Genworth (GNW) Surges 9% as Firm Expects $750-Million Additional Cash
Genworth Financial saw its share prices rally by 8.99 percent on Friday to end at $8 apiece as investors cheered a UK court's favorable ruling to insurance giant AXA that could help the former recoup $750 million in cash payments.
The case stemmed from the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) before 2005 by GE Capital Bank, which was acquired by Santander in 2009, that resulted in AXA's losses related to more than 650,000 individual customer complaints about PPI policies.
AXA, which inherited the liabilities for its acquisition of two subsidiaries of Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE:GNW), paid almost 5700 million pounds worth of redress to consumers and compensated complaints.
The UK judge eventually ruled that AXA 'has a valid claim for an indemnity' against Santander in relation to the redress payments and ombudsman fees.
For its part, Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE:GNW) is entitled to receive $750 million as part of its agreement with AXA as soon as the latter recovers losses.
'Genworth plans to deploy any recoveries in line with our stated capital allocation priorities: investing in growth through CareScout, returning cash to shareholders through our buyback program, and opportunistically paying down debt,' the company said.
While we acknowledge the potential of GNW as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the .
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CNN
2 minutes ago
- CNN
The hottest stock on Wall Street is a cryptic company you've never heard of
Tech news Investing Stocks Corporate newsFacebookTweetLink Follow After a blowout quarterly earnings report this week, Palantir has become one of the buzziest (and most expensive) stocks on Wall Street. Shares of Palantir — which we'll shorthand as a 'data analytics firm,' even though that's not even the half of it — have been on a tear. This week, the company reported its first $1 billion in quarterly revenue, beating expectations. That came just a few days after news broke that Palantir had secured a $10 billion contract from the US Army over the next decade. The stock, which several analysts say is wildly overvalued (with a market cap valuing it at around 100 times its annual revenue), has shot up nearly 600% from a year ago. With a $420 billion market valuation, Palantir is now worth more than The Walt Disney Co. and American Express combined. And yet, few outside of tech and finance have heard of it. Even fewer could tell you, without Googling, what the company actually does. (And honestly, a quick Google search doesn't come close to capturing the scope and fundamental weirdness of this 20-year-old defense-contractor-slash-commercial-artificial-intelligence-software peddler.) This is what Palantir is, and why you should care. Let's start with the name, which helps explain what the company does: 'Palantir' refers to the 'seeing stones' from 'The Lord of the Rings.' They were essentially crystal balls used for communication and intelligence-gathering. In the most generous sense, that is what Palantir's data analytics tools do: Allow users — mostly military and government agencies, but also private-sector companies — to better visualize large datasets. It promises to use its software to sift through reams of information and identify trends and patterns. In practice, that means it's enabling a lot of surveillance. By its own admission, Palantir keeps a tight lip about its clients and their activities. But we know a few things: Palantir's tech is helping the Trump administration as it tries to build a database that includes detailed portraits of Americans, gathered from multiple federal agencies, the New York Times reported in May. (Palantir disputed that reporting and said it does not 'unlawfully' surveil Americans.) That news built on a CNN report that such a database would be deployed to speed up immigration enforcement and deportations. The LAPD's use of Palantir's tech has come under scrutiny for allowing the force to engage in racial profiling and mass surveillance, according to civil rights groups. It has helped the Israel Defense Forces strike targets in Gaza. Palantir reportedly helped track down Osama bin Laden. And it reportedly helped US public health officials track the spread of Covid-19 by synthesizing data coming from local hospitals, state governments and other sources. The company was founded as a private government contractor with a mission to 'prevent the next 9/11, without sacrificing American civil liberties,' co-founder Joe Lonsdale wrote in 2020. Other co-founders include current CEO Alex Karp (more on him in a moment) and Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire, longtime Trump supporter and conservative activist known especially among elder Millennials as the guy who who made it a personal mission to destroy critical media outlets like Gawker. In its early days, Palantir struggled to secure outside investors until the CIA-backed venture firm In-Q-Tel stepped in, becoming the startup's biggest single client at the time and helping turn it into one of the most valuable private companies in America. Since going public five years ago, Palantir has leaned into its government work, particularly with the Army. 'The company has become so deeply embedded in the Defense Department that some current and former Pentagon officials said they worried about becoming overdependent on a single contractor for their data-processing needs, not unlike how the government has come to rely on Elon Musk's SpaceX for most of its space-launch needs,' according to The Wall Street Journal. And President Donald Trump himself appears to be a fan. Last month, Trump thanked Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, among other tech leaders, at an AI conference in DC. 'We buy a lot of things from Palantir,' Trump said. 'Are we paying our bills? I think so.' Since Trump took office in January, Palantir has received more than $113 million in federal spending for work across the federal government, according to the Times. Palantir's shadowy vibes tend to be amplified by its CEO's quasi-messianic tendencies. 'Saving lives and on occasion taking lives is super interesting,' Karp told the Times last year. That echoed another comment from 2020, when he casually told Axios that Palantir's technology 'is used on occasion to kill people.' Karp is also known for his colorful language on earnings calls, fantasizing about spraying his critics with 'light fentanyl-laced urine,' in one instance. Investors don't seem to mind. 'Palantir is a mission-driven company, not for lip service's sake,' Gil Luria, the head of tech research at DA Davidson, told me. 'Dr. Karp — and he is quite vocal about this — believes that it's his goal to help protect Western civilization. And there are a lot of people that don't agree with that goal.' Some of those people include 13 of Palantir's former employees, who wrote a memo in May saying the company's founding principles have been 'violated.' Recalling the company's namesake, they wrote that the story of the seeing stones 'warned of great dangers when wielded by those without wisdom or a moral compass, as they could be used to distort truth and present selective visions of reality.' Palantir's leadership has 'abandoned its founding ideals,' including a commitment to transparency, free speech, privacy protections and ethical data practices, the letter said. 'By supporting Trump's administration, Elon Musk's DOGE initiative, and dangerous expansions of executive power, they have abandoned their responsibility.' Karp took a moment to dunk on his critics this week. 'This is a once in a generation, truly anomalous quarter,' he said. 'We're very proud. And we're sorry that our haters are disappointed.'
