News

Elon Musk on Tuesday (May 13) said Starlink was approved in Saudi Arabia.

European leaders are ready to wait until after a possible meeting between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Turkey before pushing the US to announce fresh sanctions on Moscow, people familiar with the matter said.

Following conversations between US and European officials on Monday, it was clear the American side wanted to allow an opportunity for talks between Russia and Ukraine to take place on Thursday before increasing pressure on Putin, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

Microsoft Corp. said it will cut thousands of workers with a focus on reducing layers of management. Planned reductions across the company amount to less than 3% of total headcount, a spokesperson said.

“We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” the spokesperson said.

UnitedHealth Group shares tumbled 13% to trade at lows not seen since February 2021. The sell-off came after the company said CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down for “personal reasons” and suspended its 2025 forecast.

Witty will act as a senior advisor to his successor, Stephen Hemsley, who served as UnitedHealth Group’s CEO from 2006 to 2017. The company said its decision to pull its guidance was partly due to higher medical costs, which dragged down other insurance stocks.

EToro Group Ltd. is likely to price its US initial public offering above its marketed range, according to a person familiar with the matter, in one of the first deals to resume after the tariff-driven pause.

The trading and investment platform and a group of its investors are offering 10 million shares for $46 to $50 each, according to an earlier filing. The IPO has received orders for multiple times the number of shares available, Bloomberg News has reported.

The IPO is set to price late on Tuesday, the person said. Deliberations are ongoing and the final price could still change, they said. A representative for EToro didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bank of America Corp. plans to open more than 150 new financial centers by the end of 2027 as the second-largest US bank pushes further into growing markets.

The lender will open 40 new branches — what it calls financial centers — this year and an additional 70 in 2026, according to a statement Tuesday. Bank of America has invested more than $5 billion in its financial centers, both opening new branches and renovating existing locations, since 2016, according to the statement.

Wall Street got a degree of encouragement as data showed limited inflationary pressures from President Donald Trump’s trade war, with stocks rising and bond yields falling amid bets on at least two Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.

The S&P 500 rose toward its highest level since February, the month marking its latest all-time high. Treasury yields dropped across the curve, with the move led by policy-sensitive shorter maturities. Swap traders, who sharply lowered their expectations for Fed rate reductions on easing US-China trade tensions, priced in about 55 basis points of easing for the year, with the first cut still projected for September.

Citigroup Inc. agreed to sell a unit that advises its global alternative investment fund platform, which represents more than 180 funds, to technology provider Capital.

Terms of iCapital’s deal to buy the Citi Global Alternatives business weren’t disclosed, according to a statement Tuesday. ICapital will manage and operate the fund platform, while Citi remains the distributor, offering guidance to its clients on the role of alternative investments.

Egg prices pulled back 18% from a record high last month, offering some relief as supplies recovered from bird flu shock.

Shoppers paid $5.122 per dozen for large eggs on average in April, falling from two straight months of record highs that brought prices above $6, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics said Tuesday. The monthly drop in a broader index for eggs was the biggest since 1984, helping to drive a softer-than-forecast increase in US consumer prices in April.

The S&P 500 was little changed flat early Tuesday following a big rally, as investors digested a softer-than-expected inflation report.

The consumer price index, a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, increased 2.3% on an annualised basis in April. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected inflation to remain at a 2.4% rate last month on a year-over-year basis.

Excluding food and energy, so-called core inflation ran at a 2.8% annual rate, which matched consensus estimates and was also unchanged from the prior month.

Hinge Health said in a filing on Tuesday that it plans to raise up to $437 million in its upcoming initial public offering.

The digital physical therapy startup filed its initial prospectus in March, and it updated the document with an expected pricing range for its Class A common stock of $28.00 to $32.00 per share. Hinge said it plans to sell about 13.7 million shares in the offering.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the European Union suffers from a “collective action problem” that’s hampering trade negotiations, downplaying the possibility of a quick agreement with the US’s largest trading relationship.

“I think the US and Europe may be a bit slower,” Bessent said when asked at a Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh about progress on tariff talks.

“My personal belief is Europe may have a collective action problem; that the Italians want something that’s different than the French. But I’m sure at the end of the day, we will reach a satisfactory conclusion,” he continued.

US Treasuries gained after a closely watched inflation report came in below expectations, offering support for wagers on at least two Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts this year.

The advances on Tuesday pushed the policy-sensitive two-year yield lower by as much as six basis points to 3.95%, while the benchmark 10-year rate slid about three basis points to 4.44%.

