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Europe
BBC Business

Twitch users outraged as Amazon uses their content to train AI in opt-out feature

Twitch has been criticised by users after it emerged the popular streaming platform allowed their content to be used to train Amazon's AI models. Amazon owns Twitch and a setting allowing the US tech giant to take data generated by creators and audiences to train AI is turned on by default. Users can opt out of that, Twitch said on Wednesday, external, but the announcement sparked a backlash with some users questioning why it was allowed in the first place. Twitch's chief product officer Mike Minton, said it was "respecting" users by letting them opt out but on why data was collected by default, he admitted: "If it's opt-in, nobody would opt-in. That's the honest answer." Users who remain opted in could have any of their channel content used for training, Minton said during a livestream, adding that the data collected will not be re-sold to other companies. In Twitch's own FAQs about its use of AI, external, it says if users do not opt out, their content could be used to train generative AI models. Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence which creates new content, such as text, images and video. Chabots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini are both examples of the tech. For example, Twitch said a person's audio might be used to "refine models that create speech to text". It said this would help improve automatic subtitles on Twitch streams as well as Amazon videos. Some also questioned, external what the implications could be for game developers, given the feature would also seemingly train Amazon's AI models on the countless video games being played by streamers. "On by default is criminal.... the AI narrative push is so draining," said one streamer, external underneath Twitch Support's post about the feature. On the same livestream, Mary Kish, head of community at Twitch, took viewers through a tutorial on how to disable generative AI training through a user's channel settings. Those that do want to disable it would need to navigate to the Settings tab in their Streamer Dashboard, click the Security and Privacy tab, then scroll down to near the bottom of the options and toggle off "training for Generative AI".

Twitch users outraged as Amazon uses their content to train AI in opt-out feature
North America
Yahoo Finance

Wall Street set to ease its way into the new trading week

Proactive financial news and online broadcast teams provide fast, accessible, informative and actionable business and finance news content to a global investment audience. All our content is produced independently by our experienced and qualified teams of news journalists. Proactive news team spans the world’s key finance and investing hubs with bureaus and studios in London, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney and Perth. We are experts in medium and small-cap markets, we also keep our community up to date with blue-chip companies, commodities and broader investment stories. This is content that excites and engages motivated private investors. The team delivers news and unique insights across the market including but not confined to: biotech and pharma, mining and natural resources, battery metals, oil and gas, crypto and emerging digital and EV technologies. Proactive has always been a forward looking and enthusiastic technology adopter. Our human content creators are equipped with many decades of valuable expertise and experience. The team also has access to and use technologies to assist and enhance workflows. Proactive will on occasion use automation and software tools, including generative AI. Nevertheless, all content published by Proactive is edited and authored by humans, in line with best practice in regard to content production and search engine optimisation. Wall Street is easing into the week rather than charging at it, with futures barely moving despite the major indexes sitting within touching distance of record highs. Dow futures slipped 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts nudged higher after a winning week. Wednesday brings the consumer price index, the reading that could settle an argument the Federal Reserve is still having with itself over whether to raise rates as the Middle East oil shock feeds through to prices. Friday's weak jobs report took some heat out of that debate, though policymakers have made clear a hot inflation print would put a rise back on the table. Brent is trading around $84 a barrel amid another round of will-they, won't-they over the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran teasing that a deal is very close.

Wall Street set to ease its way into the new trading week
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

