On March 25, PDD officially announced the establishment of "Xinpinmu" to build a self-operated brand. Photo: VCG PDD Holdings Inc., operator of bargain platforms Pinduoduo and Temu, is launching an initiative to build a global network of self-operated brands, planning to invest 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) over the next three years. The company said Wednesday it has set up a Shanghai entity, X...
On March 25, PDD officially announced the establishment of "Xinpinmu" to build a self-operated brand. Photo: VCG PDD Holdings Inc., operator of bargain platforms Pinduoduo and Temu, is launching an initiative to build a global network of self-operated brands, planning to invest 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) over the next three years. The company said Wednesday it has set up a Shanghai entity, Xinpinmu, with an initial 15-billion-yuan cash injection. The venture will develop curated in-house brands across markets and categories, combining PDD’s domestic supply chain with Temu’s overseas reach. It also plans to offer “go-global” services to China’s industrial-belt merchants, including customized manufacturing, product standards, warehousing and logistics, intellectual-property support, legal assistance and regulatory-compliance help.
Shareholders of PBF Energy Inc (Symbol: PBF) looking to boost their income beyond the stock's 2.2% annualized dividend yield can sell the September covered call at the $60 strike and collect the premium based on the $6.20 bid, which annualizes to an additional 25.9% rate of retu
Shareholders of PBF Energy Inc (Symbol: PBF) looking to boost their income beyond the stock's 2.2% annualized dividend yield can sell the September covered call at the $60 strike and collect the premium based on the $6.20 bid, which annualizes to an additional 25.9% rate of retu
Volatility in energy commodity prices driven by the ongoing war in the Middle East is confounding firms trying to make decisions about production in coming months. “The volatility across all the commodities is just insane and makes planning very difficult,” one anonymous respondent said in the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ quarterly energy survey , released Wednesday. Higher oil prices due to th...
Volatility in energy commodity prices driven by the ongoing war in the Middle East is confounding firms trying to make decisions about production in coming months. “The volatility across all the commodities is just insane and makes planning very difficult,” one anonymous respondent said in the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ quarterly energy survey , released Wednesday. Higher oil prices due to the war are driving some optimism about increased production among US oil and gas companies, but uncertainty is weighing heavily on many firms. “In the quarter ahead, all pricing is uncertain until safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz can be achieved,” another respondent said. Half of the surveyed exploration and production companies don’t expect to increase the number of wells drilled this year, while 47% said they will drill slightly or significantly more wells. Energy company officials expect the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil to end 2026 at $74 a barrel, according to the survey. That’s up from an estimate of $62 in December. The survey was conducted March 11–19, after the start of the Iran conflict caused oil prices to surge. WTI at around $89 a barrel Wednesday. “Volatility has increased due to geopolitical events,” said another respondent. “The second- and third-order effects of this volatility and the commodity supply and price shock have yet to be determined, but the focus on energy security over the coming years should position US producers well on the global stage.” The quarterly publication is widely read within the energy sector and features anonymous, unfiltered comments from respondents working at production and service companies. In this quarter’s survey, 135 firms responded, including 92 in exploration and production, as well as 43 oilfield services firms.
SpaceX is considering a fundraising target in its IPO that would dwarf the previous largest ever debut, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk ’s rocket and satellite maker moves forward with listing plans. The company is weighing a ballpark figure of about $75 billion in its initial public offering, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the informa...
