Daily coverage of equity markets, sectors, and major indices.
In-depth reporting on U.S. and global stock markets, including index performance, sector rotation, earnings reactions, volatility trends, and notable single-stock moves. Designed to help traders and investors understand what is driving price action across equities.
3,900 total articles
Hermès reported fourth-quarter product sales growth of 9.8% on a currency-adjusted basis, beating analyst consensus, with the Americas and Japan posting particularly strong demand. The company expects smaller price increases in the coming year and delivered a full-year operating profit margin slightly ahead of estimates, while announcing an 18-euro…
Unilever reported fourth-quarter underlying sales growth of 4.2%, beating analyst expectations of 3.9%, supported by strong demand for Dove and Vaseline. The company said it expects 2026 growth to be at the bottom end of its multi-year underlying sales growth guidance of 4% to 6% because of slower market conditions. Annual underlying operating prof…
British American Tobacco reported a 2.3% rise in annual profit to 11.28 billion pounds, driven in part by market share gains for its Velo nicotine pouch in the United States and growth in newer vapour and heated tobacco products. Revenue from BAT's newer product portfolio increased 7% for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, helping push total sales up 2.…
SoftBank Group reported a net profit of 248.6 billion yen ($1.62 billion) for the October-December quarter, reversing a prior-year loss and marking the fourth straight quarter of profitability. Gains were driven by an increase in the valuation of its investment in OpenAI, where SoftBank has expanded its stake; the company has also continued asset s…
Japanese equities closed modestly higher on Thursday, with the Nikkei 225 rising 0.14%. Strength in the Real Estate, Banking and Textile sectors helped push more advancing issues than decliners on the Tokyo exchange, while a handful of large-cap stocks posted double-digit moves in both directions. Commodity and currency markets showed small directi…
Carrefour has agreed to divest its Romanian operations to Paval Holding for 823 million euros. The transaction forms part of a broader portfolio review launched in 2025 as the company narrows focus onto its three largest markets by sales. Completion is anticipated in the second half of 2026, the company said.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation has issued guidance aimed at preventing automakers and dealers from selling vehicles below production cost. The move targets a year-long price war that has driven heavy discounts and incentives, pressuring profitability across the auto sector and raising concerns about market order and long-term in…
One year after DeepSeek's surprise release of an inexpensive, high-performing AI model, a cohort of Chinese developers is preparing new model launches timed around the Spring Festival holiday. Companies including Zhipu AI, ByteDance, Alibaba and DeepSeek itself are rolling out upgrades and new products that emphasize lower deployment costs, open-so…
Samsung Electronics has begun mass production and commercial shipments of its fourth-generation high-bandwidth memory chips, HBM4, and says it expects HBM sales to increase more than threefold in 2026 versus 2025. The company is expanding production capacity and plans HBM4E sampling in the second half of 2026. Rival shipments from Micron and indust…
Jefferies downgraded HgCapital Trust to underperform from hold, flagging valuation compression in software company comparables driven by artificial intelligence-related market uncertainty and highlighting the fund’s layered leverage as a material risk to net asset value under a range of de-rating scenarios.
Mercedes-Benz reported a 57% decline in full-year operating earnings for 2025, with group EBIT of 5.8 billion euros falling short of Visible Alpha forecasts and revenue easing to 132.2 billion euros. The company cited challenging market conditions and highlighted efficiency measures that kept results within guidance.
Anheuser-Busch InBev reported fourth-quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates for organic operating profit, revenue and volumes. The brewer reiterated annual guidance for 2026 profit growth of 4% to 8%, signaling a target to outpace peers that have forecast up to 6% growth. Management noted heavy sales and marketing investment and market sha…
NetEase's shares fell sharply in Hong Kong following a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter marked by a 29% year-on-year decline in net profit and slowing revenue growth. The stock's drop dragged the Hang Seng lower while the company's U.S.-listed shares also declined. Management highlighted new game releases as revenue contributors, but higher oper…
Four partners left Ernst & Young in December after apparent breaches related to the firm’s audit of Shell, departures that came as the oil major moved to replace EY following concerns about audit partner rotation rules. The exits included the partner who led the Shell engagement and another elevated to senior ranks months earlier. Regulators have o…
A Toyota group entity has extended the tender offer window for its proposed buyout of Toyota Industries from February 12 to March 2. The extension is intended to give shareholders an additional opportunity to tender shares. The announcement prompted a rise in Toyota Industries stock, while opposition from U.S. activist Elliott Investment Management…
Registration records and interviews show a large-scale movement of foreign-brand cars from China into Russia. Many of these vehicles are built in China or routed through Chinese ports and are increasingly listed as zero-mileage 'used' cars to bypass automaker restrictions and sanction controls. Autostat data indicates China-made foreign-brand autos…
Australian equities closed higher on Thursday, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.32% to a three-month high. Gains were concentrated in Utilities, Financials and Materials, while individual heavyweight moves produced both all-time highs and 52-week lows for several names. Broader market breadth favoured decliners over advancers.
The U.S. Army deployed AeroVironment Inc.'s LOCUST high-energy laser counter-drone system near El Paso International Airport, triggering a seven-hour suspension of air traffic after authorities raised concerns about potential risks to commercial flights. The 20-kilowatt weapon, based at Fort Bliss adjacent to the airport, represents a rare operatio…
The Federal Trade Commission has asked Apple to explain reports that Apple News favors left-leaning publications and excludes conservative-leaning American news sources. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said in a social post that he sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook warning the company could be violating FTC rules if it suppresses content on the basis o…
Lenovo reported record quarterly revenue of $22.2 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, driven by strong growth in AI-related businesses that lifted operating profit. Reported profit attributable to equity holders declined after a $285 million one-off restructuring charge linked to its Infrastructure Solutions Group, and the company’s Hong Kong sh…
The U.S. Army operated AeroVironment’s 20-kilowatt LOCUST laser counter-drone system near El Paso International Airport, triggering an FAA-imposed suspension of commercial flights for more than seven hours while officials assessed risks to aircraft. The system, delivered to the Army in September 2024 and tested at Yuma Proving Ground, has been depl…
Most Asian equity markets advanced, led by a near 3% surge in South Korea's KOSPI to a record 5,515.8 as chipmakers rallied on AI-related demand. Japanese shares hit a historic peak above 58,000 before settling, buoyed by so-called "Takaichi trade" optimism. Strong US nonfarm payrolls for January and a lower-than-expected unemployment rate capped g…
Four Democratic-led states filed suit in federal court seeking to prevent the Trump administration from terminating $600 million in public health grants administered by the CDC. The states argue the cuts undermine disease monitoring, outbreak response and emergency planning and are driven by political animus over unrelated policy disputes.
A rapid rise in IPO applications in Hong Kong has put pressure on Chinese investment banks, prompting the securities regulator to warn a group of lead sponsors about shortcomings in application quality and to limit how many deals a single signing principal can handle concurrently. The move highlights a growing talent squeeze as domestic banks expan…
The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security has imposed a $252.5 million civil penalty on Applied Materials for alleged illegal exports of advanced chipmaking equipment to China. BIS cited 56 violations tied to shipments or attempted shipments to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) from 2020 through 2023. App…
