Indonesia’s outlook has been revised to negative from stable by Fitch Ratings Inc. , several news outlets in the country reported, amid increasing regulatory ambiguity under President Prabowo Subianto . Representatives from Fitch said the ratings agency had no comment. Indonesia’s Finance Ministry declined to comment, saying that it would “wait for the official release from Fitch,” according to sp...
Indonesia’s outlook has been revised to negative from stable by Fitch Ratings Inc. , several news outlets in the country reported, amid increasing regulatory ambiguity under President Prabowo Subianto . Representatives from Fitch said the ratings agency had no comment. Indonesia’s Finance Ministry declined to comment, saying that it would “wait for the official release from Fitch,” according to spokesman Deni Surjantoro. Local outlets including Detik and Kontan said an unverified Fitch statement circulating online reaffirmed the country’s rating at BBB, reflecting Indonesia’s track record in maintaining macroeconomic stability and acceptable government debt to gross domestic product. The reports come just weeks after Moody’s Ratings lowered Indonesia’s rating outlook to negative, spurring market speculation about whether fellow credit ratings companies Fitch and S&P may follow suit. Moody’s trimmed Indonesia’s Baa2 rating outlook from stable in early February on concerns of policy uncertainty and weakening governance under Prabowo’s administration. Indonesia’s benchmark stock index fell as much as 5.7%, in line with indexes across Asia Pacific as fears widen over an escalating Iran war. The rupiah slipped 0.2%, erasing earlier losses as the central bank intervened, while the benchmark 10-year yield climbed 7.7 basis points. More generally, emerging market stocks and bonds only days ago at record highs are under pressure as traders assess how higher oil prices and a resurgent dollar — twin shocks unleashed by the conflict — weaken the outlook for some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. “The weakening in Indonesia’s financial markets today is purely coming from global investors’ risk averse mood,” PT Bank Maybank Indonesia analyst Myrdal Gunarto said. “The circulated Fitch assessment draft adds concerns.” Bond yields could rise sharply if indeed the Fitch revision comes to pass, based on what happened after the Moody’s cut, Gunarto said.
chameleonseye/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Pre-Earnings Takeaway And Author's Opinion After reporting its Q4 and full-year 2025 results on February 3, 2026, PayPal Holdings, Inc. ( PYPL ) stock price plunged by almost 20% during that day's trading hours after falling short of analyst expectations. For Q4 2025, PayPal reported a revenue of $8.68 billion and an adjusted EPS of $1.23 per share, ...
chameleonseye/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Pre-Earnings Takeaway And Author's Opinion After reporting its Q4 and full-year 2025 results on February 3, 2026, PayPal Holdings, Inc. ( PYPL ) stock price plunged by almost 20% during that day's trading hours after falling short of analyst expectations. For Q4 2025, PayPal reported a revenue of $8.68 billion and an adjusted EPS of $1.23 per share, falling short of analyst expectations of $8.79 billion and $1.29 per share, respectively. Investor Presentation What worried analysts and the market is the disturbing slowdown in PayPal's branded online check, which grew by only 1% YoY, down from 6% increase. Investor Presentation PayPal attributed the decline to US retail weakness, international weakness, particularly in Germany, and the decline of key growth verticals such as travel, crypto, and gaming. Each of these factors contributed roughly 1% to the 4% deceleration. I believe these 3 factors aren't distinct and are connected to the difficult macro conditions being felt globally, not just in the US. PayPal's consumer business is skewed toward middle- to low-income customers. Therefore, financial distress among these consumer cohorts will eventually affect PayPal. While consumer spending remains resilient, this resiliency is driven by high-income earners. Economists call this phenomenon a K-shaped economy. Execution Issue Compounding the problem, PayPal management also cites execution and operational issues as a contributing factor to this deceleration. Both PayPal CEO (now former) Alex Chriss and CFO Jamie Miller candidly disclosed this in their respective analyst events. According to both, the company's progress in migrating merchants towards the newer branded checkout experience has been slower than expected. This led to the dismissal of PayPal CEO Alex Chriss and the appointment of HP Inc.'s ( HPQ ) CEO Enrique Lores as the new CEO (more on this later). PayPal is on a multi-year journey to migrate merchants to its ...
