The intelligent hospital logistics management system is comprised of five distinct platforms: an energy management platform, an intelligent lighting control platform, a one-stop service platform, a power operation and maintenance monitoring platform, and a visualization platform for the BIM O&M platform. The platform exhibits substantial expandability and forward-thinking characteristics, ensuring its adaptability to novel business models over time while concurrently reducing logistics input costs. The Internet of Things (IoT) and intelligent logistics management systems represent two pivotal areas of interest within the domain of healthcare. The integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and High-Integrity Logistics Management (HILIMP) through the utilization of state-of-the-art information technology (IT) applications, including cloud computing, big data, and spatial geographic information, has the potential to transform the manner in which hospitals oversee their logistics operations. The sharing of information resources and the optimisation of their allocation can facilitate the streamlining of hospital operations, the improvement of efficiency, and the realisation of lean and efficient management. The integrated management platform for hospital intelligent logistics, which incorporates the Internet of Things, comprises a business module that encompasses a multitude of terminals, including web, mobile, handheld, and large-screen devices. The aforementioned terminals facilitate access to a diverse array of applications, which are currently constrained by their limited accessibility.
An intelligent logistics management system has been developed to enhance energy efficiency in hospitals through five core mechanisms. The first mechanism is territorial monitoring, which involves the deployment of multi-mode sensors in high energy-consuming equipment to collect real-time data. These sensors are designed to identify anomalies with an energy efficiency deviation greater than 20%. The first method is based on the dynamic energy consumption baseline, and it involves the realization of second-level interception (e.g., charging the pile at full power during non-working hours) through the LSTM anomaly detection model. The second method is prediction-driven dynamic tuning, which integrates outpatient volume and environmental data to predict regional load demand (e.g., The operating room air conditioning system is preheated to achieve on-demand regulation of HVAC and self-adaptation of logistics equipment. The pneumatic pipeline air pressure is dynamically adjusted according to the transport load. The third component is equipment health—energy-efficiency linkage. This is achieved through analysis of over 200 dimensional characteristics of early warning of energy-efficiency deterioration equipment, priority maintenance of high-energy-consumption failure points, and reduction of sudden energy consumption loss by 67%. The fourth component is process re-engineering—system synergy. Intelligent path planning has been demonstrated to reduce handling mileage by 22%. Batch removal of medical waste has been shown to reduce cold chain energy consumption by 19%. Furthermore, cross-system energy savings can be achieved through fresh air, air-conditioning residual cooling recovery, lighting, and logistics linkage. The fifth component is the digital twin, which is continuously optimized. The establishment of a three-dimensional baseline, encompassing the interrelationships among buildings, equipment, and temporal periods, is imperative. This baseline should be subject to automatic refinement, informed by historical data. A case in point is the adjustment of the air-conditioning set temperature by 0.5 °C in a given season, a strategy that is dynamically adapted through the analysis of past data. The technological closed loop (data collection → AI diagnosis → demand prediction → automatic execution → system synergy) has been demonstrated to reduce the ineffective energy consumption of equipment by 42%, the air conditioning power by 35%, and the overall energy consumption of the hospital by 25–32%. Furthermore, it has been shown to promote the transformation of energy management from experience-driven to AI-driven.
System components
In order to circumvent the inherent limitations of the Internet + Hospital Intelligent Logistics Comprehensive Management Platform and give full play to its potential, the Internet + Hospital Intelligent Logistics Comprehensive Management Platform is constructed using the microservice architecture, as shown in Fig. 3. The characteristics of the hospital intelligent logistics platform with multi-terminal access (Web/mobile/handheld devices/large screen), multi-business modules (equipment monitoring/materials scheduling/energy management), and large fluctuations in the amount of access are addressed by this system, which adopts Spring Cloud microservices architecture (Spring Boot 3.0 + Nacos 2.2 Service Governance + Sentinel 1.8 Fusion Limit Flow). Achieving technical decoupling is contingent upon the following core value: The first component of interest is the medical-level high availability, which is characterized by the independent deployment of microservices and rolling upgrades. This ensures that the core business of power equipment monitoring and other 7 × 24 h of uninterrupted operation is supported. The K8s elastic scalability is also of note, as it can support emergency scheduling emergencies (> 500 QPS). The second component of interest is the non-functional depth of the adaptation. Redis caching through the Redis + library table is employed to ensure that the response time to the application of the hospital district is less than 200 milliseconds. The integration of Spring Security OAuth2 + State Secrets SM4 and GitLab CI/CD is achieved to facilitate a single-service upgrade with zero interruption. The architecture design primarily emphasizes non-functional requirements, encompassing performance, security, usability, ease of use, and maintainability. The overarching design concept constitutes the platform that provides support for the system. The overarching design concept underpinning the development of this system is the establishment of a unified platform capable of supporting all applications. The overarching design concept entails the establishment of a cohesive platform capable of supporting all applications. The architectural design features of this product are enumerated below:
(1)
The microservice architectural style is readily adaptable to accommodate growth and expansion. The partitioning of services into discrete units, or microservices, represents a means of reducing the overall size of a service while increasing its precision. This approach entails concentrating on a relatively autonomous domain with the objective of mitigating risk and facilitating the reuse of combinations. Furthermore, it enables the expansion of the service, which is frequently a constraint. In contrast to the necessity of simultaneous upgrades for all services, optimisation and expansion can be achieved in an incremental manner. The process of data slicing may be conducted by user organisations, data centres and service area clusters according to geographic location, with each entity having the capacity to perform this process independently.
