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Spirit Airlines in talks with Castlelake for a potential takeover, CNBC reports

Jan 22 (Reuters) – is in talks with investment firm for a potential takeover of the bankrupt carrier, CNBC News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Frontier Airlines had been in talks with Spirit for a potential , but the report said that the low-cost rival was unable to secure a deal.

Spirit’s future appears increasingly uncertain, with cash running low during its bankruptcy proceedings, which began in August, marking its second filing in less than a year.

It was not immediately clear if Spirit’s bondholders and Castlelake would reach a deal or the form it could take, the report added.

In August, Castlelake had launched Merit AirFinance, an aviation lending platform backed by $1.8 billion in deployable capital, which aims to provide debt financing to airlines and aircraft lessors for new and used aviation assets.

Spirit declined to comment on the matter. Castlelake did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for a comment.

Spirit has seen a string of failed merger attempts since 2022, starting with a cash-and-stock deal with Frontier that was later derailed by a rival bid from JetBlue Airways.

That transaction was ultimately blocked on antitrust grounds by a federal court in January 2024.

Spirit, best known for its bright yellow all-Airbus fleet, built its brand around affordable fares for budget-conscious travelers ready to forgo add-ons such as checked bags and seat assignments.

However, that demand tapered off quickly after the pandemic, as passengers preferred to opt for comfort and experience-based travel, leaving ultra- struggling to adapt.

Last month, the airline secured an additional $100 million in emergency financing to support operations and restructuring while under court protection.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary, Abhinav Parmar and Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Vijay Kishore)

 

Paramount extends deadline on hostile Warner Bros bid to February 20

Summary

  • Paramount extends tender offer deadline to Feb. 20
  • Fewer than 7% of Warner Bros shares tendered so far
  • Netflix ups bid to $82.7B all-cash deal approved by board
  • Shareholder vote expected to decide outcome by April

Jan 22 (Reuters) – on Thursday extended the deadline on its hostile tender offer for Warner Bros Discovery by about a month to February 20, buying more time to persuade investors that its bid for the Hollywood studio trumps a rival deal with Netflix.

The company did not raise its bid on Thursday. Only about 168.5 million Warner Bros shares, representing 6.8% of the company’s outstanding stock, had been tendered by the offer’s original January 21 deadline.

A successful deal will change the landscape of Hollywood by giving the suitor ownership of iconic franchises from “Friends” to “Batman” as well as the HBO Max streaming service.

Netflix on Tuesday revised its $82.7 billion offer to go all-cash in hopes of expediting the deal closure and providing greater financial certainty to investors worried about its previous stock-and-cash deal.

It is now willing to pay $27.75 per share in cash for the streaming and studio assets of the David Zaslav-led company, an offer that was unanimously approved by the Warner Bros board.

Paramount has launched a charm offensive and sued Warner Bros to bring the HBO owner to the negotiating table. But Warner Bros and analysts have suggested that Paramount needs to raise its offer of $108.4 billion, or $30 per share, for the whole company to restart deal talks.

BIDDING WAR LIKELY TO COME DOWN TO SHAREHOLDER VOTE

Shares of Paramount rose 0.5% in premarket trading, while Netflix ticked up 0.2% and Warner Bros fell 0.3%.

Netflix and Warner Bros did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Warner Bros’ board earlier this month rejected an amended Paramount bid that included a $40 billion in equity personally guaranteed by Oracle’s co-founder and Paramount CEO David Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison.

The race is expected to come to a head at a shareholder vote that is likely to be held by April as Warner investors weigh the value of cable assets that Paramount argues are worthless.

Paramount said it would ask Warner Bros investors to vote against the Netflix deal, arguing the bid is valued incorrectly.

It said that the offer relied on offloading $17 billion in debt to the Discovery Global spinoff that would house Warner Bros’ cable assets and was essential to the Netflix deal.

If Warner Bros cannot move all of the debt as planned, it would substantially reduce what shareholders stand to make on a sale to Netflix, Paramount said.

Warner Bros has said that its advisers used three separate approaches for valuing Discovery Global.

