Latest Developments

Europe
The Guardian

Here’s what to do if your StubHub World Cup resale ticket is canceled

Many World Cup fans who bought resold tickets on StubHub were notified days or hours before the match that their tickets did not exist. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenMany World Cup fans who bought resold tickets on StubHub were notified days or hours before the match that their tickets did not exist. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty ImagesConsumedWorld Cup 2026Here’s what to do if your StubHub World Cup resale ticket is canceledWorld Cup StubHub ticket mess shows how weak consumer protections are in the US, but there are steps fans can take A growing number of World Cup fans who thought they had bought tickets to matches on the ticket reseller StubHub were notified with just days or hours to spare that their tickets did not exist. Horror stories about stranded families, ruined once-in-a-lifetime trips, thousands of dollars squandered, and hang-ups on StubHub’s customer service line are flooding social media and local news. It’s the latest sign of the powerlessness many consumers feel in the US, say advocates who estimate thousands of World Cup fans may have been affected. “The system is deeply broken and flawed at all levels,” said Brian Hess, the executive director of the Sports Fans Coalition, a non-profit that advocates for fans’ rights. “Consumers should not have to fight like this,” he said. StubHub has a history of failing to deliver promised tickets, claimed Bradford Clements, an attorney and former Texas state prosecutor who has more than 150 clients, both buyers and sellers, who say they were ripped off or misled by StubHub and are owed $2.4m. “This happens over and over” – not just at World Cup matches, Clements said. StubHub often says the seller pulled out of the ticket swap at the last minute, but that’s frequently not the case, he said. A StubHub spokesperson said that fans should “contact us directly and ask for World Cup specialist support”. Many of the World Cup issues had to do with a faulty new ticketing app that Fifa introduced just before the tournament, StubHub said. “The issues fans have experienced at this World Cup are transfer problems, not ticket problems,” the spokesperson said. Fifa’s app “has experienced significant performance issues that have affected ticket transfers across all resale platforms”, which are outside StubHub’s control. Fifa said that Fifa.com/tickets, the company’s primary ticket sales and the official resale platform, “is the official ticket sales channel for the Fifa World Cup 2026. Fifa can guarantee the validity and delivery of tickets purchased through its official platforms.” The Guardian spoke to consumer advocates, lawyers, company representatives and analysts about what thwarted ticket holders could do to get their money back or get to the game, and what reform is on the horizon. Here’s what they suggest: Fans who want to get to a game should be “persistent with customer service and demand that they get tickets”, said Hess.

Here’s what to do if your StubHub World Cup resale ticket is canceled
Europe
The Guardian

Too hot for work: why extreme heat is a threat to Europe’s productivity

Canary Wharf station in east London. Workers across the UK and Europe have faced sweltering offices and disrupted commutes. Photograph: Yui Mok/PAView image in fullscreenCanary Wharf station in east London. Workers across the UK and Europe have faced sweltering offices and disrupted commutes. Photograph: Yui Mok/PAProductivityToo hot for work: why extreme heat is a threat to Europe’s productivityHigh temperatures make some workplaces dangerous, with economists warning disruption will dent growth Joanna PartridgeFri 26 Jun 2026 01.00 EDTLast modified on Fri 26 Jun 2026 03.39 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleMonique Mosley is used to sweltering conditions at the food factory in Yorkshire where she works, but June’s record-breaking heatwave has made conditions unbearable. “We make hot filled food products and it’s common that we see temperatures in the high 30s,” she said. “Thanks to our union, our employer is offering extra breaks, but not every workplace is the same.” The latest heatwave to grip the UK and much of western Europe has presented significant challenges to employers and their employees, from sweltering offices, disrupted commutes and school closures to dangerous construction sites where workers are at risk of dehydration, heatstroke and other injury. There is now a growing acceptance that increasing spells of extreme heat have a significant impact on productivity and threaten Europe’s already sluggish economies. Economists warn that the climate crisis will dent economic growth unless European countries adapt their ageing buildings and infrastructure. Robert Marks, the lead climate economist at Oxford Economics, said temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s would “likely lead to substantial productivity losses and directly disrupt labour across construction, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and hospitality and other sectors which are unable to provide a protected work environment”. “These sectors represent 27% of economic activity in the UK and an average of 35% in western Europe,” he said. As a result, a four-day heatwave “could reduce quarterly labour productivity growth by 1.5 percentage points in the UK and up to two percentage points in the rest of western Europe”. The largest loss of working hours in western, northern and southern Europe by 2030 is expected to be felt by the agriculture and construction sectors, according to research by the International Labour Office. View image in fullscreenA construction worker in Wimbledon. The largest loss of working hours in western, northern and southern Europe is expected to be felt by the agriculture and construction sectors. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/ShutterstockResearchers at the insurance group Allianz found extreme heat was emerging as a “structural economic risk” for Europe. They found France, Spain and Italy were among the European economies most exposed to the growing economic cost of heat stress (the UK was not included in the study). This was because productivity losses intensify sharply above a 30C threshold, while at the same time the cost of energy required to cool machinery and buildings rises. France could lose $240bn (£182bn) in economic output between 2026 and 2030 under the study’s stress scenario, followed by $147bn for Italy and $120bn for Spain, representing a cumulative loss of as much as 7% of gross domestic product. “The heatwave is not an exception, it is a direction,” said Katharina Utermöhl, the head of thematic and policy research at Allianz Investment Management and a co-author of the study. “Extreme heat costs all of us as workers, as businesses, as taxpayers, and there is a difference between countries that adapt and those that wait. It would be better to stop treating it as a summer problem and start treating it as a permanent economic policy challenge.” The heatwave has reignited tensions between employees and employers. While workplace regulations in the UK set out a minimum working temperature – 16C in an office, or 13C if strenuous physical work is required – there is no maximum legal temperature. This is because some places such as kitchens or foundries can be hot all the time. Instead, the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) guidance to employers tells them to keep the environment at a “reasonable” temperature for employees. There are separate regulations for workers on construction sites, where “reasonable” temperatures are required for indoor areas and the rest areas of outdoor sites, and workers also need to be protected from adverse weather.

