(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, tumbling more than 90 points or 2.2 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 4,075-point plateau although it may halt its slide on Friday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on easing crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses...
(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, tumbling more than 90 points or 2.2 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 4,075-point plateau although it may halt its slide on Friday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on easing crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The SCI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the property, oil and resource sectors, while the financial shares came in mixed. For the day, the index plunged 84.91 points or 2.04 percent to finish at 4,077.28 after trading between 4,074.22 and 4,199.53. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 68.80 points or 2.40 percent to end at 2,800.37. Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.28 percent, while Bank of China retreated 1.21 percent, Agricultural Bank of China collected 0.77 percent, China Merchants Bank eased 0.05 percent, Bank of Communications climbed 1.07 percent, China Life Insurance declined 1.42 percent, Jiangxi Copper tanked 3.29 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) contracted 1.45 percent, Yankuang Energy plunged 5.00 percent, PetroChina tumbled 2.92 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 1.37 percent, Huaneng Power surrendered 2.01 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 1.61 percent, Gemdale crashed 4.29 percent, Poly Developments stumbled 3.45 percent and China Vanke cratered 3.61 percent. The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages spent the first half of Thursday in the red before bouncing firmly into positive territory, ending near daily highs. The Dow climbed 276.31 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 50,285.66, while the NASDAQ added 22.74 points or 0.09 percent to end at 26,293.10 and the S&P 500 rose 12.75 points or 0.17 percent to close at 7,445.72. The initial pullback on Wall Street came amid a substantial reboun...
The semiconductor packaging giant is betting big on Arizona, backed by $407 million in CHIPS Act funding, but Wall Street wanted more. Amkor Technology just locked in a collaboration with AMD on advanced chip packaging, announced by CEO Kevin Engel on May 21. The deal is part of Amkor’s broader push to build out a massive manufacturing campus in Arizona, with production slated to begin in early 20...
The semiconductor packaging giant is betting big on Arizona, backed by $407 million in CHIPS Act funding, but Wall Street wanted more. Amkor Technology just locked in a collaboration with AMD on advanced chip packaging, announced by CEO Kevin Engel on May 21. The deal is part of Amkor’s broader push to build out a massive manufacturing campus in Arizona, with production slated to begin in early 2028. The market wasn’t exactly throwing confetti. Amkor shares dropped 2.6% after the company revealed revenue guidance of $8.5B to $9.5B for 2028, a range that came in slightly below what Wall Street had been expecting. The company also projected $11B in revenue by 2030. Advertisement The Arizona bet Amkor recently acquired an additional 67 acres adjacent to its existing 104-acre campus site, bringing the total to 171 acres. Groundbreaking for the advanced packaging campus took place on October 6, 2025. The first manufacturing facility is on track for completion by mid-2027, with volume production expected to follow in early 2028. The project has meaningful financial backing from Washington. Amkor has been allocated up to $407 million through the CHIPS Act, the federal program designed to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to US soil. Why AMD, and why packaging matters Advanced packaging has become increasingly critical as the industry pushes into AI and high-performance computing. Techniques like 2.5D and 3D packaging allow chipmakers to stack or connect multiple dies together, dramatically improving performance and energy efficiency. Amkor already counts Nvidia and Apple among its high-profile clients. Adding AMD as a named packaging partner further solidifies its position as a go-to provider for the companies driving the AI hardware buildout. The Arizona campus is specifically targeting high-volume markets for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing applications. What this means for investors The $8.5B to $9.5B revenue range for 2028 represents meaning...
Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ:GOOG NASDAQ:GOOGL just hit an all-time intraday high ahead of earnings and has beaten the S&P 500 SP:SPX in pretty much every timeframe from one month to five years. What do its chart and fundamentals say heading into Wednesday's earnings report? Let's take a look: Alphabet's Fundamental Analysis GOOGL briefly hit a $349 intraday record peak on Tuesday morning as the ...
Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ:GOOG NASDAQ:GOOGL just hit an all-time intraday high ahead of earnings and has beaten the S&P 500 SP:SPX in pretty much every timeframe from one month to five years. What do its chart and fundamentals say heading into Wednesday's earnings report? Let's take a look: Alphabet's Fundamental Analysis GOOGL briefly hit a $349 intraday record peak on Tuesday morning as the search-and-cloud giant prepares to publish Q4 results after bell on Wednesday. The Street was looking at last check for Alphabet to report $2.64 in GAAP earnings per share on close to $111.5 billion of revenue. That would represent a 22.8% year-over-year gain from Q4 2024's $2.15 in GAAP EPS, as well as a 15.5% y/y gain from the year-ago period's roughly $96.5 billion in revenue. In fact, 34 of the 47 sell-side analysts on my radar that cover GOOGL have raised their earnings estimates for the quarter since the period began, while five have cut their numbers and eight have made no changes. Alphabet's Technical Analysis Next, let's look at GOOGL's chart going back some four months and running through Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 28): Readers will see the above chart dominated by a rising wedge of bearish reversal that appears close to closing. Running just below this wedge is the stock's 50-day Simple Moving Average, or "SMA," marked with a blue line. This means that losing the rising wedge's lower trendline could accelerate into a real breakdown if Alphabet doesn't quickly find support at the 50-day SMA line. Meanwhile, Alphabet's Relative Strength Index (or "RSI," denoted by a gray line at the chart's top) is quite robust, although not in a technically overbought state. That said, the stock's daily Moving Average Convergence Divergence indicator (or "MACD," marked with black and gold lines and blue bars at the chart's bottom) is in a far more precarious position. In fact, the MACD appears to be setting up for some volatility in the near term, as it's giving us mixed messages. ...
The US military deployment in Germany is by far its biggest in Europe, currently at more than 36,000 active duty troops compared to about 12,000 troops in Italy and a further 10,000 in the UK.
The US military deployment in Germany is by far its biggest in Europe, currently at more than 36,000 active duty troops compared to about 12,000 troops in Italy and a further 10,000 in the UK.
AMD CEO Lisa Su said that the company is working with its vendors in Taiwan to ramp up production amid a stronger-than-expected demand for CPUs. Lisa Su speaks onstage during the 2024 A Year in TIME dinner at Current at Chelsea Piers on December 11, 2024, in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for TIME) Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loadi...
AMD CEO Lisa Su said that the company is working with its vendors in Taiwan to ramp up production amid a stronger-than-expected demand for CPUs. Lisa Su speaks onstage during the 2024 A Year in TIME dinner at Current at Chelsea Piers on December 11, 2024, in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for TIME) Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Su is visiting Taiwan after a trip to China. On Thursday, AMD announced a $10 billion investment into the region's chip ecosystem. Stocktwits sentiment for AMD has fallen this week and was ‘extremely bearish’ as of early Friday. Advanced Micro Devices shares gained 2.5% in early premarket trading on Friday, setting up for a third day of gains, amid fresh signals of a ramp-up in manufacturing. The company’s chief executive, Lisa Su, who is visiting Taiwan to meet with suppliers, said on Friday that the company is working with Taiwan-based partners to ramp up production capacity as stronger-than-expected demand is squeezing the global CPU market, Reuters reported. Read Next Loading... Loading... Speaking in Taipei after a visit to China, Su said she had met AMD's largest customers in China and globally and came to Taiwan to ensure supply capacity could support a significant increase in CPU production, according to the report. “The overall CPU market has had significantly higher demand than any of us predicted a year ago,” Su was quoted as saying, adding that demand is surging due to higher AI inference and agentic AI-related workloads. “I would say the CPU market is tight.” She indicated that AMD was ramping up capacity quickly and expected supply to increase every quarter this year, with significantly more supply planned for 2027 and beyond. Cloud companies are increasingly shifting from GPUs to CPUs for AI workloads, a trend Nvidia highlighted during its earnings call earlier ...
Data from Stocktwits shows that retail sentiment remained ‘extremely bullish’ on SPY and QQQ. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Investors cheered the Trump administration’s $2 billion quantum computing push and stayed bullish on AI-linked trades. Quantum nam...
