Hongkongers made close to 1.4 million outbound trips in the three days leading up to Lunar New Year’s Eve, a 21.6 per cent increase from the same period last year, while inbound journeys rose slightly by five per cent to more than 550,000. In this year and the last, city residents were able to take two weekdays off alongside the three Lunar New Year public holidays to create a nine-day holiday, wi...
Hongkongers made close to 1.4 million outbound trips in the three days leading up to Lunar New Year’s Eve, a 21.6 per cent increase from the same period last year, while inbound journeys rose slightly by five per cent to more than 550,000. In this year and the last, city residents were able to take two weekdays off alongside the three Lunar New Year public holidays to create a nine-day holiday, with two weekends flanking the five days. In 2026, the festive period also coincided with Valentine’s...
Emerging market assets edged higher in thin holiday trading, buoyed by a firmer Chinese yuan and expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this year. MSCI’s index of EM currencies inched up as the offshore yuan traded at its strongest level in almost three years. A gauge tracking EM equities also advanced, paring some of Friday’s losses. Moves may be amplified by thin liq...
Emerging market assets edged higher in thin holiday trading, buoyed by a firmer Chinese yuan and expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this year. MSCI’s index of EM currencies inched up as the offshore yuan traded at its strongest level in almost three years. A gauge tracking EM equities also advanced, paring some of Friday’s losses. Moves may be amplified by thin liquidity, with major financial centers including mainland China and South Korea closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. The improving sentiment comes after the rally in EM assets stalled on Friday, as concerns over a potential bubble in AI spending weighed on sentiment, particularly in Asia. Still, EM stocks and currencies recorded their best week in more than four months, after softer US inflation data reinforced expectations for two Fed rate cuts this year. There’s “plenty of room ahead” in the rally, said Wee Khoon Chong , a senior strategist at BNY in Hong Kong. “Weaker US dollar on rising rate cut expectation benefits Asia-Pacific FX and risk.” Asian currencies led advances among EM peers against the dollar, driven by the offshore yuan as Beijing continues efforts to expand its global use . In a speech by President Xi Jinping published over the weekend, the Chinese president called for boosting consumption and expanding investment. “When China goes on a long holiday, USD/CNH tends to trade with the broader dollar, with risk appetite as well as with the prevailing theme of RMB at that juncture,” Joey Chew , head of Asia FX research at HSBC said in a Bloomberg TV interview. This time, she said, that theme is policy support for the yuan as a reserve currency. In equities, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. led a selloff in Chinese tech shares after the Pentagon briefly added several major firms to a list of companies allegedly aiding the military, before withdrawing it without explanation. Alibaba’s stock slid more than 3% in Hong Kong before trimming its losses, while BYD Co. and B...
One can probably expect fairly light trading in a few areas of the market today, most notably in metals, with many traders offline in Asia too for the Lunar New Year break. Thatâs kept industrial metals relatively subdued to kick off the week, with copper sitting just shy of $12,900 a ton and similarly small moves in other base metals. Gold and silver are a little weaker, though with moves nowhe...
One can probably expect fairly light trading in a few areas of the market today, most notably in metals, with many traders offline in Asia too for the Lunar New Year break. Thatâs kept industrial metals relatively subdued to kick off the week, with copper sitting just shy of $12,900 a ton and similarly small moves in other base metals. Gold and silver are a little weaker, though with moves nowhere close to the volatility of recent weeks. Gold is sitting around $5,000/oz and silver about $77/oz. Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
Good morning . Keir Starmer is set to outline a crackdown on chatbots. Warner Bros. is considering reopening talks with Paramount. And Sweden warms up to the euro. Listen to the day’s top stories . UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is cracking down on AI chatbots sharing harmful content. He’s set to pledge to ensure they comply with laws designed to protect children online in a speech today. Current ...
Good morning . Keir Starmer is set to outline a crackdown on chatbots. Warner Bros. is considering reopening talks with Paramount. And Sweden warms up to the euro. Listen to the day’s top stories . UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is cracking down on AI chatbots sharing harmful content. He’s set to pledge to ensure they comply with laws designed to protect children online in a speech today. Current laws only apply to platforms where users share content with one another, rather than to private chatbots. Read more about the PM’s criticism of platforms here. Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was poisoned with a deadly toxin found in the skin of Ecuador dart frogs, the UK’s foreign office said on Saturday. Epibatidine was found in samples from Navalny’s body and likely resulted in his death, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said. Here’s our explainer on why Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s largest domestic enemy. Rubio Says US-Europe Alliance ‘Has to Change’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. Watch the Video The European Central Bank said it’s prepared to offer euro liquidity to monetary authorities around the world, an effort to prevent market tensions and increase global use of the single currency. The move to make euros more readily available reflects Europe’s broader efforts to redefine its place in a global order upended by US President Donald Trump. We’re back. Warner Bros. is considering reopening sale talks with rival studio Paramount Skydance after receiving its most recent amended offer, people familiar said. Warner’s board members are discussing whether Paramount could offer a path to a superior deal, a move that may ignite a second bidding war with Netflix. Watch a video of our reporters discussing the deal. In markets, trading was thin due to holidays in most of Asia. Bonds gained and equities steadied after benign US inflation data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will ...