SpaceX is considering a fundraising target in its IPO that would dwarf the previous largest ever debut, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk ’s rocket and satellite maker moves forward with listing plans. The company is weighing a ballpark figure of about $75 billion in its initial public offering, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX has discussed with potential investors the prospect of raising more than $70 billion, some of the people said. Either figure would be far above the $50 billion target Bloomberg News has previously reported, and more than double the largest ever IPO, Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion listing in 2019. SpaceX continues to seek a market debut in June, though the timing could still shift, some of the people said. The company could file its IPO paperwork confidentially as soon as this month, Bloomberg News reported in February. Read More: SpaceX Weighs Confidential IPO Filing as Soon as March The Information earlier reported the higher fundraising target. Preparations for a confidential filing are ongoing and SpaceX could still decide to change the plan, the people said. A representative for SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. SpaceX could seek a valuation in the IPO of more than $1.75 trillion, people familiar with the matter have said. It acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI in a deal that valued the enlarged entity at $1.25 trillion, Bloomberg News has reported . S&P Weighs Rule Changes That Would Speed SpaceX S&P 500 Entry SpaceX Knocks Boeing From Dominant Role in NASA Moon Mission Musk Says Tesla, SpaceX, xAI Chip Project to Kick Off in Texas Is SpaceX Worth $1.75 Trillion? Key Questions for Musk’s Big IPO SpaceX Blockbuster IPO Lures Investors Into Murky Private Deals At a $1.75 trillion market value, SpaceX would be bigger than all but five of the companies in the S&P 500 Index — Nvidia Corp. , Apple Inc. , Alphabe...
(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks climbed higher Wednesday morning amid signs of de-escalation in tensions in the Middle East on reports of diplomatic talks between U.S. and Iran for a peace deal.
(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks climbed higher Wednesday morning amid signs of de-escalation in tensions in the Middle East on reports of diplomatic talks between U.S. and Iran for a peace deal.
(Bloomberg) -- SpaceX is considering a fundraising target in its IPO that would dwarf the previous largest ever debut, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker moves forward with listing plans.The company is weighing a ballpark figure of about $75 billion in its initial public offering, one of the people said, asking not to be identified a...
(Bloomberg) -- SpaceX is considering a fundraising target in its IPO that would dwarf the previous largest ever debut, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker moves forward with listing plans.The company is weighing a ballpark figure of about $75 billion in its initial public offering, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX has discussed with potential investors the prospect of raisin
Barbican Hall, London John Butt’s Dunedin Consort premiered Davies’s new Passion: a startlingly sensual meditation with a sense of ritual – and an electric guitar hidden amid the baroque instrumentation Most period-instrument bands spend Lent playing as many Bach Passions as they can schedule, but here were the Dunedin Consort and conductor John Butt adding to their already impressive list of prem...
Barbican Hall, London John Butt’s Dunedin Consort premiered Davies’s new Passion: a startlingly sensual meditation with a sense of ritual – and an electric guitar hidden amid the baroque instrumentation Most period-instrument bands spend Lent playing as many Bach Passions as they can schedule, but here were the Dunedin Consort and conductor John Butt adding to their already impressive list of premieres with a brand new Passion. A co-commission with the Edinburgh international festival, where it will be heard in August, it is the fruit of the composer Tansy Davies’s long fascination with the elusive figure of Mary Magdalene. Davies’s text draws on several sources including the second- or third-century, non-canonical Gospel of Mary, and weaves in evocative poetry by Ruth Fainlight. It unfolds steadily in a 90-minute span divided into seven episodes, related by eight singers – four women, four men. Mary Magdalene herself, radiantly sung here by Anna Dennis, is a visionary, with long passages of almost mystical words, the melody leaping from note to note; the other three women sing in chords, giving voice to an Oracle. It’s more of a meditation than a Passion-setting in the traditional sense, but there’s no new-age looseness: Davies’s score is tautly written. And the story gets told, if not in quite the usual way. Jesus’s first words – addressed here by the otherwise velvet-voiced baritone Marcus Farnsworth to Tim Lilburn’s countertenor demon – are an angry “Shut up!”, and some of Fainlight’s poetry is startlingly sensual. Continue reading...
In this photo illustration a 13-year-old teenage boy looks at an iPhone screen displaying various social media apps on January 12, 2026 in Bath, England. Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images The U.K. government is trialing a social media ban for hundreds of teens, after the country's lawmakers rejected a blanket ban on under-16s using the platforms. The U.K.'s Department for Science, Inno...
