A top-performing British fund is reallocating money out of the UK and into Australian assets in the expectation that the Aussie will extend its recent strength against a weakening sterling. Credo Dynamic Fund managers have reallocated 3% of their £116 million ($155 million) fund out of short-dated UK government bonds and local equities and into equivalent Australian dollar assets since the middle ...
A top-performing British fund is reallocating money out of the UK and into Australian assets in the expectation that the Aussie will extend its recent strength against a weakening sterling. Credo Dynamic Fund managers have reallocated 3% of their £116 million ($155 million) fund out of short-dated UK government bonds and local equities and into equivalent Australian dollar assets since the middle of January. It’s the first direct investment Down Under for the fund, which started in 2017 and has beaten 94% of peers over the past five years. While the UK stock market has been seen as a potential haven during the Iran war, with its tilt toward sectors like commodities and energy, investors are wary economic weakness and political uncertainty may sink the pound. Meanwhile, Britain’s former colony still benefits from commodity tailwinds, with a stronger economy and rising interest rates. Last week, the Aussie hit its highest level against sterling in more than two years. “We’re a sterling fund but all of a sudden neither the dollar nor sterling are necessarily looking so good,” said Rupert Silver , a senior portfolio manager and Credo’s head of fixed income. With local elections approaching that may cause uncertainty, he expects further pound weakness, so “diversity in currency has been a big thing,” he said in an interview. Australian dollar-denominated assets are attractive to Silver, who sees that currency climbing. The Reserve Bank has already raised its key interest rate twice this year, with traders fully pricing in another three quarter-point hikes before it’s through, compared with two for the UK. Plus, Australia appears to be among the more politically stable developed countries, he added. The heavy weighting of financials and commodities in Australia’s stock indexes appeals to Silver. He bought shares in the iShares MSCI Australia UCITS ETF, which is nearly two-fifths banks and around a quarter commodity stocks. Increasing interest rates should be a tailwind fo...
Adams Diversified Equity Fund (NYSE:ADX) has been paying dividends since 1929, making it one of the oldest closed-end funds in the country. Most investors under 50 have never heard of it. That is a mistake worth correcting, because the fund is currently yielding around 6.7% while quietly outpacing the S&P 500 over multiple timeframes. How ... The Closed End Fund Paying 6.7% That Rivals the S&P 500
Adams Diversified Equity Fund (NYSE:ADX) has been paying dividends since 1929, making it one of the oldest closed-end funds in the country. Most investors under 50 have never heard of it. That is a mistake worth correcting, because the fund is currently yielding around 6.7% while quietly outpacing the S&P 500 over multiple timeframes. How ... The Closed End Fund Paying 6.7% That Rivals the S&P 500
New Yorker Grace Ives broke out as a bedroom pop artist, self-producing 2nd, her 2019 debut, on her Roland MC-505 and carefully expanding her sound for 2022’s appealingly messy Janky Star. Her third album abandons caution in windswept, hyperdetailed songs that streak by like big city streetlights and shimmer with cosmic awe. View image in fullscreen The artwork for Girlfriend Ives escaped her bedr...
New Yorker Grace Ives broke out as a bedroom pop artist, self-producing 2nd, her 2019 debut, on her Roland MC-505 and carefully expanding her sound for 2022’s appealingly messy Janky Star. Her third album abandons caution in windswept, hyperdetailed songs that streak by like big city streetlights and shimmer with cosmic awe. View image in fullscreen The artwork for Girlfriend Ives escaped her bedroom in more than one sense. Janky Star reflected her development of a healthier relationship to substances, yet she hit new lows after its release, making sobriety non-negotiable. She went to write in California, finding safety in a fresh context rather than trying to change alone at home. Her determination and vulnerability fuel Girlfriend, which shares the conspiratorial sweetness and broken-mirror glitter of cult pop classics by Lorde (Melodrama) and Sky Ferreira (Night Time, My Time). Ives’ songs bubble with detail – Avalanche seethes with glitchy synths, roiling piano, sharp strings and EDM shards – but never smother her off-the-cuff vocals, which nudge melodies into earworms. There are nods to British club classics: Fire borrows the existential rush of Olive’s You’re Not Alone; standout Stupid Bitches, a joyful exorcism, evokes Basement Jaxx’s Where’s Your Head At. Ives is candid about what she is exorcising. The lurching Drink Up exposes the self-bargaining mentality of addiction, her fragmented lines suggesting someone accustomed to sneaking around. “I’m not your sea of love,” she sings on Trouble, referencing a famous cover by Cat Power, who has been open about her own dependency problems. But Ives is also gentle with herself: on Garden she is romanced by the potential of freedom “from the hell of my pride”, a sensation blasted through this bolshie, beautiful rebirth.
