Finance

It all seems to add up to something big. On a daily, sometimes hourly, basis, Elon Musk claims that his team of fiscal commandos has found yet more government fraud, terminated another wasteful contract or even scrapped an entire agency. Mr Musk’s supporters believe that, through tech wizardry and sheer willpower, he is slashing the federal deficit in a way that has eluded politicians for years. But this narrative has a glaring flaw: our review of official data shows that Mr Musk’s efforts have scarcely made a dent in spending. More

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said Wednesday that strong consumer spending so far this year means that the Federal Reserve will probably hold off on cutting its benchmark interest rate.
The bank’s retail customers are spending about 6% more money in the first 40 days of this year compared to the same period in 2024, Moynihan told CNBC’s Leslie Picker.
“That’s driving price firmness, demand firmness,” Moynihan said. “You’re seeing activity that says that we’re probably in a period where rates are going to stay … where they are for a while until this settles in.”

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said Wednesday that strong consumer spending so far this year means the Federal Reserve will probably hold off on cutting its benchmark interest rate.
The bank’s retail customers are spending about 6% more money in the first 40 days of this year compared with the same period in 2024, Moynihan told CNBC’s Leslie Picker. That rate is an acceleration from the spending growth seen in the final three months of last year, he noted.

“That’s driving price firmness, demand firmness,” Moynihan said. “You’re seeing activity that says that we’re probably in a period where rates are going to stay … where they are for a while until this settles in.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported hotter-than-expected growth in the U.S. consumer price index earlier Wednesday, forcing markets to recalibrate rate expectations. The Fed began an easing cycle in September, reducing rates for the first time since the 2020 pandemic, but the central bank is seen as limited in how much it can cut by stubborn inflation.
Last month, the Fed opted to keep its benchmark rate unchanged at a range of 4.25%-4.5%.
“Rates are restrictive, but there was not enough sort of inflation progress that we made” to cut rates, Moynihan said.
Bank of America research analysts expect no rate reductions in the immediate future because of elevated inflation, he added.

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NYSE Chicago, previously the Chicago Stock Exchange, will soon become NYSE Texas.
Last month, TXSE Group announced that it had filed for registration of the Texas Stock Exchange with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Texas has also emerged as a competitor to Delaware as the legal home of major companies.

A person walks past the New York Stock Exchange at Wall Street in New York on Feb. 3, 2025.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

The New York Stock Exchange will soon have a presence in Texas to cater to the growing number of companies looking for a home base in the business-friendly state.
The NYSE announced Wednesday that one of its electronic exchanges, NYSE Chicago, will reincorporate in Texas and be renamed NYSE Texas, giving companies an option to list their stocks in the Lone Star State.

“As the state with the largest number of NYSE listings, representing over $3.7 trillion in market value for our community, Texas is a market leader in fostering a pro-business atmosphere,” Lynn Martin, president of NYSE Group, said in a release.
The NYSE is part of Intercontinental Exchange. NYSE Chicago was previously the Chicago Stock Exchange, which was acquired by ICE in 2018.
The move comes as a potential competitor to the NYSE is emerging in Texas. Last month, TXSE Group announced that it had filed for registration of the Texas Stock Exchange with the Securities and Exchange Commission. TXSE Group said it has raised $161 million and intends to launch trading in early 2026.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told CNBC last year that rules around environmental, social and governance, or ESG, was a motivation to have a Texas-based exchange. Texas is one of several states that have pushed back against ESG rules from Wall Street firms.
“We need to make sure that Texas companies, and companies similarly situated, are not going to be cut off from capital markets in New York with policy decisions made from the left in places like New York,” Abbott said.

Texas has also emerged as a competitor to Delaware as the legal home of major companies. Tesla reincorporated in Texas last year after a legal fight in Delaware court over a pay package for CEO Elon Musk. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Meta Platforms was exploring a similar move.
Trading at the NYSE exchanges and most major stock exchanges around the world is done almost entirely electronically. Stocks trade on multiple exchanges even if they have one designated as their primary listing.

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Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 4, 2024.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway purchased more shares of Occidental Petroleum after the oil and gas producer tumbled more than 30% from its record high.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate scooped up 763,017 shares of the Houston-based energy company on Friday for $35.7 million, according to a regulatory filing. Berkshire is Occidental’s biggest investor, holding a 28.2% stake.

Shares of Occidental have fallen nearly 32% from an all-time high reached last April. The stock dropped more than 17% in 2024 as oil prices weakened.

