Finance News and Headlines
Finance News and Headlines
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Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
Home Depot reported fourth‑quarter sales of $38.2 billion, a 3.8% year‑over‑year decline, yet the results beat analyst expectations. Net income slipped 14.2% to $2.6 billion and operating income fell 14.4%, reflecting pressure from a sluggish housing market. Full‑year sales rose 3.2% to $164.7 billion, with modest comparable‑sales gains, as consumers favored repairs over larger renovation projects. The retailer reaffirmed FY2026 guidance for 2.5‑4.5% sales growth, flat‑to‑up‑2% comps, and plans to open 15 new stores.
The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) issued new guidance on internal controls tailored for generative AI. It adapts COSO’s five‑component framework—control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information & communication, and monitoring—to address AI’s probabilistic, dynamic, and scalable nature. The guidance...
CPA firms face a talent crunch and rising technology costs, prompting many to reconsider traditional growth routes. In 2024, financial‑services acquirers accounted for 32.9% of accounting sector deals, up from 18.9% in 2023, highlighting a shift toward wealth‑management partnerships. Such...
Better.com announced it will use a US‑backed stablecoin to finance its mortgage warehouse line, marking a first for a major U.S. mortgage originator. The company plans to tap USDC on a public blockchain to raise short‑term capital, bypassing traditional bank...
Home prices edged higher in the latest quarter, while Chase announced a modest rate discount to spur loan demand. Retail giant Bed Bath & Beyond entered the mortgage origination space, signaling non‑traditional players’ interest in housing finance. Bayview Capital began stocking GSE‑eligible loans...
Direct secondaries are emerging as a leading exit strategy for private‑equity portfolios, prompting a reassessment of how these assets are valued. Subu Parmeswaran of Valuation Research Corporation highlights that traditional static models no longer capture the nuanced risk‑adjusted returns of these...
The IMF’s South Africa mission chief expects Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to keep the primary budget surplus at 1.5% of GDP and to embed the necessary fiscal reforms in the 2026 budget. The Fund highlighted controlling the public‑sector wage bill,...
Meridiam has closed its latest infrastructure fund with €2.2 billion of commitments, extending its exposure to long‑hold European assets. The capital raise reached final close this week, adding to the firm’s growing pool of long‑term infrastructure capital. The new vehicle will...
Corbel, a next‑generation CPQ platform, is using generative AI to overhaul industrial equipment sales. The system mines unstructured data—PDFs, videos, sales transcripts—to deliver instant technical answers and embeds financing options directly into the buying flow. By keeping human sales reps...
Botkeeper announced its shutdown in early February, blaming a "perfect storm" of macro‑economic shifts and unexpected industry consolidation. Experts say rapid mergers among large CPA firms dramatically shrank Botkeeper's addressable market, exposing the weakness of its flat‑rate subscription model. The...
The Ministry of Railways has launched an offer‑for‑sale (OFS) to off‑load up to 4 % of Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) equity, equivalent to 26.13 crore shares, with a green‑shoe option for an additional equal tranche. The floor price is fixed at...
Brookfield-backed Rockpoint Gas Storage completed a secondary offering, selling 16.4 million shares at C$28 per share. The transaction generated approximately C$459 million in gross proceeds, including shares issued under an over‑allotment option. The capital raise bolsters the company’s balance sheet and funds...
AI agents from vendors like Anthropic are automating tasks traditionally performed by entry‑level consultants in finance, law and other professional services. Kantata’s chief product officer Sarah Edwards explains that the industry is moving from a head‑count‑driven pyramid to an upside‑down...
At the PEI Group’s NEXUS 2026 conference, 26North veteran Josh Harris warned that blending unaccredited retail investors with traditional wealth capital in private‑market vehicles creates a regulatory mismatch. He argued that differing oversight levels could spark investor backlash and damage the...
Schaeffler India announced a Rs 35 per share dividend for FY 25, payable within 30 days of its AGM on 30 April 2026. The company posted a 36% jump in Q4 net profit to Rs 322 crore and revenue rose 28% YoY to Rs 2,724 crore. Profit after...
Sylvania Platinum posted a 110% year‑on‑year jump in net revenue to $99.8 million for the six months to 31 December, driven by a 25% rise in 4E PGM production and a 55% increase in basket prices. Adjusted EBITDA surged 414% to $51 million...
