More than 75 employers take resumes and talk to potential new employees at a career fair in Lake Forest, California on Wednesday, February 21, 2024. Paul Bercebach | Media News Group | Orange County Register | Getty ImagesLayoff announcements in February reached their highest level for the month since the global financial crisis, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.The total of 84,638 planned cuts showed an increase of 3% from January and 9% from the same month last year, with technology and finance companies leading the way.From a historical perspective, this was the worst February since 2009, which saw 186,350…
Author: ricardofrancois
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Should UK bosses get paid more like their US counterparts? Concerned about their ability to attract and retain talent and the competitiveness of companies in Britain, many boards and investors are now increasingly willing to benchmark executive pay against their higher-earning peers across the Atlantic. After years of avoiding this thorny issue, this is a notable shift in approach.This is partly due to the growing foreign footprint of FTSE 100 constituents. More than half of these companies are considered highly international, generating…
in time When many enterprise companies struggle to achieve growth and valuations decline, Databricks continues to prove the exception. In September, the company raised $500 million from a massive $43 billion valuation. This week, the company announced some impressive revenue numbers to justify investors' confidence. For the year ending January 31, 2024, the late-stage startup generated $1.6 billion, a figure that represents growth of more than 50% compared to the previous year. That's impressive revenue growth no matter what time period we're talking about — but especially these days. As a private company, it doesn't have to reveal its numbers…
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.The number of distressed banks in the US jumped 18 per cent, as New York Community Bank stabilized thanks to a $1 billion capital raise led by former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, regulators warned.Twelve months after the Silicon Valley bank failure rocked the regional banking sector, the New York central bank's recent struggles have highlighted the continuing fragility at some US lenders. The number of weak U.S. banks rose by eight to 52 in the final three months of 2023, the…
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Victoria's Secret – The intimate apparel retailer fell 36% and was headed for its worst day ever after posting mixed fourth-quarter results and disappointing guidance. Victoria's Secret said it expects a larger-than-expected decline in revenue for the first quarter and the full year. Novo Nordisk – Shares rose nearly 10% to hit a high after the company reported positive results from a phase 1 trial of its experimental new weight-loss drug Amicretin. American Eagle Outfitters – Shares jumped 2% after American Eagle Outfitters posted wins on the top and bottom lines.…
The European Central Bank on Thursday lowered its annual inflation forecast, as it confirmed a widely expected hold on interest rates.Meanwhile, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde noted that market pricing of interest rate cuts in June is in line with policymakers' expectations.Staff expectations for inflation in 2024 were updated to an average of 2.3% from 2.7%. Looking ahead, experts expect inflation to reach the European Central Bank's target of 2% in 2025 and then decline to 1.9% in 2026.At the same time, they updated their 2024 economic growth forecast to 0.6% from 0.8%, as economic activity in the euro…
[The stream is slated to start at 10 a.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell returned to Capitol Hill Thursday, presenting the Senate Banking Committee for the second day of his congressionally mandated testimony on the state of the economy and monetary policy.In an appearance Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee, the central bank chief confirmed that he expects interest rate cuts later this year but did not specify when. Instead, he said policy moves will depend on incoming data, and there is not enough…
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: Novo Nordisk – Shares jumped 6.6% after the Danish pharmaceutical company reported positive data for a phase 1 trial of its new experimental obesity drug, amicretin. Shares of Eli Lilly, the company's US competitor, fell 0.7% on the news. Nvidia – Semiconductor companies were broadly higher as a group, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF up 1.5% pre-market. Nvidia shares rose 1.8% after Mizuho said the stock could reach $1,000. Micron Technology shares advanced 3.9% after Stifel upgraded semiconductors to buy from hold and raised its price target. Broadcom shares rose 1.9%.…
Sonali Peer is a portfolio manager at PIMCOPimco's Sonali Pier seeks outperformance.The youngest of three children and the daughter of Indian immigrants, Pierre set her sights on Wall Street after graduating from Princeton in 2003. She began her career at JPMorgan as a credit trader, a field that did not have many women.“In the ladies’ room, I don’t meet a lot of people,” said Pierre, who moved from New York to California in 2013 to join Pimco.Fortunately, it has seen a lot of changes over the years. Not only has there been some progress for women entering finance, but the…
New York Community Bank (NYCB) headquarters in Hicksville, New York, United States, on Thursday, February 1, 2024.Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesCommunity Bank of New York It said Thursday it lost 7% of its deposits in the turbulent month before announcing a capital infusion of more than $1 billion from investors led by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's Liberty Strategy Capital. The New York Commercial Bank said in an investor presentation tied to the capital increase that the bank had $77.2 billion in deposits as of March 5. That's down from the $83 billion it had as of February…