Category: 3. Business

Fitch Ratings upgraded Greece’s rating status by a notch, saying the country is forecast to continue a debt decline and projected to have another budget surplus despite plans for fiscal easing.

The firm lifted Greece’s long-term sovereign rating to BBB from BBB- with a stable outlook, according to a statement on Friday. Following the move, all major rating agencies now place the country two levels above the junk territory except for Moody’s Rating, which places Greece one notch lower.

By Claudia Assis

Berkshire discloses stake on Alphabet now worth about $5 billion

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway finally went for Alphabet’s stock.

As it nears the end of the Warren Buffett era, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. broke new ground in the quarter that ended Sept. 30: It placed a fresh bet on tech giant Alphabet Inc., according to a securities filing released late Friday.

Buffett, who will be at the helm of Berkshire (BRK.B) (BRK.A) as CEO through the end of this year, had eschewed Alphabet shares (GOOGL) (GOOG) for years while placing plenty of other bets on tech giants such as Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)

But no longer: Berkshire ended the third quarter with a new stake of nearly 18 million Alphabet shares, at the time worth about $4.3 billion. That same number of shares is worth close to $5 billion as of Friday.

The Google parent company’s stock is up nearly 50% for the year, but endured double-digit losses in February and March. Then, in September, an antitrust case around the company’s Chrome browser business came to a much better-than-expected resolution, and the stock gained 14% and 16% in September and October, respectively.

Securities regulators require all institutional investment managers holding more than $100 million in certain securities to disclose their positions in filings called 13-Fs – offering a window into a firm’s stock and ETF holdings at the end of the quarter, and into its possible strategies.

Other Berkshire moves were more in keeping with the ethos of the organization and offered fewer surprises. It increased its holdings of Domino’s Pizza Inc. (DPZ) by 13%, and its holdings of insurer Chubb Ltd. (CB) by nearly 16%. It also sold off its stake in home builder D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI)

Berkshire reported third-quarter earnings a week ago, showing a growing pile of cash and a continued aversion to stock buybacks.

-Claudia Assis

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  11-14-25 1715ET
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Since 2020, commercial real estate (CRE) insurance premiums in the U.S. have risen by 88%. At the same time, risk tolerance for insurers has decreased – driven by concerns about climate risks, inflation and market volatility. Against this backdrop, building features and maintenance practices once rewarded with premium discounts are now less likely to guarantee savings.

However, the enhanced operational resilience, risk mitigation and data collection capabilities delivered by technologies like OpenBlue may help organizations secure better access to coverage and slow the rate of premium increases. The award-winning software platform can enhance resilience and transparency, reduce risk exposure, make real estate portfolios more appealing to insurers, and unlock new business growth opportunities. Here’s how:

How can building data lower insurance premiums?

CRE insurance premiums reflect a mix of location, building type and market dynamics that include volatility, regulatory pressures and climate risks. The increasing complexity of the underwriting process is leading insurers to require detailed information about building performance, maintenance and risk exposure before issuing coverage.

OpenBlue technology streamlines this information-gathering process and gives insurers easier access to timely and relevant information that includes:

• Operational and maintenance records
• Incident reports
• Utilization and occupancy analytics
• Documents and data showing compliance with safety and sustainability standards
• Transparency into asset performance at the property and portfolio level

In addition to making the underwriting process easier, this transparency and smoother data collaboration builds trust between property owners and insurers.

How can building technology help mitigate risk?

OpenBlue solutions streamline the collection, sharing and analysis of data. They also empower you to improve the building performance and operational efficiency reflected in that data. Our systems combine Internet-of-Things sensors, advanced analytics and AI-powered insights to give facilities and real estate teams real-time visibility into building operations, energy use, occupancy patterns and vulnerabilities.

Key capabilities that support risk mitigation include:

Predictive equipment maintenance

OpenBlue Workplace uses AI, sensors and advanced analytics to identify recurring issues and equipment trends. Instead of following an arbitrary and inefficient preventive maintenance schedule, facility managers (FMs) can use this information to strategically plan preventive measures and upgrades. This can prolong the life of expensive assets and building systems and lower overall ownership costs.

