Global Pulse

分类： business

  • ‘Ocean Dream’ blue-green diamond sells for more than $17 million at Christie’s auction in Geneva

    ‘Ocean Dream’ blue-green diamond sells for more than $17 million at Christie’s auction in Geneva

    In an iconic auction held in Geneva on Wednesday, Christie’s achieved a historic milestone for the global fine jewelry market when one of the world’s most extraordinary gemstones — the 5.5-carat triangular-cut ‘Ocean Dream’ — sold for 13.5 million Swiss francs, equal to $17.3 million. This final price sets a new record for any fancy vivid blue-green diamond ever sold at public auction, far exceeding industry expectations.

    Discovered in Central Africa during the 1990s, the Ocean Dream was the headline lot of Christie’s Geneva luxury jewelry sale, carrying a pre-auction estimated value of just 7 to 10 million Swiss francs, or roughly $9 to $13 million. According to Rahul Kadakia, president of Christie’s Asia Pacific, bidding for the rare stone extended over 20 minutes before a final deal was struck, with the winning bid coming from an anonymous private buyer. The extended bidding process signals unusually strong market demand for one-of-a-kind colored gemstones.

    This sale price is more than double the $8.5 million the Ocean Dream fetched when it was last sold at Christie’s in 2014. The gem has also earned international acclaim for its rarity: it was featured as a standout exhibit in the 2003 Smithsonian Splendour of Diamonds Exhibition, where it was highlighted among the world’s most exceptional colored diamonds.

    Industry leaders have praised the outcome as a fitting reflection of the stone’s unmatched status. “A stellar result worthy of the world’s rarest blue-green diamond,” noted Tobias Kormind, managing director of online luxury jeweler 77 Diamonds, in an official comment on the sale.

    The Ocean Dream’s record-breaking sale came just one day after a contrasting outcome at a competing Sotheby’s auction in the same city. On Tuesday, Sotheby’s failed to find a buyer for a 6-carat fancy vivid blue diamond sourced from South Africa’s legendary Cullinan Mine. That stone carried a pre-auction estimate of 7.2 million to 9.6 million Swiss francs ($9.2 million to $12.3 million). Despite the lack of an on-auction sale, Sotheby’s officials confirmed they are currently in ongoing negotiations with multiple interested parties and remain confident the diamond will be sold shortly.

    Both major auction houses agree that the high interest in the Ocean Dream aligns with a broader market trend: collector demand for rare colored diamonds has grown steadily in recent years. This category of gemstones makes up only a tiny fraction of all diamonds mined globally, making naturally colored examples like the Ocean Dream extremely valuable investments for high-net-worth collectors around the world.

  • US and China seek to repair damage from tariff war that sent trade into a freefall

    US and China seek to repair damage from tariff war that sent trade into a freefall

    After a year of heightened 2025 trade conflict that laid bare the deep mutual economic vulnerability of the world’s two largest economies, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are convening in Beijing for a high-stakes summit aimed at patching over some of the most costly damage from a decade of escalating trade tensions. A 10-year standoff between Washington and Beijing has gutted the once-booming bilateral trade that defined the early 21st century, forcing companies across both nations to restructure global supply chains, seek alternative markets, and adapt to a new era of fractured commercial ties. Many U.S. corporations have relocated manufacturing capacity out of mainland China to lower-wage markets such as Vietnam and India, while Chinese exporters have scrambled to cultivate new consumer bases across Europe and Southeast Asia to offset lost American sales. Yet despite years of decoupling efforts, both sides are increasingly acknowledging that complete economic separation is unfeasible. Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who served in Trump’s first administration, noted: “The idea of somehow China being totally independent of us and us being totally independent of China, I think, is a fiction.”

    This week’s leadership summit is focused on stabilizing the bilateral economic relationship, with observers not expecting sweeping, transformative policy announcements. The most widely anticipated outcome is an extension of the temporary trade truce reached between the two powers last October. Additional expected measures include a Chinese pledge to increase purchases of U.S. agricultural goods including soybeans and beef, as well as new orders for American-built Boeing commercial aircraft. U.S. officials have also previewed plans to establish a new bilateral Board of Trade to manage ongoing commercial disputes.

    Stakeholders on both sides are watching the talks closely. For American farmers, who were locked out of the Chinese soybean market for most of 2025, and U.S. manufacturers dependent on Chinese rare earth minerals for products ranging from consumer smartphones to military fighter jets, even modest progress would bring significant relief. On the Chinese side, factory owners are hoping the summit will unlock incremental improvements to commercial ties, even if a return to the record trade volumes of 15 years ago remains out of reach. Michael Lu, founder and chief executive of Dongguan-based gift box manufacturer Brothersbox, noted that the U.S. long served as a far more stable market than many emerging alternative outlets, making even partial easing of tensions a welcome shift.

