The war in the Middle East has upended the UK bond market. Gilts have performed worse than almost all of their global peers since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, in large part because of the UK’s dependence on imported energy. Disruption to oil and gas flows out of the Persian Gulf have driven up energy prices and higher inflation now looms. That’s prompted investors to dump UK governm...
The war in the Middle East has upended the UK bond market. Gilts have performed worse than almost all of their global peers since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, in large part because of the UK’s dependence on imported energy. Disruption to oil and gas flows out of the Persian Gulf have driven up energy prices and higher inflation now looms. That’s prompted investors to dump UK government bonds, in a retreat from what was previously one of the most popular bets in fixed income. At the same time, volatility in two-year gilt yields has reached levels last seen in 2022, when shortest-serving Prime Minister Liz Truss roiled the market with a debt-funded plan to cut taxes and resigned just weeks later. The current upheaval has spilled over to the economy, undermining Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves ’ fragile efforts to boost growth. Banks have increased the interest rates they’re offering to homebuyers, some mortgage products have been pulled from the market, companies are selling fewer bonds, and the government is paying more to service its debt. What does the UK bond market have to do with housing? Most UK borrowers are on fixed-rate mortgages, where payments are held steady for a period of two or five years. After that, the loans need to be refinanced at the current market price. Crucially, mortgage lenders set their rates using something called swap rates. Traders use swap markets to wager on what the Bank of England will do with interest rates next. When their expectations — in other words, swap rates — fluctuate rapidly, it becomes harder for brokers to accurately price a loan. And because lenders are locking in this interest rate for multiple years, they’re wary of offering a deal that might go south. UK interest-rate bets have been changing by the minute as the Iran war drags on, and lenders have withdrawn products from the market in response to the volatility in swap rates. The shelf life of mortgage products hit a record low in March, acco...
tadamichi/iStock via Getty Images The latest news from the Middle East points to a ceasefire and the possible resumption of energy and goods flows through the Strait of Hormuz. But perennial themes such as diversification, defense, and discipline remain core to our investment conversations. Below, our investment experts discuss the implications of geopolitical risk and high energy prices on their ...
tadamichi/iStock via Getty Images The latest news from the Middle East points to a ceasefire and the possible resumption of energy and goods flows through the Strait of Hormuz. But perennial themes such as diversification, defense, and discipline remain core to our investment conversations. Below, our investment experts discuss the implications of geopolitical risk and high energy prices on their asset classes and how they’re managing portfolios in this environment. The macro view Escalating geopolitical tensions have disrupted global oil supply, raising energy prices and increasing uncertainty at a time when inflation pressures remain a key constraint for policymakers. History suggests that the economic impact of such shocks depends critically on their duration, with even temporary disruptions acting as a tax on global demand and more prolonged disruptions leaving lasting scars through weaker confidence, delayed investment, and tighter financial conditions. Leading economic indicators continue to point to underlying resilience, but market-based measures of growth expectations and risk appetite have cooled, consistent with a transition from expansion toward a slowdown phase rather than an abrupt downturn. Inflation momentum has reaccelerated, driven primarily by energy, complicating the policy outlook, especially for energy-importing economies. Against this backdrop, we have moved to a neutral overall risk stance. Within equities, we maintain a moderate overweight relative to fixed income but emphasize defensive characteristics such as quality, earnings visibility, and lower volatility. In fixed income, we favor increased duration as a risk management tool, expressed through inflation-linked securities, while maintaining a cautious stance toward overall credit risk. This balanced positioning reflects a more uncertain phase of the cycle with a narrower margin for error. While our preferred cyclical indicators are trending in the wrong direction, they are not pointing...
AS Tallink Grupp will introduce the first quarter 2026 results in an investor webinar. All shareholders and other stakeholders are invited to join the webinar, scheduled to take place on 23 April 2026 at 12:00 (EET) . The webinar will be held in English.
