Standard Chartered said it plans to eliminate thousands of support roles over the next four years, joining the ranks of global lenders using artificial intelligence to trim headcount. “It’s not about cost cutting," Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters said at a press briefing in Hong Kong. "It's about having a structurally more productive environment that is fit for future." Bloomberg's Tom Metcal...
Standard Chartered said it plans to eliminate thousands of support roles over the next four years, joining the ranks of global lenders using artificial intelligence to trim headcount. “It’s not about cost cutting," Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters said at a press briefing in Hong Kong. "It's about having a structurally more productive environment that is fit for future." Bloomberg's Tom Metcalf reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
Dragos Condrea/iStock via Getty Images Sentiment sunk to a multiyear low on the first-quarter earnings calls held by private equity's Big Four listed firms as executives discussed slow private equity exit activity and elevated redemption requests from retail investors in their private credit funds. The average net positivity score for Apollo Global Management Inc. ( APO ), Blackstone Inc. ( BX ), ...
Dragos Condrea/iStock via Getty Images Sentiment sunk to a multiyear low on the first-quarter earnings calls held by private equity's Big Four listed firms as executives discussed slow private equity exit activity and elevated redemption requests from retail investors in their private credit funds. The average net positivity score for Apollo Global Management Inc. ( APO ), Blackstone Inc. ( BX ), The Carlyle Group Inc. ( CG ) and KKR & Co. Inc. ( KKR ) fell to its lowest mark since Q4 2023, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of language used by executives and analysts in the earnings call transcripts. Their average net positivity score came in below the S&P 500 average for the third consecutive quarter. For each of the Big Four firms, the net positivity score assigned to their Q1 earnings call transcript was below the prior four-quarter average. Deviating furthest from its recent trend was Blackstone, which reported $1.4 billion in quarterly net outflows from the Blackstone Private Credit Fund, better known as BCRED, as retail investors were wary of potential private credit losses and asked for their money back. Carlyle experienced elevated redemptions from a similar product, Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund ( TAKIX ), or CTAC. Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman downplayed the redemptions. "Despite the external noise, our institutional and insurance clients, who represent 75% of our credit platform AUM, have continued to commit large-scale capital to the asset class," Schwarzman said. Exit outlook Also weighing on sentiment was a slow exit market that has delayed plans to sell or take public Big Four private equity portfolio companies. "The significant recent market volatility and broader uncertainty has had the effect of pushing out exit pipelines and slowing realization activity in the near term," Blackstone CFO Michael Chae said. Delayed exits also threaten KKR's ability to achieve adjusted net income of $7 per share for 2026, a goal set a...
Nano Nuclear Energy is well-positioned to deliver power for data centers and industrial applications but its stock price has headwinds for investors to avoid.
Nano Nuclear Energy is well-positioned to deliver power for data centers and industrial applications but its stock price has headwinds for investors to avoid.
Global finance chiefs are coming to terms with the new economic reality that a consumer-price shock they had hopes of skirting is looking likely to endure. As the second day of Group of Seven discussions proceed in Paris, the aftermath of a bond-market readjustment factoring in more inflation has raised the burden of proof needed to keep borrowing costs unchanged. The prospect of higher interest r...
Global finance chiefs are coming to terms with the new economic reality that a consumer-price shock they had hopes of skirting is looking likely to endure. As the second day of Group of Seven discussions proceed in Paris, the aftermath of a bond-market readjustment factoring in more inflation has raised the burden of proof needed to keep borrowing costs unchanged. The prospect of higher interest rates is looming, with associated stress to growth and budget deficits. The talks with finance ministers and central bankers on Tuesday will now continue against a backdrop of 30-year Treasury yields hovering close to the highest since 2007. With the Iran war that caused the energy shock still unresolved, officials will survey the uneven topography of global prosperity and touch on monetary policy too, before turning to discuss terror financing. But darkening the mood over somewhat cerebral discussions about imbalances ranging from US budget deficits to weak Chinese demand is the more pressing reality that the Middle East crisis is bearing down on economies, impacting growth and feeding price pressures. “The longer it goes, the higher the risk of secondary effects,” said OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann . “If you see increases in wages as secondary effects, then central banks will need to take action — even if the economic growth outlook is somewhat weaker.” Pressure for a response is rising on central bankers from around the G-7 club, with investors increasingly betting on moves to raise borrowing costs as soon as June, most notably in the euro zone and Japan. One notable absentee from the meeting is newly appointed Federal Reserve chief Kevin Warsh , who has just taken charge with the expectation from US President Donald Trump that he should try to cut borrowing costs. The lingering energy crunch is making that prospect ever harder to achieve. “Increasingly as this shock persists, they are getting further behind the curve,” Nuveen Global Investment Strategist Laura C...