    ### The Collapse of Once-Thriving Bilateral Trade
    Before Trump first imposed sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports in 2018, the average U.S. duty on Chinese goods stood at just 3.1%, according to data from Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Even after pulling back from the triple-digit peak tariffs hit briefly in 2025, average U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods still remain near 48% today. In 2016, China was the United States’ largest single trading partner, with bilateral trade accounting for more than 13% of total U.S. global commerce. By 2025, that share had been cut in half to just 6.4%, pushing China behind neighboring trade partners Mexico and Canada to drop to third place.

    The pre-2018 U.S.-China trade boom was long marked by a massive structural imbalance, with China exporting far more to the U.S. than it imported in return. The U.S. bilateral goods and services trade deficit with China peaked at $377 billion in 2018, but fell to $168 billion last year — the lowest level recorded since 2004. Even as its exports to the U.S. declined, however, China expanded sales to other global markets, particularly Southeast Asia and Europe, allowing the country to post a record annual global trade surplus of $1.2 trillion in 2025.

    ### Chinese Firms Adapt With Creative Workarounds
    Many trade analysts note that official U.S. government data likely overstates the actual decline in Chinese goods reaching the American market. To avoid steep U.S. tariffs, a large number of Chinese manufacturers have shifted final assembly operations to Southeast Asian nations including Vietnam and Thailand, then transship finished products to the U.S. under those countries’ tariff quotas. The Trump administration has pledged to crack down on this practice, which it labels tariff evasion. As Chinese exports to the U.S. dropped in 2025, U.S. imports from Southeast Asia surged: rising 42% from Vietnam, 44% from Thailand, and 24% from Indonesia. Zongyuan Zoe Liu, senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, argued: “It would be wrong to think that China is no longer relevant for the U.S. market. Chinese goods are still coming into the U.S.”

    Velong Enterprises, a Guangdong-founded manufacturer of kitchen gadgets and grilling tools that supplies Walmart and other major U.S. retailers, began diversifying its supply chain shortly after Trump’s first term began, adding new production capacity in Cambodia and India to serve American customers. “Most serious manufacturers did not simply ‘leave China,’” said Velong founder and CEO Jacob Rothman. “Instead, they built multi-country supply chains centered on China.”

    ### Small U.S. Businesses Bear the Brunt of Erratic Tariff Policy
    The prolonged trade war has hit small and medium-sized U.S. businesses particularly hard, due to volatile, unpredictable tariff adjustments that make long-term cost planning nearly impossible. Appu Jacob Varghese, owner of Zion Foodtrucks, a small food truck manufacturer based outside Colorado Springs, relies on imported Chinese equipment for the custom vehicles he builds. “Last year, a lot of my hair turned white,” Varghese said. His business was upended by erratic tariff changes that shifted week to week, at one point spiking to 145% on key Chinese components. Because Zion Foodtrucks signs fixed-price contracts with customers and delivers new vehicles within six weeks, Varghese was unable to pass sudden cost increases on to buyers, forcing him to absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars in unexpected expenses. He has since shifted half of his cooking equipment sourcing to Vietnam and Thailand, and fire-suppression gear to U.S. and Israeli suppliers. While he speaks highly of his former Chinese suppliers, he says he will never return to heavy dependence on them: “Given the testy relations between Washington and Beijing, it’s too risky.”

    ### A Broad Shift in Sourcing Strategies
    Large U.S. multinationals have also joined the push to reduce reliance on Chinese manufacturing. Apple has shifted a portion of its iPhone production to India, while athletic apparel giant Nike has expanded manufacturing capacity across Vietnam. Sarah Tan, a Singapore-based economist covering China for Moody’s Analytics, explained: “Trade tensions can flare up quite quickly, and that makes the U.S. firms hesitant to rely too heavily on Chinese supply.” InStyler, a Los Angeles-based hair appliance manufacturer that once sourced all of its products from China, is moving some high-end production to South Korea and France, with plans to add capacity in Italy, Vietnam and Mexico. While CEO Dan Fugardi said the shift is partially driven by demand for European-made cachet among luxury hotel clients, reducing Chinese dependence “doubles as an insurance plan so that we’re not caught with our pants down” if tensions escalate again.

