strike

Striking Argentine workers clash with police in protest over labor reforms

BY NICOLáS BIEDERMAN

  • The last general strike in Argentina was on April 10, 2025, but adherence was uneven as workers in the public transport system did not join. 
  • Shops and supermarkets closed, flights were canceled and garbage piled up Thursday as Argentine workers staged their fourth general strike of President Javier Milei's term, some clashing with police.
  • The last general strike in Argentina was on April 10, 2025, but adherence was uneven as workers in the public transport system did not join. 
Shops and supermarkets closed, flights were canceled and garbage piled up Thursday as Argentine workers staged their fourth general strike of President Javier Milei's term, some clashing with police.
The few buses running in Buenos Aires were nowhere near full, although car traffic was unusually heavy as many workers observed the 24-hour strike against a contentious labor reform.
Dozens of flights were canceled and train stations were left deserted with only a handful of buses running, AFP observed.
On roads leading into the capital, small groups of protesters blocked traffic.
Later in the day, several thousand demonstrators gathered outside parliament, where a few dozen participants engaged in running battles with police, throwing bottles and stones.
Officers replied with tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to clear the area.
Police were observed making about a dozen arrests.
The CGT labor federation said more workers adhered to the walkout call than during any of the previous three strikes.
"It has levels of compliance like never before under this government," union leader Jorge Sola told Radio con Vos, claiming that "90 percent of activity had stopped."
The contested reforms pushed by budget-slashing Milei, an ideological ally of US President Donald Trump, would make it easier to hire and fire workers in a country where job security is already hard to come by.
It would also reduce severance pay, limit the right to strike, increase work hours and restrict holiday provisions.
The measure was approved by the senate last week and is meant to come before the chamber of deputies Thursday.
If approved, it will go back to the Senate for a final green light.
"I want to work because I am afraid of losing my job but I cannot get there. I will have to walk," Nora Benitez, a 46-year-old home caregiver, said ahead of a five kilometer (three mile) trek to her job along streets reeking of uncollected garbage.

Reforms spark protests

The labor action comes as Argentina's economy is showing signs of a downturn in manufacturing, with more than 21,000 companies having shuttered in two years under Milei.
He had come to power after wielding a chainsaw at rallies during the 2023 election campaign to symbolize the deep cuts he planned to make to public spending.
Unions say some 300,000 jobs have been lost since Milei's austerity measures began.
Most recently, Fate -- Argentina's main tire factory -- on Wednesday announced the closure of its plant in Buenos Aires, prompting some 900 job cuts.
The last general strike in Argentina was on April 10, 2025, but adherence was uneven as workers in the public transport system did not join. 
Last week, thousands of people demonstrated in Buenos Aires as senators debated the reform bill, and clashes with police resulted in about 30 arrests.
On Tuesday, the government issued an unusual statement warning reporters about the "risk" of covering protests, and announced it would establish an "exclusive zone" from which the media can work.
"In the event of acts of violence, our forces will act," a statement from the security ministry said.
Almost 40 percent of Argentine workers lack formal employment contracts, and unions say the new measures will make matters worse.
But the government argues they will in fact reduce under-the-table employment and create new jobs by lowering the tax burden on employers.
Milei, in office since December 2023, has achieved at least one of his macroeconomic goals: bringing annual inflation down from 150 percent to 32 percent in two years.
But it is a success that has come at the cost of massive public sector job cuts and a drop in disposable income that has sapped consumption and economic activity.
Milei will follow Thursday's events at home from Washington, where he attended the first meeting of Trump's "Board of Peace," which has drawn criticism as an attempt to rival the United Nations.
nb/dw/mlr/jgc

politics

Japan inflation eases in welcome news for Takaichi

BY KYOKO HASEGAWA

  • She was formally reappointed as prime minister on Wednesday, 10 days after her historic landslide election victory.
  • Japanese inflation slowed in January, government data showed Friday, in welcome news for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi after her recent election landslide win.
  • She was formally reappointed as prime minister on Wednesday, 10 days after her historic landslide election victory.
Japanese inflation slowed in January, government data showed Friday, in welcome news for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi after her recent election landslide win.
Soaring prices in Asia's number-two economy contributed to the downfall of Takaichi's two predecessors and Japan's first woman premier has made fighting inflation a priority.
Excluding fresh food, "core" consumer prices rose 2.0 percent year-on-year, down from a 2.4 percent increase in December and in line with market expectations, the data showed.
Also stripping out energy prices, inflation mellowed by more than expected to 2.6 percent from 2.9 percent in January, compared to the median forecast of 2.7 percent.
Unadjusted, consumer prices rose 1.5 percent compared to 2.1 percent in December, also constituting a bigger drop than expected, with market consensus 1.6 percent.
Petrol prices fell 14.6 percent, thanks in part to government subsidies making fuel less expensive at the pump for motorists.
But the cost of food excluding fresh produce rose 6.2 percent, and the price of rice -- which doubled last year -- soared 27.9 percent.

Policy address

Takaichi was due to give a policy address in parliament later on Friday.
She was formally reappointed as prime minister on Wednesday, 10 days after her historic landslide election victory.
The 64-year-old won a two-thirds majority for her party in the snap lower house elections on February 8.
A poll by the Yomiuri newspaper published Friday put support for Takaichi's cabinet at 73 percent, up six percentage points and her highest yet.
In the address, Takaichi will likely repeat her campaign pledge to suspend consumption tax on food for two years to help households cope with inflation.
This promise has exacerbated market worries about Japan's Godzilla-sized debts, with yields on long-dated government bonds hitting record highs last month.
To ease such concerns, Takaichi again on Wednesday repeated her mantra of having a "responsible, proactive" fiscal policy and promised to reduce debt.
She will also announce in her policy speech the creation of a cross-party "national council" to discuss taxation and how to fund ageing Japan's ballooning social security bill, media reports said.
But Takaichi's first order of business will be obtaining approval for Japan's budget for the fiscal year beginning on April 1 after the process was delayed by the election.
She is also expected to announce that the government wants to update Japan's 10-year-old "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" (FOIP) strategic framework.
kh-stu/abs

Global Edition

Oil extends gains on US-Iran tensions, stocks retreat

  • "Oil is extending its gains, with Brent crude back above $70 a barrel... as fears of a military confrontation between the US and Iran rattled energy markets," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
  • Oil prices rose to multi-month highs while global stocks mostly retreated as markets weighed sharpening rhetoric from President Donald Trump on Iran suggesting a military strike was more likely.
  • "Oil is extending its gains, with Brent crude back above $70 a barrel... as fears of a military confrontation between the US and Iran rattled energy markets," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Oil prices rose to multi-month highs while global stocks mostly retreated as markets weighed sharpening rhetoric from President Donald Trump on Iran suggesting a military strike was more likely.
Brent oil futures finished up nearly two percent at $71.66 a barrel after earlier reaching its highest level since July.
"Oil is extending its gains, with Brent crude back above $70 a barrel... as fears of a military confrontation between the US and Iran rattled energy markets," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"Nuclear talks between the two sides appear to be going nowhere fast, and the geopolitical premium is clearly back in play," he added.
Worries about Iran also dogged Wall Street, where major indices struggled in the red throughout the day.
"It seems like markets are getting more nervous about a potential strike on Iran," said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.
Shares of Walmart veered in and out of positive territory after the retail giant reported solid earnings but offered profit forecasts below analyst expectations. Walmart, which topped $1 trillion in market valuation earlier in the month, finished slightly below that level after ending the day down 1.4 percent.
Major European indices finished the day lower, with shares in plane maker Airbus down 7.2 percent in Paris after its annual results fell short of analysts' expectations. 
Shares in French carmaker Renault fell 3.1 percent in Paris after it posted higher 2025 sales but warned of slipping profit margins from increased sales of electric and hybrid vehicles.
In London, disappointing earnings from mining giant Rio Tinto and energy group Centrica weighed on the blue-chip FTSE 100 index.
In Asia, Seoul's Kospi led gains, jumping more than three percent to a record high as it reopened after the Lunar New Year break, with chip giants Samsung and SK hynix once again the standout performers.
Tokyo also advanced while Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. 
Asian stocks are enjoying a strong start to the year as investors turn to the region's relatively cheaper tech plays after Wall Street's AI-fueled surge over the past two years.