(2)
Protocol adaptation represents a more flexible approach. The adaptation of communication protocols is achieved through the protocol adapter of the device management module, which is capable of supporting a variety of communication protocols, including MQTT, ModbusTCP, OPC UA, and BACnet, among others.
(3)
The provision of an open interface allows for seamless integration. The platform offers an open application programming interface (API) based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), which permits third-party applications to access the data.
(4)
The implementation of encryption ensures an elevated level of security. The application layer is secured through the utilisation of the HTTPS protocol in conjunction with digital certificates, thereby preventing any potential data tampering or denial of information interaction. The application layer’s sensitive data is encrypted through the utilisation of symmetric encryption algorithms, thereby ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of the data. The server-side interface processing serves to prevent both SQL injection attacks and cross-site XSS attacks.
Fig. 3
Function introduction
Figure 4 illustrates the system function diagram. The IoT + Hospital Intelligent Logistics Comprehensive Management Platform’s product system represents a business architecture of N + 1 + 5, comprising N applications, one center, and five centers. The system can be described as an N + 1 + 5 business architecture, consisting of N applications, one center, and five centers. The N applications encompass four business sections: a one-stop service; safety, operations, and maintenance; energy consumption management; and BIM + FM visualization and big data DSS. The one-stop service section incorporates various business subsystems, including a unified scheduling desk, maintenance and repair reports, medical waste management, meal ordering systems, inspection management tools, warehouse management platforms, satisfaction surveys, and more. This section is made up of several business subsystems, including a unified dispatching desk, maintenance and repair, medical waste management, food ordering, inspection management, warehouse management, vehicle management, and satisfaction surveys. The Safety Operations and Maintenance and Energy Consumption Management section is responsible for monitoring safety operations, issuing alerts in the event of malfunctions, administering operations and maintenance, and compiling statistical analyses related to water, electricity, gas, and specialized equipment consumption in the context of hospital logistics.
One centre makes reference to the Internet of Things (IoT) + hospital intelligent logistics centre, which is capable of carrying out a multitude of applications. Such applications include unified user management, unified resource management, unified process management, unified payment management, unified report management, and open unified login and access interfaces. The open and unified login and access interface serves to dismantle information silos, integrate third-party applications, and provide a unified management portal. This has the effect of further improving the efficiency of management and business flow, while also facilitating a deeper exploration of the potential value of data to support logistics management decisions. The aforementioned five centres are the process centre, the report centre, the user centre, the resource centre, and the payment centre.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has become the cornerstone of the perception layer of the smart hospital logistics system, stemming from the rigid needs of medical scenarios. The necessity of full-domain perception is paramount in hospitals, where equipment status must be monitored in real time. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) temperature rise of ± 0.5 °C, the direction of energy flow (sub-metering), and the traditional supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system’s support for point collection are limitations that the Internet of Things (IoT) distributed sensing network (temperature/vibration/current sensors) overcomes by meeting the needs of hospitals simultaneously. The IoT distributed sensing network can provide a building’s whole chain of dynamic sensing. The present study explores the phenomenon of real-time control dependency. The deployment of IoT actuators, such as smart valves and inverters, has been shown to be 60% more cost-effective than traditional PLC systems. These actuators facilitate wireless remote regulation, a feature that enhances their functionality and versatility. The following essay will explore the core benefits and synergistic value of big data technology.