The lowest share price they arrived at was $1.33 per share, by applying a single value across the whole company. The high end of the range was a price of $6.86 a share, if the spinoff became involved in a future deal.

Paramount has repeatedly said that its offer is superior to Netflix’s deal and has a clearer path towards regulatory approval.

The Ellisons have argued their relationship with President gives them an easier regulatory path to approval.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on a post-earnings call on Tuesday that the company has made progress towards securing the necessary regulatory approvals.

Netflix expects the addition of HBO Max will allow it to offer more personalized and flexible subscription options to better meet the needs of its diverse global audience. It also sees the theatrical business as a new revenue stream.

But some analysts argue the deal would create near-term uncertainty around integration costs, content spending and the large debt load of the combined company.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona and Anil D’Silva)

 

Oil slides as Trump tones down threats against Greenland and Iran

LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) – fell on Thursday, reversing the previous sessions’ gains, after U.S. President softened threats against and Iran, and as investors assessed the supply and demand outlook.

was down $1.25 cents, or 1.92%, at $63.99 a barrel at 1301 GMT. West Texas Intermediate for March declined $1.24 cents, or 2.05%, to $59.38 a barrel.

The contracts climbed more than 0.4% on Wednesday following a rise of 1.5% a day earlier, after producer Kazakhstan halted output at its Tengiz and Korolev oilfields due to power distribution issues.

“There is a deflation of risk premium related to the Greenland debacle and Iran supply risk has also been reduced,” said Ole Hansen, chief commodity analyst at Saxo Bank.

On Wednesday, Trump ruled out the use of force to acquire Greenland and stepped back from tariff threats aimed at European allies.

Trump also said he hoped there would be no further U.S. military action in Iran, but added the United States would act if Tehran resumed its nuclear programme.

Against the backdrop of Greenland and the receding prospect of action in Iran, oil prices should hold at around $60 a barrel, said Tony Sycamore, an analyst with online broker IG.

Also Wednesday, Trump said he believed “we’re reasonably close” to a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, adding he would meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later in the day.

An end to the war would likely result in the removal of U.S. sanctions on Russia, which would limit supply disruptions and weigh down prices.

The International Energy Agency revised its 2026 growth forecasts higher on Wednesday in its latest monthly oil market report, suggesting a slightly narrower surplus this year.

U.S. crude and gasoline stocks rose, while distillate inventories fell last week, market sources said on Wednesday, citing figures from the American Petroleum Institute.

Crude stocks rose by 3.04 million barrels in the week ended on January 16, according to the API, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Gasoline inventories rose by 6.21 million barrels, while distillate inventories fell by 33,000 barrels, the sources said.

Eight analysts polled by Reuters forecast an average rise of about 1.1 million barrels in crude inventories for the week to January 16.

“High crude inventories are limiting further gains in oil prices in an oversupplied market,” said Yang An, an analyst at Haitong Futures.

(Reporting by Anna Hirtenstein in London. Additional reporting by Sam Li in Beijing and Siyi Liu in Singapore. Editing by Joe Bavier and Mark Potter)

 

Wall Street ends higher as investors cheer Greenland framework deal, averted tariffs

Summary

  • posts biggest one-day gain in two months
  • Trump says framework avoids new Europe
  • Bank earnings lift regional sharply
  • All S&P 500 sectors rise, led by energy

Jan 21 (Reuters) – ended higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest one-day percentage gain in two months, as investors were buoyed by news that a framework for an agreement on Greenland had been reached and the possibility of new U.S. tariffs on European allies had been averted.

Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite also enjoyed milestone days, gaining the most in percentage terms since January 5 and December 19, respectively.

The advances stood in stark contrast to the previous day’s selloff, which had been the worst daily performance by all three benchmarks since October 10, and reflected the latest episode of U.S. President initially using tariff threats to push his agenda before rolling back the rhetoric when a policy victory could be declared.

“We have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st.”

Wall Street benchmarks had been trading in positive territory at the time of the announcement, but soared in its wake as investors cheered the aversion of a potential new tariff war over the future of Greenland.