When something goes wrong, time is of the essence. The integration of Johnson Controls Metasys into OpenBlue Workplace shortens response times by automatically triggering a work order ticket when the system detects a problem.

Real-time occupancy and utilization insights

OpenBlue Insights provides real-time occupancy and utilization information. This can help organizations plan more effectively for safety, compliance and emergency response. These insights also inform risk-related decisions such as evacuation planning, renovations and refits, or HVAC optimization during severe weather.

Environmental monitoring

OpenBlue Workplace gives FMs early warnings of issues that could put people and property at risk by using data gathered from sensors that track variables like temperature, humidity, particulates and water leaks. Environmental sensors, for example, can notify facilities teams of anomalies in indoor air quality that might impact the health of occupants or damage equipment and potentially increase costs and liability.

Access control and security

OpenBlue Companion’s access control and visitor management features can help bolster the safety and security of occupants and assets. They can also provide digital records that improve safety compliance and protect against liability. They can even improve efficiency by automating routine tasks and helping ensure continuity of operations in emergencies.

Together, these capabilities enhance resilience by turning building data into actionable insights. Investors gain confidence in asset performance, operators can demonstrate strong risk management practices, and insurers get accurate, detailed information to support underwriting. Best of all, a recent Johnson Controls study conducted by Forrester Consulting found that the payback period for OpenBlue can be as little as eight months, with an ROI of 155% over three years.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio) recently submitted the 13F filing for the third quarter of 2025, providing insights into his investment moves during this period. William Ackman, co-investment manager for hedge-fund group Gotham Partners LP, formed Pershing Square in November 2003 with $54 million raised from three investors. Ackman got his start in the real estate business, where he worked for his father prior to starting Gotham. Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio) is an activist investor. He buys the common stocks of public companies, and pushes for changes so that the market can realize the values of the companies. Ackman buys stocks trading at a discount, and sells when the companies reach their appraised value.

Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio) also reduced position in 4 stocks. The most significant changes include:

• Reduced Alphabet Inc(NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 519,007 shares, resulting in a -9.68% decrease in shares and a -0.67% impact on the portfolio. The stock traded at an average price of $209.46 during the quarter and has returned 36.32% over the past 3 months and 46.49% year-to-date.

• Reduced Brookfield Corp(NYSE:BN) by 140,166 shares, resulting in a -0.34% reduction in shares and a -0.06% impact on the portfolio. The stock traded at an average price of $44.31 during the quarter and has returned 0.86% over the past 3 months and 15.55% year-to-date.

At the third quarter of 2025, Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio)’s portfolio included 11 stocks, the top holdings included 20.25% in Uber Technologies Inc(NYSE:UBER), 19.21% in Brookfield Corp(NYSE:BN), 10.58% in Howard Hughes Holdings Inc(NYSE:HHH), 10.52% in Alphabet Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG), 10.04% in Restaurant Brands International Inc(NYSE:QSR).

The holdings are mainly concentrated in 6 of all the 11 industries: Consumer Cyclical, Technology, Financial Services, Communication Services, Real Estate, Industrials.

A botulism outbreak in US infants exposed to a particular brand of formula is highlighting the importance of food safety surveillance—and 2025 actions by the federal government that experts say are eroding the nation’s readiness to handle foodborne illness outbreaks.

The Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program (IBTPP) within the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) saw an increase in requests for BabyBIG—the only FDA-approved treatment for infant botulism, which CDPH manufactures—and subsequently identified a common exposure among infants with botulism to ByHeart Whole Nutrition powdered infant formula, CDPH information officer Beth Deines said in a written statement.