Stock chart icon

Occidental shares over the past year

In late December, Berkshire purchased 8.9 million Occidental shares during a broad market pullback. Occidental remains Berkshire’s sixth-largest equity holding.
Buffett has made clear he won’t take full control of the oil company, founded by legendary oilman Armand Hammer. There had been speculation of a takeover after Berkshire received regulatory approval to buy as much as a 50% stake. 
The “Oracle of Omaha” previously said he started buying Occidental after reading a transcript of the oil company’s earnings conference call. Occidental also pays a 1.8% dividend yield and has been investing in a carbon capture business.
Berkshire also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million common shares for $5 billion, or $59.62 each. The warrants were obtained as part of Berkshire’s 2019 deal that helped finance Occidental’s purchase of Anadarko Petroleum.

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Source: Finance – cnbc.com More

Zelle crossed $1 trillion in total volumes last year, which it said was the most ever for a peer-to-peer platform.
The payments network said its user base jumped 12% to 151 million accounts in 2024, and that the total dollars sent on the platform jumped 27% from the year earlier.
Zelle was launched in 2017 in response to the rise of platforms like Venmo, PayPal and CashApp.

Zelle icon displayed on a phone screen and Zelle logo displayed on a screen in the background are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Zelle, the payments network run by bank-owned Early Warning Services, crossed $1 trillion in total volumes last year, which it said was the most ever for a peer-to-peer platform.
The firm said Wednesday that its user base jumped 12% to 151 million accounts in 2024, and that the total dollars sent on the platform jumped 27% from the year earlier.

Last year’s payment volumes were “by far the most money ever moved by a P2P payments service in a single year,” Denise Leonhard, general manager of Zelle, told CNBC.
Zelle, which was launched in 2017 in response to fintech platforms like Venmo, PayPal and CashApp, has some key advantages over those players. EWS is owned by seven of the biggest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, and Zelle allows for instant money transfers made within the apps of thousands of member institutions.
Its growth rate last year exceeded that of PayPal, which reported that total P2P payments volumes reached more than $400 billion.
Zelle’s meteoric rise comes amid accusations that the network and the three biggest U.S. banks on it failed to properly investigate fraud complaints or give victims reimbursement. The company has introduced measures to reduce fraud and has said that 99.95% of transactions are free of fraud and scams.
Growth is being driven as bank customers increasingly use Zelle instead of cash or checks, and as small businesses adopt the payment option, said Leonhard.
“People are using Zelle in order to do things like pay their rent or paying their nanny,” Leonhard said. “We want to continue to be top of mind for those consumers to be able to use this every day.” More

London-based fintech Zepz is laying off around 200 IT workers as part of a major redundancy plan, two employees impacted by the move told CNBC.
Zepz confirmed to CNBC it is eliminating roles to “sustainably support the next phase of long-term strategic goals and continued growth.”
As part of the cost-cutting exercise, Zepz also proposed the closure of business units in Kenya and Poland.

Mark Lenhard, CEO of U.K.-based remittances platform Zepz.
Lukas Schulze | Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images

LONDON — British digital remittances company Zepz is laying off dozens of IT workers and is in the process of closing down business units in Poland and Kenya.
Roughly 200 staff members will be impacted by the redundancy measures, two employees who were made redundant told CNBC, asking to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter.

As of January, London-headquartered Zepz — formerly known as WorldRemit — had a global headcount of 1,000 people, meaning the redundancies affect around 20% of its total workforce.
The layoffs affect several IT functions at the company, including database administration, development operations and software engineering, the former employees said.
Zepz confirmed to CNBC that it was reducing headcount in order to “sustainably support the next phase of long-term strategic goals and continued growth.” The company declined to comment on the number of employees impacted by the layoffs, with a spokesperson explaining that the redundancy process was ongoing. 

“Following the successful completion of its replatforming efforts, bolstered by advanced automation and AI, Zepz has embarked on a strategic initiative to optimise operations across the organisation,” a Zepz spokesperson told CNBC by email.
“This transformation has reinforced the technology foundation and reduced the need for certain operational and technical capacities, prompting a proposed reduction in roles as part of the overall plan,” the spokesperson added.

Zepz has been touted as one of Britain’s fintech darlings. The company was founded by Ismail Ahmed, a Somalia-born British entrepreneur who fled the country during the Somali Civil War. Ahmed today serves as the company’s non-executive chairman.
The group was renamed Zepz following the acquisition of money transfer platform Sendwave in 2020, with the brand and WorldRemit coming under one parent company.