Key figures at around 2115 GMT

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.9 percent at $71.66 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.9 percent at $66.43 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 49,395.16 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,861.89 (close)
New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 22,682.73 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.6 percent at 10,627.04 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 percent at 8,398.78 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.9 percent at 25,043.57 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 57,598.83 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: Closed for holiday
Shanghai - Composite: Closed for holiday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1767 from $1.1783 on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3458 from $1.3495
Euro/pound: UP at 87.43 pence from 87.31 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 155.07 yen from 154.81 yen
burs-jmb/msp

Fed

US Fed Governor Miran scales back call for rate cuts this year

  • Miran is one of seven governors on the board of the Fed, who along with five regional Fed presidents comprise the committee that votes on interest rates.
  • US Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran has scaled back his expectations of how much the central bank should lower interest rates this year, he said in an interview published Thursday.
  • Miran is one of seven governors on the board of the Fed, who along with five regional Fed presidents comprise the committee that votes on interest rates.
US Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran has scaled back his expectations of how much the central bank should lower interest rates this year, he said in an interview published Thursday.
"The labor market came in a little bit better than I came to expect over the last few months," he told The Peg, a Substack page run by journalist Izabella Kaminska.
"There's been some signs of even more firming in goods inflation," he added in the interview which took place on Wednesday. 
"And so those two things combined would make me undo what I did in December," Miran said.
In December, Miran projected that rates should fall below 2.25 percent by end-2026.
But he now leans towards a return to his September position, which saw rates hovering below 2.75 percent.
Miran is one of seven governors on the board of the Fed, who along with five regional Fed presidents comprise the committee that votes on interest rates.
He still remains among the most "dovish" Fed officials, meaning one who tends to favor lower interest rates to boost the economy rather than higher levels to fight inflation.
But this could point to a shift between Miran's position and that of President Donald Trump's, with the US leader repeatedly calling for substantially lower rates.
Miran was nominated by Trump to the Fed's board of governors last year to finish out the term of Adriana Kugler, an appointee of former president Joe Biden who stepped down early.
He previously chaired the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) and initially took an unpaid leave of absence from the body when he joined the Fed, drawing scrutiny from critics.
But Miran resigned from the CEA this month, upholding a pledge he made to the US Senate during his confirmation process -- that he would depart if he remained in his role at the central bank.
While the Fed term he fills expired at the end of January, he can stay on at the bank for now until the Senate confirms his successor.
For now, Trump is widely anticipated to appoint Kevin Warsh -- his choice for the next Fed chairman -- using this vacancy.
bys/msp

defense

Airbus ready to build two new European fighters if countries want

BY OLGA NEDBAEVA

  • Faury said Thursday that Airbus believed the program "as a whole makes sense".
  • Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain in the multibillion-euro FCAS warplane program, will support a proposal to instead build two separate jets if the countries participating in the project request it, chief executive Guillaume Faury said Thursday.
  • Faury said Thursday that Airbus believed the program "as a whole makes sense".
Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain in the multibillion-euro FCAS warplane program, will support a proposal to instead build two separate jets if the countries participating in the project request it, chief executive Guillaume Faury said Thursday.
"If mandated by our customers, we would support a two-factor solution and are committed to playing a leading role," Faury told a news conference. 
"But the deadlock of a single pillar should not jeopardise the entire future of this high-tech European capability which will bolster our collective defence," he said.
This is the first time such a possibility has been publicly raised at the industrial level.
A political decision on the fate of the project, initially due in December, is now anticipated at the end of February.
The Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program was launched in 2017 to replace France's Rafale jet and the Eurofighter planes used by Germany and Spain.
But the scheme, jointly developed by the three countries, has stalled as disagreements persist between Dassault and Airbus.
On Wednesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz signalled that Berlin could abandon the project, saying Germany does not need the same type of fighter jets as France.
Failure to get FCAS off the ground would be a blow to broader efforts by European NATO allies to demonstrate tight defence cooperation in the face of threats from Russia and doubts about American security commitments.
German industrial interests and some politicians have bristled at Dassault's alleged efforts to revise agreements and take greater control of the aircraft portion of the project.
In September 2025, the head of Dassault Aviation, Eric Trappier, said his firm could build the future European fighter jet by itself.
"I don't mind if the Germans are complaining. If they want to do it on their own, let them do it on their own," he said at the time.
Faury said Thursday that Airbus believed the program "as a whole makes sense".
"We've spent a lot of time and energy to support this program that has a number of pillars," he said.
However, "on the next-generation fighter, there is a deadlock that is linked to expectations of the governance that differ between partners on what leadership means, what cooperation means."
He said the other aspects of FCAS, such as an interlinked drone swarm and a digital cloud communication system, were "making good progress".
- 'Is there enough money?' - 
Faury said that if a two-fighter-jet solution were possible, it could be an opportunity for other partners to join the program.
"But it belongs to our customers to decide with whom they want to join forces," he added.
A German industrial source has floated the possibility of a partnership with Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab, with which Airbus management has a "good relationship."
Analysts estimate it will cost 100 billion euros ($118 billion) to develop the new jet and its cutting-edge technologies.
French President Emmanuel Macron's office said Wednesday that he remained "committed to the success of the FCAS project" and considered it "incomprehensible" that the disagreements have not been overcome at a time when Europe must "show unity and performance".
"Only President Macron still believes in it," a European source told AFP this week.
Spain said Thursday that it remained committed to the development of the European combat aircraft.
In a statement to AFP, Spain's defence ministry said the country "remains fully committed to the program based on the principles established by the countries (Germany, France, Spain)" in the framework agreement signed in 2019.
Jerome Rein, a defence expert at Boston Consulting Group, said the FCAS program "goes beyond" the fighter jet and is based on the interoperability between armed forces.
"But we're talking about billions of dollars in development costs," he told AFP.
"Is there enough money to develop several fighter jets?"
neo-ds-as/giv/rl