AS Tallink Grupp will introduce the first quarter 2026 results in an investor webinar. All shareholders and other stakeholders are invited to join the webinar, scheduled to take place on 23 April 2026 at 12:00 (EET) . The webinar will be held in English.
Van Eck Associates Corp. started buying South African bonds during the biggest selloff on record, and is now reaping the reward with a return of triple the emerging-market average. The New York-based firm, which oversees about $225 billion, held no South African bonds at the start of the Iran war. A year-long rally had left them steeply valued and positioning overcrowded, according to David Auster...
Van Eck Associates Corp. started buying South African bonds during the biggest selloff on record, and is now reaping the reward with a return of triple the emerging-market average. The New York-based firm, which oversees about $225 billion, held no South African bonds at the start of the Iran war. A year-long rally had left them steeply valued and positioning overcrowded, according to David Austerweil , a deputy portfolio manager for emerging-market fixed-income. On March 16, Van Eck began snapping up the debt. Yields on government rand bonds had shot up more than 100 basis points as the conflict drove oil prices higher, igniting concerns about inflation in energy-importing nations including South Africa. Van Eck calculated that those worries would blow over once the war ended. “We viewed this as an attractive opportunity to rebuild a long South African government bonds position,” Austerweil said. “We did not view the war as derailing South Africa’s economic recovery and we believed that since other investors shared this view, South African government bonds would be one of the first markets to recover.” And so it did. Since March 16, when yields hit a five-month high, South African government debt has returned 6.3% in dollar terms, bettered only by Hungary, Brazil and Colombia among major emerging markets. The average return for developing-nation local-currency bonds in that period was 2.3%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Foreign investors had sold a net 56 billion rand ($3.4 billion) of the bonds in March, the most since Bloomberg started compiling the data three decades ago, Now they’re returning: since the start of April, the market has seen 13.5 billion rand of net inflows, according to JSE Ltd. data . “It was remarkable and shows everyone was really just waiting for the all-clear to repurchase South African government bonds,” Austerweil said. A steep yield curve suggested most value lay in the long end, and the firm bought bonds maturing in 2040, 2044...
Europe's Electrification Dream Is Hitting A Wall Authored by Gisele Widdershoven via OilPrice.com, Europe’s electrification strategy is ambitious but constrained by lagging grid infrastructure, creating bottlenecks that are already delaying industry and investment. Massive funding needs—running into trillions—combined with regulatory complexity and slow buildouts are exposing a gap between policy ...
Europe's Electrification Dream Is Hitting A Wall Authored by Gisele Widdershoven via OilPrice.com, Europe’s electrification strategy is ambitious but constrained by lagging grid infrastructure, creating bottlenecks that are already delaying industry and investment. Massive funding needs—running into trillions—combined with regulatory complexity and slow buildouts are exposing a gap between policy ambition and physical reality. Without better coordination, prioritization, and financing, Europe risks higher costs, weaker competitiveness, and a stalled energy transition. The message given by Ursula von der Leyen to electrify the European economy is strategically coherent, politically appealing, and, on the surface, even unavoidable. It will be the real deal to decarbonize industry and power transport, reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels, and anchor Europe’s competitiveness. The latter is especially valid in an increasingly fragmented geopolitical order. Electrification is presented as the backbone of Europe’s future prosperity and security. However, beneath this clear vision lies a far more uncomfortable reality. Brussels is not only pursuing an energy transition but also transforming its industrial base, transport systems, infrastructure networks, and geopolitical posture. All of this needs to be done while facing an increased financial, physical, and strategic strain. Electrification is not failing at present because the overall idea or strategy is wrong, but because the system required to support it is already overstretched. At the same time, and maybe even more important, the bill to fix that system is only beginning to emerge. The real core problem of Brussels is not its ambition, but the sequencing of it all. Europe is already accelerating the electrification of demand, mainly in the industrial, transport, and heating sectors, while simultaneously pushing to expand renewable supply at an unprecedented speed. One pivotal issue, however, seems to be constant...