Data from Stocktwits shows that retail sentiment remained ‘extremely bullish’ on SPY and QQQ. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Investors cheered the Trump administration’s $2 billion quantum computing push and stayed bullish on AI-linked trades. Quantum names, including Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and Infleqtion, surged after receiving proposed federal grants, while IBM soared on a $1 billion quantum initiative. Traders are also watching consumer sentiment data and the leadership change at the Fed, due later today. U.S. stock futures climbed higher early Friday, driven by a massive $2 billion government funding injection into the quantum computing sector. The move added nearly $5 billion in combined market value across the quantum sector in a single session on Thursday. Crude oil prices resumed their rally after Tehran insisted on keeping its enriched uranium stockpile, stalling diplomatic progress despite U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noting "some good signs" in ongoing peace talks. Read Next Loading... Loading... Investors are also keeping a close eye on Washington today as President Donald Trump is expected to officially swear in Kevin Warsh as the new Federal Reserve Chair, succeeding Jerome Powell. As of 4:30 a.m. ET on Friday: Nasdaq futures were 0.5% higher, S&P 500, Dow, and Russell 2000 futures were up 0.3%. Retail sentiment toward the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, remains locked at ‘extremely bullish’. Trending Stocks To Watch International Business Machines Corp. (IBM): Shares rose another 4% in early premarket trade, extending gains from the previous session following a proposed $1 billion federal grant to support IBM's new venture as a major domestic manufacturer of quantum chips. ...
Prediction market traders currently see the highest odds for a SpaceX debut valuation between $2 trillion and $2.5 trillion. Elon Musk waves as he arrives for a state dinner at the Lusail Palace on May 14, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Load...
Prediction market traders currently see the highest odds for a SpaceX debut valuation between $2 trillion and $2.5 trillion. Elon Musk waves as he arrives for a state dinner at the Lusail Palace on May 14, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... The Model Y recalls are due to missing vehicle weight certification labels that regulators said could increase crash risk from overloading. Retail traders remained focused on SpaceX and Elon Musk’s upcoming IPO plans rather than the recall news. Traders speculated Tesla shareholders could eventually benefit from the SpaceX IPO, citing Musk’s past comments about rewarding TSLA holders. Shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) rose nearly 1% in premarket trading on Friday, even after the EV giant recalled over 14,000 Model Y SUVs in the U.S., as investors largely brushed aside the safety issue and instead focused on Elon Musk’s blockbuster SpaceX IPO and the possibility of future benefits for Tesla shareholders. TSLA stock rose marginally on Friday to end at $417.85, but shares are poised to record their second straight weekly loss. Read Next Loading... Loading... Retail Shrugs Off Model Y Recalls The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Friday that Tesla is recalling 14,575 Model Y vehicles due to missing certification labels showing vehicle weight specifications. According to NHTSA, the absence of the label could lead owners to unintentionally overload the vehicles, “increasing the risk of a crash.” Tesla said it will inspect affected vehicles and install the missing labels. Regulators added that there were no reported crashes, injuries, or fatalities linked to the issue. The SpaceX IPO Bull Case Despite the recall headlines, Tesla traders continued speculating on their role in SpaceX’s massive IPO plans after the space ...
Former US ambassador to China Max Baucus has described the latest US-China summit as ushering in a new phase of wary “constructive stability”, with both sides focused more on preventing crises rather than building trust or meaningfully resetting their relationship. In an interview on Wednesday, Baucus said last week’s Beijing summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump ...
Former US ambassador to China Max Baucus has described the latest US-China summit as ushering in a new phase of wary “constructive stability”, with both sides focused more on preventing crises rather than building trust or meaningfully resetting their relationship. In an interview on Wednesday, Baucus said last week’s Beijing summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump served as a guard rail to prevent breakdown and escalation, while revealing the limits of the superpowers’ ties. But for a relationship long defined by fierce competition and deep mutual distrust, that limited outcome was precisely the point, said Baucus, who served as US envoy to Beijing from 2014 to 2017. Advertisement “Two big countries, two different systems, we really do not trust each other,” the former Democratic senator said. “Constructive stability is more crisis prevention … Both sides want to stabilise the relationship, prevent it from getting any worse.” His assessment came as Xi hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, just days after Trump’s visit, underscoring Beijing’s continued strategic alignment with Moscow even as it seeks steadier ties with Washington. Advertisement
For years, Liu Wei was synonymous with Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings’ artificial intelligence efforts. A distinguished scientist at the Shenzhen-based company, Liu was also head of its Hunyuan team, the firm’s foundational model development unit for the generative AI era. But in late 2024, Liu’s departure from Tencent after more than eight years sparked immediate speculation as to why he lef...
