Fewer Americans filed for jobless aid last week as lay-offs remain low despite a number of uncertainties that continue to cloud the economy. US applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending May 16 fell by 3,000 to 209,000, the Labour Department reported Thursday. That is fewer than the 213,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast. Weekly filings for...
Fewer Americans filed for jobless aid last week as lay-offs remain low despite a number of uncertainties that continue to cloud the economy. US applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending May 16 fell by 3,000 to 209,000, the Labour Department reported Thursday. That is fewer than the 213,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast. Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for US lay-offs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. Advertisement Despite historically low lay-offs, the labour market appears to be stuck in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state. That is kept the unemployment rate low at 4.3 per cent, but left many of those out of work struggling to find new employment. Though US employers delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs in April, the Iran war has injected a large degree of uncertainty about the broader US economy and labour market. Workers move packages on Tuesday in New York. Photo: AP The Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s oil travels through, remains closed. Since the beginning of the war in late February, oil prices have spiked more than 50 per cent and the average price for a gallon of gas in the US has climbed to US$4.56 from less than US$3. Besides hitting consumers’ pocketbooks, those higher costs can discourage businesses from hiring.
Walmart says rising gas prices could lead to higher prices for consumers. Comparable US sales rose 4.1% in the last quarter and its profit forecast missed analysts' expectations. Mizuho Senior Equity Analyst David Bellinger joins "Bloomberg Surveillance" with more. (Source: Bloomberg)
Walmart says rising gas prices could lead to higher prices for consumers. Comparable US sales rose 4.1% in the last quarter and its profit forecast missed analysts' expectations. Mizuho Senior Equity Analyst David Bellinger joins "Bloomberg Surveillance" with more. (Source: Bloomberg)
The mission begins now. GeForce NOW is dialing up the action with a blockbuster mix of spy thrills, high-speed racing and member rewards — plus eight new games joining the cloud this week, all ready to stream instantly. Leading the drop: the 007 First Light Ultimate Membership Bundle, which brings a brand-new way to jump into one of the year’s biggest releases and discover James Bond’s reimagined ...
The mission begins now. GeForce NOW is dialing up the action with a blockbuster mix of spy thrills, high-speed racing and member rewards — plus eight new games joining the cloud this week, all ready to stream instantly. Leading the drop: the 007 First Light Ultimate Membership Bundle, which brings a brand-new way to jump into one of the year’s biggest releases and discover James Bond’s reimagined origin story. Rev the engines — the Horizon Festival is calling. Forza Horizon 6 is now available on GeForce NOW — bringing the series’ signature open-world racing and festival energy directly to members, wherever they play. Stream a world built for speed, style and freedom instantly across devices, with no downloads required. Step Into the Cloud of Espionage A mission worth accepting arrives. Starting today through Wednesday, June 10, 007 First Light is included with the purchase of a 12-month GeForce NOW Ultimate membership. Lock it in before the game’s launch, and it’ll be ready to play the moment it goes live on Wednesday, May 27 — no preloads, no waiting, no mission briefings required. This is a new, original take of Bond’s story — before the tux fit perfectly and the martinis got specific. 007 First Light drops players into a sharp, cinematic origin story packed with globe-trotting espionage, close calls and choices that shape how the world’s most famous agent takes form. Expect stealth, spectacle and just enough chaos to keep things interesting. Stream it all with GeForce RTX 50 Series GPU power in the cloud, with up to 5K high dynamic range and cinematic-quality streaming for Ultimate members. It’s high-end PC gaming, minus the high-end PC. Redeeming the mission is simple: After purchase, get the game by going to the “Available to Redeem” section in the account portal, signing in to a Steam account and completing the redemption. The game is for members to keep — and ready to play across devices at launch with GeForce NOW. Welcome to the Festival Forza Horizon 6 is t...