Swaps traders, who sharply lowered their expectations for Fed rate reductions on Monday on easing US-China trade tensions, priced in about 55 basis points of easing for the year — implying at least two cuts, with the first fully priced in for September.

Stock futures rose and bond yields fell after US inflation rose at a slower-than-anticipated pace April, showing a modest pass-through from President Donald Trump’s tariffs implemented last month.

S&P 500 contracts added 0.2%. The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.44%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%.

Inflation was slightly lower than expected in April as President Donald Trump’s tariffs just began hitting the slowing US economy, according to a Labor Department report Tuesday.

The consumer price index, which measures the costs for a broad range of goods and services, rose 0.2% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The monthly reading was in line with the Dow Jones consensus estimate and slightly below the annual forecast for 2.4%.

The Trump administration’s temporary trade deal with China didn’t arrive in time to prevent a slowdown in the US economy, forecasters say, even if it reduces the risk of a full-blown recession later this year.

Labour-market data could start to show the hit to employment by the end of May, they expect, while accelerating inflation should become evident in reports due next month.

That combination leaves the economy on track to grow significantly less this year than in 2024, even after accounting for Monday’s truce. While the current US levy on Chinese imports of 30% is well below the 145% duty put in place over the last month, it still represents a sharp increase from before President Donald Trump took office in January.

Robinhood Markets Inc. agreed to acquire WonderFi Technologies Inc., the operator of two Canadian cryptocurrency platforms, for about C$250 million ($179 million) in cash.

The fintech will purchase all of WonderFi’s issued and outstanding common shares for 36 Canadian cents apiece, 41% higher than the closing price on Monday, according to a statement Tuesday. WonderFi has more than C$2.1 billion in assets under custody.

WonderFi’s crypto offerings will help Robinhood bring Canadians greater access to crypto trading, the companies said in the statement. Menlo Park, California-based Robinhood, best known for its retail investing services, has been expanding globally, and said late last year that it was starting operations in Asia.

The Wall Street stocks rally headed for a pause as optimism around the temporary tariff cuts agreed between the US and China gave way to lingering concern about inflation and economic growth.

Futures pointed to a drop of 0.3% for the S&P 500 and a 0.2% decline for the Nasdaq 100. UnitedHealth Group Inc. sank 10% in premarket trading after suspending its 2025 outlook. Appetite for safer assets picked up again, with Treasury yields falling and gold prices on the rise. The dollar slipped.

Treasuries gained ahead of the release of US inflation data, paring sharp losses sparked by the temporary US-China trade truce that’s dimmed the odds of a global recession.

With market-implied expectations for Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts receding and a multi-trillion-dollar tax package seen likely to worsen the US government budget deficit, focus is now on Tuesday’s inflation data for any signs of a pickup in price pressures. The report will be the first to show tariff-related costs.

The yield on policy-sensitive two-year bonds fell nearly three basis points to 3.98% on Tuesday, outperforming European peers. The rate surged 12 basis points on Monday after the world’s biggest economies agreed to temporarily cut tariffs, dimming the odds of a recession and fueling a rally in risk assets.

BNP Paribas SA shareholders confirmed Chief Executive Officer Jean-Laurent Bonnafe for another three-year term as director, clearing the way for him to become one of Europe’s longest-serving bank CEOs.

Shareholders at the bank’s annual general meeting in Paris on Tuesday also voted to raise the age limit for the CEO role to 68 years, from 65 currently. The change was needed to allow the 63-year-old to stay on in his role until 2028.

At the helm of the lender for more than 13 years already, Bonnafe built up the trading business and propelled the asset management unit into the top ranks. Another chapter will give him the opportunity to overhaul of the sprawling French commercial and retail business and groom a successor.

Russia’s oil prices fell for a fifth week, leaving the value of the nation’s shipments close to a two-year low and largely negating the impact of a gain in crude sales.

Total flows in the four weeks to May 11 were worth about $4.09 billion, edging up from the period to May 4 but still the second-lowest since April 2023. Export prices for key grades shipped from the Baltic, Black Sea and Pacific regions all registered further declines.

UnitedHealth Group on Tuesday named board Chairman Stephen Hemsley as its new chief executive officer, replacing Andrew Witty.

The insurer also suspended its 2025 outlook, sending shares down 9% in premarket trading in New York. It said it expects to return to growth in 2026.

