The US media company Walt Disney has started the new fiscal year better than expected. Revenue and profit exceeded market estimates. While traditional entertainment worlds continue to deliver records, the streaming business is now expected to become a main pillar.

After one of the most severe sell-offs in recent years, the SAP share is showing strength again. The trigger for the turbulence was disappointed expectations in the cloud business. Attention is now particularly drawn to the behavior of the management: Several board members used the price drop for extensive stock purchases.

German security authorities have taken action against a suspected procurement network for Russia's defense industry. The investigations reveal how systematically sanctions are circumvented and why medium-sized businesses are increasingly coming under scrutiny.

The desire for beer continues to decline. Beer sales in Germany in 2025 have plummeted to levels not seen since the statistics began in the early 1990s. In addition to weak consumer sentiment, long-term trends are also changing drinking behavior—with clear consequences for the brewing industry.

A democratic election victory in Texas is causing a stir in Washington. In the traditionally Republican-leaning ninth Senate district of the state, Democrat Taylor Rehmet has prevailed against the Republican candidate supported by Donald Trump. The result is considered a warning signal across party lines—especially for the Republicans.

The weekly grocery shopping with a click of the mouse is becoming a matter of course for more and more people. Whether groceries, drugstore items, or pet supplies – the online supermarket is evolving from a niche offering to a fixture in everyday life. The driving forces are convenience, time savings, and a growing range that is hardly inferior to brick-and-mortar retail.

After a strong rally and a noticeable consolidation, the shares of German defense companies have recently developed weakly. Stocks like Rheinmetall, Hensoldt, and Renk were among the laggards in their respective indices last week. However, the correction does not seem to have fundamentally changed the assessments of many analysts. On the contrary, some firms are positioning themselves more aggressively and even see a new favorite in the sector.

The Frankfurt investment company Acatis is undergoing a remarkable strategic shift. The company, long regarded as a critical observer of the ETF boom, now intends to launch its own exchange-traded funds in the future. The entry into the ETF business is planned for the second quarter of this year and marks a clear adaptation to changing customer needs and distribution realities.

Microsoft delivers solid figures in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026. Revenue and profit exceed expectations. Nevertheless, on the stock exchange, the focus is less on the operating result and more on another key figure: investments. Record spending on AI infrastructure raises the question of whether the pace and timing of monetization are keeping up with the capital deployment.

Artificial intelligence is transforming business models, productivity, and entire industries. Yet behind every prompt, every model, and every computational operation lies an often underestimated foundation: energy. The rapid expansion of AI infrastructure is causing global electricity demand to skyrocket, turning the issue of energy supply into a strategic bottleneck. For investors, this brings a new structural issue to the forefront.

The sell-off in the crypto market is gaining momentum. Bitcoin has lost almost twelve percent of its value in a few days and is now trading at around 76,000 dollars. Other major digital currencies like Ether or Solana are also under significant pressure. The market capitalization of the entire crypto market has fallen to about 2.7 trillion dollars – clearly below the psychologically important mark of three trillion.

A year ago, the President of the European Commission announced an "unprecedented" reduction of bureaucracy. However, the reality in 2025 paints a contrasting picture. The EU has introduced more new legislative acts than it has in a decade and a half, causing increasing discontent in the business sector.

For the time being, Google escapes additional billion-dollar fines in one of the largest US data protection cases of recent years. A federal judge in San Francisco rejected the consumers' request to impose more than two billion dollars in allegedly wrongfully obtained profits on the corporation. Thus, the damages awarded last fall remain in place, along with an open fundamental question regarding the scope of sanctions in US data protection law.

The aftermath of the Signa debacle noticeably affected the Swiss asset manager Julius Baer in the 2025 financial year. The institution had to accept a significant decline in earnings but continued to pursue an operational growth path.

The food company Danone has recalled several batches of its Aptamil brand baby food in Germany. The reason is the possible presence of the toxin cereulide. The recall is being conducted in coordination with the relevant German authorities.