S’pore raises 2026 growth targets; graphics card shortage to drive up PC prices

In this column, ST’s business correspondents unpack the latest developments in Singapore and global markets during the week – and explain what they mean for investors. JPMorgan Chase & Co raised its target for Singapore stocks, due to its economic growth, strong Singapore dollar and a narrowing valuation gap with other developed-market peers. SINGAPORE – It might have been a short week due to the National Day public holiday on Aug 10, but it was no less busy. In a surprise move on Aug 11, the Ministry of Trade and Industry upgraded its 2026 economic growth forecast from between 2 per cent and 4 per cent to 4.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent, reflecting the better-than-expected performance of the Singapore economy in the first half of 2026. The ministry also provided an improved outlook for the rest of 2026, due to the acceleration in global AI-related capital expenditure. The following day, on Aug 12, JPMorgan Chase raised its targets for Singapore stocks, citing stronger economic growth, an appreciating Singapore dollar and expectations that local shares would close some of their valuation discount to other developed markets, including Hong Kong. Against that backdrop, JPMorgan wrote that the Straits Times Index (STI) may hit the 7,000 mark over the next 12 months in a bull case scenario, representing a 22 per cent increase from the STI’s close on Aug 11. The STI has gained more than 23 per cent in 2026, outperforming Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index. Genting Singapore was the lead gainer on the index this week, rising 6.4 per cent to 66 cents on Aug 14. The share price rose despite the resort and casino operator recording a 33.5 per cent fall in profit for its first half ended June 30 to $156.1 million, due to higher depreciation, lower interest income and asset refresh works, the group said on Aug 13. A worsening shortage of graphics cards and other key components could make personal computers (PCs) more expensive in the second half of 2026, as manufacturers contend with rising costs and longer delivery times. PC Partner Group, a Hong Kong-based, Singapore-listed manufacturer of video graphics accelerator (VGA) cards and other computer components, warned on Aug 14 that graphics card availability is likely to deteriorate further in the coming months. Entry-level graphics cards are expected to face particularly severe shortages, and this could raise average selling prices and make even lower-cost desktop computers more expensive to build, it said.

S’pore raises 2026 growth targets; graphics card shortage to drive up PC prices
North America
Yahoo Finance

This $575,000 Portfolio Pays More Cash Every Month Than $1 Million in the S&P 500

A million dollars parked in the S&P 500 today throws off roughly $13,000 a year in dividends at the index’s 1.3% yield. That is the cash payout an index investor with seven figures actually collects, before taxes. A smaller portfolio built around monthly-pay REITs, a business development company, and a couple of high-yield anchors can more than triple that number using a fraction of the capital. Here is the math and the tradeoffs at each yield tier, using an income target of roughly $40,000 per year. At a 3.5% blended yield, replacing $40,000 requires roughly $1.14 million. The capital bar is high, but principal typically appreciates: SCHD has returned 31% over the past year and 232% over ten years. ADC delivered 136% over the same decade. Dividend growth compounds; principal risk is lowest. Realty Income (NYSE:O) sits at the center of this tier. The stock pays $0.271 per share monthly, an annualized $3.252, for a yield near 5.0%. Management raised 2026 AFFO guidance to $4.44 to $4.45 and just delivered its 115th consecutive quarterly dividend increase. Occupancy sits at 99%. STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) yields about 4.1% on a warehouse portfolio with 96% occupancy and cash rent spreads of 20% on new and renewal leases. Altria (NYSE:MO) sits at a heftier 6.2% yield with a $4.24 annual payout and forward P/E of 12. At a 6% blended yield, $40,000 in income requires roughly $667,000. Growth slows, and Altria in particular carries secular volume decline: Marlboro retail share slipped more than a point to about 40%. Main Street Capital (NYSE:MAIN) illustrates the top tier. The BDC pays a $0.265 monthly regular dividend plus a $0.30 quarterly supplemental, for a trailing 12-month total of $4.30 per share. Q2 adjusted EPS came in at $1.04 versus $0.96 estimated, and annualized ROE sits at 19%. Total return has been striking: 255% over ten years. At a 12% yield, $40,000 requires only $333,000. The catch: BDC distributions are ordinary income, principal can erode in credit downturns, and supplemental dividends can vanish when portfolio companies weaken. Weighting the holdings toward the moderate tier produces a blended yield near 7% and roughly $40,000 in annual income on $575,000 invested. Several of the positions pay monthly: Realty Income’s next payment lands August 14, ADC pays the same day, and MAIN paid $0.265 on July 15. The S&P 500, by contrast, pays quarterly. Lower yields with higher growth often win over long horizons. Realty Income’s monthly rate climbed from $0.143 in 2010 to $0.271 in 2026. ADC’s payout has stepped up nearly every quarter since 2021. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury near 5% and core PCE still climbing mean today’s fat yield is tomorrow’s flat income unless the payout grows.