On Nov. 8, ByHeart agreed to recall two lots of formula and expanded the recall on Nov. 11 to include all formula nationwide following a request from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The agency is collaborating with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), IBTPP, and state and local partners to investigate the outbreak, FDA spokesperson Emily Hilliard said in response to a request for comment. “The FDA has been in contact with the firm, and the FDA’s investigation is ongoing to determine the point of contamination,” she added. The CDC did not respond to a similar request.

Infants develop botulism from swallowing spores of the Clostridium botulinum bacteria, which colonize the large intestine and produce botulinum toxin. The toxin interferes with the transmission of nerve signals to muscles and can cause muscle weakness and difficulty breathing. It can be life-threatening if left untreated.

As of Nov. 14, 23 infants from 13 states who consumed ByHeart formula have received either a suspected or confirmed diagnosis for botulism. All infants, who range in age from 16 to 200 days, have been hospitalized and treated with BabyBIG; no deaths have been reported.

According to IBTPP data, a total of 84 US infants received treatment for botulism between Aug. 1 and Nov. 10, 36 of whom were exposed to formula. Of those 36, 15 (42%) ate ByHeart formula, despite ByHeart representing only about 1% of all infant formula sales in the US, according to the FDA.

“That is a very strong epidemiologic signal that the FDA was very concerned about,” says Susan Mayne, former director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and current adjunct professor at the Yale School of Public Health. During outbreaks of foodborne illness, investigators from the FDA’s Coordinated Response and Evaluation Network team test facilities and food products to confirm such signals, and because they are deemed essential, they worked through the federal government shutdown, Mayne says.

However, she says some Trump administration policies have hindered efforts to prevent and monitor foodborne illness outbreaks. This summer, for instance, the federal-state collaboration known as the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network reduced the number of foodborne pathogens that participating states are required to monitor from eight to two (botulism was not among the eight). Earlier this year, the administration disbanded the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods, which, Mayne notes, was set to release a report on microbial contamination in infant formula.

Additionally, some food safety scientists and inspectors at the FDA were included in mass layoffs at the agency in February, though some were subsequently rehired.

Layoffs at CDC last month cut the agency’s entire Washington office, eliminating a vital line of communication from the CDC to congressional offices, says Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs at food safety watchdog Center for Science in the Public Interest. “For this outbreak, they would have sent out an alert and scheduled a briefing so members of Congress can know what’s going on,” she says of the Washington office. In their absence, “there’s no communication that can come directly from the teams investigating the outbreak.”

In 2022, a recall of contaminated formula and the ensuing shutdown of a major factory led to a nationwide formula shortage. Given ByHeart’s small market share, it’s highly unlikely we’ll now see a shortage, Mayne and Sorscher emphasize. Still, the ByHeart outbreak is a sign that the federal government should renew its efforts to prevent and mitigate this kind of food safety issue, they say.

“This really highlights that the administration needs to recognize the importance of protecting against microbial contamination in infant formula,” Mayne says.

(Bloomberg) — A tech-led rebound in stocks faded as caution prevailed on Wall Street ahead of a deluge of economic data and concerns over the Federal Reserve’s ability to slash interest rates in December. Bonds dropped.

The relief brought by the end of a historic US shutdown gave way to volatility this week as various Fed speakers damped wagers on policy easing. Hot areas favored by momentum traders such as artificial-intelligence whipsawed. Bitcoin was barely up for 2025. After briefly erasing a 1.4% slide, the S&P 500 closed little changed. Nvidia Corp. rose ahead of its earnings.

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The outlook for lower rates favoring Corporate America alongside booming AI prospects have powered a torrid surge since the April meltdown, making many traders look past high valuations to keep chasing the market higher.

Earnings for most big tech companies have been in line or above expectations, though the outlook has been murky when it comes to where borrowing costs are headed. As Nvidia gets ready to report Wednesday, options traders are pricing in a 6.2% stock swing in either direction – its highest implied move in a year.

“Its earnings will be a huge test for the markets and the AI-trade, and could either ease fears about AI valuations or inflame them considerably,” said Kyle Rodda at Capital.com.

Also next week, big box retailers like Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. will report their results, offering a read on the state of consumer spending – the main engine of the American economy.

