The troubled private credit funds, by most any measure, are a sliver of the assets of investing giants KKR & Co. , BlackRock Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. Yet as the firms’ most outward-facing vehicles during the $1.8 trillion market’s turbulent 2026, they’ve become outsized reputational stains as investors assess problems across the industry. Now, each asset manager is taking steps to ad...
The troubled private credit funds, by most any measure, are a sliver of the assets of investing giants KKR & Co. , BlackRock Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. Yet as the firms’ most outward-facing vehicles during the $1.8 trillion market’s turbulent 2026, they’ve become outsized reputational stains as investors assess problems across the industry. Now, each asset manager is taking steps to address them, albeit with different tools. At $758 billion KKR, the persistent issues dogging its publicly traded FS KKR Capital Corp. , a $12.3 billion fund, reached the highest levels of the firm, according to a person familiar with the matter. Executives deliberated over ways to generate value and along with FS KKR’s board of directors landed on a $300 million share buyback program, which investors had been lobbying for, after gauging it would have sufficient demand, said the person, asking not to be identified discussing internal conversations. Meanwhile, BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. , a $1.5 billion fund, has been a thorn in the side of the world’s largest asset manager for the past year. It predates the splashy $12 billion acquisition of private credit boutique HPS Investment Partners, but the firm has added more HPS executives to TCP’s investment committee, giving them a key role in picking new loans to improve performance, according to people familiar with the matter. And Apollo, with $1 trillion, is reportedly shopping around its $3 billion fund MidCap Financial Investment Corp. , which has avoided trading at an ultra-steep discount like KKR and BlackRock’s offerings but still faced losses and net asset declines. Plus, its focus on middle-market lending is narrow when compared with CEO Marc Rowan ’s vision of a $40 trillion , largely investment-grade private credit market. The moves illustrate the challenges facing business development companies that are packaged on exchanges like stocks — in contrast to their non-traded counterparts that have faced an unprecedented w...
Dyson’s new air purifier can target multiple people. | Image: Dyson Dyson has announced a new air purifying bladeless fan that's its first to incorporate an AI-powered camera for tracking the location of people in a room. Dyson already uses a mix of cameras and AI in its robovacs , but since the new Find+Follow Purifier Cool is stationary and not at risk of running into abandoned socks, here it's ...
Dyson’s new air purifier can target multiple people. | Image: Dyson Dyson has announced a new air purifying bladeless fan that's its first to incorporate an AI-powered camera for tracking the location of people in a room. Dyson already uses a mix of cameras and AI in its robovacs , but since the new Find+Follow Purifier Cool is stationary and not at risk of running into abandoned socks, here it's used to direct fresh air towards you and to conserve power by automatically turning the fan off when a room is empty. The Dyson Find+Follow Purifier Cool is now available from its online and retail stores for $894.99 and is capable of capturing and trapping 99.97 percent of ultrafine particles as small as 0.3 micron … Read the full story at The Verge.
Yossakorn Kaewwannarat/iStock via Getty Images BRK stock: Q3 changes made P/B ratio more relevant I last analyzed Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A ) (NYSE: BRK.B ) on Mar 27 with an article titled " Berkshire Hathaway: Why I Set A $450 Limit Buy Order”. The article, focusing on the company’s FQ4 earnings report (ER) and also the price volatility afterwards, concluded with a hold rating. Since then,...
Yossakorn Kaewwannarat/iStock via Getty Images BRK stock: Q3 changes made P/B ratio more relevant I last analyzed Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A ) (NYSE: BRK.B ) on Mar 27 with an article titled " Berkshire Hathaway: Why I Set A $450 Limit Buy Order”. The article, focusing on the company’s FQ4 earnings report (ER) and also the price volatility afterwards, concluded with a hold rating. Since then, the company has recently released its FQ1 2026 earnings report. The ER was widely viewed as a historical pivot as Greg Abel assumes the CEO role from Warren Buffett and attracted extensive media coverage. As a result, most of the aspects of the FQ1 ER have already been thoroughly detailed at this point. Therefore, in this article, I will focus on an aspect that is less often discussed from the ER reviews I’ve seen thus far: the role of Price/Book ratios. During the late stage of Buffett’s reign, a notion that has been gaining increasing popularity was that the P/B ratios don’t matter much anymore for the company’s valuation. There are surely good reasons behind this notion and I will cover the main ones in a minute. Either as a result or a reflection of this point of view, the P/B ratio of the company has been on an overall upward trend in recent years as shown in the following chart. This chart displays my calculations of BRK’s average P/B on an annual basis. As seen, its P/B ratio averaged around 1.25x in the long term. Since dipping to a temporary bottom of 1.1x in 2020 (largely due to the selloff amid the pandemic), the reading has been on a robust expanding trajectory and peaked at 1.6x in 2025. The ratio has corrected moderately to the current level of 1.44x based on the book value updated in its FQ1 ER. But it is still above the 1-sigma level of 1.39x as seen. With this background, next I will argue why the P/B ratio still acts as an important valuation indicator for BRK and probably even more so in the Abel era, and subsequently why the current elevated P/B can be ...