defense

Canada makes push to attract skilled migrants, including for defence

  • "We are creating a new category for skilled military recruits to attract highly skilled foreign military applicants," Diab said, specifying that this group includes doctors, nurses and pilots.
  • Canada has launched a new program to attract highly skilled immigrants, including specialized military recruits, as it moves to overhaul a system the government says had become unsustainable.
  • "We are creating a new category for skilled military recruits to attract highly skilled foreign military applicants," Diab said, specifying that this group includes doctors, nurses and pilots.
Canada has launched a new program to attract highly skilled immigrants, including specialized military recruits, as it moves to overhaul a system the government says had become unsustainable.
Canada has for decades been a top destination for economic migrants from the developing world, but in 2024 then-prime minister Justin Trudeau said too many people had been let in too quickly, straining the health care system and housing stocks.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has echoed Trudeau's message, saying in October that his government was "getting immigration under control" while promising to bring in migrants with the skills needed to boost a Canadian economy facing unprecedented threats from US tariffs.
Carney on Tuesday announced a half‑trillion‑dollar plan ($365 billion) to upgrade Canada's military and defence‑related infrastructure over the coming decade, a massive spending program he says will spur broad economic growth.
His immigration minister, Lena Metlege Diab, on Wednesday unveiled a new scheme she said would help "attract the best talent to Canada."
"We are creating a new category for skilled military recruits to attract highly skilled foreign military applicants," Diab said, specifying that this group includes doctors, nurses and pilots.
"This new category will support our government's commitment to strengthen our armed forces, to defend our sovereignty and to keep Canadians safe," she added.
Diab said Ottawa would be proactive in finding the workers it wants to safeguard Canada in an era the prime minister has defined as increasingly dangerous, with the US-led rules‑based international order crumbling.
"We're not waiting for the right people to find us. We will go out into the world to recruit the people our country needs," Diab said.
tib/bs/dw

earnings

Walmart outlines big AI ambitions as it reports mixed results

BY JOHN BIERS

  • On Thursday, Furner and other executives effused over the capacity of Sparky, an AI assistant on Walmart's smartphone application that has lifted order volumes by 35 percent compared with customers who haven't used the service.
  • Walmart's newly installed leadership team on Thursday emphasized plans to build up artificial intelligence integration, lifting shares of the retail behemoth despite a cautious forecast.
  • On Thursday, Furner and other executives effused over the capacity of Sparky, an AI assistant on Walmart's smartphone application that has lifted order volumes by 35 percent compared with customers who haven't used the service.
Walmart's newly installed leadership team on Thursday emphasized plans to build up artificial intelligence integration, lifting shares of the retail behemoth despite a cautious forecast.
Fresh off achieving a $1 trillion market value earlier this month, Walmart reported solid fourth-quarter results, but projected lower earnings per share in this year's first quarter compared with analyst expectations and slower annual revenue growth.
John Furner, who ascended to CEO on February 1, praised the results as evidence of Walmart's resonance with consumers across income levels.
"The way we're using technology and AI is helping us create great customer solutions, reduce friction, simplify decision making, and pinpoint where our inventory is, all while maintaining the trust we've earned from our customers and members," Furner said. 
Walmart has seen significant growth in its advertising and e-commerce businesses, with Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey pointing to notable expansion of the company's Amazon-like "Marketplace" platform for third-party sellers.
"We want to lean a lot more into growth right now," Rainey said.
Walmart on February 3 overtook the $1 trillion valuation marker, a rare occurrence for a brick-and-mortar legacy company that began as a family store in Arkansas in 1962.
Just three other non-tech companies have achieved this valuation: oil giant Saudi Aramco, Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, and pharma company Eli Lilly.
"Investors have sort of put companies like Walmart, Costco and Amazon into one bucket and the rest of the retailers are in a slower-growth bucket," said Arun Sundaram, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research. 
The move came on the heels of Walmart's shift late last year to the Nasdaq from the New York Stocks Exchange. 
The company has also overhauled its leadership structure, announcing in January a series of appointments, including naming US chief growth officer Seth Dallaire to an equivalent post for Walmart globally.
The move signals Walmart's intent to deploy technology-oriented growth programs to Walmart's international business.

Ambitions for 'Sparky'

Profits for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 that ended January 31 were $4.2 billion, down 19.4 percent from the year-ago level, with the company citing a drop in the value of some equity investments.
Revenues rose 5.6 percent to $190.7 billion.
Walmart generated 4.6 percent comparable sales growth in its US retail business, reflecting higher sales across grocery, pharmaceuticals and general merchandise.
A company presentation said the figures in the United States were the result of "broad-based growth across merchandise categories as well as share gains across income tiers, led by upper-income households."
Walmart said its "like-for-like" inflation came in at 1.1 percent for the quarter in its US division. The company has described the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs as less significant than originally feared.
The company has spotlighted success at reducing shipping costs through automation and pointed to the partnerships with OpenAI and Google's Gemini that direct users to Walmart products.
On Thursday, Furner and other executives effused over the capacity of Sparky, an AI assistant on Walmart's smartphone application that has lifted order volumes by 35 percent compared with customers who haven't used the service.
"What Sparky can do is help us understand really clearly what it is that you're trying to accomplish in your life, whether that's a birthday party or a camping trip," Furner said.
"And then we can generate you great, unique solutions" that save shoppers time, Furner said.
Sparky is an example of "agentic commerce," a growing trend in retail where AI assumes more sophisticated tasks, such as executing weekly supermarket orders based on a consumer's history or searching the Internet for the right goods for a holiday meal or a party.
These advances offer both opportunities and risks for retailers, said a report from the CFRA research group last fall.
"For consumers, agentic commerce should save both time and money," CFRA said. "However, for retailers and suppliers, the implications are more nuanced, given the likelihood of reduced direct interaction with customers and more engagement with other AI agents."
Shares of Walmart rose 2.6 percent in mid-morning trading.
jmb/des

trial

TotalEnergies in high-stakes French trial over climate change

BY MAXENCE D'AVERSA

  • The plaintiffs are demanding TotalEnergies stop developing new hydrocarbon projects as well as make a 37 percent reduction in oil production and a 25 percent reduction in gas production by 2030. 
  • TotalEnergies faces cutting back oil and gas production if NGOs prevail in a trial that began Thursday over accusations the French energy giant failed to properly consider environmental risks.
  • The plaintiffs are demanding TotalEnergies stop developing new hydrocarbon projects as well as make a 37 percent reduction in oil production and a 25 percent reduction in gas production by 2030. 
TotalEnergies faces cutting back oil and gas production if NGOs prevail in a trial that began Thursday over accusations the French energy giant failed to properly consider environmental risks.
The case, brought by several NGOs and the city of Paris, is based upon a 2017 law that imposed a "duty of vigilance" on large companies.
The law seeks to counter companies offloading responsibility onto subcontractors by requiring them to identify and prevent any risks toward human rights as well as the environment throughout their production chain, including overseas.
TotalEnergies and the plaintiffs are at odds over the reach of the definition of the environment -- whether it means risks on a local scale such as a polluted river or more broadly global warming. 
The energy firm's lawyers argued global warming is beyond the scope of the law. 
But a lawyer representing four NGOs including nonprofit Sherpa told the court that "selling hydrocarbons to be burned creates an environmental risk". 
"Is there really no link between global warming and the preservation of biodiversity or the prevention of air pollution?" the lawyer stated.
The NGOs also accuse TotalEnergies of not including within its vigilance requirements the "indirect emissions" produced by its end customers burning its products, which amount to 342 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
The plaintiffs are demanding TotalEnergies stop developing new hydrocarbon projects as well as make a 37 percent reduction in oil production and a 25 percent reduction in gas production by 2030. 
"We will ask you to make a courageous, unprecedented decision, but one based on the law," one of the lawyers for the NGOs said.
TotalEnergies claimed it was the victim of "demonisation" by the plaintiffs. 
"If the company, which accounts for less than two percent of global production, were to shut down, global warming would still continue," one of TotalEnergies's lawyers said during the hearing.
The trial is due to continue Friday, but a ruling is not expected for several months.
Environmental groups have high hopes for the ruling. 
It "could have systemic implications" for "other sectors, such as transport," said Sherpa's Thea Bounfour. 
Lawsuits against major polluting companies have been on the rise as the consequences of climate change become more apparent.  
At the end of 2024, Dutch courts rejected on appeal a case brought by climate advocacy groups who argued that oil giant Shell was not doing enough to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, overturning a landmark ruling handed down three years earlier.
max/ved/nth/giv/rl