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Fidelity National Information Services ( FIS ) has launched FIS digital wealth solutions in partnership with the wealth technology platform InvestCloud. The solutions help firms deliver personalized, secure, and actionable interactions. For wealth firms, advisors are working from a connected dashboard; for advisors, that means a system that reasons acros...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Fidelity National Information Services ( FIS ) has launched FIS digital wealth solutions in partnership with the wealth technology platform InvestCloud. The solutions help firms deliver personalized, secure, and actionable interactions. For wealth firms, advisors are working from a connected dashboard; for advisors, that means a system that reasons across client data, portfolio positions, compliance requirements, and transaction history - surfacing what matters. "Financial institutions want to modernize the wealth experience without disrupting the foundation they've built," said Jim Johnson, co-president, banking solutions, of FIS. "InvestCloud brings the digital experience and AI-enabled expertise that today’s advisors and clients expect," said CEO Jeff Yabuki. More on Fidelity National Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS) Presents at J.P. Morgan 54th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference Transcript Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. 2026 Q1 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript FIS reiterates 2026 outlook for $2.1B free cash flow while targeting >$3B by 2028 through Anthropic AI agents rollout Fidelity National Non-GAAP EPS of $1.36 beats by $0.07, revenue of $3.29B beats by $10M
Robert Way Nvidia ( NVDA ) topped estimates and guidance for its most recent fiscal first quarter, provided additional clarity and detail on its operating segments, and meaningfully increased its capital return program to shareholders. Essentially, the Jensen Huang-led company did everything investors, analysts, and industry watchers asked for, and more. And yet, shares are barely budging in prema...
Robert Way Nvidia ( NVDA ) topped estimates and guidance for its most recent fiscal first quarter, provided additional clarity and detail on its operating segments, and meaningfully increased its capital return program to shareholders. Essentially, the Jensen Huang-led company did everything investors, analysts, and industry watchers asked for, and more. And yet, shares are barely budging in premarket trading on Thursday. So that begs the question: why? It may come down to equity positioning, according to Goldman Sachs. While some investors noted Nvidia had the largest short position in the S&P 500 with a notional value at roughly $62.5B, Goldman Sachs' U.S. share sales trading desk said the lack of a reaction comes down to positioning. Bloomberg reported that positioning on Nvidia was at a nine on a scale of 1-10, according to members of Goldman's trading desk. And while Nvidia is widely owned by various investors (retail, fund managers, hedge funds, etc.), it is no longer considered to be a “max long,” the news outlet added. Essentially, investors are looking for the next part of the artificial intelligence trade. Another reason for the tepid response to the results and guidance may be due to options trading, where dealers are generally long gamma due to the significant institutional call overwriting activity, Bloomberg noted. As such, that could suppress volatility in the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks when compared to other members of the Nasdaq 100. More on Nvidia Nvidia: We Are So Wrong I Want To Cry (Rating Upgrade) Nvidia Q1 Earnings: Growth Slowdown, Massive Agentic AI Positioning NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript Nvidia continues to impress Wall Street as AI trend shows no sign of slowing down Trump administration plans billions in financing to woo firms for US AI tools: report
Robert Way Nvidia ( NVDA ) topped estimates and guidance for its most recent fiscal first quarter, provided additional clarity and detail on its operating segments, and meaningfully increased its capital return program to shareholders. Essentially, the Jensen Huang-led company did everything investors, analysts, and industry watchers asked for, and more. And yet, shares are barely budging in prema...