This $575,000 Portfolio Pays More Cash Every Month Than $1 Million in the S&P 500
Europe
The Guardian

Chinese EV sales surge to new high in Europe putting tariffs under scrutiny

A Leapmotor production line in Jinhua, China. The company has increased sales in Italy by exploiting a purchase subsidy scheme. Photograph: VCG/GettyView image in fullscreenA Leapmotor production line in Jinhua, China. The company has increased sales in Italy by exploiting a purchase subsidy scheme. Photograph: VCG/GettyAutomotive industryChinese EV sales surge to new high in Europe putting tariffs under scrutinyImports this year now account for 14% of the market amid claims vehicles are being dumped in the EU and UK Chinese electric car sales have risen across Europe to a record high driven by strong demand and low tariffs in the UK and a surge in buyers in Italy. Against a backdrop of claims that Chinese carmakers are “dumping” state-subsidised vehicles in the EU and UK to gain market share, the figures will give impetus to calls for quotas and higher tariffs to protect European manufacturers. The share of electric cars sold by Chinese brands rose to 14.2% across western European markets – or one in every seven battery electric vehicles (BEVs) – in the first five months of this year, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. The 171,800 sales represented an increase in market share of nearly five percentage points versus the same period in 2025. Brands including BYD, Chery, SAIC and Xpeng have targeted Europe for exports, as the Chinese industry seeks to dominate the global electric vehicle market. This has put traditional European manufacturers under intense pressure when tougher emissions rules are forcing them to increase their own BEV sales. The increase in European sales comes despite EU tariffs of up to 35.3% for electric cars made by some Chinese manufacturers, on top of the standard 10% import duty. The UK is the largest European market for Chinese cars because the government has declined to follow the EU’s lead in imposing extra levies. The UK accounted for a quarter of Chinese BEV sales across the 18 biggest Western European markets. Although Italy accounted for a fifth of the total, Schmidt said this was an “anomaly”. One manufacturer, Leapmotor, sent thousands of its cheap T03 electric cars into the country to take advantage of purchase subsidies from the government. The subsidies meant that the T03 was as cheap as €5,000 at one point – far below even the most keenly priced models sold by rivals. Chinese manufacturers have sold more than 120 different models in Europe this year – compared with about 100 from European brands. However, Matthias Schmidt, the founder of Schmidt research, said China’s share of the BEV market may have peaked, in part because they have shifted some of their focus to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. PHEVs, which combine a polluting petrol engine with a smaller battery, are not yet subject to EU tariffs. “I think they are hitting a wall when it comes to pure electric models,” said Schmidt. “They will prioritise PHEVs over the next 12 months given hybrids are omitted from extra tariffs placed on BEVs only. With that loophole set to close in the next 12 months, they will aim to maximise that gap in the door for as long as possible. “Given shipping capacity remains limited, more PHEVs means fewer BEVs, which have likely peaked for now. BEVs will take priority again once local EU production comes online.”

Chinese EV sales surge to new high in Europe putting tariffs under scrutiny
Europe
The Guardian

‘Unrig the economy for working people’: the California candidate who wrote updated labor laws

