French Government Pleads Ignorance Regarding the Microsoft-Mistral AI Collaboration LeapRate

February 29, 2024 BY Elizabeth Anderson

French Government Pleads Ignorance Regarding the Microsoft-Mistral AI Collaboration

On Monday, 26 February 2024, Microsoft announced it had struck a multi-year deal with Mistral AI. The US tech titan invested $16m in the French company to introduce its specific AI protocols through the Azure cloud computing platform. In its press statement, Microsoft wrote: This partnership with Microsoft enables Mistral AI with access to Azure's…

February 29, 2024 BY Elizabeth Anderson

Chinese property market miseries continue as Country Garden faces liquidation petition

Ever Credit Limited, a division of Kingboard Holdings (0148.HK), lodged the filing against Country Gardens with the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The hearing has been scheduled for 17 May 2024. Economists believe that the petition will renew doubts about the debt management capabilities and liquidity of China’s property sector. This…

February 28, 2024 BY Simon Mugo

Royal Bank of Canada Beats Analysts’ Estimates on Interest Income

The financial strain on Canadian families has intensified with rising interest rates and living costs following the Bank of Canada's inflation-targeting rate hikes. This situation has raised concerns about significant credit losses and stunted loan expansion, prompting banks to allocate C$3.54 billion in reserves last year. Nonetheless, these higher interest rates have also increased banks'…

February 28, 2024 BY PureContent

Zoom beats earnings prediction and announces share buyback scheme

With predicted revenue for Q1 listed at $1.13bn, these positive results led to a surge in the ZM share price on the Nasdaq, taking the market cap to $20.76bn in the process. As part of the results announcement, ZM also confirmed that it will be buying back up to $1.5bn of its shares. While the…

February 28, 2024 BY Elizabeth Anderson

Viking Therapeutics’ weight loss drug boosts its share price

Companies such as Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) saw their respective share prices soar after successes with drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. This spurred smaller organisations, such as Viking, to test the anti-obesity market. Based on CNBC data, the obesity drug sector could total a value of roughly $100bn…

February 28, 2024 BY Elizabeth Anderson

Prominent Buyers Purchasing Cryptocurrencies

The world’s largest cryptocurrency, which currently has a market value of just over $1tn, ended Tuesday trading at $57,071. From the start of February, bitcoin gained 32%, putting it on track for its most significant monthly gain since January 2023. Don’t miss out the latest news, subscribe to LeapRate’s newsletter Rallies exceeding 10% were influenced…

Russian lawmakers attend a session of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in Moscow

February 27, 2024 BY Simon Mugo

Russia Approves the Use of Digital Currencies for International Trade

The approval by lawmakers is part of Russia's broader effort to counteract the impact of potential sanctions threatened by Western countries, particularly the United States, against nations like Turkey and China that facilitate commerce with Russia. Before these proposals become law, they must receive the nod from both the upper chamber of Russia's parliament and…

February 27, 2024 BY Simon Mugo

Qatar’s SWF Plans To Invest Over $1Bn in Venture Capital Deals

The initiative was unveiled by Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, emphasising that the investments would focus solely on venture capital funds, excluding private equity and debt investments. This venture capital "Fund of Funds" seeks not only to achieve commercial returns at market rates for the sovereign wealth fund but also to…

February 27, 2024 BY PureContent

Lloyds Makes £450m Provision to Cover Possible Regulatory Issues

The FCA investigation was launched in January this year, following complaints from members of the public who believe they were charged too much commission to arrange finance for car purchases. According to the Financial Ombudsman, around 17,000 complaints have been received so far. This raises the prospect of the bank being forced to pay compensation…

February 27, 2024 BY Elizabeth Anderson

Berkshire Hathaway heading for a $1tn market cap

Should the Omaha-based organisation pass the $1tn mark, it would be the first US non-tech company to do so. At one stage, Berkshire’s value rose above $925bn. In 2023, the company’s stock increased by 15%. In his yearly address to shareholders, Buffett justified the company’s conservative financial approach and added: The ‘margin of safety’ approach…

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