France bans unsolicited telemarketing calls, requires prior consent
From this week, French companies can no longer cold-call consumers without permission. Violations carry fines of up to €375,000 for firms.
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David Bernstein
Wall Street veteran tracking corporate mergers, banking regulations, and market trends.
Articles by David Bernstein
Nvidia teams with six Wall Street firms on $500bn AI funding push
Nvidia has agreed partnerships with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR to mobilise more than $500bn for data centres and chip factories. The deal has revived concerns about circular financing in the AI industry.
Regal and AMC Chiefs Back Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Merger
The heads of America's two largest cinema chains have publicly endorsed the $110 billion merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, breaking with theatre-industry opposition as the deal faces a state antitrust trial.
Trump Media sells Wall Street early access to president's posts
Trump Media & Technology Group has launched a paid data feed giving trading firms faster access to posts from Truth Social's most influential accounts, including Donald Trump's. Critics say the arrangement lets the president profit from information he controls as head of state.
Honeywell Aerospace shares plunge 24% as supply chain hits profit
The newly independent aerospace supplier missed second-quarter profit targets and sharply cut its full-year sales growth forecast, blaming persistent shortages of mechanical parts. The results delivered a brutal verdict on the company's first standalone earnings report.
Big Tech's $1.65tn AI debt mountain hides in plain sight
Five US technology giants have accumulated $1.65 trillion in AI-related financial obligations that do not appear on their balance sheets, surpassing the $1.35 trillion in debt they officially report. The gap is raising uncomfortable questions for investors worldwide.
Fed's Williams expects inflation to fall, warns of rate hikes if not
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said on 3 August that he remains confident inflation will ease, but warned the central bank will raise interest rates if price pressures prove more persistent than expected.
Global chip stocks shed $1 trillion as AI spending scrutiny intensifies
A wave of selling has wiped more than a trillion dollars from global semiconductor stocks in days, triggered by China's domestic chip advance and growing doubts about whether the world's biggest tech companies can earn back their vast AI investments.
US banks raise capital at tightest spreads since 2008 financial crisis
BNY Mellon, Goldman Sachs, and Citizens Financial priced preferred-share offerings this week at spreads not seen since before Lehman Brothers collapsed, raising questions about how much risk investors are actually being paid to take.
Apple reclaims world's most valuable company title from Nvidia
Apple overtook Nvidia on Friday as the world's most valuable publicly listed company, closing at a market capitalisation of $4.88 trillion. The shift reflects growing investor doubt about the pace of AI infrastructure spending and renewed confidence in Apple's leaner approach to the technology.
AI IPO Wave Risks Creating a Money-Losing Bubble, Warns Howard Marks
Legendary investor Howard Marks has labelled the imminent public listings of SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI a "money-losing bubble", as the three firms prepare to flood global markets with roughly $3 trillion in combined valuation.
Investors flee Big Tech as mega-rotation gathers pace, CEO warns
The head of one of the world's largest independent financial advisory firms says a sweeping reallocation of capital away from mega-cap technology stocks is now underway — and could be the most significant market shift since the post-pandemic recovery.