Marni von Wilpert canvasses in a neighborhood on Friday, 29 May 2026, in San Marcos, California. Photograph: Gregory Bull/APView image in fullscreenMarni von Wilpert canvasses in a neighborhood on Friday, 29 May 2026, in San Marcos, California. Photograph: Gregory Bull/APUS midterm elections 2026‘Unrig the economy for working people’: the California candidate who wrote updated labor lawsMarni von Wilpert helped draft Protecting the Right to Organize act, and now wants work toward implementing it Legislation that would modernize federal labor law began with a handful of lawyers meeting, of all places, in an ice-cream shop. “We wrote for hours what we would do to amend the National Labor Relations Act,” said Marni von Wilpert, a member of the San Diego city council who was then an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Bringing together “our collective experience as labor lawyers over the years, really trying to unrig the rules so that working people could have a fair shot”. Though that meeting in Washington DC took place over a decade ago, the plan to reform labor law that came from it still has not passed Congress. Von Wilpert is vying to see the job through. In the fall, she launched her bid to replace Darrell Issa, a longtime Republican US representative who represents a district in San Diego. After a bitter primary against a fellow Democrat, Wilpert is now part of the party’s effort to win back the US House through a focus on affordability and empowering workers. “One of my biggest priorities for running for Congress myself is to finish this work, to come back as a member of Congress and finally get labor law reform across the finish line,” Von Wilpert said. After beginning her legal career as a legal fellow at the Mississippi Center for Justice then as a federal law clerk, Von Wilpert joined the NLRB as an attorney in 2014, serving until 2017. During that time, she saw how the rules were rigged against workers fighting labor violations, who often faced long delays and backlogs. “A worker would either be fired for organizing or an election would be overturned, and it would take three to four years to get to me in Washington DC,” she said. “I saw how hard it was for working people to try and navigate our current labor law system.” The legislation would update labor laws, including the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, and strengthen protection for organizing workers, including allowing the NLRB to assess monetary penalties for labor violation and impose liability on corporate executives. Von Wilpert worked with Bobby Scott, a Democratic congressman, and Patty Murray, a senator, to draft the legislation that would eventually become the Protecting the Right to Organize (Pro) act. Though the bill has been introduced in Congress annually since 2019 and passed the House in 2021, it has long been stalled in the Senate. When Von Wilpert first ran for her seat on the city council, she ended up flipping one of the most conservative districts in the city. In November, she will face Jim Desmond, a Trump-endorsed San Diego county supervisor, in a newly redrawn district that now slightly leans in favor of Democrats, though polls show a clean split between Desmond and von Wilpert. Von Wilpert has been trying to emphasize her labor background to appeal to voters, noting that Desmond is aligned with the Trump administration that has set back workers’ rights by, among other things, decreasing workplace safety standards and firing hundreds of thousands of federal workers, including at the NLRB.

‘Unrig the economy for working people’: the California candidate who wrote updated labor laws
North America
Yahoo Finance

