middle East crisis – live updates Israel’s devastating bombardment of Lebanon in the hours after a US-Iranian ceasefire was announced has been widely condemned amid global efforts to salvage the truce. More than 200 people were killed by Israeli bombing including strikes with heavy munitions on densely populated areas, which drew outrage from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international humanitarian organisations. Continue reading...