tariff

US trade deficit in goods widens to new record in 2025

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • Trade flows involving the world's biggest economy were heavily swayed in 2025 as Trump slapped fresh tariffs on goods from virtually all trading partners after returning to the presidency, as part of a push to reduce the US trade gap.
  • The US trade deficit in goods expanded to a new record in 2025, government data showed Thursday, despite sweeping tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed during his first year back in the White House.
  • Trade flows involving the world's biggest economy were heavily swayed in 2025 as Trump slapped fresh tariffs on goods from virtually all trading partners after returning to the presidency, as part of a push to reduce the US trade gap.
The US trade deficit in goods expanded to a new record in 2025, government data showed Thursday, despite sweeping tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed during his first year back in the White House.
The US goods deficit stood at $1.24 trillion for all of last year, widening slightly from 2024's level to its biggest in Commerce Department figures dating back to 1960.
But the trade gap in goods with China narrowed for the year, as US imports from the world's second-biggest economy dropped by 30 percent.
When both goods and services were considered, the overall US trade deficit for 2025 narrowed to $901.5 billion, from $903.5 billion in 2024. 
This was still the third-widest deficit on record.
In the month of December, the overall deficit grew more than expected by 32.6 percent to $70.3 billion, as exports fell and imports climbed.
Trade flows involving the world's biggest economy were heavily swayed in 2025 as Trump slapped fresh tariffs on goods from virtually all trading partners after returning to the presidency, as part of a push to reduce the US trade gap.
His moves brought the average effective tariff rate to its highest since the 1930s.

AI, frontloading

Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics told reporters Thursday that the uptick in imports was likely due in part to the United States' artificial intelligence build-out.
This covers high-tech goods like advanced semiconductors, primarily manufactured in Taiwan, that eventually go towards data centers.
Another factor could be that Trump's waves of country-specific tariffs last year contained significant exemptions, such as for electronic products like smartphones.
The shift in trade flows with China came as Trump engaged in tit-for-tat tariff escalations with Beijing in April. Tensions between both countries have since cooled.
But overall import figures likely reflect changes in companies' sourcing strategies, turning to countries like Vietnam for example, as the US-China relationship remained turbulent.
Meanwhile, "imports were a lot stronger at the beginning of the year than they were toward the end of the year," Bown said.
Some of this was probably due to companies "front-running to try to beat the tariffs" before they took effect, he added.

'Roller-coaster ride'

"Trade took a roller-coaster ride in 2025 as tariffs jolted flows, mostly on the import side," said Nationwide financial market economist Oren Klachkin in a note.
"But after all the tariff headlines and swings in the data, the trade deficit barely budged in 2025, decreasing only $2.1 billion, or 0.2 percent, on an annual basis," he added.
Still, he noted significant moves under the surface.
The trade deficit with China fell to its lowest since the early 2000s while gaps with Taiwan and Mexico reached a record high, he said.
"With the peak tariff drag now likely behind us, we expect trade to settle into a more predictable rhythm," said Klachkin.
Trump has been quick to attribute US economic growth and other achievements to his sweeping tariffs, saying on social media last month that they have "rescued our economy and national security."
But a New York Federal Reserve paper noted in February that nearly 90 percent of the tariffs' economic burden fell on US firms and consumers.
This underscores the Trump administration's challenges ahead to convince American households of his economic record, as they grapple with affordability.
In December, exports of industrial supplies including nonmonetary gold dropped, while imports in the same category rose for the month.
US imports of capital goods like computer accessories and telecommunications equipment picked up in the month.
bys/acb

Italy

Olympics rev up Milan's renewal but locals fear price to pay

BY TAIMAZ SZIRNIKS

  • After the Games, it will be transformed into a huge university residence with rooms costing more than 800 euros a month.
  • The Winter Olympics are expected to accelerate Milan's transformation into a vibrant international metropolis -- but many residents fear the effect will see them priced out.
  • After the Games, it will be transformed into a huge university residence with rooms costing more than 800 euros a month.
The Winter Olympics are expected to accelerate Milan's transformation into a vibrant international metropolis -- but many residents fear the effect will see them priced out.
As one of several sites hosting the Milan-Cortina Games, the northern Italian city has benefited from major investments, with the Santagiulia ice hockey arena one example.
Built on a vacant lot in the southeast suburbs, near a wooded area known for crack cocaine dealing, the arena will be turned into a concert venue after the Games, with hopes that it will regenerate the run-down area.
But the Olympic spirit is hard to find in much of Milan, where rents have soared in the past few years as skyscrapers and top restaurants multiply.
Thousands of people protested the opening of the February 6-22 Games, many railing against the social impact, bearing banners saying "Eat the rich, not the city".
"Milan is becoming very attractive for tourists, for the rich -- but what will be left?" Giovanni Gaiani, 69, told AFP at the demonstration.

Rising rents

Milan has long been the economic capital of Italy and is used to holding international events, from fashion weeks to design fairs and football matches by its two top-flight clubs, AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Employment possibilities are greater and wages generally higher than elsewhere in Italy, and the city has long attracted workers from across the country, especially the poorer south.
But wages in Milan grew just 10 percent between 2015 and 2023, while rents jumped 45 percent in the same period, according to the Affordable Housing Observatory.
They have stabilised in recent months, but many middle-class families have been pushed far from the city centre, and students struggle to find affordable accommodation.
"Even on the outskirts it's hard to find something... rents and sale prices have reached crazy levels," said Giorgio Saccone, a 31-year-old baker.
Milan has also seen a huge influx of tourists and capital in recent years, boosted by the 2015 World Expo.
Visitor numbers have doubled over the past decade, to 9.7 million in 2025, according to city authorities.
The Expo attracted expatriates who "want a dynamic life, close to fashion and design", said Diletta Giorgolo Spinola, head of residential offerings in Italy for Sotheby's.
Changes to the British tax regime have also pushed some wealthy individuals to leave the UK and "choose between Italy and Dubai", both of which offer tax advantages and international schools, she told AFP.
"We're seeing many families, single people, or couples whose children have left home, coming from the tech, banking and finance sectors" and typically buying properties worth five to 10 million euros ($6-12 million), she said.

Disneyland?

In Milan's city centre, Via Montenapoleone -- labelled the street with the world's most expensive shop rents in 2024 -- has just welcomed a huge Fendi store.
High-end restaurant openings are also multiplying, including the recent arrival of Turkish chef and influencer "Salt Bae" and his 285 euro steaks.
At the same time, Milan has experienced a property development boom, accelerated by the Olympic Games. 
In the south of the city, the Olympic Village has been built on a disused rail yard opposite the Prada Foundation.
After the Games, it will be transformed into a huge university residence with rooms costing more than 800 euros a month.
Measuring the economic impact of major events is always difficult, but business lobby group Assolombarda put the immediate benefits at several hundred million euros, including 139 million for the hospitality industry.
However, "the real issue with these Games is their legacy", which will be assessed only in the coming years, said Valeria Negri, author of the Assolombarda report.
For Alberto di Monte, one of the organisers of the anti-Olympic protests, the verdict is already in.
Milan has been transformed into a "pleasant Disneyland for tourists", he told AFP.
tsz/ar/ams/js

