It doesn't take an economist to tell you that Americans are feeling a significant strain on their finances this spring. One of the most noticeable impacts of the ongoing war in Iran is the effect on gas prices. Americans are paying an average of $4.50 per gallon, up about 50% since the start of the conflict. Fuel prices impact just about everything, and that's reflected in April's Consumer Price I...
It doesn't take an economist to tell you that Americans are feeling a significant strain on their finances this spring. One of the most noticeable impacts of the ongoing war in Iran is the effect on gas prices. Americans are paying an average of $4.50 per gallon, up about 50% since the start of the conflict. Fuel prices impact just about everything, and that's reflected in April's Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase, which came in higher than anticipated at 3.8%. Analysts are now turning their attention to May and beyond, and the Federal Reserve just shared some terrible news for stock investors with its latest inflation forecast. Continue reading
Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, during the inauguration ceremony for the Navi Mumbai International Airport in Navi Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Indranil Aditya | Bloomberg | Getty Images The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday sought court approval for a settlement in its civil lawsuit against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, over al...
Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, during the inauguration ceremony for the Navi Mumbai International Airport in Navi Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Indranil Aditya | Bloomberg | Getty Images The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday sought court approval for a settlement in its civil lawsuit against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, over allegations they misled investors. Under the settlement, Gautam Adani will pay a $6 million penalty, while Sagar Adani will pay $12 million. Both men have consented to "entry of the final judgment without admitting or denying the allegations made in the civil complaint," and payment of penalties, Indian renewable energy firm Adani Green said in a filing to the Indian stock exchanges. The company added that it is not part of these proceedings and "no charges have been brought against it." The SEC's civil complaint against Gautam and Sagar Adani, along with executives at Azure Power Global, centered on allegations of bribery tied to solar energy contracts awarded by India's government. The U.S. Justice Department will also likely drop the criminal fraud charges against Adani, according to multiple media reports. A New York federal court indicted Gautam Adani and seven others in November 2024 on criminal charges related to an alleged bribery and fraud scheme. Prosecutors alleged that the defendants paid more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, misled investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and obstructed justice, according to court documents. Although the alleged conduct at the center of the indictment occurred in India, the defendants were charged in the Brooklyn federal court because the fundraising efforts happened in the U.S. The Adani Group has denied the allegations made by U.S. authorities, calling them "baseless." In a meeting at the Justice Department's headquarters in Washington last month, Adani's legal team, led by Robert J. Giuffra ...
The party needs a leader who understands the difficulties facing ordinary people. I am yet to see anyone obviously equal to that challenge If this were a poker game, Thursday lunchtime was the point when players were finally forced to show their cards. Was Wes Streeting holding all the aces, as his people relentlessly claimed, or a pair of fours and a lot of empty bluster? Did Andy Burnham even ha...
The party needs a leader who understands the difficulties facing ordinary people. I am yet to see anyone obviously equal to that challenge If this were a poker game, Thursday lunchtime was the point when players were finally forced to show their cards. Was Wes Streeting holding all the aces, as his people relentlessly claimed, or a pair of fours and a lot of empty bluster? Did Andy Burnham even have any cards, if he couldn’t name an MP willing to surrender their seat for him? (At the 11th hour, Makerfield MP Josh Simons did the honours). Would Angela Rayner – late to the table, after scraping together £40,000 in accidentally underpaid stamp duty in order to play – scoop the jackpot by default? Or does the house, in the shape of a prime minister stubbornly refusing to budge, ultimately always win? But in the end Streeting simply kicked the table over, scattering poker chips in all directions. His resignation from cabinet, in a blistering statement that noticeably failed to confirm he had the numbers to trigger a formal contest, was a frustrated last attempt to break the stalemate by taking what he called “personalities” – including possibly his own – and “petty factionalism” out of a revolt against Keir Starmer in which both are surgically embedded. Since the outcome is unclear at the time of writing, for now let’s leave aside the issue of whether Starmer even has the authority to do a reshuffle and focus on one question: why does Britain need a Labour party in 2026? Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
In antiquity, women were considered the more sexual sex – hornier, more libidinous and lust-fuelled than men. Why did that perception change? All across the world, you will probably have read, people are having less sex. In Britain and the US, in France and Australia, frequency of sex has been on the decline (although Denmark appears to be bucking the trend ). In 2018, the US magazine the Atlantic...
