Swiss watch exports fell in April from a year earlier, when companies were rushing to get stock into the US ahead of higher tariffs. Overall shipments were down 16.6%, led by a 56% plunge to the US. In the same month of 2025, exports to the US jumped 149% . Excluding the US, exports rose 3% in April 2026 and were up 1.7% year-to-date, “which is more consistent with the gradual recovery in the watc...
Swiss watch exports fell in April from a year earlier, when companies were rushing to get stock into the US ahead of higher tariffs. Overall shipments were down 16.6%, led by a 56% plunge to the US. In the same month of 2025, exports to the US jumped 149% . Excluding the US, exports rose 3% in April 2026 and were up 1.7% year-to-date, “which is more consistent with the gradual recovery in the watch market,” Vontobel analyst Manuel Lang said. Still, the conflict in the Middle East also weighed on the industry, with exports to the United Arab Emirates falling 9.5%. Shipments to Saudi Arabia and Qatar declined 17.3% and 12% respectively. The drop was across almost all categories but especially watches made from precious metals. Exports of watches priced above 3,000 Swiss francs ($3,820) suffered the steepest fall of 19%. Asia was one of the few bright spots, with exports to China up 17.1% and shipments to Hong Kong 13.5% higher. That pointed to improving sentiment in two of the sector’s most important markets, though combined exports remain lower than 2024 levels.
UBS Group AG is set to raise Additional Tier 1 capital in US dollars, its first foray into the market since Switzerland paused plans to tighten rules on the riskiest type of bank debt. The lender is looking to sell at least $500 million of perpetual AT1 bonds that are first callable in late 2032, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. Initial price discussio...
UBS Group AG is set to raise Additional Tier 1 capital in US dollars, its first foray into the market since Switzerland paused plans to tighten rules on the riskiest type of bank debt. The lender is looking to sell at least $500 million of perpetual AT1 bonds that are first callable in late 2032, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. Initial price discussions indicate a coupon of around 7.5%, the person said. The offering is the first since the Swiss government decided in late April not to proceed, for the time being, with proposed adjustments to AT1 regulations, a decision that was seen as a win for bondholders. Lawmakers had proposed tougher tests on whether Swiss banks could pay interest on the notes and when they could replace them with new issuance. Read more: UBS AT1 Investors Get a Win After Swiss Put Reforms on Ice UBS is one of the largest issuers of AT1 bonds. It last raised AT1 capital in US dollars back in January, when analysts at CreditSights said that regulatory and legal uncertainty could weigh on the lender’s spreads. A month later, it tapped the Australian dollar market, moving into a void created by the local regulator’s decision to phase out this type of debt for domestic banks. A representative at UBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stocks looked set to slip on Tuesday after Google parent Alphabet said it would issue $80 billion in equity, giving investors another reason to fret about Big Tech companies’ artificial-intelligence spending plans. The search engine and cloud computing company said it would issue $80 billion of equity, including $10 billion of stock to Berkshire Hathaway at a discount as it funds its AI infrastruc...
Stocks looked set to slip on Tuesday after Google parent Alphabet said it would issue $80 billion in equity, giving investors another reason to fret about Big Tech companies’ artificial-intelligence spending plans. The search engine and cloud computing company said it would issue $80 billion of equity, including $10 billion of stock to Berkshire Hathaway at a discount as it funds its AI infrastructure buildout, reviving some worries about so-called hyperscalers’ planned spending sprees. The move “is a clear sign that the AI arms race is moving into a more capital-hungry phase,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman, although he noted that the $80 billion figure was less than 2% of Alphabet's $4.6 trillion market capitalization.
Hong Kong’s retail sales rose by 8.6 per cent year on year in April, extending the sector’s recovery for a 12th consecutive month, supported by continued growth in visitor arrivals and holiday spending. Provisional figures released by the Census and Statistics Department on Tuesday showed retail sales reached HK$31.4 billion (US$4 billion) in April, compared with HK$28.9 billion a year earlier. Re...
Hong Kong’s retail sales rose by 8.6 per cent year on year in April, extending the sector’s recovery for a 12th consecutive month, supported by continued growth in visitor arrivals and holiday spending. Provisional figures released by the Census and Statistics Department on Tuesday showed retail sales reached HK$31.4 billion (US$4 billion) in April, compared with HK$28.9 billion a year earlier. Retail sales for the first four months of 2026 rose 11.3 per cent from the same period last year. A...