Mario Tama/Getty Images News Citigroup ( C ) is planning to increase headcount by ~10% in its Asia-Pacific prime brokerage unit by the end of 2026, with the expansion centering on Singapore and India, Bloomberg News reported . The New York-based bank is hiring across front-office and technology roles, Sue Lee, Citi's head of markets for Asia South, reportedly told Bloomberg. The hiring has moved i...
Mario Tama/Getty Images News Citigroup ( C ) is planning to increase headcount by ~10% in its Asia-Pacific prime brokerage unit by the end of 2026, with the expansion centering on Singapore and India, Bloomberg News reported . The New York-based bank is hiring across front-office and technology roles, Sue Lee, Citi's head of markets for Asia South, reportedly told Bloomberg. The hiring has moved into a secondary phase, with key recruitments made and the global lender focused on filling the gaps, Bloomberg reported. The move is part of a broader push to capture more business from hedge funds in the region. The prime brokerage business involves lending cash and securities to hedge funds, the report released on Wednesday, May 13, noted. Citi aims to grow its prime brokerage balances to over $700B by 2028, compared to $450B recorded in 2025. The company's rates and fixed income unit has been strong, but the equities franchise lags as compared to Wall Street peers, according to the media group. The news comes as layoffs that were once concentrated in the technology sector are now said to be spreading to other industries. Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs ( GS ), HSBC Holdings ( HSBC ), and Morgan Stanley ( MS ), were reportedly weighing job cuts. According to the WARN tracker, JPMorgan ( JPM ) and Bank of America ( BAC ) are among the financial firms that filed notices . JPM is letting go of 50-100 employees in California, effective May 21, while BofA will eliminate 100-250 employees in New York, effective June 24. Furthermore, Citigroup ( C ) was also planning to eliminate about 1,000 jobs in January. Many companies pointed to AI as the factor behind eliminating swaths of their workforces at once. Many analysts believe that the cuts are happening to shift capital for AI investments. More on Citigroup Citigroup Inc. (C) Analyst/Investor Day - Slideshow Citigroup Inc. (C) Analyst/Investor Day Transcript Wall Street Roundup: Good News, Earnings News Here's the ful...
Jumia plans to cut 10% of its workforce as AI rolls out across jobs within the African e-commence giant. CEO Francis Dufay spoke to Bloomberg's Jennifer Zabasajja from Abidjan. (Source: Bloomberg)
Jumia plans to cut 10% of its workforce as AI rolls out across jobs within the African e-commence giant. CEO Francis Dufay spoke to Bloomberg's Jennifer Zabasajja from Abidjan. (Source: Bloomberg)
da-kuk Automobile manufacturer stocks are drawing investor attention as Ford Motor Company ( F ) approaches a major technical resistance level near $14.15 following a sharp rebound in recent trading. The rally has improved near-term momentum for Ford shares and renewed focus on valuation opportunities across the auto sector. Below is a list of automobile manufacturer stocks ranked according to the...
