Beijing wants banks and insurers to bolster investment in stock market as it helps to replenish cash reserves
China will inject $54bn (£40bn) into its financial sector as Beijing attempts to shore up banks and insurers in the face of faltering economic growth.
A host of financial institutions said they were due to receive billions of yuan in capital from state institutions including the ministry of finance and even the company that runs the country’s tobacco monopoly.
Continue reading...S&P 500 shot up 1.8% and the main measure of Wall Street’s health topped its prior all-time high set a few months ago
The US stock market rallied to records on Tuesday as profits kept piling up for companies and as oil prices eased.
The S&P 500 shot up 1.8%, and the main measure of Wall Street’s health topped its prior all-time high set a couple months ago. The Dow Jones industrial average added 907 points, or 1.7%, to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.6%.
Continue reading...Drop comes after South Korean company SK Hynix’s results undershoot investors’ expectations
Shares in companies linked to AI have plunged further after disappointing results from the South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, which sent the country’s stock market tumbling for a second day in a row.
Seoul’s Kospi index, which is dominated by semiconductor manufacturers, slid by as much as 12.6% at one point on Wednesday, following on from a near 11% slump the previous day, reaching its lowest level since early April.
Continue reading...KKR and Energy Capital Partners poised to buy firm despite misgivings from founder and biggest shareholders
One of the biggest energy businesses listed on the London Stock Exchange has agreed a controversial £5.7bn takeover by private equity, adding to the growing exodus of companies from the UK market.
The US private equity groups KKR and Energy Capital Partners are poised to buy DCC Energy after the company’s board recommended the offer despite misgivings from its founder and biggest shareholders.
Continue reading...Move would allow Wall Street trading firms and other institutions to potentially profit from seeing president’s posts first
Donald Trump’s media company is planning to charge for special high-speed access to Truth Social posts, including possibly his own, affecting national security and financial markets.
The move announced on Thursday would allow Wall Street trading firms and other institutions to get news first from top Truth Social contributors so they could profit off subsequent moves in stocks, bonds and interest rates.
Continue reading...SK hynix, a supplier of advanced memory chips, has seen profits skyrocket thanks to the global race to build AI datacentres
South Korean chip maker SK hynix set pricing for its mega US listing on Friday, aiming to raise $26.5bn as it takes advantage of the AI boom in what will be one of the world’s biggest ever stock sales.
The Asian semiconductor giant plans to issue the equivalent of about 18m shares on Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq index later in the day.
Continue reading...US president rings bell from White House and showcases initiative that gives children a $1,000 investment account
Donald Trump rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from the White House to mark the first trading day for Trump accounts, a government initiative that provides children with a $1,000 investment account.
The US president hosted leaders from the NYSE and the Nasdaq stock exchange at the Oval Office for a press conference on Monday morning. It is the first joint opening of the exchanges, and the first time the bell had been rung at the White House.
Continue reading...Value of some chip manufacturers have tripled, or more, driving Asia Pacific stock markets sharply higher
Shares in chipmakers have surged in the first half of this year as investors piled into companies that make the hardware underpinning the AI boom, according to analysis.
Investors have driven up the value of semiconductor and memory chip manufacturers, whose profits have soared during 2026, at the expense of some large software companies, which have fallen out of favour this year.
Continue reading...Amid rhetoric, market uncertainty and tit-for-tat exchanges, the two sides are still trying to find a way out of the impasse
Great news! Donald Trump has said the US and Iran are on the verge of a peace agreement. Oil prices are down, and the stock market is up. This comes only hours after Trump warned Iran was about to be struck “VERY HARD”, a threat that had sent oil prices up and stocks down.
It has been another ride on the Trump rollercoaster, keeping traders on edge, most of the world poorer, and people of the Middle East constantly whiplashing between fear and hope. But whether the ride veers up or down, the management always makes money.
Continue reading...Brent crude futures down 6% to lowest level in two weeks and stock markets rise
Oil prices fell below $100 a barrel on Monday and stock markets rose on hopes that the US and Iran are inching closer to a peace deal.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were down 6% to $97.43 a barrel, the lowest level in two weeks, with hopes that an agreement to end the near three-month US-Israeli war on Iran can be struck.
Continue reading...Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy has announced the strait of Hormuz could reopen following the end of ‘threats from aggressors’
Job vacancies in the UK bounced back in March but remained near a five-year low, and openings for graduates slumped more than a third.