oil

Repsol says could boost Venezuela oil output over 50% in 12 months

  • Imaz said "a new window of opportunity for a better future is opening" in Venezuela, where Repsol has operated since 1993. rbj/imm/ds/rl
  • The boss of Spanish energy giant Repsol said Thursday that his company could boost oil production in Venezuela by more than half over the next year after Washington reauthorised its operations there.
  • Imaz said "a new window of opportunity for a better future is opening" in Venezuela, where Repsol has operated since 1993. rbj/imm/ds/rl
The boss of Spanish energy giant Repsol said Thursday that his company could boost oil production in Venezuela by more than half over the next year after Washington reauthorised its operations there.
A new bonanza from the South American country's vast oil reserves has been touted after the United States captured its socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro last month in a lightning military operation on Caracas.
The new authorities, led by interim president Delcy Rodriguez, have cooperated with US President Donald Trump's administration and introduced reforms to liberalise the sector.
After the United States granted licences to Repsol and five other oil majors, the company's chief executive Josu Jon Imaz said "we are preparing everything to restart and resume our operations."
"We could be able to increase oil gross production in Venezuela by more than 50 percent over the next 12 months," he told a conference call with analysts.
"We have the ambition and we see plenty of room to get this target" of tripling production "within three years", Imaz added.
Venezuela sits on the world largest proven oil reserves and the once-thriving sector helped make it one of Latin America's wealthiest countries in the 20th century.
But production plummeted during two decades of socialist rule, with observers pointing to underinvestment, mismanagement and corruption, as the country plunged into a protracted political, social and economic crisis.
Speaking to AFP in Paris on Tuesday, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Venezuelan oil production was "a little bit less than a million barrels a day" in January. 
But output could grow by 30 to 40 percent by the end of 2026 -- "that's a big deal," he said.
Imaz said "a new window of opportunity for a better future is opening" in Venezuela, where Repsol has operated since 1993.
rbj/imm/ds/rl

OpenAI

Summit photo op fails to unite AI startup rivals

  • "That awkward moment when Sam Altman and Dario Amodei refused to hold hands," wrote Madhav Chanchani, co-founder of The Arc, a tech media and research platform.
  • Tech bro rivalry is real, or at least it is for Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, the CEOs of two leading US artificial intelligence startups.
  • "That awkward moment when Sam Altman and Dario Amodei refused to hold hands," wrote Madhav Chanchani, co-founder of The Arc, a tech media and research platform.
Tech bro rivalry is real, or at least it is for Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, the CEOs of two leading US artificial intelligence startups.
A video of the pair at a global AI summit in New Delhi on Thursday rapidly spread on social media after the former colleagues awkwardly refused to hold hands.
Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and Amodei, whose company Anthropic is known for its Claude chatbot, stood beside each other for the photo opportunity on stage.
They were flanked by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian AI startup founder Pratyush Kumar in a line with other tech leaders including Google's Sundar Pichai.
As the cameras snapped all raised their arms, hand-in-hand -- except for Altman and Amodei, who broke the chain.
"This is so hilarious. Nothing can make Sam and Dario hold hands, not even the Prime Minister of India!" wrote X user Yuchen Jin.
This week's AI Impact Summit is seeking consensus on how the world should handle artificial intelligence and regulate the fast-evolving technology.
Amodei is a former vice president of research at OpenAI. He left the company in early 2021 to co-found Anthropic with several other senior OpenAI researchers.
The two have been vocal in their criticism of each other's business models and philosophies.
Indian lawmaker Milind Deora also took a dig at the pair.
"Everyone else locked hands. @ChatGPTapp and @claudeai kept it strictly professional," he said on X along with a winking face emoji.
"That awkward moment when Sam Altman and Dario Amodei refused to hold hands," wrote Madhav Chanchani, co-founder of The Arc, a tech media and research platform.
"Instead they raised their fists."
kaf-abh/ami

Global Edition

Turkey fires up coal pollution even as it hosts COP31

BY FULYA OZERKAN

  • The chimneys of the power plant dominate the skyline, pumping plumes of ash and smoke.
  • Kaddafi Polat rarely mentions his own health after decades of breathing the polluted air blanketing his village beneath the towering chimneys of a coal‑fired power plant in southern Turkey.
  • The chimneys of the power plant dominate the skyline, pumping plumes of ash and smoke.
Kaddafi Polat rarely mentions his own health after decades of breathing the polluted air blanketing his village beneath the towering chimneys of a coal‑fired power plant in southern Turkey. What troubles him most is his children. 
Fine dust settles on cars, laundry and the narrow streets of Cogulhan, a village in the Afsin district of Kahramanmaras province, leaving a grey film over daily life -- and over the now-rotting playground where his kids once played.
Afsin‑Elbistan is one of the country's most polluting power plants, environmentalists say, but the government is planning to expand it, even as Turkey prepares to host the COP31 UN climate summit next November. 
"In the mornings, when the school bus comes, dust rises everywhere," Polat, 52, told AFP at a local coffeehouse.
"Children breathe this in, what will happen when they're 30 or 40? As a father, you worry."  
Once home to 10,000 people, most of the village's residents have fled because of the pollution, locals say. Only a few hundred are left.
Crumbling houses line the streets, watched over by a solitary clock tower. The chimneys of the power plant dominate the skyline, pumping plumes of ash and smoke.
"Living here is like suicide," Polat sighs, saying some stay because they are poor, others because they have land here. 
"I've watched pollution change everything: people, animals, the soil, even the trees."

A genuine climate leader?

One of Turkey's largest thermal power facilities, the plant generates 2,795 megawatts of power from highly polluting lignite, or brown coal, mined in the Afsin‑Elbistan basin that holds 40 percent of the country's reserves.
Opened in 1984, the eight-unit complex comprises privately-run Afsin-Elbistan A, and the state‑run plant B.
But plans to expand Plant A by two units have alarmed environmentalists, especially with Turkey preparing to host COP31, where the shift away from fossil fuels will be a central theme.
"If Turkey is pursuing the COP31 presidency with a claim to being a genuine climate leader yet continues to insist on fossil fuel investments, particularly coal, then this is a paradox it must resolve," said Emel Turker Alpay of Greenpeace Turkey.
Turkey aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2053, but coal still accounted for 33.6 percent of the resources used in electricity generation last year, official data shows. 
Last week, Environment Minister Murat Kurum tried to dismiss a question about hosting COP31 and Turkey's increasing reliance on coal. 
"We cannot reduce the matter solely to fossil fuels," he told a news conference alongside UN climate chief Simon Stiell.
But Alpay said expanding one of the country's most polluting plants contradicts both "Turkey's climate goals and the state's responsibility to protect public health".
Activists link the complex and its emissions of particulate matter and sulphur dioxide to an estimated 16,530 premature deaths. 
Adding two more units could cause a further 2,268 deaths and impose 88.4 billion lira ($2.6 billion) in health costs, even with improved filtration technology, they warn.
Contacted by AFP, the plant declined to comment on the expansion plans.

Government 'must choose'

Lutfi Tiyekli, who heads the Kahramanmaras doctors' association, said the government "must choose between energy from this power plant and public health". 
"We are knowingly sacrificing people here to cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma," he told AFP. 
A local environmental activist, Mehmet Dalkanat, said sickness was widespread.  
"People are dying. There isn't a single household in this village without cancer," said Dalkanat, who suffers chronic respiratory problems.
His son, Ali, said he worked as a security guard at the plant but left in 2020 with severe bronchitis. 
"Had I kept working there, my health would have taken an irreversible path," he said.