    ### Tit-for-Tat Escalation Goes Beyond Traditional Tariffs
    The trade standoff has long expanded beyond traditional import taxes, escalating into targeted measures targeting key strategic sectors on both sides. The U.S. has blocked exports of cutting-edge advanced semiconductors to Chinese firms, while China has retaliated by periodically cutting off exports of rare earth minerals critical to electronics manufacturing. Last year, Beijing also restricted exports of tungsten, a high-strength metal used in defense, aerospace, and medical device manufacturing — a sector where China controls roughly 80% of global supply. China also halted all purchases of U.S. soybeans for most of 2025, a deliberate blow to Trump’s political base in rural America. Even after purchases resumed following October trade talks, U.S. soybean exports to China fell 75% for the full year.

    The years of escalating conflict have made clear just how much damage each power can inflict on the other. Now, leaders on both sides are hoping the Beijing summit will de-escalate tensions and lay the groundwork for a more stable commercial framework. “We are the No. 1 trading player. They are next in line,” Ross said. “We have to coexist in some way. The question is, what will be the rules of the road, and who will benefit the most from those rules.”

  • EU commissioner warns of potential jet fuel shortage in the long term

    EU commissioner warns of potential jet fuel shortage in the long term

    NICOSIA, Cyprus — The European Union’s top energy official has issued a cautious update on global jet fuel supplies amid escalating geopolitical tensions from the ongoing Iran war, acknowledging that while no immediate scarcity is imminent, the risk of a prolonged shortage remains a distinct possibility.

    Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen explained that the trajectory of any potential shortage hinges on two key variables: how the conflict in Iran and related disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz develop, and how commercial airlines adjust their operations in response. Already, several major carriers, including Lufthansa’s German parent company, have cut a substantial number of flights to offset mounting costs.

    The Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil supply transits, has seen shipping and supply networks thrown into chaos by surrounding fighting, pushing jet fuel prices sharply higher across every major global market. Jørgensen confirmed that a shortage has not yet materialized, but revealed that the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, will open discussions with member state governments to coordinate potential policy responses, though no concrete measures have been finalized to date.

    Data from the bloc underscores the severity of the current cost shock: since the outbreak of the Iran war, EU countries have paid an extra €35 billion ($41 billion) to secure the same volume of fuel as they used previously. Airlines are disproportionately hit by this volatility, as jet fuel makes up one of the largest single components of their total operating costs, with prices more than doubling in some regional markets since late February.

    The warning from the EU follows a stark assessment from International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol, who told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview last month that Europe holds only roughly six weeks of commercially available jet fuel stockpiles. Birol also cautioned that widespread flight disruptions could begin “soon” if oil exports remain blocked by war-related disruptions in the Middle East.

    Jørgensen used the current crisis to reinforce the EU’s long-term policy push for decarbonization, arguing that the current disruption is not a broad energy crisis but specifically a crisis rooted in global reliance on fossil fuels. He noted that the bloc has already made significant progress in reducing fossil fuel dependence since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, diversifying supply sources, boosting energy efficiency, and scaling up renewable energy capacity.

    For his part, Cypriot Energy Minister Michael Damianos — whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating six-month presidency — acknowledged that fossil fuels including natural gas will remain part of the bloc’s energy mix for the foreseeable future, even as the EU reaffirms its binding target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2050. Damianos added that new natural gas reserves discovered off Cyprus’ southern coast could begin exporting to European markets as early as late 2027 or early 2028, adding a new supply source to the bloc’s diversified portfolio.

    Jørgensen stressed that the EU remains fully committed to rapid decarbonization, emphasizing that “the climate crisis will not go away” even amid immediate energy security concerns. Looking ahead to a post-conflict future, the commissioner confirmed the EU is already in preliminary discussions with Gulf Cooperation Council nations to rebuild stable energy export flows from the region once a negotiated peace settlement is reached with Iran.

    That outreach aligns with earlier statements from top EU leaders. Last month, European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the bloc was prepared to partner with Persian Gulf nations on new energy infrastructure projects that would deliver supplies to global markets without the risk of disruption from war or geopolitical conflict.

  • Brazil’s beloved instant payment system faces scrutiny from the Trump administration

    Brazil’s beloved instant payment system faces scrutiny from the Trump administration

    In a deeply politically divided Brazil, one digital tool has managed to unite citizens across the ideological spectrum: PIX, the Central Bank of Brazil-run instant payment system that has transformed how the nation sends and spends money. From street-side beach snacks to high-ticket purchases like new cars, PIX now underpins nearly every corner of Brazilian commerce, drawing widespread praise from vendors and consumers alike — but drawing growing international tension over alleged unfair trade practices.

