Investing.com — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified Tuesday that any potential government investment in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) would aim to stabilize the chipmaker rather than artificially boost its business.
When asked about reports suggesting the U.S. government might take a 10% stake in Intel, Bessent told CNBC: “The last thing we’re going to do is take a stake and then try to drum up business. The stake would be a conversion of the grants and maybe increase the investment into Intel to help stabilize the company for chip production here in the U.S. There’s no talk of trying to force companies to buy from Intel.”
Bessent did not provide specific details about the size or timing of any potential U.S. government stake in the company.
His comments came just one day after SoftBank (TYO:9984) Group agreed to invest $2 billion in Intel, which has faced challenges competing in the market following years of management missteps.
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The stock market’s run to all-time highs after a dreadful spring sell-off has many on the Street feeling good about equities. Others take a darker view. Wells Fargo said Friday it sees the S & P 500 running as high as 6,600 in 2025. Citigroup earlier this month also raised its year-end target on the benchmark to 6,600, while Oppenheimer in late July bumped its forecast all the way to 7,100. To be fair, there are good reasons to be optimistic. As CNBC’s Michael Santoli pointed out in his Saturday column, the IPO market is showing signs of strength, credit spreads are tight and expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts are sky high. But not everyone is optimistic. RBC’s Lori Calvasina, for example, thinks further gains may be harder to come by. .SPX YTD mountain SPX year to date “We continue to think the summer rally in the S & P 500 has generally made sense from a sentiment perspective, but is also starting to run out of room from that angle,” the bank’s head of U.S. equity strategy wrote Tuesday. Calvasina highlighted that the current rebound began more than 90 trading days ago. “Note that the rebounds of 2010, 2011, 2016, and 2022 all lost momentum around this point in time,” she said. “As of August 15th, the 2025 rebound has been most closely correlated with the rebound off the Dec-2018 low. Now is right around when that rebound took a breather, with a 7% drawdown between late April and early June of 2019.” Other issues are plaguing the market as well, including a high valuation and massive concentration in a few megacap tech names. “Mindful of this valuation pressure, along with the tendency of September and October to be tough months for S & P 500 performance in recent years, and the sudden deterioration in [American Association of Individual Investors] net bullishness, we remain on guard for choppy conditions in the balance of the year,” said Calvasina. Calvasina has a 6,250 target on the S & P 500, which implies downside of 3.1% from Monday’s close.
The boss of the flexible office company IWG played down a 17% drop in its share price on Tuesday as “not rational”, arguing that economic uncertainty around the world is supporting demand for hybrid workspace.
IWG, which owns the Spaces and Regus brands, said its adjusted profit rose by 6% to $262m (£194m) for its first half of the year, but its shares plunged after it told investors it expected adjusted profit to end 2025 at the lower end of previous guidance of $525m-$565m.
Mark Dixon, the IWG chief executive, who owns 25% of the £1.9bn business, has seen the value of his personal stake drop by £96m.
“It is a strange reaction on the share price. It looks like it is machines selling … it is not rational,” he told the Guardian.
IWG has been growing at speed in recent years, after the pandemic revolutionised working patterns and demand for flexible office space. However, economic uncertainty is now the main driver behind demand, according to Dixon.
“It is a pretty volatile world out there,” he said. “In the UK, it is a difficult economy … companies need to keep flexible and have no [capital expenditure] as you don’t know what the economy has got to hold.
“It is globally similar. Even for Americans it is very volatile, people are acting in a conservative way.”
IWG had 220,000 rooms open across its portfolio in the first half, up 43% compared with the same period last year. It also announced a new share buy-back target of at least $130m for 2025, up from an earlier goal of $100m.
Prior to the fall on Tuesday, IWG shares had risen by more than 40% since the start of the year. The stock is still up by 19% in the year to date.
Last year IWG, which is headquartered in Switzerland, faced pressure from one of its leading shareholders to swap its London stock market listing for the US. Dixon added that such a move was not currently a priority was something that was considered “from time to time”.
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“If there is a better multiple and more liquidity we may consider it,” he said.
IWG is one of the biggest office space providers in the world. Dixon has been chief executive of the business since he struggled to find an office to rent for his own business in Brussels in 1989.
Investing.com — Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) shares edged higher Tuesday following results from Viking Therapeutics’ Phase 2 VENTURE-Oral Dosing trial for its oral obesity treatment.
Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) rose 1.4% premarket, while Eli Lilly gained 1.2%. Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) plunged over 30% in premarket trading.
The trial tested Viking’s oral tablet VK2735, a dual GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonist, and met its primary endpoint, with patients losing up to 12.2% of body weight after 13 weeks versus 1.3% for placebo.
However, a 28% treatment discontinuation rate among VK2735 recipients raised concerns, compared with 18% in the placebo group.