Fig. 4
The utilization of big data technology has become an inevitable choice due to the inherent characteristics of medical data, which can be defined by three key elements: volume, speed, and variety. The first element, volume, refers to the substantial quantity of data generated on a daily basis, which can exceed 50 gigabytes. The second element, speed, refers to the rapid rate at which updates to the second-level data are executed, typically within a span of less than one second. The third element, variety, refers to the diverse range of data types and formats that are present. The utilization of BIM (Building Information Modeling) models and video streaming in this context underscores the necessity of meticulous analysis for intelligent decision-making. Predictive maintenance, in particular, necessitates the integration of vibration spectra (time series data), maintenance records (text), and infrared images (unstructured). The utilization of infrared images (unstructured) necessitates the implementation of Hadoop + MLlib and other big data platforms to facilitate multimodal analysis. The process of energy consumption optimization entails the extraction of data spanning a decade, incorporating historical meteorological information and outpatient visit records. Conventional relational databases, such as Oracle, are susceptible to failure during petabyte-scale data processing operations. The integration of technological systems fosters the creation of exclusive value in the medical field. The Internet of Things (IoT) has been demonstrated to collect current harmonics and large volumes of data, thereby warning of bearing wear and reducing the need for excessive maintenance. The integration of IoT with big data has been shown to reduce operational and maintenance (O&M) costs and energy expenditure, thus establishing itself as the optimal solution for the digital transformation of medical logistics.
Security system
Data security system
In the context of hospital logistics management systems, data security emerges as a paramount concern. The implementation of a robust data security framework entails the integration of three core components: storage encryption, local disaster recovery, and off-site disaster recovery. This triad of mechanisms constitutes the foundation of a comprehensive data security system.
The storage layer employs a hierarchical encryption strategy, utilizing AES-256 for database field encryption to defend against drag database attacks, BitLocker full disk encryption to prevent physical theft, eDrive protocol to block the loss of mobile media hardware-level encryption leakage, and a unified key management platform to ensure that even if the data is misdirected, it remains unreadable ciphertext.
The local disaster recovery system is predicated on the zero-trust principle, which is to say that it is based on continuous data protection (CDP) technology. This system generates anti-pollution snapshots at 15-minute intervals. Furthermore, it utilizes write-once-read-many (WORM) locks to operate logs, thereby preventing tampering. In addition, all transmission channels are encrypted by TLS 1.3 + SM4 to meet the relevant audit requirements.
Thirdly, off-site disaster recovery employs blockchain-verified replicas in at least 200 km geographically isolated nodes (RPO < 5 min) and facilitates 10-second fusion switching (RTO < 30 s). These mechanisms ensure the comprehensive and traceable management of first aid material dispatch records during extreme disasters. The system has passed the Equal Protection Level 3 certification (GB/T 22239 − 2019), thereby achieving military-grade protection for the entire life cycle of core data. The system has been designed to ensure that backup points are independently backed up, with multiple backups stored in different locations. This enhances the system’s disaster-tolerance capability and ensures the integrity of data.
Network security system
The network security system is founded upon four fundamental principles.
Physical isolation
It is of paramount importance to implement external network switches in order to guarantee the segregation of data flows between the local area network (LAN), intranet and Internet. This approach permits the segregation of data flows pertaining to internal and external networks, thereby enhancing the security of network-borne information.
Firewall technology
The network system utilises high-performance and high-security firewalls, which provide comprehensive protection at both the network and application levels. It is of the utmost importance that the router is configured in a manner that enables comprehensive monitoring of all communications by the firewall. The monitoring and filtering capabilities of the firewall permit the authentication and authorisation of trusted users or information, thereby enabling them to log in to external servers or exchange information.
Access control
It is recommended that an external network switch be implemented to segregate the data flow between the internal and external networks. This approach permits the sharing of data traffic while maintaining the security of network information. Computers with internet access and data ports are connected to the external network switch in order to prevent the incursion of viruses into the internal network system and to safeguard the security of related data.
Intrusion monitoring and network audit
A system for monitoring and auditing network operations is selected for deployment on the external and internal networks of the system. This system is responsible for monitoring and recording all types of network activity. The system is capable of analysing a range of security events, external events (such as external intrusion) and internal events (such as file copying, information access, information release, resource change by internal personnel, and so forth) that occur within the network in real time. Subsequently, the system assesses the violations in accordance with the established criteria and documents them, along with any associated alarms and blocks.
System advantages
Multi-system interaction
The integration, expansion and interconnection of digital systems have historically constituted the primary challenges to the digital development of hospitals. The lack of compatibility between products from different vendors has further complicated the process of overall hospital informatisation. The IoT + Hospital Intelligent Logistics Comprehensive Management Platform offers comprehensive system integration specifications that encompass all aspects of hospital logistics, thereby providing a unified and standardised platform for data exchange and workflow collaboration. The system enables interaction between disparate business segments (e.g. maintenance and warehouse) and systems (e.g. equipment O&M and BIM visualisation) within the system. Furthermore, it enables the integration of data with external systems, including HRP, HIS, and other hospital systems.