My family is in Tehran; I am in Abu Dhabi. Across the region, ordinary people are paying the price for these attacks Since Saturday, my mind has been torn between the place I live, Abu Dhabi, and Tehran, which has been the focus of my work and research for more than 15 years, and where I still have family. When I saw that Israel and the US had attacked Iran, I started worrying for family, thinking...
My family is in Tehran; I am in Abu Dhabi. Across the region, ordinary people are paying the price for these attacks Since Saturday, my mind has been torn between the place I live, Abu Dhabi, and Tehran, which has been the focus of my work and research for more than 15 years, and where I still have family. When I saw that Israel and the US had attacked Iran, I started worrying for family, thinking about potential consequences. But I barely had time to consider that before Donald Trump announced that this was about regime change. At that moment, I knew this was going to be big – worse than last June – and that it would lead into a regional schism. Predictably, Iran’s response started shortly after: first against Israel, then against states across the Gulf region, including the United Arab Emirates. It all followed the worst-case escalation scenarios we had been outlining since June, and especially since January, when – in the midst of protests – Donald Trump said “help” was on its way. I kept on trying to reach family when the internet there was working, which is, at best, for a few minutes a day. Each conversation is short, practical: are you OK? Is your area affected? Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi is an associate fellow at the Chatham House Middle East and North Africa programme Continue reading...
China’s sovereign debt is emerging as a strategic alternative to US Treasuries as global investors look for geopolitical hedges, though greater market liquidity and deeper yuan internationalisation are still needed to cement its status as a global safe haven, an economist at a Chinese government think tank has said. “[These bonds] circumvent the restrictions of the non-convertibility of the renmin...
China’s sovereign debt is emerging as a strategic alternative to US Treasuries as global investors look for geopolitical hedges, though greater market liquidity and deeper yuan internationalisation are still needed to cement its status as a global safe haven, an economist at a Chinese government think tank has said. “[These bonds] circumvent the restrictions of the non-convertibility of the renminbi,” said Xu Qiyuan, deputy director of the American Studies Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in a February report. “At the same time, they possess high-grade sovereign credit backing and liquidity and minimise the risk of sanctions or asset freezes due to holding assets within the major US financial system, such as US Treasury bonds.” Advertisement Xu’s comments came at a time of swirling debate in Chinese policy circles about how Beijing can capitalise on wavering investor confidence in the United States and the US dollar. The issue is expected to be a hot topic at the “two sessions” – the annual meetings of China’s top legislature and advisory body – beginning on Wednesday. Xu said geopolitical hedges aligned with a strategic push by sovereign institutions to diversify their asset allocations. This demand was being further fuelled by a shortage of high-quality liquid assets, despite relatively abundant global liquidity, he added. Advertisement He cited the robust demand for Beijing’s US$4 billion dollar-denominated sovereign bonds issued in Hong Kong last November – which matched the US’ borrowing costs for the first time – as an example.
Pawel Kacperek/iStock via Getty Images Performance Summary Throughout the fourth quarter of 2025, fixed income performance was positive given the slight decline in yields across the Treasury curve and tightening in taxable credit spreads. Inflation declined in Q4, but the labor market showed signs of weakening. The unemployment rate held steady at around 4.1%–4.3% for most of the year, but peaked ...
Pawel Kacperek/iStock via Getty Images Performance Summary Throughout the fourth quarter of 2025, fixed income performance was positive given the slight decline in yields across the Treasury curve and tightening in taxable credit spreads. Inflation declined in Q4, but the labor market showed signs of weakening. The unemployment rate held steady at around 4.1%–4.3% for most of the year, but peaked at 4.5% in November before concluding Q4 at 4.4%. However, other parts of the economy showed surprising strength. Strong consumer spending and corporate earnings supported a resilient quarter-over-quarter annualized GDP reading of 4.3%. The Federal Reserve reduced rates by 25 basis points twice in Q4 due to potential downside risks to the labor market and indicated a deceleration for future rate reductions in 2026 and 2027. Municipal yields moved inversely to taxable yields in Q4, with short-term yields rising as longer-term yields fell. Declining muni yields and steady demand despite substantial supply resulted in outperformance in municipal debt for the quarter, with the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index returning 1.56%, beating the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which returned 1.10%. While yields have come off their early 2025 highs, they remain elevated, offering tax-conscious investors a very attractive entry point, and not just those in the highest tax brackets. The yield of the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index declined to 3.60% in Q4, slightly down from 3.66% at the end of Q3, offering a taxable-equivalent yield of 6.07% (in the highest tax bracket). Market Review & Outlook The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index returned 1.56% for the fourth quarter of 2025. The fixed income sector saw a broadly positive performance. The fourth quarter return for the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index was 1.10%; for the Bloomberg U.S. Universal Index, 1.20%; and for the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Index, 0.90%. See below for an update on some of the key metrics in the muni market that we c...