    Launched in 2020, PIX operates on a simple, accessible framework: any individual with a Brazilian taxpayer ID, registered business, or government entity with a local bank account can send and receive funds in real time, most often via QR code scans on mobile phones. Unlike private card networks and traditional bank transfer systems, individual users pay zero fees for transactions, and even the fees charged to merchant accounts are far lower than the rates for legacy payment methods that once took hours to process. By the end of last year, the system’s explosive popularity drove $7 trillion in total transactions, with 178 million of Brazil’s 213 million residents already registered for the service.

    For small business owners across the country, PIX has become an indispensable part of daily operations. On Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Ipanema Beach, 21-year-old iced tea and snack vendor Luis Felipe de Almeida says cash has all but disappeared from his transactions. “No one walks around with cash anymore, everyone just uses their phone, so they use PIX,” he explained. In Sao Paulo, 57-year-old restaurant owner Marcello Palladini relies on PIX to pay suppliers for transactions over 1,000 Brazilian reais ($200), a sum most credit card networks refuse to handle for direct supplier payments. While he criticizes the exorbitant fees some private banks charge for merchant PIX transactions, he remains a committed supporter of the system. “PIX works great, it is all instant,” he said. Even large corporations now use PIX to pay worker salaries, and high-value assets from homes to helicopters are regularly purchased through the platform, requiring only occasional bank approval for the largest sums.

    But PIX’s growing dominance has drawn pushback from half a world away. In July, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, under the Trump administration, launched a formal inquiry into the system, alleging it creates unfair competition for U.S.-based credit card giants like Visa and Mastercard by offering a low-fee public alternative to traditional card network transaction fees. What makes the U.S. action unusual, analysts note, is that India operates a nearly identical public instant payment system with zero consumer transaction fees, which processed $300 billion in transactions in March alone — yet faces no comparable challenge from USTR.

    For all its domestic success, PIX is not without vulnerabilities. Criminal organizations have quickly adapted to exploit the system’s instant transfers, stealing mobile devices and moving tens of thousands of reais in stolen funds before users or authorities can intervene. The Brazilian Forum of Public Security, a leading policy think tank, estimates that between 24 million and 28 million Brazilians fell victim to PIX-related fraud between January and September of last year, though the total value of losses has not yet been calculated.

    Brazilian regulators and financial institutions have moved to address these risks, implementing caps on overnight PIX transfers between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. to limit fraudsters’ ability to move large sums when most users are not monitoring their accounts, while authorities actively close accounts linked to suspicious activity. Digital law expert Ana Paula Siqueira emphasizes that the system’s core technology remains sound, and most fraud stems from social manipulation rather than structural flaws. “From the technical and legal standpoint, PIX is safe. But it is not immune to fraud because its risks are not in its technology; they are in people trying to fool others,” Siqueira explained. “The most common fraud involves psychological manipulation, fake IDs, urgent requests for payment.”

    Even with these documented risks, popularity of PIX remains undimmed across all sectors of Brazilian society. At an open-air market in Sao Paulo’s Pinheiros district, dumpling vendor Claudia Quirino summed up the national sentiment with a playful nod to PIX’s core feature: “Love doesn’t happen suddenly, it takes time,” she shouted to potential customers. “But PIX is instant! Buy now!”

    This report includes contributions from AP journalists Lucas Dumphreys (Rio de Janeiro), Mario Lobao (Rio de Janeiro), and Vineeta Deepak (New Delhi).

  • Shrinking Milka chocolate bar tricked consumers, says German court

    Shrinking Milka chocolate bar tricked consumers, says German court

    A regional court in Bremen, Germany has delivered a landmark ruling against global food conglomerate Mondelēz International, finding that the company’s shrinkflation adjustment to its iconic Milka Alpenmilch chocolate bar deceived consumers and violated national competition law. The case, which marks one of the highest-profile legal challenges to the widespread corporate practice of reducing product content while retaining identical packaging, centers on Mondelēz’s decision to cut the net weight of the classic Milka Alpine Milk bar from 100 grams to 90 grams between 2024 and 2025.

    The lawsuit was brought by the Hamburg Consumer Protection Office (VZHH), which argued that keeping the bar’s instantly recognizable purple packaging unchanged despite a 10% reduction in product size amounted to intentional misleading of long-time customers. The Bremen regional court backed the consumer protection body’s claim in its ruling, noting that while retaining similar packaging is not inherently unlawful, the mismatch between consumers’ long-held visual expectations of the product’s size and its actual reduced content created deceptive ambiguity. The court emphasized that resolving this misleading impression would have required a clear, prominently displayed notice of the weight change directly on the front of the packaging, rather than small text buried among other product information.