(RTTNews) - London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) on Tuesday announced a new five-year agreement to expand their long-standing technology partnership centered on VMware Cloud Foundation.
(RTTNews) - London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) on Tuesday announced a new five-year agreement to expand their long-standing technology partnership centered on VMware Cloud Foundation.
(RTTNews) - SERB Pharmaceuticals and Hansa Biopharma AB (HNSA.ST) announced Tuesday their agreement, under which SERB will acquire exclusive rights to develop and sell Hansa's kidney transplant drug Idefirix in Europe and the Middle East and North Africa or MENA region for 115 mi
(RTTNews) - SERB Pharmaceuticals and Hansa Biopharma AB (HNSA.ST) announced Tuesday their agreement, under which SERB will acquire exclusive rights to develop and sell Hansa's kidney transplant drug Idefirix in Europe and the Middle East and North Africa or MENA region for 115 mi
nycshooter Indian air safety officials plan to travel to Seattle to observe Boeing's ( BA ) testing of a fuel-control switch panel that was removed from an Air India 787 in February after the pilots on a London-Bengaluru flight flagged a possible defect, according to documents seen by Reuters . The testing, described by Indian officials as "sensitive", renews the spotlight on the switches on Boe...
nycshooter Indian air safety officials plan to travel to Seattle to observe Boeing's ( BA ) testing of a fuel-control switch panel that was removed from an Air India 787 in February after the pilots on a London-Bengaluru flight flagged a possible defect, according to documents seen by Reuters . The testing, described by Indian officials as "sensitive", renews the spotlight on the switches on Boeing ( BA ) Dreamliners that regulate the flow of jet fuel into a plane's engines as investigators prepare a final report into an Air India 787 crash that killed 260 people in Gujarat last June, the report said . The switches, designed to be immovable without specific actions from pilots, have come under scrutiny since the preliminary report into the crash found they had been shut off nearly simultaneously, starving the engines of fuel. As "the matter is sensitive in nature, Air India is hereby directed to ensure that the strip/test examination at OEM's (Boeing) premises is carried out in the presence of a DGCA officer," Manish Kumar, a DGCA deputy director of airworthiness, wrote in his March 9 email. In a statement, Air India said the module was confirmed as "fully functional" by Boeing and the DGCA, but the decision to proceed with further testing is "understood to be intended to ensure a thorough and conclusive evaluation ... as a measure of abundant caution," the report said. More on Boeing Boeing's Preferred And Common Shares Have Similar Risk And Reward: Both Are A Hold Boeing Is Beating Airbus Where It Matters Most CliffsNotes IBM, Boeing Earnings Summaries: Boeing's OK; IBM Is All About What Management Didn't Say Citi sees buying opportunities emerging in aerospace, defense selloff Boeing orders, China overcapacity take center stage after Trump-Xi meeting
Markets were on course to open in the red Tuesday as the chip-stocks rally that has powered gains for much of the year continued to lose steam. Stock futures tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq were down 0.3%, having finished 1.5% lower the previous session led lower by a Big Tech selloff. Dow Industrial futures were falling 34 points, or 0.1%, while S&P 500 futures dropped 0.2%.
Markets were on course to open in the red Tuesday as the chip-stocks rally that has powered gains for much of the year continued to lose steam. Stock futures tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq were down 0.3%, having finished 1.5% lower the previous session led lower by a Big Tech selloff. Dow Industrial futures were falling 34 points, or 0.1%, while S&P 500 futures dropped 0.2%.
pingingz/iStock via Getty Images Although I am yet to write any Deep Dive on any neocloud, I still like to pay close attention to what they are saying during their earnings calls. Both CoreWeave ( CRWV ) and Nebius ( NBIS ) had some interesting nuggets in their 1Q’26 call. Let’s start with CoreWeave. Just like the hyperscalers, CoreWeave’s backlog continues to grow at a rapid pace. Their backlog n...