The IoT + Hospital Intelligent Logistics Integrated Management Platform employs a layered decoupling architecture, a strategy that aims to address the systemic barriers impeding digital development in healthcare settings. The core of the system is comprised of four layers. The data layer is transmitted through the unified data exchange platform, thereby providing a standardized interface that supports JSON, XML, and HL7. This facilitates heterogeneous system data conversion, thereby breaking down the barriers to compatibility with external systems, such as HRP, HIS, and others. The service layer is responsible for the deployment of the workflow collaboration engine, which is integrated vertically through various business modules, including maintenance, warehousing, and other relevant systems. One notable feature is the automatic triggering of MRI failure by spare parts requisition, which exemplifies the system’s intelligent design. Additionally, the application layer integrates business modules such as BIM visualisation, equipment operation and maintenance, and energy consumption analysis, establishing a unified operation interface for logistics business. The interaction layer utilizes API gateway and message middleware, with Kafka ensuring latency below 200 milliseconds, to facilitate horizontal cross-system synergy, such as fire alarm linkage and video monitoring.
Multi-service integration
The IoT + Hospital Intelligent Logistics Comprehensive Management Platform has the potential to integrate a number of different hospital logistics business sections, including BIM visualisation, a one-stop service, equipment operation and maintenance, energy consumption statistics and analysis, video monitoring, fire and safety monitoring, and more. Such integration could facilitate the optimisation of hospital logistics operations, enabling the streamlining of processes and the real-time monitoring of key performance indicators. The creation of a unified logistics platform that incorporates all of the aforementioned logistics business sections has the potential to improve logistics efficiency and facilitate the development of an information management model.
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil criticized China’s decision to tighten export controls on rare earths and expressed hope for a de-escalation following the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We have made it clear within the G-7 that we do not agree with China’s approach,” said Klingbeil, who also serves as Germany’s vice chancellor, on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington. “We are monitoring the situation closely and doing what we can politically to prevent further tensions between the US and China.”
In comment letters, prominent accounting firms highlighted the costs and practical challenges for foreign private issuers (FPIs) if the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) required them to file their financial statements that comply with U.S. GAAP.
Their letters come as the SEC is mulling changes to the definition of FPI as the global regulatory and business environment has changed significantly since the agency last reviewed the foreign company framework in 2008.
FPIs are foreign companies that list shares on U.S. stock exchanges, and the SEC has historically provided regulatory accommodations that provide full or partial relief not available to domestic companies. For example, FPIs do not need to file quarterly reports or proxy statements, are not subject to Regulation Fair Disclosure, and furnish current reports on Form 6-K, rather than filing the more prescriptive Form 8-K.
In accounting, FPIs can file financial statements following International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) without reconciling to U.S. GAAP.
“Converting to US GAAP would likely require an issuer that loses FPI status to make substantial internal changes, including to personnel and systems, training and education (particularly in markets where the supply of suitably qualified US GAAP expertise is limited), and amendments to agreements, such as those that include debt covenants,” Ernst and Young LLP wrote in response to the commission’s preliminary rulemaking document or a concept release issued in June 2025 to solicit the public’s comments on potential changes.
“Therefore, we also expect many issuers to seek external support from firms offering US GAAP expertise, and audit fees would likely increase significantly in the year of conversion, with more moderate increases in subsequent years,” EY wrote.
Besides EY, other accounting firms that wrote comment letters are Deloitte & Touche LLP, KPMG LLP, BDO USA, P.C., Grant Thornton LLP, as well as the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), an affiliate of the AICPA which represents accounting firms that audit public companies. And they made similar arguments in their letters. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP did not write a comment letter.
KPMG further explained that preparing in accordance with U.S. GAAP requires companies to fully understand the reporting framework, which extends beyond executive leadership responsible for signing certifications under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This comprehensive understanding must include all personnel involved at the transactional and process level.
“Proficiency in US GAAP is essential for all individuals accountable for overseeing processes and systems that support effective internal control over financial reporting,” (ICFR), KPMG wrote.
Because it has been almost two decades since the SEC eliminated the reconciliation requirement, many FPIs accounting and financial reporting departments may not have U.S. GAAP knowledge.
“Further, adding US GAAP reporting requirements would not replace the need for most affected entities to maintain accounting records under IFRS-IASB,” KPMG explained. “Rather, it would likely create an additional accounting framework for these entities to manage.” IASB is International Accounting Standards Board.