Too hot for work: why extreme heat is a threat to Europe’s productivity
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

Malaysian ringgit expected to weaken further against Singdollar in 2026

The ringgit has weakened by 0.2 per cent against the Singdollar so far in 2026 after strengthening by 4 per cent in 2025. SINGAPORE – Yaw Poh Ling, an administrative worker based in Singapore, sends money to her ageing parents in Malaysia every month. But as the exchange rate between the Singapore dollar and the Malaysian ringgit has become more volatile, she has become more strategic about when she makes her transfers. “I always check the exchange rate on my CIMB Bank app before making a transfer,” said the 52-year-old. When the exchange rate is more favourable, she exchanges a larger amount of Singapore dollars for the Malaysian currency before transferring, so that it can last her parents several months. “If the rate is too low, I will continue to monitor it and wait for a better rate. But if I urgently need Malaysian ringgit, then I have no choice but to still exchange the money,” she added. Yaw and her parents could enjoy more ringgit in the second half of 2026, with the currency expected to weaken further against the Singapore dollar, analysts said. The ringgit has weakened by 0.2 per cent against the Singdollar so far in 2026 after strengthening by 4 per cent in 2025. It was trading at 3.17 ringgit per Singdollar on June 26, close to its six-month low of 3.21 recorded on June 22. The volatility comes as Bank Negara Malaysia said on June 24 that it would step up measures to support the ringgit, including encouraging companies to bring home and convert more of their overseas earnings into the local currency amid expectations of a stronger US dollar. The central bank added that the ringgit’s recent weakness is mainly due to global factors, and not problems with the country’s economy. “While geopolitical uncertainties have partially eased following an interim peace deal signed by the US and Iran, global financial markets have remained focused on the prospects of higher policy rates in the US amid elevated inflation risks,” said Bank Negara Malaysia’s Financial Markets Committee. It added that foreign investors have adopted a wait-and-see stance towards Malaysian assets ahead of the upcoming state elections in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, which has contributed to the currency’s pullback in June. OCBC Bank foreign exchange strategist Christopher Wong said Bank Negara Malaysia’s latest measures could provide some support to the ringgit.

Malaysian ringgit expected to weaken further against Singdollar in 2026
North America
CNBC Finance

Walmart heir Lukas Walton buys minority stake in the Chicago Bulls and United Center

