Category: 3. Business

(Bloomberg) — Oil markets were in focus following President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as traders weighed the potential implications for regional stability and energy flows.

Crude oil held steady after Monday’s gain, as Trump said he began arranging a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy. Asian stocks may struggle for direction at the open after the S&P 500 closed little changed. The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points on Monday, while the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index added 0.2%.

Intel Corp. slid the most in more than three weeks on reports the Trump administration may take a 10% stake. SoftBank Group said it will invest $2 billion in Intel common stock.

West Texas Intermediate traded near $63 a barrel after rising 1% in the previous session. Talks on ending the war have ramped up recently, injecting uncertainty into the market. Oil is more than 10% lower this year due to concerns about the fallout from US trade policies and the outlook for oversupply.

Trump called Putin and urged the Russian leader to begin making plans for a summit with Zelenskiy, after meeting the Ukrainian president and European leaders at the White House on Monday.

The proposal — which Trump pitched as a one-on-one summit between Ukraine and Russia’s leaders that would be followed by a trilateral gathering involving all three — represented the latest turn in the US president’s push to broker a quick end to a conflict that has lasted over three years.

Also, a big week is coming up as the Federal Reserve’s annual Economic Policy Symposium kicks off Thursday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The event in the Grand Teton mountains has been used by Fed chairs as a venue for making crucial policy announcements.

Jerome Powell is expected on Friday to unveil the Fed’s new policy framework — the strategy it’ll use to achieve its inflation and employment goals. He may also drop some hints about the Fed’s thinking ahead of its September policy meeting.

“For now, the market appears to be betting that signs of labor-market weakness will outweigh inflation risk in the Fed’s rate-cutting debate,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.

Powell’s Jackson Hole speech will be the focal point this week, with the nature of the debate shifting from whether the Fed will cut rates to how much and how quickly, according to Jason Pride and Michael Reynolds at Glenmede.

“The stars are aligning for a September rate cut; inflation remains relatively restrained and the labor market is beginning to show early signs of weakness,” they said.

Bond markets have been tempted to think it’s already a lock. Two-year Treasury yields have plunged this month as traders swung toward pricing in a quarter-point reduction in September.

Those bets took off after the unexpectedly bad July employment report, which also revised payrolls for the prior months downward. And they’ve only been dialed back slightly in the light of last week’s inflation surprise.

“If the Fed is going to cut next month, expect hints out of this week’s Jackson Hole Symposium,” said Scott Wren at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

Interest-rate swaps show a roughly 80% chance that the Fed will lower rates next month by 25 basis points, with two cuts fully priced in by the end of the year.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 8:34 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures rose 0.1% S&P/ASX 200 futures fell 0.3% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1663 The Japanese yen was little changed at 147.97 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1877 per dollar The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6490 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 0.1% to $116,303.22 Ether fell 0.2% to $4,324.84 Bonds

Australia’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.30% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $63.32 a barrel Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Rob Verdonck.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

TOKYO & SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984, “SoftBank”) and Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) today announced their signing of a definitive securities purchase agreement, under which SoftBank will make a $2 billion investment in Intel common stock.

The investment comes as both Intel and SoftBank deepen their commitment to investing in advanced technology and semiconductor innovation in the United States.

Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., said:

“Semiconductors are the foundation of every industry. For more than 50 years, Intel has been a trusted leader in innovation. This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role.”

Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel, said:

“We are very pleased to deepen our relationship with SoftBank, a company that’s at the forefront of so many areas of emerging technology and innovation and shares our commitment to advancing U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership. Masa and I have worked closely together for decades, and I appreciate the confidence he has placed in Intel with this investment.”

Under the terms of the agreement, SoftBank will pay $23 per share of Intel common stock. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

SoftBank’s investment in Intel builds upon its long-term vision of enabling the AI revolution by accelerating access to advanced technologies that support digital transformation, cloud computing, and next-generation infrastructure.

About SoftBank Group

The SoftBank Group invests in breakthrough technology to improve the quality of life for people around the world. The SoftBank Group is comprised of SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984), an investment holding company that includes stakes in AI, smart robotics, IoT, telecommunications, internet services, and clean energy technology providers, as well as a majority stake in Arm, which is building the future of computing; and the SoftBank Vision Funds, which are investing to help transform industries and shape new ones. To learn more, please visit https://group.softbank/en.