Robert Way Nvidia ( NVDA ) topped estimates and guidance for its most recent fiscal first quarter, provided additional clarity and detail on its operating segments, and meaningfully increased its capital return program to shareholders. Essentially, the Jensen Huang-led company did everything investors, analysts, and industry watchers asked for, and more. And yet, shares are barely budging in premarket trading on Thursday. So that begs the question: why? It may come down to equity positioning, according to Goldman Sachs. While some investors noted Nvidia had the largest short position in the S&P 500 with a notional value at roughly $62.5B, Goldman Sachs' U.S. share sales trading desk said the lack of a reaction comes down to positioning. Bloomberg reported that positioning on Nvidia was at a nine on a scale of 1-10, according to members of Goldman's trading desk. And while Nvidia is widely owned by various investors (retail, fund managers, hedge funds, etc.), it is no longer considered to be a “max long,” the news outlet added. Essentially, investors are looking for the next part of the artificial intelligence trade. Another reason for the tepid response to the results and guidance may be due to options trading, where dealers are generally long gamma due to the significant institutional call overwriting activity, Bloomberg noted. As such, that could suppress volatility in the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks when compared to other members of the Nasdaq 100. More on Nvidia Nvidia: We Are So Wrong I Want To Cry (Rating Upgrade) Nvidia Q1 Earnings: Growth Slowdown, Massive Agentic AI Positioning NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript Nvidia continues to impress Wall Street as AI trend shows no sign of slowing down Trump administration plans billions in financing to woo firms for US AI tools: report
Nvidia is finally starting to behave less like a hypergrowth startup and more like the dominant platform company it has become. Investors should pay attention. If history is any guide, this shift in capital allocation could matter just as much for the stock as the company’s next generation of AI chips. The headline from Wednesday’s earnings release was not just another massive quarter. It was mana...
Nvidia is finally starting to behave less like a hypergrowth startup and more like the dominant platform company it has become. Investors should pay attention. If history is any guide, this shift in capital allocation could matter just as much for the stock as the company’s next generation of AI chips. The headline from Wednesday’s earnings release was not just another massive quarter. It was management’s decision to materially expand shareholder returns. Nvidia raised its quarterly dividend to $0.25 per share from a token $0.01 and authorized a fresh $80 billion stock buyback program, adding to the roughly $39 billion remaining under prior authorization. That is a meaningful signal. Companies do not commit that level of capital unless they believe the cash machine is durable. More important, Nvidia now says it intends to return roughly half of free cash flow to shareholders during calendar 2026. For a company that has historically reinvested nearly every available dollar back into the AI ecosystem, this marks a genuine evolution. Evercore ISI’s Mark Lipacis argues the closest analogue is Apple. After years of valuation compression, Apple’s multiple began to rerate higher once investors recognized that its enormous cash flows would increasingly flow back to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. The lesson was simple: a company generating extraordinary amounts of cash becomes more valuable when markets trust management to distribute some of it consistently. Nvidia may now be entering that phase. Until now, the company has allocated far less of its free cash flow to shareholder returns than peers. According to Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya, Nvidia returned only about 47% of free cash flow through dividends and repurchases between 2022 and 2025, versus an industry norm closer to 80%. Instead, management poured capital into building and reinforcing the broader AI ecosystem, including investments tied to partners like OpenAI and Anthropic. Critics viewed some...
By Niket Nishant May 21 (Reuters) - The latest quarterly earnings from Big Tech companies have given investors ample reason to stay invested in the AI trade, helping lift equities despite the unprecedented disruption in the oil markets that has clouded the economic growth outlook. Nvidia rounded out the results from the so-called Magnificent Seven that includes Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon...
By Niket Nishant May 21 (Reuters) - The latest quarterly earnings from Big Tech companies have given investors ample reason to stay invested in the AI trade, helping lift equities despite the unprecedented disruption in the oil markets that has clouded the economic growth outlook. Nvidia rounded out the results from the so-called Magnificent Seven that includes Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Meta Platforms and Tesla. Here are a few graphics laying out the state of play: NVIDIA GROWTH OUTPACES PEERS Revenue growth at the Magnificent Seven remains highly uneven, with Nvidia's blistering pace helping maintain its dominant lead. The chipmaker's sales have on demand for AI infrastructure, helping cement its status as the world's biggest company by market value. By comparison, others in the group are expanding at a much steadier pace, although they are all expected to funnel billions into their AI ventures, hoping to reap robust profits in the coming years. DATA CENTER RACE FUELS BORROWING SPREE To fund their lofty AI ambitions, the Magnificent Seven have been increasingly turning to the bond markets. Bond issuance from the group has sharply jumped, with debt sales already hitting $134 billion so far this year, compared with 2025's entire haul of $87.5 billion, according to data from Dealogic. This year's surge has been driven by Alphabet, Amazon and Meta -- companies at the center of the race to build out AI infrastructure, such as data centers. AI FAITH POWERS STOCK REBOUND After an uneven start to the year and volatility in the wake of the Middle East conflict, shares of tech heavyweights have regained momentum. Investors are betting on the technology's long-term promise, even as they worry over the pace of returns on the companies' investments. However, the hierarchy has at times appeared to shift. Alphabet, which stunned Wall Street with cloud growth that outpaced bigger rivals, came close to overtaking Nvidia to become the most valuable global com...
