(RTTNews) - Ahead of Wednesday's unplanned day off due to Typhoon Gaemi, the Taiwan stock market had ended the four-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 1,700 points or 7.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 22,870-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower again on Thursday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on disappointi...
(RTTNews) - Ahead of Wednesday's unplanned day off due to Typhoon Gaemi, the Taiwan stock market had ended the four-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 1,700 points or 7.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 22,870-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower again on Thursday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on disappointing earnings news and soft data. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit. The TSE finished sharply higher on Tuesday following huge gains among the technology stocks and more modest upside among the financials. For the day, the index surged 614.85 points or 2.76 percent to finish at 22.871.84 after trading between 22,514.75 and 22,871.84. Among the actives, Cathay Financial climbed 2.50 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.71 percent, CTBC Financial added 0.99 percent, First Financial improved 1.03 percent, Fubon Financial strengthened 3.51 percent, E Sun Financial perked 0.34 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company soared 4.26 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation accelerated 2.19 percent, Hon Hai Precision surged 4.68 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.53 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 1.21 percent, MediaTek spiked 4.08 percent, Delta Electronics rallied 4.28 percent, Novatek Microelectronics jumped 3.24 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.68 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.73 percent and Nan Ya Plastics was unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened deep in the red on Wednesday and only moved lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows. The Dow plummeted 504.22 points or 1.25 percent to finish at 39,853.87, while the NASDAQ plunged 654.94 points or 3.64 percent to close at 17,342.41 and the S&P 500 tumbled 128.61 points or 2.31 percent to end at 5,427.13. The sell-off on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to disappointing corporate earnings new...
The Sun writes in its headline that the next MAFS UK season has been "axed" following the BBC's revelations, although its online version has been updated to reflect that the show "faces cancellation". It is understood no decision has been made on the broadcast of MAFS UK series 6. "Channel 4 also secretly paused production on its all-stars' special three weeks ago when they were made aware of the ...
The Sun writes in its headline that the next MAFS UK season has been "axed" following the BBC's revelations, although its online version has been updated to reflect that the show "faces cancellation". It is understood no decision has been made on the broadcast of MAFS UK series 6. "Channel 4 also secretly paused production on its all-stars' special three weeks ago when they were made aware of the allegations," the Sun says.
The S&P 500 has been reaching all-time highs in 2024, mostly fueled by large-cap technology stocks. However, not all stocks have performed quite so well, and that's even true about some that could be excellent long-term investments. Vici Properties (NYSE: VICI) is an excellent business with tons of growth potential that has been beaten down because of its interest rate sensitivity. Starbucks (NASD...
The S&P 500 has been reaching all-time highs in 2024, mostly fueled by large-cap technology stocks. However, not all stocks have performed quite so well, and that's even true about some that could be excellent long-term investments. Vici Properties (NYSE: VICI) is an excellent business with tons of growth potential that has been beaten down because of its interest rate sensitivity. Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) disappointed investors with its first-quarter results, but is taking steps to get things back on track. Even though both stocks are far closer to their 52-week lows than the highs, here's why it could be a smart move to take a closer look at these proven winners. An industry leader with lots of potential Vici Properties is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that was spun off from Caesars Entertainment in 2018 to separate some of its real estate assets. In the years since then, it has evolved into the largest experiential REIT in the world, with 54 gaming properties and more. Vici owns some of the most recognizable real estate on the Las Vegas Strip, including Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, The Venetian, Mandalay Bay, and more. It also owns some of the top regional gaming properties, such as The Borgata in Atlantic City and MGM National Harbor in Washington, D.C., just to name a couple. And it has started to expand beyond its core gaming business, recently acquiring a portfolio of Bowlero entertainment centers. There's a lot to like about Vici's business. Its properties are mission-critical to its tenants. The average lease has 42 years left on it, and 96% of Vici's leases have some type of inflation protection built in. And the business itself is doing great -- in fact, since going public, Vici has raised its dividend every year, and at a rate that is significantly higher than most peers. However, dividend-focused REITs like Vici are rather price-sensitive to rising interest rates, and the current interest rate environment has put pressure on its stock price. Vici ...
