Earnings Call Insights: Pegasystems (PEGA) Q2 2026
Alan Trefler framed the quarter around what he called a market reset in AI economics, saying, “what was once available for free or for all-you-can-eat licensing is priced now by token use with
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Qualcomm (QCOM) said on Wednesday that it has expanded its collaboration with Samsung (SSNLF), bringing Snapdragon chips across the new Galaxy lineup, including smartphones, watches and intelligent eyewear.
The San Diego, California-based firm said that Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile
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The European Union is preparing to accept new tariffs the United States is expected to impose in the coming days over forced labour, as long as they do not exceed the 15 percent cap agreed under the Turnberry agreement, the European Commission said.
The White House said in early June that it would impose fresh duties on its global trading partners, arguing that insufficient efforts to curb trade in goods produced using forced labour were harming US commercial interests.
The current US tariff regime expires on Friday, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Tuesday that implementation of the forced labour duties was imminent.
European officials are closely monitoring the level of the new tariffs, as an EU-US trade agreement signed in July 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland, by US President Donald Trump and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen caps US duties on EU goods at 15 percent.
“Of course we do not agree with the findings on forced labour, and we’ve made that very clear to our United States counterparts,” an EU senior official said.
“But the main objective is to make sure that the agreement is respected and that our companies can benefit from the stability and predictability that was set out there.”
The Trump administration imposed 10 percent duties on its global trading partners last February after a US Supreme Court ruling declared its 2025 tariffs illegal. Added to the pre-existing Most-Favoured-Nation duties, those tariffs mean the EU is currently paying average duties close to the 15 percent ceiling set by the Turnberry agreement.
However, the current legal basis for the US tariff regime does not allow it to remain in force for more than 150 days – that is, until 24 July – unless Congress approves an extension, which is considered unlikely ahead of the US midterm elections.
As part of its effort to replace the current regime, the US Trade Department launched an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into forced labour in global supply chains, which is due to be concluded in the coming days.
“We expect to see some action soon,” Greer said on Tuesday on CNBC. “I can’t really specify a timeline right now – I have a responsibility to brief Congress and other stakeholders before I really reveal that kind of thing. But we do expect action soon on that front.”
In early June, the Commission defended its regulations, saying it had strict rules against products made with forced labour.
“The EU considers tariffs imposed on these grounds to be unjustified,” Olof Gill, the Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, said in a statement at the time.
And yet, the Commission now appears to consider there is no better option than ensuring the Turnberry agreement is respected.
With $1.7 trillion tied up in inefficient supply chains, CFOs are making liquidity a core strategy.
There’s $1.7 trillion of working capital sitting on the balance sheets of the largest U.S. companies: not locked in failed investments or delayed acquisitions, but trapped in slow receivables, excess inventory, and payment structures designed for a different economic environment.
That money hasn’t disappeared. It remains tied up in processes that no longer reflect how companies manage risk, liquidity, or supply chains.
For many CFOs, the largest untapped source of liquidity is the cash already embedded in operations. Yet organizations often struggle to unlock it because treasury, procurement, operations, and suppliers continue to pursue different objectives using disconnected systems and metrics.
J.P. Morgan estimates that hundreds of billions of dollars remain trapped in working capital across large corporations, while consultant The Hackett Group places the opportunity loss at some $1.7 trillion.
The culprits include receivables that take too long to convert to cash, inventory accumulated as protection against uncertainty, supplier payment structures that fail to balance liquidity across the value chain, and cash reserves that remain underutilized because companies lack the visibility to deploy them effectively.
For years, these inefficiencies were manageable. Low interest rates, predictable supply chains, and abundant liquidity reduced the urgency to rethink working capital. Treasury managed liquidity, procurement negotiated payment terms, sales focused on collections, and financial institutions provided financing within established relationships.
Today’s environment demands a different approach.
Higher interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty, higher tariffs, supply chain disruptions, and persistent margin pressure have elevated working capital from a finance function to a strategic business priority. Yet many organizations continue to manage liquidity using operating models designed for a different era.