The S&P 500 held above its 50-day moving average after briefly falling below it. A gauge of megacaps halted a three-day rout.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed three basis points to 4.15%. UK markets got hit as speculation about the budget heightened worries about the nation’s finances. Oil rose as geopolitical risks mount from Russia to Iran.

“Stocks should bounce back here, but the dip buyers have been burned lately, so it might be a slow move back up to regain confidence,” said Bob Lang founder of Explosive Options.

We also saw some pretty clear rotation this week into health care primarily and consumer staples – looking like they have bottomed, according to Ken Mahoney at Mahoney Asset Management.

“Not really what you want to see if you are in the AI trade or adjacent stocks,” he said. “This is a unique circumstance where it feels like a mini bear market in some stocks” even though the S&P 500 is not that far from its highs.

“What’s happened recently in the market isn’t even close to a tech wreck, but it may be a bit of a tech reckoning,” said Daniel Skelly, head of Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management Market Research & Strategy Team.

The recent volatility hasn’t altered the longer-term bullish case for the AI leadership, he said. But health care remains one of the market’s key overlooked stories.

Breadth deterioration in equities remains an ongoing concern, indicating a more tactical defensive stance and sector rotation, according to Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler.

Still, the S&P 500 managed to hold above its average price of the past 50 days. Failure to do so would invite a deeper pullback, Johnson noted.

“The general trend has been to buy the dip, which could provide a respite,” said Melissa Brown at SimCorp. “Retail investors may be spooked temporarily, but are likely to come back in if they believe the long-term story driving many of the names that have been gutted remains intact.”

Brown notes that a real rebound, though, may have to wait until government data starts flowing again and investors get a better read on the state of the economy and inflation.

“But it will only be a recovery if the economy continues to grow and inflation does not,” she said.

As labor-market and inflation reports return, fundamentals should help distinguish a true trend from emotion-driven selling, making the recent pullback feel more like a reset than a turning point, according to Mark Hackett at Nationwide.

A slew of Fed officials have expressed skepticism over the need for a cut in December – or outright opposed one. It remains unclear whether they can persuade enough voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee, given that a number of them are worried about job weakness.

Their remarks came less than a month after Chair Jerome Powell warned that a December cut is far from a “foregone conclusion.”

Markets have taken note of the volume of comments from the so-called inflation hawks. Investors have marked down the odds of a rate cut in December to less than 50%. Before the Fed’s October meeting, they were almost fully pricing in a reduction.

“The tough but business-as-usual wrestling match over a December rate cut risks morphing into a crisis of governance at the Fed, with implications that extend well beyond whether it does or does not cut then,” said Krishna Guha at Evercore. “Absent miraculous clarification from limited data, Powell is in a rough spot. We urge cool heads and compromise.”

Guha says that he still leans toward a “hawkish cut,” but the odds have diminished.

“Our expectation for a soft October employment report and under-control October core CPI inflation should settle the internal debate at the FOMC in favor of an additional 25 basis-point rate cut,” said Gennadiy Goldberg at TD Securities. “With that said, the decision is likely to be contentious, with a high possibility of additional hawkish dissents.”

Despite the cautious rhetoric from Fed officials this week, Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Global Wealth Management says any decision will ultimately be data-dependent.

She noted that even if the official October jobs report does not include the unemployment rate, the payrolls figure should still provide a good indication of the health of the labor market. Some private data alonsgide sentiment surveys should also allow the Fed to continue its rate-cutting cycle if inflation remains under control, she added.

As traders geared up for a deluge of economic data that will shape the Fed outlook, this week’s bout of risk aversion deepened the selloff in Bitcoin from a record high reached in early October.

The largest digital-asset sank below $95,000. The crypto market remains under strain after $19 billion in liquidations on Oct. 10 in turn erased over $1 trillion from the total market value of all cryptocurrencies, CoinGecko data shows.

