Category: 3. Business

The Trump administration says its proposal to roll back vehicle fuel economy standards, announced officially in the Oval Office on Wednesday, is an attempt to shave dollars off the ballooning cost of new cars in the US.

But the intended price drops likely won’t show up on dealership lots and showroom floors for months if not years, given the length of automakers’ product planning schedule. It would also likely force Americans to pay more, long-term, at another place they tend to visit more frequently: the pump.

The proposal from the US Department of Transportation would require automakers to reach a fleet-wide average of 34.5 miles per gallon by model year 2031, down from the 50.4-miles-per-gallon benchmark set by the Biden administration. (The Biden-era rules called for a 49-miles-per-gallon average in 2026.) The department estimates the change could save US auto buyers around $1,000 per car, adding up to $109 billion over the next five years. New vehicles now cost more than $49,000 on average, according to Edmunds. The government will accept public comments on the proposal through mid-January. It could be finalized sometime next year.

The rollback is part of a larger federal about-face on not only auto policy, but the government’s attitude on climate change. The Biden administration took a carrot-and-stick approach to vehicles and their effect on the environment. Light-duty cars and trucks alone are responsible for some 15 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. The previous administration tried to boost electric vehicle adoption by using tax subsidies for consumers and manufacturers interested in building fuel-efficient vehicles and technologies, including batteries. It also introduced penalties for those unable or unwilling to meet stricter environmental standards. Automakers should be able to hit next decade’s goals by selling more electric vehicles, the government then reasoned.

But as consumers failed to take to EVs quite as quickly as once hoped, automakers complained the rules were too onerous. “We’ve been clear and consistent: The current [fuel economy] rules finalized under the previous administration are extremely challenging for automakers to achieve given the current marketplace for EVs,” wrote John Bozzella, the president and CEO of top auto trade organization the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, in a media statement on Wednesday.

The new proposal, though intended to make new cars more affordable, won’t be a quick fix for consumers looking for price relief, analysts and environmental advocates say. “The regulatory landscape remains stop-and-start,” said Jessica Caldwell, the head of insights at Edmunds, in a media statement. The last Trump administration rolled back fuel economy standards, too. What might the next president do? Meanwhile, the administration continues to waffle on auto tariffs, which have forced US and global automakers to think about not only where their vehicles are manufactured but also where parts and base materials are made, too. That complexity adds expenses to automaking.

Also pushing up costs for automakers: the challenge of developing new technology like automated vehicle features and figuring out how to keep selling gas-powered vehicles to Americans while drivers in other countries take the leap to EVs. “Easing these requirements helps at the margins,” says Caldwell, “but it is unlikely to dramatically alter the broader commitments [automakers] have already made.”

The move, if finalized, could be better news for gas companies. “Weakening fuel economy standards won’t do much to make cars more affordable but is certain to make Americans buy a lot more gasoline,” says Albert Gore, the executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, a group that represents companies up and down the electric vehicle supply chain.

Vodafone Group (LSE:VOD) has quietly outperformed the wider market this year, with the share price up about 38% year to date and roughly 40% over the past year.

See our latest analysis for Vodafone Group.

That steady climb, including a roughly 10% 1 month share price return and a 39% 1 year total shareholder return, suggests momentum is building as investors warm to Vodafone Group’s operational reset and earnings recovery potential.

If Vodafone’s rebound has caught your eye, this could be a good moment to broaden your radar and discover fast growing stocks with high insider ownership.

But after such a sharp rerating, is Vodafone Group still trading at a meaningful discount to its long term value, or has the market already moved ahead and priced in the next leg of its recovery?

With the narrative fair value sitting at £0.90 versus a last close of £0.95, the current price leans ahead of those long term assumptions.

The analysts have a consensus price target of £0.858 for Vodafone Group based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of £1.36, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just £0.6.

Read the complete narrative.