Bang & Olufsen generated 1% revenue growth in local currencies for the quarter, which was lower than expected. The gross margin continued its solid trajectory and was 57.5%, an increase of 2.1 percentage points from last year. Like-for-like sell-out increased by 1%, with Win Cities reporting sell-out growth of 16%.
Bang & Olufsen generated 1% revenue growth in local currencies for the quarter, which was lower than expected. The gross margin continued its solid trajectory and was 57.5%, an increase of 2.1 percentage points from last year. Like-for-like sell-out increased by 1%, with Win Cities reporting sell-out growth of 16%.
designer491 Interactive Brokers ( IBKR ) is expected to announce a dividend hike in mid-April, extending its 2-year dividend growth streak based on historical trends. Analysts expect a consensus annual dividend of $0.35 per share, implying a quarterly dividend of $0.0875, which would represent a 9.4% increase from the prior payout of $0.235. The company last paid a dividend of $0.080 per share in ...
designer491 Interactive Brokers ( IBKR ) is expected to announce a dividend hike in mid-April, extending its 2-year dividend growth streak based on historical trends. Analysts expect a consensus annual dividend of $0.35 per share, implying a quarterly dividend of $0.0875, which would represent a 9.4% increase from the prior payout of $0.235. The company last paid a dividend of $0.080 per share in March 2026, representing an annual yield of 0.42%, and raised its dividend last April by 28.0% to $0.080 from $0.0625. The investment banking and brokerage company has delivered a 5-year dividend growth rate of approximately 26.2% and maintains a 4-year average payout ratio of 10.56%. The company holds ratings of A- for safety, B- for growth, B+ for yield, and C for dividend consistency. More on Interactive Brokers Group Interactive Brokers: A Compounding Machine That Deserves To Be Bought Patiently Interactive Brokers: The Growth Continues, But Valuation Leaves Little Room Interactive Brokers: The Quiet Compounder Riding The Global Trading Boom Interactive Brokers sees 25% Y/Y rise, 1% sequential fall in March daily average revenue trades Interactive Brokers enables crypto portfolio transfers from external wallets
China’s economic recovery faced an uneven trajectory in March as industrial production topped forecasts with a 5.7% gain, even as retail sales growth cooled to a disappointing 1.7%, while the urban jobless rate unexpectedly rose to 5.4%. Industrial production grew 5.7% yoy in March 2026, surpassing market expectations of 5.5% but slowing from a 6.3% rise in the combined January–February period, as...
China’s economic recovery faced an uneven trajectory in March as industrial production topped forecasts with a 5.7% gain, even as retail sales growth cooled to a disappointing 1.7%, while the urban jobless rate unexpectedly rose to 5.4%. Industrial production grew 5.7% yoy in March 2026, surpassing market expectations of 5.5% but slowing from a 6.3% rise in the combined January–February period, as fallout from the Iran war dampened momentum in China's economy. Monthly, industrial output grew 0.28%. For Q1, industrial output rose 6.1%. Retail sales rose 1.7% year-on-year in March 2026, slowing from a 2.8% increase in the January–February period and falling short of market expectations of a 2.3% gain. On a monthly basis, retail sales increased 0.2%, easing from a 0.5% rise in February. The surveyed urban unemployment rate rose to 5.4% in March 2026 from 5.3% in the previous month and above market expectations of 5.2%, marking the highest reading in thirteen months. Fixed-asset investment rose by 1.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, falling short of market expectations for a 1.9% increase. ronniechua The industrial capacity utilization rate fell to 73.6 percent in the first quarter of 2026 from 74.1 percent in the same period a year earlier, marking the lowest reading since the first quarter of 2024. New home prices across 70 cities fell 3.4% year-on-year in March 2026, widening from a 3.2% decline in the previous month. Separately, China’s economy expanded 5% in the first quarter, accelerating from 4.5% in the prior quarter and slightly beating expectations, as stronger exports helped offset still-muted domestic demand. All eyes now turn to the Politburo meeting at the end of April for further policy guidance. On Wednesday, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% to above 4,000, hitting a fresh one-month high, while the Shenzhen Component Index climbed over 1.1% to 14,600 on upbeat domestic economic data , and the offshore yuan edged higher to above 6.81 per USD. ...
