MISC Group, a Malaysia-based maritime energy services provider, has secured contracts to deliver and operate Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) first floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit. The company signed long-term bareboat charter and operations and maintenance agreements with ExxonMobil subsidiary ExxonMobil PNG, which is the operator of the PNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. The contracts mark MISC Group’s entry into the country. The charter is set for 15 years with options to extend for a furth ...

The tail end of last year saw a spike in borrowing as rising prices hit consumers hard. New personal loans rose by 24% in the third quarter of 2025 when compared to a year earlier, driven by borrowers with the lowest credit scores, while new credit card accounts spiked by 11.7%, with strong growth from both subprime and superprime consumers, according to new data out Thursday from TransUnion. "People are turning to credit as we continue to see stubbornly high inflation," Michele Raneri, vice president ...

The Western European LV market saw a modest slowdown in January as sales totaled 986k units, down 2.0% YoY. The monthly selling rate decelerated to 12.96 million units/year. Across the five largest Western European markets, sales trends were broadly in line with December, with the main deviation coming from Germany. Germany’s strong momentum cooled in January, with sales falling for the first time in more than six months. France recorded a further decline as political uncertainty continued to weigh on deman ...

Bishop Fleming, a UK-based audit, tax, accountancy and advisory practice, has appointed two senior directors as it looks to expand its risk and private client tax work across its UK network. The accountancy practice has hired Razia Gent as director of Internal Audit and Risk Advisory, based in its Birmingham office. The company has appointed Peter Budden as Private Client director in its Bristol headquarters at Temple Back. Razia Gent joined Bishop Fleming from BDO in Birmingham, while Peter Budden joi ...

Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari said Thursday he thinks the central bank is “pretty close” to neutral on the level of its benchmark policy rate, implying there may be little room left to cut rates. “We've cut interest rates a bunch in the last couple of years,” Kashkari said during a fireside chat at the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce. “My guess is we're pretty close to neutral on where our monetary policy is, but ultimately, we need to see, where does inflation go? Does it come all ...

Core Insights - Wall Street is shifting focus from AI tech giants to infrastructure companies that will benefit from AI capital spending as investor enthusiasm for AI heavyweights wanes [1][2] Group 1: Market Performance - Shares in AI tech giants like Alphabet and Amazon have seen significant declines due to concerns over whether returns from their AI investments will justify their high valuations [2] - Infrastructure-related stocks such as Caterpillar, Lumentum, and Western Digital have experienced double-digit gains this year, contrasting with the S&P 500's return of 0.52% and the Roundhill Magnificent 7 ETF's loss of 7.3% [3] Group 2: New Investment Products - ETF providers like BlackRock, VistaShares, and Impax Asset Management are launching new products focused on AI infrastructure, reflecting a growing interest in niche investment opportunities [4] - VistaShares' Artificial Intelligence Supercycle ETF, launched in December 2024, gained 58.4% in 2025 and is up 16.87% this year, indicating strong performance in the AI infrastructure sector [5] Group 3: Fund Allocations - BlackRock's iShares A.I. Innovation and Tech Active ETF has increased its investment in AI infrastructure plays to 74% of its $8.8 billion in assets, up from 59% a year ago, highlighting a strategic pivot towards revenue-generating sectors [7] - The BlackRock fund has attracted $7.9 billion in new capital over the past year, driven by healthy returns from holdings like Fabrinet and Monolithic Power Systems, which have contributed to a 3.2% return this year [8]

Car rental company Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ: CAR) stock tumbled 21% through 10:40 a.m. ET Thursday after missing badly on its Q4 earnings report last night. Heading into the report, analysts already weren't optimistic, expecting Avis to lose $0.19 per share on sales of $2.7 billion -- but the actual news was much worse. Avis reported a loss per share of $21.25, and on sales of less than $2.7 billion. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known com ...

Australia’s peak accounting and self-managed super fund (SMSF) bodies have lodged a joint submission to the Treasury’s consultation on professional indemnity insurance (PII) in the context of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR). In the submission, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), CPA Australia, the Institute of Public Accountants and the SMSF Association urged Treasury to lift transparency and strengthen data collection on PII claims. In a statement, CA ANZ said robust ...

Costco's (NASDAQ: COST) stock has rallied nearly 180% over the past five years. The world's largest warehouse club retailer repeatedly impressed investors with robust sales and membership growth, high renewal rates, and new store openings. However, Costco's stock still trades below Wall Street's average price target of $1,062 and its top price target of $1,205. Let's see what it might take for Costco's stock to rise more than 20% and top $1,200. Image source: Getty Images. Where to invest $1,000 right now? ...

Kimberly Orlando: Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the earnings release and in the appendix of the presentation. Reconciliations of certain forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP financial measures are not provided because certain items required for such reconciliations are outside of our control and cannot be reasonably predicted or provided without unreasonable effort. Any reference to EBITDA in our discussions today means adjusted EBIT ...