In antiquity, women were considered the more sexual sex – hornier, more libidinous and lust-fuelled than men. Why did that perception change? All across the world, you will probably have read, people are having less sex. In Britain and the US, in France and Australia, frequency of sex has been on the decline (although Denmark appears to be bucking the trend ). In 2018, the US magazine the Atlantic declared a “sex recession” , while last December the Telegraph ran a piece headlined “ Sex is dying out. This is why it matters ”. As an ancient historian with a particular interest in the history of sex, this drought is fascinating to me – not least because some of the articles I have read seem keen to hark back to the historical period I spend most of my time researching. “Sex should be more wild and plentiful than it has been since ancient Greece,” reported the Telegraph. But antiquity was no bastion of sexual freedom – especially for women. Continue reading...
Best known as Nurse Phyllis in the TV hit, the actor is a peerless interpreter of Caryl Churchill and is starring in Alexander Zeldin’s ‘Shakespearean’ play about dementia. She looks back on a career of unconventional choices ‘Every part is an education,” says Linda Bassett. “That’s the glory of being an actor. You learn about human feelings and frailty and rottenness. The writer puts their soul o...
Best known as Nurse Phyllis in the TV hit, the actor is a peerless interpreter of Caryl Churchill and is starring in Alexander Zeldin’s ‘Shakespearean’ play about dementia. She looks back on a career of unconventional choices ‘Every part is an education,” says Linda Bassett. “That’s the glory of being an actor. You learn about human feelings and frailty and rottenness. The writer puts their soul on the page, and you inhabit that. I’ve always felt I was a writer’s actor.” She’s not wrong. Never showy, Bassett’s understated magic has enhanced plays by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Wallace Shawn, Ayub Khan Din and, notably, Caryl Churchill, of whom she is a peerless interpreter. Continue reading...
We were locked in a box in a lorry for 12 hours. I’ve never been so terrified I escaped from my home, Soran, in the Erbil area of northern Iraq, in 2011 when I was 19 years old. My life was in danger – powerful people had made threats to kill me. I had been told that the UK was a secure place for refugees. I decided to try to get there and hoped the government would grant me protection. I travelle...
We were locked in a box in a lorry for 12 hours. I’ve never been so terrified I escaped from my home, Soran, in the Erbil area of northern Iraq, in 2011 when I was 19 years old. My life was in danger – powerful people had made threats to kill me. I had been told that the UK was a secure place for refugees. I decided to try to get there and hoped the government would grant me protection. I travelled by lorry across Europe and arrived in October of that year. I claimed asylum and felt lucky to be in a peaceful country. When I arrived, David Cameron was prime minister. Since then, there have been five others. I didn’t really distinguish between them, though – they all caused me a lot of stress. Continue reading...
Many European motoring manufacturers are in retreat with plants to off–load – while China’s industry is on the march Chinese carmaker Xpeng is on the hunt for a factory in Europe. Volkswagen is aiming to reduce the number of its factories. It seems like it should have been the perfect set-up for a deal. Yet there was one problem with the plant on offer, according to Elvis Cheng, Xpeng’s managing d...
Many European motoring manufacturers are in retreat with plants to off–load – while China’s industry is on the march Chinese carmaker Xpeng is on the hunt for a factory in Europe. Volkswagen is aiming to reduce the number of its factories. It seems like it should have been the perfect set-up for a deal. Yet there was one problem with the plant on offer, according to Elvis Cheng, Xpeng’s managing director of north-eastern Europe: “It’s a little bit, I would say, old.” Continue reading...
It’s been 12 years since Claire time-travelled through a magic stone into the arms of hot Scot Jamie and left fans light-headed. As Outlander comes to a close, we look back at TV’s steamiest journey – scandalous resurrections and all It all started with a vase. “I’d never lived anywhere long enough to justify having such a simple thing,” said the second world war nurse Claire Randall in the narrat...
