Pop Mart’s Labubu dolls have captured hearts — and fueled one of China’s hottest stock stories, surging more than 270% since the start of the year to hit a high of 339.8 Hong Kong dollars ($43.71) on Aug. 26. But behind the buzz, a sharp divide has emerged between believers in its emotional-branding power and investors wary of chasing another consumer fad. A team of Chinese consumer analysts at Bernstein, led by Melinda Hu, struck a cautious note on Pop Mart last week, pegging an “underperform” rating on the stock with a target price of 225 Hong Kong dollars. Bernstein…
Author: usaeverydaylife
Isaiah Taylor, CEO, Valar Atomics speaks onstage during the Reindustrialize Conference 2025 on July 16, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan.Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty ImagesAdvanced nuclear reactor developer Valar Atomics raised $130 million in its latest funding round with backing from Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey and Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, the startup said Monday.The fundraising was led by venture capital firms Snowpoint Ventures, Day One Ventures and Dream Ventures. Lockheed Martin board member and former AT&T executive John Donovan also participated. Valar’s total fundraising now totals more than $150 million, according to the company.Doug Philippone,…
Warren Buffett will no longer write the letters that accompany his firm, Berkshire Hathaway’s annual reports, nor will he field questions at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, he wrote in a letter published on Monday.”As the British would say, I’m ‘going quiet,'” he wrote. “Sort of.”Even after Greg Abel takes the reins as Berkshire CEO at yearend, Buffett will continue to share a Thanksgiving message with shareholders — and anyone interested in reading.Interest will no doubt abound. Over his 95 years, Buffett has earned a reputation not only as a legendary investor, but as someone with the secrets to living…
A volunteer displays information on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) at a grocery store in Dorchester, Massachusetts, US, on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. Mel Musto | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a memo late Saturday evening, threatened to enact financial penalties on states that issued full monthly SNAP benefits for November if they don’t “undo” those food stamp payments.The late-night directive from the Trump administration adds to the chaos surrounding the anti-hunger program that serves more than 42 million Americans.The memo, signed by Patrick Penn, Deputy Under Secretary of the USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer…
This photograph shows a general view of Nexperia headquarters in Nijmegen on November 6, 2025.John Thys | Afp | Getty Images Shares of Wingtech Technology, parent company of chipmaker Nexperia, extended gains on Monday after Beijing agreed to further talks with a Dutch delegation, easing concerns about a global auto supply crunch.Shanghai-listed Wingtech Technology saw its shares jump as much as 6.4% on Monday, according to LSEG data, after surging 9.7% in the final minutes of trading last Friday on signs of de-escalation in a battle over control of the Dutch-based Nexperia.The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement Sunday that…
A Waymo autonomous self-driving Jaguar electric vehicle sits parked at an EVgo charging station in Los Angeles, California, on May 15, 2024.Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty ImagesWaymo has tapped Google executive Steve Fieler as its new chief financial officer, the self-driving company announced on Monday.The new CFO comes as the Alphabet-owned company has been bringing its robotaxi service to more markets in the past year, with plans for further expansion in 2026. Fieler’s appointment also comes as Waymo looks toward its next phase, which could include seeking additional outside investment.”Steve’s extensive experience will be instrumental in guiding us…
Short-term rentals company Sonder on Monday said it plans to file for bankruptcy, a day after Marriott International said a licensing agreement between the two companies had ended.The deal, signed in August 2024, allowed Sonder hotels to be booked via Marriott’s Bonvoy website and was widely considered a lifeline for the San Francisco-based company, which struggled financially through the Covid-19 pandemic, and after going public via a SPAC merger in 2022. In a statement published Sunday, Marriott said the 20-year licensing agreement was “no longer in effect,” citing Sonder’s “default” as the reason.In its own statement on Monday, Sonder said…
Ripple Labs has become one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency companies, but executives aren’t stopping there, CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC. Over the past year, the firm has ramped up efforts to bridge the Web3 world and an industry that has long been viewed as its foil — traditional finance.In an interview with CNBC’s “Crypto World” at the Ripple Swell 2025 conference in New York, Garlinghouse said his firm aims to offer a wide range of traditional financial services built on blockchain infrastructure, capitalizing on growing institutional adoption of digital assets.A blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger that logs transactions…
CNBC’s Jim Cramer analyzed Monday’s session, saying stocks — especially tech names — managed to rebound from last week as Wall Street sees an end to the government shutdown.”With the government potentially about to reopen, it’s back to business as usual, and that means the data center stocks come roaring back,” he said.The indexes climbed during the session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing up 0.81%, the S&P 500 adding 1.54% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gaining 2.27%. After weeks of deadlock, lawmakers took steps towards reaching a deal that would pass a federal funding bill and end the…
Former Donald Trump lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani arrives at U.S. Federal court in his case to surrender valuables to Georgia election workers he was found to have defamed, in New York City, U.S., November 26, 2024. Brendan McDermid | ReutersPresident Donald Trump has pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his onetime chief of staff Mark Meadows and others accused of backing the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.The “full, complete, and unconditional” pardon applies only to federal crimes, and none of the dozens of Trump allies named in the proclamation were ever charged federally…