    In the years following post-pandemic supply chain disruptions and poor cocoa harvests in major West African producing regions, global confectionery manufacturers have increasingly turned to shrinkflation to offset skyrocketing input costs. The practice—reducing product size or weight to keep sticker prices consistent, or in some cases implementing simultaneous price increases alongside smaller portions—has drawn widespread criticism from consumer advocacy groups across Europe, who frame it as a deceptive tactic to hide inflation from shoppers. Last year, German consumers voted the adjusted Milka Alpenmilch bar the unwelcome title of “rip-off packaging 2025” for its unchanged packaging that hid the reduced weight. The criticism has been compounded by the fact that the product’s retail price also rose from €1.49 to €1.99 by early 2025, even as the bar shrank by 10 grams to just 90g.

    In response to the ruling, a Mondelēz spokesperson told the BBC that the company is “taking the decision of the court seriously” and will conduct a detailed review of the verdict before deciding its next steps. During the three-week trial, company representatives defended the weight adjustment, arguing that they had notified German consumers of the change via their official website and social media channels, and that the weight change was clearly printed on the packaging. Mondelēz also noted that fluctuating chocolate bar weights have long been common across the industry, with historic weights ranging between 81g and 100g for different products. The current ruling is not yet legally final: Mondelēz has 30 days to file an appeal against the decision. The court also highlighted the importance of the ruling, noting that without an explicit finding against the practice, Mondelēz and other manufacturers could repeat the same deceptive strategy.

    Milka is not the only high-profile chocolate brand facing backlash over shrinkflation in Germany. Iconic German manufacturer Ritter Sport has also drawn criticism for adjusting the weight of three of its most popular varieties from 100g to 75g as of May 2026, while retaining its famous square packaging shape. Though Ritter Sport updated its packaging labeling and marketed the thinner bars as a new product line that “consumers prefer” at the same price point, the adjusted varieties still appear on the VZHH’s list of problematic “rip-off packaging.” That list grew by 77 new products in 2025 alone, spanning far beyond confectionery.

    Shrinkflation has impacted a wide range of everyday consumer goods across Europe, from toothpaste and rolled oats to instant coffee. However, UK consumer advocacy group Which? notes that chocolate has seen particularly steep inflation, with prices rising 14.6% in the 12 months leading up to August 2025, driven largely by the global cocoa price surge linked to poor harvests in West Africa.

  • Japanese automaker Nissan reduces losses and expects to return to profit

    Japanese automaker Nissan reduces losses and expects to return to profit

    TOKYO — Japanese automotive manufacturer Nissan Motor Corporation released its full fiscal year 2024 (ending March 31) financial results Wednesday, showing a significant reduction in annual losses even as the company remains unprofitable, squeezed by a confluence of economic headwinds including U.S. import tariffs, persistent global inflation, and intensifying market competition from new entrants.

    The Yokohama-based automaker, which produces popular nameplates ranging from the Altima sedan and Pathfinder SUV to the Leaf electric vehicle and luxury Infiniti line, posted a net loss of 533 billion Japanese yen, equal to roughly $3.4 billion. That marks a major improvement from the 670.9 billion yen loss the company recorded in the prior fiscal year.

    Annual global sales for the fiscal year dipped 5% year-over-year to 12 trillion yen ($76 billion), with total global vehicle shipments reaching 3.15 million units over the 12-month period. On a quarterly basis for the January-March 2024 period, Nissan reported a net loss of 282.9 billion yen ($1.8 billion), a sharp improvement from the 676 billion yen loss in the same quarter last year. Quarterly sales edged down just under 2% to 3.43 trillion yen ($22 billion).

    In a statement accompanying the results, Nissan Chief Executive Ivan Espinosa struck an optimistic tone about the company’s ongoing restructuring efforts, saying the firm has made consistent progress and is seeing clear signals that a turnaround is underway. “We have moved beyond recovery and are entering a phase of growth,” Espinosa said. “We will build on this momentum through disciplined cost management and faster product execution, driving sales and profitability.”

    Company officials noted that operating profit outperformed internal and analyst projections, driven by ongoing cost-cutting initiatives that Nissan has implemented to shore up its balance sheet. Looking ahead, the automaker expects improved results in the ongoing fiscal year, supported by a slate of upcoming new model launches. Nissan projects it will finally return to net profitability by the 2027 fiscal year, forecasting a modest net profit of 20 billion yen ($127 million) for the period ending March 2027.