Curious what kind of revenue climb, margin rebuild, and future earnings multiple are needed to back that view? The narrative hinges on bolder assumptions than you might expect.

Result: Fair Value of $0.90 (OVERVALUED)

Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what’s behind the forecasts.

However, Vodafone’s weak German performance and complex restructuring efforts could derail revenue growth and margin rebuild expectations if execution stumbles.

Find out about the key risks to this Vodafone Group narrative.

While the narrative fair value suggests Vodafone Group looks slightly overvalued, its 0.7x price to sales ratio looks far cheaper than both peers at 2.0x and its own 1.5x fair ratio. This hints the market may still be underestimating the turnaround.

See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown.

If this perspective does not quite align with your own, or you would rather dig into the numbers yourself, you can craft a personalised view in under three minutes, starting with Do it your way.

A great starting point for your Vodafone Group research is our analysis highlighting 3 key rewards and 2 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include VOD.L.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

BBC

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‘Established process’

(Bloomberg) — Asian equities looked set for a weak start after a lackluster session on Wall Street weighed on tech stocks and bonds and saw Bitcoin halt its rebound ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve decision.

Equity index futures for Japan and Hong Kong pointed to declines with stocks in Australia opening lower. US futures were little changed after the S&P 500 climbed 0.1% in the previous session. The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 4.1% on Thursday, the dollar fluctuated and Bitcoin dropped below $93,000.

The muted moves underscore that risk sentiment remained fragile even as the S&P 500 has rebounded in the past two weeks to be within 0.5% of its record closing high. Those gains partly reflected easing concerns over tech valuations and confidence among traders that the Fed will deliver a 25 basis point interest rate cut next week in its last meeting of the year.

Small-caps were a bright spot during the US session though. The Russell 2000 Index climbed 0.8% to a record high, in a sign gains in the stock market are broadening to companies more sensitive to economic growth.

“The key question hanging over markets is whether a potential Federal Reserve rate cut next week can trigger a so-called Santa rally,” said Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com. “For now, the S&P 500 forecast remains cautiously constructive, albeit with more hesitancy creeping in.”

Bets on a Fed reduction remained intact despite a slide in jobless claims — a noisy reading that captured the Thanksgiving period. Meta Platforms Inc. shares jumped 3.4% after people familiar with the matter said executives are considering budget cuts for the metaverse group.

MSCI Inc.’s gauge for Asian equities rose nearly 1% in the previous session, capping a third straight day of gains. Focus today will be on an interest-rate decision in India and data releases on household spending in Japan, inflation in the Philippines and Taiwan. Markets are closed in Thailand.

US government bonds were sold off on Thursday as data showed signs of resilience in the jobs market. Applications for US unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest in more than three years, indicating that employers are still largely holding onto workers despite a wave of recent layoffs. Separate data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed announced layoffs at US companies fell last month after surging in October, but were still the highest for any November in three years.

“Overall, the net takeaway from the data served to confirm the crosscurrents evident in the labor landscape,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.

Federal Reserve

Policymakers will not yet have the government’s November jobs report in hand for their meeting next week. The report, originally due Dec. 5, was delayed until Dec. 16 as a result of the record-long government shutdown. That release will also include October payrolls figures.

“There remain some negative payroll employment readings. But the US labor market is not collapsing based on timely data and reports that have leading indicator properties,” said Don Rissmiller at Strategas. “We continue to believe the Fed will cut the fed funds rate again by 25 basis points in December.”

While investors are largely betting policymakers will cut rates again, officials have rarely been so divided as many still prefer leaving rates elevated to keep inflation in check.

Before their meeting, Fed officials will get a dated reading on their preferred inflation gauge. On Friday, the September income and spending report — also delayed because of the government shutdown — is due to be released.

The figures will include the personal consumption expenditures price index and a core measure that excludes food and energy. Economists project a third-straight 0.2% increase in the core index. That would keep the year-over-year figure hovering just below 3%, a sign that inflationary pressures are stable, yet sticky.

