Rises

• Het aantal Amerikaanse IPO-deals steeg in Q1 2026 met 36% op kwartaalbasis en met 78% op jaarbasis, waarbij de transactiewaarden met 91% toenamen ten opzichte van Q1 2025, maar gelijk bleven ten opzichte van Q4 2025. • De top 10 IPO's brachten in totaal meer dan $6 miljard op, aangevoerd door Forgent Power Solutions met $1,74 miljard in de industriële sector, gevolgd door Janus Living met $966 miljoen in vastgoed. • De gezondheidszorg domineerde met 40% van het volume van de top-IPO's, waaronder Minimed Group, Generate Biomedicines, Eikon Therapeutics en Aktis Oncology; de industriële sector bezette drie plaatsen.

• Alibaba Cloud introduced a new multimodal agent suite, Tongyi AgentStudio, on May 8, 2026, embedding vision, speech, and document‑processing capabilities into a single enterprise‑oriented platform. • The suite supports up to 128 concurrent tool calls per session and can autonomously manage procurement, HR ticketing, and multi‑cloud cost‑optimization workflows, with early pilots at Chinese banks reporting a 32% reduction in internal‑service turnaround time. • Alibaba says Tongyi AgentStudio is now priced at $1.20 per million input tokens for large‑enterprise contracts, below the rate of comparable Western agents, reinforcing its strategy of undercutting global cloud rivals.

Bond yields drop as market fears ease that Labour leader will be replaced by a more leftwing rival Elections 2026 – live updatesBusiness live – latest updatesUK government borrowing costs fell and the pound rose on Friday as Keir Starmer vowed to remain as prime minister despite the Labour party losing hundreds of council seats across England.Investors calculated that some of the intense pressure on Starmer’s leadership had eased, as Labour appeared on track for a smaller losses than election experts had predicted. Continue reading...

• India's manufacturing PMI increased to 54.7 in April from 53.9 in March, indicating continued expansion in the sector despite external headwinds. • The uptick reflects strong demand and production growth, though inflationary pressures have intensified due to ongoing Middle East geopolitical tensions affecting commodity prices. • A PMI above 50 signals economic expansion, and the improvement suggests Indian manufacturers are maintaining resilience in production activity and order books.

BEV sales jumped nearly 60% in April, taking total electric car registrations to more than 2m, says SMMTBusiness live – latest updatesA recent jump in electric car sales in the UK is likely to be “tempered” by worries over rising inflation and energy prices caused by the Iran war, a leading industry body has warned.New car sales in the UK rose by 24% year on year to 149,247 in April, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Continue reading...

Owner-occupier mortgage growth slowed under growing costs while investor loans grew by $42bn in the year to March, a 9.6% increaseGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastProperty investor borrowing rose at its fastest rate in a decade in March, according to the Reserve Bank, despite higher interest rates and speculation about property tax changes.Owner-occupier loan growth slowed under the weight of growing mortgage costs but investor lending is continuing its record surge. Continue reading...

• Infosys reported Q4 net profit up 21% to Rs 8,501 crore, though shares fell 3.6% on weak revenue guidance. • IT sector faces pressure from BFSI weakness and higher costs, impacting peers like Cyient. • Results highlight mixed quarterly outcomes in tech amid global demand shifts.