“I don’t think who owns Greenland has any immediate impact on anything, in terms of economics,” said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy & research at Glenmede.

“What is the economic impact is whether we all start imposing tariffs on each other,” he added.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 588.64 points, or 1.21%, to 49,077.23, the S&P 500 gained 78.76 points, or 1.16%, to 6,875.62 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 270.50 points, or 1.18%, to 23,224.83.

MOMENTUM SWINGS

Before the mid-afternoon Greenland announcement, Wall Street had been broadly positive, as investors responded to Tuesday’s bruising selloff. However, while initial momentum had propelled benchmarks more than 1% higher, this energy had been ebbing by early afternoon.

While light on details, Trump’s announcement allowed markets to focus on underlying strengths within the U.S. economy, including strong earnings from banks.

The latest wave of results from lenders, including some of the largest superregional names, helped send the regional banking index soaring 4.7% to its highest close since November 2024.

Citizens Financial Group surged 7.1%, to a record closing high, on the back of a 31.7% jump in quarterly profit. Truist Financial Corp climbed 1.8% after recording higher interest income and fees from investment banking.

POSITIVE ENERGY

All the S&P 500 subsectors rose, led by energy. It was buoyed by Halliburton, which gained 4.1% after earnings beat estimates, while EQT Corp and Expand Energy advanced 6.5% and 4.5% respectively, as natural gas prices hit a six-week high on cold weather.

United Airlines rose 2.2% after the carrier issued an upbeat outlook for the current quarter and the full year. Other airlines benefited from the positive sentiment, with Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Southwest all gaining between 1.1% and 2.4%.

Meanwhile, Netflix dropped 2.2% after reporting a muted outlook in its latest earnings. The streaming giant’s stock was also weighed by a pause in share buybacks to help fund the purchase of Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses.

Kraft HeinzO> fell 5.7% after a regulatory filing showed Berkshire Hathaway may shed its 27.5% stake in the consumer company.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Additional reporting by Johann M Cherian; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shilpi Majumdar)

 

Virginia Democrats target military college’s funding after anti-DEI push

The nation’s oldest state-supported military college may face losing public funding as newly empowered Virginia seek to determine whether it has done enough to root out racism and sexism at the school.

A resolution filed Tuesday in the House of Delegates would establish a task force with broad authority to investigate whether should continue to receive state tax dollars.

If approved, the task force would probe how VMI has responded since a 2021 state-ordered report found widespread discrimination at the school. It’s the latest in a growing push in from Virginia Democrats, who now hold larger majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly and control the governor’s mansion. They’ve quickly moved to reshape how universities operate and unwind efforts from conservatives and the Trump administration to end initiatives.

“We need to determine whether this is an institution capable of change,” said resolution sponsor Del. (D-Fairfax), who previously forced VMI to protect students who’ve reported sexual assaults on campus. Helmer, a U.S. Military Academy at West Point graduate, said Virginia taxpayer money should not be given to an institution “incapable of separating itself from a Lost Cause ideology that promotes White supremacy.”

Each year, VMI holds a ceremony honoring cadets who fought and died for the Confederacy, and long celebrated Stonewall Jackson, who was a professor at the school. The Lost Cause narrative glorifies the South’s role in the Civil War and asserts it was fought over states’ rights.

The specter of losing could pose an existential question for the future of the institute, which in the 2024-2025 academic year received 43 percent of its budget from the state.

“We are in the early stages of the legislative session and know that the delegates have planned a robust agenda,” VMI Superintendent and retired Lt. Gen. David Furness said in a statement. “While we have yet to see a resolution, we look forward to participating in the discussion and supporting the delegates.”

VMI boasts a network of influential alumni that include Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The resolution directs the task force to determine whether VMI’s programs could be replaced by other universities and evaluate whether it makes sense for the state’s defense to have a military academy at all.

“It’s an evaluation of the product that VMI offers, the value it provides to taxpayers, and whether or not it should be a taxpayer-funded institution,” Helmer said.