    Despite executive optimism around the turnaround strategy, Nissan’s financial position remains the weakest it has been in more than a decade. In recent restructuring moves, the company has cut thousands of jobs across its global operations and sold off its downtown Yokohama headquarters building to free up capital.

    The entire Japanese auto sector has faced growing pressure over the past five years as Chinese electric and gas-powered vehicle manufacturers have expanded rapidly across Asian and global markets, capturing significant market share from long-established Japanese brands. In recent years, Nissan held exploratory merger talks with fellow struggling Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. to combine certain core operations, but those discussions collapsed earlier this year. While a full merger is no longer on the table, the two companies have left the door open for limited collaborative partnerships in the future.

    For its part, Nissan’s stock, which has seen volatile price swings over the past 12 months, closed trading Wednesday up 4% following the release of the results, as investors reacted positively to the smaller-than-expected annual loss.

  • Japan’s SoftBank racks up huge profit gains with lift from lucrative AI investments

    Japan’s SoftBank racks up huge profit gains with lift from lucrative AI investments

    TOKYO — Japanese technology investment giant SoftBank Group Corp. has delivered a blockbuster set of full-year financial results, with fiscal year profits ending in March surging nearly fivefold compared to the prior 12-month period, fueled by outsized returns from its early bets on artificial intelligence. The Tokyo-headquartered firm announced Wednesday that it notched a net annual profit of 5 trillion Japanese yen, equivalent to roughly $32 billion. That figure marked a staggering leap from the 1.15 trillion yen profit it recorded in the preceding fiscal year.

    Revenue for the reporting period also showed steady growth, climbing almost 8% year-over-year to hit 7.8 trillion yen ($50 billion), up from 7.2 trillion yen in the prior year, according to the company’s official earnings statement.

    The clear standout contributor to SoftBank’s stellar results was its AI-focused portfolio, with its stake in leading AI developer OpenAI standing out as the most lucrative holding. SoftBank has poured $34.6 billion into OpenAI, and the value of that investment has generated $45 billion in gains to date. Beyond OpenAI, SoftBank holds major positions in other high-profile global technology and AI players, including U.S. semiconductor giant Nvidia, German digital infrastructure provider Deutsche Telekom, and British chip design firm Arm. The company also pioneered development of the commercial humanoid robot Pepper, one of its early forays into consumer-facing robotics technology.

    SoftBank’s bottom line got an extra boost from the initial public offering of PayPay, Japan’s dominant mobile QR code payment service that has revolutionized cashless transactions across the country. The firm’s overall performance was balanced by mixed outcomes across its broader portfolio: gains from its holdings in semiconductor manufacturer Intel Corp. offset downward valuation adjustments to its stake in Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group.

    This pattern of mixed returns across diverse holdings is characteristic of SoftBank’s unique business model. Decades ago, the company became one of the first Japanese firms to prioritize aggressive early-stage technology investment, and today it manages a vast global network of portfolio companies through its series of Vision Fund investment vehicles.

    Founded more than 40 years ago by iconic chief executive and chairman Masayoshi Son, a University of California graduate and billionaire who is widely recognized as a trailblazer for Japan’s modern technology industry, SoftBank has continued to expand its footprint beyond traditional venture investment. In recent months, the firm has launched a new domestic battery business in Japan, with plans to build next-generation energy infrastructure to meet the rising power demand expected from the rapid growth of AI computing. It has also partnered with Japanese industrial firm Toppan, which operates across printing, communications, security and packaging sectors, to develop a lightweight, long-lasting composite material for aircraft wings that is on track to enter commercial use within three years.

    In line with its longstanding policy, SoftBank did not release forward-looking earnings guidance for the coming fiscal year.

  • Big four banks drag ASX 200 as Commonwealth Bank plunges, wipes $25bn from market

    Big four banks drag ASX 200 as Commonwealth Bank plunges, wipes $25bn from market