Danger levels

Air pollution in the Elbistan district remains far above World Health Organization and Turkish safety thresholds, said Deniz Gumusel of the Right to Clean Air Platform. 
Under Turkish limits annual PM10 particulate matter should be capped at 40 micrograms per cubic meter, she said, but Elbistan has levels of up to three times higher. 
And the daily average of PM10 particle levels reached 128.3 micrograms per cubic meter in Elbistan last year -- over eight times the WHO guideline of 15 micrograms.
For Dalkanat, expansion would be the final blow. 
"While the world is phasing out coal, building a new power plant here means this region is being written off," he said.
In Cogulhan, residents have largely given up. 
"Look where I walked, my footprints show like walking on snow," said 62‑year‑old Eyup Kisa of the ash that constantly falls on the village. 
"If they expand this plant, we'll all die".
fo/hmw/js

US

Private companies seek to import fuel amid Cuban energy crisis

  • This type of OFAC license was granted several years ago, but the Cuban government only recently authorized private fuel imports in response to the severity of the crisis.
  • Faced with a severe energy crisis exacerbated by US sanctions, private companies in Cuba are attempting to import fuel after the island's government agreed to end its monopoly on the sector.
  • This type of OFAC license was granted several years ago, but the Cuban government only recently authorized private fuel imports in response to the severity of the crisis.
Faced with a severe energy crisis exacerbated by US sanctions, private companies in Cuba are attempting to import fuel after the island's government agreed to end its monopoly on the sector.
The fuel crisis, already chronic due to the communist government's lack of foreign currency, has worsened significantly since the halt of Venezuelan oil deliveries and Washington's threats to impose tariffs on any country selling Cuba oil.
On the island of about 9.6 million people, diesel sales are now suspended and gasoline sales are drastically rationed.
"We bought an isotank... through a state-owned importer," the owner of a private company planning to import nearly 25,000 liters of diesel from the United States told AFP on the condition of anonymity, referencing a container used to transport diesel. 
"They should deliver it this week."
The operation is being carried out under a license issued by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a branch of the Treasury Department, which allows private businesses on the island to import certain products, including fuel.
A source close to the matter confirmed to AFP that Cuban private entrepreneurs were also seeking to import diesel from countries neighboring Cuba, as well as from Europe.
This type of OFAC license was granted several years ago, but the Cuban government only recently authorized private fuel imports in response to the severity of the crisis.
While the crude oil produced in Cuba powers the country's power plants, the island is dependent on imports for diesel and liquefied petroleum gas.
"Diesel has an impact on decentralized (electricity) production through generators," and also on "transportation, agriculture and the water sector," Jorge Pinon, a researcher at the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, told AFP.

Security checks

When announcing a series of emergency measures to conserve electricity and fuel this month, Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga also mentioned a new provision allowing companies to purchase fuel, though he provided few details.
The businessman interviewed by AFP said authorities have "not set any limits" on his fuel purchases, though he noted he cannot sell it to third parties. 
The state previously had a monopoly on fuel sales in Cuba, but the government, caught between the US embargo, the structural weaknesses of its centralized economy and social discontent, opened certain sectors to small and medium-sized enterprises in 2021.
Currently, however, authorities have provided no details on the conditions that private companies wishing to import fuel must meet.
Safety controls, validated by the fire department, must be implemented for the storage of this fuel, the businessman told AFP, but "the institutions themselves are not able to clearly outline all the steps."
According to Oniel Diaz, a consultant for private businesses, some entrepreneurs are already "at a very advanced stage in the import process."
He said the possibility to import fuel opened up new opportunities for the private sector, but he noted there are still obstacles in the process, including companies' abilities to make foreign payments and transport the fuel.
Another main concern, Diaz noted, is the risk of clashing with the Trump administration's push to cut off fuel sales to the island.
lis/rd/jb/lpa/lga/jfx

earnings

Airbus planning record commercial aircraft deliveries in 2026

  • The company said it is targeting "around 870 commercial aircraft deliveries" this year. 
  • Plane maker Airbus aims to deliver a record number of commercial aircraft this year, the company said Thursday, capitalising on "strong demand" and a jump in profit in 2025. "2025 was a landmark year, characterised by very strong demand for our products and services across all businesses," CEO Guillaume Faury said in a press release announcing annual results. 
  • The company said it is targeting "around 870 commercial aircraft deliveries" this year. 
Plane maker Airbus aims to deliver a record number of commercial aircraft this year, the company said Thursday, capitalising on "strong demand" and a jump in profit in 2025.
"2025 was a landmark year, characterised by very strong demand for our products and services across all businesses," CEO Guillaume Faury said in a press release announcing annual results. 
The European manufacturer said it received 1,000 orders for commercial planes in 2025, with net orders of 889 after taking cancellations into account, and 793 delivered.
Last year, its overall profit jumped 23 percent to 5.2 billion euros ($6.1 billion). 
The company said it is targeting "around 870 commercial aircraft deliveries" this year. 
"As the basis for its 2026 guidance, the Company assumes no additional disruptions to global trade or the world economy, air traffic, the supply chain, its internal operations, and its ability to deliver products and services," it said in its outlook. 
Both Airbus and its rival Boeing have struggled to return to pre-pandemic production levels after their entire network of suppliers was disrupted, even as airlines are eager to modernise their fleets with more fuel-efficient aircraft and expand to meet an expected increase in passenger numbers over the coming decades.
neo/lb/fox

media

Zuckerberg grilled over underage users at social media trial

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • - 'Right place now' - Zuckerberg was confronted with an internal document that said Instagram had four million users under 13 in 2015, at the time the plaintiff adopted the app, and that 30 percent of all children age 10 to 12, or "tweens," in the United States were users.
  • CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday he regretted Meta's slow progress in identifying underage users on Instagram, as he faced stinging criticism at a landmark social media trial over accusations that his company deliberately hooked children.
  • - 'Right place now' - Zuckerberg was confronted with an internal document that said Instagram had four million users under 13 in 2015, at the time the plaintiff adopted the app, and that 30 percent of all children age 10 to 12, or "tweens," in the United States were users.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday he regretted Meta's slow progress in identifying underage users on Instagram, as he faced stinging criticism at a landmark social media trial over accusations that his company deliberately hooked children.
Asked to comment on complaints from inside the company that not enough was being done to verify whether children under 13 were using the platform, the 41-year-old head of Meta, which also owns Facebook and WhatsApp, said improvements had been made.
But "I always wish that we could have gotten there sooner," he added.
Zuckerberg was the most hotly anticipated witness in the California trial, the first in a series of lawsuits filed by American families against social media platforms.
The trial marked the first time the multibillionaire addressed the safety of his world-dominating platforms directly before a jury and under oath.
Zuckerberg was very reserved at first, an AFP journalist in the courtroom reported. But he grew animated, showing signs of annoyance, shaking his head and waving his hands as he turned toward the jury.
The 12 jurors in Los Angeles heard the increasingly testy testimony as plaintiff lawyer Mark Lanier pressed Zuckerberg on age verification and the tycoon's guiding philosophy for making decisions at the vast social media company he controls.
During questioning by his own lawyers, a more relaxed Zuckerberg described time spent on the app as a "side effect" of a quality experience and often addressed the jurors directly to emphasize his points.
He also stressed his belief that Apple and Google, the companies behind operating systems powering most of the world's smartphones, should arrange for age verification at the handset level instead of leaving it to each app.
"Doing it at the level of the phone is just a lot clearer than having every single app out there have to do this separately," Zuckerberg said.
"It would be pretty easy for them."
Zuckerberg faced a barrage of internal emails, including warnings from colleagues that age verification was not fit for purpose and others that seemed to plainly display that encouraging more time spent on Instagram was long a central goal of the company.
The trial is set to last until late March, when the jury will decide whether Meta, as well as Google-owned YouTube, bear responsibility for the mental health problems suffered by Kaley G.M., a 20-year-old California resident who has been a heavy social media user since childhood.
Kaley G.M. started using YouTube at age six, Instagram at nine, then TikTok and Snapchat.
Under-13s are not allowed on Instagram, and Lanier pressed Zuckerberg on the fact that Kaley had easily signed up for the platform.

