Finance and markets: business, quotes, gold, energy and releases.
Found 1090 articles
Top executives from Macquarie Group, Westpac, Optus, and Dexus face a parliamentary inquiry this Friday. Lawmakers are investigating how KPMG allegedly leveraged confidential client data to secure lucrative audit contracts, a scandal that has already forced the resignation of the accounting firm's top leadership following internal document misuse.
A federal appeals court has reinstated a $6.7 billion lawsuit alleging that Bristol Myers Squibb deliberately stalled federal approvals for three specific drugs to avoid paying former Celgene shareholders. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court judge erred in previously dismissing the case.
A 5,387-to-1 ratio between chief executives and the average worker now defines the S&P 500, as Elon Musk’s headline-grabbing compensation packages set a new, controversial benchmark for corporate boards. With average CEO pay soaring to $22.8 million excluding Musk, the widening wealth gap is fueling rising tensions among unionized labor forces.
Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Beth Hammack has argued for an immediate increase in interest rates, citing the need to dampen aggressive business investment that is currently fueling inflationary pressure. Her remarks signal a push to move beyond the current trajectory to pull inflation toward the central bank’s 2% target.
The July consumer inflation report arrived without market-shaking surprises, offering a moment of respite for investors concerned about an upside shock. Headline and core rates eased as projected, though monthly core prices climbed slightly faster than anticipated, leaving the Federal Reserve’s path for September still very much in flux.
After six years of policing Wall Street’s most complex market manipulations, Steven Price has stepped down from his post as senior vice president at FINRA. He joins San Francisco-based dealmaking platform Finalis as chief compliance officer, marking a significant transition from regulatory oversight to the burgeoning fintech infrastructure sector.
The Swiss Federal Council is moving to block a populist initiative designed to derail a landmark economic agreement with the European Union. Backed by the billionaire founders of Partners Group, the so-called Kompass-Initiative aims to tighten constitutional requirements for international treaties, threatening to upend the country’s most significant bilateral policy shift in decades.
Shanghai-based Kiwimoore has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong initial public offering, aiming for a valuation of approximately $2 billion. The chip designer, which specializes in networking technology for artificial intelligence infrastructure, plans to hit the public market by the first half of 2027.
Iran plans to join the BRICS-led New Development Bank to secure alternative financial channels, according to central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati. Speaking ahead of a finance summit in India, Hemmati underscored the nation's push to circumvent U.S. and international sanctions by integrating further into the bloc's economic infrastructure.
A 47% leap in underlying half-year profit to £34.3 million suggests resilience for British property firm Savills, though the company warns that macroeconomic instability and unpredictable deal timelines continue to cloud the outlook. North American operations served as the primary engine for this growth, swinging from loss to profitability.
Record-low water levels in the Danube have forced Nuclearelectrica to disconnect its final operational nuclear reactor from the power grid. The Cernavoda facility, which typically provides one-fifth of Romania’s total electricity, now faces a complete production standstill after an earlier reactor closure in July left the system vulnerable.
As appetite-suppressing drugs like GLP-1 gain traction, the ice cream industry is facing a sharp shift in consumer behavior. With U.S. sales volumes dipping 1.5% through mid-June, manufacturers are scrambling to rebrand indulgence by shrinking portions and emphasizing cleaner, protein-rich ingredients to keep shoppers from walking away.
After a bruising year defined by a massive retreat from the U.S. market, German property financier Deutsche Pfandbriefbank reported a second-quarter net profit of €10 million. This marks a sharp reversal from the €266 million loss recorded during the same period last year, signaling stability for the Frankfurt-based lender.
A 12% drop in mortgage applications since the federal budget signals a cooling Australian property market, even as ANZ Group reported a third-quarter cash profit of A$1.90 billion. The bank joins its major rivals in confirming that recent tax shifts for investors have dampened demand for new home loans.
Two media organizations filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan on Wednesday to block a paid subscription service that provides early access to official announcements from Donald Trump. The plaintiffs argue that selling priority access to presidential communications on Truth Social creates a corrupt financial advantage and violates constitutional principles of equal access.