Passive and thematic ETFs are funneling large inflows into market‑cap‑weighted indices, disproportionately boosting the biggest and most volatile stocks and creating a systemic risk that may outpace liquidity. In Canada, strategist Michael Green warns that this distortion decouples prices from...
Infra.Market, the Indian B2B construction‑materials platform, is raising ₹1,250 crore (≈$137 million) in debt from Singapore‑based Ascertis Credit. The loan will be secured by the company’s assets, promoter shares and stakes in its subsidiaries such as RDC Concrete and Neptune Readymix. Proceeds...
A consortium of leading financial institutions executed the first cross‑border, intraday repurchase agreement using tokenized U.K. government bonds on the Canton Network. The trade featured the inaugural cross‑currency swap of tokenized gilts for tokenized deposits, with smart contracts encoding interest...
San Francisco International Airport announced Ronda Chu as its new chief financial officer. Chu will manage the airport’s operating budget, fiscal programmes, and revenue‑enhancement initiatives while overseeing finance, accounting, risk‑management, and procurement services. She brings more than 25 years of...
Citizens Bank’s Chief Information Officer Michael Ruttledge outlines how the institution’s "Next Gen Technology" initiative has driven a full migration of its legacy mainframe workloads to public cloud platforms Azure and AWS. Since joining in 2019, Ruttledge has overseen a...
The opening panel at the Energy Storage Summit 2026 focused on making large‑scale battery energy storage systems bankable. Speakers highlighted that roughly 80% of UK BESS capacity is underwritten by tolls or floor contracts, and no project above 100 MW operates fully...
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a reminder that firms must verify whether newly offered perpetual futures and similar derivatives fall within the scope of existing CFD product‑intervention measures. The regulator highlights that many of these instruments, including...
Retired Vice Admiral William Hilarides has taken a senior role at Ventus Industrial, a private‑equity‑backed firm targeting the defense industrial base. He says his mission is to accelerate shipbuilding capacity and help portfolio companies produce at the pace the Navy...
The U.S. pass‑through business sector—partnerships, S corporations and sole proprietorships—now employs most private‑sector workers and accounts for roughly half of business income. Its growth stems from long‑standing tax advantages, especially the Section 199A deduction that lowers effective rates compared with C...
Communications Minister Solly Malatsi has recommended approval of Dell Technologies' Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP) renewal, extending the commitment for another ten years and pledging over R230 million into South Africa. The EEIP framework allows multinationals to meet B‑BEE targets through...
LMS, through its NPTN network, has entered the Bank of England’s Synchronisation Lab to pilot a synchronized settlement model for remortgages. The eight‑week test will run in a simulated Real‑Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) environment, splitting payments into earmark and settle...
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved raising Powergrid's equity investment ceiling from ₹5,000 crore to ₹7,500 crore per subsidiary, while keeping the 15 percent net‑worth cap. The change enables the Maharatna CPSE to fund larger transmission projects, including UHVAC and HVDC corridors,...
Home Depot reported fiscal 2025 sales of $164.7 billion, a 3.2% increase over the prior year, driven by modest comparable sales growth. Fourth‑quarter sales slipped 3.8% to $38.2 billion, reflecting a shorter reporting period and lingering consumer uncertainty. Net earnings fell slightly...
GIVA, the Bengaluru‑based D2C jewellery startup, posted FY25 revenue of ₹518 Cr, an 89% jump from the prior year, while its consolidated net loss widened 23% to ₹72.3 Cr. The surge was driven by rapid offline store expansion, higher material costs and...
The U.S. market‑structure bill’s permissibility section would formally allow banks and their holding companies to own and transact in digital assets, effectively expanding the range of activities deemed permissible under the National Bank Act. Critics argue that simply placing an...
UOB's CFO Leong Yung Chee said the bank's provisions for commercial‑real‑estate exposures in Greater China and the United States are more than adequate as bad‑debt formation slowed in Q4 2025. Problematic US CRE loans represent about 1% of the local...
Water infrastructure is emerging as a hot‑spot for private‑equity investment, driven by stable cash flows and climate‑related demand. Ambienta has signed a non‑disclosure agreement to pursue an add‑on acquisition in the sector, signaling confidence in further consolidation. Meanwhile, Hg announced...