imaginima/iStock via Getty Images I'm Still Not Willing To Buy CRWV I updated my coverage on CoreWeave, Inc. ( CRWV ) last month , downgrading the stock to "Hold" when it soared by over 35% since my February "Buy" call ahead of the firm's Q4 2025 report release. So, since my downgrade in April, the stock price has managed to lose almost 15%, while the firm's closest peer - Nebius Group ( NBIS ) - ...
imaginima/iStock via Getty Images I'm Still Not Willing To Buy CRWV I updated my coverage on CoreWeave, Inc. ( CRWV ) last month , downgrading the stock to "Hold" when it soared by over 35% since my February "Buy" call ahead of the firm's Q4 2025 report release. So, since my downgrade in April, the stock price has managed to lose almost 15%, while the firm's closest peer - Nebius Group ( NBIS ) - kept going higher, setting another all-time high and outpacing most peers by a huge margin: Data by YCharts I'm not willing to compare CRWV with NBIS again - there are plenty of articles on the Internet if you're interested (including mine, back from September 2025 - here's the link ). This article that you're reading is dedicated to CoreWeave as a standalone company - I just want to update my coverage, given that the firm released its Q1 2026 results in early May 2026. From what I see, CRWV's growth still looks promising because the niche where it's operating is still growing massively. All this seems to be the market's consensus; otherwise, CRWV wouldn't have been up by almost 40% YTD (well above the tech sector, for comparison - see the above chart). However, there are also some risks that I don't want my readers to overlook or discount too much. I'm talking about CRWV's business model growth, driven by heavy debt loads that are likely to lead to margin erosion once the fastest phase of the business expansion is over and GPU lease rates correct. This risk is specific to any neocloud company in the next few years, but specifically for CRWV, its current financial leverage looks like a huge problem for long-term investors. First off, let me take a closer look at what's going on with CoreWeave's financials. As I said, the growth is still there, and it looks massive. The Q1 revenue went up by 112% YoY or 32% QoQ and reached $2.08 billion, which is still quite low - there's a lot more room for expansion as the backlog gets monetized. By the way, speaking of the contracted reve...
Welcome to Next Africa, a daily newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. In today’s edition, we look at Johannesburg’s meltdown. And: Nigeria, Ghana hold rates as Mauritius, Rwanda hike The US has pulled back from efforts to tackle Ebola Cities across the world are adapting to extreme weather Going Bust Johannesburg has ...