In addition to IFRS or versions of IFRS that have been adopted locally, home jurisdictions may also require the use of local GAAP for tax purposes, the Big Four firm said. For these companies, the introduction of U.S. GAAP would result in a third set of reporting requirements.
A switch to U.S. GAAP would also pose challenges for auditors who follow International Standards on Audits (ISA) in local jurisdictions.
“Integrated audits of IFRS-IASB financial statements under PCAOB auditing standards are typically conducted concurrently with audits subject to ISA,” KPMG wrote. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) writes auditing standards for public companies in the U.S.
“However, if an integrated audit of US GAAP financial statements is also needed, there may be few efficiencies to gain,” KPMG said. “Audits of two distinct sets of financial statements, under different accounting frameworks, with separate disclosures that require independently designed internal controls will need to be conducted separately, often in tight timeframes.”
Further, FPIs file financial statements in the currency determined by management as the entity’s reporting currency. Issuers that are not FPIs must report their financial statements in U.S. dollars. A conversion to U.S. dollars “would add an additional layer of complexity and ICFR to the preparation of the US GAAP financial statements for affected FPIs,” the firm said.
Consequently, the CAQ encouraged the SEC to evaluate all alternatives. But if the commission decides to move forward with changes to the FPI definition that result in certain companies losing FPI status, the CAQ said the commission should provide affected companies with adequate time to build the infrastructure to effectively report as a domestic filer.
In the meantime, 77 letters were submitted in response to the concept release, with the vast majority asking the SEC either not to change the FPI definition or to move with careful deliberation. Law firms, exchanges, trade associations, and a few foreign companies wrote the letters.
The Business Law Section of the American Bar Association (ABA) urged the SEC to maintain the current FPI definition because the existing regime continues to function precisely as intended in achieving the necessary and appropriate balancing of interests.
“The burden of requiring every foreign issuer to conduct an FPI status reassessment, and the potential consequences of a loss of FPI eligibility, appears to us to be entirely unnecessary and unjustified,” the ABA wrote. “Further, in the particular circumstances of each foreign issuer, the transition from eligibility under the current definition to ineligibility under an amended definition would not necessarily be reflective of an intended change in policy or achieve an intended U.S. investor protection enhancement, but rather be the happenstance result of technical differences between the old and new tests.”
However, some support changing the qualifications for FPI status with a caveat. Treasurers, comptrollers, or auditors of about 20 states said the SEC should not confer FPI status to any issuer based in a country designated by the U.S. government as a foreign adversary, including China.
The SEC staff, who studied Form 20-F filings by FPIs from fiscal 2003 to 2023, found that today almost 55% of FPIs have their stocks traded almost exclusively in U.S. markets. In 2023 the largest jurisdiction measured by issuer incorporation is the Cayman Islands, and the largest jurisdiction by issuer headquarters is China. But this was not the case 20 years ago. Canada, which has a more robust regulatory regime, had the largest percentage of FPIs.
“FPI status was formed with the understanding that issuers qualifying for FPI status would still be subject to ‘meaningful disclosure and other regulatory requirements in their home country jurisdictions,’” they wrote. “But this shift in the types of filers using FPI status raises concerns that U.S. investors are not being protected. There are significant risks for U.S. investors in China-based companies, including Chinese companies’ roles in furthering the Chinese Communist Party’s ‘military-civil fusion’ strategy and the risks that China-based issuers will violate the disclosure, auditing, or other antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act due to the Chinese government’s actions to prevent transparency.”
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on June 18, 2025 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up slightly on Friday as traders tried to move past credit concerns that sparked a big sell-off in regional banks Thursday.
The Dow traded 76 points, or roughly 0.2%, higher. The S&P 500 ticked up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded relatively flat.
Stocks that led Thursday’s bank sell off were rebounding, as Wall Street defended the shares and traders bet any bad credit bets were one-offs and not part of a bigger crisis. Zions and Western Alliance disclosed bad loans over the last 48 hours, which sparked a big selloff in the stocks that eventually dragged down the whole market Thursday. Zion lost 13%, while Western Alliance tanked by 11% Thursday.
But Zions Bancorp climbed more than 2% Friday after receiving an upgrade from Baird, which said the drop in market value for the regional bank was out of proportion considering the size of loan losses it was potentially facing. Investment bank Jefferies, caught in the storm for its exposure to bankrupt auto parts retailer First Brands, was last up 3% after Oppenheimer raised its rating to outperform. Jefferies was down 11% Thursday.
