Microsoft Quarterly Earnings to Fall Short of Analyst Estimates

So spake Microsoft finance chief Amy Hood (Duke University economics graduate and Harvard MBA, ex Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Associate), and the stock slid 6.2%. Goldman Sachs described the company as "well positioned" to benefit from AI adoption. Mizuho said Microsoft was one of its top picks for 2025.

HSBC Winding up Investment Banking in Europe

HSBC is winding down M&A and equities in the UK, Europe and Americas, accelerating a move to cut costs and a shift to Asia, led by CEO Georges Elhedery (appointed September 2024, and who holds a postgraduate qualification in Statistics and Economics from ENSAE). HSBC will keep debt capital markets and leveraged acquisition finance globally.

Trump Tariffs on Mexico Could Hit Electronics

Nvidia has invested in Mexico, assembling its GB200 NVL72 server racks through a Foxconn factory in Guadalajara. Foxconn is part of the Taiwanese Hon Hai Technology Group founded by Terry Gou in 1974. Mexico is the second biggest source of electronics imports to the US after China. Chinese manufacturers like Lenovo and Hisense have also opened factories in Mexico in recent years.

Greenland Holds Promise of Rare Earths

Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark, is being eyed by the United States as a source of rare earths that could reduce reliance on China. It has the world's eighth largest store of rare earths. It also has supplies of key energy transition metals like lithium and cobalt. While Greenland has oil and gas deposits, new drilling for these resources is banned. Three quarters of the land is covered by ice sheet.

Palantir Stock is Too High

This is the view of Morgan Stanley analyst Sanjit Singh and the stock price seems to be support this. Palantir has a platform called Foundry for big data analytics.

MetLife Expands Asset Management

The asset management arm of MetLife which manages $600bn in assets is buying PineBridge Invesments from Pacific Century Group (with interests in TMT and real estate) owned by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li in a deal worth up to $1.2bn. Exclusions include PineBridge's private equity funds group and a joint venture in China named Huatai-PineBridge.

Nissan and Honda in Merger Talks

The potential tie-up between Honda and Nissan is aimed at taking on Chinese rivals like BYD who are increasingly dominating the EV car market.