Walmart heir Lukas Walton and his wife, Samantha, have acquired a minority stake in the Chicago Bulls and the United Center, the team announced Friday. The transaction involves the purchase of existing stakes from limited partners and does not provide Walton with a path to controlling ownership, the team said. The size of the minority stake and the valuation were not disclosed, but a person familiar with the matter told CNBC the Waltons' stake in the team and arena was 10%. The person asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the details. The Reinsdorf family remains the controlling owner of the Chicago Bulls. Jerry Reinsdorf purchased the team for $16.2 million in 1985. Today, the team is worth approximately $6.45 billion, according to CNBC's most recent NBA valuations, making the franchise the fifth-most valuable in the league. The Wirtz and Reinsdorf families split ownership of the United Center, where the Bulls and NHL's Blackhawks play. They will continue to hold the controlling interest in the United Center and the 1901 Project, a $7 billion redevelopment project on Chicago's West Side, the team said. The Bulls have been one of the NBA's most successful franchises in history, winning six championships during the Michael Jordan era. In recent years, however, they have struggled, having not made the playoffs since the 2021-2022 season. Lukas Walton is the 39-year-old grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton. He and his wife are residents of Chicago. Lukas Walton has a reported net worth of roughly $45 billion according to Forbes. "The Chicago Bulls are as iconic as the city itself, and this transaction reflects our dedication to the city's future. We have long admired the vision the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families have set forth for The 1901 Project, and we look forward to the United Center's continued positive impact on Chicago's West Side," the Waltons said in a statement. Lukas Walton's uncle, Rob Walton, bought the NFL's Denver Broncos in 2022 and also owns a stake in MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Walmart heir Lukas Walton buys minority stake in the Chicago Bulls and United Center
North America
CNBC Finance

Darden Restaurants earnings beat estimates but Olive Garden growth weakens

Darden Restaurants on Thursday reported mixed quarterly results as same-store sales growth at the company's fine-dining restaurants and Olive Garden fell short of expectations. The company's forecast for its fiscal 2027 earnings and revenue also came on the lower end of Wall Street's projections. Darden reported net income of $404.9 million, or $3.51 per share, up from $303.8 million, or $2.58 per share, a year earlier. Excluding costs of restaurant closures and other items, the company earned $3.66 per share. Net sales climbed 13.7% to $3.72 billion, boosted by the inclusion of an extra week during the fiscal year. Across all of Darden's restaurants, same-store sales rose 4.6%, topping expectations of 4.1% growth based on StreetAccount estimates. LongHorn Steakhouse led the portfolio with same-store sales growth of 9.5%, beating StreetAccount projections of 7.1%. The chain has overtaken Olive Garden to become Darden's top performer, although it still accounts for less of the company's overall sales. For its part, Olive Garden saw same-store sales grow 2.4% in the quarter, missing expectations of 3.2% growth. Darden's fine-dining segment reported same-store sales growth of 1.9%, falling short of StreetAccount estimates of 3.1%. The division includes The Capital Grille and Ruth's Chris. The company's "other business" segment saw same-store sales rise 4.6%, higher than the 3% projected by analysts. The division includes a handful of smaller restaurant chains, like Yard House and Chuy's. Looking ahead to the next fiscal year, Darden is projecting total sales of $13.60 billion to $13.75 billion and net earnings per share from continuing operations in a range of $11.10 to $11.35. Wall Street is expecting the company to report fiscal 2027 revenue of $13.72 billion and earnings per share of $11.40. Darden is also forecasting that it will report same-store sales growth of 2.5% to 3.5% during fiscal 2027 and open between 75 and 80 new locations.

Darden Restaurants earnings beat estimates but Olive Garden growth weakens
Europe
The Guardian

Elon Musk’s trillionaire status at risk; oil price lowest since Iran war began – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. Elon Musk could soon be down to his last thousand billion dollars, after the share price of his recently floated SpaceX came under pressure this week. Musk became the world’s first trillionaire this month when SpaceX floated on the stock market. But after a 16% drop in SpaceX’s shares on Monday, Musk’s wealth has declined to $1.1tn. Monday’s drop alone wiped out more than $152bn from Musk’s net worth, according to Forbes estimates. And most of those who bought into SpaceX since it floated on 12 June are facing smaller losses. SpaceX’s shares closed at $156 last night, slightly above the $150 at which they started trading on the 12th, but sharply below the record high of $225 set a week ago. The IPO was priced at $135, so everyone who took part is still in the money. The weakness in the last week has dragged SpaceX’s value down from a peak of about $2.99tn to just over $2tn last night. That’s a fall of almost $1tn, or nearly one Musk. SpaceX might have seemed charmed after its record-breaking IPO and subsequent rally, but it’s come down to earth with a bump over the past couple of days, with shares at one point falling below the opening price on its market debut. “Post-IPO stocks often enter a period of volatility as the market gets to grips with the new entrant, some investors rush to cash out, and others assess at what price they are willing to jump in. “For a stock like SpaceX, a lot of decision making might have been emotional and based on the anticipation of huge leaps forward in space exploration and utilisation, but investing should be something treated with clear eyes and patience, even when such huge numbers are involved. Musk was also hit by a 5.8% drop in Tesla’s shares yesterday, as the tech sector was hit by a broad selloff in AI and semiconductor stocks.