The World Bank’s Board approved an $846 million IBRD guarantee, mobilising $1.41 billion in private financing for Kazakhstan’s Middle Corridor and rail operator KTZ. The funding will finance a 322.3 km Moyynty‑Kyzylzhar line, tariff reforms and institutional support, including IPO preparation. The project...
Secondaries Investor’s 2024 deal log shows 85 continuation vehicles closed, while an additional 40 vehicles are either launching or under review. Continuation vehicles, which allow private‑equity funds to extend ownership of select assets, remain a dominant tool for managing liquidity....
Democratic senators led by Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill that strips tax deductions and mortgage‑interest benefits from corporations owning more than 50 single‑family rental homes, while the Trump administration issued a memo banning institutional investors with over 100 such homes...
Large importers typically budget ocean freight as a fixed line item, assuming rates will stay within a narrow range. However, Xeneta data shows that container rates can swing 500% during crises and still move 20‑30% within a single fiscal year,...
A Visa‑PYMNTS Working Capital Index shows nearly 50% of Asia‑Pacific growth‑stage firms (revenues $50 M‑$1 B) lack usable working‑capital tools, citing mismatched product design. CFOs demand flexible, sector‑specific digital financing, especially virtual and commercial cards that act as short‑term funding sources. High‑performing...
The UK overdraft market has collapsed from £18 bn to £2.7 bn, leaving a £15 bn funding gap for SMEs. With high‑street banks pulling back, many small firms now finance day‑to‑day cash flow through personal credit cards and director reimbursements – a practice...
The 2025 Global Digital Shopping Index, commissioned by Visa Acceptance Solutions, found that 48% of shoppers used a mobile device for their most recent retail purchase, with usage exceeding 60% in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Mobile browsing frequency is...
Hong Kong‑based stablecoin payments firm RedotPay is exploring a U.S. IPO that could raise more than $1 billion and value the company at over $4 billion. The offering would be underwritten by JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies, with a potential New York...
Telefonica posted a modest revenue rise of 1.3% in Q4 2025, reaching €9.174 billion, and delivered €2.069 billion in full‑year free cash flow. The group expanded its access base to 326.1 million, driven by fibre and 5G uptake, while adjusted EBITDA grew 2.8%...
Finance leaders are confronting a rapid shift as AI and automation move from pilot projects to core operating models. Darren Cran of AccountsIQ stresses that technology alone won’t deliver value unless people receive training, clear ownership, and ongoing support. He...
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned that today’s aggressive loan‑making resembles the pre‑2008 buildup that led to the financial crisis. He said some rivals are taking “dumb” actions to inflate net interest income, while JPMorgan remains disciplined even if it means...
Equifax Canada’s Q4 2025 credit report shows total consumer debt rose to $2.65 trillion, up 3.1% year‑over‑year, driven by higher mortgage balances and a 4.5% jump in non‑mortgage debt. Non‑mortgage delinquency peaked at 1.73%, with the 26‑35 age group posting the highest...
State and local governments issued a record $498 billion in municipal bonds in 2024 and topped $580 billion in 2025, driven primarily by infrastructure, education, and transportation projects. The surge reflects a shift from waning federal pandemic aid to local financing for...
India plans to raise 1.79 trillion rupees (about $19.7 billion) by selling stakes in state‑run firms through IPOs by the 2029/30 fiscal year. The effort is part of a broader $183.7 billion asset‑monetisation drive announced by NITI Aayog, following an earlier phase that fell...
City Chic Collective posted a modest improvement in profitability for the fiscal first half, with underlying EBITDA jumping 86% to $6.5 million and losses from continuing operations halving to $3.5 million. Global sales slipped 0.4% to $69.2 million, driven by a 31.4% plunge...
Japan's Ministry of Finance is weighing changes to its liquidity‑enhancement auction framework for government bonds, aiming to ease supply pressure on the super‑long end of the curve. From April, the mid‑term bucket could be narrowed from a 5‑15.5‑year range to...
The Swiss franc is consolidating its role as the premier safe‑haven currency, with EUR/CHF breaking below the 0.92 support level early this year. Analysts from RBC, Morgan Stanley and Credit Agricole argue that ongoing geopolitical tensions and weak economic data...
