Heavy rain and strong winds disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island on Monday, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancellations were still widespread after authorities said most morn...
Heavy rain and strong winds disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island on Monday, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancellations were still widespread after authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease...
Hong Kong will “move with agility and steadiness” in the Year of the Horse to seize opportunities and overcome challenges, the city’s leader has said in a message to residents. The one-minute Lunar New Year video, broadcast on Monday, showed Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu admiring ceramic paintings featuring horses, some created by his wife, Janet Lee Lam Lai-sim. On the eve of the Lunar New Yea...
Hong Kong will “move with agility and steadiness” in the Year of the Horse to seize opportunities and overcome challenges, the city’s leader has said in a message to residents. The one-minute Lunar New Year video, broadcast on Monday, showed Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu admiring ceramic paintings featuring horses, some created by his wife, Janet Lee Lam Lai-sim. On the eve of the Lunar New Year, Lee described the horse as a symbol of “speed and stamina”, one that boldly charged ahead and...
In the race to succeed Christine Lagarde , the question of when leaders choose the next European Central Bank president is looming almost as large as who they pick. That’s a key lesson from the resignation of Bank of France chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau , whose early exit announced last week automatically means the selection of his replacement falls to Emmanuel Macron — rather than a possible ...
In the race to succeed Christine Lagarde , the question of when leaders choose the next European Central Bank president is looming almost as large as who they pick. That’s a key lesson from the resignation of Bank of France chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau , whose early exit announced last week automatically means the selection of his replacement falls to Emmanuel Macron — rather than a possible future far-right president such as Marine Le Pen or her protege, Jordan Bardella . Like Lagarde, the governor was meant to leave office in October 2027, probably giving the choice of successor to the next head of state after elections in the first half of next year. That same winner will weigh in on the selection of the ECB chief, unless Europe’s leaders speed up their decision-making. “There are good reasons to make decisions before the French elections,” said Emanuel Moench , a professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance and a former Bundesbank official. “It would certainly be easier with Macron than with Le Pen or Bardella, who have already signaled that they have very different ideas about what the role of the ECB should be.” Whether governments see the need to act quickly to shield the central bank, and their perception of any threat to European Union functioning posed by the rise of France’s far-right National Rally, are crucial to the choreography of one of the most consequential personnel decisions confronting the region. Investor nervousness about the Federal Reserve at a time of succession there too, just as US President Donald Trump attacks its current leadership, forms a backdrop that may help prompt officials in Europe’s corridors of power to consider a decision sooner rather than later. On the other hand, the bloc’s perennial fights over big jobs could speak against that. There’s no set calendar for appointing ECB presidents. The agreement over Lagarde was part of a mammoth horse-trading package for EU jobs that took place four months before her term began. F...
One of the fastest-growing categories in the exchange-traded fund (ETF) marketplace is leverage. What started as a relatively small group of funds focused mostly on major indexes and sectors has grown to several hundred funds. About half have launched just since the beginning of 2025. In reality, leveraged products can be very dangerous if used improperly. Even when used as intended, these ETFs ca...
One of the fastest-growing categories in the exchange-traded fund (ETF) marketplace is leverage. What started as a relatively small group of funds focused mostly on major indexes and sectors has grown to several hundred funds. About half have launched just since the beginning of 2025. In reality, leveraged products can be very dangerous if used improperly. Even when used as intended, these ETFs can expose investors to huge downside risk very quickly. As always in investing, the mantra of "know what you're investing in" is especially appropriate here. In most cases, leveraged and inverse ETFs aren't appropriate for everyday retail investors. They're not meant for anything outside of very short holding periods. But there are situations in which they can be useful. To provide a balanced picture, let's run down the pros and cons of investing in leveraged products. Continue reading
Alistair Berg/DigitalVision via Getty Images XP Inc. ( XP ) released 4Q25 results , showing a general continuation of the trends we have been commenting on in previous articles : relative stagnation in new clients and net new money, but good performance in asset growth thanks to high-interest rates. A significant move regarding the qualitative concerns I raised in previous articles is the recognit...