It’s been 12 years since Claire time-travelled through a magic stone into the arms of hot Scot Jamie and left fans light-headed. As Outlander comes to a close, we look back at TV’s steamiest journey – scandalous resurrections and all It all started with a vase. “I’d never lived anywhere long enough to justify having such a simple thing,” said the second world war nurse Claire Randall in the narration, as she eyed one through a shop window on her honeymoon in Inverness. “At that moment, I wanted nothing so much in all the world as to have a vase of my very own.” Did she buy it and live happily ever after with lovely professor husband, Frank? Did she heck! Instead, Claire found a magic stone circle, fell through time to the 18th century, fell in love with flaming hot Scot Jamie Fraser and embarked on TV’s wildest journey. Twelve years have passed since the adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books gave us the time-travel bonkbuster we didn’t know we needed. You can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief for its stars, Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan, whose chemistry has sizzled admirably across eight long seasons (it took 17 months to film the first one after Covid). As it limps towards its finale this week, the end is long overdue – but it is a bittersweet farewell to a wonderfully ludicrous show. Continue reading...
It was just a creepy picture on the internet. Now it’s the year’s freakiest film. Its 20-year-old auteur Kane Parsons and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve take us through the terrifying labyrinth Chiwetel Ejiofor has been on a lot of movie sets, but Backrooms was something different: a 30,000 sq ft labyrinth of apparently random corridors and chambers, all carpeted, fluorescent lit and de...
It was just a creepy picture on the internet. Now it’s the year’s freakiest film. Its 20-year-old auteur Kane Parsons and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve take us through the terrifying labyrinth Chiwetel Ejiofor has been on a lot of movie sets, but Backrooms was something different: a 30,000 sq ft labyrinth of apparently random corridors and chambers, all carpeted, fluorescent lit and decorated in the same sickly yellow wallpaper. It was so big that people were getting lost in it, says Ejiofor: “Especially on those first days. As you try to navigate your way around and you’re like: ‘I’m sure it’s this door, I’m sure that’s the way.’” He’s laughing at the recollection. “And you find yourself just back in the wrong corner of the whole studio and you’re like: ‘Get me some help!’” This is kind of the point of Backrooms – the movie and the online phenomenon that spawned it. It’s a concept that takes some unpacking, but as the premise for a buzzy A24 horror freakout, you could summarise it as something like “The Blair Witch Project meets Severance” or “The Shining set in an infinite Travelodge”or maybe “the exact opposite of a Wes Anderson movie”. Comparisons fall short, partly because the Backrooms concept feels as if it’s come from another world – a parallel dimension, even. Ejiofor concurs: “There was stuff that we were doing by the end of the film that I was just like: ‘This is among the most bizarre things I have ever been involved in.’” Continue reading...
Gustav Magnar Witze (born 1993) is a Norwegian billionaire, tech investor, and model, known as one of the world's youngest billionaires. He owns roughly 4750% of SalMar ASA, a major global salmon farming company founded by his father, Gustav Witze senior, in 1991. Father and son in the family old house.
Gustav Magnar Witze (born 1993) is a Norwegian billionaire, tech investor, and model, known as one of the world's youngest billionaires. He owns roughly 4750% of SalMar ASA, a major global salmon farming company founded by his father, Gustav Witze senior, in 1991. Father and son in the family old house.
8:30 AM Empire State Manufacturing Index The New York Fed conducts this monthly survey of manufacturers in New York State. Participants from across the state represent various industries. The consensus sees the index at 7.8 for May versus 11.0 in April. 9:15 AM Industrial Production The Federal Reserve's monthly index of industrial production and the related capacity indexes and capacity utilizati...
