Finance

 BlackRock’s iShares is trying to appeal to investors who want to diversify beyond from the so-called Magnificent Seven.
The firm launched the iShares Top 20 U.S. Stocks ETF (TOPT) this month. It doesn’t just hold the Magnificent Seven — Apple, Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. It’s made up of the 20 largest U.S. stocks by market capitalization.

“What the iShares build ETFs are designed to do is to deliver a tool kit of simple solutions for investors to be able to capture the growth of some of the largest companies within the U.S. equity market today, but to do so in a broader and more diversified manner,” BlackRock’s Rachel Aguirre told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on Monday.
Aguirre, the firm’s head of U.S. iShares product, noted the ETF’s mission is to deliver an easy and accessible way to tap into the innovation of megacaps – “whether that be in the tech-heavy Nasdaq space or, more broadly, within the S&P [500].”

Arrows pointing outwards

The ETF, according to Aguirre, provides a way for investors worried about the concentration of the Magnificent Seven stocks in the S&P 500.
On Thursday, the Magnificent Seven slid more than 3.5% as a group — losing around $615 billion in market cap. That’s equivalent to the size of JPMorgan Chase.
However, the Magnificent Seven is still up about 43% so far year while the S&P 500 is up around 20%

“It’s important for clients and investors to remember that there are split views on this topic. There are many investors who believe that the big will get bigger [and] that the winners will continue to win,” Aguirre said. “There’s also another side to this argument. There are many investors who believe that it’s actually a very worrisome time to continue investing in… mega-cap companies because of just their high valuations.”
The iShares Top 20 U.S. Stocks ETF is down 2% since its Oct. 23 launch.

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Across Europe fiscal policy is causing headaches. The governments of Britain and France are both raising tax rates sharply. Germany is hobbled by a self-imposed debt brake. Meanwhile, Italy’s profligate borrowing continues to unsettle investors. Ireland faces a different problem: the government is so flush with cash it does not know quite what to do with it. More

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Block’s business-focused payments arm, Square, told CNBC it has rolled out it’s Square Card product in Britain.
It marks the first time Block has expanded its business card offering outside North America, where it first launched in 2019.
The firm will come up against local banking giants like Lloyds and NatWest, as well as fintech players including Pleo, Payhawk and Spendesk.

Marco Bello | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON — Block, the payments company owned by tech billionaire Jack Dorsey has launched its corporate card service in the U.K. in a bid to deepen its expansion into the country and take on big incumbents like American Express.
The firm’s business-focused payments arm, Square, told CNBC that it opened registrations for its Square Card product in Britain late Wednesday, marking the first time Block has expanded its business card offering outside North America, where it first launched in 2019.

Currently available in the U.S. and Canada, Square Card is a free business spending card that reduces the time between merchants making a sale and having funds available to spend. It competes with offerings from the likes of American Express and Citigroup.
Samina Hussain-Letch, executive director of Square U.K., said the launch of the firm’s corporate card product in the U.K. would give merchants speedier access to funds and help them more easily manage their daily expenses.
“When designing this product we went back to our mission of making commerce easy,” Hussain-Letch told CNBC. Based on internal research Square found that small and micro businesses “prefer their funds to be consolidated in one place,” she said, adding that real-time access to funds was also an important factor.
In the U.K., Square Card will come up against local banking giants like Lloyds and NatWest. It will also heighten competition for some well-funded European fintech players, including Pleo, Payhawk and Spendesk.
Hussain-Letch highlighted The Vinyl Guys as an example of an early adopter of its corporate card offering. The vehicle branding and signage printing shop based in Stafford used the corporate card as part of a testing phase with domestic U.K. customers.

“We’ve had some great feedback about the benefits of having instant access to funds which really helps our small business sellers to run and grow, as we know that the number one reason small businesses fail in the UK is due to problems with cash flow,” she added.
Merchants can personalize employee spending cards with signatures and business branding.
Once an employee is onboarded onto the Square Card program, they can begin using within their own digital wallet apps. The service doesn’t charge monthly fees, maintenance fees, or foreign exchange fees.
Square is deepening its investment in the U.K. at a time when the country is seeking to be viewed as a destination for global technology businesses.
Entrepreneurs have been warning of a possible exodus of talent from the U.K. in response to the government’s controversial taxation changes.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves hiked Capital Gains Tax (CGT) — a levy on investment profits. But the news offered some relief for technology entrepreneurs who feared a more intense tax raid on the wealthy. The lower capital gains tax rate will be increased to 18% from 10%, while the higher rate will climb to 24% from 20%, Reeves said. The tax hikes are expected to bring in £2.5 billion. More

Chinese smartphone company Honor on Thursday announced backing from new investors as the Huawei spinoff prepares for an initial public offering.
The new backers include China Telecom and CICC Capital.
Honor said earlier this year it planned to start changing its shareholder structure in the fourth quarter, and start the IPO process “at a suitable time.”

Chinese smartphone company Honor has released devices that fold up to be nearly as thin as an iPhone.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

BEIJING — Chinese smartphone company Honor on Thursday announced backing from new investors as the Huawei spinoff prepares for an initial public offering.
The new backers are: China Telecom — one of the major telecommunications operators in the country — CICC Capital, Chinese venture capital firm Cornerstone and SDG, a fund linked to a Shenzhen economic zone. Honor said its existing partners also made a new investment round through an entity called Jinshi Xingyao.

Honor said earlier this year it planned to start changing its shareholder structure in the fourth quarter, after which it would start the IPO process “at a suitable time.”
The company has not said where it would list. Honor announced its IPO plans in November 2023.
Honor spun off from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in November 2020 after the parent company was hit by U.S. sanctions. Huawei said it does not hold any shares in Honor or have involvement in business decisions.
Last week, Honor revealed the next version of its operating system can use AI to mimic actions on a touchscreen, such as opening an app to order coffee delivery. The company on Wednesday released its new Magic7 series of phones that can use the AI features in China.
Just under one-third of Honor’s sales came from outside China in the first half of this year, according to Counterpoint.
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report. More