Montrose Environmental Group Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Montrose Environmental Group NYSE: ONT, which rebranded as Onterris Inc. on April 21, reported lower second-quarter revenue amid historically low environmental emergency-response activity, while cost optimization helped lift adjusted EBITDA margins and supported a narrower reduction in its full-year earnings outlook. Onterris reported second-quarter revenue of $186.7 million, down $47.9 million from the prior-year period. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $31.9 million, compared with $39.6 million a year earlier. However, adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 17.1% from 16.9%, which President and Chief Executive Officer Vijay Manthripragada attributed to ongoing cost optimization. The company noted that the second quarter of 2025 included approximately $53.6 million in revenue from a single environmental emergency-response event and subsequent recovery work. Excluding that event, Manthripragada said second-quarter 2026 revenue grew. Updated 2026 Outlook Onterris reduced its full-year revenue outlook to a range of $740 million to $790 million. The revised forecast reflects lower expected pass-through revenue, lower emergency-response revenue and other revenue impacts, including temporary regulatory waivers affecting certain air-testing services. Chief Financial Officer Allan Dicks said the revised revenue outlook incorporates: $35 million to $55 million of lower pass-through revenue; $35 million to $45 million of lower emergency-response revenue; and $15 million to $25 million of other lower revenue. At the midpoint, the company said lower pass-through revenue is expected to reduce EBITDA by approximately $4.5 million, while reduced higher-margin emergency-response activity is expected to lower EBITDA by about $10 million. Those impacts are partly offset by a net $5.5 million benefit from cost optimization and operating efficiency. Onterris now expects full-year adjusted EBITDA of $117 million to $120 million, a $9 million reduction at the midpoint from its prior outlook. The company said every outcome within the new range would represent a record adjusted EBITDA result. At the midpoint, the outlook implies an adjusted EBITDA margin of 15.5%, approximately 150 basis points above the prior year and 50 basis points above the company’s original 2026 guidance. For the third quarter, Onterris expects revenue of $190 million to $210 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 17% to 18% at the midpoint of that revenue range. Dicks said third-quarter revenue is expected to decline year over year because the 2025 period included significant recovery revenue tied to the prior-year environmental event, while third-quarter EBITDA and margin are expected to increase. Segment Results and Demand Trends Consulting & Treatment revenue was $125.6 million in the second quarter, down from $171.7 million a year earlier. The decline included $37.7 million less environmental emergency-response revenue and $11.2 million less recovery-services revenue, primarily related to the prior-year event. Segment adjusted EBITDA margin nevertheless increased to 22.2% from 21.9%, supported by favorable project mix and improved operating performance. Measurement & Analysis revenue declined to $61.1 million from $62.8 million. Lower field-services revenue was partly offset by higher laboratory-testing revenue. The segment’s adjusted EBITDA margin fell to 26.2% from 29.1%, which Dicks said reflected lower operating leverage on the reduced revenue base, though he characterized margins as remaining strong. Management said the lower outlook does not reflect a change in underlying end-market demand or heightened competitive pressure. Manthripragada said the company has not seen major emergency events this year, calling the current level of activity a historically low point in the cycle rather than a competitive issue. He also said temporary federal and state regulatory waivers have delayed select air-testing work. The rules remain in place, according to Manthripragada, but some clients received waivers that have postponed testing activity. The company’s outlook assumes some continuing waivers during the second half. Onterris said it remains confident in its longer-term high-single-digit organic-growth framework, citing a predictable testing business, known Consulting & Treatment projects and larger projects that have begun work. Management said certain projects have started more favorably than expected and are longer-duration engagements with blue-chip clients. Cash Flow, Leverage and Capital Allocation For the first six months of 2026, Onterris used $5.5 million in operating cash flow, compared with generating $27.4 million in the prior-year period. The change reflected lower earnings before noncash items, increased working-capital usage and $27.7 million in first-quarter annual incentive payments related to 2025 performance. The company expects operating cash flow to improve materially in the second half, forecasting $70 million to $80 million of operating cash flow and maintaining its expectation for operating cash conversion equal to roughly 60% of full-year EBITDA. Dicks said cash generation should be slightly weighted toward the fourth quarter and that days sales outstanding had declined in the first half. At June 30, Onterris reported a leverage ratio of 3.2 times under its 2025 credit facility and total available liquidity of $160.8 million. The company expects year-end leverage of about 2.5 times, absent acquisitions. Year to date, it repurchased 1.6 million shares for $30 million and paid $10.8 million in contingent consideration.

Montrose Environmental Group Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
North America
Yahoo Finance

