subman/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) is seeking to offload risk tied to more than $4B in loans to private equity funds, as the U.S. bank looks to reduce exposure to an industry facing a prolonged slowdown in exits and rising concerns over AI-related disruption, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The bank is discussing a transact...
subman/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) is seeking to offload risk tied to more than $4B in loans to private equity funds, as the U.S. bank looks to reduce exposure to an industry facing a prolonged slowdown in exits and rising concerns over AI-related disruption, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The bank is discussing a transaction that would transfer risk tied to so-called net asset value, or NAV, loans backed by private equity fund assets, according to the report. The pool reportedly includes dozens of loans linked to private equity funds across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Under the proposed structure, JPMorgan would transfer the risk of up to 12.5% of an NAV loan portfolio worth more than $4B, one of the people said, with investors receiving low-teens returns in exchange for absorbing first-loss risk on the loans, the report said. Private equity firms have increasingly relied on NAV loans, financing backed by the value of assets held within a fund, to generate liquidity for investors and provide additional capital to portfolio companies. However, the prolonged slowdown in exits, combined with growing concerns over technology valuations and AI-driven disruption, has raised questions about the long-term performance of funds that have become heavily dependent on such financing structures. The rapid growth of the NAV lending market has also drawn scrutiny from U.S. and European regulators, who have warned that the structures can create “leverage on leverage” risks because many of the underlying portfolio companies already carry substantial debt loads. More on JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase 2026: Sovereign Utility Scale, AI Dominance, And Capital Traps (Rating Downgrade) JPMorgan: Locking In A Higher Yield With The Preferred Shares JPMorgan Preferreds Pair Trade Idea JPMorgan to hire more AI specialists, fewer bankers, Dimon says Regulators delay cyber tests for banks to give time to ...
Financial news outlet Bloomberg harboured “unprecedented” malice in the publication and handling of an article about the purchase of good class bungalows in Singapore, lawyers for two Singaporean cabinet ministers alleged on Friday during closing statements in a defamation lawsuit. Senior counsel Davinder Singh said the case was unprecedented in terms of ill intent and aggravation, seeking damages...
Financial news outlet Bloomberg harboured “unprecedented” malice in the publication and handling of an article about the purchase of good class bungalows in Singapore, lawyers for two Singaporean cabinet ministers alleged on Friday during closing statements in a defamation lawsuit. Senior counsel Davinder Singh said the case was unprecedented in terms of ill intent and aggravation, seeking damages exceeding those against The Online Citizen chief editor Terry Xu, who was ordered to pay S$574,000 (US$73,254) to K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng in another defamation case related to the article. Last January, the coordinating minister for national security and Tan, the manpower minister, filed separate suits against Bloomberg and its reporter Low De Wei over a story titled “Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy”. Advertisement The claimants said that parts of the article were false, baseless and calculated to disparage and impugn them. On Friday, Singh said malice was “blatantly obvious”, noting that Bloomberg did not challenge the order to remove the article under Singapore’s fake news law, while publicly standing by its reporting and dropping the article’s paywall. Advertisement The case was on “a completely separate scale”, said Singh, adding that damages “should exceed” those ordered against Xu, who defamed the two ministers in a related article citing Bloomberg’s reporting.
Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Bryan Cranston and Tig Notaro were among the guests to see off both host and talk show in an 80-minute finale Series finales for late night shows are, by their nature, a little odd and also exceedingly rare; usually it’s the host’s final episode, and not the entire show’s, as franchises like The Tonight Show or Late Night continue on with someone new at the wheel. B...
Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Bryan Cranston and Tig Notaro were among the guests to see off both host and talk show in an 80-minute finale Series finales for late night shows are, by their nature, a little odd and also exceedingly rare; usually it’s the host’s final episode, and not the entire show’s, as franchises like The Tonight Show or Late Night continue on with someone new at the wheel. But CBS made the, ah, visionary decision to cancel the Late Show, the talkshow it created in 1993 as a new home for David Letterman after he failed to score the Tonight Show job over at NBC. In Letterman’s hands, and eventually Stephen Colbert’s, the show became an institution and the first real, sustained Tonight Show competitor in years. Indeed, the CBS Late Show leaves the air as the No 1 show in network TV late night, with that 11.35pm real estate immediately and ignominiously rented out to Byron Allen’s longtime syndication seat-filler Comics Unleashed. It’s a stunning streaming-era abdication that will for ever be tied with US president Donald Trump, even as the network has insisted (as echoed by a dolphin in a finale gag) that the decision was purely financial, not political. (Naturally, the show has received plenty of promotion on its way out the door, as if it were just going on its merry way.) Colbert himself has had nearly a year to come to terms with the decision, and was far past using his platform to rail against the corporate dolts on his cheerful (if unavoidably bittersweet) final instalment. Continue reading...
