The financial world was taken aback when Spanish bank BBVA made a surprising hostile takeover bid for its domestic rival Banco Sabadell. This unexpected move came after BBVA’s initial 12 billion euro takeover offer to Sabadell’s board was rejected due to undervaluation of the bank’s growth prospects. The board of Sabadell had emphasized the superiority
Global Finance
British neobank Monzo recently announced that it has raised an additional $190 million in funding, bringing its total raised this year to $610 million. This funding round saw participation from new investors such as Hedosophia, CapitalG, and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC. The latest funding round values Monzo at around $5.2 billion, surpassing its previous
Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller recently made headlines for his decision to slash his significant investment in chipmaker Nvidia earlier this year. He cited concerns that the rapid growth in artificial intelligence may be overblown in the short term. Druckenmiller revealed his rationale, stating, “We did cut that and a lot of other positions in late
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser recently spoke out about the divergence in consumer behavior due to rising inflation in both goods and services. According to Fraser, there is a clear split in how consumers are spending money, leading to what she refers to as a “K-shaped consumer” pattern. Fraser highlighted that while affluent consumers continue to
Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate led by Warren Buffett, recently reported a significant surge in operating earnings in its first-quarter results. The company’s operating profit rose to $11.22 billion, a 39% increase from the same period last year. This growth was mainly driven by the strong performance of its insurance underwriting businesses, particularly Geico. The insurance
Warren Buffett recently made an announcement regarding Berkshire Hathaway’s potential investment in Canada. During an investor meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett expressed his comfort with putting money into the Canadian market. This statement came as a surprise to many, as Buffett has primarily focused on investing within the United States. Despite this, he mentioned that
Recently, a former Societe Generale trader, Kavish Kataria, made headlines after accusing the French bank of unfairly firing him for unauthorized risky bets. Kataria claimed that he was made a “scapegoat” by the bank and that it failed to take responsibility for missing the trades. According to Kataria, the profits and losses on his trades
The Federal Reserve recently made the decision to keep interest rates steady, opting not to cut rates amidst growing concerns over inflation. The central bank kept its benchmark short-term borrowing rate within a targeted range of 5.25%-5%, a level that has been in place since July 2023. This decision was widely anticipated as the Fed
The financial stability of small and regional banks in the United States is currently under scrutiny as many of them are facing significant stress. According to Christopher Wolfe, managing director at Fitch Ratings, there is a genuine concern that some of these banks may either fail or struggle to meet their minimum capital requirements. This
In the world of investing, volatility in the market can be a significant source of concern for investors. To address this issue, a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) has been introduced – the Calamos S&P 500 Structured Alt Protection ETF (CPSM). This ETF promises investors “100% downside protection” against losses in the S&P 500 over a
Amazon’s shares saw nearly a 2% increase after the company exceeded both top and bottom-line expectations. With earnings of 98 cents per share on $143.31 billion in revenue, Amazon outperformed analysts’ forecasts of 83 cents per share on $142.5 billion in revenue. Despite beating expectations in advertising and Amazon Web Services, the company’s second-quarter revenue
The recent volatility in the bond market has been a cause of concern for equity investors, raising questions about how rising yields will affect stocks in the year 2024. According to Goldman Sachs, the key threshold to watch out for is 5% on the 10-year Treasury yield. In a comprehensive 19-page report analyzing market data