Tech leads US stocks rally; renewed geopolitical strife boosts oil, gold
NEW YORK, Feb 18 : U.S. stocks edged higher and crude oil prices rebounded on Wednesday as investors awaited the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting and assessed shifting geopolitical developments.Technology shares helped boost all three major U.S. indexes early i ...
AI adoption already hitting Irish graduate jobs, finance department says
DUBLIN, Feb 18 : Early evidence suggests artificial intelligence is weakening employment opportunities in some parts of Ireland's technology-focused economy, particularly for young graduates, research by Ireland's finance department found.Ireland's strong labour market is relatively m ...
Microsoft to keep buying enough renewable energy to match all its electricity needs
DUBLIN, Feb 18 : Microsoft has promised to keep buying enough renewable energy to match all its electricity needs after meeting that goal for the first time last year, as tech giants ramp up capital expenditure on an AI-fuelled expansion of power-hungry data centres. The company said on Wednesday t ...
Snap's direct revenue hits $1 billion annualized run rate as subscribers top 25 million
Feb 18 : Snap said on Wednesday its direct-revenue business has reached $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate, driven by growth in its Snapchat+ subscription service, as the social media company pushes into new income streams beyond advertising.The company, whose direct-revenue portfolio spans S ...
US stocks: Wall St opens higher as tech concerns abate
[NEW YORK] Wall Street’s main indices opened higher on Wednesday (Feb 18), supported by gains in technology stocks as artificial intelligence worries...
German court orders X to grant data access for Hungary election research
BERLIN, Feb 18 : A German appeals court has ordered social media platform X to give vetted researchers access to publicly available data linked to Hungary's April 12 election, setting a precedent for enforcing EU digital transparency rules ahead of a contentious vote.The Berlin Court of Appeal& ...
Saudi's Humain invested $3 billion in xAI's Series E funding round
Feb 18 : Saudi Arabia's Humain, the kingdom's artificial intelligence company, said on Wednesday it had invested $3 billion in Elon Musk's xAI as a part of its Series E funding round just prior to its acquisition by SpaceX.The investment made Humain a "significant" minority ...
Starboard presses Riot Platforms to speed up AI data center push
Feb 18 : Activist investor Starboard Value on Wednesday pressed Riot Platforms to speed up AI data center deals, saying the bitcoin miner is well-positioned to capitalize on booming demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure. Shares of Riot rose about 5 per cent in premarket trading.The push ...
Biggest African economies lead stablecoin demand growth, study shows
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 18 : Africa's biggest economies Nigeria and South Africa are driving the strongest growth in demand for stablecoins and are the most optimistic about their potential, a survey found, with many users also wanting them to become more widely accepted.Stablecoins are promising fas ...
Cisco and Qunnect build quantum network using New York fiber optic cables
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 18 : Cisco Systems and startup Qunnect said on Wednesday that they have built and operated a quantum network between Brooklyn and Manhattan in New York which sends signals over real-world fiber optic cables and works as well as studies in labs.The experiment, which used Brooklyn, ...
Pinterest raises quarterly revenue forecast, boosted by tvScientific deal
Feb 18 : Pinterest < PINS.N > on Wednesday raised its forecast for first-quarter revenue after completing its acquisition of connected-TV (CTV) advertising platform tvScientific.The revised forecast comes less than a week of its previous one, reflecting a partial-quarter contribution from th ...
Garmin forecasts upbeat annual results on strong demand for high-end wearables
Feb 18 : Garmin forecast annual revenue and profit above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday driven by strong demand for high-end wearables and fitness products.Shares of the navigation-device maker rose more than 15 per cent in early trading and the stock was on track for its highest single-day perc ...
Garmin forecasts upbeat annual results on strong wearables demand
Feb 18 : Navigation device maker Garmin forecast annual revenue and profit above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday driven by strong demand for high-end wearables and fitness products, sending its shares up 13 per cent in premarket trading.The forecasts show Garmin's growth in various markets, ...
Oil gains nearly 3% after abrupt end to Russia-Ukraine talks
Ukraine peace talks end in Geneva after Zelenskiy says Russia stalling
Verisk downplays AI disruption fears as quarterly profit beats estimates
Feb 18 : Verisk's fourth-quarter profit topped Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, with CEO Lee Shavel touting the quality of the firm's proprietary data sets amid concerns around AI-driven disruption to the information services business model.The data analytics firm, which also provide ...