“We continue to expect two rate cuts by the end of the first quarter of 2026, with Friday’s personal consumption expenditure index likely to show price pressures under control,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Corporate News

Australian data center group NextDC Ltd. and ChatGPT-developer OpenAI agreed to partner on the development of a large-scale data center in Sydney. NextDC’s shares jumped. The cloud-computing startup Fluidstack is in talks to raise roughly $700 million in a funding round that would value the company at $7 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. plans to team up with Morgan Stanley in asset management, deepening their 17-year partnership. Jane Street Group’s record haul this year has been boosted by savvy bets on the artificial intelligence boom that are showing up as big gains in its trading results, according to people familiar with the matter. China’s crackdown on borrowing by local governments is forcing state-run entities in even some of the wealthiest provinces to tap costly credit from non-bank lenders, a stopgap that’s building up risks in an opaque corner of the financial system. Nvidia Corp. would be barred from shipping advanced artificial intelligence chips to China under bipartisan legislation unveiled Thursday in a bid to codify existing US restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductors to the Chinese market. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 8:20 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures fell 0.2% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1642 The Japanese yen was little changed at 155.16 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0696 per dollar The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6607 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.1% to $92,300.2 Ether rose 0.5% to $3,139.49 Bonds

Australia’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.69% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Aptar today announced that it has been named one of America’s Most Responsible Companies 2026 by Newsweek for the seventh consecutive year. Aptar is ranked number 56 out of 600 U.S. companies.

“Being recognized by Newsweek for the seventh consecutive year underscores our strong commitment to sustainability as a responsible corporate citizen. Our leadership in sustainable solutions positions us at the forefront of industry transformation, enabling global brands to meet evolving customer and consumer expectations. We continue to invest in renewable energy, certify sites as landfill free, and develop innovative products that are more recyclable, reusable, refillable and incorporate sustainable materials. This is progress that strengthens our competitive advantage and creates long-term value for all stakeholders,” said Stephan B. Tanda, Aptar President and CEO.

In addition to the recognition by Newsweek, Aptar was recently recognized by Forbes as a World’s Top Companies for Women, one of the World’s Most Sustainable Companies by TIME and was also named to the CDP A-list for the fourth consecutive year.  

Aptar actively strives to create new opportunities through product innovation while respecting the planet. As an active member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBSCD) the company is working alongside other leaders to further actions towards a more circular economy. Aptar publishes an annual Sustainability Report and GRI Index to record and highlight its sustainability efforts.

Newsweek, in partnership with Statista, evaluated the top 2,000 largest public companies with U.S. headquarters by revenue, based on publicly available data encompassing the three pillars of ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) and a company perception study of 26,000 individuals. Both the survey and analysis evaluated over 30 key performance indicators (KPIs), including emissions, energy use, board diversity, as well as disclosure and transparency. The ranking represents the 600 U.S. companies with the highest overall CSR scores, across 14 industries.

The full list of America’s Most Responsible Companies 2026 by Newsweek can be found here.

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A US private equity firm has agreed to postpone a disputed deal to sell its stake in a large gas driller to one of its own funds, after a large Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund sued to block the transaction. 

Houston-based Energy & Minerals Group has consented to the delay of the planned sale of a 30 per cent stake in Ascent Resources, one of the largest private natural gas drillers in the US, to one of its sister funds after the Abu Dhabi Investment Council alleged the deal short-changed investors.

The lawsuit, reported exclusively by the Financial Times on Wednesday, asked for an emergency halt to EMG’s planned sale of its Ascent stake to a new so-called continuation fund managed by the PE group by the end of the year. The two parties agreed on Thursday morning to delay the transaction until at least late February, after it was vetted by a commercial arbiter, they said in a motion approved by a Delaware court. 

