Japan Investment Corporation's Hata on VC Industry
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Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
G-Shock Reworked Its Original Watch Using a 1,200-Year-Old Japanese Craft
The toughest name in time just found a new way to showcase its signature shock resistance. Every product is carefully selected by our editors. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more G-Shock's new watch may revisit its oldest design from the 1980s. But the technique used for its unique bezel and bracelet actually dates back more than a millennium. Tsuiki, believed to have originated in the Heian period (794 to 1185 AD), refers to the Japanese craft of hammering sheets of metal into three-dimensional objects. Over the years, it's been used to shape armor, cookware and, now, digital watches, with G-Shock's 5000 series serving as the latest canvas to showcase tsuiki's stunning, handmade effect. Hammer time As the name implies, the brand-new MRG-B5000HT slots into the brand's catalog by way of the MR-G luxury sub-division. Yet even by those lofty standards, the watch standard apart as a one-of-a-kind offering from the toughest name in timekeeping. According to G-Shock, only 500 examples will be available worldwide, each one hand-hammered by master artisan Kazuya Watanabe — a nod to G-Shock's signature shock resistance. Both the bezel and bracelet are made from DAT55G, a titanium alloy that G-Shock claims is three times harder than pure titanium, and colored with a DLC coating designed to mimic traditional sword design. Otherwise, in true G-Shock fashion, the watch features Tough Solar power, Multi-Band 6, Bluetooth, sapphire glass, an LED backlight and 200 meters of water resistance. Availability and pricing Already breaking cover overseas, the MRG-B5000HT will cost 935,000 Japanese yen (roughly $6,400) when it releases in August. Casio has yet to confirm US pricing and availability, but, as stated, only 500 examples exist due to the artisanal nature of the watch. G-Shock MRG-B5000HT Learn More Jack Seemer is the executive editor at Gear Patrol, with over a decade of experience in product journalism. He currently reports on a wide range of topics, including footwear, watches, EDC, cookware and more.
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Rising Fiscal Deficits Drive Billions Into Credit
(Bloomberg) -- Investors are showing signs of pulling money out of government bonds and plowing it into US and European company debt. Trump Awards $1.26 Billion Contract to Build Biggest Immigrant Detention Center in US The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Can This Bridge Ease the Troubled US-Canadian Relationship? Trump Administration Sues NYC Over Sanctuary City Policy If the moves persist, money managers could be shifting what for decades has been market orthodoxy: that nothing is safer than buying US government debt. But as US fiscal deficits climb, hurt by tax cuts and rising interest costs, the government may look to borrow more, and company debt may be the safer option. In June, money managers pulled $3.9 billion from Treasuries, while adding $10 billion to European and US investment-grade corporate debt, according to EPFR Global data. In July, investors have added another $13 billion to US high-grade corporates, the largest net client purchasing in data going back to 2015, according to a separate note from strategists at Barclays on Friday. Michaël Nizard, a portfolio manager at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management, started making the switch from government into corporate debt at the end of last year and is holding on to the position. And in a note in the latest week, BlackRock Inc. strategists wrote, 'Credit has become a clear choice for quality.' To the extent this shift is happening, it's a slow change. The US doesn't have foreign currency debt, and can print more dollars as it needs to. When money managers were alarmed about tariff wars in April, US Treasuries still performed better than corporate bonds, even if prices for both sectors broadly fell. And foreign demand for Treasuries has remained resilient, with holdings climbing in May. But tightening corporate bond spreads in recent months may be a function of government debt looking relatively weaker now. The US government lost its last triple A grade in May, when Moody's Ratings cut it to Aa1. The bond rater pointed to factors including the widening deficit and the rising burden of interest, noting that payments will likely absorb around 30% of revenue by 2035, compared with 18% in 2024 and 9% in 2021. And US President Donald Trump's sweeping tax cut bill could add about $3.4 trillion to US deficits over the next decade, according to projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. At the same time, corporate profits remain relatively strong, and although there are some early reasons for caution, high-grade companies are generally generating enough earnings to easily pay their interest now. More US companies are topping earnings estimates this reporting season than the same period last year. Valuations for company debt have been high recently, reflecting investor demand for the debt. High-grade US corporate spreads have averaged below 0.8 percentage point, or 80 basis points, in July through Thursday. That's far below the mean for the decade of about 120 basis points, according to Bloomberg index data. Spreads for euro-denominated high-grade corporates have averaged about 85 basis points in July, compared with about 123 basis points for the decade. To some money managers, high valuations for corporate credit are cause to be wary. Gershon Distenfeld, a fund manager at AllianceBernstein Holding LP, pared back a position that favored credit risk to rates risk earlier this month. Dominique Braeuninger, a multi-asset fund manager at Schroders Investment Management Ltd., agrees that corporate bond spreads are too tight to make them attractive. And even if BlackRock is generally positive on corporate debt, it is underweight long-term high-grade notes because spreads are tight, while being overweight short-term credit. But to many market observers, the world appears to be shifting, and it makes sense to hold more corporate debt now. 'What we've seen on the government fiscal side is not great news,' said Jason Simpson, a senior fixed income SPDR ETF strategist at State Street Investment Management. 'Corporates seem to be chugging along nicely.' Week In Review The US leveraged loan market saw more than $83 billion of launches in the latest week, the second busiest on record, including a $7.57 billion two-part deal from Medline that is set to be the market's biggest pricing since 2015. Repricings were an important driver of volume, representing about two thirds of the tranches, as companies look to cut borrowing costs. Many of the loans that were repriced had already been repriced before The return of billion-dollar M&A deals was supposed to be a boon for Wall Street's leveraged finance desks. It's turning out to be anything but, as private equity cuts them out of many of the most coveted deals. Lenders are demanding higher pricing from two European leveraged-loan borrowers, a rare sign of difficulty these days in the buoyant market for sub-investment grade debt. Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. has agreed to some key restructuring terms a group of bank creditors had demanded, potentially easing the path for an overall debt deal. PepsiCo Inc. sold $4.7 billion of bonds in a pair of offerings that included the longest-dated euro-denominated corporate new issue since February. FedEx Corp. followed Pepsi with a rare two-part euro debt sale as some of its existing notes in the single currency near maturity. Meanwhile, General Electric Co. sold $2 billion of investment-grade bonds, as did Lockheed Martin Corp. Saks Global Enterprises launched a debt exchange after weeks of negotiations with creditors as its $600 million fresh financing takes shape. Separately, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. launched a multi-currency debt tender. Banks led by UBS Group and Citigroup have offloaded about $2 billion of debt to support Patient Square Capital's acquisition of Patterson Cos., reviving a deal more than three months after the bonds and loans got stuck on their books due to tariff turmoil in the market. Patterson received about $1 billion of orders for the $500 million junk-bond part of the sale. Dog walking service Wag! Group Co. won court permission to try to slash debt and hand control to senior creditor Retriever LLC as early as next month. On the Move Carlyle Group Inc. recruited Alex Chi, who was most recently co-head of Americas private credit at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s asset management arm, to lead its direct lending business. Chi will join Carlyle in early 2026. BMO Capital Markets hired Nii Dodoo as head of private credit financing. Dodoo joins from BTIG, where he was a managing director. Christina Chan, BNP Paribas' regional head of loan sales and head of corporate loan syndicate, Asia Pacific, has left the bank. Toronto-Dominion Bank's US credit trading unit has re-hired Sarah Classen from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for its voice-trading business. Classen starts in mid-September as a director in TD Securities' global US dollar fixed income trading team, based in New York. Ares Management Corp. hired Sarah Cole as a partner and co-head of Ares Global Capital Solutions to bolster its partnerships with banks, insurance companies and across capital markets broadly. Hedge fund Squarepoint Capital LLP recruited Nathan Fabius, a former strategist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., to cover Latin American debt. Fabius joined Squarepoint this month and is based in New York. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. plans to double the number of people on its credit secondaries team by the end of 2025, as demand has surged from investors who want to buy and sell existing exposure amid a dearth of fresh deals. Ardagh Group SA creditors are set to pay billionaire owner Paul Coulson as much as $300 million as part of a deal to hand over the keys to the company. Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash Confessions of a Laptop Farmer: How an American Helped North Korea's Wild Remote Worker Scheme It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. 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Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Trump calls leaders of Thailand and Cambodia to push for a ceasefire
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he had called the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand to urge them to reach a ceasefire, suggesting that if their deadly border conflict continues, he would hit both countries with heavy tariffs on Aug. 1. The three-day-long clash between the two countries has been escalating, with more than 30 dead, thousands displaced and troops massing on both sides of the border, prompting growing concern from global leaders. Each country blames the other for starting the conflict and says it is acting in self defense. Trump said on Truth Social that he had spoken with both Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Phumtham Wechayachai, Thailand's acting leader, to urge an end to the skirmish. The United States is engaged in trade talks with Thailand and Cambodia, he noted, but he could cease those negotiations. 'We happen to be, by coincidence, currently dealing on Trade with both Countries, but do not want to make any Deal, with either Country, if they are fighting — And I have told them so!' Trump posted. In a separate post, he said he had a 'good conversation' with the Thai leader. 'After speaking to both Parties, Ceasefire, Peace, and Prosperity seems to be a natural. We will soon see!' he wrote. He also suggested that his administration was adept at handling international conflicts. 'I am trying to simplify a complex situation! Many people are being killed in this War, but it very much reminds me of the Conflict between Pakistan and India, which was brought to a successful halt,' he added. Trump's mention of India and Pakistan referred to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between those two countries that was reached in early May after several days of heavy fighting broke out. That ceasefire was reached after Secretary of State Marco Rubio engaged in intensive shuttle diplomacy between Indian and Pakistani leaders. The president's latest pronouncements were another reflection of the way he is wielding the threat of tariffs to push other nations to bend to his preferences on issues beyond trade. Imports from Thailand and Cambodia are slated to face among the Trump administration's heaviest levies, 36 percent, if the countries do not reach a trade deal with the U.S. by Aug. 1. Trump made his announcement Saturday while visiting Scotland to play golf at his course in Turnberry, a trip that has attracted both supporters and protesters. His public intervention in the Thailand-Cambodia conflict raises pressure on the two countries, but the outcome is far from clear. Cambodia called for an 'immediate ceasefire' on Friday. But Thai officials have tempered their response. Thailand 'agrees in principle to have a ceasefire in place,' Phumtham, the acting Thai prime minister, posted on Facebook on Saturday after Trump's announcement. 'However, Thailand would like to see sincere intention from the Cambodian side.' Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa also said Saturday that Cambodia must be the first to suspend hostilities since Thailand accuses Cambodia of initiating the conflict. Sangiampongsa earlier turned down the prospect of third-party mediation, saying that negotiations must be bilateral. In three days of fighting, the clashes have killed at least 33 people. Thirteen Cambodians and 20 Thais have died, according to the Associated Press, and most of those killed have been civilians. The conflict has caused wide disruption in the area, and more than 168,000 people living near the border have been displaced. Cambodian Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said Saturday that 37,635 Cambodians were forced to relocate. About 131,000 people on the Thai side have also fled their homes, and Thailand has declared martial law in eight border districts.