Verisk quarterly profit beats estimates on steady data analytics demand
Feb 18 : Verisk's fourth-quarter profit topped Wall Street expectations on Wednesday on the back of steady demand for its data analytics offerings, sending its shares up nearly 10 per cent before the bell.The New Jersey-based insurance-focused firm has benefited from insurers increasingly turni ...
Analog Devices sees strong second-quarter as AI boom fuels chip sales
Feb 18 : Analog Devices On Wednesday, forecast second-quarter results above Wall Street estimates, driven by robust demand from industrial and data center customers as the artificial intelligence boom continues to drive semiconductor sales.Shares of Wilmington, Massachusetts-based chipmaker rose ...
UBS lifts forecast for big tech bond sales this year
LONDON, Feb 18 : UBS lifted its 2026 forecasts for U.S. tech investment grade bond sales on Wednesday, pointing to rising spending by big tech firms, while cutting its forecast for leveraged loans on expectations that AI-related disruption could curb supply.Several megacap tech companies including M ...
Palo Alto shares fall as deal costs pile up amid AI security push
Feb 18 : Palo Alto shares fell 6 per cent in pre-market trading on Wednesday after the cybersecurity firm lowered its annual profit forecast on higher integration costs related to recent acquisitions, including its $25 billion CyberArk deal. The company has been repositioning itself as a one‑stop ...
Japan's JERA says domestic offshore wind project on schedule despite rising costs
TOKYO, Feb 18 : Japan's top power generator JERA has begun construction of its offshore wind project in Akita, northern Japan, and is on schedule for a 2028 start-up, President Hisahide Okuda said on Wednesday.The move comes despite soaring material and construction costs, and last year's ...
ECB's Cipollone says digital euro will protect European banks, card schemes
MILAN, Feb 18 : The digital euro will be designed to ensure it protects European card schemes and keep banks at the core of the euro zone payments system, a senior European Central Bank policymaker said on Wednesday.As a currency managed directly by the ECB through accounts users will open with the ...
Meta's Zuckerberg faces questioning at youth addiction trial
LOS ANGELES, Feb 18 : Meta Platforms CEO and billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is set to be questioned for the first time in a U.S. court on Wednesday about Instagram's effect on the mental health of young users, as a landmark trial over youth social media addiction continues.While Z ...
Deep-sea fish break the mold with novel visual system
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 : For more than a century, biology textbooks have stated that vision among vertebrates - people included - is built from two clearly defined cell types: rods for processing dim light and cones for bright light and color. New research involving deep-sea fish shows this tidy divisio ...
Europe’s STOXX 600 hits record high on earnings boost; ECB in focus
Pan-European index is at 626.36 by 0945 GMT, with all major regional benchmarks in the black
Singapore Good Class Bungalow sales activity up in 2025 as prices soften
Ry-Anne Lim - Analysts expect momentum to continue in 2026 amid lower interest rates and better market sentiment
Japan’s US$550 billion investment in US seen widening gains on hedged JGBs
Yields on hedged Japanese government bonds may increase on rising costs for US dollar funding
Yangzijiang Maritime to hold EGM on Mar 6 on proposed share buyback
Navene Elangovan - If approved by shareholders, the company can acquire up to 10 per cent of its total issued shares.
US homebuilder sentiment dips to five-month low on affordability
Mortgage rates are near the lowest in more than a year, but still double the level that prevailed throughout much of 2021
Retailer Carrefour targets higher cash and profits as CEO Bompard unveils new strategy plan
The company’s share price is down nearly 29% since July 2017
Carrefour CEO eyes higher profits under core markets refocus
Retailer aims for 3.2% operating margin by 2028 and 3.5% by 2030
Japan's Norinchukin books $95 million profit in third quarter
TOKYO, Feb 18 : Japan's Norinchukin Bank on Wednesday reported net profit of 14.6 billion yen ($95 million) for October-December, compared with a loss of 520.5 billion yen over the same period the previous year.That marked the unlisted bank's third consecutive quarter of profit. It follow ...
JPMorgan aims to open over 160 branches in 2026: report
The lender says that the push is part of a commitment in 2024 to open more than 500 branches within three years
Infineon CEO flags growth prospects for humanoid robot chips
FRANKFURT, Feb 18 : The CEO of Infineon Technologies told daily Handelsblatt that the German semiconductor maker is well-positioned to benefit from a future boom in the market for microchips used in humanoid robots."This could become a growth market like the one today for high-performance semi ...
ECB President Christine Lagarde expected to leave bank before term expires next year: report
The FT report comes only a week after Bank of France governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said that he would step down...
