MoneyWeek

International corporations have a new home base in Asia, says Michelle Fay Cortez on Bloomberg. Singapore played host to 4,200 regional headquarters for multinational firms last year, far ahead of the 1,336 for rival Hong Kong. Singapore’s better rel

Working a four-day week benefits workers’ physical and mental health and helps to foster a better work-life balance, says Rachel Hall in The Guardian. It also reduces burnout and staff turnover, according to the world’s largest trial of the arrangeme

In 2022 headlines screamed that impending lithium shortages heralded a crunch in the supply of the batteries needed to power electric vehicles, says Alex Tabarrok in Marginal Revolution. Between the start of 2021 and the peak of the lithium price bub

It took chip giant Nvidia 24 years “to reach the rarefied air” of $1trn in market value, says Asa Fitch in The Wall Street Journal. But its role in “powering the AI [artificial intelligence] revolution” meant that reaching a second trillion only took

Shares in Rolls-Royce jumped by 10% last week after it announced that its annual earnings more than doubled last year and forecast further growth in 2024, says Sylvia Pfeifer in the Financial Times. The unexpectedly good results saw underlying operat

Investors’ ChronicleChronically weak nickel prices are complicating the mining industry’s pivot towards the energy-transition metals. An ongoing supply glut of electric-vehicle battery component nickel from Indonesia recently forced a $2.5bn impairme

News that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will investigate eight housebuilders over “potentially anticompetitive information sharing” caused their shares to fall by less than 4%, says Lex in the Financial Times. No wonder. Housebuilders “

Sweden’s medical-devices group Arjo has bounced back from Covid, when restrictions reduced orders, says WirtschaftsWoche. Last year’s 10% sales increased to roughly €978m, returning the company to its long-term growth trajectory, which is being under

Social-media platform Reddit plans to float on the New York Stock Exchange later this month, marking the first initial public offering (IPO) of a major technology brand this year. Reddit is expected to achieve a valuation of about $5bn. It is launchi

US president Joe Biden has said that the war between Israel and Hamas “might be close to a major turning point” following progress in negotiations, say Peter Baker and Michael Shear in The New York Times. A proposed agreement would halt Israel’s mili

After Donald Trump’s victories in the South Carolina and Michigan primaries, punters seem to think the contest for the Republican nomination for US president is all but over. With £5.7m matched on Betfair, Trump is 1.09 (91.7%) to win the nomination,

Pressure is mounting on Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle, says Dominic Penna in The Telegraph. Nearly 100 MPs have signed a motion for him to quit. Hoyle (pictured) was forced to “repeatedly apologise” amid “chaotic” scenes last week when he “breached d

● Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad (pictured) should look to his predecessor Mark Cutifani for a plan to bolster the sagging share price, says Karen Kwok in Breakingviews. Wanblad is faced with a slump in diamond prices owing to lower Chinese demand

Sometimes in a portfolio review, you need to admit that there were points when you consistently got it wrong. And so it is with our exchange-traded fund (ETF) portfolio. We have two holdings left to consider and both involve mistakes for which I kick

The term “real assets” is most commonly used to refer to physical assets, as opposed to financial assets whose value comes from a contractual claim. Traditional examples of real assets include real estate (both residential and commercial), natural re

“It pains me to admit it, but Hong Kong is now over,” says Stephen Roach, the former chair of Morgan Stanley Asia who now teaches at Yale University. In the 1980s, Hong Kong businesses had “extraordinary energy.” China was beginning to grow, and Hong

Kate Andrews The Spectator If workforce participation in Britain had remained at the 2019 rate, the economy would now be 1.7% larger, rather than shrinking, says Kate Andrews. Before the first lockdown, workforce participation was 79.5%, the highest

“I am a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.” The late Hungarian-American socialite and actress Zsa Zsa Gabor (pictured), quoted in San Diego Jewish World “I wish! If it was, I’d have made a tonne of money. But no, tha

prospectmagazine.co.uk Forty years ago, Steve Jobs unveiled a “truly revolutionary” new computer, says Ethan Zuckerman. Before the Apple Mac, computers were for accountants and engineers, and featured blocky, pixelated green or white text on a black

wsj.com Our refrigerators, washing machines and ovens can do more than ever before, says Rachel Wolfe. But there’s a downside to all the “snazzy features”. The machines cost more – and yet are more prone to breaking down. Computerisation, a rise in

project-syndicate.org The US is in good shape with no recession in sight, yet surveys show the public remains gloomy about the economy, says Jeffrey Frankel. The gap between performance and perception has been dubbed the “vibecession” – but what exp

Kelso Group’s CEO John Goold and CFO Mark Kirkland have joined the board of books and stationery retailer The Works, says City AM. The activist investment firm is seeking to help “restore the intrinsic valuation of The Works”, which it believes is “m

■ About 12% of the money on retail-broking platforms Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor is allocated to investment companies and trusts, says CityWire. The Association of Investment Companies notes that the two brokers jointly hold 12% of t

With America’s S&P 500 index trading above 5,000, even the bulls are starting to suffer from vertigo. Goldman Sachs has raised its end of 2024 target to 5,200, just 4% higher, while stockmarket veteran Ed Yardeni’s target of 5,400 leaves another 8% t

The energy-price cap is set to fall to its lowest level in two years in April. The maximum amount energy firms can charge per unit will fall by 12.3% from the current level, saving the average household £238 a year. Ofgem, the energy regulator, sets

● A survey by the consumer group Which has found that many people are struggling to enact power of attorney after a loved one becomes unable to manage their finances themselves. Many banks and building societies are making it difficult to register th

● Sales of annuities rose by 14% last year, financial platform Hargreaves Lansdown says, with pension savers flocking to take advantage of higher rates of income as interest rates have increased. Sales of annuities are now back to levels not seen sin

The extension of the age at which savers can access their private pensions could cause problems for people in ill health, advisers warn. From April 2028, savers will have to wait until the age of 57 to access their pensions, up from 55 today. But tha

To get Warren Buffett managing your money, just buy Berkshire Hathaway’s shares. There are two share classes and you should buy “B” shares. “A” shares are too pricy as the company has performed so well over the decades; they cost around $617,000 a sh

Despite ongoing bearish sentiment towards Chinese equities, we see significant opportunity. Valuations are near record lows, particularly compared with markets such as the US. While economic fundamentals are tepid, we perceive signs of gradual improv

On a bus ride in 2015 in Beijing with other global business leaders, Blackstone chief executive Steve Schwarzman (pictured) happened to sit down next to Jack Ma, co-founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, says Miriam Gottfried in The Wall Street Journ

2018 Piesporter Goldtropfchen, Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany £23, thewinesociety.com Next Wednesday, 6 March, The Wine Society celebrates its 150th Anniversary by launching a one-off collection of fine wines from some of the world’s most iconic

The Coming Paradigm in the US StockmarketDaniel Peris Routledge, £31.99 Over the past few decades, the idea that companies should pay dividends to shareholders has sometimes come under attack. Academics argue that it is better for companies to retai

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