Nintendo Co. has asked partners and suppliers to assemble about 20 million Switch 2 consoles in the year through March, roughly 20% more than the public sales outlook it issued earlier this month , people familiar with the matter said. The latest production volume plan is not final and may be revised depending on demand, said the people, asking not to be named as the information is not public. Sti...
Nintendo Co. has asked partners and suppliers to assemble about 20 million Switch 2 consoles in the year through March, roughly 20% more than the public sales outlook it issued earlier this month , people familiar with the matter said. The latest production volume plan is not final and may be revised depending on demand, said the people, asking not to be named as the information is not public. Still, the current schedule suggests the company is confident in its ability to stoke Switch 2 sales with its upcoming games lineup. Nintendo has made a habit of issuing conservative forecasts at the start of a fiscal year and then outperforming them, a common practice for Japanese corporations. Just a year ago, the company publicly proclaimed an estimate for 15 million Switch 2 sales in the last fiscal year — and then finished at 19.9 million units. For this year, it said it expect to sell 16.5 million Switch 2 consoles. “For them, there is no real downside in lowballing numbers first and then surpassing them later,” said Tokyo-based industry analyst Serkan Toto . “The just-finished fiscal year is a good example.” The closely watched Switch 2 has set new sales records since its June debut. Nintendo stirred a fresh buying spree in Japan in recent days by announcing an imminent price hike, to be followed by a global price increase in September to $500 — from the original $450 — brought on by the elevated cost of key parts like memory. A Nintendo spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The Switch 2 has a handful of hit games, such as Donkey Kong Bananza , Pokémon Legends: Z-A and this spring’s surprise global smash Pokémon Pokopia . The best-selling video game in the US in April was Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream , another in-house production from Nintendo, which raked in $41 million in US sales, according to market tracker Circana. In Japan, Famitsu data showed Switch 2 sales in the country roughly quadrupled for the two weeks ending May 10, and some stores are...
Copper advanced with other base metals as optimism the US and Iran can reach a peace agreement supported risk assets. The metal rose as much as 0.8% in London. Iran said the most recent proposals from the US narrowed the gap between the two sides, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there were “some good signs” a deal could be reached. However, sticking points remain, such as Tehran’s uraniu...
Copper advanced with other base metals as optimism the US and Iran can reach a peace agreement supported risk assets. The metal rose as much as 0.8% in London. Iran said the most recent proposals from the US narrowed the gap between the two sides, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there were “some good signs” a deal could be reached. However, sticking points remain, such as Tehran’s uranium stockpile and a dispute over tolls in the Strait of Hormuz. Metals have held up well through the conflict, which is approaching the three-month mark. Copper, which posted a record-high close last week, has been boosted by bets that mine supply won’t be able to match demand from growth areas including artificial intelligence, clean energy and strategic stockpiling. “Pricing is no longer anchored to the marginal cost, but increasingly reflects scarcity value and supply security,” Jefferies Financial Group analysts said in a note. “We expect copper prices to remain elevated in order to incentivize new supply.” Copper rose 0.6% to $13,601 a ton on the London Metal Exchange as of 11:02 a.m. in Shanghai, and was up 0.3% for the week. Aluminum climbed 0.3%, its fifth straight daily gain, while zinc added 1.1%. Iron ore futures in Singapore increased 0.4% to $106.20 a ton, breaking a six-day run of declines.
The Bullish Trade The TSMC Trade TSMC’s recent stock movement is attributed more to relative-strength positioning rather than any specific company catalyst. Investors continue to favor large-cap semiconductor names, even as broader market sentiment weakens. Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings indicate TSMC stock has a Momentum score in the 90th percentile and a Value score in the 26th percentile. Disclai...
The Bullish Trade The TSMC Trade TSMC’s recent stock movement is attributed more to relative-strength positioning rather than any specific company catalyst. Investors continue to favor large-cap semiconductor names, even as broader market sentiment weakens. Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings indicate TSMC stock has a Momentum score in the 90th percentile and a Value score in the 26th percentile. Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo Courtesy: PJ McDonnell on Shutterstock.com
China’s landmark Pinglu Canal has entered its final phase of construction and is set to begin trial operations as early as September, with a first shipping route linking the country’s heartlands to the free-trade port of Hainan, according to Chinese state media reports. The Pinglu Canal – China’s most ambitious waterway project in centuries – will stretch 134km (83 miles) from Nanning, capital of ...
China’s landmark Pinglu Canal has entered its final phase of construction and is set to begin trial operations as early as September, with a first shipping route linking the country’s heartlands to the free-trade port of Hainan, according to Chinese state media reports. The Pinglu Canal – China’s most ambitious waterway project in centuries – will stretch 134km (83 miles) from Nanning, capital of the southern Guangxi region, to the Gulf of Tonkin, known as the Beibu Gulf in China. Advertisement The aim is to give China’s less-prosperous inland regions quicker and easier access to global sea lanes , boosting local industry and strengthening trade with the country’s largest export market: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). China’s surging trade with Southeast Asia played a key role in helping Beijing ride out a trade war with the United States last year, as a 13.4 per cent rise in Asean exports partly offset a 20 per cent drop in shipments to the US. The canal’s debut route will be a direct link to another Chinese region: the island province of Hainan, located just across the Gulf of Tonkin, which China is developing into a free-trade hub The shipping route from Nanning to Hainan’s Yangpu Port will be launched to coincide with the 23rd China-Asean Expo, which will take place in Nanning in September, the state-run Securities Times reported last week.