    On a trading day that saw broad-based growth across nearly all Australian market segments, a sharp downturn among the nation’s four largest lenders dragged the country’s benchmark ASX 200 into negative territory, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) posting its worst single-day performance in recent history. The Wednesday session closed with the ASX 200 down 40.30 points, or 0.46%, settling at 8630.40, while the broader All Ordinaries index slipped 0.32% to 8880.70, a drop of 28.90 points. Against this market shift, the Australian dollar strengthened slightly to trade at 72.38 U.S. cents. Notably, 10 of the 11 tracked market sectors closed the session in positive territory, making the overall index decline almost entirely attributable to the selloff in major financial stocks. The financial sector as a whole fell more than 4% following CBA’s release of its quarterly earnings and updated outlook, which spooked investor sentiment across the entire banking industry. CBA shares plummeted 10.43% to close at $153.67, erasing more than $25 billion from the bank’s total market capitalization in a single session. The lender reported a March quarter net profit of $2.7 billion, but what caught investor attention was its announcement of a $200 million increase in bad debt provisions. The bank cited mounting budgetary pressure on Australian households and businesses, amplified by geopolitical instability tied to the Israel-Iran regional conflict. Industry analysts say the move signals a growing cautious outlook across Australia’s major banking sector, as early signs of financial stress begin to emerge among consumers. “We are starting to see early signs of stress emerge more broadly,” explained Cameron McCormack, senior portfolio manager at global investment firm VanEck. “Arrears are edging higher across personal loans, home loans and credit cards, while total provisioning across the big four has risen to $6.5 billion. Importantly, this is not isolated to CBA. Provisioning has been stepping up across the major banks this reporting season, which is consistent with the cumulative impact of restrictive monetary policy beginning to bite.” McCormack added that persistent high inflation and a resilient labour market have created a dual pressure that is squeezing bank profits from both sides. “On the demand side, higher interest rates are weighing on consumers and slowing credit growth,” he said. “On the supply side, intense competition is limiting the ability for banks to reprice loans. As a result, net interest margins are increasingly being squeezed.” The market selloff triggered by CBA’s results pulled down the other three major Australian banks alongside it. Westpac closed down 2.84% at $35.57, the National Australia Bank (NAB) fell 1.50% to $36.86, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) dropped 1.62% to $34.57. Outside the financial sector, strong gains in consumer discretionary stocks and mining shares helped offset much of the sector’s losses. Consumer conglomerate Wesfarmers added 0.35% to close at $71.55, while gaming firm Aristocrat Leisure surged 13.28% to $51.94 after reporting a robust first-half earnings report: normalised revenue hit $3.03 billion for the six months ending March 31, while net profit jumped to $725 million. Australia’s big three iron ore miners also posted solid gains. BHP closed up 2.91% at $61.52, Rio Tinto gained 1.93% to settle at $189, and Fortescue Metals climbed 2.78% to $22.52. A handful of other individual companies posted notable losses in Wednesday’s session. Buy now, pay later provider Zip fell 0.8% to $2.44 after Australia’s High Court ordered the firm to rebrand in the country over a successful trademark dispute. Pathology and medical diagnostics firm Healius plummeted 22.68% to $0.375 after it downgraded its full-year earnings guidance and announced the sale of its Agilex Biolabs subsidiary. Online furniture retailer Temple and Webster also slid 6.39% to $4.98 after it forecast underlying earnings of only $20 million to $22 million for the 2026 financial year, missing earlier market expectations.

  • Mortgage holders warned of rate hike as budget fails to tame inflation

    Mortgage holders warned of rate hike as budget fails to tame inflation

    Australia’s recently unveiled federal budget has left many financially squeezed mortgage holders bracing for steeper home loan repayments, with leading economists warning the document fails to rein in excessive government spending, tame persistent inflation, or ease pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to implement additional monetary tightening. The outcome has put already overstretched household budgets at further risk, as global energy market volatility driven by Middle East tensions between the U.S. and Iran continues to push up fuel and broader living costs.

    AMP’s chief economist Shane Oliver, one of the most widely followed experts on Australian monetary and fiscal policy, sounded the alarm over the budget’s structural trajectory, noting that it locks in elevated public spending and ongoing budget deficits over the medium term. In comments to Australian NewsWire, Oliver explained that the budget even includes minor near-term stimulus measures that could add marginal upward pressure on inflation, which remains above the RBA’s target range. “It’s not huge but it certainly doesn’t make the Reserve Bank’s job any easier,” he said. Prior to the release of Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ fifth budget on Tuesday, Oliver had already predicted the RBA would implement another interest rate hike in August. The budget’s lack of meaningful fiscal contraction has not changed that forecast, he confirmed.

    David Bassanese, chief economist at leading investment firm Betashares, echoed Oliver’s assessment. While he noted the budget does not dramatically worsen near-term inflation risks, it also fails to deliver the fiscal restraint needed to reduce the RBA’s burden of further policy tightening if inflation remains stubborn. “The Budget is hardly super restrictive either, so does not lessen the burden on the RBA to tighten policy further if need be,” Bassanese said.