Better-than-expected earnings Friday from Fifth Third Bancorp also assuaged worries, sending the stock higher by 2%. The bank’s profit jumped last quarter even after posting a jump in credit losses tied to exposure to bankrupt subprime auto lender Tricolor.
The Dow lost 300 points and the S&P 500 shed 0.6 on Thursday, fueled by the significant decline in bank stocks late in the session. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE), which has been down for four straight weeks, lost more than 6% during the session. Uneasiness in the banking sector has grown after the recent bankruptcies of those two auto industry-related companies: Tricolor and First Brands.
The regional bank ETF was up by 0.3% early Friday.
“We don’t think there are systemic credit problems for banks – most of what we’re seeing so far is a function of a few specific situations (First Brands and TriColor) while credit quality broadly if anything is tracking better than anticipated,” wrote Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge in a note.
Thursday saw a jump in the Cboe Volatility Index, commonly referred to as Wall Street’s fear gauge, alongside moves lower in Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar as investors went into safe havens and looked for hedges in the options market. The ‘Vix’ was moving steadily lower in early trading Friday as futures bounced, signaling easing fears.
Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” Thursday that the banking concerns come as there’s is a lot of “speculative froth” that has developed in the public market, with investors chasing stocks with riskier profiles like quantum computing, drones and unprofitable tech stocks.
“When you have that speculative froth and then you have sort of a bigger picture potential issue, those two can sometimes collide and cause an increase in volatility,” she said, noting that most of the so-called froth is not in the megacap names anymore, but rather in smaller pockets of the market such as the Russell 2000 index, which hit a fresh high this week.
Stocks remain on track for weekly gains despite Thursday’s decline. The S&P 500 is up 1% after a strong start to the third-quarter earnings. The Dow has added about 1.3% week to date, while the Nasdaq has gained 1.4%.
Investors face limited options when it comes to allocating capital
Bank of America’s strategist Michael Hartnett makes a couple of eye-catching calls on bonds and gold.
Buy longer-dated Treasury bonds and stay the course on gold.
Those are the two trade recommendations made by a team of strategists at Bank of America led by Michael Hartnett in their latest note to clients released Friday. First, they recommend investors buy 30-year Treasurys BX:TMUBMUSD30Y on the expectation that its yield will dip below 4%, versus its present level of 4.56%, as the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates.
As for gold, Hartnett and his colleagues believe the price of the yellow metal (GC00) can peak at $6,000 an ounce next year. Their call on gold (GC00) looks especially bold, as the precious metal is roughly a third higher than where it is now and has already delivered a whopping 65% return so far in 2025.
The current dilemma facing investors, or the ‘zeitgeist’ as Hartnett and his colleagues phrase it, is they are forced to allocate from these choices: a U.S. Treasury market when the government owes $38 trillion; the corporate bond market where yields relative to government debt are the meanest in two decades; equities valued at forty times their cyclically-adjusted price-earnings ratio; or gold, “that’s just gone vertical.”
The strategists make it abundantly clear: there are no easy options at this juncture. Another “zeitgeist” they warn of is the threat posed by “the k-shaped economy” going “pear-shaped if asset prices drop and hit the rich.” The so-called k-shaped economy reflects a pattern in which one sector of the economy rebounds, while another declines. The worry here would be the dent to the consumption patterns of wealthy American households were the stock market or crypto assets to fall sharply.
Hartnett’s team is aware their call on gold is far from unique, “contrarian it ain’t” as long gold is the most crowded trade in Bank of America’s fund management survey for October. They also think the end of the U.S. government shutdown could trigger a concerted bout of profit-taking, but allocations both from retail and institutional investors are still low enough to warrant a continuation of the bull run in gold for now.
They also like international stocks right now and highlight the potential upside for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index HK:HSI. They see 33% upside to 33,000 as global purchasing manager indices edge above 50 into expansionary territory, Chinese financial conditions ease and Asian export growth improves.
Hartnett and his team identify some contrarian trades without necessarily recommending them, but simply drawing attention to massive disparities in trend and sentiment. Favoring bonds over stocks, the U.K. market UK:UKX over Europe XX:SX5E and energy XLE over tech MAGS would all run strongly against the grain, they also caution that were the White House-led bailout of Argentina to fail then the highly consensual long Emerging Markets call could be called into question.
The number of leveraged equity ETFs at record-high. Trading sentiment is very robust at present.
For now, though, the strategists cite the 123 rate cuts that have occurred globally this year as the main reason why equity sentiment is so bullish, while investor allocations to bonds are the lowest since October 2022 when this bull market began.
