A Hong Kong homemaker sits alone at a pinball machine, engrossed in the game for an hour to kill time before picking up her sons from school for lunch on a weekday morning at a shopping centre in Sham Shui Po. The 47-year-old mother-of-two, who only identified herself as Mrs Cheung, said she played pinball machines at least twice a week at Dragon Centre, including once on the weekend with her fami...
A Hong Kong homemaker sits alone at a pinball machine, engrossed in the game for an hour to kill time before picking up her sons from school for lunch on a weekday morning at a shopping centre in Sham Shui Po. The 47-year-old mother-of-two, who only identified herself as Mrs Cheung, said she played pinball machines at least twice a week at Dragon Centre, including once on the weekend with her family of four as entertainment. “We just have fun as a family and use the points we earn from the games...
Hochul Targets NYC's Multimillion-Dollar Second Homes In $268 Billion Budget Framework New York is taking direct aim at the city’s ultra-wealthy absentee owners. In a major policy shift announced Thursday, Governor Kathy Hochul and state legislative leaders reached a framework agreement on a $268 billion state budget that includes a new annual tax on multimillion-dollar second homes in New York Ci...
Hochul Targets NYC's Multimillion-Dollar Second Homes In $268 Billion Budget Framework New York is taking direct aim at the city’s ultra-wealthy absentee owners. In a major policy shift announced Thursday, Governor Kathy Hochul and state legislative leaders reached a framework agreement on a $268 billion state budget that includes a new annual tax on multimillion-dollar second homes in New York City - a move designed to generate roughly $500 million a year to help close the city’s projected $5.4 billion budget deficit. The proposal, often called a “pied-à-terre” tax (French for “foot on the ground”), would apply to luxury properties valued at $5 million or more that are owned by people whose primary residence is outside New York City . These high-end apartments and townhouses - frequently used only a few weeks a year by global elites, celebrities, and finance executives - have long been criticized as under-taxed symbols of inequality in one of the world’s most expensive housing markets. “This is a tax on properties worth more than $5 million that are owned by people who do not reside in New York City - the super wealthy who can purchase properties and use them to store their wealth, ” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in support of the plan. “If you can afford a $5 million second home that sits empty most of the year, you can afford to contribute like every other New Yorker.” Hochul’s Political Pivot The tax represents a notable evolution for Governor Hochul. For years she resisted aggressive wealth taxes, warning they could drive businesses and high-net-worth residents out of the state. But after Zohran Mamdani - a 34-year-old democratic socialist and state assemblymember - won the New York City mayoral race in November 2025 in a stunning upset, the political math changed. With Mamdani pushing an ambitious progressive agenda (including universal pre-K and 3-K) and with federal funding cuts looming under the Trump administration, Hochul agreed to the second-home surcharge a...
Earnings Call Insights: Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (IRWD) Q1 2026 Management View CEO Thomas McCourt said 2026 priorities remain “maximizing LINZESS, advancing apraglutide and delivering sustained profits and cash flow,” and highlighted Q1 execution across each. McCourt said LINZESS “continues to be the
Earnings Call Insights: Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (IRWD) Q1 2026 Management View CEO Thomas McCourt said 2026 priorities remain “maximizing LINZESS, advancing apraglutide and delivering sustained profits and cash flow,” and highlighted Q1 execution across each. McCourt said LINZESS “continues to be the
Earnings Call Insights: Vital Farms (VITL) Q1 2026 Management View "The results we saw in the first quarter and scanner data so far in the second quarter fall short of our expectations, because price gaps reached levels that our brand could
Earnings Call Insights: Vital Farms (VITL) Q1 2026 Management View "The results we saw in the first quarter and scanner data so far in the second quarter fall short of our expectations, because price gaps reached levels that our brand could
Earnings Call Insights: Chimera Investment Corporation (CIM) Q1 2026 Management view Phillip Kardis (President, CEO & Director) framed the quarter around sustained market volatility and said the company is positioning for “structural” uncertainty: “We are operating in a market where uncertainty is not episodic. It's structural.” He added, “We don't try
Earnings Call Insights: Chimera Investment Corporation (CIM) Q1 2026 Management view Phillip Kardis (President, CEO & Director) framed the quarter around sustained market volatility and said the company is positioning for “structural” uncertainty: “We are operating in a market where uncertainty is not episodic. It's structural.” He added, “We don't try
Earnings Call Insights: Genpact (G) Q1 2026 Management View “Q1 was a record start to the fiscal year, and I want to be unequivocal. I believe we are in the early innings of something that will fundamentally reshape this company's trajectory.” (CEO, President & Director Balkrishan
Earnings Call Insights: Genpact (G) Q1 2026 Management View “Q1 was a record start to the fiscal year, and I want to be unequivocal. I believe we are in the early innings of something that will fundamentally reshape this company's trajectory.” (CEO, President & Director Balkrishan
President Donald Trump said there’s no need for curbs on US oil or jet fuel exports to address global shortages sparked by the war with Iran. “We don’t need them,” he told reporters Thursday in Washington. “And we have tremendous amounts of oil.” Blockages to the vital Strait of Hormuz have driven a massive jump in US energy exports, propelling the US above Saudi Arabia as the world’s top exporter...
President Donald Trump said there’s no need for curbs on US oil or jet fuel exports to address global shortages sparked by the war with Iran. “We don’t need them,” he told reporters Thursday in Washington. “And we have tremendous amounts of oil.” Blockages to the vital Strait of Hormuz have driven a massive jump in US energy exports, propelling the US above Saudi Arabia as the world’s top exporter of crude oil. But experts have also been warning that the US supply cushion is being pushed to its limits and it’s unclear how long exports can be sustained at this level before impacting the domestic market. Trump shrugged off the concern and lauded the surge in exports. “Ships are coming all the way where they used to go to Hormuz,” he said. “We have hundreds of ships coming up to Texas, coming up to Louisiana and coming to Alaska, filling up, and they’re going back and making a lot of money.” Read More: US Is Oil Supplier of Last Resort as Hormuz Disruptions Worsen