Milestone marks nationwide operator support for RCS Business Messaging, opening a scalable new market for brands BARCELONA, Spain, March 04, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalised experiences for today’s leading brands, today announced at Mobile World Congress a partnership with KPN Netherlands (KPN) to enable nationwide Ric...
Milestone marks nationwide operator support for RCS Business Messaging, opening a scalable new market for brands BARCELONA, Spain, March 04, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalised experiences for today’s leading brands, today announced at Mobile World Congress a partnership with KPN Netherlands (KPN) to enable nationwide Rich Communication Services (RCS) Business Messaging across all major mobile operators in the Netherlands, powered by Twilio and Google. RCS Business Messaging combines the simplicity and reach of sms with rich, interactive features such as verified sender identity, images, carousels and action buttons. This allows businesses to communicate in a more engaging, secure and measurable way, strengthening customer trust and improving the overall experience. Enabling nationwide RCS in the Netherlands With nation-wide coverage, KPN plays a central role in the country’s digital infrastructure. By joining the growing RCS ecosystem, this marks a defining moment for business messaging in the Netherlands, making it possible for enterprises to adopt RCS for Business at scale. The deployment is supported by Google’s RCS for Business platform, enabling brand onboarding and registration across Android devices. Expanded device support, including iOS, is expected in 2026, further strengthening long-term reach and market confidence. Through this partnership, Twilio allows businesses to instantly modernize customer communications by adding RCS as a branded, interactive channel alongside SMS and MMS with zero code changes. This cost-effective transition provides immediate access to rich engagement data, like read receipts, while ensuring 100% reach through automatic fallback to SMS when needed. Unlocking a major new market for RCS for Business Nationwide coverage opens access to millions of mobile users, positioning the Netherlands as one of Europe’s newest fully enabled RCS for Business markets. ...
Ryan Coogler’s artful action-horror offers superb performances, rich storytelling, historical detail – and a jook joint scene that tears the roof off It’s a symptom of the modern entertainment landscape that movies are now either commercially successful or critically acclaimed, but rarely both. Look over the highest-grossing films of 2025 and it’s a familiar roll call of sequels and spin-offs; loo...
Ryan Coogler’s artful action-horror offers superb performances, rich storytelling, historical detail – and a jook joint scene that tears the roof off It’s a symptom of the modern entertainment landscape that movies are now either commercially successful or critically acclaimed, but rarely both. Look over the highest-grossing films of 2025 and it’s a familiar roll call of sequels and spin-offs; look over the critics’ favourites and they are mostly fine movies that not enough people watched – all hoping for a boost from awards season. But Sinners ticked both boxes: it was a smash hit (the seventh highest grossing picture in the US and virtually the only original movie in the top 20), and it was a critical triumph (97% on Rotten Tomatoes, 84% on Metacritic). And most importantly of all, Sinners was a true original, combining action-horror excitement with deep, rich, personal storytelling. There’s nothing more gratifying than seeing a film-maker swing for the fences and actually knock it out of the park; against expectations, 39-year-old Ryan Coogler did just that. What’s more, Sinners contains what’s surely one of the most transcendently cinematic moments of the year: the scene when blues singer Preacher Boy (Miles Caton) performs his new song I Lied to You for a rowdy Mississippi jook joint, which is powerful enough to pierce “the veil between life and death, the past and the future”. As the song builds, reality breaks down. African tribal musicians, Chinese opera performers, modern-day turntablists, P-Funk-style electric guitarists: all join the swirling revelry. Coogler literally tears the roof off the joint: it catches fire from all this energy and we’re in another realm of space and time. Give the film an Oscar just for this! Continue reading...
For $4.4 trillion Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, hiring plus hefty pay increases and equity gains are driving up the cost of stock-based compensation. Not to mention, there is quite a bit of competition out there for AI-related talent, which has made the hiring landscape incredibly competitive. The price tag for Nvidia’s stock-based comp rose from roughly $4.7 billion in fiscal 2025 to...