House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the proposal. The Spirit of VMI, a political action group of conservative alumni, declined a request for comment.

The Washington Post published a story in 2020 chronicling a lynching threat and other allegations of racism from Black cadets at the campus in Lexington. Two days later, then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D), a VMI alumnus, ordered an investigation into the college’s culture. VMI’s board appointed retired Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins as interim superintendent soon after. He was named the school’s first Black superintendent the following year.

Over time, Wins instituted measures to make the school more welcoming for women and students of color. He also established a review scrutinizing the college’s numerous Confederate tributes. But those changes sparked quick backlash at the school. In 2023, Youngkin’s diversity chief – a cabinet-level position created by Northam – declared that “DEI is dead” during an appearance at VMI.

Under both former governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and the Trump administration, Republicans moved forcefully in the last year to undo diversity, equity and inclusion efforts they see as discriminatory on campuses across the country. At VMI, Youngkin appointees voted last February not to renew Wins’s contract.

Wins later blamed “bias” and “ideology” for the board’s decision.

On Saturday, hours after taking office, Spanberger took her own action at the school, appointing five people, including Northam, to VMI’s board.

Helmer’s resolution, co-sponsored by Dels. David A. Reid (D-Loudon) and Fernando J. “Marty” Martinez (D-Loudon), condemns in strong language VMI’s celebration of the Confederacy.

The resolution would establish a task force filled with members of the House of Delegates, the state Senate, a representative from the state agency overseeing universities and four civilian members appointed by House and Senate Democrats.

The group would reevaluate a 1928 state audit that found VMI provided no service that wasn’t duplicated elsewhere and recommended the state to end its funding – though the state did not ultimately do that. It would study whether other state universities could expand military programs to make up for a potential end to taxpayer-supported programing at VMI.

Helmer’s latest resolution would require the task force to finish its meetings by Nov. 30 and submit a report to the governor and General Assembly by the first day of the 2027 legislative session.

Helmer’s resolution isn’t the first time VMI has been forced to seriously reconsider its status as a taxpayer-supported college. In 1990, the Justice Department sued Virginia, arguing that VMI’s then-policy of barring female cadets violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. The case was heard before the Supreme Court in 1996, where an attorney arguing for the college said that the school’s adversarial training methods would not be appropriate for women.

Six months later, the high court ruled that VMI’s all-male policy was unconstitutional in a 7 to 1 decision. (Justice Clarence Thomas, whose son attended VMI at the time, recused himself from the case.) In the majority opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated that although VMI “serves the State’s sons, it makes no provision whatever for her daughters. That is not equal protection.”

VMI now had to make a choice: Keep barring women, but renounce all public funds and go private, or continue taking public funds – and finally accept female cadets. In September 1996, its Board of Visitors voted 9 to 8 to admit women and to remain public. Its first group of women enrolled in August 1997, a milestone that was celebrated on campus in 2022 for its 25th anniversary.

Among the first female graduates was Virginia state Sen. Jennifer Carroll Foy (D-Prince William). Carroll Foy declined to comment on the proposed resolution.

Before introducing the new resolution, Helmer sponsored a 2023 law that forced VMI to give immunity against punishment to cadets if they reported a sexual assault that occurred while they’d been drinking or doing drugs.

by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Erin Cox, Ian Shapira (c) 2026 , The Washington Post

Report: Hampton Roads lost about 6,300 federal civilian jobs in 2025

SUMMARY:

  • Federal civilian jobs fell 10.5% in in 2025, driving a regional employment decline.
  • Port activity and weakened in 2025
  • Defense spending remains a regional strength

Hampton Roads lost more than 6,000 federal civilian jobs in 2025, a 10.5% drop that outpaces the national decline, according to a regional economist with the .

The data was part of a 2026 economic outlook report that Nikki Johnson presented to the HRPDC last week. The report dived into challenges facing the region’s economy, many of which were attributed to federal and .