Onto Innovation Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Onto Innovation NYSE: ONTO reported second-quarter 2026 results above the high end of its guidance range, with revenue, margins and earnings supported by demand for semiconductor process-control systems used in advanced packaging and leading-edge chip manufacturing. Chief Executive Officer Michael Plisinski said the company set quarterly revenue records and entered the second half with backlog exceeding $1.1 billion. He said increasing customer visibility prompted Onto Innovation to raise its outlook for second-half revenue growth to at least 25% from the first half, compared with a prior expectation for 15% growth. “We set new quarterly revenue records with advanced nodes growing 50% quarter-over-quarter, and our inspection business, dominated by Dragonfly systems, growing by 30%,” Plisinski said. Second-Quarter Financial Results Chief Financial Officer Brian Roberts said second-quarter revenue totaled $343 million, up 18% sequentially and 35% from a year earlier. The company reported non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.93, which Roberts said was $0.20 above the high end of its prior guidance range. Onto Innovation recorded a 57% gross margin, up 130 basis points from the first quarter and 250 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2025. Operating margin reached 30%, an increase of nearly 500 basis points from the beginning of the year, according to Roberts. The company generated $62 million in operating cash flow during the quarter, slightly exceeding quarterly net income. As of June 30, Onto Innovation held nearly $1.9 billion in cash and short-term investments. In May, the company completed a $1.5 billion offering of 0% convertible debt due in 2031, generating roughly $1.2 billion in net cash. It used the remaining amount for approximately $200 million of common-stock repurchases, a capped-call transaction and professional fees, Roberts said. Advanced Nodes and Packaging Demand Revenue from advanced-node customers rose about 50% from the first quarter to approximately $120 million. Memory represented roughly 60% of that business and grew about 60% sequentially, while logic revenue increased more than 40%. Plisinski said demand broadened across memory, logic and NAND customers. He cited expanded adoption of the Atlas G6 platform for transistor metrology at nodes below 2 nanometers, as well as expected second-half shipments to a major DRAM customer for next-generation memory devices. The company expects advanced-nodes revenue to grow more than 35% for full-year 2026. Plisinski also said the Iris films and integrated metrology product lines are on track for record revenue this year. Advanced packaging and specialty devices accounted for nearly half of second-quarter revenue. Inspection revenue, led by the Dragonfly family, grew 30% sequentially as customers increased spending on 2.5D logic and high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, applications. Onto Innovation raised its full-year advanced-packaging growth outlook to approximately 80%, from a previous projection of 50%. Plisinski said the Dragonfly G5 launch has driven demand from HBM manufacturers and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test, or OSAT, providers serving heterogeneous packaging applications. The company received more than $200 million in Dragonfly orders from one OSAT partner during the quarter. Most of those orders are scheduled for delivery in 2027. Backlog Extends Into 2027 Plisinski said approximately 60% to 70% of the more than $1.1 billion backlog is tied to 2026, while 30% to 40% covers 2027. He characterized the backlog as evidence of customers’ confidence in their expansion plans and their desire to secure equipment supply earlier than historical norms. Management said the backlog includes demand for advanced packaging across HBM and 2.5D logic, including purchases by OSATs and a widening customer base, as well as continued demand for advanced-node metrology products.

Onto Innovation Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
Europe
BBC Business

Why Japanese firms are being so slow to use AI

Facing acute labour shortages, ageing demographics and chronic productivity problems, Japanese companies should be fertile ground for the take-up of artificial intelligence (AI). Yet, compared with the US and UK, adoption in many workplaces remains sluggish and cautious. Japan's response to AI is beginning to resemble one of the country's slow-moving, traditional Noh plays. All the masked characters up on stage agree that action is urgent, and the call is repeated with solemn agreement. Yet the actors remain frozen in place. Great for heightening drama, terrible for addressing the country's immediate difficulties. Data showing the use of AI in the workplace suggests that Japan has fallen behind. Just 8.4% of Japanese workers use AI as part of their job, according to a report, external at the end of last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). By contrast, separate statistics puts the US figure at 50%,, external and the UK at 32%., external In Singapore, which is said to have seen the second-highest, external take up of AI after the United Arab Emirates, and the most in Asia, 56% of workers are said to use AI "multiple times a week"., external So why is Japan dragging its feet? Austin Xu, co-founder of US start-up Kuse AI, says it is due to Japanese companies being conservative and risk adverse. His business recently set up an office in Japan to sell its AI systems to firms in the country. "There are organisations where process and consensus culture genuinely slow things down," he says. "Where tolerance for AI mistakes is close to zero, especially in anything client facing. Some would rather leave a role unfilled than let a machine handle it." Xu says the situation in the US is very different, with some businesses already allowing AI agents far more freedom to boost productivity. "In the US, AI colleagues enter as helpers and gradually become part of the workflow. The attitude [of US bosses] is often - let it try, then correct it." He adds that Japanese companies need more proof before they trust AI enough to use it. Parrisa Haghirian, professor of international management at the Kyoto University of Advanced Science, agrees that many Japanese companies are too risk adverse to look at AI. "The challenges of adopting it are the same as adopting any change in Japanese firms. This is why AI use is still quite limited and cautious, especially in the workplace."

Why Japanese firms are being so slow to use AI