For $4.4 trillion Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, hiring plus hefty pay increases and equity gains are driving up the cost of stock-based compensation. Not to mention, there is quite a bit of competition out there for AI-related talent, which has made the hiring landscape incredibly competitive. The price tag for Nvidia’s stock-based comp rose from roughly $4.7 billion in fiscal 2025 to $6.4 billion in fiscal 2026, a 35% jump. Meanwhile, the stock price has risen dramatically, up 60% over the past year alone, although it took a small tumble following its latest earnings release last week . What’s clear is that the same company’s financial results can look different depending on how stock-based compensation is accounted for—sometimes even turning a bottom-line loss into an “adjusted profit.” Consider software maker Asana, which recently posted a net loss of $32.2 million in its fourth quarter, but announced “non-GAAP net income” of $19.9 million by removing the costs of stock compensation, payroll tax on employee stock transactions, and other items. Critics, including Warren Buffett, have long argued that leaving out stock-based compensation, while perfectly legal, understates a company’s true cost of paying employees and inflates profitability. But many companies insist they’re giving investors a more accurate snapshot of the business’ core performance by removing the expense: Stock-based pay isn’t cash, the logic goes, and it can be difficult for outside analysts to properly estimate the total each quarter in their valuation models. It may sound like a bit of financial minutiae but it’s actually a notable move. Like a lot of tech companies, Nvidia has historically left stock-based compensation out of what are called the “adjusted” financial figures it publishes along with its official GAAP results. Those adjusted figures—particularly a company’s earnings-per-share number—are known as non-GAAP figures, and they are typically the ones Wall Street uses to a...
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is often seen as a benchmark for strong businesses, but that doesn’t mean every stock is worth owning. Some companies face significant challenges, whether it’s stagnating growth, heavy debt, or disruptive new competitors. Even among blue-chip stocks, not all investments are created equal - which is why we built StockStory to help you navigate the market. Keeping that in mind, h...
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is often seen as a benchmark for strong businesses, but that doesn’t mean every stock is worth owning. Some companies face significant challenges, whether it’s stagnating growth, heavy debt, or disruptive new competitors. Even among blue-chip stocks, not all investments are created equal - which is why we built StockStory to help you navigate the market. Keeping that in mind, here is one S&P 500 stock that could deliver good returns and two best left off your watchlist. Two Stocks to Sell: Akamai Technologies (AKAM) Market Cap: $14.92 billion With a massive distributed network spanning 4,100+ points of presence in nearly 130 countries, Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) provides a global distributed cloud platform that helps businesses deliver, secure, and optimize their digital experiences online. Why Is AKAM Risky? Muted 5.1% annual revenue growth over the last two years shows its demand lagged behind its software peers Sky-high servicing costs result in an inferior gross margin of 58.9% that must be offset through increased usage Extended payback periods on sales investments suggest the company’s platform isn’t resonating enough to drive efficient sales conversions At $103.40 per share, Akamai Technologies trades at 3.3x forward price-to-sales. If you’re considering AKAM for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more. West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) Market Cap: $17.92 billion Founded in 1923 and serving as a critical link in the pharmaceutical supply chain, West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) manufactures specialized packaging, containment systems, and delivery devices for injectable drugs and healthcare products. Why Are We Wary of WST? 2.1% annual revenue growth over the last two years was slower than its healthcare peers Costs have risen faster than its revenue over the last five years, causing its adjusted operating margin to decline by 6.7 percentage points Waning returns on capital imply its previous profit engines ...
Micron Technology(NASDAQ: MU) is riding one of the most intense memory shortages ever recorded, with prices surging and margins hitting historic highs. I break down why tightening HBM supply, hyperscaler demand, and locked-in contracts could fuel powerful earnings growth in 2026, and the capital spending risk that could define what happens next. Stock prices used were the market prices of Feb. 27,...
Micron Technology(NASDAQ: MU) is riding one of the most intense memory shortages ever recorded, with prices surging and margins hitting historic highs. I break down why tightening HBM supply, hyperscaler demand, and locked-in contracts could fuel powerful earnings growth in 2026, and the capital spending risk that could define what happens next. Stock prices used were the market prices of Feb. 27, 2026. The video was published on March 4, 2026. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Should you buy stock in Micron Technology right now? Before you buy stock in Micron Technology, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Micron Technology wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $532,066!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,122,072!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 960% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 193% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 5, 2026. Rick Orford has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick Orford is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through their link, they will earn some extra mo...