Insight with Haslinda Amin, a daily news program featuring in-depth, high-profile interviews and analysis to give viewers the complete picture on the stories that matter. The show features prominent leaders spanning the worlds of business, finance, politics and culture. (Source: Bloomberg)
Insight with Haslinda Amin, a daily news program featuring in-depth, high-profile interviews and analysis to give viewers the complete picture on the stories that matter. The show features prominent leaders spanning the worlds of business, finance, politics and culture. (Source: Bloomberg)
A Hong Kong appellate court will announce its verdict next Monday on the appeals of 12 activists convicted of conspiring to subvert state power in an unofficial election, and also rule on an acquitted defendant in the city’s largest national security trial. Eleven of the 12 found guilty over a scheme during the 2020 Legislative Council election to undermine, destroy or overthrow the administration...
A Hong Kong appellate court will announce its verdict next Monday on the appeals of 12 activists convicted of conspiring to subvert state power in an unofficial election, and also rule on an acquitted defendant in the city’s largest national security trial. Eleven of the 12 found guilty over a scheme during the 2020 Legislative Council election to undermine, destroy or overthrow the administration earlier lodged appeals against their convictions and sentences. They have been serving jail...
Abu Hanifah/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis As Snowflake ( SNOW ) prepares to publish its full-year CY25/FY26 ER in just over a week, the company’s shares have been hit by investor confidence. The end of the month will mark the 2nd anniversary since Snowflake’s current CEO, Sridhar Ramaswamy, took over the reins from ex-CEO Frank Slootman’s abrupt departure as Snowflake reports its ER. W...
Abu Hanifah/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis As Snowflake ( SNOW ) prepares to publish its full-year CY25/FY26 ER in just over a week, the company’s shares have been hit by investor confidence. The end of the month will mark the 2nd anniversary since Snowflake’s current CEO, Sridhar Ramaswamy, took over the reins from ex-CEO Frank Slootman’s abrupt departure as Snowflake reports its ER. While Snowflake's current management has done well to restore investor confidence and faith in its leadership, the company finds itself once again at a pivotal moment as it wrestles to navigate Snowflake away from the SaaSpocalypse fears plaguing software stocks. Markets have turned sour on Snowflake’s shares as consensus estimates call for top line growth that is less than management’s projections, clearly showing how bearish the sentiment has changed towards Snowflake. Amidst all the concern, I believe markets are being dramatic, with Snowflake’s valuation multiples finally coming to appealing levels, leading me to upgrade Snowflake’s shares to a bullish view ahead of Q4 ER. How Snowflake Stands Out From the Software Pack When Snowflake issued updates to their long-term growth model last year, I didn't find any catalytic changes to their growth model , especially when the company was then trading at a 128x EV/EBITDA multiple or at ~16x CY25 sales. Snowflake has always been fighting the image of being a richly valued, fast-growing tech company that uses SaaS metrics like net retention, backlog, etc. to support its valuation. Over the last 2 years, the company has shed the “database company” moniker to be more closely associated with AI, calling itself the ‘AI data cloud platform.’ Snowflake’s Ramaswamy had done well to steer the company in the new age of AI, navigating the company towards a product roadmap that complemented AI’s aggressive data consumption pace. The pivot to Postgres and the rollout of micro ecosystems like Snowpark and Cortex pushed Snowflake closer toward...
Philippine financial-technology firm Maya is considering a US initial public offering that may raise $500 million to $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, joining the ranks of Southeast Asian firms seeking to list their shares on overseas exchanges. The company involved in digital payments and banking is working with advisers on a listing that may happen as early as this year, ...
Philippine financial-technology firm Maya is considering a US initial public offering that may raise $500 million to $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, joining the ranks of Southeast Asian firms seeking to list their shares on overseas exchanges. The company involved in digital payments and banking is working with advisers on a listing that may happen as early as this year, the people said, asking not to be named to discuss a private matter. Deliberations are ongoing, and the size and timing of the deal may change, the people added. Maya in a statement said it doesn’t comment on “market speculation” and is focusing on scaling its digital financial services in the Philippines. Maya’s digital bank had 5.4 million bank customers and disbursed 68 billion pesos ($1.2 billion) in loans in 2024, according to telecommunications provider PLDT Inc. , which is the company’s backer. Private equity firm KKR & Co. , Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and the World Bank’s International Finance Corp. were also among its investors. Southeast Asian companies are considering listings abroad as some local markets are underperforming regional benchmarks. The MSCI Philippines Index has gained more than 12% in the past year, underperforming the regional benchmark MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index . Among those considering overseas debuts is the Philippine fast food chain operator Jollibee Foods Corp. , which said it would list its international business in the US. The restaurant unit of Thai hospitality group Minor International Pcl and Indonesian miner PT Merdeka Gold Resources are exploring Hong Kong share sales, people familiar with the matter have said. Meanwhile, Philippine fintech GCash postponed its initial public offering in Manila to the second half of 2026, according to people familiar with the matter. The country’s securities regulator late last year said it planned to relax free-float requirements for IPOs to lure more companies, especially large on...
On Feb. 2, 2026, Harold Bernstein, President, R&D & CMO of Maze Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MAZE) , exercised 15,000 options and immediately sold the resulting shares in an open-market transaction, fully divesting his direct ownership, according to a SEC Form 4 filing . Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average purchase price ($46.02). Continue reading
On Feb. 2, 2026, Harold Bernstein, President, R&D & CMO of Maze Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MAZE) , exercised 15,000 options and immediately sold the resulting shares in an open-market transaction, fully divesting his direct ownership, according to a SEC Form 4 filing . Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average purchase price ($46.02). Continue reading
Is America still a democracy? Scholars tell NPR that after the last year under President Trump, the country has slid closer to autocracy or may already be there. (Image credit: Apu Gomes)
Is America still a democracy? Scholars tell NPR that after the last year under President Trump, the country has slid closer to autocracy or may already be there. (Image credit: Apu Gomes)