‘Difficult choice’

CNBC obtained a company memo announcing the cost-cutting measures shared by Zepz CEO Mark Lenhard internally in January.
“Today we are announcing a very difficult decision — proposed reductions in our team across all HQ functions, and most regions. And specifically we are proposing the closure of our Kenya and Poland employing entities,” Lenhard said in the memo.
Zepz touts itself as a “remote-first employer,” with regional offices in Kenya and Poland.
“This is a difficult choice, which impacts the lives of our colleagues and friends. This is also a choice which is critical to the success of our mission to serve immigrants everywhere. Both facts are true, at the same time,” Lenhard said.
“To be clear, this is not a change of strategy. We’re doubling down on our mission in an effort to expand our impact faster,” he added. “In some places, this will mean we’ll need to continue to ruthlessly prioritize. In others, we’re going to get more efficient. In many cases it will involve rethinking how we do things today.”
Zepz’s spokesperson insisted that the IT worker layoffs “will not impact customers in any region or market,” and added that the firm “remains committed to its mission of serving migrants worldwide, driving innovation, and delivering meaningful financial solutions to millions globally.”
This isn’t the first time Zepz has cut a spate of roles to save on costs. In 2023, Zepz laid off 420 employees, which accounted for about 26% of its global headcount at the time. Later that year, Zepz slashed a further 30 roles across its people and marketing functions.
Zepz has long been touted as a potential IPO candidate, but a timeline for this is unclear. Counting the likes of Accel, TCV and Leapfrog as investors, the startup was valued at $5 billion in 2021. The company announced a $267 million funding round last year.
Zepz faces competition from several notable digital payments players including PayPal, Wise, Revolut and Remitly.
WATCH: We now have ‘a whole generation’ of fintechs preparing for IPOs, says QED Investors’ Nigel Morris More

China’s Baidu plans to release the next generation of its artificial intelligence model in the second half of this year, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The planned update comes as Chinese companies race to develop innovative AI models to compete with OpenAI and other U.S.-based companies.
Baidu was the first major Chinese tech company to roll out a ChatGPT-like chatbot called Ernie in March 2023. But despite initial momentum, the product has since been eclipsed by other Chinese AI chatbots from large tech companies such as Alibaba and ByteDance as well as startups.

Men interact with a Baidu AI robot near the company logo at its headquarters in Beijing, China April 23, 2021.
Florence Lo | Reuters

BEIJING — China’s Baidu plans to release the next generation of its artificial intelligence model in the second half of this year, according to a source familiar with the matter, as newer players such as DeepSeek disrupt the segment.
Ernie 5.0, called a “foundation model,” is set to have “big enhancements in multimodal capabilities,” the source said, without specifying its functions. “Multimodal” AI can process texts, videos, images and audio to combine them as well as convert them across categories — text to video and vice-versa, for instance.

Foundation models can understand language and perform a wide array of tasks including generating text and images, and communicating in natural language.
Baidu’s planned update comes as Chinese companies race to develop innovative AI models to compete with OpenAI and other U.S.-based companies. In late January, Hangzhou-based startup DeepSeek prompted a global tech stock sell-off with the release of its open-source AI model that impressed users with its reasoning capabilities and claims of undercutting OpenAI’s ChatGPT drastically on cost.

“We are living in an exciting time … The inference cost [of foundation models] basically can be reduced by more than 90% over 12 months,” Baidu CEO Robin Li said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai this week. That’s according to a press release of his fireside chat with Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE’s minister of state for artificial intelligence, digital economy, and remote work applications.
“If you can reduce the cost by a certain percentage, then that means your productivity increases by that kind of percentage. I think that’s pretty much the nature of innovation,” Li noted.
Baidu was the first major Chinese tech company to roll out a ChatGPT-like chatbot called Ernie in March 2023. But despite initial momentum, the product has since been eclipsed by other Chinese AI chatbots from startups as well as large-tech companies such as Alibaba and ByteDance.

While Alibaba shares have soared 33% for the year so far, Baidu shares are up 6%. Tencent has notched gains of about 4% for the year so far. ByteDance is not listed.

Baidu’s Ernie model already supports the integration of generative AI across a range of the company’s consumer and business-facing products, including cloud storage and content creation.
Last month, Baidu said its Wenku platform for creating presentations and other documents had reached 40 million paying users as of the end of 2024, up 60% from the end of 2023. Updated features, such as using AI to generate a presentation based on a company’s financial filing, started being rolled out to users in January.
The current version of the Ernie model is Generation 4, released in Oct. 2023. An upgraded “turbo” version Ernie 4.0 was released in August 2024. Baidu has not officially announced plans to release the next generation update.
The latest version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, GPT-4o, was released in May 2024. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a Reddit “ask me anything” session earlier this month that there wasn’t a public timeline for GPT-5’s release.
Baidu did not respond to a request for comment. More