Alistair Berg/DigitalVision via Getty Images XP Inc. ( XP ) released 4Q25 results , showing a general continuation of the trends we have been commenting on in previous articles : relative stagnation in new clients and net new money, but good performance in asset growth thanks to high-interest rates. A significant move regarding the qualitative concerns I raised in previous articles is the recognition of service and reputational challenges with the advisor model (which I have long considered problematic). The company shared a new strategy that will govern the advisors more strictly and offer clients the possibility of using a fee-based model. Although the price has moved up around 12% since I last wrote about XP, I continue to believe the name is attractively priced. Even assuming a depreciation of the BRL, the name trades at 12x TTM earnings, with the possibility to grow under the current model, but also to have a cyclical shift towards the much more profitable equity-heavy allocation regime, if rates go down in Brazil. I maintain a Buy rating. 4Q25 results The company's results were not particularly surprising for anyone following XP throughout the past two or three years. We maintain a slow gain of clients (2% YoY), with a stagnant but still interesting R$20 billion addition of net new retail client money (R$32 billion when considering corporate clients). This represents organic, ex-financial growth in client assets (of ~R$1.5 trillion) of around 8%. In addition to the net new client money, the company's client assets (the ultimate drivers of profitability) are impacted by the high-interest rates in the country (15%). If I have a simple interest rate product with XP, even if I don't invest any new money, as long as I don't redeem money, the assets will grow at 15%. The combination of net new money and the appreciation under several categories of assets (equities or derivatives do not benefit from this) led to total client assets + AUM + AUA to grow 22% YoY. Client...
Banque Pictet & Cie SA opened an office in South Africa, the first time the Swiss private lender has had a presence in Africa in its 220-year history, Business Day reported. Banking regulator, the Prudential Authority granted Pictet a license to open a representative office in the country, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said. Pictet had 724 billion Swiss francs ($942 billion) under management at...
Banque Pictet & Cie SA opened an office in South Africa, the first time the Swiss private lender has had a presence in Africa in its 220-year history, Business Day reported. Banking regulator, the Prudential Authority granted Pictet a license to open a representative office in the country, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said. Pictet had 724 billion Swiss francs ($942 billion) under management at the end of 2024, according to its website. Read more: Where to Invest 1 Million Rand: Mobius, Other Experts Weigh In The number of millionaires in Africa is expected to surge 65% over the next decade, the paper said, without citing anyone.
About a decade ago, Saudi Arabia picked a veteran banker to help set up a debt-market program that’s since transformed the kingdom into one of the most prolific bond issuers globally. His next task is to help Riyadh draw in overseas cash and triple annual foreign direct investment to $100 billion by 2030. Fahad Al-Saif has become the new face of the Gulf nation’s push for capital, replacing Khalid...
About a decade ago, Saudi Arabia picked a veteran banker to help set up a debt-market program that’s since transformed the kingdom into one of the most prolific bond issuers globally. His next task is to help Riyadh draw in overseas cash and triple annual foreign direct investment to $100 billion by 2030. Fahad Al-Saif has become the new face of the Gulf nation’s push for capital, replacing Khalid Al-Falih as investment minister amid sweeping cabinet changes . In Al-Saif, the kingdom gets a finance veteran whose experience sits at the intersection of business, politics and sovereign wealth. Al-Saif worked alongside Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan as Saudi Arabia started its debt program and began tapping global bond markets in 2016. When it raised a record $21.5 billion a year later, putting the kingdom on the map as one of the most active sovereign emerging-market issuers, Al-Saif was at the helm. Read More: Saudi Bond Borrowing Exceeds $20 Billion to Hit January Record He’s held several positions at Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and at a Saudi banking giant backed by HSBC Holdings Plc , spending much of the last two decades navigating the worlds of investment and fundraising. That experience will be critical for the kingdom, which increasingly needs cash as it cuts down on costly projects while working overtime to advance Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ’s diversification plan. More recently, he led investment strategy for the PIF. The $1 trillion fund is expected to lay out its its plans for the next five years in coming weeks, potentially prioritizing domestic deals and targeting capital inflows to national champions like artificial intelligence firm Humain. It’s unclear what Al-Saif’s appointment means for the PIF, and his profile was no longer available on a website detailing senior officials as of this week. The wealth fund and the investment ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. “He is fundamentally a banker and a financier, someone w...
