Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez to give speech shortly in Madrid Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is due to make a statement at 9am local time to respond to Donald Trump’s extraordinary threat to cut of all trade with Spain over its refusal to allow two jointly operated bases in its territory to be used in the US’s ongoing strikes against Iran. “At this moment, it isn’t possible to esta...
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez to give speech shortly in Madrid Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is due to make a statement at 9am local time to respond to Donald Trump’s extraordinary threat to cut of all trade with Spain over its refusal to allow two jointly operated bases in its territory to be used in the US’s ongoing strikes against Iran. “At this moment, it isn’t possible to establish trade reprisals or separate trade relations … I think the most surprising thing about this fact is that the American federal government is unaware of this , and therefore it is necessary to insist, as the spokesperson for the European Commission did last night, that the trade negotiations of each and every one of the 27 member states of the EU are the responsibility of the Commission, and it is not possible to create a division or fragmentation among the member states.” “What we’re seeing is very similar to what happened just a month ago with those threats – also in a boastful tone – regarding Greenland. And the truth is, there was an immediate reaction from our EU partners, from the European Commission, and from the markets. I think that the instability; the tension generated by this way of relating to, or speaking about third parties – whether it’s about Starmer, Macron, or Pedro Sánchez – is deeply disruptive , not only for societies, for peace, for cooperation, but also for the economy. And it has immediate consequences for the overall economic activity of everyone.” “ Spain doesn’t take to being blackmailed or lectured by an aggressor country. We’re a country of peace. If the US wants an ally, let them begin by respecting our sovereignty and international law.” Continue reading...
#News Intel Board Chair Frank D. Yeary to Retire; Dr. Craig H. Barratt Elected Independent Chair Barratt joined the board as an independent director in November 2025 and brings more than three decades of leadership experience across the semiconductor and broader technology industries from companies including Qualcomm, Intel and Google. Intel Corporation announced that its board of directors has el...
#News Intel Board Chair Frank D. Yeary to Retire; Dr. Craig H. Barratt Elected Independent Chair Barratt joined the board as an independent director in November 2025 and brings more than three decades of leadership experience across the semiconductor and broader technology industries from companies including Qualcomm, Intel and Google. Intel Corporation announced that its board of directors has elected Dr. Craig H. Barratt as independent chair, effective following the company’s Annual Stockholders’ Meeting on May 13, 2026. Barratt will succeed Frank D. Yeary, who is retiring from the board and will not stand for reelection at the Annual Meeting. Yeary has served as a director since 2009 and as chair since 2023. “On behalf of the board and the entire company, I want to thank Frank for his commitment to Intel and his strong leadership as chair during one of the most consequential periods in Intel’s history. Frank led the effort to bring me in as the company’s CEO, encouraged disciplined board oversight, and reinforced strong board governance. With his and the board’s support, I have been empowered to take decisive actions to strengthen our financial foundation, advance our process roadmap and position the company for long-term competitiveness. His leadership helped guide Intel through a period of transformation and onto firmer footing for the next phase.” – Lip-Bu Tan, CEO, Intel “Reinventing Intel is a disciplined, multi-year effort to restore execution excellence, strengthen the financial foundation and reestablish the innovation engine that has long defined this company. I’m grateful to have been part of the board’s work, particularly over the last 18 months, which has marked a critical step on that journey. Appointing Lip-Bu Tan as CEO has been and will be critical to our success. The board worked with Lip-Bu from the outset of his tenure – aligning on priorities, refocusing and clarifying Intel’s strategy, and reinforcing an engineering-centric and customer-focus...
Roman Tiraspolsky/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Blackstone's ( BX ) proposed $4B investment deal with New World Development, a major Hong Kong property firm, has stalled due to control disputes, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Blackstone had proposed parking roughly $2.5B into a special-purpose vehicle that would make it New World’s largest shareholder, while the Ch...
Roman Tiraspolsky/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Blackstone's ( BX ) proposed $4B investment deal with New World Development, a major Hong Kong property firm, has stalled due to control disputes, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Blackstone had proposed parking roughly $2.5B into a special-purpose vehicle that would make it New World’s largest shareholder, while the Cheng family would invest $1B-$1.5B, the report added . This structure aimed to address New World's high debt-to-equity ratio and rental obligations, but family priorities for retaining power halted progress. The Cheng family, which effectively controls New World through Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (~45% stake), is resisting giving up control of the company. New World faces ongoing earnings losses and restructuring needs amid Hong Kong's tough property market. Meanwhile, the Cheng family is exploring alternative investors or asset sales that preserve control. Any investor would have to align their interests with the family, and a change of control would be unlikely, the sources said. The Hong Kong-listed New World Development's stock price has climbed about 26% so far this year. More on Blackstone Blackstone: Don't Let Sentiment Obscure The Fundamentals (Rating Upgrade) Blackstone: The Best Way To Play The Private Markets Supercycle At A 52‑Week Low Blackstone Inc. (BX) Presents at Bank of America Financial Services Conference 2026 Transcript Apollo's Rowan warns of private credit shakeout; Blackstone's Gray says it's 'a lot of noise' Senior draws fresh takeover interest from Blackstone, Tinicum
jbk_photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Mastercard ( MA ) dropped around 6% on Feb 23rd. Why? A Substack post. Citrini Research released a bearish "scenario" of the rapid disruption effects of AI from a 2028 perspective. This includes network companies like Uber or Mastercard being significantly circumvented, alongside high unemployment and a weak stock market. Despite this being more fi...