当李彦宏在2026年百度 Create 开发者大会上提出“DAA（日活智能体数）将成为 AI 时代新度量衡”时，这一观点迅速在行业内引发广泛讨论。大量媒体围绕“DAA”等概念展开解读，百度也试图借此重新定义 AI 时代的价值评估体系。 相较于概念层面的行业造势，资本市场的关注点始终更为务实。历经多年坚定All in AI战略布局，外界始终在追问三大核心问题：百度是否依托 AI 搭建起全新用户流量入...
当李彦宏在2026年百度 Create 开发者大会上提出“DAA（日活智能体数）将成为 AI 时代新度量衡”时，这一观点迅速在行业内引发广泛讨论。大量媒体围绕“DAA”等概念展开解读，百度也试图借此重新定义 AI 时代的价值评估体系。 相较于概念层面的行业造势，资本市场的关注点始终更为务实。历经多年坚定All in AI战略布局，外界始终在追问三大核心问题：百度是否依托 AI 搭建起全新用户流量入口？AI 技术能否持续拉动平台用户活跃度稳步提升？深耕多年的人工智能技术，最终是否沉淀出可持续、可落地的商业化盈利闭环？ 深耕AI赛道多年，百度从文心系列大模型持续迭代，到自动驾驶全产业链布局，从自研昆仑芯算力芯片，再到智能云业务拓展，几乎覆盖了中国 AI 产业的核心关键赛道。但问题在于，技术能力并不等于用户满意度，更无法直接转化为资本市场的投资信心。而且AI 时代的大厂竞争，本质上正在从“模型能力竞争”，逐渐转向“生态协同能力竞争”。 百度系创业者，正成为百度新的产业竞争者 在李彦宏眼里，百度一直是一家技术驱动的科技公司。但人才的持续流失以及其它叠加因素的综合影响，让百度这家曾经BAT王朝的老大，现在的市值仅为腾讯的 8.87%、阿里的 14.5%（统计时间为2026年5月19日，以港股已收盘的市值数据计算）。 这与当时陆奇管理下的百度股价相比差距太大了。以当年陆奇加入百度前一天开始到被宣布不再担任百度总裁的那天截止的时间段来算，百度股价累计上涨了近60%。而在他被宣布辞职的前两天，百度股价更是创下历史新高，市值达985亿美元，达到历史最高点，已逼近千亿美元。 看了下日历，陆奇被宣布离职至今已整整8年了。这8年，对于“All in AI”的百度来说，似乎发展的得不太理想。 在这8年期间，原来在百度AI研究院实习的闫俊杰创办了MiniMax，自2026 年1月9日上市后，股价一路飙涨，市值曾在3月份短暂超过百度；曾是百度深度学习研究院（IDL）创始人的余凯，创立的地平线公司，专注自动驾驶芯片与智能驾驶解决方案，是百度昆仑芯的主要竞争者；前百度副总裁、小度 CEO的景鲲与前小度 CTO朱凯华在美国创立了Genspark一站式AI工作平台，主打 SuperAgent（超级智能体）技术；另外还有百度早期员工任旭阳与胡嵩、史有才联合创立海致科技，主要解决AI大模型幻觉问题，目前已在...
Key Points It notched a convincing beat on earnings, and also topped the consensus forecast for revenue. A shift away from underperforming businesses helped improve the bottom line. 10 stocks we like better than KE Holdings › Next-generation Chinese real estate company KE Holdings (NYSE: BEKE) was a hot company on the stock exchange on Tuesday. Investors eagerly lapped up its equity after the comp...