In this photo illustration a 13-year-old teenage boy looks at an iPhone screen displaying various social media apps on January 12, 2026 in Bath, England. Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images The U.K. government is trialing a social media ban for hundreds of teens, after the country's lawmakers rejected a blanket ban on under-16s using the platforms. The U.K.'s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology said Wednesday that it will run a six-week pilot with various bans ranging from curfews to time caps on certain apps on 300 teenagers across the country. The pilot is part of its broader digital wellbeing consultation launched this year, which has already received 30,000 responses from parents and children on the effect of social media on children's wellbeing, and closes on 26 May. It includes four types of interventions, with one set of parents instructed to use parental controls to remove or disable select apps; a second group to impose a one-hour cap per day for teens on the most popular apps, including Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat; a third set will impose a curfew between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., and a final group will continue will not restrict social media access at all. This comes after U.K. lawmakers voted against a proposal to include a social media ban for under-16s in an existing piece of legislation, the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, earlier this month. watch now VIDEO 1:57 01:57 Tracking Europe's approach to social media bans for teenagers Europe Early Edition Shortly after, online safety organizations in the U.K., Ofcom and the Information Commissioner's Office, urged social media firms to ensure the protection of children online through measures, such as better use of age verification technologies and preventing strangers from contacting teens. Australia became the first country to ban social media for under-16-year-olds in December, and other countries began mulling something similar. Read more Australia banned social media for under...
melissabrock1/iStock via Getty Images Commentators have been discussing the “K-Shaped Economy” for a few years, but as time has gone on, it's only gotten worse. What I naively thought would be a trend that we left behind post-2023 after the worst of the inflation woes ended has become a long-term trend. The upper end is doing okay, whereas the middle class and lower end are weakening. We've notice...
melissabrock1/iStock via Getty Images Commentators have been discussing the “K-Shaped Economy” for a few years, but as time has gone on, it's only gotten worse. What I naively thought would be a trend that we left behind post-2023 after the worst of the inflation woes ended has become a long-term trend. The upper end is doing okay, whereas the middle class and lower end are weakening. We've noticed it in wage growth primarily, but it's also in asset growth, as well as other factors like default rates. Apollo I've been covering this trend on Seeking Alpha, most recently in “ The Consumer is Tapping Out, ” where I discussed flatlining retail sales. Here's an excerpt making a point about the recent acceleration of the lower leg of the K. ....Placer Labs, which tracks foot traffic into retail stores...noted that discount and dollar stores like Dollar General ( DG ) and Dollar Tree ( DLTR ), among others, had [risen above superstore traffic]. It would seem that consumer spending was flat because they were trading down on the price chain to afford similar quantities. Placer Labs They noted similar trends among off-price retailers—above the dollar stores in the price-to-quantity ratio but below superstores—and thrift stores as well, with their traffic also spiking during the peak of this holiday shopping season compared to last year. Placer Labs The consumer becoming more money-conscious is not a good sign of their robustness. I was quick to dismiss the retail sales data being flat as noisy, especially considering that 2024 was an unusual year in wage growth, so comparisons are tough. But take in the data that off-price, thrift, and dollar stores are taking market share of consumers while the YoY rate is flat, and it looks like contraction to me. The question was put to me recently, asking what stocks I'd consider buying to benefit from this trend. Now that I think we're entering a zone of market support that will mark a near-term bottom , it's worth really considering. Lu...
Over the past few years, a new category of mobile apps has quietly exploded into a multi-billion dollar business. They’re called “micro dramas” — short-form, mobile-first scripted shows designed to be watched vertically on your phone. Think soap opera meets TikTok, complete with secret billionaire romances, disapproving werewolf mothers-in-law, and cliffhangers engineered to keep users tapping. Th...
Over the past few years, a new category of mobile apps has quietly exploded into a multi-billion dollar business. They’re called “micro dramas” — short-form, mobile-first scripted shows designed to be watched vertically on your phone. Think soap opera meets TikTok, complete with secret billionaire romances, disapproving werewolf mothers-in-law, and cliffhangers engineered to keep users tapping. The leading […]