8:30 AM Empire State Manufacturing Index The New York Fed conducts this monthly survey of manufacturers in New York State. Participants from across the state represent various industries. The consensus sees the index at 7.8 for May versus 11.0 in April. 9:15 AM Industrial Production The Federal Reserve's monthly index of industrial production and the related capacity indexes and capacity utilization rates cover manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities. A modest increase in industrial output is expected at 0.2 percent in April after 0.5% decline in March. 1:00 PM Baker Hughes Rig Count The Baker Hughes North American rig count tracks weekly changes in the number of active operating oil & gas rigs. More on U.S. Markets Kevin Warsh Gets Confirmed For Fed Chairman - Reactions For Dow Jones, Nasdaq And S&P 500 Making Sense Of The Market Rally Headline Inflation Cooled In April, But Core Pressures Picked Up 3 things to look out for on Thursday Wall Street ended mostly higher despite a hotter-than-forecasted PPI inflation print
33-year-old Gustav Magnar Witzoe is a fashion influencer, model, investor and a Norwegian billionaire. He’s also betting his fortune on creating the “world’s best fish farm.” (Source: Bloomberg)
33-year-old Gustav Magnar Witzoe is a fashion influencer, model, investor and a Norwegian billionaire. He’s also betting his fortune on creating the “world’s best fish farm.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Malaysia’s economy grew faster than initially estimated in the first quarter despite a sharp slowdown in March, supported by resilient household spending and the artificial-intelligence boom. Gross domestic product rose 5.4% from the year before, according to Bank Negara Malaysia and the Department of Statistics Malaysia on Friday, beating an advance estimate of 5.3% released last month. The media...
Malaysia’s economy grew faster than initially estimated in the first quarter despite a sharp slowdown in March, supported by resilient household spending and the artificial-intelligence boom. Gross domestic product rose 5.4% from the year before, according to Bank Negara Malaysia and the Department of Statistics Malaysia on Friday, beating an advance estimate of 5.3% released last month. The median forecast of economists was for no revision. “Higher energy prices, supply chain disruptions, and heightened uncertainty are expected to weigh on the external environment,” Governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said in a briefing. “Nevertheless, the Malaysian economy is expected to remain resilient in 2026, with growth expected to come in within the range of 4% to 5%, supported by steady domestic demand and continued expansion in our export performance.” Still, the economy’s pace of expansion softened progressively across the quarter, with monthly growth easing from 6.8 per cent in January to 5.2 per cent in February and 4.1 per cent in March 2026, according to Friday’s data. Rasheed said the current benchmark interest rate is appropriate, adding the central bank will continue to be vigilant as events evolve. “We are facing a supply shock — monetary policy is a demand management tool,” Rasheed said. That does not warrant a policy response and hence the current overnight policy rate is “adequate for the situation.” BNM held the key rate at 2.75% last week, saying Malaysia’s fundamentals should underpin its resilience to the Iran war, while the impact on inflation should be contained. Malaysian consumers have continued spending in 2026, and the country is among a handful of Asian economies, including Singapore and Taiwan , which have been lifted by the sustained global frenzy for AI-related electronics and services. That has given the nation a crucial buffer in the face of the US war on Iran, while neighbors like the Philippines contend with high prices and slowing activity due to...
Hungary ’s ambition to join the euro is changing the hierarchy of eastern European bond markets in a way that hasn’t been seen in years. For the first time since in 2020, Hungary’s borrowing costs are lower than Poland and gap over Czech Republic bonds has fallen by two percentage points since March. It’s a shift that underscores how investors have changed their mind on some of the region’s bigges...
Hungary ’s ambition to join the euro is changing the hierarchy of eastern European bond markets in a way that hasn’t been seen in years. For the first time since in 2020, Hungary’s borrowing costs are lower than Poland and gap over Czech Republic bonds has fallen by two percentage points since March. It’s a shift that underscores how investors have changed their mind on some of the region’s biggest economies as new Prime Minister Peter Magyar embarks on a mission to bring Hungary into the European mainstream. Before last month’s election, Hungary was viewed as the riskiest of the group with a legacy of entrenched corruption and unpredictable policies under Viktor Orban . But with Magyar pledging to meet criteria for euro adoption in the next four years, investors are throwing their support behind his administration. Foreigners have piled into Hungarian bonds and the forint currency is near a four-year high against the euro. “We’re probably as long Hungary as we’ve ever been,” said James Novotny , an investment manager at Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. “Because of the structural problems that Hungary had for over a decade — low growth, productivity and so forth — we feel this is just the start.” Read More: Hungary’s New Finance Chief Pledges Euro Path, Policy U-Turn That kind of optimism is making Hungary has one of the hottest trades in emerging markets. An index of the local-currency bonds has returned 9.6% in dollars since the April 12 ballot, by far the best EM performance over that period. For comparison, Polish, Czech and Romanian bonds are all in the red since then. Novotny has sold Polish debt and expects 10-year Hungarian yields to fall another half a percentage point relative to core euro-region debt within a year. The forint is also about 10% too cheap compared with the zloty, he estimated. Hungary’s benchmark bond now carries a yield of 5.55%, 30 basis points less than on Poland’s 10-year note and 65 basis points more than similar Czech debt. Foreigners ow...