Viking said 99% of gastrointestinal-related adverse events were mild or moderate, and an exploratory maintenance dosing arm indicated weight loss could be maintained at lower doses.
Mizuho analyst Jared Holz said the data highlighted challenges relative to Eli Lilly’s offerings.
“Data look inferior to LLY on almost all metrics and the thing to consider here is that patients discontinued at such a high rate over 13-weeks vs. LLY in the mid 20% range — but over 72-weeks; a much longer trial, and therefore LLY looks far better head-to-head,” Holz wrote.
He added that Viking would likely need pipeline improvements or enhanced formulations to regain investor interest.
“A tough day for retail investors ahead – that have been pumping this thing like a 1991 Reebok Dee Brown,” concluded Holz.
The results underscore the competitive pressure in the oral obesity market.
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Honda Atlas Cars Limited (HCAR), a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., has confirmed the launch of a hybrid car in Pakistan. The upcoming model will feature Honda Sensing, the company’s advanced driver-assistance system.
Announcement at AGM
The news was shared by HCAR President and CEO Masaya Wakuda during the company’s annual general meeting (AGM). Addressing shareholder concerns, Wakuda noted Honda’s global leadership in hybrid technology, particularly in the United States. He assured that expertise is now being brought to Pakistan.
Wakuda highlighted that the hybrid model will combine eco-friendly performance with enhanced safety features. Honda Sensing will provide drivers with advanced safety and assistance functions, aligning with international standards.
Growing Competition in the Hybrid Market
The announcement comes as competition in Pakistan’s hybrid segment grows stronger. Recently, Toyota Pakistan announced a $100 million investment in hybrid technology. With this move, Toyota is positioning itself as an early leader in the market.
During the AGM, shareholders raised concerns about the government’s decision to allow second-hand car imports up to five years old. HCAR’s chairman explained that such imports are allowed under specific conditions. However, he cautioned that the policy could raise prices of reconditioned cars while increasing government revenue.
HCAR also confirmed that Pakistan’s existing Automobile Policy will stay valid until June 2026. This provides regulatory clarity for automakers and investors in the local market.
The UK government has dropped its insistence that Apple allows law enforcement officials “backdoor” access to US customer data, Donald Trump’s spy chief, Tulsi Gabbard, says.
The US director of national intelligence posted the claim on X following a months-long dispute embroiling the iPhone manufacturer, the UK government and the US president. Trump had weighed in to accuse Britain of behaving like China, telling the prime minister, Keir Starmer: “You can’t do this”.
Neither the Home Office nor Apple are commenting on the alleged agreement, which Gabbard said meant the UK was no longer demanding that Apple “provide a ‘backdoor’ that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties”.
The transatlantic row began when the Home Office issued a “technical capability notice” to Apple under the Investigatory Powers Act, which requires companies to assist law enforcement in providing evidence. Apple responded by launching a legal challenge, which the Home Office demanded be kept secret but judges ordered be made public.
The US vice-president, JD Vance, also complained saying: “I don’t want American citizens to be spied on.” He said it was “crazy” that “we’re creating a backdoor in our own technology networks that our enemies are now using”.
Civil liberties groups cautioned that the backdoor would put politicians, campaigners and minority groups at particular risk of being targeted.
In February, Apple responded by withdrawing the option for its new British customers to enable advance data protection options, saying it was “deeply disappointed” and would never build a backdoor into any of its products. That meant, uniquely, many UK customers were unable to benefit from end-to-end encryption of services, including the iCloud Drive, photos, notes or reminders, making them more vulnerable to data breaches.
Gabbard said: “Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside President Trump and Vice-President Vance, to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected.”
It is not clear whether the technical capability notice requiring the data access would be withdrawn altogether or altered. It could in theory be limited to allowing access to the data only of UK citizens, although experts cautioned that could be technologically unrealistic. It also raises the danger that other foreign governments could still find a way to use the backdoor.
Neither is it clear whether Apple will be able to offer new UK customers access to its highest levels of data protection again.
The Home Office refused to confirm Gabbard’s claim, saying: “We do not comment on operational matters, including confirming or denying the existence of such notices. We have long had joint security and intelligence arrangements with the US to tackle the most serious threats, such as terrorism and child sexual abuse, including the role played by fast-moving technology in enabling those threats.”
It added: “Those arrangements have long contained safeguards to protect privacy and sovereignty: for example the data access agreement includes critical safeguards to prevent the UK and US from targeting the data of each other’s citizens. We will continue to build on those arrangements and we will also continue to maintain a strong security framework to ensure that we can continue to pursue terrorists and serious criminals operating in the UK. We will always take all actions necessary at the domestic level to keep UK citizens safe.”
The UK-US data access agreement allows UK agencies to submit requests for content of communications directly to communications service providers, including social media platforms and messaging services, in the US, but this must be for the purpose of investigating, preventing, detecting, and prosecuting serious crime, officials said.