'Right place now'

Zuckerberg was confronted with an internal document that said Instagram had four million users under 13 in 2015, at the time the plaintiff adopted the app, and that 30 percent of all children age 10 to 12, or "tweens," in the United States were users.
Zuckerberg said that "we're in the right place now" when it comes to age verification.
Lanier went on to argue that young people like Kaley were subject to Meta's efforts to increase time spent on its wildly popular apps, despite Zuckerberg having told the US Congress under oath that this was not the case.
Faced with emails displaying internal targets for usage, Zuckerberg admitted that "we used to have goals around time," but that the company's aim was always to "build useful services" that connected people.
Zuckerberg was also read an old email from former head of public policy Nick Clegg that said "the fact that we say we don't allow under-13s on our platform, yet have no way of enforcing it, is just indefensible."
The trial is set to determine whether Google and Meta deliberately designed their platforms to encourage compulsive use among young people, damaging their mental health in the process.
The case is expected to establish a standard for resolving thousands of lawsuits that blame social media for fueling an epidemic of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and suicide among young people.
TikTok and Snapchat, also named in the complaint, reached settlements with the plaintiff before the trial began.
bl-arp-gc/msp

earnings

Walmart results expected to highlight big plans for AI

BY JOHN BIERS

  • Walmart on February 3 overtook the $1 trillion valuation marker, a rare occurrence for a brick-and-mortar legacy company that began as a family store in Arkansas in 1962.
  • Fresh off of achieving a $1 trillion market value, Walmart will report earnings Thursday as markets look for signs the retail giant can accelerate growth with the aid of artificial intelligence.
  • Walmart on February 3 overtook the $1 trillion valuation marker, a rare occurrence for a brick-and-mortar legacy company that began as a family store in Arkansas in 1962.
Fresh off of achieving a $1 trillion market value, Walmart will report earnings Thursday as markets look for signs the retail giant can accelerate growth with the aid of artificial intelligence.
The results cover the crucial fourth quarter comprising the holiday shopping season and will be the first with Chief Executive John Furner, who ascended to the top post on February 1 after previously leading the company's giant US division.
Solid earnings from the big-box chain in recent quarters have underscored growing popularity with wealthier US consumers, as well as with less prosperous consumers in its home market, where some 90 percent of the population lives within 10 miles of a company location.
Analysts expect modestly higher quarterly profits to conclude a year of nearly five percent revenue growth to more than $700 billion.
Walmart on February 3 overtook the $1 trillion valuation marker, a rare occurrence for a brick-and-mortar legacy company that began as a family store in Arkansas in 1962.
Just three other non-tech companies have achieved this valuation: oil giant Saudi Aramco, Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, and pharma company Eli Lilly.
"Investors have sort of put companies like Walmart, Costco and Amazon into one bucket and the rest of the retailers are in a slower-growth bucket," said Arun Sundaram, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research. 
Walmart announced late last year that it was shifting its stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq.
"Moving to Nasdaq aligns with the people-led, tech-powered approach to our long-term strategy," Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said of the move. 
"Walmart is setting a new standard for omnichannel retail by integrating automation and AI to build smarter, faster, and more connected experiences for customers," he added.

AI agents

When Walmart last reported results in November, executives described the overall impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs as somewhat more muted than initially feared. 
"We continue to benefit from higher income families choosing to shop with us more often," said former CEO Doug McMillion. "While lower income families have been under additional pressure of late, we're encouraged by how our teams are meeting them with greater value across categories."
The company benefited from strong e-commerce growth and from gains in its overseas markets, including China where Walmart now has 60 Sam's Club locations.
Executives said they had reduced shipping costs through automation and pointed to the announcement of a partnership with OpenAI that lets consumers make purchases through ChatGPT.
Walmart in January also announced an AI venture with Google, whereby consumers can turn to the Gemini program for products.
Walmart executives have touted the potential for AI to provide greater personalization for consumers and help with analyzing vast amounts of data to better manage inventory.
There is also greater talk of "agentic commerce" where AI assumes more sophisticated tasks, such as executing weekly supermarket orders based on a consumer's history or searching the Internet for the right goods for a holiday meal or a party.
These advances offer both opportunities and risks for retailers, said a CFRA report from last fall.
"For consumers, agentic commerce should save both time and money," CFRA said. "However, for retailers and suppliers, the implications are more nuanced, given the likelihood of reduced direct interaction with customers and more engagement with other AI agents."
A note from UBS predicted that Thursday's earnings announcement would support a "bull" case for Walmart, pointing to key executive appointments as evidence of the company's stands "well poised to take its modernization further."
These include the choice of David Guggina to succeed Furner as head of Walmart's US division. Guggina most recently led e-commerce at Walmart US. Before that, he worked on Walmart's supply chain and spent 10 years in leadership roles at Amazon.
"The retailer expects e-commerce to disproportionately drive its growth," UBS said, adding that Guggina "has the background and the skill set to lead this effort."
jmb/sla

Global Edition

Oil prices jump on toughening US posture on Iran as US stocks advance

  • Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at investing and trading platform IG, said reports on possible military action in Iran "naturally raise the risk of some kind of closure of the Hormuz straits, and while an oil rally has been an off again/on again move for some weeks, sustained action in the region is likely to precipitate a significant move higher in prices."
  • Global stock markets rose Wednesday as traders assessed company earnings and economic data, while oil prices surged more than four percent on a toughening US posture towards Iran.
  • Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at investing and trading platform IG, said reports on possible military action in Iran "naturally raise the risk of some kind of closure of the Hormuz straits, and while an oil rally has been an off again/on again move for some weeks, sustained action in the region is likely to precipitate a significant move higher in prices."
Global stock markets rose Wednesday as traders assessed company earnings and economic data, while oil prices surged more than four percent on a toughening US posture towards Iran.
All three major US indices advanced, with the broad-based S&P 500 winning 0.6 percent.
"You're getting a little bit of a bounce in some of the technology stocks that have been beaten up recently on fears of disruption over AI," said Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management. "Bargain hunting in the software space that helped to push up the technology stocks."
But the indices retreated a bit from session highs after the release of Federal Reserve minutes which Cahill characterized as "a little more hawkish than some people were expecting."
Several Fed officials supported leaving the door open to interest rate hikes, citing concerns that inflation could remain stubbornly high and lifting the dollar.
Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt warned that Iran would be "wise" to do a deal with the United States as President Donald Trump once again hinted at military action.
On Wednesday, Trump again suggested the United States might strike Iran in a post on his Truth Social site, with a US military buildup underway in the Middle East.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said there was a "step forward" in talks between Iran and the United States in Geneva but warned "we don't have much time."
The two sides took part in Omani-mediated talks in the Swiss city this week.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at investing and trading platform IG, said reports on possible military action in Iran "naturally raise the risk of some kind of closure of the Hormuz straits, and while an oil rally has been an off again/on again move for some weeks, sustained action in the region is likely to precipitate a significant move higher in prices."
Despite the geopolitical and technological uncertainty, European shares enjoyed a strong session.
London's FTSE 100 shares index led continental gains at the close with a rise of 1.2 percent after data showed UK inflation eased in January, paving the way for the Bank of England to cut its benchmark interest rate next month, weighing on the pound. 
Paris's CAC 40 set a new record high for its part, moving just past its previous mark of 8,437.35 set on February 12 before settling back a bit for a day gain of 0.8 percent while Frankfurt closed up 0.9 percent.
Tokyo's stock market closed up one percent after Washington announced a first tranche of investments by Japan following a pledge totalling $550 billion in a trade deal with US President Donald Trump.
The commitments of $36 billion for three infrastructure projects came as Japan faces pressure to deliver on its pledges made in 2025 in return for lower US trade tariffs.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Lunar New Year holiday meant trading floors were shut in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Taipei. 
The euro dipped against the dollar on a report from the Financial Times that Christine Lagarde would step down before her term as European Central Bank president ends in October 2027.
An ECB spokesperson said Wednesday that Lagarde had taken no decision on leaving before her term expires.