For years, Liu Wei was synonymous with Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings’ artificial intelligence efforts. A distinguished scientist at the Shenzhen-based company, Liu was also head of its Hunyuan team, the firm’s foundational model development unit for the generative AI era. But in late 2024, Liu’s departure from Tencent after more than eight years sparked immediate speculation as to why he left. Hunyuan was introduced only a year earlier – so why did Liu suddenly quit one of China’s most deep-pocketed tech companies so early into the AI boom? Speaking to the South China Morning Post, the term Liu repeatedly used was fanshi, or “paradigm”. Commonly used among AI researchers, the term refers to a technical breakthrough that defines a new era of AI innovations, notable examples being OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude Code. Advertisement For Liu, the lack of fanshi innovations is the biggest Achilles’ heel of China’s AI industry. “Chinese companies are either copying DeepSeek or US companies at the core technical level,” he said, referring specifically to the development of large language models (LLM), the centrepiece of the global AI race. Since DeepSeek’s breakout moment early last year, there has been recurring speculation about whether Chinese LLMs have caught up with their US counterparts. However, narrowing public benchmark scores do not accurately reflect a gap in real-world usefulness, said Liu. Advertisement While US industry leaders have continued to push the technical frontier, notably with the launch of Anthropic’s Mythos model in April, domestic Chinese leader DeepSeek failed to reach the same heights it previously did with its latest V4 model.
A Chinese influencer has turned the flying sword in Chinese xianxia fantasy novels into reality by creating a specially-shaped aerial vehicle. Fan Shisan, from southwestern China’s Sichuan province, recently posted a video of himself riding a sword-shaped aerial vehicle, amassing 3.3 million views and 284,000 likes. Dressed in black and striking a cool pose, Fan looks like a knight in China’s xian...
A Chinese influencer has turned the flying sword in Chinese xianxia fantasy novels into reality by creating a specially-shaped aerial vehicle. Fan Shisan, from southwestern China’s Sichuan province, recently posted a video of himself riding a sword-shaped aerial vehicle, amassing 3.3 million views and 284,000 likes. Dressed in black and striking a cool pose, Fan looks like a knight in China’s xianxia dramas. Fan Shisan’s team discuss detailed plans for the flying sword creation using a whiteboard. Photo: Sina Xianxia is a popular genre of Chinese fantasy developed from the wuxia, or martial chivalry genre, and inspired by Chinese mythology. Advertisement Unlike wuxia which is still largely bound by physics, xianxia has more supernatural elements such as deities and immortality. One of the most influential Chinese xianxia works is the 2005 drama Chinese Paladin, which was adapted from a Taiwanese role-playing game, starring the now A-list stars Hu Ge and Liu Yifei. Advertisement Fan, who was born in the 1990s, said he was obsessed with such dramas, as well as classic wuxia dramas such as The Return of the Condor Heroes as a child.
Foreign selling in Indian equities may stretch into next year as Asia’s artificial-intelligence winners offer stronger earnings prospects at cheaper valuations, according to BofA Global Research. “India is facing earnings downgrades, while other AI-driven markets are seeing upgrades,” India research head Amish Shah said. Global investors are unlikely to return to India “before 2027 or perhaps even...
Foreign selling in Indian equities may stretch into next year as Asia’s artificial-intelligence winners offer stronger earnings prospects at cheaper valuations, according to BofA Global Research. “India is facing earnings downgrades, while other AI-driven markets are seeing upgrades,” India research head Amish Shah said. Global investors are unlikely to return to India “before 2027 or perhaps even 2028. It definitely does not look like a 2026 event.” Local stocks are among the worst performers globally so far in 2026, with a weakening rupee worsening a record $23 billion foreign selloff as global investors continue to chase AI-linked plays elsewhere in Asia. Without a meaningful expansion in earnings growth, India’s premium valuations may remain under pressure. BofA retained its forecast of about 8.5% earnings growth for NSE Nifty 50 Index companies in the financial year that ends in March 2027. The brokerage estimates earnings growth for the current fiscal year at around 7%. “So essentially, we are looking at low growth on a low base for India,” Shah said. “In contrast, South Korea and Taiwan are delivering high earnings growth.” Meanwhile, relative valuations for Nifty 50 remain expensive despite this year’s 9% drop. The gauge trades at around 18 times its one-year forward earnings. That compares with 7.5 times for the benchmark in Korea — the world’s best-performing stock market this year. Read More: India’s $924 Billion Market Rout Shows Cost of Missing AI Wave Shah’s comments follow his recent forecast of stagflation risks rising for India, mainly hit by a prolonged war in Iran given the country’s dependence on energy imports. He also warned that rupee depreciation remains a structural challenge for the country. “Foreign flows are going to depend on when the West Asia conflict comes to an end and when the AI capex cycle peaks out,” Shah said. Until then, domestic money is likely to keep chasing Indian mid- and small-cap stocks, he said.