Bank of America is securing a foothold in India’s credit market by acquiring a stake of up to 49.9% in Jio Credit, the non-bank lending arm of Jio Financial Services. The deal, valued at 182.68 billion rupees, positions the U.S. lender as a strategic joint venture partner in the rapidly expanding sector.
Bank of America is steering $250 billion into domestic infrastructure projects through July 2027, targeting a surge in demand for AI-ready data centers, energy networks, and transportation systems. This initiative arrives as major Wall Street firms aggressively pivot toward large-scale financing for industries deemed vital to national economic resilience.
Five investors reviewing Shein’s financial disclosures ahead of its planned August 19 Hong Kong offering are questioning whether the fast-fashion giant can justify a $30 billion to $40 billion valuation, citing a sharp deceleration in sales, rising operational costs, and intensifying global competition.
Goldman Sachs will acquire ETF provider Neos Investments for up to $2.25 billion, a move designed to deepen the bank’s foothold in active asset management. The deal signals a push to satisfy institutional appetite for options-based strategies that hedge against market volatility while generating consistent income.
The European Central Bank is leaning toward approving UniCredit’s takeover of Commerzbank, according to an internal document detailing its preliminary assessment. While regulators found no formal grounds to block the deal, the path forward remains fraught with significant governance hurdles and the need for a complex integration strategy.
Holiday travel plans across France face potential disruption this week as EasyJet flight attendants prepare for a two-day strike on August 15 and 16. The SNPC-FO union announced the walkout following an impasse in negotiations, accusing the airline of ignoring repeated warnings regarding staff working conditions and professional standards.
Swiss authorities have initiated a public consultation on stringent banking reforms, targeting bonus structures at systemically important lenders like UBS. The move follows the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse and aims to curb excessive risk-taking by forcing executives to prioritize long-term institutional stability over short-term gains.
After a decade of near-zero returns, Japanese government bonds are suddenly attracting individual investors as yields begin to rival those of U.S. Treasuries and German bunds. Domestic asset managers are rapidly launching new investment trusts to capture this shifting appetite for long-term debt in a normalizing market.
After two decades at HSBC, global insurance head Edward Moncreiffe is preparing to exit the lender for external opportunities. His departure, slated for September, follows a broader pattern of high-level staff turnover as the bank pushes ahead with a sweeping corporate overhaul aimed at cutting costs and streamlining operations.
Dutch lender ABN Amro has lifted its full-year guidance for net interest income to 6.8 billion euros, up from a previous target of 6.4 billion. The upward revision follows a second-quarter performance that surpassed analyst expectations, driven by higher central bank interest rates that continue to bolster core lending profitability.
Norway’s $2.3 trillion wealth fund, the world’s largest, disclosed a 0.05% stake in SpaceX valued at $1.22 billion as of June 30. This marks the first time the sovereign investor has publicly acknowledged its position in the aerospace company, adding to a sprawling portfolio that spans over 7,100 global firms.
Wall Street’s primary indexes retreated on Tuesday as tech sector losses dampened sentiment, even as investors weighed reports of potential diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East. While energy stocks climbed on regional instability, traders remain cautious ahead of critical inflation data set to influence upcoming Federal Reserve policy decisions.
A 5.6% plunge in valve manufacturer Spirax and a broad selloff in the insurance sector pushed London’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index down 0.17% to 10,844.19 points on Tuesday. The decline marked a second consecutive session of losses for the benchmark index as investors reacted to underwhelming corporate guidance and brokerage downgrades.
Igor Babuschkin, a veteran of OpenAI and xAI, has secured $1.1 billion in fresh capital for his startup, River AI. The funding round, led by General Catalyst and AMP PBC, aims to pivot the enterprise sector away from monolithic, black-box systems toward custom-built models tailored to private corporate data.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, a $2 trillion behemoth, could see its entire value vanish in a severe market correction. CEO Nicolai Tangen issued this blunt warning during a political conference in Arendal, characterizing the current global financial climate as an inherently abnormal environment that defies standard economic logic.