A coalition led by SoftBank’s LY Corp and Bain Capital has pushed the valuation of price-comparison giant Kakaku.com to 670 billion yen, or $4.12 billion, effectively tightening their grip in an intensifying takeover battle against Swedish investment firm EQT.
The U.S. Treasury has selected two BlackRock exchange-traded funds to anchor the new Trump Accounts program, a federal child savings initiative launching this July 4. Vanguard will serve as the alternate fund partner, providing a secondary investment vehicle for the government's effort to promote long-term financial security for younger Americans.
Bridgewater Associates’ flagship AIA Macro fund delivered an 8.1% return during the first half of the year, signaling steady momentum for the firm’s automated investment strategy. The fund, which launched in late 2023, now oversees $4.5 billion as the asset manager continues to refine its broader portfolio under CEO Nir Bar Dea.
SoftBank Group has restarted negotiations for a $10 billion loan secured by its OpenAI stake, introducing a corporate guarantee to soothe lender anxieties. The move marks a pivot from its earlier attempt to secure non-recourse financing, which stalled due to the inherent difficulties in valuing private artificial intelligence assets.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has formally requested that the Federal Reserve's inspector general investigate whether Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman violated internal ethics rules. The inquiry centers on Bowman’s participation in a private dinner hosted by Bank of America last month, where she delivered remarks to the firm's clients.
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh announced in Sintra that the identities of external experts appointed to new central bank task forces will be disclosed next week. These advisory groups, tasked with scrutinizing Fed operations, will include international figures to provide an objective, outsider perspective on American monetary policy.
Shares of the San Francisco-based micromobility firm Lime climbed 8% during their Wednesday market debut on the Nasdaq. The company, which operates electric bikes and scooters in over 230 cities, raised $167 million through its initial public offering, pricing the stock at $25 before it opened at $27.
Named after fado icon Amalia Rodrigues, Portugal’s first open-source AI model marks a strategic shift toward digital independence. Backed by 5.5 million euros in EU recovery funds, the foundation model aims to reduce reliance on American tech giants by providing a localized, secure alternative for public and private sector development.
Short sellers have ramped up their bearish bets against SpaceX, with nearly a third of the company's tradable shares now sold short. This aggressive positioning comes despite the move already inflicting approximately $760 million in mark-to-market losses on investors since the aerospace firm’s June 12 market debut.
In the quiet hills of Sintra, the world’s top central bankers faced a volatile new variable: artificial intelligence. At the annual ECB forum, officials acknowledged that whether the technology overperforms or underperforms, it threatens to fundamentally destabilize financial markets, labor conditions, and the very tools used to regulate them.
A 50-basis-point spike in mortgage rates following regional instability in the Middle East has stifled American housing development. According to Commerce Department data released Wednesday, construction spending eked out a marginal 0.1% gain in May, failing to offset a downward revision in April and a 1.5% year-over-year decline.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh signaled a strict departure from predictive monetary policy on Wednesday, telling international counterparts in Sintra that he would refuse to offer forward guidance. He maintained that specific interest rate decisions will remain internal, decided only once policymakers shut the door for their next scheduled meeting.
Investors requested to repurchase just 3.24% of shares in Goldman Sachs’ private credit fund during the second quarter, a figure that highlights the bank’s resilience in a sector currently rattled by fears over the long-term impact of artificial intelligence on software company earnings.
Russia’s largest lender is bracing for a downturn in corporate health, as finance chief Taras Skvortsov signals a downward revision for 2026 growth targets. Rising restructuring requests and a deteriorating portfolio quality are forcing the bank to prepare for higher risk costs amid a cooling national economy.
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German lenders are mounting a preemptive strike against a European Central Bank proposal to double mandatory cash reserves. By raising the requirement from 1% to 2% of customer deposits, the ECB aims to slash its own interest expenses, but industry leaders warn the policy acts as a crippling tax on domestic banking stability.
A newly released ethics disclosure for 2025 reveals that President Donald Trump secured a loan exceeding $50 million from Charles Schwab Bank. The credit line, which was absent from his 2024 filing, carries a 3.9% interest rate and allows the president to leverage his investments as collateral for cash.
A decade-long pursuit to consolidate Italy’s broadcast infrastructure has stalled once again as shareholders in Rai Way and EI Towers failed to meet their June 30 deadline. The collapse of the proposed four-billion-euro merger leaves the two industry giants operating independently after negotiators could not reconcile their divergent valuations.
The second half of the year begins on a cautious note as U.S. Treasury yields climb, spurred by unexpected strength in job openings. While investors brace for the upcoming earnings season, shifting labor market indicators and a historic export surge in South Korea are recalibrating global economic expectations.
Non-executive director Peter Nash is stepping down from Westpac’s board, bowing to pressure over his lingering ties to KPMG. The auditor is currently mired in a scandal involving the alleged misuse of confidential client information, forcing the bank to distance itself from the potential for perceived conflicts of interest.
ING Spain is closing in on a 40% stake in Singular Bank, a strategic move aimed at establishing a foothold in the Spanish private banking market. While the transaction remains subject to final negotiations, the deal marks a significant shift in the ownership structure of the wealth management firm.
Negative flows into digital asset exchange-traded funds and stalled U.S. regulatory progress have prompted Citigroup to aggressively downgrade its 12-month outlook for bitcoin and ether. The brokerage has abandoned its previous expectations for $10 billion in net inflows, now projecting a flat trajectory for the sector.
Nearly one-quarter of Greece's adult population remains effectively blacklisted from the financial sector, trapped by 1.5 million outstanding loan cases that have stalled for over a decade. This lingering debt crisis blocks approximately €75 billion, leaving small business owners unable to secure credit and stifling the nation's economic momentum.
A surge in mega-deals worth over $10 billion has propelled global merger and acquisition activity to an unprecedented $2.8 trillion in the first half of 2026. This 48% year-on-year increase marks the strongest start to a year since LSEG began tracking data in 1980, signaling a shift toward massive corporate consolidation.
More than half of publicly traded business development companies are now operating at a loss, marking a sharp reversal for a sector that has become a critical pillar of mid-market corporate lending. Falling asset values and rising debt costs have pushed 28 of 53 tracked firms into the red during the first quarter of 2026.
A string of high-profile integrity failures has pushed the Australian government to consider dismantling the dominance of the Big Four accounting firms. Treasury officials are weighing structural reforms that could force a split between audit and consulting divisions and impose strict caps on the size of professional partnerships.
Nutrabolt, the Austin-based force behind C4 energy drinks and Bloom nutrition, has tapped JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America to spearhead an initial public offering. The move signals a potential $1 billion capital raise, marking a significant step for the company as it eyes the public markets.
European Central Bank policymakers are weighing a proposal to double the minimum reserve requirement for lenders from 1% to 2%, a move designed to alleviate the financial burden of interest payments on excess liquidity while simultaneously tightening the bank’s stance on monetary stimulus, according to six sources familiar with the matter.
The Bank of Italy has granted Genoa-based fintech Hodli authorization to act as the country’s inaugural crypto asset portfolio manager. This regulatory milestone, achieved under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), allows the firm to move beyond simple custody services into active investment management for its clients.
A Belgian civil court is now the battleground for a €220 billion legal standoff, as Euroclear moves to block a Russian arbitration order demanding massive damages. The clearing house, which holds the bulk of frozen Russian foreign assets, insists that Moscow’s judiciary lacks the authority to enforce such a penalty.
Nestle will purge all artificial food colorings from its worldwide product catalog by the end of 2026, positioning itself as the first major global food manufacturer to commit to a total transition toward natural ingredients as consumer demand for simplified recipes reaches a tipping point.
