Cross-party group says closure of humanitarian unit will undermine monitoring of legal violations and arms exports MPs have expressed alarm at the closure of the Foreign Office’s international humanitarian law unit, warning it “will impair the UK’s ability to anticipate, assess and respond to serious violations of international law across multiple contexts”. News of the closure, revealed by the Gu...
Cross-party group says closure of humanitarian unit will undermine monitoring of legal violations and arms exports MPs have expressed alarm at the closure of the Foreign Office’s international humanitarian law unit, warning it “will impair the UK’s ability to anticipate, assess and respond to serious violations of international law across multiple contexts”. News of the closure, revealed by the Guardian, was raised with Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions this week by the independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley, Iqbal Mohamed. Starmer said the work would be undertaken by another team as part of a restructuring. Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: Fans expecting the Vogue matriarch to pop up in Miranda Priestley’s latest outing have been disappointed – but as Hollywood history shows, guest appearances don’t always go to plan … The Devil Wears Prada 2 has a cameo list more stuffed than the fashion cupboard at the film’s fictional Runway magazine. It runs the gamut from eye-poppingly famous (Lady Gaga, Donatella Ver...
In this week’s newsletter: Fans expecting the Vogue matriarch to pop up in Miranda Priestley’s latest outing have been disappointed – but as Hollywood history shows, guest appearances don’t always go to plan … The Devil Wears Prada 2 has a cameo list more stuffed than the fashion cupboard at the film’s fictional Runway magazine. It runs the gamut from eye-poppingly famous (Lady Gaga, Donatella Versace, Naomi Campbell) to if-you-know-you-know industry famous (Tina Brown, say, or a host of supermodels familiar to anyone on the Paris front row) to “huh, how did they get there?” (Late Show bandleader Jon Batiste, or Chicken Shop Date’s Amelia Dimoldenberg, already on her second cameo of the year after a super-quick turn in an episode of Industry). Missing, though, is the one cameo everyone hoped for, the white – or should that be cerulean? – whale herself: Anna Wintour, Vogue top dog and heavy inspiration in the film for Meryl Streep’s formidable sadist-in-chief, Miranda Priestly. Wintour, though absent from the original Devil Wears Prada, always hovered over proceedings – it’s said that a number of designers steered clear of cameo appearances in the first film for fear of offending her – and Wintour herself, though present at its premiere, always studiously avoided discussing the film. But in recent months there seems to have been a sudden thawing – fond words from Wintour about the film on the New Yorker podcast, then a shock appearance alongside Streep on a Vogue cover – prompting speculation that the be-fringed one might deign to appear in the sequel. Continue reading...
Wall Street used to obsess over quarterly cloud growth. Now it’s tracking power consumption, GPU shipments, and data-center construction schedules. That shift became impossible to ignore after the latest earnings reports from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META). Together, the four largest hyperscalers now expect to s...
Wall Street used to obsess over quarterly cloud growth. Now it’s tracking power consumption, GPU shipments, and data-center construction schedules. That shift became impossible to ignore after the latest earnings reports from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META). Together, the four largest hyperscalers now expect to spend roughly $710 billion this ... The Big 4 Hyperscalers Are Spending $710 Billion on AI. Here’s th
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) today is up +0.55%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI ) (DIA ) is up +0.28%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) is up +0.79%. June E-mini S&P futures (ESM26 ) are up +0.58%, and June E-mini Nasdaq futures...
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) today is up +0.55%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI ) (DIA ) is up +0.28%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) is up +0.79%. June E-mini S&P futures (ESM26 ) are up +0.58%, and June E-mini Nasdaq futures...
In this article BTC.CM= Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Chesnot | Getty Images Bitcoin surged in April, but its run could be on shaky ground, according to crypto data provider CryptoQuant. The flagship crypto coin gained 12.7% for the month, registering back-to-back monthly gains and its best month since April 2025. It eked out a nearly 2% gain in March, following five consecutive ...
In this article BTC.CM= Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Chesnot | Getty Images Bitcoin surged in April, but its run could be on shaky ground, according to crypto data provider CryptoQuant. The flagship crypto coin gained 12.7% for the month, registering back-to-back monthly gains and its best month since April 2025. It eked out a nearly 2% gain in March, following five consecutive down months. Ether gained 8% in the same period, also its second up month in a row and best month since August. Perpetual futures — the dominant source of leveraged crypto trading activity — was the "sole driver" of the rally, however, according to CryptoQuant. The firm's apparent demand metric, which tracks the 30-day change in outright purchases of bitcoin, stayed negative throughout April while futures demand rose. The two trends combined are often a warning sign, according to Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant. They suggest the upward price action is fueled by speculation rather than fundamentals. "This divergence – rising futures demand alongside contracting spot demand – suggests price appreciation is driven by leverage rather than fresh coin accumulation," Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant, said in a report Thursday. "Historically, such configurations lack the structural foundation required to sustain price gains and typically resolve via correction once futures positioning unwinds." Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Bitcoin surged in April, after ekeing out a modest March gain that followed five consecutive down months. The data also underscores the shifting environment for crypto exchanges and importance of crypto derivatives – which include perpetual futures and, increasingly, prediction markets. Perpetual futures, better known as "perps," continue to be the dominant venue for trading activity, liquidity and price discovery. At the same time, spot trading, which early crypto exchanges were built around, is becoming a less reliable engine for...
Robert Way/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. ( EL ) have been a solid performer over the past year, gaining about 34%. While it has been a difficult few years, there has been more optimism that its massive restructuring plan is beginning to aid results. Indeed, shares popped over 10% in early trading Friday as investors digested solid earnings. That said, ...
Robert Way/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. ( EL ) have been a solid performer over the past year, gaining about 34%. While it has been a difficult few years, there has been more optimism that its massive restructuring plan is beginning to aid results. Indeed, shares popped over 10% in early trading Friday as investors digested solid earnings. That said, its business is dependent on travel spending in Asia, which may come under pressure given higher fuel prices. I last covered Estee Lauder in February , rating the stock a Sell, and even with today’s pop, shares are down about 12% since then, justifying my caution. With updated financials, now is a good time to revisit EL. Seeking Alpha Restructuring boosts margins In the company’s fiscal third quarter , Estee Lauder earned $0.91, which was $0.26 better than expected , as revenue grew 4.5% to $3.7 billion. Earnings were up 40% from last year, reflecting cost-cutting efforts and efforts to expand distribution of its products to retailers like Amazon ( AMZN ). Estee Lauder has for several years been working on its “Profit Recovery and Growth Plan” (“PRGP”) to restart sales growth and generate cost efficiencies from its bloated headcount and supply chain. We are starting to see benefits here, even as the absolute level of results is muted. Even with tariffs, gross margins increased 140bps to 76.4%. Given the negative impact of tariffs, this degree of margin expansion is encouraging to see, though Q3 2025 was unusually weak given manufacturing costs associated with running factories at lower utilization levels. Going forward, tariffs should be less of a pressure, but increased commodity prices are a new risk. Beyond a better gross margin, layoffs and PRGP savings helped slow SG&A spending, delivering incremental operating leverage. EL has reduced employee incentive compensation and logistics expenses. As a result of this, adjusted operating margins surged 360bps to 15%. China an...
Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern speak daily with leaders and decision makers from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. No other program better positions investors and executives for the trading day. (Source: Bloomberg)
Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern speak daily with leaders and decision makers from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. No other program better positions investors and executives for the trading day. (Source: Bloomberg)