CNN
2 minutes ago
- CNN
Live updates: US tariffs up to 50% kick in worldwide, sparing few
Update: Date: Title: Stocks rise after tariffs go into effect Content: Markets continued to look past economists' warnings about higher tariffs' potential to jack up prices and slow the US economy. Instead, investors are continuing to cheer better-than-expected technology earnings, betting that the AI-fueled tech sector will continue to send stocks to new record highs. Dow futures rose 275 points, or 0.6%. The Dow is around 800 points away from a record high – the only major US index that hasn't yet hit an all-time high this year. S&P 500 futures were 0.9% higher and Nasdaq futures also rose 0.9%. Apple (AAPL) rose 3% in premarket trading after it committed another $100 billion in US manufacturing investment and secured an exemption from new tariffs on India – where it had shifted all of its US iPhone production. Apple also won't have to pay Trump's threatened 100% tariff on US semiconductors. The US dollar and bond yields remained mostly steady Thursday morning. The dollar has been falling throughout the year, as investors bet that tariffs will erode the world's trust in the United States as a safe place to invest. US bond yields had been on the rise, but they've fallen in recent days after last week's worse-than-expected economic news raised US recession fears on Wall Street. Update: Date: Title: Here's what could get more expensive from Trump's massive tariff hikes Content: President Donald Trump has said that tariffs won't lead to higher prices. But the United States economy seems to disagree: Inflation, which has remained fairly tame, is slowly creeping up because of tariffs. Trump's latest round of higher taxes on imports, which went into effect Thursday, will immediately make imported goods from impacted countries more expensive in the United States. The new tariffs will probably raise prices on: Electronics: Computers are among the top goods the United States imported last year, mostly from high-tariff nations, including China, Mexico, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia. Clothing: America buys much of its apparel from other countries. Top destinations include China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. Watches: Wristwatches are one of the top exports to the United States from Switzerland, which now has a 39% tariff. Shoes: China, Vietnam and Indonesia are top destinations where shoes are made and tariffs are set to start at a minimum of 19% for the three countries, come next week. Alcohol: Tariffs on goods from the European Union, a main supplier of alcoholic beverages, including wine, whiskey and vodka, rose to 15% Thursday. Furniture: Vietnam is the top source of imported furniture, followed by China. Toys: Mostly made in China and Vietnam. Toy brands have warned of higher prices. Update: Date: Title: Trump says he will place a 100% tariff on chips and semiconductors Content: President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he will soon be imposing a 100% tariff on all imported chips and semiconductors. 'We'll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors,' Trump said at an Oval Office event, speaking alongside Apple CEO Tim Cook. He did not say when a formal announcement would come or when any chip tariffs would take effect. Trump hinted at exemptions to the tariffs for companies that have begun the process of building new manufacturing facilities in the United States. 'If you're building in the United States of America, there's no charge, even though you're building and you're not producing yet in terms of the big numbers of jobs and all of the things that you're building,' he said. Trump's announcement comes just hours ahead of his self-imposed deadline for when a slew of new tariffs will be enacted on dozens of countries. Update: Date: Title: India's Modi says he will 'pay a heavy price' for not bowing to Trump trade threats Content: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi conceded Thursday that he may 'pay a heavy price' as he defended his decision not to bow to US trade threats and face steep tariffs as a result. 'For us, the interest of our farmers is our top priority. India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers. I know personally, I will have to pay a heavy price for it, but I am ready for it,' he said. Trump has been critical of what he sees as India's protectionist trade policies as well as its continued purchases of Russian oil. Goods from India are subject to a 25% tariff and could also be subject to an additional 25% tariff stacked on top of that because of an executive order Trump signed Wednesday that seeks to penalize India for purchasing oil from Russia. That second tariff is slated to take effect on August 27. Modi has been reluctant to cave to US demands to open up its economy to international competitors and halt Russian oil purchases. Some background: India's agricultural sector is a vital part of its economy, and concerns over fair prices have fueled mass protests, presenting a major challenge to Modi's government. In 2020 and 2021, Indian farmers demonstrated against three controversial farming laws, causing the legislations to be repealed. Update: Date: Title: More secondary sanctions for Russian oil buyers are coming, Trump says Content: US President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that more punishment was coming for countries buying Russian energy products after slapping a 25% tariff on India that is supposed to go into effect Thursday. 