Welcome to Next Africa, a daily newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. In today’s edition, we look at Johannesburg’s meltdown. And: Nigeria, Ghana hold rates as Mauritius, Rwanda hike The US has pulled back from efforts to tackle Ebola Cities across the world are adapting to extreme weather Going Bust Johannesburg has more millionaires than any other African city, is home to the bulk of large South African companies and sits at the heart of a bustling conurbation of some 15 million people. Despite all that — and the monikers it attracts as the continent’s financial capital and richest city — it can’t pay its bills . Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana last month notified Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero that he’d halt $480 million in state funding to the municipality unless it canceled an unaffordable wage deal with city workers. On Sunday, state power utility Eskom took out a full-page newspaper advertisement warning Johannesburg residents to expect outages if the city doesn’t settle overdue debt of more than $300 million. The council was also forced to admit it could no longer pay contractors to drive water tankers to areas where piped supply has broken down. In addition to having to contend with the lack of electricity and water, and potholed streets, residents have seen treasures such as the 111-year-old Johannesburg Art Gallery fall into disrepair. Critics trace the decline back to the city’s hosting of the 2010 Football World Cup final, prior to which the national government pressured municipal authorities to keep the streets presentable. Since then, factional fighting within Morero’s African National Congress, a decade of coalition governments and repeated mayoral changes have led to a deterioration in services, crumbling infrastructure and corruption scandals. For the ANC, the country’s biggest political party and leader of an alliance that currently runs Johannesburg, the financial ...
neiu20001 Kroger ( KR ) is taking on its larger competitors and exploring price cuts throughout the store as its new CEO looks to pull the grocery chain out of the “midfield.” “I think about our business a bit like a Formula One race. There’s a lead group of cars that are doing a very good job,” Kroger CEO and former Walmart ( WMT ) executive Greg Foran said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Our ob...
neiu20001 Kroger ( KR ) is taking on its larger competitors and exploring price cuts throughout the store as its new CEO looks to pull the grocery chain out of the “midfield.” “I think about our business a bit like a Formula One race. There’s a lead group of cars that are doing a very good job,” Kroger CEO and former Walmart ( WMT ) executive Greg Foran said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Our objective is to get out of the midfield and start lapping faster, make up the gap on the first-group cars, and then ideally pass them.” To achieve this, Kroger ( KR ) is testing price cuts with the intention to phase them in, capitalizing on the proliferation of budget-minded consumers that have migrated to Walmart ( WMT ) and Costco ( COST ). To preserve margins, Kroger ( KR ) will lower costs by importing merchandise directly and using technology more effectively. Over the past year, the grocery chain has invested heavily in artificial intelligence, especially in its fulfillment centers to create a more efficient supply chain. Along with lower prices and increased efficiencies, Kroger ( KR ) will make stores friendlier and faster, and plans to increase the company’s presence in more communities that are being better served by competitors, namely in the Northeast. The company plans to open as many as 80 new stores in 2027, double the amount planned for 2026. “Our objective is to execute what we think is a very clear, sensible plan. We want to be America’s best grocer,” Foran said. Kroger ( KR ) shares have dropped into Thursday’s open, trading at a loss of 4% in premarket action. The company will report first-quarter results before the market open on June 2. Kroger ( KR ) is expected to have earned an adjusted profit of $1.58 per share on $45.34B in sales, an increase of 6% and 0.5% year-over-year, respectively. More on Kroger As A Stock, Walmart Offers Poor Value While Kroger Is Priced At A Discount Kroger: Limited Growth Drivers, Downgraded To Hold Kroger: Strong E-Commerc...
is a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. All the smart home news, reviews, and gadgets you need to know about Welcome! I’m The Verge’s smart home reviewer, and I’m hosting...
is a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. All the smart home news, reviews, and gadgets you need to know about Welcome! I’m The Verge’s smart home reviewer, and I’m hosting an exclusive subscriber AMA today at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. I test a lot of connected gadgets for my job, but the dominant device in my home — by both number and square footage covered — is the robot vacuum. At any given time, I have a dozen of these bots bouncing around, sweeping and mopping my floors and irritating my cats. From vacuums with arms and ones that can climb stairs to basic bump-and-roll bots, there’s a dizzying array of robovacs on the market. I’m here to help you cut through the marketing hype (no, suction power isn’t the most important spec; yes, robot mops are better now, but they’re still not great) and pick a robot that will clean your floors without driving you crazy. So, if you have questions, concerns, or just big thoughts, post them in the comment section here. I’ll start replying at 1 PM ET today and will hang around until 2 PM. Come join me to talk about the robot revolution. It starts small.