According to Deloitte’s Q1 2026 CFO Signals survey, siloed organizations and outdated technology remain among the largest internal barriers to cost management. Boston Consulting Group has noted that extending payment terms alone often merely shifts financing costs along the supply chain rather than improving overall efficiency.
The challenge is therefore broader than financing. It is about coordination.
Working capital decisions increasingly require treasury, procurement, operations, finance, and suppliers to operate from the same information and align around shared objectives. Without that alignment, companies often optimize individual functions while reducing efficiency across the broader organization.
Reflecting these realities, investors have changed their expectations. Following several years of tighter capital markets, boards increasingly emphasize cash-flow resilience, capital discipline, and operational efficiency alongside growth. Liquidity has become a competitive advantage rather than simply a financial metric.
Companies are responding in different ways. Many are investing in better forecasting and real-time cash visibility. Others are modernizing treasury infrastructure, digitizing receivables and payables, expanding supply chain finance programs, or adopting data-driven tools that improve coordination across functions. Financial institutions are evolving their offerings through broader funding networks, automation, and digital onboarding capabilities.
No single approach will solve the challenge for every organization. What appears increasingly clear, however, is that fragmented processes and limited transparency are becoming more expensive. As supply chains grow more complex and financing conditions remain uncertain, organizations require greater visibility into where liquidity resides, how quickly it can move, and how financing decisions affect every participant across the value chain.
The International Finance Corporation and the World Bank have consistently highlighted digital infrastructure as a key enabler for expanding access to supply chain finance, particularly among smaller suppliers that have historically remained outside traditional financing programs. The objective is not technology for its own sake, but the creation of more efficient, scalable financial ecosystems.
The U.S. has one of the world’s deepest capital markets. Yet many companies continue to face unnecessary constraints in moving liquidity through their supply chains.
The next phase of working capital management, then, will likely depend less on access to capital — which remains abundant — and more on the ability to connect information, participants, and decision-making across increasingly complex commercial networks.
Organizations that succeed will be those that treat working capital not as a quarterly reporting metric but as an enterprise-wide capability that strengthens resilience, improves capital allocation, and creates flexibility in periods of uncertainty.
***
Gustavo Muller is CEO and co-founder of Monkey, a financial solutions marketplace. He has more than two decades of experience in financial markets, having held senior positions at Citibank, XP Investimentos, and as co-founder of Fisher Venture Builder.
The price of resale housing in Spain ended the second quarter of 2026 with a year-on-year increase of 17.2%, according to the Fotocasa Real Estate Index.
Between April and June, prices also rose by 4%, bringing the average to €3,133 per square metre in June. Spain’s resale home prices have hit new record highs in four of the first six months of the year and are now at their highest level in the past 21 years.
Fotocasa’s head of research and spokesperson, María Matos, attributes this trend to a sharp imbalance between strong demand and limited supply. She explains that the shortage of available properties, financing conditions and demographic pressure in the main markets are driving prices up and making it more difficult to access housing.
According to Matos, “the result is ever faster price growth that makes it harder to access housing and widens the affordability gap for a large proportion of households.”
Fotocasa’s data is in line with the trend shown by statistics from the National Statistics Institute (INE), although the two use different methodologies.
While the property portal analyses the asking prices of advertised listings, the INE measures the prices of homes that are ultimately sold. According to the institute, the overall price of housing rose by 12.9% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, while second-hand homes became 13.5% more expensive.
Prices rose during the second quarter in 16 autonomous communities.
The Region of Murcia recorded the largest rise, at 8.6%, followed by Cantabria (6.3%), the Valencian Community (5.9%), Castile and León (5.6%) and La Rioja (5.1%). The Canary Islands was the only region where prices fell, with a drop of 0.7%.
On an annual basis, Murcia once again came out on top with an increase of 28%, ahead of Cantabria (20%), the Valencian Community (19.8%), Asturias (17%) and Andalusia (16.9%).
