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A person walks by a Verizon store on January 23, 2024 in Corte Madera, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesVerizon added more wireless subscribers than expected in the third quarter as the U.S. telecom giant's promotional offers and plans bundling 5G with streaming services like Netflix helped attract customers.Growing adoption of the company's myPlan, a customizable offering that includes streaming perks such as Disney+, Hulu and Max for an extra cost, has helped Verizon stay resilient in the competitive U.S. telecom market.The company added 239,000 net monthly bill-paying wireless phone subscribers in the September quarter, compared with expectations of 218,100 additions, according to FactSet. It posted 148,000 additions for the June quarter.Postpaid phone churn, or the number of c...

The headquarters of the Norges Bank, Norway's central bank, in Oslo, Norway, on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesNorway's gigantic sovereign wealth fund on Tuesday reported third-quarter profit of 835 billion Norwegian kroner ($76.3 billion).The so-called Government Pension Fund Global, one of the world's largest investors, said it had a value of 18.870 trillion kroner at the end of September.The results come shortly after Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, warned that elevated uncertainty and a "completely different geopolitical situation" meant there were now more risks to global stocks.Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, was established in the 1990s to invest the surplus revenues o...

Aaron P | Bauer-Griffin | GC Images | Getty ImagesHSBC on Tuesday unveiled a new geographic setup and consolidated its operations into four business units, amid a key overhaul that delivered the lender's first female finance chief.The bank's shares were flat in early London trade Tuesday. The U.K.-listed stock is up more than 6% over the year-to-date.As part of the restructuring outlined in regulatory filings with the Hong Kong bourse, HSBC plans to divide its operations between an "Eastern markets" branch, reuniting Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, along with a "Western markets" division, comprising the non-ringed-fenced U.K. bank, the continental European business and the Americas.Chinese insurer Ping An, HSBC's largest shareholder with a more-than-9% stake, has previously campaigned fo...

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the BRICS Business Forum in Moscow, Russia October 18, 2024. Alexander Zemlianichenko | Via ReutersRussia is rolling out the red carpet to its geopolitical allies as it hosts the latest BRICS summit on Tuesday, pushing its agenda to create a "new world order" that challenges the West.The group was initially comprised of Brazil, Russia, India and China before South Africa joined in 2010, giving the organization of rapidly economically-developing nations its current name. It has since morphed into a geopolitical forum for the world's most powerful nations outside of the West.The BRICS now have additional clout after Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined the group in January, with membership to the bloc becoming an attractive prospe...

Buy now, pay later firms like Klarna and Block's Afterpay could be about to face tougher rules in the U.K.Nikolas Kokovlis | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesLONDON — More startups are being spun out of Swedish digital payments firm Klarna than any other financial technology unicorn in Europe, according to a new report from venture capital firm Accel.Accel's "Fintech Founder Factory" report shows that alumni from Klarna have gone on to create a total of 62 new startups, including the likes of Swedish lending technology firm Anyfin, regulatory compliance platform Bits Technology and AI-powered coding platform Pretzel AI.That is more than any other venture-backed fintech startup worth $1 billion or more in the region.This includes the digital banking app Revolut, whose former employees have founded 49...

The S & P 500 will serve up a minuscule return over the next decade that falls far short of the booming gains from the last decade, forecasts Goldman Sachs' equity strategy team, citing today's high concentration in just a few stocks and a lofty starting valuation. The broad market index will produce an annualized nominal total return of just 3% the next 10 years, according to the team led by David Kostin, which would rank in just the 7th percentile of 10-year returns since 1930. The S & P 500 returned 13% annually the last 10 years, above the long-term average of 11%, according to Goldman. Goldman's bearish long-term forecast comes just as the S & P 500 has entered the third year of a bull market, garnering a 27% annual total return the last two years. Investors are extremely ...