About Intel

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) is an industry leader, creating world-changing technology that enables global progress and enriches lives. Inspired by Moore’s Law, we continuously work to advance the design and manufacturing of semiconductors to help address our customers’ greatest challenges. By embedding intelligence in the cloud, network, edge and every kind of computing device, we unleash the potential of data to transform business and society for the better. To learn more about Intel’s innovations, go to newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements related to the proposed transaction between Intel and SoftBank, including statements regarding the benefits and the timing of the transaction. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “project,” “predict,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “would” and “will” and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management’s expectations as of the date they were first made and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, uncertainties as to the timing of the consummation of the transaction and the potential failure to satisfy the conditions to the consummation of the transaction, including the expiration or termination of any applicable waiting periods, and the receipt of any required approvals, under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976; inability to realize expected benefits of the transaction; litigation related to the transaction or otherwise; potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the transaction; and other risks detailed in Intel’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including those discussed in Intel’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in any subsequent periodic reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, each of which is on file with or furnished to the SEC and available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. SEC filings for Intel are also available on Intel’s Investor Relations website at www.intc.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were first made. Unless otherwise required by applicable law, Intel and SoftBank undertake no obligation and do not intend to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250818389477/en/

Intel Media Relations

Sophie Metzger

sophie.metzger@intel.com

Softbank Group

sbpr@softbank.co.jp

Source: Intel Corporation

Released Aug 18, 2025 • 7:10 PM EDT

David Cameron’s “bonfire of the quangos” decision to abolish England’s council spending watchdog has left a broken system that is costing taxpayers more money than it was promised to save.

In a highly critical report, academics at the University of Sheffield said the coalition government of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had promised savings of £100m a year by abolishing the Audit Commission.

However, replacing the public body with a private-sector model had resulted in “chaos” and soaring costs to audit councils amid the financial crisis hitting England’s town halls.

Several councils have declared effective bankruptcy linked to years of austerity, soaring costs amid pressure on services, as well as local missteps. They include Birmingham, Nottingham and Woking.

The Audit Reform Lab at Sheffield said the average cost of external auditors checking a local authority’s finances was now at least £50,000 higher in cash terms than when the Audit Commission was disbanded in 2015.

Private-sector accountancy firms took over the job of auditing local government accounts in England after the agency was abolished, in an austerity-driven push by Tory and Lib Dem ministers to find savings and efficiencies.

“Ten years on, however, it now seems clear that these reform ambitions have failed,” the authors of the report wrote.

“Only 1% of audits were delivered on time in 2022-23, with many audits delayed by several years. Audit costs have risen dramatically in response. An unwieldy, but ultimately operational centralised bureaucracy was replaced by market chaos. The £100m per annum savings heralded by the UK government in 2014 are now a distant memory.”

The report found that average audit costs in England had more than tripled – an average increase of 238% – in the year to 2023-24. It blamed most of this increase on private-sector auditors hiking their rates.

It compared the large rise in audit costs in England to much smaller increases in Scotland and Wales, where it said there was a much stronger level of central oversight of private-sector auditing.

Some of the biggest increases were at financially stricken councils, including a 620% rise in audit fees at Woking, as well as leaps of 470% at Runnymede and 450% at Spelthorne.

In total 13 councils had fee scale increases of 300% or more in 2022-23. Birmingham city council paid an audit fee above the £1m mark, representing a 314% increase. The councils were approached for comment.

Three auditors dominate the local audit market: EY, Grant Thornton and Forvis Mazars. Others including Deloitte and BDO have exited because profit margins are considered too low, while complexity and risks have risen.

EY and Grant Thornton declined to comment. A spokesperson for Forvis Mazars said: “We are working closely with all stakeholders including MHCLG [Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government] and remain committed to supporting the return to the delivery of good quality audits for local authorities.”

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While audit costs have risen sharply, so has the complexity of checking council finances at a time when growing numbers of local authorities are running into severe financial difficulties.

Experts have also long warned local audit fees have been too low to attract accountancy firms to do the job, compared with the money available in private-sector auditing.

In 2020, an independent review by Sir Tony Redmond found fees were “at least 25% lower than required to fulfil current local audit requirements effectively”.

The breakdown in local audit reached crisis point two years ago when only 1% of English councils had their 2022-23 accounts signed off in time. Ministers then allowed accounts to be completed with qualifications – whereby an auditor signs off but expresses reservations – to clear the backlog.

A new Local Audit Office is also being established to centralise previously fragmented oversight of the process.

An MHCLG spokesperson said: “We have taken decisive action to restore the broken audit system, providing £49m to help councils clear backlogs – but we know there is more to do. This is why we will set up a new Local Audit Office to simplify the system and increase capacity by establishing public sector audit provision.

“This will ensure the local audit system provides accountability, transparency, and value for money for taxpayers.”

Runnymede council said it was on a sound financial footing and did not recognise the fees quoted in the Audit Reform Lab report.