Key Points It notched a convincing beat on earnings, and also topped the consensus forecast for revenue. A shift away from underperforming businesses helped improve the bottom line. 10 stocks we like better than KE Holdings › Next-generation Chinese real estate company KE Holdings (NYSE: BEKE) was a hot company on the stock exchange on Tuesday. Investors eagerly lapped up its equity after the company posted first-quarter results that beat estimates. Beating the forecasts KE Holdings, which specializes in online real estate transactions and services, saw its total net revenue decline by 19% year-over-year to 18.9 billion yuan ($2.78 billion) in the quarter. That was on the back of a nearly 16% drop in gross transaction value (GTV) to 712 billion yuan ($105 billion). Much of this was due to a more than 37% slide in the GTV of new home transactions. 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 » The company's net income not under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) rose to over 1.6 billion yuan ($235 million) from the year-ago profit of nearly 1.4 billion yuan ($206 million). In terms of earnings per ordinary share, net income was 1.42 yuan ($0.21). Both leading metrics topped the consensus analyst estimates. Prognosticators tracking KE Holdings' fortunes were modeling 18.64 billion yuan ($2.74 billion) in revenue and a much more modest 1.02 yuan ($0.15) per ordinary share in net profitability. In its earnings release, the company quoted CEO Stanley Peng as saying that "Our performance in this quarter reflected our ongoing efforts to enhance resource allocation, organizational efficiency and service quality, and also laid a foundation for the company to further transition from scale-driven growth to efficiency-driven growth, and from transaction matching to decision-making services." A s...
IDG Capital , an investment firm that has backed Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. , is seeking to raise about $2 billion for a growth fund, according to people familiar with the matter. The fund will invest in consumer technology and other consumer-focused firms in countries including China, the people said, requesting not to be named because the information is private. IDG kicked of...
IDG Capital , an investment firm that has backed Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. , is seeking to raise about $2 billion for a growth fund, according to people familiar with the matter. The fund will invest in consumer technology and other consumer-focused firms in countries including China, the people said, requesting not to be named because the information is private. IDG kicked off fundraising about two months ago and is targeting a first close before the end of this year. Hong Kong-based IDG joins a raft of China-focused fund managers attempting to raise dollars from global sovereign wealth funds, family offices and endowments. Fundraising activity has picked up since last year, with venture capital and private equity firms replenishing their war chests to back the next wave of AI, biotech and consumer firms. A representative for IDG declined to comment. At least six of China’s most prominent VC firms sought to create new dollar-denominated funds last year, allowing overseas investors to pool bets on Chinese companies. Global investors, especially those from the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia, are once again seeing the appeal of China. Private equity specialists have also joined the funding spree: Boyu Capital Investment Management Co. , Hillhouse Investment Management and Primavera Capital have all hit the market for fundraising in recent months. Boyu Capital Plans to Raise $3 Billion for New China Fund Ex-Goldman Rainmaker’s Primavera Is Seeking to Raise Fund China VC Funds Tap Global Investors for $2 Billion in Comeback Much of the resurgent interest can be traced to the rise of China’s breakout AI stars like DeepSeek, which has galvanized local entrepreneurs and fueled widespread optimism that the world’s second-largest economy can compete in the AI race. The pace of fundraising remains a far cry from the industry’s boom around five years ago, before the sector felt the impact of Beijing’s crackdown on tech giants. Many US pensions and ...
Earnings Call Insights: James Hardie Industries plc (JHX) Q4 fiscal 2026 Management View “We delivered net sales of $1.4 billion, and adjusted EBITDA of $381 million ahead of expectations with adjusted EBITDA margin of 27.1%.” (CEO & Executive Director Aaron Erter) “Free cash flow for the year was $314 million, reflecting tightly managed operations in the year and despite significant onetime integ...