Ceri Breeze Costco ( COST ) is reportedly facing a new lawsuit over its rotisserie chicken, after an animal rights nonprofit claimed that the company's chicken processing plant in Nebraska suffers from salmonella contamination. The proposed class action lawsuit filed on Thursday cited a December study . "Costco’s failure to control salmonella in its chicken supply is not a harmless technicality—it...
Ceri Breeze Costco ( COST ) is reportedly facing a new lawsuit over its rotisserie chicken, after an animal rights nonprofit claimed that the company's chicken processing plant in Nebraska suffers from salmonella contamination. The proposed class action lawsuit filed on Thursday cited a December study . "Costco’s failure to control salmonella in its chicken supply is not a harmless technicality—it poses a real danger to consumers and violates their trust," the complaint said, according to a Reuters report. In her complaint in Seattle federal court, the plaintiff, Lisa Taylor, of Affton, Missouri, said she routinely bought one or two rotisserie chickens a month at Costco warehouses in the St. Louis area and believes she overpaid because Costco didn't disclose the contamination risk, the report said. Rotisserie chicken sales topped 157 million worldwide in 2025, Costco said at its annual meeting last month. More on Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Period Ending/ Trading Statement Call Prepared Remarks Transcript Costco: Strong Start To 2026 Likely Short-Lived Costco: Sell The New Year Rally Costco is giving startups a path to national rollouts Schwab trading activity index reaches highest reading in almost a year
Former US president Barack Obama said in a podcast interview on the weekend that aliens are real, but they aren’t at Nevada’s Area 51. During an appearance on YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen’s show, Obama said he hadn’t seen extraterrestrials but that they existed. “They’re not being kept in Area 51, there’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the presi...
Former US president Barack Obama said in a podcast interview on the weekend that aliens are real, but they aren’t at Nevada’s Area 51. During an appearance on YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen’s show, Obama said he hadn’t seen extraterrestrials but that they existed. “They’re not being kept in Area 51, there’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States,” Obama said during a rapid-fire round of questions at the end of the...
Kagenmi In Q4 2025, Japan's GDP grew by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, recovering from a 0.7% decline in Q3 but falling short of the expected 0.4% rise. The annualized growth rate was 0.2%, compared to a revised 2.6% contraction in the prior quarter and less than the 1.6% forecast. Economic challenges from U. S. tariffs are easing, while tensions with China continue. Tokyo plans to boost investment thro...
Kagenmi In Q4 2025, Japan's GDP grew by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, recovering from a 0.7% decline in Q3 but falling short of the expected 0.4% rise. The annualized growth rate was 0.2%, compared to a revised 2.6% contraction in the prior quarter and less than the 1.6% forecast. Economic challenges from U. S. tariffs are easing, while tensions with China continue. Tokyo plans to boost investment through public spending after a recent election win. Separate data showed Japan’s industrial production edged down 0.1% month-over-month in December 2025, in line with flash data, and followed a 2.7% decline in the previous month, marking the second straight month of decrease in industrial output. The Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.1% to around 56,900, while the broader TOPIX slipped 0.2% to 3,810 on Monday, extending declines from the previous session. The Japanese yen fell to around 153 per dollar on Monday, trimming last week’s gains after Japan’s fourth-quarter 2025 growth came in well below expectations. More on Japan's economy: Japan's Election Shock: The Yen Trade Wall Street Can't Ignore S&P 500 Earnings: Jump In S&P 500 EPS This Week; Japan Election This Weekend The Yen Carry Trade: Fears Are Blown Out Of Proportion Asian markets retreat from records as ‘AI scare’ triggers global tech rout; Taiwan inks historic 15% tariff cap with U.S. Asia markets mixed: Nikkei 225 hits 58,048 record, South Korea’s KOSPI breaks all-time highs; U.S. jobs in focus