“We’ve faced some significant policy changes at the federal level and a lot of economic uncertainty, and yet the national economy has remained remarkably resilient,” said Johnson, who previously served as a research associate at Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. “But as you’ll see today, that is less true for Hampton Roads, where federal cuts have really had an outsized impact on our regional economy.”

A decline in jobs

She noted that Hampton Roads is home to the third-largest federal civilian workforce in the country. Yet the region’s federal civilian workforce dropped by more than 6,300 from 60,813 employees in December 2024 to 54,456 in November 2025 — a 10.5% drop. That’s higher than the national average of 9.2%, but lower than the state’s overall drop of nearly 12%, which also includes Northern Virginia, another region dominated by federal workers.

The region had 817,000 civilian jobs as of November 2025, a roughly 10,000-job decline since last January. Johnson noted that there are more people employed now than before the 2020 pandemic, but it still represents a significant decline; the region’s civilian jobs dropped 1.1% from January 2025 through November, while nationally jobs increased by 0.5% in the same period.

Since November 2024, the region also lost about 3,800 jobs. On the flipside, private education and health services saw employment increase by 3,000.

Johnson added that layoffs have remained flat over the past decade, with the exception of the initial pandemic shutdown, but the hiring rate in Hampton Roads is the lowest it has ever been in 10 years. Population growth has slowed, partly due to stricter immigration policies under the Trump administration.

According to Johnson, there isn’t regional data for how the federal job cuts impacted minorities, but nationally, the Black unemployment rate has risen much faster than unemployment among white people, she said.

“We tend to see that already in economic slowdowns,” Johnson said. “But it’s also important to remember that Black people were overrepresented in the federal workforce. That was a meaningful employment for them, so with the federal cuts, that has really exacerbated that overall.”

Other economic challenges

The also faced “significant headwinds” in 2025 related to tariffs, although overall, their impact regionally has been fairly muted. According to Johnson’s report, 20-foot equivalent units (TEUS) through November 2025 were at their lowest levels since 2019. Also, there were slowdowns in both imports and exports, and Johnson attributed some of the loss to China’s decreased soybean purchases in response to Trump’s tariffs.

Local tourism has also softened and is likely to remain a problem if trade conditions and travel demand do not improve, she said. Hampton Roads generated $235 million in hotel revenues through the third quarter f 2025 — a drop from $245 million a year prior.

However, while tariffs have been “big on paper,” their impact in overall regional data been somewhat muted due to a couple of factors.

“First, there’s some early research that shows that the statutory rate of tariffs is much higher than the effective rate,” Johnson said. “So a lot of the goods that businesses are importing over are being exempted from the tariffs. Second, we are seeing that businesses are largely eating the cost of the tariffs instead of passing them on to consumers in order to remain competitive on prices.

“And then finally, we do think that the full impact of tariffs are likely to be delayed. It will just take some time for tariffs to fully work their way through to prices, and that does mean that we’re likely to see an uptick in inflation in 2026, but there is a lot of uncertainty just given the stop-start nature of a lot of these tariffs.”

On the world stage, President ‘s aim to acquire and threats to enact higher tariffs on European allies until the U.S. takes control of the nation has caused economic volatility, although the dollar edged up from three-week lows Wednesday following his speech at .

Johnson said that on the positive side in Hampton Roads, spending has remained “a key stabilizing force.” The region reported $2.6 billion in retail sales through November 2025, slightly below 2024 levels but above 2023 and the height of the pandemic. In addition, military pay increases and shipbuilding investments are expected to support regional output and household income. The region’s defense spending has steadily increased over the past four years, reaching $16.9 billion in fiscal 2025.

She noted that the $900 billion National Defense Authorization Act for 2026 includes pay increases for military service members and investments in shipbuilding.

“We think both of those will be a much-needed boost to our regional economy moving forward,” Johnson said.

While defense spending will likely be an “anchor” for the region in 2026, Johnson noted there is still significant downside risk, with slowing port activity and tourism and the potential for further decreased population growth. She said it’s unknown how long federal cuts will persist into 2026.