Lo Ying-sui, a younger brother of Great Eagle Holdings’ chairman Lo Ka-shui, has started selling residential units in a sign that some investors prefer to maintain liquidity amid an uncertain property market cycle. Land Registry records showed a unit registered under Joy Eagle was sold to King Faith International for HK$19 million (US$2.4 million) on March 17. A company search showed that Joy Eagl...
Lo Ying-sui, a younger brother of Great Eagle Holdings’ chairman Lo Ka-shui, has started selling residential units in a sign that some investors prefer to maintain liquidity amid an uncertain property market cycle. Land Registry records showed a unit registered under Joy Eagle was sold to King Faith International for HK$19 million (US$2.4 million) on March 17. A company search showed that Joy Eagle’s directors include Lo Ying-sui and his wife Lim Boon Tuang Lynda. Lo is also a non-executive director of Great Eagle. Advertisement With a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Chicago, Lo is a specialist in cardiology and an honorary clinical associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Medicine, according to the latest interim report of Great Eagle. Angus Luk, senior director at property consultancy CBRE, said some investors preferred to maintain liquidity as property market cycles remained uncertain, while others were reshuffling their portfolios as prices stabilised and buyers returned to the market. Lo Ka-shui, chairman of Great Eagle Holdings, attends the tribute for the late Lee Shau Kee at the Hong Kong Funeral Home in North Point, April 27, 2025. Photo: May Tse “Now that the market has improved, there are buyers willing to take over these properties,” Luk said. “If they had sold earlier, they might not have made a profit, but now they can.”
From mall to torture site: The debate over El Helicoide's future in Venezuela toggle caption Ariana Cubillos/AP CARACAS, Venezuela – Jesus Armas spent 14 months inside El Helicoide, a notorious prison built on top of a massive rock in the center of the capital Caracas. One of the things that struck him the most about the place was the lack of sunlight, and the excess of artificial lighting. For we...
From mall to torture site: The debate over El Helicoide's future in Venezuela toggle caption Ariana Cubillos/AP CARACAS, Venezuela – Jesus Armas spent 14 months inside El Helicoide, a notorious prison built on top of a massive rock in the center of the capital Caracas. One of the things that struck him the most about the place was the lack of sunlight, and the excess of artificial lighting. For weeks at a time, the activist was held in a small room with no windows, where he was allowed no contact with the outside world. Armas said the prison wardens never switched off the lights. "There was always artificial light, always" Armas said, during a rally outside the prison, which has become synonymous with torture. "That makes you feel really anxious and kind of paranoid." Sponsor Message As Venezuela starts a slow and uncertain transition to democracy, politicians here are looking at ways to dismantle a repressive system – that jailed thousands of dissidents on trumped up charges. And a debate has emerged over what to do with El Helicoide, an imposing prison in the center of the Caracas that was initially meant to be a futuristic shopping mall, but was left unfinished. Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez, has proposed turning the towering site into a sports complex that could be used by police officers and residents of two nearby shanty towns. But opposition leaders have described the proposal as an effort to erase the crimes committed in the prison, where inmates were often isolated for months at a time, and tortured by agents seeking information on the activities of opposition activists. "I think that El Helicoide should be a museum," said Armas, who was released from the prison in January, following a U.S. raid on Caracas that led to the arrest of former President Nicolas Maduro. "We should never forget what happened here." While many prisons in Venezuela became known as torture sites, El Helicoide stands out for its imposing architecture — and its unexpecte...
From mall to torture site: Venezuela debates El Helicoide prison's future toggle caption Ariana Cubillos/AP CARACAS, Venezuela — Jesús Armas spent 14 months inside El Helicoide, a notorious prison built on top of a massive rock in the center of the capital Caracas. One of the things that struck him the most about the place was the lack of sunlight, and the excess of artificial lighting. For weeks ...