USO/iStock via Getty Images There are times when the market offers a clear anomaly. Not something hidden, but something that is clearly visible when comparing two instruments directly. This is exactly the case between the Invesco Financial Preferred ETF ( PGF ) and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF ( TLT ) at the moment. TLT—US government bonds with a maturity of over 20 years, zero credit ri...
USO/iStock via Getty Images There are times when the market offers a clear anomaly. Not something hidden, but something that is clearly visible when comparing two instruments directly. This is exactly the case between the Invesco Financial Preferred ETF ( PGF ) and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF ( TLT ) at the moment. TLT—US government bonds with a maturity of over 20 years, zero credit risk, an AA rating, and a 5.22% average yield to maturity. PGF—finance preferred shares with a BBB/Baa rating and an average yield to maturity of 6.81%. The difference is only ~1.6%. Historically, it should be at least 2.5%. PGF overview PGF's characteristics (Invesco) The fund's assets under management are close to $690 million. It holds 98 positions: 100% financial sector, almost entirely fixed-income preferred stocks. The effective duration is 9.63 years. Weighted average coupon 5.40%. Expense ratio: 0.55%. Average yield to maturity: 6.8%. The picture above also shows the fund's top 10 holdings. Only these 10 names are 63% of the fund. Most preferred series from JPM, BAC, and MS have the next call date already reached or very close—September and June 2026. That is, the issuers can buy them back at any time, but they do not do so because they would have to refinance at a higher yield. The fund's portfolio credit rating is 85.77% BBB, 12.96% BB, and 0.87% B. Holdings: Close to 90% are fixed-rate preferred stocks. We divided them into two groups: those that trade above par and those that trade below par. Fixed-Rate Preferred Stocks > PAR: In the next charts below, you see those stocks that have call dates and are still not callable with their yields to call and years to call, and those that are already callable with their current yields: Fixed-Rate Preferred Stocks > PAR (author's database) The weighted-average price of the still-not-callable is $25.80, and the average yield to call is close to 6.26%. The weighted average price of those that are callable is close to $25.56, a...
Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD), the world's most valuable chipmaker, delivered quarterly revenue of $82 billion and free cash flow of $48.6 billion, yet the real story lies in the structural overhaul taking shape beneath the headline numbers. The company restructured its reporting into...
Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD), the world's most valuable chipmaker, delivered quarterly revenue of $82 billion and free cash flow of $48.6 billion, yet the real story lies in the structural overhaul taking shape beneath the headline numbers. The company restructured its reporting into...
The New York Knicks scored 18 unanswered points on the way to a 109-93 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers as they took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference final. The score was tied at 53-53 when the Knicks pulled away at their Madison Square Garden home to take a 71-53 lead on the way to a ninth straight victory. Josh Hart scored 26 points, including five three-pointers, for the ...
The New York Knicks scored 18 unanswered points on the way to a 109-93 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers as they took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference final. The score was tied at 53-53 when the Knicks pulled away at their Madison Square Garden home to take a 71-53 lead on the way to a ninth straight victory. Josh Hart scored 26 points, including five three-pointers, for the home side as he racked up a career-high tally for a play-off game, while team-mate Jalen Brunson added 19 points and 14 assists. The Knicks, who last reached the NBA Finals match in 1999 and have not been champions since 1973, also had Mikal Bridges scoring 19 points and Karl-Anthony Towns 18. "We don't really care who gets the shine, the shots, the minutes, those kind of things - we're focused on winning," Hart said. "I think everyone is willing to sacrifice their own personal agendas or performance for the betterment of the team. And when you have a group of guys that do that, sky's the limit." Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points for the Cavaliers and James Harden contributed 18 for the visiting side, who went 2-0 down to the Detroit Pistons in the last round before emerging 4-3 series winners. "This isn't our first time facing adversity," Mitchell said. "We've been to two game sevens, so being down 2-0, it's not the biggest challenge. "It's right there. So let's go ahead and take advantage of it." Games three and four will take place in Cleveland on Saturday and Monday. The winners will play either the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs, whose Western Conference final is tied at 1-1.
