After carrying the economy on its shoulders for most of the year, American shoppers hit the brakes in December, the most important month on the retail calendar. The official count showed retail sales unchanged from November, after a solid rise the month before. Markets were expecting a rise of 0.4%, but instead, households chose caution. Strip out a volatile like category cars, and the
Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran has defended the Trump administration’s trade tariff policy, arguing the economic impact has been less severe than widely feared and that foreign firms, rather than American consumers, are bearing much of the cost. Speaking on Monday at the Boston University Questrom School of Business, Miran said concerns that the surge in import taxes at the start of Pre
BP has suspended its share buybacks as it pursues cost-cutting measures, while profits last quarter were in line with estimates. Its underlying replacement cost profit was US$1.54 billion, falling from $2.21 billion in the previous quarter but up from $1.17 billion one year ago. This matched LSEG estimates. “2025 was a year of strong underlying financial results, strong operational performan
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has reported a 5% increase in net profit after tax (NPAT) to $5.412 billion for the first half of the 2026 financial year (H1 FY26), with shares rallying 7.9% by 12:15 pm AEDT (1:15 am GMT). Australia’s largest company said cash NPAT grew 6% to A$5.445 billion (US$3.85 billion) and cash earnings per share (EPS) rose 6.1% to 19 cents, on revenue which rose 6%
United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has claimed he “barely knew” Jeffrey Epstein, as he faced bipartisan calls for his resignation. Addressing a Senate committee this week, he downplayed the extent of their relationship and interactions, despite new emails contradicting previous timelines Lutnick gave of their friendship. Despite having previously claimed he cut all ties with Eps
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YouTuber Mr Beast is delving into fintech by buying a consumer banking app geared at teens. His company, Beast Industries, is acquiring Step, an all-in-one money app for teens and young adults to manage money, build credit and access financial tools. While it is not a bank, Step has partnered with banking services in the past. “Nobody taught me about investing, building credit, or managin
Uber and Baidu will expand their autonomous rideshare services to Dubai in the coming months. This marks the latest push in Baidu’s goal toward global expansion. The companies said fully autonomous vehicles will be available on the Uber app across select locations within the Jumeirah area. They also added that they would expand further based on operational progress and regulatory approval
Debt sale for Alphabet, Google's parent company, has gotten bigger for the second time this week and is now expected to reach over US$30 billion. Sources familiar with the matter reported the increase, just two days after Alphabet already raised it to $20 billion. This was reportedly due to a huge show of interest, with orders reaching $100 billion. The huge global bond issuance, includin
Spotify beat earnings and revenue estimates last quarter amid strong growth in active users, sending shares up nearly 15%. Earnings per share were EU€4.43, up from €1.76 one year ago and well above LSEG estimates of €2.74. Revenue was up 7% to €4.53 billion, beating estimates of €4.52 billion. “We closed out what we dubbed as the Year of Accelerated Execution with another solid quarter, deli
Coca-Cola reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenues for the first time in five years. For the fourth quarter of 2025, the food and beverage company reported revenue growth of 2% to US$11.82 billion, but fell short of Wall Street’s $12.03 billion expectations. . Despite this, demand for its drinks in North America and Latin America is beginning to show improvements. Its volume in Nort