'You're going to see a lot more. So this is a taste,' he said in the Oval Office. 'You're going to see a lot more. You're going to see so much secondary sanctions.' The move is part of Trump's high-stakes effort to cripple Russia's economy over its war in Ukraine. He had set a Friday deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to make peace before imposing that economic punishment. Previous rounds of US sanctions, including under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, knocked Russia's economy but have not stopped Putin's war machine. The strategy marks an escalation in Trump's use of tariffs, his signature second-term weapon. He has previously used them to pursue a sprawling agenda, from protecting US manufacturing to pressuring foreign governments on policy. These 'secondary tariffs,' however, are being used to force third-party nations into a choice: sever ties with a US adversary or risk further penalties. The top purchaser of Russian energy is China, with which Trump is working to negotiate a new trade deal. US officials have described significant progress on those talks. But Trump did not rule out applying the new secondary sanctions on Beijing, despite the potential for scuttling the trade discussions. 'One of them could be China,' he said. 'It may happen. I don't know. I can't tell you yet.' Read the full story. Update: Date: Title: Asian markets resilient as Trump's unprecedented tariffs take effect Content: Markets across Asia showed resilience in early trading as the Trump administration's unprecedented worldwide tariffs took effect Thursday. Leading benchmark indexes in Japan (Nikkei) and South Korea (Kospi), countries that have both recently reached agreements with the US, saw moderate gains after opening Thursday. In China — which has yet to secure an extension to a trade truce with the US due to expire on August 12 — the Shanghai Composite saw slight gains, while the Shenzhen Composite saw a dip, after President Donald Trump floated the idea of additional tariffs focused on Russian crude oil purchases. On Wednesday, the White House imposed an additional 25% tariff on most Indian imports due to its purchase of Russian energy. Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng saw gains while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 recorded slight declines.
Forbes
2 minutes ago
- Forbes
Swiss Shock - Can Switzerland Reverse The 39% Tariff?
The imposition of a 39% tariff on Swiss exports to the US has been greeted with shock, despair and much ire in Switzerland – the main newspaper NZZ greeting the move as 'absurd'. Considerable offense was taken by the fact that the announcement came on the Swiss National holiday (August 1st). Equally, local business leaders and economists have been perplexed by the fact that the tariffs have been calculated on the back of a trade deficit that was skewed by the export of gold – the deficit is now a surplus. Equally, many of the goods that Switzerland exports to the US, do not have competitors there (Swiss chocolate, watches and more importantly specialized industrial goods which are used by the likes of Boeing). Neither is the Swiss franc a weak currency. There is also a feeling in Switzerland that its role on the international stage, and facilitator of American diplomacy (the Swiss embassy in Tehran has traditionally acted 'for' the US), has gone un-noticed. Swiss politics is normally a very staid affair but this episode has led to infighting across the spectrum, and considerable blame has been focused on the President of the government Council, Karin Keller-Sutter. As a result, the Swiss negotiating team that will return to Washington this week will have representation from the conservative SVP, and more officials from the trade and finance divisions. The Swiss case highlights the flaws in the methodology of the White House approach. While its economy is extremely resilient, the Swiss will not be able to suffer a 39% tariff lightly. Our sense is that the counterargument will centre around a re-framing of the trade relationship between the two countries, a re-evaluation of how Swiss industry in particular helps US firms, and an undertaking for Swiss industry to invest in the US. The hope here is that Switzerland ends up with an EU style deal, of tariffs of 15%, and a somewhat empty promise to invest 'billions' into the US. From a diplomatic point of view, given that the Swiss had traditionally been so helpful to US interests, this is an own-goal by the White House. At the time of writing, there is no indication at all as to whether this episode pushes Switzerland closer to the EU (in terms of trade – there is no question of Switzerland joining the EU). For its part, the EU is still trying to get the White House to agree the wording of deal reached in Scotland – there is ongoing lobbying from the spirits industry in Europe, not to mention the auto manufacturers. The deal is not yet watertight and needs to be implemented by individual members. There is still uncertainty over the threats to place specific tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals firms based in Europe next week (Ireland in particular) and the USD 600bn that is supposed to be invested by European firms in the US. If sector specific tariffs are severe the backlash to the deal could grow and there is rising chance that it could fall apart.