The report also highlights that “June 2026 ended with 14 autonomous communities posting double-digit year-on-year increases, compared with 11 in 2025, six in 2024 and seven in 2023”.
The Balearic Islands and Madrid remain the most expensive regions to buy a resale home, at €5,441 and €5,410 per square metre respectively.
They are followed by the Basque Country (€3,925), Catalonia (€3,418) and the Canary Islands (€3,374). At the opposite end of the scale are Extremadura (€1,352), Castile-La Mancha (€1,407) and Castile and León (€1,816).
Forty-six provinces recorded quarterly increases, with León (10.7%), Palencia (10.2%) and Murcia (8.6%) seeing the sharpest rises, while Cuenca, Huelva, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Ávila were the only ones where prices fell.
The Balearic Islands remains the most expensive province to buy a resale home, at €5,441 per square metre, followed by Madrid (€5,410), Guipúzcoa (€4,695) and Málaga (€4,690). Jaén continues to be the most affordable, at €1,112 per square metre.
Among provincial capitals, León recorded the largest quarterly increase, while Donostia-San Sebastián maintains the highest average price in Spain, at €7,158 per square metre, ahead of Madrid (€6,630), Barcelona (€5,368), Palma (€5,275), Málaga (€4,320) and Bilbao (€4,157).
At municipal level, Santa Eulària des Riu in Ibiza tops the national ranking with €8,491 per square metre, followed by Sant Antoni de Portmany (€8,284) and Eivissa (€7,441). In Madrid, the Salamanca district reaches €10,786 per square metre, while Sarrià-Sant Gervasi leads the way in Barcelona at €7,540 per square metre.
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Earnings Call Insights: East West Bancorp (EWBC) Q2 2026
Seeking Alpha’s Disclaimer: This article was automatically generated by an AI tool based on content available on the Seeking Alpha website, and has not been curated or reviewed by humans. Due to inherent limitations in using AI-based tools, the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of such articles cannot be guaranteed. This article is intended for informational purposes only. Seeking Alpha does not take account of your objectives or your financial situation and does not offer any personalized investment advice. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank.
Earnings Call Insights: Hanmi Financial Corporation (HAFC) Q2 2026
“Hanmi delivered another quarter of a strong financial performance, driven by solid earnings growth, expanding customer relationships, disciplined execution and excellent credit quality.” (President, CEO & Director Bonita Lee)
Seeking Alpha’s Disclaimer: This article was automatically generated by an AI tool based on content available on the Seeking Alpha website, and has not been curated or reviewed by humans. Due to inherent limitations in using AI-based tools, the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of such articles cannot be guaranteed. This article is intended for informational purposes only. Seeking Alpha does not take account of your objectives or your financial situation and does not offer any personalized investment advice. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank.
Earnings Call Insights: Ally Financial (ALLY) Q2 2026
Seeking Alpha’s Disclaimer: This article was automatically generated by an AI tool based on content available on the Seeking Alpha website, and has not been curated or reviewed by humans. Due to inherent limitations in using AI-based tools, the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of such articles cannot be guaranteed. This article is intended for informational purposes only. Seeking Alpha does not take account of your objectives or your financial situation and does not offer any personalized investment advice. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank.
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Ivanhoe Mines (IVPAF) up 8.6% in Tuesday’s trading as Canaccord Genuity upgraded shares to Buy from Hold with a C$13 price target, bumped up from C$12, citing expectations of improving production, cost, and cash flow from Q3 2026 onward.
Canaccord
A year ago, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump struck a trade deal in Turnberry, Scotland, shaking hands under the spotlight of the world’s media after weeks of trade disputes.
Defended by the Commission as the best deal it could secure, the agreement imposed 15 percent US tariffs on imports from the EU, while the EU committed to removing its duties on most US industrial products.
The Europeans also pledged to invest €520 billion in the US and purchase €700 billion in US energy by 2028, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), oil and nuclear energy products.
The Turnberry agreement was supposed to draw a line under the dispute. Instead, it opened a new chapter.