Advance Auto Parts (AAP +14.07%) stock soared on Thursday after the company posted much better-than-expected earnings in the first quarter. The company's share price closed out the daily session up 14.5% and had been up as much as 21.4% earlier in trading. Advance Auto published its Q1 results before the market opened this morning and posted sales and earnings for the period that beat Wall Street'...
Advance Auto Parts (AAP +14.07%) stock soared on Thursday after the company posted much better-than-expected earnings in the first quarter. The company's share price closed out the daily session up 14.5% and had been up as much as 21.4% earlier in trading. Advance Auto published its Q1 results before the market opened this morning and posted sales and earnings for the period that beat Wall Street's expectations. With the benefit of today's valuation pop, the stock is now up roughly 49% across 2026's trading. Advance Auto crushed Q1 profit expectations Advance Auto recorded non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share of $0.77 on sales of $2.61 billion in the first quarter, beating the average analyst estimate's call for a per-share profit of $0.44 on sales of $2.57 billion. Even though year-over-year sales growth came in at a modest 1.2%, the sales performance was better than expected -- and margins for the quarter crushed Wall Street's expectations. Expand NYSE : AAP Advance Auto Parts Today's Change ( 14.07 %) $ 7.21 Current Price $ 58.45 Key Data Points Market Cap $3.1B Day's Range $ 55.49 - $ 62.12 52wk Range $ 37.89 - $ 70.00 Volume 510.5K Avg Vol 1.6M Gross Margin 43.76 % Dividend Yield 1.95 % What's next for Advance Auto Parts? With its Q1 report, Advance Auto reiterated guidance for full-year sales of roughly $8.5 billion and comparable sales growth between 1% and 2%. The company also said that it expected an adjusted operating income margin between 3.8% and 4.5%. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share are projected to be between $2.40 and $3.10, and free cash flow for the year is projected to come in at roughly $100 million. Even though the company didn't issue big upward guidance revisions, Advance Auto's strong Q1 results have boosted investors' expectations for outperformance this year.
Key Points Advance Auto Parts posted a big earnings beat in the first quarter. Stronger-than-expected margins have investors feeling bullish about the rest of the year. 10 stocks we like better than Advance Auto Parts › Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP) stock soared on Thursday after the company posted much better-than-expected earnings in the first quarter. The company's share price closed out the d...
Key Points Advance Auto Parts posted a big earnings beat in the first quarter. Stronger-than-expected margins have investors feeling bullish about the rest of the year. 10 stocks we like better than Advance Auto Parts › Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP) stock soared on Thursday after the company posted much better-than-expected earnings in the first quarter. The company's share price closed out the daily session up 14.5% and had been up as much as 21.4% earlier in trading. Advance Auto published its Q1 results before the market opened this morning and posted sales and earnings for the period that beat Wall Street's expectations. With the benefit of today's valuation pop, the stock is now up roughly 49% across 2026's trading. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Advance Auto crushed Q1 profit expectations Advance Auto recorded non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share of $0.77 on sales of $2.61 billion in the first quarter, beating the average analyst estimate's call for a per-share profit of $0.44 on sales of $2.57 billion. Even though year-over-year sales growth came in at a modest 1.2%, the sales performance was better than expected -- and margins for the quarter crushed Wall Street's expectations. What's next for Advance Auto Parts? With its Q1 report, Advance Auto reiterated guidance for full-year sales of roughly $8.5 billion and comparable sales growth between 1% and 2%. The company also said that it expected an adjusted operating income margin between 3.8% and 4.5%. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share are projected to be between $2.40 and $3.10, and free cash flow for the year is projected to come in at roughly $100 million. Even though the company didn't issue big upward guidance revisions, Advance Auto's strong Q1 results have boosted investors' expectations for outperformance thi...