Marvell Technology stock was surging early Tuesday after getting a big endorsement from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who reckons the chips-and-networking company can achieve a market value of more than $1 trillion. The stock closed up 7% at $219.43 on Monday, giving it a market capitalization of around $192 billion. Nvidia’s Huang suggested Marvell’s shares could rise fivefold while speaking at the Co...
Marvell Technology stock was surging early Tuesday after getting a big endorsement from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who reckons the chips-and-networking company can achieve a market value of more than $1 trillion. The stock closed up 7% at $219.43 on Monday, giving it a market capitalization of around $192 billion. Nvidia’s Huang suggested Marvell’s shares could rise fivefold while speaking at the Computex conference in Taiwan alongside Marvell CEO Matt Murphy.
Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek Inc. will hike hiring to support a push into new AI activities, joining fellow tech firms in assuaging concerns about job losses in the era of artificial intelligence. The company, which is helping to power Nvidia Corp. ’s new chip for PCs dubbed the Spark, is confident in its prospects for growth, Senior Vice President Vince Hu told Bloomberg Television. MediaTek also...
Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek Inc. will hike hiring to support a push into new AI activities, joining fellow tech firms in assuaging concerns about job losses in the era of artificial intelligence. The company, which is helping to power Nvidia Corp. ’s new chip for PCs dubbed the Spark, is confident in its prospects for growth, Senior Vice President Vince Hu told Bloomberg Television. MediaTek also has good order visibility for its new data center business over the next few years, Hu said. “I feel very good about the fundamentals of the business we are pursuing, and I think we are pretty set at least through the 2030 horizon,” Hu said on the sidelines of the Computex trade show in Taipei on Monday. Around the world, workers are worried that their jobs could be at risk from AI. Hu’s vow to grow MediaTek’s engineering staff reinforced comments from Nvidia boss Jensen Huang at the same gathering on Tuesday that AI would boost rather than hinder human resources at tech companies. Read More: Nvidia Boss Says Workers Should Be Paid ‘as Much as Possible’ The Taiwanese company has said that it expects AI chip revenue of about $2 billion this year, with that forecast to multiply in 2027. It’s looking to secure as much as 15% of an $80 billion data center opportunity next year. Long known primarily as a Qualcomm Inc. rival in designing and creating smartphone processors, MediaTek’s buoyant outlook is a reflection of how AI has helped lift the fortunes of Taiwan’s economy and hardware suppliers, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. , which is now valued at close to $2 trillion. Taiwan has forecast its economy will grow about 10% this year, while its stock market overtook India’s to become the world’s fifth largest, largely thanks to demand from the global AI infrastructure buildout. MediaTek is one of many companies that work closely with TSMC and rely on its cutting-edge chip fabrication. Its own shares have more than tripled since late March. MediaTek is already buil...
File photo: People play a game at an escape room club. Photo: IC Photo China’s top judicial and market regulatory bodies on Tuesday issued a stern warning to businesses operating in the children’s entertainment and consumer goods sectors, highlighting a series of court cases aimed at protecting minors from hazardous products and unsafe environments. The Supreme People’s Court and the State Adminis...
File photo: People play a game at an escape room club. Photo: IC Photo China’s top judicial and market regulatory bodies on Tuesday issued a stern warning to businesses operating in the children’s entertainment and consumer goods sectors, highlighting a series of court cases aimed at protecting minors from hazardous products and unsafe environments. The Supreme People’s Court and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly released a set of landmark cases, underscoring what they described as new challenges and difficulties in child safety. The cases target a wide range of emerging risks, including age-inappropriate escape rooms, dangerous toys and counterfeit children’s skin-care products containing banned steroids.
Marvell Technology's shares surged more than 24% in premarket trading on Tuesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the chipmaker the next "trillion-dollar company." Huang and Marvell CEO Matt Murphy were speaking at an event at the Computex week in Taipei on Tuesday. Marvell shares were last up 24.4% at $272.9, set to add more than $47.2 billion in market capitalisation if gains ...
Marvell Technology's shares surged more than 24% in premarket trading on Tuesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the chipmaker the next "trillion-dollar company." Huang and Marvell CEO Matt Murphy were speaking at an event at the Computex week in Taipei on Tuesday. Marvell shares were last up 24.4% at $272.9, set to add more than $47.2 billion in market capitalisation if gains hold.