Earnings Call Insights: James Hardie Industries plc (JHX) Q4 fiscal 2026 Management View “We delivered net sales of $1.4 billion, and adjusted EBITDA of $381 million ahead of expectations with adjusted EBITDA margin of 27.1%.” (CEO & Executive Director Aaron Erter) “Free cash flow for the year was $314 million, reflecting tightly managed operations in the year and despite significant onetime integration and acquisition-related costs.” (CEO & Executive Director Erter) “We are seeing commercial synergy momentum build as a result of the combination with early wins validating the strength of our integrated go-to-market approach.” (CEO & Executive Director Erter) “The breadth of opportunities and early traction reinforces our confidence and hitting $125 million in run rate commercial revenue synergies exiting fiscal 2027.” (CEO & Executive Director Erter) “On cost synergies, we're ahead of schedule without sacrificing service or execution.” (CEO & Executive Director Erter) “I'd like to take a moment to thank Chris for his contributions during this transition period in Investor Relations and to welcome Bill Seymour, our new Vice President of Investor Relations.” (CEO & Executive Director Erter) “Q4 total net sales grew 45% to $1.4 billion, including $445 million of acquired AZEK revenue.” (Chief Financial Officer Ryan Lada) Outlook “Our fiscal 2027 planning assumptions are for net sales of $5.25 billion to $5.41 billion... On an organic basis, it's a sales growth of 1% to 4%.” (Chief Financial Officer Lada) “For adjusted EBITDA, we are planning for a range of $1.45 billion to $1.5 billion.” (Chief Financial Officer Lada) “We expect to exceed $500 million in fiscal 2027.” (Chief Financial Officer Lada) “We expect approximately $80 million to $100 million of cost pressure in fiscal 2027, roughly 2/3 in North America.” (Chief Financial Officer Lada) “Pricing actions announced in late April directly offset this pressure.” (Chief Financial Officer Lada) “For the first quarter ...
Indonesia continues to notch one grim milestone after another. The latest: losing its status as Southeast Asia’s largest stock market to Singapore. The total market capitalization of Indonesian-listed companies has fallen well over 30% from a peak in January to $618 billion, while Singapore ’s has climbed to $645 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investor sentiment in Indonesia has...
Indonesia continues to notch one grim milestone after another. The latest: losing its status as Southeast Asia’s largest stock market to Singapore. The total market capitalization of Indonesian-listed companies has fallen well over 30% from a peak in January to $618 billion, while Singapore ’s has climbed to $645 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investor sentiment in Indonesia has increasingly soured in recent months amid uncertainties over a potential equities reclassification to frontier markets, as well as Fitch Ratings Inc. and Moody’s Ratings both cutting their credit rating outlooks to negative. Its stock benchmark sits at the bottom among global peers while the rupiah has touched a succession of record lows. The momentum may not be in Indonesia’s favor at the moment, said Soh Chih Kai , a portfolio manager at Lion Global Investors Ltd. Still, a revival in the future should not be ruled out, he said. “Nevertheless, this reinforces the relative standing of the Singapore market as capital flows continue to reward certainty amidst global policy uncertainty,” Soh said. Singapore equities have benefited from economic and political stability, as well as government-led market reforms. The Straits Times Index climbed to a record this week as investors sought defensive havens during volatility sparked by the Iran war. The island nation’s stocks are on pace to outperform their Indonesian peers by the most on record in 2026. MSCI Removes Stocks Linked to Indonesia’s Richest From Indexes Stocks Linked to Indonesia’s Richest Slump on MSCI Deletion Plan Singapore Stocks Reclaim Record High on Haven Demand in Iran War “Wealth is a key driver for earnings growth and together with the strong Singapore dollar, we expect more funds to flow into the market,” said Carmen Lee , head of equity research at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. A selloff of nearly $360 billion in Indonesian stocks this year highlights the growing challenges facing President Prabowo Subianto a...
Key Points Ethereum, Solana, and XRP all have large decentralized finance ecosystems. A bill moving through Congress would create rules governing those ecosystems and their components. The bill would also significantly change the rules for generating cash flows from stablecoin holdings. 10 stocks we like better than Ethereum › For years, crypto investors and financial institutions in the U.S. have...