“It’s also important to remember that the federal civilian workforce, how many of those workers who quit or lost their job are able to find a new job in the private sector here in the region, or do they have to leave altogether?” she said. “That can constrain population and labor market conditions here in the region.”

Dollar edges up after Trump rules out military action in Greenland

Summary

  • Dollar rebounded slightly from three-week lows after Trump spoke in
  • and Swiss franc retreated after recent strong gains
  • with Europe fueled volatility in currencies and Treasuries
  • Yen weakness kept intervention risks near 159–160 per dollar

Jan 21 (Reuters) – The dollar edged up from three-week lows against the euro and the Swiss franc on Wednesday as investors digested U.S. President ‘s speech at Davos, after his tariff threats triggered a broad selloff in U.S. assets.

The dollar ticked slightly higher against major pairs following Trump’s speech, where he ruled out military action in , but said he was seeking immediate negotiations to discuss a deal to acquire the northern island.

The euro was down 0.17% at $1.17 , having risen more than 1% in the last two sessions. It hit $1.1770 on Tuesday, its highest level since December 30.

The safe-haven Swiss franc was down 0.47% to 0.7934 per dollar, after gaining about 1.5% between Monday and Tuesday.

“We’re clearly not at the end of this saga, but any use of force would cause an irreparable schism between the U.S. and Europe,” said Adam Button, chief currency analyst at investingLive.

“It doesn’t sound like [Trump] is in Davos to make any real ultimatums.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has pushed for the EU to consider the first use of its Anti-Coercion Instrument, informally known as the “trade bazooka”, which could limit U.S. access to public tenders or restrict trade in services such as tech platforms. Macron said on Tuesday it was “crazy” it had gone that far.

An announcement by Danish pension fund AkademikerPension on Tuesday that it would sell its roughly $100 million holding of U.S. Treasuries by the end of the month added to speculation about further foreign investor selling.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday he was working “behind the scenes” to address tensions between the U.S. and its European allies.

The Swedish krona hit a fresh 4-year high versus the dollar at 10.099 as investors favored countries with low debt levels.

YEN ON THE ROPES, INTERVENTION TERRITORY IN FOCUS

The dollar was steady against the Japanese currency, which faced its own selloff after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday called snap elections for February 8 and pledged measures to loosen fiscal policy.

The yen was slightly lower against the dollar at 158.255. Investors closely watched Japanese government bonds (JGBs) which were hit hard early this week, but rebounded on Wednesday.

“The absence of strategic buyers in this segment has made price action more sensitive and amplified volatility. I expect this environment of elevated volatility to persist through 2026,” said Vincent Chung, co-portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price.

“A further sell-off in JGBs would seem to drag the dollar/yen towards intervention territory at 159/160,” said Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING.

“However, if the yen sell-off is a self-inflicted wound from the Japanese government policy, the effectiveness of intervention will become increasingly questionable.”

(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York and Stefano Rebaudo; editing by Toby Chopra and Jason Neely)

 

Dimon warns credit card rate cap would be ‘disaster’

Summary

  • says a credit card rate cap would cut off credit for most Americans
  • Trump urges to cap credit card interest rates at 10% for one year
  • warns the proposal would limit consumer credit access
  • Analysts say legislation faces long odds amid partisan divisions

Jan 21 (Reuters) – CEO Jamie Dimon warned on Wednesday that a proposal to cap credit card interest rates would amount to economic disaster, while U.S. President doubled down on the idea and said he was asking Congress to approve the move.

Trump, under pressure to address voters’ cost-of-living concerns ahead of this year’s congressional elections, called for the cap earlier this month, without detailing how the plan would be implemented.‌

“It would remove credit from 80% of Americans, and that is their back-up credit,” Dimon, longtime chief of JPMorgan and ‘s most influential banker, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Trump reiterated his call to cap interest rates in a separate address on Wednesday at the WEF, an annual gathering of global political and business leaders.

“I am asking Congress to cap credit card interest rates at 10% for one year,” Trump said. “One of the biggest barriers to saving for a down payment has been surging credit card debt. The profit margin for credit card companies now exceeds 50%, one of the biggest.”

