FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Commerzbank (ETR:CBKG) on Thursday named Carsten Schmitt as its new chief financial officer, a crucial role at Germany’s No. 2 lender as it seeks to fend off an approach by Italy’s UniCredit for a tie-up.

The job became vacant after the previous CFO, Bettina Orlopp, assumed the role of chief executive officer, a promotion that came as the bank’s board deemed her better placed to negotiate with UniCredit.

Schmitt previously served as Executive Vice President of Group Strategy and M&A at Danske Bank (CSE:DANSKE). Before that, he worked for Commerzbank in various positions for more than 20 years, most recently heading the group finance segment from 2019 to 2021.

The handover is planned to be completed by spring 2025 at the latest, said Commerzbank.

The new CFO will play an important part in reshaping the bank’s tweaked strategy, which it plans to present in February.

Italy’s No. 2 bank has been pressing for a tie-up after snapping up a hefty stake in Commerzbank in September, while the German company has been honing its defence as it seeks to remain independent.

UniCredit’s move is the most ambitious attempt yet at a pan-European bank merger, but it faces considerable hurdles.

Commerzbank’s management, employees and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have all voiced opposition to a potential takeover, but at least one big investor and some business leaders favour talks.

UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel, who has long held an interest in a tie-up with Commerzbank, has said a combination would be the best outcome although he has not ruled out walking away.

Investing.com– Analysts maintained a largely positive view on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) after the chipmaker clocked consensus-beating third-quarter earnings and presented a modest outlook for revenue in the current quarter. 

The company clocked third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.81, beating estimates of $0.75. It forecast a fourth-quarter revenue of $37.5 billion, plus or minus 2%, slightly above Reuters estimates of $37.09 billion.

The revenue forecast presented a sharp slowdown in Nvidia’s quarterly revenue growth, given that the company guided much stronger year-on-year increases in revenue for the past three quarters.

This was a point of contention for investors, with Nvidia’s shares initially falling as much as 5% in aftermarket trade on Wednesday. But they pared a bulk of these losses. 

Analysts, however, maintained a largely optimistic stance on the company, which became the world’s most valuable listed firm in the run-up to its earnings. 

A particular point of optimism was Nvidia’s upcoming Blackwell line of advanced artificial intelligence chips. The chipmaker reiterated that demand from the AI industry remained robust, and was expected to potentially outpace its ability to supply the new chips in the near-term. 

Morgan Stanley- maintain Overweight, bullish on Blackwell transition

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) maintained its Overweight rating on Nvidia, stating that the incremental revenue guidance was as expected for what is set to be a “transitional quarter.” 

MS said the shift to Blackwall was set to be a major stock driver in the coming quarters, and that demand overshooting supply appeared to be the only limiting factor for growth. 

The brokerage hiked its revenue estimates for 2026. 

BofA- Reiterate Buy, expect near-term churn but positive long term

BofA said that Nvidia’s guidance was below its bull case, and potentially disappointed some bulls. But the brokerage reiterated its Buy rating on the stock and said that strong demand, especially for Blackwell, was a major positive.

BofA cited overly high investor expectations, increased expenses and supply disruptions as potential risks for the stock.

“Expect stock to churn near-term as investors digest lack of “sizzle” but we continue to like the stock on its ‘substance,’” BofA analysts wrote in a note.

Baird- Hikes PT, maintains Outperform on strong demand

Baird hiked its price target on Nvidia to $195 from $150, and maintained its Outperform rating on the stock. 

The brokerage said it saw no demand slowdown in sight, and that Nvidia was “uniquely positioned” to capitalize on a wave of enterprise demand for AI infrastructure.

Investing.com – Japan stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Insurance, Transportation Equipment and Power sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.97%.

The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO:9531), which rose 4.94% or 213.00 points to trade at 4,528.00 at the close. Meanwhile, M3 Inc (TYO:2413) added 4.43% or 61.00 points to end at 1,437.50 and Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (TYO:5233) was up 3.81% or 131.00 points to 3,566.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were IHI Corp. (TYO:7013), which fell 3.94% or 358.00 points to trade at 8,721.00 at the close. Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. (TYO:8830) declined 3.44% or 161.00 points to end at 4,522.00 and East Japan Railway Co. (TYO:9020) was down 3.27% or 94.00 points to 2,779.00.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1782 to 1746 and 337 ended unchanged.

Shares in Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (TYO:9531) rose to 5-year highs; rising 4.94% or 213.00 to 4,528.00.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 5.63% to 24.65.

Crude oil for January delivery was up 0.73% or 0.50 to $69.25 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in January rose 0.67% or 0.49 to hit $73.30 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.44% or 11.60 to trade at $2,663.30 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.34% to 154.90, while EUR/JPY fell 0.35% to 163.33.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 106.53.

By Fanny Potkin

(Reuters) – China’s Huawei plans to start mass-producing its most advanced artificial intelligence chip in the first quarter of 2025, even as it struggles to make enough chips due to U.S. restrictions, said two people familiar with the matter.