pingingz/iStock via Getty Images Although I am yet to write any Deep Dive on any neocloud, I still like to pay close attention to what they are saying during their earnings calls. Both CoreWeave ( CRWV ) and Nebius ( NBIS ) had some interesting nuggets in their 1Q’26 call. Let’s start with CoreWeave. Just like the hyperscalers, CoreWeave’s backlog continues to grow at a rapid pace. Their backlog now reached almost $100 billion in 1Q’26 (vs. just $25.9 billion in 1Q’25). While their backlog likely remains concentrated, they did mention that they now have 10 customers committed to spending at least $1 billion with CoreWeave. CoreWeave indicated that “materially in excess of 50%” of their compute is currently being used for inference. They slightly raised the low end of the capex guide from $30-35 billion to $31-35 billion for 2026. The increase on the low end is primarily due to memory price increases. What is Nebius saying? Nebius raised their capex guide too, but unlike CoreWeave, they mentioned the impetus for the capex increase was primarily higher demand. From the call: Demand is high. Everything we build with is sold. That is what is driving us to build more and to raise our 2026 CapEx guidance to between $20 billion and $25 billion, which is up from our prior range of $16 billion to $20 billion. Perhaps the more interesting tidbit from the Nebius call is how management elaborated on their deal with Meta Platforms ( META ) (emphasis mine): “First, I want to say that we love working with Meta, and we’re excited that they chose to buy more capacity from us. This expanded new agreement is to make sure that we all understand this, a 5-year contract for a total of $27 billion, and it is structured in 2 parts. First, there’s a $12 billion commitment to dedicated compute capacity with delivery starting in early ‘27. And then second, as you pointed out, there’s another $15 billion of additional capacity that we, at our discretion, can either allocate to Meta or sell to ...
The wait is over. Anyone wondering which stocks new Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) CEO Greg Abel would buy in the company's first quarter without Warren Buffett as CEO now has an answer. Actually, they have seven answers. Berkshire Hathaway submitted its 13F regulatory filing for the first quarter of 2026 after the market closed on May 15. The conglomerate bought seven stocks during ...
The wait is over. Anyone wondering which stocks new Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) CEO Greg Abel would buy in the company's first quarter without Warren Buffett as CEO now has an answer. Actually, they have seven answers. Berkshire Hathaway submitted its 13F regulatory filing for the first quarter of 2026 after the market closed on May 15. The conglomerate bought seven stocks during Abel's initial quarter at the helm. And one of them stands out as the best of the bunch. Image source: The Motley Fool. Continue reading
China will actively participate in settling international conflicts and improve mechanisms for resolving them, a former Chinese diplomat has said, stressing that Hong Kong could serve as an “important bridge” for exchanges and that a recently established mediation body in the city would bolster international rule of law. At the Global Prosperity Summit in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Han Zhiqiang, vice-p...
China will actively participate in settling international conflicts and improve mechanisms for resolving them, a former Chinese diplomat has said, stressing that Hong Kong could serve as an “important bridge” for exchanges and that a recently established mediation body in the city would bolster international rule of law. At the Global Prosperity Summit in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Han Zhiqiang, vice-president of the China Public Diplomacy Association, who formerly served as Beijing’s ambassador to...
Russia’s ruble has muscled its way to become the world’s best performer against the dollar so far this quarter, buoyed by a surge in foreign currency receipts from oil sales following the outbreak of war in the Middle East. The ruble has advanced roughly 12% since the start of April to 72.6 per dollar, the strongest level since February 2023, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. For a second s...
Russia’s ruble has muscled its way to become the world’s best performer against the dollar so far this quarter, buoyed by a surge in foreign currency receipts from oil sales following the outbreak of war in the Middle East. The ruble has advanced roughly 12% since the start of April to 72.6 per dollar, the strongest level since February 2023, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. For a second straight year, the currency is diverging from official and market forecasts that projected a depreciation, leading some analysts to view it as overvalued relative to the current economic conditions. The ruble’s strength is increasingly looking like an embedded feature of Russia’s current economy, a product of both sanctions-driven imbalances in its financial market and tight monetary policy to offset massive government spending on President Vladimir Putin ’s war in Ukraine. While the appreciating currency helps ease inflationary pressure, it’s also squeezing exporters’ earnings and budget revenue. “If the Russian economy eventually moves away from a wartime footing, the ruble will also return to more normal levels,” said Iskander Lutsko , a Dubai-based senior portfolio manager at Istar Capital. “Right now, conditions are ideal for further strengthening.” Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said last month that the ruble may remain stronger “than many would like” in the coming years under the current economic model, which has limited capital outflows. Demand for foreign currency remains subdued amid high local interest rates and weak imports, nearly 60% of which are now paid for in rubles as Russia has continued to adapt to sanctions imposed after the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, inflows of foreign tender — which had begun to fade after Washington tightened sanctions on Russian oil last year — have surged following a rally in energy prices and an easing of US restrictions in response to disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Net for...