-Jules Rimmer
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
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Members of Unison at the National Coal Mining Museum have been out on strike since August
Workers at the National Coal Mining Museum for England have rejected the latest pay offer in their ongoing dispute over wages, a union has said.
At least 40 members of Unison at the site in Wakefield have been on continuous strike since mid-August calling for higher pay.
Unison said members had rejected a new pay offer which a spokesperson said would have left many staff worse off than a previous proposal which was thrown out.
A spokesperson for the National Coal Mining Museum for England said it was “disappointed” the pay offer has been rejected.
Unison said representatives had met the museum’s chief executive Lynn Dunning and local Labour MP Jade Botterill last week with the aim of finding a resolution.
During the meeting, museum managers had suggested a £1 an hour rise for fitters and electricians and a 5% pay rise for other staff, a union spokesperson said.
For many workers that would work out lower than the 80p an hour increase previously suggested by museum management, the union said.
Meanwhile, according to Unison, the chief executive “continued to refuse to disclose” financial documents which could help to work out an “affordable and acceptable” offer.
National Coal Mining Museum
Museum bosses said the site faced the same “increasing financial pressures” as other similar charities
Christina McAnea, Unison general secretary, said: “This dispute has already gone on for far too long.
“Museum bosses have spent more on continuing the strike than it would have cost them to give staff a reasonable pay rise.
“Senior managers should stop playing games, do the right thing and come up with a fair deal.”
Rianne Hooley, Unison Yorkshire and Humberside regional organiser, said: “If managers genuinely want to resolve this dispute, they should be transparent with Unison over what is and isn’t affordable.
“Otherwise, it looks like they have something to hide.”
Unison said its initial pay claim was for a £2.50 rise, meanwhile, in June, it had suggested a 5% pay rise, or £1 per hour – whichever was greater – for all staff.
That was in response to an offer from the museum of a £1 per hour increase for mine guides and 5% for everyone else, which Unison said would have given a bigger pay rise to male mine guides than the women employed elsewhere in the museum.
Museum managers were going to put their pay offer to the board of trustees but then withdrew it, the union said.
LDRS
Visitors to the museum can learn about the UK’s mining history
In a statement, a museum spokesperson said: “We are disappointed our recent pay offer has been rejected. This included a £1 per hour increase for museum guides with specialist skills, such as electricians and fitters, and a 5% uplift for the wider team.
“After much discussion with Unison, this offer brought the museum’s pay structure in line with, and in some instances over, similar organisations’ structures.”
The museum remained “committed to recognising expertise and rewarding the valuable contributions of all team members”, the statement said.
“The board continues to make decisions guided by principles of fairness and affordability,” it added.
“We have reviewed arrangements at similar organisations to use as a comparator and will consider this model going forward as we implement our Succession Plan.”
A museum spokesperson said that like many charities it was facing “increasing financial pressures” and any offer “must protect the museum’s future”.
Argentinian steak restaurant Gaucho is slashing the share of the service charge its waiters receive, using some of the funds to bump up the pay package of head office workers.
A letter to workers seen by the Guardian says that from 1 October existing waiters would receive between 25.45% and 29.4% of the service charge collected at tables they have served, depending on length of service, down from 37% previously – already a reduction from 45% early last year. Bar staff will get 17% of the service charge, down from 20%.
Newly employed waiters at the company will receive just 17%, according to a letter from Gaucho’s troncmaster – a specialist hired to manage the distribution of the service charge. Staff said they feared all waiters’ shares of the service charge would drop to that level in the new year, placing all workers on a similar level.
Gaucho’s troncmaster, a company called WMT Troncmaster, wrote in a letter to workers that the service charge would now be shared with “staff located at non-public places of business such as head office and central production units. This may also include staff working at Gaucho restaurants who are provided by an agency but who are not directly employed.”
“The Troncmaster strongly believes that service charges are paid by customers in respect of their whole experience, and that all team members who play a part and impact on that experience should participate in, and receive a share of, the tronc funds.”
A spokesperson for Gaucho said: “The new tronc distribution has been set by the independent troncmaster following industry benchmarking across our Gaucho employees. The new distribution takes into consideration all our front- and back-of-house colleagues. It is an equitable solution for all of our excellent people. The employee costs borne by the Gaucho business remain as before and the business itself does not benefit in any way from the amended tronc system.”
Gaucho says its new system is fully compliant with the law.