The telecoms conglomerate has sent samples of the Ascend 910C – its newest chip, meant to rival those made by U.S. AI chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) – to some technology firms and started taking orders, the sources told Reuters.

Huawei is at the heart of U.S.-China friction over trade and security. Washington has imposed a series of curbs on Huawei and other Chinese companies, arguing that their technological progress poses a national security risk to the U.S. Beijing, which is trying to make the world’s second-biggest economy self-sufficient in advanced semiconductors, denies such claims.

The restrictions have hampered Huawei’s ability to get the yield – the proportion of chips that come off the manufacturing line fully functional – of its advanced AI chips high enough for them to be commercially viable.

The 910C is being made by top Chinese contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) on its N+2 process, but a lack of advanced lithography equipment has limited the chip’s yield to around 20%, said one source who was briefed on the results.

Advanced chips need yields of more than 70% to be commercially viable.

Even Huawei’s current most advanced processor, the SMIC-made 910B, has a yield of only around 50%, forcing Huawei to slash production targets and delay filling orders for that chip, the sources said.

Huawei and SMIC did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

U.S. RESTRICTIONS BITE

TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, ordered more than 100,000 Ascend 910B chips this year but had received fewer than 30,000 as of July, a pace too slow meet the company’s needs, Reuters reported in September. Other Chinese technology companies that have ordered from Huawei have complained of similar problems, sources have said.

U.S. curbs include barring China since 2020 from obtaining extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology from Dutch manufacturer ASML (AS:ASML), used to make the world’s most sophisticated processors.

“Huawei knows there is no short-term solution, given the lack of EUVs, so it will give priority to strategic government and corporate orders,” the source said.

ASML has also stopped shipping its most advanced deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) machines to China due to rules imposed by the Biden administration last year. Some fabs have also been restricted from buying older ASML DUV models.

SMIC demands a premium of up to 50% for chips made on its advanced nodes, which are less advanced than those of Taiwanese chip-making giant TSMC, and are made using enhanced ASML DUVs. Huawei has supplemented its SMIC-made chips with ones made by rival TSMC, according to analysts and sources.

TSMC notified the U.S. Commerce Department several weeks ago that one of its chips had been found in a Huawei 910B process. The U.S has placed Huawei on a trade list that requires suppliers to obtain licenses to ship any goods or technology to the company.

Washington has since clamped down further, ordering TSMC to halt shipments of advanced AI chips to Chinese customers, in a move targeting the diversion of chips to Huawei.

U.S. authorities are planning export controls on the semiconductor industry that will further restrict shipments for Chinese firms. Donald Trump, who was president from 2017 to 2021 and will return to the White House in January, has made tough-on-China trade policies core to his economic agenda.

By Krishna N. Das and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, indicted in New York over a $265 million bribery scheme, is a first-generation tycoon whose phenomenal rise has been accompanied by a series of damaging controversies at home and abroad.

Asia’s second-richest person, who narrowly escaped death in 2008 as one of many people stuck inside Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel when gunmen went on a killing spree, faces a U.S. arrest warrant and criminal penalties over the fraud and bribery charges.

Adani’s businesses, ranging from power and ports to sugar and soybeans, lost more than $150 billion in combined market value last year after U.S.-based short seller Hindenburg Research accused his eponymous group of using offshore tax havens improperly. The group, which recouped some of the losses and now has a combined valuation of $141 billion, denied all of the allegations.

Before shares in Adani Group companies tanked last year, the 62-year-old high school dropout had briefly become the world’s wealthiest person after Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk. Adani is now the 25th richest person with a net worth of about $57.6 billion, according to Forbes.

While the group’s coal and power projects and other deals have been questioned in countries such as Australia and Bangladesh, Indian opposition leaders have regularly used Adani to hit out at the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging favouritism, including in giving Adani the contract to redevelop a massive slum in Mumbai.

Both sides have rejected the charges.

U.S. authorities said on Wednesday that Adani and seven other defendants had agreed to pay the bribes to Indian government officials to obtain supply contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India’s largest solar power plant project. Adani Group has not responded to Reuters’ requests for comment on the charges.

Born on June 24, 1962 in Ahmedabad city in the western state of Gujarat – also Modi’s home state – Adani dropped out of school at age 16 after completing the 10th grade.

He set up Adani Group in 1988, beginning with commodities trading. He came from a middle-class textile family to build his riches, unlike many other billionaires who inherit their wealth.

Married to dentist Priti Adani, he has two sons, Karan and Jeet, both of whom are involved in the company businesses, like many others in the family.

According to one person with direct knowledge of his dealings, he has a “very hands-on” style of running his empire, which he said he aims to pass on to the next generation in the family when he turns 70.

In interviews with local and foreign media, Adani has called himself a shy person and credited the rise of his popularity in part to the political attacks he has faced.

He has been quick to praise politicians too.

Soon after Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. election, Adani said on X that the U.S. president-elect was “the embodiment of unbreakable tenacity, unshakeable grit, relentless determination and the courage to stay true to his beliefs”.

Congratulating Trump, Adani said last week his group would invest $10 billion in U.S. energy and infrastructure projects, without providing details other than the investment aimed to create 15,000 jobs.