From mall to torture site: Venezuela debates El Helicoide prison's future toggle caption Ariana Cubillos/AP CARACAS, Venezuela — Jesús Armas spent 14 months inside El Helicoide, a notorious prison built on top of a massive rock in the center of the capital Caracas. One of the things that struck him the most about the place was the lack of sunlight, and the excess of artificial lighting. For weeks at a time, the activist was held in a small room with no windows, where he was allowed no contact with the outside world. Armas said the prison wardens never switched off the lights. "There was always artificial light, always," Armas said, during a rally outside the prison, which has become synonymous with torture. "That makes you feel really anxious and kind of paranoid." Sponsor Message As Venezuela starts a slow and uncertain transition to democracy, politicians here are looking at ways to dismantle a repressive system — that jailed thousands of dissidents on trumped up charges. And a debate has emerged over what to do with El Helicoide, an imposing prison in the center of the Caracas that was initially meant to be a futuristic shopping mall, but was left unfinished. Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, has proposed turning the towering site into a sports complex that could be used by police officers and residents of two nearby shanty towns. But opposition leaders have described the proposal as an effort to erase the crimes committed in the prison, where inmates were often isolated for months at a time, and tortured by agents seeking information on the activities of opposition activists. "I think that El Helicoide should be a museum," said Armas, who was released from the prison in January, following a U.S. raid on Caracas that led to the arrest of former President Nicolás Maduro. "We should never forget what happened here." While many prisons in Venezuela became known as torture sites, El Helicoide stands out for its imposing architecture — and its unexpected ...
Elis Cora/iStock via Getty Images Three individuals linked to AI server maker Super Micro Computer ( SMCI ), including a co-founder, were charged with assisting in the smuggling of at least $2.5 billion worth of U.S. AI technology to China, in violation of export laws, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday. Shares of Super Micro Computer fell further, dropping 19% in pre-market trading on Frid...
Elis Cora/iStock via Getty Images Three individuals linked to AI server maker Super Micro Computer ( SMCI ), including a co-founder, were charged with assisting in the smuggling of at least $2.5 billion worth of U.S. AI technology to China, in violation of export laws, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday. Shares of Super Micro Computer fell further, dropping 19% in pre-market trading on Friday. U.S. prosecutors did not name Super Micro in the complaint, referring only to a "U.S. manufacturer." San Jose, California-based Super Micro said it was informed by federal prosecutors of the indictment on Thursday. It noted that the company itself was not named as a defendant in the case and said it had cooperated with investigators. In an indictment unsealed on Thursday, the U.S. government alleged that Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, Ruei-Tsan “Steven” Chang and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun worked together to violate the Export Control Reform Act. Liaw co-founded Super Micro in 1993, and joined its board of directors in 2023. Chang was a sales manager in the Taiwan office of Super Micro, while Sun was a contractor. U.S. officials allege the trio went to great lengths to hide their actions from both U.S.-based server manufacturers and export control authorities, even using hair dryers to remove labels and serial numbers from the real machines and placing them on dummy machines left behind after the real machines had been shipped to China. The efforts have yielded around $2.5 billion in sales for the server maker since 2024, with $510 million sold between late April 2025 and mid-May 2025 going to the Southeast Asian company and on to China, the indictment said. The plaintiff said the server maker had no U.S. Commerce Department license to export servers featuring Nvidia ( NVDA ) GPUs to China. The server company’s products containing Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips “are subject to strict U.S. export controls barring their sale to China without a license,” the plaintiff said in the indictment...
Shares of top U.S. liquefied natural gas producers Cheniere Energy ( LNG ) and Venture Global ( VG ) climbed about 3% on Friday after Iran’s attacks on Qatar’s LNG infrastructure knocked out a significant portion of its production, tightening global energy supplies and boosting demand for U.S. exporters. Cheniere Energy, the largest exporter of LNG in the United States, was trading 3% higher at $2...
Shares of top U.S. liquefied natural gas producers Cheniere Energy ( LNG ) and Venture Global ( VG ) climbed about 3% on Friday after Iran’s attacks on Qatar’s LNG infrastructure knocked out a significant portion of its production, tightening global energy supplies and boosting demand for U.S. exporters. Cheniere Energy, the largest exporter of LNG in the United States, was trading 3% higher at $290.42, after hitting an all-time high in the previous session. Venture Global ( VG ), the second-ranked U.S. producer meanwhile also advanced 3% after QatarEnergy's comments. Iranian attacks have knocked out 17% of Qatar's liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) export capacity, causing an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue and threatening supplies to Europe and Asia, QatarEnergy's CEO and state minister for energy affairs told Reuters on Thursday. Saad al-Kaabi said two of Qatar's 14 LNG trains and one of its two gas-to-liquids (GTL) facilities were damaged in the unprecedented strikes. The repairs will sideline 12.8 million tons per year of LNG for three to five years, he said in an interview. Cheniere can export more than 51 million metric tons of LNG per year, while Venture Global can ship out more than 37 million tons, according to the companies’ recent earnings calls. The conflict that erupted late last month has rattled global energy markets, closing the Strait of Hormuz, halting roughly a fifth of worldwide oil flows, and forcing QatarEnergy to halt LNG shipments, with analysts now warning of longer-term impacts on gas and LNG prices. According to IWA Research , Cheniere's long-term contracts, recent CPC agreement, and ongoing expansion enhance predictability and secure future growth amid global volatility. The stock has risen 45% year-to-date, while Venture Global has surged 109% over the same period. SA investing group leader Value Portfolio said attacks on Qatar and the Strait of Hormuz closure boosted Venture Global, which still offers a valuable opportunity...
