Joseph Belbruno Blog

  Social media explains why markets keep going crazy November 21, 2025 11:00 PM GMT+11 Updated November 21, 2025 FILE PHOTO: A man points a computer screen showing stock information in this illustration photo taken in Bordeaux, France, March 30, 2016. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photo LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - In earlier times, when investors lost their fortunes in the stock market, they tended to abjure speculation. “Once bitten, twice shy” was the rule. Today, animal spirits are no longer dampened by major financial setbacks. No sooner had the so-called “Everything Bubble” imploded in 2022 than it came roaring back. This time, loose monetary policy was not to blame. Rather, it seems that social networks have created ideal conditions for herding behaviour. At the same time, the technology for speculation has been perfected. After the dotcom bubble burst in 2000, investors shied away from technology stocks for years. The Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policy, inten...

  Alibaba AI feast may get food wars indigestion An Alibaba logo is displayed at the company's booth at China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, China, September 10, 2025. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov HONG KONG, Nov 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - China's Alibaba  (9988.HK) , is fighting price wars on two separate fronts, and that could cost it down the line. On one battlefield – artificial intelligence and cloud computing – boss Eddie Wu's aggressive spending is starting to pay off. But the campaign for market share in food deliveries and so-called quick commerce is overshadowing the $375 billion company's AI gains. The e-commerce giant has emerged as one of China's most promising AI firms. In the first half of the year, it commanded 36% of the domestic AI cloud market, according to research firm Omdia, more than the combined share of ByteDance, Huawei and Tencent  (0700.HK) . Moreover, Alibaba's open-source models are among the world's to...

  How the EU can act fast on Russia’s frozen assets November 24, 2025 4:00 PM GMT+11 Updated November 24, 2025 Ukrainian and European flags fly, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine August 11, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Donald Trump’s  new peace plan  for Ukraine could harm European security. It is therefore vital that Europe does something big to make sure the U.S. President takes account of its  rival plan . The best option would be for the European Union to use the 210 billion euros ($242 billion) of sovereign Russian assets it has frozen to help Ukraine. That would show Trump it is a player. To be fair, this is what the European Commission wants to do. But the EU’s executive body has so far  failed  to persuade Belgium to support its version of a “reparations loan” backed by the frozen assets. Euroclear, the Brussels-based depositary, is sitting on 185 billion euros of them. Belgi...

  Taiwan plans extra $40 billion in defence spending to counter China 0 seconds of 1 minute, 12 seconds TAIPEI, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Taiwan will introduce a $40-billion supplementary defence budget to underscore its determination to defend itself in the face of a rising threat from China, President Lai Ching-te said on Wednesday. China, which views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past five years to assert its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up  here. As Taiwan faces calls from Washington to spend more on its own  defence , mirroring U.S. pressure on Europe, Lai said in August he hoped for a boost in  defence  spending to 5% of gross domestic product by 2030. Unveiling the T$1.25 trillion ($39.89 billion) package, Lai said history had proven that trying to compromise in the face of aggression...

  Exclusive: Trump team negotiating trade deal with Taiwan that could help train US workers, sources say November 26, 2025 7:13 PM GMT+11 Updated 1 hour ago Item 1 of 2 The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is displayed at its fabrication plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, June 7, 2025. REUTERS/Ann Wang [1/2] The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is displayed at its fabrication plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, June 7, 2025. REUTERS/Ann Wang  Purchase Licensing  Rights WASHINGTON/TAIPEI, Nov 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President  Donald Trump's  administration is negotiating a deal that could commit Taiwan to fresh investment and training of U.S. workers in semiconductor manufacturing and other advanced industries, according to five people familiar with the matter. Under the arrangement, Taiwanese companies including TSMC  (2330.TW) , the world's largest contract chipmaker, would send new capital and workers to expand their U.S. o...

  One of the Greatest Polar-Bear Hunters Confronts a Vanishing World In the most remote settlement in Greenland, Hjelmer Hammeken’s life style has gone from something that worked for thousands of years to something that may not outlive him. November 24, 2025 In the past, a hunt by dogsled could last more than a month. But the days of the long hunt are over, and the warming of the Arctic has shortened the window in which polar bears can be pursued on the sea ice. Photograph by Ragnar Axelsson for The New Yorker In early 1993, the Icelandic photographer Ragnar Axelsson arrived at the most remote settlement in Greenland, a lonely town in the east that is tucked away in the world’s largest fjord system, which is usually locked in by ice. The temperature was minus forty degrees, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius—right where the scales converge. Sled dogs howled through the night, a warning against polar bears. The dogs smelled the bears. The bears smelled the children. The only other human...