Investing

When Glencore Plc proposed a combination with Rio Tinto Group a decade ago, the larger company turned it down after just a few days. News this week that the two spent several months in negotiations in the second half of last year shows how the sands have shifted, just as mega-deal fever sweeps the global mining industry.

In the euphoric markets of 2024, the biggest sin was skepticism. A white-hot runup in risky assets made life miserable for anyone buying into the frenzy of fresh products that Wall Street was hawking to hedge and diversify.

Speculative currency traders bolstered wagers for an even stronger US dollar in the leadup to President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Digital Currency Group and its subsidiary Genesis Global Capital settled Securities and Exchange Commission charges on Friday — the latest in a slew of crypto firms to do so as US regulators appear to clear their slates in the waining days of the Biden administration.

At Goldman Sachs Group Inc., there was the “war for talent”. Now the firm’s fighting to keep one talent in particular: John Waldron.

Vanguard Group will pay more than $106 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it made misleading statements about capital gains distributions and tax consequences to retail investors who held popular target-date retirement funds in taxable accounts.

Investors are yanking money from emerging markets at the start of 2025 as they weigh how many of Donald Trump’s threats will become policy upon his return to the White House next week.

Brian Madden, chief investment officer, First Avenue Investment Counsel

MicroStrategy Inc.’s Michael Saylor may soon have almost as many common shares at his disposal to help fund the company’s Bitcoin buying spree as market behemoths Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. have outstanding.

Intel Corp. shares jumped as much as 9.5% Friday morning after a report on a technology news site said the beleaguered chipmaker is an acquisition target.

Canada’s stock market — where returns have lagged the US for two straight years — might offer investors protection against a downturn in US stocks, a Toronto-based asset manager says.

A fresh report from a Toronto-based firm with a $10 billion stake in real estate investments around the globe says real estate is currently priced at bargain basement prices.

The threat of more global trade tariffs could push companies into deals to shield themselves, according to one of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s top bankers.

Microsoft Corp. has plowed tens of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence. With its stock struggling, the key question is how quickly those investments can prove to be successful.