Elon Musk’s trillionaire status at risk; oil price lowest since Iran war began – business live
North America
Yahoo Finance

Enphase Just Found A New Story To Tell

The solar sector’s sudden bursts of volatility often have less to do with immediate product shipments and more to do with the market’s hunger for a new narrative. Look no further than the dizzying, counterintuitive price swings of Enphase Energy (ENPH) over a single 72-hour window. On Thursday, June 18, 2026, the stock rocketed up 9.4% in a single session, outperforming the S&P 500 amid a broad rally across solar names, right as the company announced it had begun shipping its most powerful commercial microinverter yet, the GaN-based IQ9S-3P™. Yet, just days later on Tuesday, June 23, the script completely inverted: the stock tumbled nearly 9.9% on a sharp “sell the news” macro pullback, even though Enphase had just formally launched its next-generation IQ9N™ microinverter for the U.S. residential market. Following that sharp drop, the stock remained flat, absorbing the volatility to close the June 25 session at $47.21. On the surface, this aggressive back-to-back hardware rollout looks like a straightforward operational win. However, the rapid whiplash between a single-day near-double-digit leap and an immediate post-launch correction points to a deeper dynamic. Does an upgraded hardware portfolio running on cutting-edge gallium nitride architecture truly justify that kind of market volatility, or was the market chasing a completely different story beneath the surface? An Unexpected AI Angle Look a little closer, and you’ll find the real story. The same day the stock spiked, analysts at Barclays upgraded the stock, but only from Under Weight to Equal Weight, a move to the sidelines rather than a full-throated buy call, with the price target lifted to $51 from $30. They pointed to Enphase’s emerging solid-state transformer (SST) business as “a credible entry point into the evolving data center power stack,” estimating a U.S. addressable market of roughly $2 billion a year by the late 2020s. Suddenly, a familiar solar tech company was being discussed in the same breath as AI data center power — and in this market, even a neutral-rated nod to that theme carries weight. This new story arrives at a critical time. The company’s revenue over the last twelve months is actually down 1.6%. While that’s an improvement over its recent history, it’s hardly the explosive growth investors once prized. The market was hungry for a new reason to get excited, and the prospect of powering the AI revolution is a compelling one. The IQ9S-3P™ Commercial Microinverter launch provided the tangible news hook, but the SST roadmap provided the vision. The subsequent drop on June 23, however, serves as a harsh reality check. Short-term traders quickly used the residential IQ9N™ launch as a liquidity window to lock in profits, exposing the friction between a years-away theoretical opportunity and immediate financial performance. Now, the burden of proof sits entirely on Enphase. The company must prove it can successfully convert an investment bank’s theoretical data center blueprint into actual, high-margin enterprise dollars, or risk its stock remaining tethered to a sluggish domestic solar recovery. Chasing single-name moves is its own kind of risk, whether you are trying to time a sudden tech rally or watching how traditional energy giants manage unexpected operational headwinds—as explored in The Number That Could Test Exxon Mobil Stock. The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio takes the other side of that bet: 30 quality names, sized and re-balanced with discipline, and a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines the three major indices – the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap, and Russell 2000.

Enphase Just Found A New Story To Tell
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Only 14% of India's MSMEs have access to formal credit despite digital finance boom: Deloitte report