UK job vacancies showed signs of recovery in March, rising 3.74% month-on-month to 752,711 – the second monthly increase after an extended period of decline, according to the job matching platform Adzuna. Yet despite this tentative rebound, the overall picture remains tough for job seekers. Vacancies are still 13.60% lower than in March 2025, and the market remains near its weakest level since 2021.
Like BP last week, these are unearned windfall profits driven by Trump’s war with Iran.
Equinor now wants to cash in even more by developing the Rosebank oil field, which would be a terrible deal for the UK. This government must put the needs of the British public – for affordable energy and a safe climate – ahead of this Norwegian oil giant’s relentless pursuit of profit.
Continue reading...Oil prices and borrowing costs are expected to rise this week as tankers remain stranded in the Gulf
The failure of the US and Iran to reach a peace deal after marathon negotiations has put markets on alert for further oil and gas price rises.
With large numbers of oil tankers remaining stuck in the Gulf, the US vice-president, JD Vance, blamed the collapse of the talks on Tehran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, while Iranian sources hit back at “excessive” demands from Washington.
Continue reading...Uncertainty over US-Iran ceasefire pushes price of Brent crude towards $100 a barrel
The boss of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil company has said the strait of Hormuz is “not open” despite the US-Iran ceasefire agreed earlier this week, as uncertainty over the truce pushed the price of Brent crude towards $100 a barrel on Thursday.
Sultan Al Jaber, the chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), said passage through the crucial waterway was subject to “permission, conditions and political leverage” by Iran. He said energy security and global economic stability depended on the strait being opened “fully, unconditionally and without restriction”.
Continue reading...Brent crude rises 8% as US president vows to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ over coming weeks
Oil prices have soared after Donald Trump vowed in a televised speech to hit Iran “extremely hard” over the coming weeks, knocking hopes of a near-term end to the conflict in the Middle East.
Brent crude prices jumped by as much as 8% on Thursday to $109.74 a barrel, reversing Wednesday’s drop when hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran war pushed the international benchmark below the $100-a-barrel mark at one point.
Continue reading...Vast release of emergency crude reserves fails to quell mounting fears around energy supply crunch, rattling global markets
Oil prices again topped $100 a barrel on Thursday as widespread Iranian attacks on Middle Eastern energy facilities overshadowed a vast release of government reserves.
As Donald Trump vowed to “finish the job” and press ahead with the US-Israel war on Iran, the country’s regime stepped up retaliatory strikes on economic targets across the region.
Continue reading...Vast release of emergency crude reserves fails to quell mounting fears around energy supply crunch, rattling global markets
Oil prices again topped $100 a barrel on Thursday as widespread Iranian attacks on Middle Eastern energy facilities overshadowed a vast release of government reserves.
As Donald Trump vowed to “finish the job” and press ahead with the US-Israel war on Iran, the country’s regime stepped up retaliatory strikes on economic targets across the region.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabian state oil firm calls crisis by far the biggest the region has seen but firm can reroute 70% of exports and tap crude held in storage
Saudi Arabia’s state oil company has warned of “catastrophic consequences” for the world’s oil markets if the US-Israeli war with Iran continues to block shipping in the strait of Hormuz.
The world’s biggest oil exporter expects to be able to supply the market with about 70% of its usual crude output despite the stranglehold on the vital trade artery, but its chief executive warned that there would still be “drastic” consequences for the world economy if the disruption continues.
Continue reading...Reports of attack on US registered tanker in Gulf lifts crude by 3% to $84 a barrel as gas price also starts to climb
Stock markets have rebounded in Asia after days of heavy losses driven by the war in the Middle East, but oil and gas prices have continued to climb amid disruption to supplies.
South Korea’s KOSPI, which posted its biggest ever fall on Tuesday of 12%, rose by almost 10% on Thursday, while Japan’s Nikkei climbed by 1.9%. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan jumped by 2.7%.
Continue reading...Investors shifting to ‘heavy-asset, low-obsolescence’ companies insulated from disruption, says Goldman Sachs
Investors have a new mantra as they prepare for AI to shake up the global economy – the Halo trade.
Interest in Halo – short for “heavy assets, low obsolescence” - has risen as investors seek out companies with tangible, productive assets, which might be insulated from AI disruption, such as energy and transport infrastructure companies.
Continue reading...Drop in US, Asia and Europe follows warning from bank bosses that market correction could lie ahead
Global stock markets have fallen sharply amid concerns that a boom in valuations of artificial intelligence (AI) companies could be rapidly cooling.
Markets in the US, Asia and Europe have fallen after bank bosses warned a serious stock market correction could lie ahead, after a run of record stock market highs led some companies to appear overvalued.
Continue reading...