Michael Carrick has changed Manchester United’s fortunes since taking over as interim coach after Ruben Amorim’s dismissal. His side have only lost once in the nine games that he’s been in charge – a 2-1 loss against Newcastle. Read Jamie Jackson’s piece about how Carrick keeps his cool on the touchline. Manchester United duo Kobbie Mainoo and Harry Maguire seem set for England call ups. Recalls t...
Michael Carrick has changed Manchester United’s fortunes since taking over as interim coach after Ruben Amorim’s dismissal. His side have only lost once in the nine games that he’s been in charge – a 2-1 loss against Newcastle. Read Jamie Jackson’s piece about how Carrick keeps his cool on the touchline. Manchester United duo Kobbie Mainoo and Harry Maguire seem set for England call ups. Recalls today would mark the first time a Manchester United player has been involved in the England setup since September 2024. Hello and welcome to another football live blog! Yesterday English teams managed to redeem themselves in Europe slightly, with Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace progressing to the next round of the Europa League and Conference League respectively. This all bodes well for the national team. The England squad will be announced at 11am. Stick with me for updates and feel free to send me a message with your thoughts.
Beijing Dongchedi Technology Co. has picked Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to work on its planned initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter. DCar, as the automotive platform is known, might add more banks later, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. Deliberations are ongoing and details such as IPO size ma...
Beijing Dongchedi Technology Co. has picked Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to work on its planned initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter. DCar, as the automotive platform is known, might add more banks later, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. Deliberations are ongoing and details such as IPO size may change, the people said. Bloomberg News has reported that it might raise $1 billion to $1.5 billion. A representative for DCar didn’t respond to a request for comment. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Launched in 2017 and carved out of TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. in 2023, DCar raised about $600 million in 2024 from investors including General Atlantic, Gaorong Ventures, HSG and KKR & Co. in a funding round valuing it at close to $3 billion, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Following on from a four-year high in 2025, first-time share sales in Hong Kong notched their best-ever start to a year in January, fueling optimism that 2026 would be even better. But the enthusiasm has been tempered by the war in the Middle East and increased regulatory scrutiny of share sales in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is down about 1% this year following rallies of 28% and 18% in 2025 and 2024.
As Hainan pushes ahead with its free-trade port, the tropical island is emerging as a potential rival to Hong Kong’s long-standing role as a regional shopping and low-tax hub – even as both sides signal interest in closer cooperation. Since launching a separate customs regime three months ago, Hainan – now a gateway to the Chinese market – has positioned itself as a “super partner” to Hong Kong ac...
As Hainan pushes ahead with its free-trade port, the tropical island is emerging as a potential rival to Hong Kong’s long-standing role as a regional shopping and low-tax hub – even as both sides signal interest in closer cooperation. Since launching a separate customs regime three months ago, Hainan – now a gateway to the Chinese market – has positioned itself as a “super partner” to Hong Kong across industry chains, finance, tourism and other sectors, according to officials. “Hong Kong serves as the mainland’s ‘superconnector’, and the Hainan-Hong Kong partnership can be fully upgraded to that of ‘super partners’,” said Wang Bin, chief of the Hainan provincial government’s publicity department, citing their “highly complementary advantages”. Advertisement Both economies – located in the South China Sea and close to Southeast Asian markets – offer corporate tax rates of 15 per cent. Long compared by market observers, they have now entered a phase of cooperative competition. Wang said Hainan aimed to tap Hong Kong’s strengths in talent, legal services and finance, noting that the city already accounts for more than 70 per cent of the island province’s foreign investment. Advertisement He proposed a cross-border model of “orders in Hong Kong, production in Hainan and sales worldwide”, calling the island province an ideal hub to industrialise the city’s research capabilities.