Corporate Highlights:

Alphabet Inc.’s Google plans to invest $40 billion in three new Texas data centers, ramping up its footprint as competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic PBC map out their own multibillion-dollar bets in the state. Google has offered to tweak its ad tech products to settle a European Union order after a near-€3 billion ($3.4 billion) antitrust penalty, stopping short of a partial breakup watchdogs favor. The cost of protecting Oracle Corp.’s debt against default is surging by the most since 2021, as jittery investors and lenders rush to hedge against the billions of dollars the software giant is pouring into artificial intelligence. Applied Materials Inc. suffered a sales decline last quarter and predicted another drop in the current period, though the chip-equipment maker sees demand improving in the second half of 2026. Walmart Inc. Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon, who over a decade ushered the big-box behemoth into the Internet age, will retire in February. He’ll be replaced by US head John Furner — long viewed as the heir apparent. Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. amended the contract of Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav to ensure his stock options remain eligible to vest even if the media company is sold. Merck & Co. agreed to acquire Cidara Therapeutics Inc., a biotech company developing a flu treatment, as part of its ongoing efforts to make up for the upcoming patent loss of its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda. Bristol Myers Squibb Co. fell after one of its most important experimental medicines appeared unlikely to benefit patients who had suffered a heart complication, another setback for the drugmaker’s product pipeline. Boeing Co. stands to win most of a major order from Flydubai for single-aisle aircraft, though Airbus SE still has a long-shot chance to pry some business from an airline that’s never ordered from the European planemaker. Emirates is planning to use SpaceX’s Starlink to upgrade the onboard Wi-Fi in its fleet, according to people familiar with the matter, even though the service isn’t currently approved by the government. BlackRock Inc. has agreed to pay up to €2 billion ($2.33 billion) to form a data center venture with Spanish engineering firm ACS SA. American Tower Corp. and European buyout firm EQT AB are among parties weighing bids for French tower company TDF Infrastructure, people with knowledge of the matter said. A group of First Brands Group creditors is demanding new, independent advisers for company units that issued nearly $2.5 billion in off-balance-sheet debt, claiming conflicts of interest threaten to disrupt the sprawling insolvency case of auto-parts maker. JBS NV, the world’s largest meat supplier, reported a quarterly operating loss at its US beef business as a shortage of cattle continues to hit margins at the unit. BHP Group Ltd. is liable to compensate hundreds of thousands of victims of a devastating dam collapse in Brazil, a London judge ruled, moving closer to a potential multi-billion dollar payout a decade after the disaster. Nu Holdings Ltd. said artificial intelligence features it started to deploy in Brazil helped the fintech increase credit-card limits for some clients, boosting third-quarter revenue and profit. Sigma Lithium Corp. stocks rose as investors focused on the company’s forecast to resume mining operations by the end of the month, despite another quarter of cash burn, lower sales and production volumes. Allianz SE, the German insurer that owns bond manager Pacific Investment Management Co., raised its outlook for full-year profit after third-quarter earnings rose, driven by its property-casualty insurance and asset management businesses. Siemens Energy AG substantially raised its mid-term financial targets on strong demand for gas turbines and data center equipment as well as restructuring progress at its Gamesa wind turbine unit. Richemont sales climbed as shoppers from the US to China snapped up the luxury group’s pricey Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry. Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc swung to a £559 million ($735 million) quarterly loss and slashed its guidance after a cyberattack temporarily halted production at the UK’s largest automaker. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 was little changed The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% The MSCI World Index fell 0.3% Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 0.2% The Russell 2000 Index rose 0.2% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro fell 0.1% to $1.1621 The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3169 The Japanese yen was little changed at 154.53 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 4.1% to $94,701.4 Ether fell 1% to $3,147.81 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 4.15% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.72% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 14 basis points to 4.57% The yield on 2-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 3.61% The yield on 30-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.75% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1% to $59.90 a barrel Spot gold fell 2.2% to $4,080.36 an ounce ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

This article was written by

Analyst’s Disclosure:I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of AAVMY either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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