ByteDance Ltd. has boosted planned spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure this year by 25% to 200 billion yuan ($29.4 billion), as memory chip costs rise and the TikTok owner ramps up its AI presence, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. The Chinese tech giant increased the AI capital expenditure budget from 160 billion yuan late last year, the SCMP said, citing people fa...
ByteDance Ltd. has boosted planned spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure this year by 25% to 200 billion yuan ($29.4 billion), as memory chip costs rise and the TikTok owner ramps up its AI presence, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. The Chinese tech giant increased the AI capital expenditure budget from 160 billion yuan late last year, the SCMP said, citing people familiar with the matter. ByteDance is now planning to spend a larger portion on domestic AI chips, according to the report. ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the SCMP on Friday. Beijing has urged companies to favor domestic technology as it seeks to promote local chip-making capacity amid its AI rivalry with the US and the export restrictions imposed by Washington. ByteDance’s chatbot app Doubao — akin to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic PBC’s Claude and Google’s Gemini — was China’s most-downloaded AI chatbot for most of last year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence .
Elon Musk has launched a tirade against French judicial authorities currently investigating possible abuses on his X social network. France opened an inquiry in January 2025 into allegations that X, formerly known as Twitter, was used to interfere in French politics. The investigation has since widened to cover allegations of Holocaust denial, distribution of sexual deepfakes and most recently pos...
Elon Musk has launched a tirade against French judicial authorities currently investigating possible abuses on his X social network. France opened an inquiry in January 2025 into allegations that X, formerly known as Twitter, was used to interfere in French politics. The investigation has since widened to cover allegations of Holocaust denial, distribution of sexual deepfakes and most recently possible complicity in the distribution of images of child sexual abuse. Responding to a post on the...
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images Set against a backdrop of historic volatility in the first quarter of 2026, global government bond yield moves were largely muted in April. The once staid Japanese 10-year government bond yield was the biggest mover of the month, rising nearly 17 basis points to end April at 2.52%, just below its three-year high of 2.53%. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) maintained i...
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images Set against a backdrop of historic volatility in the first quarter of 2026, global government bond yield moves were largely muted in April. The once staid Japanese 10-year government bond yield was the biggest mover of the month, rising nearly 17 basis points to end April at 2.52%, just below its three-year high of 2.53%. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) maintained interest rates at its April meeting amid dissenting views from three governors and continued uncertainty about geopolitical events. The central bank’s updated Outlook Report revised up inflation forecasts. The Nikkei 225 index surpassed 60,000 for the first time in its history in the second half of the month, while the yen fell to levels last seen in July 2024, prompting Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama to pledge "decisive action" to prevent a further decline. Meanwhile, the final S&P Global Japan Manufacturing PMI reading showed growth hitting a four-year high. Taichi Shibuya, Head of Japan at Tradeweb, said, “Japanese government bond yields have moved higher in recent months. While global inflation pressures and currency dynamics remain important drivers, the outlook is more dependent on incoming data and geopolitical developments. The BOJ continues to balance rising inflation risks against downside growth concerns, suggesting that policy normalization is likely to remain gradual rather than accelerated.” In the UK, 10-year gilt yields rose nine basis points to finish the month at 5.01%. The Bank of England left its bank rate unchanged at its April meeting, even though policymakers acknowledged inflationary pressures. The S&P Global Flash UK Composite PMI for April showed one of the biggest monthly increases in output prices in the history of the survey, and data released in early May confirmed the inflationary pressure. Amid a broad monetary pause that saw the European Central Bank holding rates steady, Germany’s 10-year Bund yield climbed just two basis points to end Ap...
10'000 Hours/DigitalVision via Getty Images An increasing number of people will be entering first-time-home-buyer age, according to recent population estimates released by the Census Bureau. This suggests a stronger market for new construction, even if the first-timers buy existing houses. Current population by age, with median age of first-time homebuyers highlighted. (Dr. Bill Conerly using data...
10'000 Hours/DigitalVision via Getty Images An increasing number of people will be entering first-time-home-buyer age, according to recent population estimates released by the Census Bureau. This suggests a stronger market for new construction, even if the first-timers buy existing houses. Current population by age, with median age of first-time homebuyers highlighted. (Dr. Bill Conerly using data from U.S. Census Bureau) The National Association of Realtors reported last year that the median age of first-time home buyers was 40 years old. The number of 40-year-olds will rise in the coming years, boosting demand. The nearby chart shows the number of people by age, with the 40-year-olds in orange. (Data for all ages from zero to 100 are available; here we narrow in on the ages most important for first-time home buying.) Look at all of those 35-year-olds. In five years, they will be 40. They outnumber current 40-year-olds by 280,000 people. To put this into perspective, last year just over one million new single-family houses were built. If those 280,000 additional buying-age people pair up to form 140,000 buying couples, they will boost demand for houses by about 14%. These calculations are pretty crude. The 40-year-old median age was a record high and may not be repeated. Other surveys suggest a slightly lower median age. If the median age is lower, then the increase in demand will come sooner, maybe in just two or three years. Not all of the current 35-year-olds will live to be 40, but most of them will: 98.9% according to the most recent life expectancy tables . Having more first-time home buyers will actually boost demand for newly built houses, even though first-time buyers most often buy existing houses. Their purchases of older existing homes enable the sellers to move up into newly built houses. Increased demand anywhere on the age curve will boost demand for the new houses. This demographic boost to home sales may sound surprising given the generally slow to...
⚽ News, discussion and buildup before day’s action ⚽ Premier League things link | Email us here Middlesbrough face Southampton in the other play-off semi-final today. The match kicks off at 12:30pm BST at the Riverside Stadium. It’s sure to be an interesting one after the events of the last few days… Continue reading...
⚽ News, discussion and buildup before day’s action ⚽ Premier League things link | Email us here Middlesbrough face Southampton in the other play-off semi-final today. The match kicks off at 12:30pm BST at the Riverside Stadium. It’s sure to be an interesting one after the events of the last few days… Continue reading...
The United States has sanctioned a total of nine mainland Chinese and Hong Kong companies and individuals accused of helping Iran’s military. The decision, which risks complicating Donald Trump’s visit to China next week, was announced on Friday by the Treasury and State departments. A Treasury Department press release said those targeted were “enabling efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons...
The United States has sanctioned a total of nine mainland Chinese and Hong Kong companies and individuals accused of helping Iran’s military. The decision, which risks complicating Donald Trump’s visit to China next week, was announced on Friday by the Treasury and State departments. A Treasury Department press release said those targeted were “enabling efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons” or securing “raw materials with applications in Iran’s Shahed‑series unmanned aerial vehicles and...
WhiteHorse Finance (NASDAQ:WHF) reported lower first-quarter earnings and a decline in net asset value as previously identified credit issues weighed on results, while management said share repurchases helped offset some of the impact through NAV accretion. Chief Executive Offic
WhiteHorse Finance (NASDAQ:WHF) reported lower first-quarter earnings and a decline in net asset value as previously identified credit issues weighed on results, while management said share repurchases helped offset some of the impact through NAV accretion. Chief Executive Offic
Egg Prices Surge: 3 Stocks Set to Benefit from Rising PPI TrendsVital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) executives said the company’s first-quarter results and early second-quarter scanner data fell short of expectations as retail price gaps widened beyond levels the brand could sustain, promp
Egg Prices Surge: 3 Stocks Set to Benefit from Rising PPI TrendsVital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) executives said the company’s first-quarter results and early second-quarter scanner data fell short of expectations as retail price gaps widened beyond levels the brand could sustain, promp