The CEO appointment is effective immediately, following Witty’s decision to step down as CEO for personal reasons, the company said in a statement. Hemsley will remain chairman.

Hemsley, 72, joined UnitedHealth as chief operating officer in 1997 and served as CEO from 2006 to 2017, when he became board chair. He pledged to return the company to its “long-term growth objective of 13 to 16%.”

The Trump administration is preparing to announce a deal granting Saudi Arabia more access to advanced semiconductors, paving the way for increased data center capacity in the Gulf nation despite concerns from some US officials about its ties to China, according to people familiar with the matter.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund investment arm posted a loss for the financial year ended March, with investment gains down 40% from the previous year. Despite this, SoftBank Group reported a full-year profit driven by gains in long-standing holdings and contributions from Arm and its domestic telecommunications business. The group remains committed to its AI ambitions, including investments in OpenAI and the Stargate AI infrastructure initiative. Read here

Industrial metals including copper were broadly steady, as traders weighed the impact of the US-China trade truce against ongoing concerns about inflation and economic growth.

Copper edged up slightly in London, after climbing near the highest since early April on Monday. Tariff cuts announced that day between the world’s two largest economies brought some relief to commodity markets, which had been hit by the trade war that dented the outlook for global economic growth.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the trade deal from President Donald Trump’s first tariff war with China gives the nations “a very good framework” for upcoming discussions after the temporary lifting of levies between them. He reiterated that the US doesn’t want “generalized” decoupling from China.

The Trump administration is preparing to announce a deal granting Saudi Arabia more access to advanced semiconductors, paving the way for increased data center capacity in the Gulf nation despite concerns from some US officials about its ties to China, according to people familiar with the matter.

The agreement would boost Saudi Arabia’s ability to buy chips from the likes of Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which are considered the gold standard for training and running artificial intelligence models, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential conversations.

President Donald Trump is in Riyadh Tuesday, kicking off a broader Middle East trip, and he could announce the deal as soon as this week.

Turkey’s official reserves fell by $15 billion in March, the steepest decline since the 2023 presidential elections, reflecting the extent of concern that’s gripped investors after the jailing of a prominent opposition politician.

Balance of payments data, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, showed a $4.1 billion deficit in March, compared with a revised shortfall of $4.3 billion the previous month, according to the Turkish central bank.

Monetary policymakers spent billions of dollars from reserves to stem the lira’s sharp depreciation in March, triggered by the detention and later jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest challenger in the next presidential elections. Investors dumped lira assets amid fear of large-scale unrest and any spillover of the turbulence to economic policy.

Japanese auto giant Honda missed fourth-quarter earnings estimates as operating profit plunged 76%, with the company bracing for the full impact of US tariffs.

For its financial year ended March, revenue came in at 21.69 trillion yen, compared to the average estimate of 21.63 trillion yen from LSEG and marking a 6.2% rise year on year.

In its earnings release, Honda had downgraded almost every financial metric for its current fiscal year ending in March 2026, compared with its latest full-year results. Its full-year operating profit is projected to fall almost 59% to 500 billion yen.

Japan’s second-biggest automaker explained that the impact of tariff policies worldwide would be very significant on its business, with the frequent revisions making it difficult to formulate an outlook.

Softbank’s Vision Fund business posted a loss in the fiscal year ended March as it booked slowing gains at its massive tech investment arm.

The Vision Fund segment notched a pretax loss of 115.02 billion yen ($777.7 mllion) versus a profit of 128.2 billion yen in the previous fiscal year.

SoftBank said it notched a gain on investment at its Vision Funds of 434.9 billion yen in the fiscal year, a 40% fall from the 724.3 billion yen booked in the previous year.

For the latest fiscal year, SoftBank saw gains on its investments in Chinese ridehailing company Didi as well as South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang. However, the performance of its investment arm was hurt by a drop in value of companies including AutoStore.

European stock markets opened in positive territory on Tuesday as uncertainty over the global trade outlook lingers despite a 90-day pause in the tariff spat between the U.S. and China.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.26% higher at 8.15 am in London. The UK’s FTSE 100 was 0.12% higher, France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.06% and Germany’s DAX was up 0.16%.

It comes after global markets rallied on Monday after news that Washington and Beijing agreed to slash steep tariffs for 90 days, raising hopes that a burgeoning trade war could be averted.NewsLive TVMarketPopular CategoriesCalculatorsTrending NowLet's Connect with CNBCTV 18Network 18 Group :©TV18 Broadcast Limited. All rights reserved.