The dispute between the sovereign wealth fund, which is part of the $300bn investing giant Mubadala and EMG, an energy investor founded by John Raymond, son of longtime Exxon chief executive Lee Raymond, shone a further spotlight on the potential conflicts that can arise as PE groups resort to selling assets between funds to exit ageing investments. 

Abu Dhabi Investment Council accused EMG of forcing a “conflicted sale” of Ascent Resources at too low a valuation in an effort to “reap a massive benefit for themselves at the expense of ADIC and the other investors”.

The sovereign wealth fund objected to the price EMG was offering for Ascent Resources, which holds vast gas reserves in Ohio’s Utica shale. It also accused the PE group of using the fund-to-fund sale to reset performance fees on a deal it said was unlikely to generate lucrative “carried interest” fees, if it were sold to an independent buyer or taken public.

The lawsuit comes as many private equity investors and advisers have warned about the fraught nature of fund-to-fund deals, with PE groups acting as both the seller and the buyer in the transactions. Such deals have soared in popularity as private equity groups have struggled to find buyers for trillions of dollars in unsold assets. Continuation deals amounted to a record 19 per cent of all PE asset sales in the first half of 2025, the FT previously reported.

In addition to asking for an injunction against its continuation fund deal, the Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund is calling for EMG to run a full sale process for Ascent Resources, which it believes would have interest from strategic buyers or could be taken public. 

The sovereign fund declined to comment on ongoing litigation. EMG and its lawyers did not respond to emails seeking comment. 

Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek has released a mathematical reasoning model that can identify and correct its own errors. The model beat the best human score in one of the world’s most prestigious undergraduate maths competitions.

The model, DeepSeekMath-V2, scored 118 out of 120 points on questions from the 2024 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, beating the top human score of 90. The model also performed at the level of gold-medal winners in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2025 and the 2024 China Mathematical Olympiad. The results are described in a preprint¹ posted on arXiv on 27 November.

“We are at a point where AI is about as good at maths as a smart undergraduate student,” says Kevin Buzzard, a mathematician at Imperial College London. “It is very exciting.”

In February, AlphaGeometry 2, an AI problem solver created by Google DeepMind in London, also achieved a gold-level performance in the IMO. The feat was repeated in July by Gemini’s Deep Think, which is owned by DeepMind.

Reasoning over answers

Early approaches to training large language models for mathematical reasoning focused on the accuracy of final answers, the preprint authors write. But a correct answer does not guarantee correct reasoning. At times, a correct final answer might just be a result of a fortunate error. Moreover, an exclusive focus on the end result is not useful in proving mathematical laws or formulae, when the logical reasoning is more important than the final answer.

Tong Xie, a chemist specialising in AI-driven discoveries at UNSW Sydney in Australia, says the researchers behind DeepSeek, as well as those developing Gemini’s Deep Think, have been working on overcoming this problem by rewarding reasoning over the final answer.

DeepSeekMath-V2 introduces self-verifiable mathematical reasoning for the first time. The model consists of a verifier trained to evaluate mathematical proofs — which are built on a series of step-by-step deductions — to identify logical flaws and assign scores based on how rigorous the proof was. A meta-verification system then checks whether the verifier’s critiques are accurate, reducing the likelihood of hallucinations and improving trustworthiness. These components work with a proof generator that constructs solutions and evaluates its own work, refining arguments until no further issues can be found.

The design creates a feedback loop: the verifier improves the generator, and as the generator produces more-challenging proofs, these become new training data to strengthen the verifier.

The system was able to solve five out of six problems, scoring 83.3%, in the 2025 IMO. It was, however, unable to solve the hardest problems set in 2025 and in past IMOs.

Math-V2 relies on self-verification using natural language in the model itself, Xie says. This reduces human involvement and makes the model more cost-effective and scalable.

Gemini’s Deep Think, by contrast, verifies mathematical reasoning using an external, symbolic language called Lean, and its verification process requires extensive expert input. The method is nearly free of hallucination, but it is computationally expensive and resource-intensive, Xie says.