Banking industry bodies have pushed back strongly against the move, arguing it would limit credit access for everyday consumers. Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts said such a measure would require legislation and has slim odds of passage, with and Republicans divided over supporting it.

“I think we should test it,” Dimon said. “The government can do it, they should force all the banks to do it in two states – Vermont and Massachusetts – and see what happens.”

Though Dimon did not explain why he picked those two states, the idea drew laughs from the crowd. Left-leaning Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who represent Vermont and Massachusetts respectively, have both advocated for legislation that would cap credit card interest rates.

“People crying the most will not be the credit card companies. It will be the restaurants, retailers, travel companies, the schools, the municipalities, because people will miss their water payments, this payment and that payment,” Dimon said.

INDUSTRY SCRAMBLE

Trump, who called on companies to comply by January 20 in a post on his Truth Social social media platform, blindsided the industry and sent bank stocks tumbling as investors baulked at the prospect of one of the sector’s most profitable businesses grinding to a halt.

“The president is asking Congress to pass legislation, so he’s not going to try to personally set credit rates. That makes it highly unlikely we’ll see a 10% cap put in place anytime soon,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management. “It does give him an opportunity to point the finger at Congress if it doesn’t happen.”

The Banks Index that tracks large-cap lenders was last up 1.2% on Wednesday.

generate strong returns for banks, which charge high rates to compensate for the greater risk of default on card loans, which are unsecured.

Major Wall Street banks are pushing back on some of Trump’s ideas for lowering the U.S. ahead of mid-term elections and suggesting alternatives in an effort to shape policy, Reuters reported, citing sources.

“We’re going to give them at one point real analysis on the effects of this. We’ve given some but not a lot,” Dimon said.

Last week, JPMorgan’s Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum was asked in a post-earnings call if the company would pursue legal action against rate caps. “If you wind up with weakly supported directives to radically change our business that aren’t justified, you have to assume everything is on the table,” he said.

Analysts have said card providers could make conciliatory gestures with innovative offerings such as lower rates for certain customers, no-frills cards that could charge 10% but have no rewards, or lower credit limits.

Dimon’s remarks echoed the views of other top banking CEOs.

In an interview with CNBC from Davos, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said earlier this week she does not expect Congress to approve caps on credit card interest rates.

(Reporting by Manya Saini and Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Anil D’Silva and Pooja Desai)

 

Intel results to spotlight turnaround efforts as AI data centers boost chip demand

Summary

  • shares surged 84% in 2025 as investors regained confidence
  • Data center revenue is expected to jump more than 30% in the fourth quarter
  • High-profile investments strengthened Intel’s balance sheet and flexibility
  • yields and PC market competition remain key challenges

Jan 21 (Reuters) – Intel shareholders are optimistic about the company’s results like they have not been for many quarters, betting the turnaround CEO promised was taking root and that rapid data center build outs were fueling strong demand for its traditional server chips.

A slew of high-profile investments engineered by Tan last year piqued investor interest in a stock that had crashed in 2024 following years of management missteps, including a botched AI product roadmap that led to deep competitive losses and thousands of job cuts.

Intel’s stock gained 84% in 2025, far outperforming the benchmark semiconductor index’s 42% rise.

The company is slated to report fourth-quarter results after markets close on Thursday.

A $5  billion investment from Nvidia and $2  billion from SoftBank, alongside the U.S. government’s stake in the company, have strengthened Intel’s balance sheet and given Tan the flexibility to begin reshaping the company’s manufacturing and AI strategy.

Tan has also overhauled the company’s chipmaking operations and tightened what he said was a bloated management structure.

“It’s the most optimistic, I think, people have felt about the company in a long time; the near-term dynamic’s set up very well,” said Ryuta Makino, analyst at Intel investor Gabelli Funds.

“That’s really the big Intel bull case here – I think there will be at least a double-digit server CPU (central processing unit) price hike in 2026.”

At least 10 brokerages have raised their price targets or ratings for Intel over the last two months, indicating higher expectations from the company.