jbk_photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Mastercard ( MA ) dropped around 6% on Feb 23rd. Why? A Substack post. Citrini Research released a bearish "scenario" of the rapid disruption effects of AI from a 2028 perspective. This includes network companies like Uber or Mastercard being significantly circumvented, alongside high unemployment and a weak stock market. Despite this being more fiction than a serious prediction, the post went hyper-viral and caused many of the mentioned companies to drop substantially. Citrini’s scenario echoes broader market misconceptions about Mastercard. I believe Mastercard is a Strong Buy because of recent accelerated growth, a decade-low multiple, and increasing quality from value-added services and diversified payment vehicles. Misconceptions Citrini's article argued agents will handle most transactions and avoid a heavy 2-3% credit card interchange fee, switching to stablecoins for lower cost and friction. Mastercard currently has 3.39 billion cards running through its network, so someone predicting huge disruption sounds scary at first glance. However, it ignores deeply ingrained consumer habits and Mastercard's core value proposition. Consumers actively prefer credit cards because they view the friction as a benefit, not a problem. They love being able to easily dispute charges at the end of the month while earning cash back on every swipe. The 2-3% interchange fee is certainly a complaint for the merchants who pay it. Today, many alternative payment systems are formed because of merchant pushback. This leads to the biggest misconception about Mastercard: it is only a "rail" for credit cards. In reality, Mastercard is a very low-cost security platform for digital payments of any kind. It doesn't matter if the vehicle is a credit card, Apple Pay, Face ID , stablecoins , or agents . Mastercard is positioning itself in all of these. While the market worries about "disruption", it is already rolling out pilots to be the leadi...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Alimentation Couche-Tard ( ANCTF ) ( ATD:CA ) (which I will refer to as ACT from now on) is a company that I found very interesting. I had never heard of Couche-Tard before, and I found it strange that it was a chain with so many units around the world and also had a large market cap. But if you are also unfamiliar with this name, you should know Circle ...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Alimentation Couche-Tard ( ANCTF ) ( ATD:CA ) (which I will refer to as ACT from now on) is a company that I found very interesting. I had never heard of Couche-Tard before, and I found it strange that it was a chain with so many units around the world and also had a large market cap. But if you are also unfamiliar with this name, you should know Circle K, which is now ACT's main asset, with units spread across the US. At first, the case interested me a lot. ACT is already very large but still has a lot of room to grow, and it is one of those traditional compounders. But even though I believe in the case, the valuation and uncertainties still prevent me from being bullish on ACT. The Good Part and Why I Liked ACT At the beginning of the analysis, I was very inclined to give ACT a buy rating and was considering including it in the portfolio. In this market where everything seems a bit expensive, with potential for technological disruption, etc., a convenience store/gas station chain that trades for less than 20x earnings is very appealing. And one of the main reasons is the table below. We are not just talking about an ordinary convenience store chain, but one that has compounded revenue by ~7.9% over the last 10 years, with EPS of more than 11% given margin gains, synergy capture, and buybacks along the way. Seeking Alpha Overall, this is a business that I find very attractive. It may seem simple, but it works very well for several reasons. It's not like Costco ( COST ) or Walmart Supercenter ( WMT ), where you need huge CapEx to open a unit, and where one unit already serves a very large region. It's simple, small, and you can easily open dozens in the same city. And running this business well makes a big difference, and it seems that there is always something to improve. For instance, in this presentation , ACT showed that it is managing to reduce many things, from reducing costs, which is to be expected, to also reducin...
Woolworths Holdings Ltd. said trading in its Australian apparel business slowed sharply at the end of the first half, while stepped-up investment in its South African food division weighed on margins. The Australian market “is highly promotionally driven,” Chief Executive Officer Roy Bagattini said in an interview Wednesday. “There’s not much that you buy in Australia today that is not on sale or ...
Woolworths Holdings Ltd. said trading in its Australian apparel business slowed sharply at the end of the first half, while stepped-up investment in its South African food division weighed on margins. The Australian market “is highly promotionally driven,” Chief Executive Officer Roy Bagattini said in an interview Wednesday. “There’s not much that you buy in Australia today that is not on sale or not with a discounted price ticket. So those businesses are sitting with a lot of inventory, particularly in discretionary categories.” In South Africa, the Cape Town-based company added capacity at its Midrand food-distribution center. Food accounts for 64% of total revenue and there are “a number of new opportunities we are going after” especially in food services, Bagattini said. That includes Woolworths cafés, coffee shops, takeaway restaurants and school tuck shops. The cost of the new food-distribution center, together with more discounts to clear excess inventory and lowered prices on children’s clothing, pressured profit margins. Net income fell 33% to 1.48 billion rand ($90 million), Woolworths reported earlier. Still, cheaper children’s clothing is boosting sales with the recently introduced winter range trading 28% higher, the CEO said. “We made a strategic call a little while ago to really go after kids and baby,” Bagattini said. “We see big market-share opportunities,” as well as “significant cross-shop opportunity between the kids category and apparel and the food customer.” The stock was little changed after declining as much as 2.2% and gaining 2.5% in Johannesburg. It has dropped 8.6% this year, the biggest retreat among clothing sellers on the broader South African retailers’ index , which has lost 4.5% over the period. Sign up here for the daily Next Africa newsletter, and subscribe to the Next Africa podcast on Apple , Spotify or anywhere you listen .