peshkov/iStock via Getty Images By Alison Coughlin and Gregor Spilker Lumber is a strong proxy for economic health, as demand for the product, which is essential for housing and construction, is closely tied to economic growth. Gold has historically been seen as the ultimate safe-haven asset, which people buy when they fear volatility and stress in the financial ecosystem. By dividing the price of...
peshkov/iStock via Getty Images By Alison Coughlin and Gregor Spilker Lumber is a strong proxy for economic health, as demand for the product, which is essential for housing and construction, is closely tied to economic growth. Gold has historically been seen as the ultimate safe-haven asset, which people buy when they fear volatility and stress in the financial ecosystem. By dividing the price of lumber futures by gold futures, a forward-looking gauge of risk appetite emerges. The ratio, which was made popular by Michael A. Gayed's research in 2015, may offer insight into when the economy stops focusing on building for the future and starts thinking about capital preservation. The lumber-gold ratio serves as a barometer of market sentiment: A high ratio signifies economic optimism and elevated risk appetite, as it means demand for growth-sensitive lumber (the numerator) is surging and/or capital is flowing out of safe-haven gold (the denominator). Conversely, a low ratio signals “risk-off” sentiment. A collapse would suggest a prioritization of capital preservation over growth by investors, which can be driven by two primary forces: a plunge in lumber prices indicating a potential structural economic slowdown or a surge in gold prices reflecting lower risk appetite amid systemic uncertainty. In either scenario, the lower ratio often acts as a leading indicator for increased broad-market volatility and a rotation into safer assets. As of early May, the lumber-gold ratio is sitting at historic lows of around 0.10. What does a ratio of 0.10 indicate? A ratio of 1, for instance, means that it takes 1 ounce of gold to buy the equivalent of 1,000 board feet of lumber. A ratio of 0.25 means that it only takes 0.25 ounces of gold to buy that same amount of lumber. Gold, the perceived safe haven asset, is richly valued compared to lumber, the building material used in the real economy. The Numerator: Lumber To understand what the ratio is signaling today, we must first exam...
Kaggle’s top 1.3% recognized for mathematical-modeling and machine-learning skills TOKYO, May 22, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that Tadakiyo Seki, an engineer at the company’s Engineering and Development Center in Japan, has been awarded the title of Kaggle Competitions Master by Kaggle, Inc., a Google LLC subsidiary and the world’s largest A...
Kaggle’s top 1.3% recognized for mathematical-modeling and machine-learning skills TOKYO, May 22, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that Tadakiyo Seki, an engineer at the company’s Engineering and Development Center in Japan, has been awarded the title of Kaggle Competitions Master by Kaggle, Inc., a Google LLC subsidiary and the world’s largest AI competition platform. The title is awarded based on the total number of medals a competitor accumulates. Kaggle medals recognize competitors who use superior skills in mathematical modeling or machine learning to develop effective solutions to challenges posed by companies, research institutions and other organizations. Seki has accumulated one gold medal and two silver medals, placing him among the top 1.3% of all Kaggle participants. Seki has competed in Kaggle competitions since 2024, using his expertise in physical modeling and machine-learning techniques honed through daily research and development. He won a gold medal by placing 10th out of 1,727 teams in the March Machine Learning Mania 2025 competition, which involved the statistical prediction of basketball game outcomes. He also earned a silver medal by placing 63rd out of 1,424 teams in the PhysioNet - Digitization of ECG Images competition, which required extracting waveform data from electrocardiogram images with high precision. Most recently, Seki secured a silver medal by placing 44th out of 1,867 participants in the Stanford RNA 3D Folding Part 2 competition, which focused on predicting the three-dimensional structure of ribonucleic acid (RNA) from base-sequence information. For the full text, please visit: www.MitsubishiElectric.com/news/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260521494824/en/ Contacts Customer Inquiries Engineering and Development Center Corporate Manufacturing and Engineering Group Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Tel: +81-6-6491-8031 www.Mitsub...
Pentagon Delegation's Beijing Visit Held Up Over Gargantuan US Arms Package For Taiwan China is using a Pentagon itinerary as structural leverage, and Taiwan remains front and center as the key geopolitical snag in bettering communications and relations between Beijing and Washington. According to a Financial Times report published Thursday, China is actively holding up a proposed visit by Elbridg...
Pentagon Delegation's Beijing Visit Held Up Over Gargantuan US Arms Package For Taiwan China is using a Pentagon itinerary as structural leverage, and Taiwan remains front and center as the key geopolitical snag in bettering communications and relations between Beijing and Washington. According to a Financial Times report published Thursday, China is actively holding up a proposed visit by Elbridge Colby , the Pentagon's under-secretary of defense for policy . The move is a transparent effort to pressure President Trump over a looming $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan . Elbridge Colby, left. While Colby had been actively discussing a summer trip to Beijing with Chinese officials, China has effectively frozen the process and logistics. Sources familiar with the talks report that Beijing has signaled it " cannot approve a visit until Trump decides how he will proceed with the arms package . " Trump admin officials have been quick to point out that Trump has approved "the sale of more weapons to Taiwan than any other US president." And so it appears that such bravado should come with a cost, in Beijing's apparent thinking. And yet, Trump has repeatedly publicly touted his personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping as "amazing" - though his recent Beijing trip did nothing to ultimately produce a breakthrough. Trump, upon returning from his trip earlier this month, stated that he "has not decided whether to proceed with the major weapons sale," injecting a fresh wave of strategic ambiguity over US support for the self-ruled island. He also in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier had stated that he doesn't want "to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war" over Taiwan. "I'm not looking to have somebody to go independent and, you know, we're supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war," Trump told Baier. "I'm not looking for that. I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down." Taiwan remains critically important to Washington because it is not only a ...