Less financial stability, smaller social safety nets: inside the gen Z investing boom

Apps, AI tools and shaky job prospects are pushing gen Z into markets earlier, blending caution with risk-takingAmbrico Ranginui first heard of cryptocurrencies when he was 12 years old. By the time he was 16, he had saved enough from birthday gifts and his allowance to invest.“Growing up in a single-mum household, it made me quite a determined person to get ahead,” Ranginui said. “I wanted to find new avenues to make money and crypto was so fascinating at the time.”He’s part of a new boom of gen Z investors who have jumped into markets more enthusiastically than previous generations, and are putting money into everything from safe-haven bonds to AI startups, earlier than ever before

Exxon and Chevron quarterly earnings fall despite soaring oil prices

Exxon Mobil and Chevron reported drops in profit in their first quarter despite surging oil prices, a result of stalled deliveries and supply disruptions in the Middle East.Exxon’s quarterly earnings fell to $4.2bn from about $7.7bn the same quarter last year, a decline of about 46%, while Chevron’s profits fell to $2.2bn from about $3

‘Awkward and humiliating’: UK job hunters share frustration with AI interviews

Nearly half (47%) of UK job seekers have had an AI interview, research from the hiring platform Greenhouse has found.In its survey of 2,950 active job seekers, including 1,132 UK-based workers, with additional respondents from the US, Germany, Australia and Ireland, it found that 30% of UK candidates had walked away from a hiring process because it included an AI interview.We asked people about their experiences of AI interviews. The responses included those who found it “awkward” and “humiliating”. Others spoke of wanting a human element in the interviews, and said they were not sure if their interview had even been reviewed

Tim Cook takes victory lap as Apple’s financial results soar past Wall Street expectations

Apple blew past Wall Street expectations in its first earnings report since it announced CEO Tim Cook would be stepping down.Cook shared his thoughts about the leadership transition on Thursday, saying: “There’s no one on this planet I trust more to lead Apple into the future” than incoming CEO John Ternus. Asked by an investor what advice he has given Ternus, Cook said: “Never forget the north star for the company. You know, we’re about making the best products in the world that really enrich other people’s lives.”Ternus spoke briefly, too, praising Cook’s thoughtfulness in financial decision-making and saying: “This is the most exciting time in my 25-year career at Apple to be building products and services

How to build an NRL team: Perth Bears hunt for hidden gems as PNG Chiefs splash cash | Angus Fontaine

The path to top-level Australian rugby league can take myriad forms. Clubs may win promotion from a second division (Cronulla and Penrith in 1967), command franchises with huge heartland support (Brisbane and Newcastle in 1988), get shoe-horned into an ill-fated rebel competition (Adelaide Rams and Hunter Mariners in 1997) or arrive fully formed to satiate a growing local demand (the Dolphins in 2023).The NRL’s 18th and 19th teams are taking different routes. The Perth Bears will enter in 2027 as a revamped foundation club (North Sydney) sent west to conquer an AFL territory. The PNG Chiefs land in 2028 as a $600m Trojan horse from Australian taxpayers to curb China’s influence in the South Pacific – a ploy Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape calls “a unification strategy deployed under the flag of rugby league”

Olly Stone shines for Notts, Surrey’s Sibley hits century: county cricket, day two – as it happened

Nottinghamshire’s Olly Stone, whose fragile body has broken with heartbreaking regularity, blew away Leicestershire in their East Midlands derby. His bowling, fierce and with chopstick-sharp accuracy, torpedoed stumps and tortured batters. Figures of five-for-41 were his best for Notts, a first five-wicket haul since 2019. Earlier, Ben Green had finished with seven for 112 as Notts’ innings ended on 490.At Taunton, Somerset’s innings subsided much as Yorkshire’s had