Latest news with #MikeBird
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Former Walsall Council leader returns to top job
A former leader of Walsall Council has returned to the position, a year after he resigned from the Bird stepped down from leading the Conservative-run council in June 2024 after being suspended from the new leader was confirmed on Tuesday after councillor Garry Perry, who succeeded Bird as leader, resigned himself from the role over what he described as "a campaign of political attrition, deliberate undermining and personal hostility".Bird said the council had been through "turbulent times" in recent weeks and thanked Perry at the meeting. Bird, who represents Pheasey Park Farm, has led Walsall Council six times."We must unite as a council no matter what political party you are," he told councillors."Tonight I feel like the osprey that has returned back to its nest and I am very grateful for that."The Conservatives have a majority on Walsall Council with 37 elected councillors. Perry resigned with immediate effect on 21 May, saying the borough deserved better "than the behaviour it is currently being subjected to behind closed doors."In his statement, he added: "I have been subjected to a sustained campaign of political attrition, deliberate undermining and personal hostility — not because of failure or wrongdoing but because I refused to play the game of patronage and self-preservation." Councillors welcomed Bird back to the Aftab Nawaz, leader of the Walsall independent group, said: "The way you were removed from council was an affront to democracy in this chamber."We had people from outside deciding who would [run] this council and that is never good."Councillor Matt Ward, leader of the Labour group, asked Bird if he would investigate the "serious allegations" around bullying made by new leader said: "I will speak to Garry, I have no knowledge of where his bullying came from, it certainly wasn't from me."The Conservative Party has been approached for a response. Follow BBC Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Economist
22-05-2025
- Business
- Economist
How Walmart caught up with Amazon
Two decades ago, Walmart was on top of the world. The business model of cheap prices and giant big-box stores, pioneered by founder Sam Walton (pictured), had delivered a market share that no other American retail chain could touch. Then e-commerce arrived in the shape of a formidable new competitor—Amazon. Yet despite being written off at the time by pundits and investors as a retail dinosaur, Walmart has quietly reinvented itself as a tech company. Now it's fast closing the gap on Amazon, and its huge presence in the physical world may even give it the edge on its online rival. Hosts: Mike Bird and Ethan Wu. Guests: Avantika Chilkoti, The Economist 's global business writer; Dan Bartlett, Walmart's Executive Vice President for Corporate Affairs; Suresh Kumar, Walmart's Chief Technology Officer; and Simeon Gutman, retail analyst at Morgan Stanley.
Forbes
17-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How This High-Yield Bond Fund Sailed Through The April Crash
Calculations and economic analysis of macroeconomic indicators in the long run. Forecast of global ... More recession and recession in the global economy. Graphs and charts illustrating income and expenses and US dollar bills About a month ago, Mike Bird, the Wall Street editor for The Economist, tweeted (or 'X-ed,' I guess I should say) the following: 'You have to concede that there would be a form of stupid, ridiculous beauty in the S&P 500 closing completely flat for April.' And, well, after all the drama we saw in April, that's pretty much where we landed. I once met Mike for coffee, and he's a friendly, intelligent person, so it's easy for me to agree with him here: Yes, the market behaved stupidly in April, starting with the tariff selloff and ending with the first hints of a deal with China (with various back-and-forth moves on tariffs in between). But there's a lot we can learn from that wild month. Let's look at three things that stand out, especially for those of us who aim to invest for high income and a 'dividend-driven' retirement. While stocks have struggled to get into the green this year (and mightily in April!), corporate bonds are up: The benchmark for corporates, the SPDR Bloomberg High-Yield Bond ETF (JNK), has returned a little more than 2% year to date as I write this. We, of course, prefer to buy bonds through closed-end funds (CEFs), for two reasons: A good example is the PGIM Global High Yield Fund (GHY), which we added to the CEF Insider portfolio in late January. It's outperformed the S&P 500 since, as of this writing. GHY