da-kuk Automobile manufacturer stocks are drawing investor attention as Ford Motor Company ( F ) approaches a major technical resistance level near $14.15 following a sharp rebound in recent trading. The rally has improved near-term momentum for Ford shares and renewed focus on valuation opportunities across the auto sector. Below is a list of automobile manufacturer stocks ranked according to their valuation grades.Leading the list is Ford Motor Company ( F ), which carries an A valuation grade, making it the most attractively valued stock in the group. General Motors Company ( GM ) follows with a B valuation grade, while THOR Industries, Inc. ( THO ) rounds out the top three with a B- rating. Ford’s recent technical rebound has added momentum to a stock that already stands out on valuation relative to peers. Further down the rankings are several electric vehicle makers, including Lucid Group, Inc. ( LCID ), which holds a C valuation grade, and Rivian Automotive, Inc. ( RIVN ), which carries a D grade. At the bottom of the list is Tesla, Inc. ( TSLA ). Despite commanding the group’s largest market capitalization at approximately $1.63 trillion, Tesla receives an F valuation grade, reflecting its significantly richer valuation relative to fundamentals. Valuation grades measure how expensive or inexpensive a stock appears relative to key financial metrics. The grading scale ranges from A+ to F, where A+ represents the most undervalued stocks and F signals the most overvalued, or priciest, names. Here's the list: Ford Motor Company ( F ), Valuation grade: A General Motors Company ( GM ), Valuation grade: B THOR Industries, Inc. ( THO ), Valuation grade: B- Lucid Group, Inc. ( LCID ), Valuation grade: C Rivian Automotive, Inc. ( RIVN ), Valuation grade: D Tesla, Inc. ( TSLA ), Valuation grade: F More on Ford Ford Motor Company (F) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Ford Motor Company 2026 Q1 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Ford's Highly Touted BEV Czar Leaves, His...
The oil shock from the Iran war is set to give a lasting boost to government bonds from energy-producing developing nations, according to Christopher Hays , whose fund at TCW Group Inc. is beating its benchmark and most peers this year. Hays has been increasing his bets on sovereign bonds from oil exporters in the $4.1 billion TCW Emerging Markets Income Fund , which he helps manage. He’s added to...
The oil shock from the Iran war is set to give a lasting boost to government bonds from energy-producing developing nations, according to Christopher Hays , whose fund at TCW Group Inc. is beating its benchmark and most peers this year. Hays has been increasing his bets on sovereign bonds from oil exporters in the $4.1 billion TCW Emerging Markets Income Fund , which he helps manage. He’s added to core positions in Angola and Argentina, and has also bought notes from Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia over the past few weeks, he said in an interview. The key, he says, is that markets now see that Iran can disrupt crucial oil routes, embedding a lasting geopolitical premium into crude prices, which remain elevated after reaching a four-year high last month. “We are in a structurally better environment for oil exporters relative to oil importers in this world,” Hays said. “We feel pretty confident that the floor on oil prices has risen.” His fund has returned 3.2% this year through Wednesday, versus a roughly 2% gain for the fund’s benchmark, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. index , according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It has also beat 83% of peers this year. Brent crude is up about 50% since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran at the end of February, trading above $104 a barrel on Thursday as the stalemate in the Middle East leaves the vital Strait of Hormuz virtually closed to shipping traffic. The surge in energy prices has created opportunities for relative-value trades, Hays says. The view is that higher oil prices will strengthen fiscal balances and boost reserves for energy exporters, while increasing stress on the funding ability of high-yield energy importers such as Kenya, he says. Market Beaters Since the conflict started, bonds from energy producers including Congo, Angola and Gabon have returned more than 5% on average, compared to a loss of 1% for an index of emerging-market peers, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Ukraine, which has entered its fifth year o...
Google (GOOGL) stock currently trades near $402. Based on an expected 2026 EPS of $14.22, the stock carries a forward P/E multiple of 28x. This multiple represents a 35% premium over its five-year historical average forward P/E of 21x. Comparatively, Google stock sits between Microsoft (MSFT) at 24x and Amazon (AMZN) at 31x, while remaining more expensive than Meta Platforms (META) at 19x. (See Go...
Google (GOOGL) stock currently trades near $402. Based on an expected 2026 EPS of $14.22, the stock carries a forward P/E multiple of 28x. This multiple represents a 35% premium over its five-year historical average forward P/E of 21x. Comparatively, Google stock sits between Microsoft (MSFT) at 24x and Amazon (AMZN) at 31x, while remaining more expensive than Meta Platforms (META) at 19x. (See Google's valuation comparison with its peers). The critical insight is structural. The 153% stock surg
World No 1 into Rome semi-finals with stroll past Rublev Can become first Italian winner of men’s event in 50 years Jannik Sinner reached the semi-finals of the Italian Open on Thursday and set a record for consecutive wins in Masters 1000 tournaments. A 6-2, 6-4 win over Andrey Rublev moved Sinner up to 32 consecutive wins in the ATP’s top‑ranked events, one more than the previous record, establi...