Gaucho is part of Rare Restaurants, which is owned by the Investec bank and investment firm SC Lowy, and which also owned the now closed M chain. Gaucho is held under the group’s Gioma UK arm, which slid £15.6m into the red last year as sales slipped 1% to £68.5m. At the end of last year Gioma had more than 1,000 staff, all but 64 of which worked in the restaurants, according to the accounts filed at Companies House.
Gaucho, which charges £65.60 for a steak marinated in chipotle chilli paste or £26.95 for a Sunday roast and at least £10 for a glass of wine, automatically adds a service charge of between 12.5% and 13% to customers’ bills, although they can opt not to pay it.
“The perception of people paying £100 in service charge will be ‘this guy is doing good’,” one waiter said. “But I could be getting [only a small part] of it.”
Under a law implemented last October, employers in Britain must share out 100% of service charges collected in a venue to workers there. It must be done in a “fair and transparent manner” and employees have the right to know “how tips are allocated and distributed”.
The law was introduced amid concerns the service charge was being used to make up a significant part of workers’ total pay package in retail groups to reduce national insurance liability. Service charge distributions do not always attract the employment tax when allocated through a tronc scheme, unlike ordinary pay.
Bryan Simpson, the national lead on hospitality for the Unite union, which is pressing the government to toughen up the tipping legislation, questioned whether Gaucho’s policy met the current rules.
He said: “One of the most egregious elements of this terrible policy is that tips and service charge can be used to pay ‘non-public places of business such as head office and central production units’. This is not fair or transparent according to the [government backed] code of practice, or indeed these workers, our members.
“The result for low-paid workers in the most expensive city in the world? That waiters may only receive as little as 28% of the tips that they received on their tables … with more than 70% going elsewhere.”
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Staff said they had not been consulted about the changes to the service charge distribution and had not received clear answers to questions about what would happen to what would happen to the cash they were no longer receiving.
One waiter said the cut came after the introduction of cheaper menus, which had already resulted in lower service charge payments, and a cut to benefits such as free and discounted meals and drinks. “Financially this is putting the nail in the coffin,” they said.
The worker said they would lose about £400 in service charge a month, reducing their monthly net pay to about £1,600 for 20 hours a week. All waiting staff earn the legal minimum wage, so rely on the service charge as a major part of their pay.
“I am quite worried. Potentially this means finding another job,” they said.
Another, who said they would lose out on between £300 and £600 a month, said: “We haven’t been consulted about these changes. The worst part is they said it’s to make it more fair for all departments, but what they are really doing is using this extra service to top up salaries through all company salary positions.”
Another said: “I already find it hard to pay everything when I get £2,000 (working full-time) so I am actively looking for another job. I don’t know how I am going to do it [in October].”
The cuts come only months after Rare Restaurants hired Baton Berisha, the former boss of the Ivy chain, which is facing legal action from a former waiter over the allocation of the service charge.
Acquisition expands AbbVie’s psychiatry pipeline with the addition of a next-generation psychedelic compound currently in Phase 2 development for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD).
NORTH CHICAGO, Ill., Oct. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals’ lead investigational candidate, bretisilocin.
Bretisilocin is a novel, short-acting serotonin 5-HT2A receptor agonist and 5-HT releaser currently in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe major depressive disorder (MDD). This next-generation 5-HT2A receptor agonist is designed to help address current development challenges observed with classic psychedelic compounds.
“Recent clinical results have demonstrated the potential of bretisilocin to treat patients living with MDD,” said Daniel Mikol, M.D., Ph.D., vice president, neuroscience development, AbbVie. “With the acquisition now complete, we look forward to accelerating the development of this next-generation compound, reinforcing AbbVie’s commitment to delivering innovative, science-driven treatment options for people living with serious mental health conditions.”
For additional background on the acquisition, please read the press release announcing the definitive agreement under which AbbVie will acquire bretisilocin here.
About AbbVie
AbbVie’s mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people’s lives across several key therapeutic areas including immunology, oncology, neuroscience and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some statements in this news release are, or may be considered, forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “project” and similar expressions and uses of future or conditional verbs, generally identify forward-looking statements. AbbVie cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, challenges to intellectual property, competition from other products, difficulties inherent in the research and development process, adverse litigation or government action, changes to laws and regulations applicable to our industry, the impact of global macroeconomic factors, such as economic downturns or uncertainty, international conflict, trade disputes and tariffs, and other uncertainties and risks associated with global business operations. Additional information about the economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect AbbVie’s operations is set forth in Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” of AbbVie’s 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in other documents that AbbVie subsequently files with the Securities and Exchange Commission that update, supplement or supersede such information. AbbVie undertakes no obligation, and specifically declines, to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except as required by law.
Nicola Rees/BBC
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