Outperforms Why is GHY beating stocks? The CEF invests in corporate bonds, whose big yields have held up, thanks to the Fed keeping rates higher. That's letting GHY sustain its 9.7% dividend and attract more investors, especially since defaults have remained low among US and global companies. It's a good example of how we can blunt the effect a stock-market crash on our portfolios by investing elsewhere. And of course (and maybe more important!) we diversify our income stream, too. Let's talk about that next. GHY, as mentioned, yields 9.7%, or about $80.83 per month per $10,000 invested. That's a lot more than the $10.25 per month you'd get from an S&P 500 index fund. The typical index fund's tiny income stream means that if an investor needed to sell stocks to fund their needs in April, they faced a much higher risk of being forced to do so at a loss. That's not the case with GHY, with its 9.7% payout. Hence the month was an opportunity for GHY buyers, especially those who bought more when GHY sold off at the start of April. The market also, of course, gets it wrong and overshoots to the downside all the time. That mispricing is something we can pounce on. Yet again, GHY is an example here. When we added it to the CEF Insider portfolio in January, it was trading at a 3.25% discount to NAV. Now it is trading around par and has moved solidly into premium territory a number of times since our buy. As more investors diversify away from stocks and find streams of income to tide them over amidst uncertainty, I expect GHY to see a healthy premium yet again. Michael Foster is the Lead Research Analyst for Contrarian Outlook. For more great income ideas, click here for our latest report 'Indestructible Income: 5 Bargain Funds with Steady 8.6% Dividends.' Disclosure: none
Economist
15-05-2025
- Business
- Economist
Lessons from the US-China trade war
America and China have agreed to a 90-day truce of their month-long trade war, but the economic uncertainty has not yet ended. Beyond tariffs, the spat had begun spilling over into other areas, with China imposing a ban on the export of critical minerals designed to hobble American industries. Could global supply chains and financial systems be weaponised in a similar way? If so, could such actions further fragment the global economy to everyone's detriment? And what would stop economic warfare escalating into full-blown military conflicts? Hosts: Mike Bird and Ethan Wu. Guests: Edward Fishman of the Center on Global Energy Policy and Columbia University, and author of 'Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare'; and Dan Wang, research fellow at Stanford's Hoover History Lab and author of 'Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer th e Future'.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitcoin Tops $97K, Strategy Hits 2025 High Ahead of Earnings Amid Capital Raise Speculation
The panic that ensued following President Trump's Liberation Day tariff announcements continues to fade, with bitcoin (BTC) and major U.S. stock averages surging anew. Bitcoin at press time was trading just above $97,000 for the first time in nearly ten weeks, up 3.3% over the past 24 hours and ahead 14% since Liberation Day. With a 2% gain today, the Nasdaq is now higher by about 1% since then. Ahead 1% today, the S&P 500 has returned to its level just prior to that early April event. 'You know there's a guy out there living a life of zen-like contemplation in a cabin somewhere, refusing to check the news, who assesses his portfolio on a monthly basis and has no reason to believe that anything happened in April,' Mike Bird, Wall Street editor at The Economist, posted on X. After plunging about 55% from its November record high to as low as $235 in mid-April, Strategy (MSTR) is particularly enjoying the rebound, hitting a new year-to-date high just above $400 minutes ago. Some are urging caution. "They don't usually ring a bell at the top," wrote Lekker Capital founder Quinn Thompson in response to Bitwise's Jeff Park's post celebrating MSTR's longest winning streak since November 2023. Strategy posts first quarter results after the market close on Thursday and the company notably used up the last of its $21 billion at-the-market common share sale program with its most recent bitcoin purchases last week. Might the company announce a fresh mammoth equity offering to add even more to its $53 billion bitcoin stack? Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has hinted at maybe something in the works, urging his X followers to tune into the earnings call. Thompson has mulled the same, expecting Saylor to "one up" the company's earlier offerings. Sign in to access your portfolio