Key Points Ethereum, Solana, and XRP all have large decentralized finance ecosystems. A bill moving through Congress would create rules governing those ecosystems and their components. The bill would also significantly change the rules for generating cash flows from stablecoin holdings. 10 stocks we like better than Ethereum › For years, crypto investors and financial institutions in the U.S. have had to work with an incomplete set of regulations. That's kept a lot of institutional capital sidelined, and, at least if you believe some crypto investors, it has also given the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) leeway to pursue piecemeal enforcement actions as a substitute for actual policy. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, commonly known as the Clarity Act, which cleared the Senate Banking Committee on May 14, is Congress's most serious attempt thus far to end that ambiguity. If it becomes law, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) would operate under a new statutory framework rather than a patchwork of enforcement memos. 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 » Here's what you need to know about what would likely happen. This could unlock the floodgates for institutional capital Under the Clarity Act, every digital asset will fall into one of three categories: Digital commodities, which are to be overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Investment contract assets, which stay with the SEC Permitted payment stablecoins, which fall under banking regulators per last year's Genius Act, with the SEC and CFTC retaining anti-fraud authority over stablecoin trades on their registered venues In that framework, tokens whose value derives from a sufficiently decentralized blockchain qualify as commodities, while tokens sold through investment co...
Kazakhstan aims to deepen its financial services cooperation with Hong Kong, viewing it as an ideal fundraising hub to access renminbi capital through bond issuances, according to the country’s top envoy in the city. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Bauyrzhan Dosmanbetov, Kazakhstan’s consul general in Hong Kong, also said the Central Asian country’s community in the ci...
Kazakhstan aims to deepen its financial services cooperation with Hong Kong, viewing it as an ideal fundraising hub to access renminbi capital through bond issuances, according to the country’s top envoy in the city. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Bauyrzhan Dosmanbetov, Kazakhstan’s consul general in Hong Kong, also said the Central Asian country’s community in the city had grown over the past decade to about 1,000, driven by the local government’s Belt and Road Scholarship programme. “Kazakhstan and Hong Kong are currently building a partnership that goes far beyond simple trade – we are looking at deep institutional and technological integration,” he said, citing areas such as digital finance, artificial intelligence and sustainable infrastructure. Advertisement “We see a perfect match between Hong Kong’s capital and Kazakhstan’s digital transformation.” Hong Kong is seeking to strengthen its ties with Central Asia as Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu prepares to embark on his first official visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in early June. Advertisement With Kazakhstan being a strong partner under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, the collaboration between Astana and Hong Kong has been scaling up.
bgwalker/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Walmart ( WMT ) is scheduled to report their Q1 ’27 financial results before the opening bell on Thursday, May 21, ’26. Consensus sell-side expectations are for $174.95 billion in revenue, $7.75 billion in operating income and $0.66 in EPS for “expected” y-o-y growth of 5.6%, 8.8% and 8.2%. For the last quarter, Q4 ’26 ended January ’26, Walmart reported...