Key figures at around 2130 GMT

New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 49,662.66 (close)
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 6,881.31 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.8 percent at 22,753.63 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 1.2 percent at 10,686.18 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.8 percent at 8,429.03 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.1 percent at 25,278.21 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.0 percent at 57,143.84 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: closed for holiday
Shanghai - Composite: closed for holiday
Dollar/yen: UP at 154.80 yen from 153.47 yen on Tuesday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1784 from $1.1855 
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3500 from $1.3629
Euro/pound: UP at 87.29 pence from 86.95 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 4.4 percent at $70.35 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 4.6 percent at $65.19 per barrel
bur-jmb/jgc

earnings

Glencore still open to 'mega-miner' deal after Rio collapse

BY NATHALIE OLOF-ORS

  • But when announcing the end of merger talks this month, Glencore said the terms offered by Rio "significantly undervalued Glencore's underlying relative value".
  • Swiss resources giant Glencore is still open to a transformative merger with another mining group, its CEO said Wednesday, two weeks after dropping a plan to combine with British-Australian miner Rio Tinto.
  • But when announcing the end of merger talks this month, Glencore said the terms offered by Rio "significantly undervalued Glencore's underlying relative value".
Swiss resources giant Glencore is still open to a transformative merger with another mining group, its CEO said Wednesday, two weeks after dropping a plan to combine with British-Australian miner Rio Tinto.
"If another opportunity comes for us where we can create a big, mega, major miner on the right conditions for our shareholders, we would look at that," Gary Nagle said during a conference call after presenting Glencore's 2025 earnings.
The proposed deal with Rio would have created the world's biggest mining firm, a behemoth valued at $260 billion poised to capitalise on surging demand for copper and iron as well as rare earths critical in high-tech industries.
But when announcing the end of merger talks this month, Glencore said the terms offered by Rio "significantly undervalued Glencore's underlying relative value".
"We just couldn't reach agreement on value and that's fine -- We look after our shareholders, they look after their shareholders," Nagle said Wednesday.
"This is not a deal that we had to do," he added, but rather "a deal that... we would have liked to do at the time," he said.
His comments came as Glencore announced a return to full-year profits, which reached $363 million after a loss of $1.6 billion in 2024.
In a statement Nagle called it a "a year of significant progress" and said the company would focus on "successfully progressing our organic production growth options".
In particular Glencore will step up copper production amid a surge in prices fuelled by AI-fuelled demand for massive data centres, and the shift toward clean energy technologies.
Annual copper production should reach one million tonnes by the end of 2028, Glencore said, before rising to around 1.6 million tonnes by 2035.
On top of a 2025 dividend payout of $0.10 per share, Glencore will also recommend an exceptional payout of $0.07 based on last year's return to profit.
"For many, many decades ahead, the business case for Glencore, a cash generative, returns to shareholder business, is incredibly strong," Nagle said during the call. 
Analysts at UK investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown said Glencore would likely find willing partners to help fund its copper production targets, requiring investments estimated at $23 billion. 
"Glencore's ability to go it alone is not in question. Debt levels are manageable and it generates around $4bn of free cash flow every year," the analysts said in a research note.
"But the consolidation theme is unlikely to go away."
Glencore's shares were up 4.3 percent on the London Stock Exchange, their main listing, and have jumped 24 percent since the start of this year, despite the collapse of the Rio Tinto talks.
noo/js/cw

data

New tech and AI set to take athlete data business to next level

BY MARIE-MORGANE LE MOEL

  • Some firms use the cameras in stadiums and arenas to track individual players at all times, whether they have the ball or not.
  • From tracking the trajectory and speed of a footballer's strike to monitoring a Tour de France rider's real-time power output, performance athlete data is deepening its reach in sports, with specialised firms eyeing to score big business.
  • Some firms use the cameras in stadiums and arenas to track individual players at all times, whether they have the ball or not.
From tracking the trajectory and speed of a footballer's strike to monitoring a Tour de France rider's real-time power output, performance athlete data is deepening its reach in sports, with specialised firms eyeing to score big business.
The potential is huge, analysts say, not just for helping coaches further refine training and game-day strategies, but for providing novel content to broadcasters or enticing fans to online betting markets.
Sports data analysis has surged since the days of "Moneyball", the hit 2011 film with Brad Pitt that recounts manager Billy Beane's groundbreaking exploitation of player statistics at the Oakland Athletics baseball team.
Wearable performance sensors, new camera technologies and the power of artificial intelligence are drawing in companies looking to exploit the possibilities.
"When a professional club or federation has data on their players, we can analyse it and make recommendations on how to optimise their performance or avoid an injury," said Frank Imbach, a director of the French group SeeSports.
Some firms use the cameras in stadiums and arenas to track individual players at all times, whether they have the ball or not.
Others rely on body sensors that can determine speed, breathing rates or cardiovascular readings.
"This very reliable data lets you recreate 100 percent of what is happening on the field, without just following the ball around," said Arnaud Santin, co-founder of the Paris-based start-up SportsDynamics.

Off-season potential

This holistic approach, which SportsDynamics offers as a Silicon Valley-inspired software as a service (SaaS) model, potentially lets clients analyse not only their own players, but those of any opponents.
"For big games, we can be providing 50 images per second," Santin said. "The technology development allows us to accelerate very quickly."
Several industry experts are anticipating exponential growth as European and Asian markets catch up quick with US adopters.
"Reports forecast that the European sports analytics market will swell to multibillion-dollar size over the coming decade," said Lodovico Mangiavacchi of the global consulting firm EY.
"One study from Market Research Future predicts it will reach $7.5 billion by 2032," he said. 
"Behind these numbers lie investments in wearables, sophisticated video analysis tools, and Internet of Things devices," he added.
The Germany-based Data Sports Group uses live TV coverage of sports including rugby and cricket to provide content to media clients but also gaming and fantasy sports providers.
For bookmakers, DSG is "giving their bettors some tools, like statistics and reference material over a period of archives, so they can take decisions on that", said Rajesh D'Souza, its business director.
Game and player data can also be used to create content like fantasy league face-offs that will keep fans coming back even in the off seasons, when there are no big games.

Valuable numbers

The surge in amounts of valuable data raises questions about who has control of it, as well as the need for investments to protect the data from theft.
In Europe, such personal data requires compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on user privacy.
But in any case, "professional athletes, in the majority of cases, sign a contract that allows their clubs and the league to use their data", said Santin of SportsDynamics.
In a sign of expectations of enthusiastic demand, sports data deals have been getting bigger.
In February, Genius Sports, an American data and technology specialist, announced a deal to buy the betting and gaming content platform Legend for $1.2 billion.
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