    On a more positive note, economists did acknowledge that the federal government resisted widespread political pressure to roll out broad, untargeted relief for households struggling with rising cost of living — a move that Oliver said would have been a catastrophic mistake for long-term inflation and interest rates. Many state Australian budgets have rolled out broad household relief in recent months, but the federal government held back from large-scale across-the-board support even as mortgage and energy costs climb. Oliver noted that broad-based relief would have added significantly to inflation, ultimately forcing bigger rate hikes that would leave mortgage holders worse off over time. “The temptation would have been to do more – like some of the state budgets – that would have been disastrous,” he said. “It was good to see the government holding back, I think we needed to see more of a cut back in the near term.”

    Oliver added that any government support should be targeted exclusively at the most vulnerable households, rather than distributed to all Australians regardless of income. Untargeted universal relief is unnecessarily costly and adds unnecessary inflationary pressure, he argued. That pressure is already being amplified by a sharp rally in global crude oil prices, which have surged from roughly $US56 per barrel to briefly touch $US131 per barrel amid Middle East supply fears, driving up fuel prices across Australia. Industry calculations show every $US10 per barrel increase in crude adds 10 Australian cents per liter to retail fuel prices, stretching household transport budgets further. Official budget forecasts project oil prices will remain above $US100 per barrel before easing to $US80 per barrel next year.

    Along with inflation and interest rate risks, the budget also reveals a steep upward trajectory for Australia’s national gross debt over the coming decade. Current data from the Australian Office of Financial Management puts gross national debt at $964.2 billion at present. Treasury projections show debt will rise every year over the next four years, hitting $982 billion by the 2026 financial year, crossing the $1 trillion mark in mid-2026, rising to $1.051 trillion in 2027, $1.12 trillion in 2028, and peaking at $1.249 trillion, equal to 35.6% of national GDP. After hitting that peak, debt is projected to gradually decline, falling back to 27.2% of GDP by 2037 as the country begins paying down accumulated obligations.

    Oliver argued that Australia needs far more aggressive fiscal consolidation to get public spending back to sustainable pre-pandemic levels, which would ease pressure on the RBA, reduce inflation, and free up economic capacity for private sector growth. He estimates the government needs to cut roughly $100 billion in cumulative spending over the next four years to bring public spending down to 25% of GDP, a level that prevailed before the COVID-19 pandemic. “If you did that it would take us back to levels that prevailed prior to covid and free up capacity for stronger private sector activity and allow for lower interest rates without generating inflation,” he explained. “We saw only a small share of that in Tuesday’s budget.”

  • Some Japanese snack packages are turning black-and-white as Iran war depletes ink supply

    Some Japanese snack packages are turning black-and-white as Iran war depletes ink supply

    TOKYO — A major Japanese snack manufacturer is making a drastic visual change to its product packaging, a visible ripple effect of geopolitical unrest in the Middle East that is disrupting global supply chains. Tokyo-based Calbee Inc., the producer of best-selling potato chips, cereals, and shrimp chips, has announced it will shift 14 of its core products to simple black-and-white packaging starting May 25, a shift driven by shortages of raw materials for colored ink linked to the ongoing war in Iran.

    Calbee confirmed in an official statement that the product itself — the flavor, quality, and formulation that has made its lines like lightly salted “usu shio” potato chips and “kappa ebisen” shrimp chips household staples across Japan and export markets including the U.S., China, and Australia — remains unchanged. The drastic packaging adjustment is purely a proactive measure to preserve consistent product availability for consumers.

    The supply disruption traces back to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping chokepoint, amid the Iran conflict. The unrest has already pushed up global prices for energy and raw materials and triggered widespread supply crunches across multiple industries. Japan, which relies on 100% imported oil to meet its energy needs, is particularly exposed to these shifts. Naphtha, a petroleum-derived product critical to manufacturing everything from plastics to colored printing ink, is among the commodities facing tight supplies.

    While Japanese officials have moved to calm public anxiety by pointing to the nation’s ample strategic oil reserves, Calbee’s packaging change serves as a stark, public reminder of the ongoing supply chain disruptions. Previously, the iconic usu shio potato chip line featured a bright orange bag accented with yellow graphics of potato slices and the brand’s friendly potato mascot in a signature hat. The reworked packaging will swap all vibrant colors for simple monochrome text.

    Founded in 1949, Calbee employs more than 5,000 workers across its group operations and had only announced an ambitious corporate growth strategy back in March. The company says it remains unclear how long the monochrome packaging adjustment will need to stay in place, as the timeline for resolving the geopolitical tensions disrupting supply remains uncertain.

    “Calbee will continue to respond flexibly and promptly to changes in its operating environment, including geopolitical risks, and remains committed to maintaining a stable supply of safe, high-quality products,” the company said in its statement. “We ask for your understanding from consumers for this temporary change.”