>>> US Insider Trading: notable purchases -- 10% owner adds to FTCI; notable sal

Insider Trading: notable purchases -- 10% owner adds to FTCI; notable sales -- CEO active in PFSI

Buyers:
  • FTCI 10% owner/Former Director bought 131,906 shares at  $2.235 - $2.35 worth ~$303K.

Sellers:

  • PFSI Chairman & CEO sold 15.000 shares at $59.19 - $60.47 worth ~$896K.
  • TZOO 10% owner sold 47,883 shares at $6.17 - $6.55 worth ~$307K.
  • VRNT President and one (1) Director sold 34,678 shares at $37.11 - $37.75 worth ~$1.3 mln.
  • WRLD 10% owner sold 5,815 shares at ~$82.1748 worth ~$478K.

FT : Germany seeks to limit Brussels’ scope on national debt reduction plans

Germany seeks to limit Brussels’ scope on national debt reduction plans
Finance minister Christian Lindner is sceptical about European Commission’s role as fiscal enforcer

Germany wants stricter debt reduction rules for high-debt countries and tighter restraints on the European Commission’s scope to agree fiscal plans with EU capitals, as the bloc prepares for a sweeping overhaul of the union’s budget rules.

In a policy paper seen by the Financial Times, Berlin demanded that debt-to-GDP ratios of heavily indebted countries should fall by 1 percentage point a year. For countries with less onerous debts, the minimum requirement could be a 0.5 percentage point a year.

Under current rules, member states whose debt surpasses 60 per cent of GDP have to plan for a 1/20th a year reduction of that burden — a speed even hawkish capitals admit can be unrealistically draconian.

The German paper feeds into a growing debate about overhauling the bloc’s fiscal rules. It seeks to put limits on the commission’s own proposal to strike bespoke deals with individual member states when setting out the path and pace of bringing their public financing back in line with the rules.

German finance minister Christian Lindner has been sceptical about leaving it up to the commission to craft and oversee those bilateral plans. The German finance ministry has been historically mistrustful of the commission’s role as a fiscal rules enforcer, given the leniency it has shown in the past to the budget deficits and debt reduction efforts of countries such as France — and even Germany.

In a bid to restrict the commission’s discretion when agreeing those plans, Berlin argues for “common quantitative benchmarks and safeguards, which are essential for a reformed fiscal framework”. The German paper also floats extra ways of limiting public spending growth among high-debt countries.

In an effort to answer calls for spending on key green and digital priorities to be protected, the German paper suggests changes to ensure spending related to EU programmes such as the post-Covid recovery plan is given favourable treatment. Still, it will probably meet resistance from member states with hefty public debt burdens who seek bespoke debt-reduction plans that leave plenty of scope for public investment.

The German finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The debate over the shape of the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact — designed to enforce fiscal discipline on member states — is gradually resuming after being suspended during the pandemic. Finance ministers last month agreed that new legislation should be pushed through this year, as they seek to settle an improved framework before the rules come back into force in 2024.

The EU is seeking to simplify a fiscal rule book that has for years suffered from patchy enforcement while failing to adequately incentivise critical public investments.

WSJ : Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says Search to Feature Chat AI

Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says Search to Feature Chat AI
‘More work left to do’ in efficiency drive, chief executive says

Google plans to add conversational artificial-intelligence features to its flagship search engine, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said, as he steers the tech company’s response to competition from chatbots such as ChatGPT and to wider business pressures.

Advances in AI would supercharge Google’s ability to answer an array of search queries, Mr. Pichai said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He dismissed the notion that chatbots posed a threat to Google’s search business, which accounts for more than half of revenue at parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG -0.16%

“The opportunity space, if anything, is bigger than before,” Mr. Pichai, who also heads Alphabet, said in the interview Tuesday.

Google has long been a leader in developing computer programs called large language models, or LLMs, which can process and respond to natural-language prompts with humanlike prose. But it hasn’t yet used the technology to influence the way people use search—something Mr. Pichai said would change.

“Will people be able to ask questions to Google and engage with LLMs in the context of search? Absolutely,” Mr. Pichai said.

With Microsoft Corp. already deploying the technology behind the ChatGPT system in its Bing search engine, Mr. Pichai is dealing with one of the biggest threats to Google’s core business in years as he also faces investor pressure to cut costs. In January, Alphabet said it would eliminate about 12,000 jobs, or 6% of staff, its largest layoffs to date. Inflation and recession concerns have spurred other tech companies to cut back.

Mr. Pichai said Google hasn’t yet achieved a goal of becoming 20% more productive, a target he set in September. He said the company was comfortable with its pace of change, though he wouldn’t directly address the prospects of another round of layoffs.
Last week Google Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat told employees to expect more spending cuts in areas ranging from dining facilities to the company’s computing infrastructure, which is critical for developing and running powerful AI algorithms.

“We are definitely being focused on creating durable savings,” Mr. Pichai said. “We are pleased with the progress, but there is more work left to do.”