Over the past year, Trump has repeatedly threatened the EU with new tariffs, slowing the implementation of the agreement on the European side, where lawmakers froze its ratification. Following negotiations between the EU’s co-legislators, the bloc eventually removed its tariffs on 1 July.
On the US side, the process has been no smoother. The White House had to adopt new tariffs after the US Supreme Court ruled in February 2026 that the duties imposed on US trading partners in 2025 were illegal.
The new tariffs, introduced under a different legal basis, are set to expire at the end of this week, on 24 July, unless Congress extends them – a prospect considered unlikely with the midterm elections approaching.
As the Turnberry deal marks its first anniversary, here are four things to know about the state of transatlantic trade relations.
Despite the tariff war, transatlantic trade has not shrunk. Quite the opposite: EU-US goods and services trade rose by 4.5 percent to €1.8 trillion in 2025, as companies rushed shipments ahead of Trump’s tariffs, offsetting the slowdown later in the year.
Since January 2025, US importers have had to pay around €31 billion in additional duties, compared with €7 billion in pre-tariff years.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, however, some have already been refunded. US data released in mid-July shows that $81 billion was paid back for tariffs imposed globally on the country’s trading partners.
According to the European Commission, the EU will keep its promise to invest massively in the US. In early 2025, it reported that EU companies had pledged €242 billion in investments across various US sectors, including cars, IT, chemicals and food.
Regarding energy investments, an EU senior official said the €700 billion target will be exceeded. The Commission said that, in 2025 alone, EU buyers imported energy products and signed deals worth more than $250 billion.
As the Iran war broke out and the EU phased out Russian gas supplies, purchases of US LNG and oil reached record levels. New nuclear projects will also be carried out in cooperation with US partners.
The EU-US trade saga is far from over. Brussels and Washington have started negotiating new tariff exemptions for EU goods. The Turnberry agreement referred to these future discussions, but the White House wanted the EU to implement its side of the agreement before talks could begin.
Last autumn, the Commission, together with European businesses, drew up a list of hundreds of products for which it hopes to restore pre-existing tariff levels. The list, recently transmitted to the US side, covers around €150 billion worth of EU exports and includes iconic products such as Roquefort, olive oil, wines and spirits.
The Europeans also hope to make progress on steel and aluminium. The US still imposes 50 percent tariffs on imports from trading partners worldwide. However, the Commission expects the discussions to be challenging, as the White House wants to bring production back to the US while also dealing with massive Chinese overcapacity.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, the White House had to rely on a new legal basis to impose tariffs reaching the 15 percent ceiling set by the Turnberry agreement. But those tariffs expire on Friday, and the US is already looking for new ways to impose additional duties.
European officials therefore expect the White House to introduce new tariffs targeting forced labour and overcapacity following investigations launched under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The forced labour tariffs have already been announced and are expected to come first, despite the EU arguing that it already has legislation banning forced labour.
“Of course we do not agree with the findings on forced labour, and we’ve made that very clear to our United States counterparts,” an EU senior official said. “But the main objective is to make sure that the agreement is respected and that our companies can benefit from the stability and predictability that was set out there.”
So as long as those future tariffs don’t exceed the 15 percent cap, the EU will not go against them.
The Commission is also closely monitoring a US investigation into German drug pricing under Section 301, which could also lead to punitive tariffs if the US Trade Department finds that “persistent underpayment for innovative pharmaceutical products by Germany is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts US commerce”.
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Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises (IEP) has agreed to sell automotive service chain Pep Boys to Mavis Tire Express Services in a transaction valued at about $700 million in cash, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Monday that cited people
BETA Technologies (BETA) introduced a new hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft designed for military logistics missions at the Farnborough International Airshow, marking the company’s latest push into the defense market.
The new aircraft, called the MV250, is an autonomous hybrid-electric VTOL
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Airbus (EADSF)(EADSY) secured an order for 100 A320neo family aircraft from SMBC Aviation Capital on the opening day of the Farnborough International Airshow, adding to a series of large commercial aircraft deals announced during the industry’s biennial event.