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's logo is seen in the background beside a printed circuit board. Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Thursday reported a 58% increase in first-quarter profit, beating estimates and hitting a fresh record as demand for artificial intelligence chips stayed strong. Here are the company's results versus LSEG ...
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's logo is seen in the background beside a printed circuit board. Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Thursday reported a 58% increase in first-quarter profit, beating estimates and hitting a fresh record as demand for artificial intelligence chips stayed strong. Here are the company's results versus LSEG SmartEstimates, which are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate: Revenue: 1,134 billion new Taiwan dollars ($35 billion), vs. NT$1.127 trillion expected Net income: NT$572.48 billion, vs. NT$543.32 billion TSMC's net income for the three months ended in March represents a fourth consecutive quarter of record profits. The company's revenue rose to NT$1.134 billion, beating estimates. It had first reported the 35% year-on-year rise in first-quarter revenue last week. TSMC, Asia's largest technology company by market capitalization, has maintained sustained demand for advanced semiconductors from its key customers, such as Apple , even as concerns persist about supply chain disruptions from the Middle East conflict and the potential impact on demand. The chip giant has also benefited greatly from the proliferation of AI, producing advanced processors designed by the likes of Nvidia — now the company's largest customer — and AMD . Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
TSMC first-quarter profit rises 58%, beats estimates as AI demand fuels record run CNBC TSMC Stock Slips. Chip Maker Flags Higher Spending After Earnings Beat. Barron's TSMC: The Ultimate AI Growth Engine (NYSE:TSM) Seeking Alpha Taiwan Semiconductor CEO just dropped a hint about the next move in AI stocks Yahoo Finance Chip Foundry TSMC Beats First-Quarter Targets, Guides Up Investor's Business D...
TSMC first-quarter profit rises 58%, beats estimates as AI demand fuels record run CNBC TSMC Stock Slips. Chip Maker Flags Higher Spending After Earnings Beat. Barron's TSMC: The Ultimate AI Growth Engine (NYSE:TSM) Seeking Alpha Taiwan Semiconductor CEO just dropped a hint about the next move in AI stocks Yahoo Finance Chip Foundry TSMC Beats First-Quarter Targets, Guides Up Investor's Business Daily TSMC lifts revenue forecast, pledges more capital spending to meet AI chip demand Reuters Taiwan’s chipmaker TSMC reports 58% jump in profit, warns about Iran war impacts AP News Massive News for Taiwan Semiconductor Stock Investors The Motley Fool Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Q1 Earnings Call Highlights MarketBeat
Abhay Soi, Chairman and Managing Director of Max Healthcare, said the hospital’s bed count is expected to exceed 10,000 over the next 24 months. He spoke exclusively on Insight with Haslinda Amin. (Source: Bloomberg)
Abhay Soi, Chairman and Managing Director of Max Healthcare, said the hospital’s bed count is expected to exceed 10,000 over the next 24 months. He spoke exclusively on Insight with Haslinda Amin. (Source: Bloomberg)
(RTTNews) - Insignia Financial Ltd. (IOOFF, IFL.AX), on Thursday announced that the Federal Court of Australia has approved the proposed acquisition of its shares by Daintree BidCo Pty Ltd.
(RTTNews) - Insignia Financial Ltd. (IOOFF, IFL.AX), on Thursday announced that the Federal Court of Australia has approved the proposed acquisition of its shares by Daintree BidCo Pty Ltd.