Intel is likely to report a more than 30% jump in its data center business to $4.43 billion for the quarter ended December, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The jump could be attributed to big tech companies building out advanced that need Intel’s traditional server chips and CPUs alongside graphics processors made by the likes of Nvidia.

Sales in Intel’s personal computer unit likely rose 2.5% to $8.21 billion.

A LONG WAY TO GO

Intel has been consistently losing share in the PC market to rival AMD and chip blueprint designer Arm, and may now also face weaker PC demand as a global shortage of memory chips has boosted memory chip prices and made laptops more expensive.

“While we remain bullish on data center demand, we believe PC demand may moderate from increasing memory pricing, given memory accounts for 25% to 30% of PC bill of materials,” UBS analysts said in a note earlier this month.

The brokerage expects a drop of 4% in global 2026 PC shipments, compared with the over 3% growth it projected earlier.

Intel’s refreshed product lineup may help plug some losses.

The company has started shipping its new “Panther Lake” PC chips – the first product made using Intel’s make-or-break 18A manufacturing technology. Its prior-generation PC chips were largely made by chip contractor TSMC.

Intel has long been its own largest manufacturing customer, but with its growing political goodwill, the Street is hoping for new foundry clients.

“We really like Lip-Bu Tan, but more importantly – more powerful people like President Trump, Secretary Lutnick, (Nvidia CEO) Jensen Huang and even (AMD CEO) Lisa Su like him even more as a business partner,” Melius Research analysts said in a note.

Reuters has reported that Nvidia and Broadcom have run manufacturing tests with Intel, but much remains uncertain as only a small percentage of the chips printed via 18A have been good enough to make available to customers.

Intel has said its yields, or the number of good chips per silicon wafer, are improving monthly.

Pressured by poor yields, Intel’s adjusted gross margin is expected to have dropped about 6 percentage points to 36.5% in the December quarter.

(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Shinjini Ganguli)

 

Smithfield Foods plans to buy Nathan’s Famous in $450M deal

Smithfield Foods announced Wednesday it has entered a deal to purchase , the hot dog and sausage brand, for $102 a share in cash, a value of about $450 million.

Since 2014, has held an exclusive license to sell Nathan’s Famous hot dogs, sausages, corned beef and other products within the United States, Canada and Sam’s Clubs in Mexico, a license that is set to expire in 2032. With the purchase, Smithfield will retain its rights to the brand, which will continue to be marketed as Nathan’s, according to Wednesday’s announcement.

“The Nathan’s Famous is a meaningful step in the progression of allowing us to own all of the top brands in our packaged meats portfolio and unlock new growth opportunities for our largest segment,” Smithfield President and CEO Shane Smith said in a statement. “Since entering into our licensing agreement in 2014, we have made significant investments to build and grow the Nathan’s Famous brand. With our scale, marketing strength, product innovation capabilities, and retail and foodservice channel expertise, acquiring Nathan’s Famous will allow us to take the brand to new heights.”

Smithfield said it expects to earn about $9 million more annually by the second anniversary of the purchase. Nathan’s board of directors has approved the deal, and the closing is expected to take place in the first half of 2026, pending approval from Nathan’s Famous stockholders and meeting other conditions, the news release says. Goldman Sachs was financial adviser to Smithfield, and Hunton Andrews Kurth was legal counsel for the Smithfield-based corporation.

“This combination is a natural fit and provides a compelling valuation for Nathan’s Famous stockholders,” Nathan’s Famous CEO Eric Gatoff said. “As a long-time partner, Smithfield has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to investing in and growing our brand while maintaining the utmost quality and customer service standards.”

Shares of Smithfield, a majority-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed WH Group, rose about 2%. The stock gained roughly 6% in 2025 after its market debut.

Nathan’s Famous began as a hot dog stand in 1916, founded by immigrant Nathan Handwerker with $300 borrowed from entertainers Jimmy Durante and Eddie Cantor, and initially sold hot dogs for 5 cents. The brand later expanded nationwide under the leadership of Handwerker’s son, Murray.

Reuters contributed to this article.