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news The British Retail Consortium has reacted to official retail figures this morning, which showed a drop last month. Harvir Dhillon , economist at the industry body, said: We are starting to see signs that concerns over the Middle East conflict and its impact on living costs are leading shoppers to rein in their spending in many areas. …Disc...
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news The British Retail Consortium has reacted to official retail figures this morning, which showed a drop last month. Harvir Dhillon , economist at the industry body, said: We are starting to see signs that concerns over the Middle East conflict and its impact on living costs are leading shoppers to rein in their spending in many areas. …Discretionary spend is likely to drop further as the cost of living squeeze worsens. To protect consumers and support economic growth in the months ahead, government should avoid further inflationary pressures through domestic policy costs. It can start by cutting non-commodity energy charges, which include the taxes and levies that account for two thirds of retailers’ energy bills, and addressing the triple packaging tax that affects all retailers and their supply chains.” There’s been a tentative improvement in the closely watched GfK index, though it remains deep in negative territory, rising to -23 in May from -25 in April. Many households, though, have been forced to dip into cash stashes to deal with rising prices, with the savings gauge plunging. Emergency pots will only last so long, and once more bills start to rise, there could be a fresh tightening of spending ahead. It now looks inevitable that government borrowing will soar past the £115.5bn that the OBR expected for this financial year back in March. Indeed, a weaker economy, rising unemployment rate, soaring gilt yields and some additional fiscal support for households and businesses will combine to push borrowing significantly higher this year. We have pencilled in an additional £20bn to £30bn of borrowing this year. What’s more, if gilt yields remain around current levels through to the next budget, the chancellor will probably lose around £10bn of headroom in 2029/30 against her fiscal rules. That doesn’t preclude a larger bailout now – as long as it is temporary. Instead, the real constraint on borrowing is f...
Palm oil buyers are picking up spot cargoes at bargain rates even as futures prices climb, as traders attempt to understand the impact of a radical export overhaul announced by top producer Indonesia earlier this week. President Prabowo Subianto announced the plan on Wednesday, citing palm oil, coal and ferronickel. Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto later said that only...
Palm oil buyers are picking up spot cargoes at bargain rates even as futures prices climb, as traders attempt to understand the impact of a radical export overhaul announced by top producer Indonesia earlier this week. President Prabowo Subianto announced the plan on Wednesday, citing palm oil, coal and ferronickel. Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto later said that only secondary processed products , including crude palm oil and refined, bleached and deodorized olein, would be routed through a new state commodity export body. Traders have since been seeking details on the full slate of affected goods, with the trade ministry expected to issue more information later today. Indonesia — which accounts for more than half the world’s palm oil exports — ships the tropical oil in a variety of forms, some of which are used directly by consumers for cooking, with others funneled into thousands of consumer products. Crude palm oil and RBD olein make up about half of all sales, with the rest from products like palm stearin and fatty acid distillates, according to data from cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services. That makes the full details on the rules vital to determine the extent of the market impact. The crop, known for its extraordinary versatility, is estimated to be in about half of all supermarket items, and any export disruptions will quickly reverberate across global crop markets. “Everybody is still having confusion on the government export policy and is having a wait and see attitude,” said Budiman Suwardi, head of treasury and markets at Prime EcoHarvest Commodities. “We are all waiting for more clarification on the export rules. Everyone seems to be waiting and not willing to price and get caught by government policy.” Read More: Indonesia to ‘Listen to Market’ on New Commodity Export Body . Prices have been whipsawed as traders wrestle with the details. Benchmark palm oil futures in Malaysia, which initially sank following the announ...
MCCAIG/E+ via Getty Images Consumer delinquencies remain at comfortable levels. Consumer spending comprises 68%-70% of US GDP. When the consumer is in trouble is when we are likely to enter recession on any given shock. Consumer delinquency rates remain well below the thresholds indicating financial fragility in the past. Both credit card and consumer loan delinquencies have been trending lower. T...
MCCAIG/E+ via Getty Images Consumer delinquencies remain at comfortable levels. Consumer spending comprises 68%-70% of US GDP. When the consumer is in trouble is when we are likely to enter recession on any given shock. Consumer delinquency rates remain well below the thresholds indicating financial fragility in the past. Both credit card and consumer loan delinquencies have been trending lower. The recent small rise in loan delinquencies is likely due to student loans now requiring payments after a post-COVID period of deferral. Original Post Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.