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Duke Energy (DUK) up 0.6% in Monday’s trading after saying it reached a settlement with North Carolina Public Staff, the agency representing utility customers, that would lower the proposed rate increase by more than half, subject to approval by the North
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U.S. Bancorp (USB) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at J.P. Morgan Securities on growth in fee revenue.
The investment bank raised its price target on the stock to $67.50 from $65.00.
Shares were 0.55% higher at $63.49 during morning trading on
Azerbaijan’s relationship with Germany is shifting beyond energy, with the two countries deepening ties across industry and logistics as Europe works to diversify its supply chains away from Russia.
“Azerbaijan is gradually ceasing to be perceived by Germany solely as an energy supplier and is increasingly becoming part of a new Eurasian industrial and logistics architecture,” said Orkhan Yolchuyev, director of the CASPIA Analytical Center.
Bilateral trade between the two countries reached around €1.7 billion in 2025, driven by German exports of industrial equipment, machinery and transport systems, Yolchuyev said.
Over 250 German companies now operate in Azerbaijan, spanning manufacturing, construction, logistics and energy.
The shift has accelerated since Azerbaijan began supplying gas directly to Germany and Austria in early 2026, part of a wider European push to reduce dependence on Russian energy following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The real change, Yolchuyev said, is not in the trade figures but in what they represent.
“[They] indicate that bilateral relations are evolving toward a higher level of industrial cooperation,” he said, pointing to Germany’s need for new export markets and more resilient supply networks.
German companies already active in Azerbaijan could soon be drawn into its reconstruction programmes and expanding industrial zones, particularly in engineering, transport, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing.
Much of this shift runs through the Middle Corridor, the transport route linking China and Central Asia with Europe via the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has given the route new urgency, as European firms hunt for alternatives that insulate their supply chains from disruption.
Azerbaijan sits at its logistical centre, with sea and rail links increasingly central to the transcontinental route.
Yolchuyev said the corridor’s value lies less in cargo volumes than in what it carries.
“The higher the share of high value-added products, such as automotive components, industrial machinery, electrical equipment, electronics or chemical products, the greater the economic efficiency of the route,” he said, pointing to the expansion of the Port of Baku and the Alat Free Economic Zone as drivers of new manufacturing and logistics investment.
Energy remains central despite the widening scope of cooperation. Azerbaijan has positioned itself as a dependable gas supplier and, since early 2026, has been sending gas directly to Germany and Austria.
Farid Shukurlu, a non-resident fellow at the Research Institute for European and American Studies, said Russia’s invasion marked a turning point.
“Traditionally, economic relations between Azerbaijan and Germany were concentrated in a limited number of sectors, including heavy machinery, automobiles and pharmaceuticals,” he said.
“However, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine fundamentally reshaped the bilateral economic relationship.”
Within five months of Azerbaijan’s first crude shipment to Germany, the country had exported 360,300 tonnes of crude oil and petroleum products worth approximately $210.9 million (€196mn), Shukurlu said.
He believes Azerbaijan could eventually become a transit route for Kazakh oil and Turkmen gas bound for Germany and other European markets.
Germany’s shift carries weight given its past reliance on Russian gas. Italy remains the largest European buyer of Azerbaijani gas via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, but Germany is now moving in the same direction.
Manfred Scherer, mayor of the Verbandsgemeinde Sprendlingen-Gensingen, a collective municipality in Germany’s Mainz-Bingen district, recalled meeting Azerbaijan’s current energy minister, Parviz Shahbazov, during his time as ambassador to Germany.
“Economic relations between Germany and Azerbaijan have developed positively in recent years. There is strong potential to further strengthen cooperation,” Scherer said.
“I have fond memories of the visit of the current minister of energy, Parviz Shahbazov, to our municipality during his time as ambassador of Azerbaijan to Germany,” he continued.