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples and A-REITs sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.04%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which rose 4.48% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.35 at the close. Meanwhile, Amcor PLC (ASX:AMC) added 3.16% or 0.49 points to end at 16.00 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) was up 3.10% or 0.53 points to 17.60 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which fell 6.03% or 0.10 points to trade at 1.48 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) declined 5.81% or 0.03 points to end at 0.41 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) was down 4.84% or 0.14 points to 2.75.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 619 to 427 and 411 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.19% to 10.77.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.26% or 6.90 to $2,658.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.32% or 0.22 to hit $68.97 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.29% or 0.21 to trade at $73.02 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.20% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY fell 0.08% to 101.06.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 106.52.

Investing.com– Chinese equities may have bottomed out after surging to two-year highs last month, but their outlook remains volatile amid persistent doubts over more stimulus and economic growth, BCA Research said in a note. 

A Donald Trump presidency in the U.S. is also expected to provide more headwinds for China, especially given that Trump has vowed to impose steep trade tariffs on the country.

BCA Research was Overweight on Chinese A-shares, but was Neutral on Chinese offshore stocks and Underweight on Hong Kong. 

The brokerage warned that there was little fiscal stimulus expected from the country in the near-term, especially as Beijing sought to gauge just what a Trump presidency will entail for the country. 

The country is experiencing a liquidity trap, which makes “monetary easing less effective,” BCA said. The brokerage warned that China-related trades, such as commodity prices, remained vulnerable, with an economic recovery in the next six months appearing unlikely. 

“Even if Chinese stocks have bottomed, their performance will be very volatile,and risk-adjusted returns will be poor,” BCA Research analysts wrote in a note. 

China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes rose sharply in early-October, hitting two-year highs after Beijing announced its most aggressive round of stimulus measures.

But Chinese stocks have since relinquished a bulk of their gains, amid doubts over the scale and implementation of the planned measures. A recent round of fiscal measures from Beijing also largely underwhelmed, pressuring local markets. 

For broader emerging markets, BCA recommended investors stay put, especially in the face of a positive outlook for the dollar in the coming months, which is expected to pressure EMs. 

By Jody Godoy

(Reuters) -Alphabet’s Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) must sell its Chrome browser, share data and search results with competitors and take a range of other measures to end its monopoly on searching the internet, U.S. prosecutors argued to a judge on Wednesday.

Such changes would essentially result in Google being highly regulated for 10 years, subjecting it to oversight by the same Washington federal court that ruled the company maintained an illegal monopoly in online search and related advertising.

Google controls about 90% of the online search market.

“Google’s unlawful behavior has deprived rivals not only of critical distribution channels but also distribution partners who could otherwise enable entry into these markets by competitors in new and innovative ways,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a court filing.

The court papers filed Wednesday night expand on an earlier outline on how the U.S. wants to end Google’s monopoly. Google called the proposals radical at the time, saying they would harm U.S. consumers and businesses and shake American competitiveness in AI. The company has said it will appeal.

The DOJ demands are wide-ranging, including barring Google from re-entering the browser market for five years and insisting Google sell its Android mobile operating system if other remedies fail to restore competition. The DOJ has also requested a prohibition on Google buying or investing in any search rivals, query-based artificial intelligence products or advertising technology.

The DOJ and a coalition of states want U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to end exclusive agreements in which Google pays billions of dollars annually to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other device vendors to make its search engine the default on their tablets and smartphones.

Google will have a chance to present its own proposals in December.

Mehta has scheduled a trial on the proposals for April, though President-elect Donald Trump and the DOJ’s next antitrust head could step in and change course in the case.

Investing.com– Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is considering options for its China business, including a potential stake sale, as it attempts to revitalize sales and restore investor faith under new CEO Brian Niccol, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The coffee chain has been in talks with advisers over how to grow its Chinese business, including potentially introducing a local partner, Bloomberg reported. The company has drawn interest from several prospective investors, including local private equity firms. 

China is Starbucks’ second-largest market after the U.S., although the company has faced heightened competition in the country over the past few years from other foreign entrants, as well as local offerings, most notably Luckin Coffee (OTC:LKNCY). Starbucks has lost a major market share in China to Luckin.

In addition to its China woes, the company has seen waning sales in the U.S., and is also grappling with unionization attempts by its baristas, amid calls for better wages and benefits.

To this end, the company had named Niccol, known for turning around Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG), as its CEO earlier this year. 

(Reuters) -Starbucks is exploring options for its Chinese operations, including the possibility of selling a stake in the business to a local partner, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The coffee chain has also gauged interest from prospective investors, including domestic private equity firms, the report said.

In China, the company has grappled with weak consumer spending and stiff competition from local coffee chains such as Luckin’ Coffee in a weak macroeconomic environment.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours.

The company currently operates more than 7,500 stores in over 250 cities on the Chinese mainland, according to its website.

Comparable sales in China, the company’s second-largest market after the U.S., have declined for three straight quarters, falling 14% in the fourth quarter.