bgwalker/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Walmart ( WMT ) is scheduled to report their Q1 ’27 financial results before the opening bell on Thursday, May 21, ’26. Consensus sell-side expectations are for $174.95 billion in revenue, $7.75 billion in operating income and $0.66 in EPS for “expected” y-o-y growth of 5.6%, 8.8% and 8.2%. For the last quarter, Q4 ’26 ended January ’26, Walmart reported 5.6% revenue growth, 12% operating income growth and 12% EPS growth y-o-y. Morningstar’s analysis after the Feb ’27 earnings release had an interesting note: Global advertising now accounts for 25% of WMT’s total EBIT. Advertising was known to be growing at a 20% rate annually, but the fact that it's now 20% of EBIT (I still refer to it as operating income) was a positive surprise. Valuation is still the biggest so-called negative around Walmart when looking at general commentary. WMT is trading at roughly 46x expected ’27 earnings for 10% EPS growth this year, on 6% expected revenue growth. Price to sales is back up to 1.5x for WMT. WMT and Costco ( COST ) for years had a price-to-sales or price-to-revenue below 1x, but that’s been put to rest with the Walmart rally since 2023. Summary This is a short Walmart earnings preview, but the first since the Iran conflict started, and the price of WTI crude has regularly been over $100 per barrel. Like McDonald’s ( MCD ), Walmart does have a lower-end consumer as regular shoppers, but the fact is the mass-merchant retail giant has been attracting a higher demographic the last few years. One reason may be e-commerce: Walmart seems to have exploited a niche in “expedited delivery” (i.e., higher-priced delivery cost for a product that is urgently needed), and it seems to be working. Ecommerce grew 28% globally for WMT and is now profitable at the Sam’s segment level. If Walmart doesn’t lower guidance thanks to gas prices hitting some level of sales, at the very least expect Walmart to be conservative with guidance. A 10-15% selloff ...
Multiple States Begin Ejecting Illegal Immigrants From Subsidized Healthcare The political left often betrays their true agenda in the legislation they choose to oppose. The SAVE Act, for example, would require proof of citizenship to vote in US elections; a law which the majority of countries around the world enforce. It's widely supported by around 80% of the public, yet, Democrats stubbornly re...
Multiple States Begin Ejecting Illegal Immigrants From Subsidized Healthcare The political left often betrays their true agenda in the legislation they choose to oppose. The SAVE Act, for example, would require proof of citizenship to vote in US elections; a law which the majority of countries around the world enforce. It's widely supported by around 80% of the public, yet, Democrats stubbornly refuse to pass it. Why? Because they know there are illegal immigrants voting in their favor, and they know that mail-in ballot fraud exists and often benefits them. By extension, Democrats aggressively attempted to block Trump Administration efforts to ensure that illegal immigrants could not receive healthcare subsidies. Their argument was that "no illegals actually access those subsidies". Of course, if this was true, then it should not matter if Trump adds such restrictions - According to Dems, nothing would change. In reality, progressive politicians know that around 1.4 million "asylum seekers" (illegal immigrants who entered the country under Biden's open border policies and then took advantage of the system) were on the healthcare rolls at the end of 2024. They also know that by offering welfare programs to illegals, they are buying the future loyalty of those migrants (as well as keeping them in the country to rig the census in favor of blue states). Today, this loophole is being rectified by a number of states that are now requiring proof of citizenship in order to qualify for public healthcare programs. You would think this is common sense, but Democrats and some medical institutions are not happy with the changes . Hospitals across the state of Tennessee say they are receiving notice from the Department of Health requiring them to verify the citizenship status of everyone enrolled in public benefit programs. Opponents to the reforms say this includes Children’s Special Services, which provides access to care for children from birth to 21 years of age. The process ...
The European Union finalized the text of its long-delayed US trade deal after months of negotiations, clearing a major hurdle to ratifying the pact before President Donald Trump ’s threatened deadline to impose higher tariffs. EU lawmakers and member states reached the agreement early on Wednesday, overcoming lingering disputes that have helped stall implementation of the US trade pact, according ...
The European Union finalized the text of its long-delayed US trade deal after months of negotiations, clearing a major hurdle to ratifying the pact before President Donald Trump ’s threatened deadline to impose higher tariffs. EU lawmakers and member states reached the agreement early on Wednesday, overcoming lingering disputes that have helped stall implementation of the US trade pact, according to the EU’s rotating presidency, which is held by Cyprus. The deal, which was initially struck last July, would see the EU erase levies on US industrial goods in exchange for a 15% tariff ceiling on the bloc’s exports. The European Parliament and EU countries will now vote to ratify the finished text. Trump has said that if the deal isn’t in place by July 4, he will hike tariffs on European automobiles to 25% from 15%.