The report comes at a time when India is positioning its financial sector to support long-term economic expansion. Only 14 per cent of India's micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have access to formal credit despite the country's rapid advances in digital finance, leaving millions of businesses dependent on informal lenders, according to Deloitte's State of Financial Services in India report. "Only 14 per cent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) have access to formal credit, leaving the majority of these enterprises (mostly micro-enterprises) dependent on informal, usurious financing," the report said. It added that these are "not marginal shortfalls -- they are fundamental indicators of the critical need for deepening financial inclusion, and achieving broader economic growth." According to the Deloitte report, India's MSME credit gap was estimated at around ₹25 lakh crore as of March 2025. It noted that based on the sector's contribution to GDP and a healthy credit-to-GDP ratio, the formal credit gap could be "well over INR 50 lakh crore". The report comes at a time when India is positioning its financial sector to support long-term economic expansion. It noted that India remains one of the world's fastest-growing major economies and that achieving higher growth will require stronger financial inclusion and better access to credit for underserved businesses. Despite the credit gap, the report highlighted significant progress in financial access. Around 89 per cent of Indian adults now have a financial account, while the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processes more than 20 billion transactions every month and accounts for nearly half of global real-time payment volumes. However, Deloitte cautioned that major gaps remain. About 16 per cent of bank accounts remain inactive, only 15 per cent of adults access formal credit compared with a global average of 24 per cent, and insurance penetration at 3.7 per cent of GDP is roughly half the global average. Calling for renewed policy focus, the report said structural bottlenecks continue to limit financial inclusion. "The need to scale cash-flow-based MSME lending through AA (Account Aggregator) framework (Credit should and can become ridiculously cheap and easy for every small business owner - the small supplier, the shopkeeper, the contractor, the artisan and various others)," it said while outlining reforms needed to improve credit delivery. The report added that addressing these structural challenges by improving credit access, expanding insurance coverage, strengthening financial literacy and narrowing digital access gaps will be critical to ensuring that financial inclusion translates into broader economic participation, financial resilience and sustainable growth. It said deeper inclusion across semi-urban, rural and underserved segments can also create new demand drivers for the economy while strengthening resilience against external shocks.

Only 14% of India's MSMEs have access to formal credit despite digital finance boom: Deloitte report
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

What could end the tech rally? Jefferies flags investment risks as China’s cheap AI models threaten US players

The report also flagged cybersecurity risks, citing a Five Eyes Alliance warning that “advances in AI could dramatically accelerate cyberattacks in the near future with organisations having only months to prepare.” The biggest risk to the AI-driven tech rally is not a sudden jump in semiconductor supply but a "sudden realisation by investors that the hyperscalers and the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic will not be able to make a return on their investment," according to latest research report by Jefferies. The brokerage argued that "for now at least, there remains zero sign of AI capex slowing," yet warns that funding concerns could "trigger a sudden unwillingness to fund these investments which will then be aggravated by the circular arrangements between the main players, such as Nvidia financing OpenAI to buy its chips." Jefferies' view comes as Hong Kong-listed Z.ai, formerly Zhipu AI, launched GLM-5.2 on 13 June. "GREED & fear is no expert but GREED & fear hears from more informed sources that this new model is almost equal to Anthropic as a competitor for the corporate market and is just one quarter of the cost in terms of cost per token," the report said. The launch coincides with what Jefferies calls a "reaction against tokenmaxxing" that is likely to "lead to a slowdown in Anthropic's uptil now remarkable revenue growth ahead of its planned IPO." Anthropic's annualised run-rate revenue "surged from $9 bn at the end of 2025 to $47 bn in May," Jefferies noted. The report highlights a shift in usage toward Chinese models. "Top Chinese AI models processed 21.37tn tokens on the global aggregator platform OpenRouter in the week ended 21 June, up from 4.37tn in late April, compared with 5.76tn tokens for the top US models," Jefferies said, citing weekly usage of the top nine models on OpenRouter. "GLM-5.2 proves enterprises no longer have to sacrifice intelligence for privacy. We are seeing a massive acceleration in companies pulling their AI workloads out of the public cloud and back onto local corporate servers," the brokerage quoted AI feedback it received. Despite token price pressure, Jefferies remains constructive on memory suppliers due to the Jevons Paradox. "Falling token prices should lead to rising DRAM prices," the report stated, adding that "the story that the DRAM industry has changed structurally... looks to GREED & fear an increasingly powerful argument." Hynix, Samsung Electronics and Micron are now trading at 7.8x, 6.8x and 9.2x consensus 12-month forward earnings, respectively. Reflecting this view, Jefferies is increasing tech hardware exposure across portfolios. "Hynix and Kioxia will be included in the global long-only portfolio with an initial 4 per cent weighting each... while the existing investment in Samsung Electronics will be increased by one percentage point," the report said. On Taiwan, Jefferies noted "boom-like conditions" with real GDP up 14.55 per cent y-o-y in 1Q26, "the fastest quarterly growth rate in nearly 48 years." TSMC capex is forecast to rise to $56 bn in 2026 and $65-70 bn in 2027, with AI expected to account for 31 per cent of TSMC's revenues this year. The report also flagged cybersecurity risks, citing a Five Eyes Alliance warning that "advances in AI could dramatically accelerate cyberattacks in the near future with organisations having only months to prepare."

What could end the tech rally? Jefferies flags investment risks as China’s cheap AI models threaten US players