• Feb 14, 2025

Trump's NATO spending demands could hit Europe's credit ratings, says S&P Global

The credit ratings of Europe's NATO members are likely to suffer if they ramp up defence spending in line with U.S. President Donald Trump's demands although they might drive the region to jointly issue debt, ratings firm S&P Global has said. Despite almost doubling their defence expenditure since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, European nations on average still spend below NATO's 2% of GDP guidelines, while the U.S. finances nearly two-thirds of NATO's military budget.

  • Feb 14, 2025

AMC Networks (NASDAQ:AMCX) Misses Q4 Revenue Estimates

Television broadcasting and production company AMC Networks (NASDAQ:AMCX) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2024, with sales falling 11.7% year on year to $599.3 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.64 per share was 38.8% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

  • Feb 14, 2025

HBL, S&P Global launch Pakistan's first manufacturing PMI

Pakistan's largest bank, HBL, and global financial information and analytics firm S&P Global have launched a new index to track the country's manufacturing sector, the companies said on Friday. Rising taxes and power tariffs have led to social unrest and hammered industries in Pakistan's $350 billion economy, as it navigates a tricky path to recovery under a $7 billion IMF program approved in September. The HBL S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index will be a standardized economic indicator based on a survey of a diverse panel of industries.

  • Feb 14, 2025

Moderna’s (NASDAQ:MRNA) Q4 Earnings Results: Revenue In Line With Expectations But Full-Year Sales Guidance Misses Expectations Significantly

Biotechnology company Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2024, but sales fell by 65.6% year on year to $966 million. On the other hand, the company’s full-year revenue guidance of $2 billion at the midpoint came in 9.8% below analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP loss of $2.91 per share was 6.7% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

  • Feb 14, 2025

Cheap cigarettes will continue taking US market share, tobacco firm JTI predicts

Japan Tobacco International expects a shift towards cheaper cigarette brands in the United States to reach more than 40% of the market by 2027, its finance chief told Reuters. U.S. smokers have been swapping out brands such as Altria's Marlboro and British American Tobacco's (BAT) Newport, which have been raising prices for years, for less expensive brands as high inflation and interest rates stretch their wallets. BAT's U.S. cigarette volumes fell 10.1% last year in part due to this shift, it reported on Thursday, while Altria has also been losing market share.

  • Feb 14, 2025

Emerging economies most vulnerable to USAID elimination

War-torn countries, those with high levels of debt and U.S. allies such as Jordan have the most to lose if the United States Agency for International Development is dismantled, as proposed by the Trump administration. USAID has provided significant budgetary support in Ukraine and Jordan in particular, JPMorgan noted, and making up the lost support for healthcare, agriculture and infrastructure in those countries and elsewhere will be tough. JPMorgan said a permanent loss of USAID money was not enough to destabilise the economy in any of the roughly 30 emerging markets it tracks closely.