World No 1 into Rome semi-finals with stroll past Rublev Can become first Italian winner of men’s event in 50 years Jannik Sinner reached the semi-finals of the Italian Open on Thursday and set a record for consecutive wins in Masters 1000 tournaments. A 6-2, 6-4 win over Andrey Rublev moved Sinner up to 32 consecutive wins in the ATP’s top‑ranked events, one more than the previous record, established by Novak Djokovic in 2011. Continue reading...
Earnings Call Insights: Health In Tech (HIT) Q1 2026 Management View "2026 [will] be a year of deliberate investment in sales, distribution and technology development" to "build our roster of distribution partners, expand our market presence, enhance our technology for new features, deliver new solutions and accelerate long-term revenue growth," according to "Founder, CEO & Chairman Tim Johnson." ...
Earnings Call Insights: Health In Tech (HIT) Q1 2026 Management View "2026 [will] be a year of deliberate investment in sales, distribution and technology development" to "build our roster of distribution partners, expand our market presence, enhance our technology for new features, deliver new solutions and accelerate long-term revenue growth," according to "Founder, CEO & Chairman Tim Johnson." Johnson said Health In Tech completed "a private investment in public equity, of PIPE" that "brought us approximately $7 million in gross proceeds" and added, "this capital raise was not driven by an immediate need for working capital in our view" but was intended to "broaden our shareholder base" and fund growth priorities including "expanding our sales distribution network," "adding new carrier partners," and "enhancing our technology architecture and AI development." Johnson described a services shift with the January launch of an "enhanced self-funded plan administration offering" that bundles "plan design, administration and stop-loss coverage" and said the company is moving "toward a more integrated and actively managed model where we curate, bundle and manage the vendors." "Chief Growth Officer Zain Hasan" said the company plans to "further invest in and selectively expand our in-house sales team" after delivering "$33 million in revenue" in 2025 with "a relatively small in-house sales team of 6 professionals," emphasizing the team is "primarily focused on onboarding and activating distribution partners rather than directly selling into employer accounts." "CFO & Director Julia Qian" said the company is introducing new KPIs, including "contracted revenue" and "platform placed plan value or PPPV," adding, "as of March 31, our contracted revenue for the remaining 3 quarters of this year total will be around $22.9 million" and "in the first quarter of 2026, our platform placed $82 million self-funded stop-loss plans." Outlook Johnson reiterated, "we are reiterating our ...
Shares of computer processor maker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) jumped 2.6% in the afternoon session after worries about a global chip shortage reached parabolic territory driven by AI optimism and strong investor momentum.
Shares of computer processor maker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) jumped 2.6% in the afternoon session after worries about a global chip shortage reached parabolic territory driven by AI optimism and strong investor momentum.
(RTTNews) - 4basebio PLC (4BB.L), a biotechnology company, on Thursday announced the appointment of Richard Bungay as Chief Financial Officer, effective July 2026.
(RTTNews) - 4basebio PLC (4BB.L), a biotechnology company, on Thursday announced the appointment of Richard Bungay as Chief Financial Officer, effective July 2026.
Encompass Health ( EHC ) has commenced a private offering of $500M aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2034. The Notes will be guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by the Company’s subsidiaries that also guarantee its credit agreement and other capital markets debt. EHC plans to use the proceeds, along with available cash, to redeem $400M of its outstanding 4.500% senior notes due 202...
Encompass Health ( EHC ) has commenced a private offering of $500M aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2034. The Notes will be guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by the Company’s subsidiaries that also guarantee its credit agreement and other capital markets debt. EHC plans to use the proceeds, along with available cash, to redeem $400M of its outstanding 4.500% senior notes due 2028 at par. Part of the proceeds will also be used to repay $100M outstanding under its senior secured revolving credit facility. Remaining funds will cover related fees and expenses associated with the refinancing transactions. More on Encompass Health Encompass Health Corporation (EHC) Presents at Bank of America Global Healthcare Conference 2026 Transcript Encompass Health Corporation 2026 Q1 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Encompass Health Corporation (EHC) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Encompass Health raises 2026 outlook to $6.375B-$6.470B revenue amid plans to open 7 hospitals Encompass Health Q1 2026 Earnings Preview