Google has pushed forward with its AI efforts despite the cost cuts, accelerating work on new products following the breakout success of ChatGPT.

Google has for years used AI systems to better understand complex queries, but the public release of ChatGPT in November by the Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI has sparked a race to integrate the technology into consumer products. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has taken direct aim at Google’s dominant search engine, telling the Journal in February that “a new race is starting with a completely new platform technology.”

That month Microsoft infused the technology behind ChatGPT into its search engine Bing, long a distant laggard to Google search. The move allowed users to engage in extended conversations with the product. Microsoft said it expected to generate $2 billion in revenue for every percentage point it gained in the search market, of which Google has a more than 90% share.

Mr. Pichai’s latest comments indicate that Google plans to allow users to interact directly with the company’s large language models through its search engine. That move could upend the traditional link-based experience that has been the norm for more than two decades.

Google is testing several new search products, such as versions that allow users to ask follow-up questions to their original queries, Mr. Pichai said. The company said last month that it would begin “thoughtfully integrating LLMs into search in a deeper way,” but until now hadn’t detailed plans to offer conversational features.

Google has begun testing new AI features within Gmail and other work-related products, while Microsoft has moved to offer AI beyond Bing for use in some of its business software tools.

The stakes in the AI race in search are particularly high for Mr. Pichai. Search ads remain the biggest moneymaker for Google, bringing in $162 billion of revenue last year.

Google at times had been cautious about moving too fast with the technology, wary of radically altering the way users interact with its search engine. Researchers have raised concerns about the accuracy of AI-powered chatbots.

When Google in March opened public access to Bard, its AI-based chatbot, the company didn’t integrate it into its search engine, instead offering it through a wait list at a stand-alone site. A virtual button at the bottom of the product redirected users to Google’s search engine for additional information.

“It has been incredible to see user excitement around adoption of these technologies, and some of that is a pleasant surprise as well,” Mr. Pichai said.

When asked why the company didn’t release a chatbot earlier, Mr. Pichai said Google was still trying to find the right market. “We were iterating to ship something, and maybe timelines changed, given the moment in the industry,” he said.

Google will continue to improve Bard with new AI models, Mr. Pichai said, while declining to comment on when the product would become freely available without a wait list.

AI technology requires enormous computing power to process the calculations used to produce humanlike conversation. Mr. Pichai said Google needs to adapt its use of resources to continue its work in AI while also managing costs. For example, he said Google Brain and DeepMind—the company’s two main AI units, which have long operated separately—would work together more closely on efforts to build large algorithms.

“I expect a lot more, stronger collaboration, because some of these efforts will be more compute-intensive, so it makes sense to do it at a certain scale together,” Mr. Pichai said.

Like Microsoft, Google aims to use its investment in AI models to win wider business. Google opened access last month to one of its largest AI systems, the Pathways Language Model, for developers on its cloud-computing service.

Mr. Pichai said smaller AI models will become more useful over time, allowing companies to design their own or users to run the algorithms on their own personal devices.

“You’ll have a whole diverse range of options,” Mr. Pichai said. “The technology will be more accessible than people expect.”

WSJ : Saudi, Iranian Foreign Ministers Agree to Resume Flights After Beijing Mee

Saudi, Iranian Foreign Ministers Agree to Resume Flights After Beijing Meeting
Reopening of embassies, closed since 2016, also being hammered out after China brokered deal to restore relations between the rivals

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore flights between their countries and resume government and private-sector visits, after their top diplomats met in Beijing on Thursday as a thaw begins in one of the Middle East’s thorniest rivalries.

The summit comes weeks after the two governments agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations in a deal brokered by China, which ended seven years of estrangement and jolted the geopolitics of this oil-rich region.

A joint statement said Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Iran’s Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also agreed to begin preparations for reopening embassies and consulates, which were closed in 2016 after protesters angry at the kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the city of Mashhad.

The foreign ministers met for just under an hour, according to Saudi state television, which broadcast a brief exchange they shared in front of reporters. After Mr. Amir-Abdollahian complained about the flight time between Beijing and Tehran, Prince Faisal responded: “The flight between Riyadh and Tehran only takes two hours.” Prince Faisal invited Mr. Amir-Abdollahian to visit Riyadh.

The two countries, separated by the waters of the Persian Gulf, have been divided for decades by longstanding security and sectarian tensions that have fueled their competition for regional dominance.

China’s surprise role in hammering out the detente accelerated a geopolitical realignment in the Middle East, as rivalries that erupted during the Arab Spring fade and outside powers besides the U.S. vie for influence. It also signals a new chapter in competition between Washington and Beijing.

The deal takes on some of the most sensitive issues between two countries, including Iranian support for Houthi rebels in Yemen. In the weeks since it was announced, Saudi Arabia has also neared an agreement to restore diplomatic ties with Syria, which embraced Iran over the past decade of civil war. Those negotiations were mediated by Russia, leaving the U.S. on the sidelines of another major development in the Middle East.