“At that time, we discussed opportunities to deepen our relations through a municipal partnership and to strengthen cooperation between our regions.”
Germany’s pivot fits a broader European turn toward the South Caucasus and Central Asia, partly in support of the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, which could unlock further energy diversification and regional connectivity.
The high-level visits have piled up. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the partnership with Azerbaijan “matters greatly to the European Union” and had “real momentum”.
European Council President António Costa travelled to Baku for talks on deeper EU re-engagement, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas visited in May.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Slovak President Peter Pellegrini have also held high-level talks with President Ilham Aliyev.
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Oil prices jumped in early trading as the US announced further attacks for a ninth consecutive night. Iran has responded to the strikes by targeting US allies across the Middle East.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 3.2% to $90.95 per barrel, while US benchmark crude climbed 2.8% to $84.04 per barrel.
“The US and Iran continue to exchange strikes, which are proving to be deadly for both sides,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a commentary on Monday.
“If this escalation goes unchecked, we could return to an environment of widespread attacks across the Persian Gulf,” they added.
Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global oil transport, has nearly ground to a halt, adding to pressure on supplies, they noted.
Elsewhere, AI-related shares including chipmaking stocks declined on Friday, pulling world markets lower. Pledges of huge spending on AI are fuelling worries the sector may be in a bubble, and many investors have opted to sell to lock in profits from recent big gains.
“The return to war in the Strait of Hormuz may start to weigh more heavily on financial markets before too long, especially if even strong tech earnings reports continue to be met with scepticism,” Jonas Goltermann, chief markets economist at Capital Economics wrote in a note Monday.
Markets were also shaken by the rollout of another powerful Chinese AI model, this time by Beijing-based Moonshot AI.
The impact of the new Kimi K3 open-source AI model was similar to when China’s “ DeepSeek moment” rattled world markets in early 2025. It was viewed as another sign of how lower-cost, capable Chinese AI models are increasingly challenging rivals like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT.
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Cairo accelerates state asset sales under an IMF plan, targeting up to four major listings by summer 2027.
This article appears in the July/August issue of Global Finance Magazine.
Egypt, Africa’s second-largest economy after South Africa, plans to list up to four state-owned companies on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), the continent’s largest stock exchange by the number of listed companies, within the next 12 months.
The June 5 announcement is part of Cairo’s $8 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) reform program and the government’s State Ownership Policy (SOP).
The planned transactions include the sale of a 20% stake in state-owned Misr Life Insurance, which is expected to raise about 14 billion Egyptian pounds (about $277 million). Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Hassan El Khatib said the government also expects more than seven public offerings — including private-sector companies — to reach the market within the next year.
“Over the next 12 months, the priority will be to make it easier for businesses to operate, raise capital, and complete mergers and acquisitions,” El Khatib told Reuters during a London visit.
In October 2024, the government floated shares in United Bank, marking the first state-owned bank listing in years. Since then, the EGX has approved the temporary listing of six additional state-owned enterprises, including Sinai Manganese Company and El Nasr Housing and Development. Officials are also preparing about 10 state-owned petroleum companies, along with firms in other strategic sectors, for future listings.
The drive toward privatization follows reforms introduced in March 2024, when Egypt adopted a flexible exchange-rate regime and allowed the Egyptian pound to float freely, ending the parallel foreign exchange market. In its February review, the IMF said inflation had fallen from a peak of 38% in September 2023 to the low-double-digit range, while Egypt’s net international reserves had risen to about $53 billion, reflecting stronger external buffers.
The reform program targets one of the most state-dominated economies in the Middle East and Africa. According to the IMF, Egypt’s state-owned enterprises account for assets equivalent to about half of the country’s gross domestic product. The government directly owns or controls more than 300 commercial enterprises across sectors, including banking, energy, manufacturing, transport, and telecommunications. The SOP came about in 2023. Subsequent legislative reforms include Law No. 170 of 2025, which established a central framework for the divestment of state assets.
Charles Wachira is a contributing writer based in Kenya.