When 53-year-old Agbar Mohammad pulled into a petrol station in Fiji in May, he was expecting a queue. Instead, it was almost empty. “I could only see one or two cars at the service station, which was very unusual,” Mohammad says. The reason became clear very quickly: as Mohammad filled his car, the numbers on the fuel pump climbed so much faster than the needle on his dashboard. Normally he would...
When 53-year-old Agbar Mohammad pulled into a petrol station in Fiji in May, he was expecting a queue. Instead, it was almost empty. “I could only see one or two cars at the service station, which was very unusual,” Mohammad says. The reason became clear very quickly: as Mohammad filled his car, the numbers on the fuel pump climbed so much faster than the needle on his dashboard. Normally he would put in about $40 of fuel, but this time $100 barely got his 60-litre tank halfway full. The Pacific region is already at the forefront of the climate crisis thanks to rising sea levels and increasing natural disasters. But the fuel crisis caused by the US-Israel war on Iran is revealing another fossil-fuel based vulnerability. The reliance of countries and territories in the Pacific on imported oil is expected to hit economic growth and increase inflation. The shortages are already showing up in the price of cassava, the cost of the school run, and in businesses’ bottom lines. Dr Rubayat Chowdhury from the Australian National University says Pacific Islands are very dependent on imports for food and basic necessities. And in a region that earns a lot from tourism, remittances and foreign aid, higher fuel prices will not just push up the cost of goods, but could also threaten incomes. “The Pacific will be hit hard,” says Chowdhury, for two main reasons. “The first is its remoteness. And the second is small populations.” Oil accounted for more than 80% of the region’s energy supply in 2023 – more than half of that for transport, and more than a third for electricity. View image in fullscreen An aerial view of a port in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian At least eight Pacific countries generated more than half of their electricity in 2024 from oil products – over 90% in Solomon Islands and more than 80% in Tonga and Nauru. By comparison Australia and New Zealand derived 2.3% and 1.5% of their electricity from oil products in 2024, mostly from ...
Vietnam’s richest person spent billions of dollars of his personal fortune on his emerging electric automaker and other ventures last year as the shares of his corporate group soared. Pham Nhat Vuong contributed $900 million to VinFast Auto Ltd. and paid another $1.59 billion to acquire some of its research and development assets. The $2.5 billion bet more than doubles his disclosed lifetime contr...
Vietnam’s richest person spent billions of dollars of his personal fortune on his emerging electric automaker and other ventures last year as the shares of his corporate group soared. Pham Nhat Vuong contributed $900 million to VinFast Auto Ltd. and paid another $1.59 billion to acquire some of its research and development assets. The $2.5 billion bet more than doubles his disclosed lifetime contributions to the EV-maker, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from corporate disclosures. Vuong established VinFast, which has yet to break even, in 2017 in a quest to build a global carmaker. The company lost nearly $4 billion last year as it opened plants in Indonesia and India as part of a pivot to Asia, following largely unsuccessful efforts to crack the US and European markets. The US state of North Carolina on Thursday said it sued VinFast, alleging the company breached agreements tied to a planned electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facility. The majority of Vuong’s wealth is derived from Vingroup JSC , his sprawling conglomerate that’s also VinFast’s parent. After rising eightfold last year, Vingroup’s shares have kept climbing through 2026, making him Southeast Asia’s richest person. He is worth about $30 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index . Vingroup did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The long rally reflects Vingroup’s role as the No. 1 stock for foreign investors looking for exposure to Vietnam, but it also raises questions about the company’s valuation, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jason Low. It currently trades about 150 times price-to-earnings. To many in Vietnam, including senior government officials, Vuong and Vingroup are a testament to the country’s progression from a socialist economy to a market-oriented one. Vuong started in property development in the early 2000s after making a small fortune in Ukraine with an instant-noodle business. Today, Vingroup develops and operates residential and commercia...