In an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this week, CIA Director William Burns expressed frustration with the Saudis, according to people familiar with the matter. He told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the U.S. has felt blindsided by Riyadh’s rapprochement with Iran and Syria—countries that remain heavily sanctioned by the West—under the auspices of Washington’s global rivals.

A U.S. official said Mr. Burns discussed cooperation on intelligence and counterterrorism with Saudi officials.

Thursday’s meeting between the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers is a precursor to a high-level summit of Gulf Arab leaders and Iranian officials that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has proposed to host later this year. Iranian state-run news agency IRNA said Tehran appointed an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates for the first time in seven years.

Other high-level talks are also in the works. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has accepted a Saudi invitation to visit the kingdom, people familiar with the matter said. No date for the visit has been announced.

It would be Mr. Raisi’s first official trip to the kingdom. Previous Iranian presidents and Saudi kings have made similar visits during previous periods of warming relations.

For Tehran, the move to improve ties with Riyadh eases the international isolation it has faced since antigovernment protests last fall and the collapse of talks aimed at restoring a 2015 international nuclear deal dashed its hopes of relief from economic sanctions.

Its rapprochement with Riyadh helps Tehran with its longstanding goal of diminishing U.S. influence in the Middle East, drawing one of Washington’s closest partners away from its orbit and bringing China into a more active diplomatic role in the region.

Unlike the U.S., which doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with Iran, China has close diplomatic and economic ties with both Tehran and Riyadh. It is Iran’s biggest trade partner and a leading buyer of oil from Saudi Arabia, giving it leverage with both sides.

>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 6th of April 2023 V2(+)

>>> Up
* Accor Raised to Buy at Stifel; PT 35 euros
* Ambarella Raised to Outperform at Imperial; PT $95
* Ferrari Raised to Neutral at Goldman; PT $283
* Givaudan Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT 3,100 Swiss francs
* Grenke Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 33 euros
* Industrivarden Raised to Buy at DNB Markets; PT 330 kronor
* Schaeffler Raised to Buy at M.M. Warburg; PT 9.50 euros (+)
* Spirent Raised to Neutral at Goldman; PT 170 pence
* Symrise Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 115 euros

>>> Down
* Applied Materials Cut to Neutral at Exane; PT $133 (+)
* BMW Cut to Neutral at Goldman; PT 109 euros
* DiaSorin SpA PT Cut to 86 euros from 91 euros at Morgan Stanley
* Drone Volt SACA Cut to Add at AlphaValue/Baader
* Fulham Shore Cut to Hold at Finncap; PT 14 pence
* KLA Corp Cut to Neutral at Exane; PT $435 (+)
* Mosaic Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT $46
* Noratis Cut to Hold at Bankhaus Metzler (+)
* UMG Cut to Underperform at Exane; PT 19 euros
* Volvo Car Cut to Sell at Goldman; PT 41 kronor

>>> Initiation
* Ceres Power Rated New Buy at Goodbody; PT 542 pence
* ITM Power Rated New Sell at Goodbody; PT 61 pence
* Pherecydes Pharma Sadir Rated New Buy at TP ICAP Midcap (+)
* RS Group Rated New Neutral at Exane; PT 1,000 pence
* SigmaRoc Rated New Buy at Numis; PT 95 pence
* Valtecne Rated New Buy at Bestinver; PT 7 euros (+)
* XPO Inc Rated New Outperform at BMO; PT $44

>>> Call
* Accor Raised at Stifel on Upside Risk to Estimates; IHG Hold

>>> Stoxx 600 Pre-Market Indications

  • Ferrari (2FE TH) +1.2%
    • Ferrari Raised to Neutral at Goldman; PT $283
  • Symrise (SY1 TH) +1.2%
    • Symrise Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 115 euros
  • Novo Nordisk (NOVC TH) +0.8%
  • Rheinmetall (RHM TH) +0.7%
  • Wacker Chemie (WCH TH) +0.7%
  • HeidelbergCement (HEI TH) -0.8%
  • Unilever (UNVB TH) -0.8%
  • BMW (BMW TH) -1.1%
    • BMW Cut to Neutral at Goldman; PT 109 euros
  • UMG (0VD TH) -3.4%
    • Exane BNP cut Universal to Underperform: APA

>>> TradeGate Pre-Market Indications

DAX:
  • Symrise (SY1 TH) +1.6%
    • Symrise Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 115 euros
  • BMW (BMW TH) -1.1%
    • BMW Cut to Neutral at Goldman; PT 109 euros
MDAX:
  • Aroundtown (AT1 TH) +1.1%
  • Gerresheimer (GXI TH) +0.7%
    • Gerresheimer 1Q Adjusted Ebitda Meets Estimates
  • Hensoldt (HAG TH) -1.2%
SDAX:
  • Grenke (GLJ TH) +2.1%
    • Grenke Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 33 euros
  • Ceconomy (CEC TH) +1.7%
  • DIC Asset (DIC TH) +1.3%
  • PNE AG (PNE3 TH) -0.9%