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Czech billionaire Michal Strnad , the richest person in the European Union’s east, is starting an investment firm with potential firepower of €10 billion ($11.7 billion) to target acquisitions in Europe and the US. Some of the money comes from selling shares in his military equipment company CSG NV earlier this year, the biggest ever initial public offering for a pure-play defense firm. The new en...
Czech billionaire Michal Strnad , the richest person in the European Union’s east, is starting an investment firm with potential firepower of €10 billion ($11.7 billion) to target acquisitions in Europe and the US. Some of the money comes from selling shares in his military equipment company CSG NV earlier this year, the biggest ever initial public offering for a pure-play defense firm. The new entity will be separate and aim to invest in industries other than defense, Strnad said in an interview this week. “I want it to be diversified,” he said at his office in Prague, adding he’s open to deals in the public and private sectors or real estate. “I want it to be in promising, growing sectors.” The plan reflects the growing wealth concentrated in the the Czech Republic, home to the four richest East Europeans in Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, including Daniel Kretinsky and Karel Komarek . The four have a combined net worth of $62 billion. Prime Minister Andrej Babis , who returned to power after winning elections last year, is also a billionaire. The 33-year-old Strnad, who took over CSG from his father, is the youngest. He’s already moved some assets to his new investment firm: a stake in the Four Seasons hotel in Prague, a fertility clinic and local dealerships for Ferrari and Maserati he acquired as well as football club Viktoria Plzen . Companies he counts as potentially interesting include local assets of waste management company Marius Pedersen that are reportedly up for sale. He also said his interest in acquiring media companies remains high. “I am not the type of investor who has to come in, buy something, make money in five years, and then get out,” he said. “I want to hold things that make sense for the long term.” Strnad has about €3 billion in equity at his disposal from the IPO, which he could leverage to gain what he called “firepower” of as much as €10 billion. He is in touch with Renata Kellnerova , the second richest person in the country, and “talk...
While United Parcel Service has considerably underperformed the broader market over the past 52 weeks, Wall Street analysts maintain a moderately optimistic outlook about the stock’s prospects.
While United Parcel Service has considerably underperformed the broader market over the past 52 weeks, Wall Street analysts maintain a moderately optimistic outlook about the stock’s prospects.
Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ: CBRS) just pulled off the biggest U.S. tech initial public offering (IPO) since Snowflake made its debut in 2020. The artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker priced its shares at $185 on Wednesday evening, above its already-raised range of $150 to $160. The deal raised $5.55 billion and valued the company at about $56.4 billion on a fully diluted basis. Shares opened at $3...
Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ: CBRS) just pulled off the biggest U.S. tech initial public offering (IPO) since Snowflake made its debut in 2020. The artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker priced its shares at $185 on Wednesday evening, above its already-raised range of $150 to $160. The deal raised $5.55 billion and valued the company at about $56.4 billion on a fully diluted basis. Shares opened at $350 on the Nasdaq Thursday morning -- nearly double the IPO price. And sure enough, shares soared, reaching highs of $385 before closing at about $311 on its first day of trading. By any measure, it was a blockbuster debut. So what happens next? It's tempting to extrapolate from an IPO like this. But history offers some sobering lessons for investors hoping to ride that early enthusiasm higher. Continue reading