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UBS Group (UBS) shares soared in intraday trading Tuesday after the Swiss bank returned to a quarterly profit as it continued to integrate former rival Credit Suisse, which it absorbed in a government-backed bailout in March 2023.

UBS posted first-quarter net income of $1.76 billion—three times the consensus estimate by Visible Alpha—or $0.52 per diluted share. The gains came after two consecutive quarters of losses.

Total revenue jumped 45.7% year-over-year to $12.74 billion, also better than expected. The key global wealth unit saw revenue increase 28.3% to $6.14 billion.

The company noted that its Credit Suisse integration plans moved “at pace,” adding that it realized an additional approximately $1 billion in gross cost savings.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sergio Ermotti said that the results were “a testament to the strength of our business and client franchises and our ability to deliver significant progress on our integration plans while actively optimizing our financial resources.”  

UBS said it plans to transition to a single U.S. intermediate holding company in the current quarter, and merge its Swiss entities in the third quarter.

UBS shares traded in the U.S. were up 6.6% to $29.42 around noon ET Tuesday.

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Days after their online f£ud, Nigerians has dug up an old tweet of Davido paying respect to Wizkid

The tweet was made in 2010, where he said “Respect @wizkidayo.

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Binance, a popular cryptocurrency platform, says some unknown persons in Nigeria demanded huge payments in digital currency to make their problems in the country “go away”.

Richard Teng, the firm’s chief executive officer (CEO), made the claim in a blog post on Tuesday. The company first disclosed the amount of the bribes – $150 million- to the New York Times.

It would be recalled that on February 28, the federal government detained top executives of Binance as part of a probe bordering on illegal operations in the country and foreign exchange rate manipulations.

The detained executives included Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan and Binance’s regional manager for Africa; and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old US citizen and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance.

Nigeria’s government, on March 25, filed a criminal charge against Binance for “tax evasion” — the same period Anjarwalla filed detention. Speaking on Binance’s issues with the Nigerian government, Teng detailed how the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange tried to engage with the authorities, including a meeting on January 8 in Abuja, where it was confronted with criminal allegations. Teng said despite multiple requests, Binance has still not received details of the allegations, “and our employees, therefore, inquired if there was an opportunity to submit our responses in writing and in the absence of a public hearing”.

There were a number of reasons for that, including the sensitivity of the information and getting the opportunity to see the allegations in full and prepare a thorough substantive response.” he said.

“The message from the Nigerian government is clear,” the Binance’s chief executive added. “We must detain an innocent, mid-level employee and a former U.S. federal agent, and place him in a d+ngerous prison in order to control Binance.”

“The meeting ended with the Chair confirming they would consider the matter and revert through Binance’s local counsel. However, as our employees were leaving the venue, they were approached by unknown persons who suggested to them to make a payment in settlement of the allegations.

Later that day, our local counsel – – representing us at that time was summoned by the Committee through someone purporting to be their agent, who relayed the Committee’s terms and instructed our local counsel to advise us.

Counsel reported back that he had been presented with a demand for a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go away and that our decision was expected by the morning. Our team grew increasingly concerned about their safety in Nigeria and immediately departed.”

Teng said the payment request was declined “via our counsel, not viewing it to be a legitimate settlement offer”. The CEO said Binance clarified that it would engage in settlement negotiations on the conditions that the relevant petition or the details of all allegations were seen. In addition, he said any settlement “must be official, recorded in writing, and signed by all relevant parties”.

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Lucid (LCID) shares tumbled more than 8% in premarket trading Tuesday after the luxury electric vehicle maker disclosed a wider-than-expected quarterly loss, reiterated its soft 2024 production guidance and projected an annual increase in capital expenditures.

In the first three months of the year, the Newark, California-based auto manufacturer posted an adjusted per share loss of 30 cents, wider than the 25-cents-a-share loss Wall Street had expected. Revenue in the period totaled $173 million, jumping 16% from the prior year’s corresponding quarter and topping the consensus view, though nearly $51 million came from the Saudi government, which has a majority stake in the company.

“Lucid demand is debatable,” Future Fund Active ETF co-founder Gary Black told following the company’s earnings release. “Excluding Saudi sales, first quarter revenues were down 19% year over year (YOY),” he added.

On the delivery front, the company handed over key fobs for 1,967 vehicles in the period, up from 1,406 units deliveries in the first quarter of 2023, largely due to the carmaker slashing the price of its popular Air luxury sedans earlier this year by up to 10% to drive sales among more cost-conscious consumers amid persistently high interest rates.

Looking ahead, Lucid reiterated its 2024 production guidance of 9,000 EVs, up from 8,428 vehicles in the year before, but remaining below the 12,677 target projected by analysts. The company also said it sees capital expenditures increasing to $1.5 billion this year, up from $910.6 million in 2023, as it prepares to start manufacturing its highly anticipated Gravity SUV in the second half.

Lucid shares remain in a long-term downtrend but staged an impressive countertrend rally leading into the EV maker’s quarterly results.

If sellers continue to drive down the price post earnings, investors should keep a close eye on the $2.65 level, an area on the chart that may find buying interest near the 50-day moving average and a horizonal line connecting two recent troughs in January and March. A breakdown below this key level could see the stock revisit its record low around $2.30.

Lucid shares were down 8.5% at $2.79 at around 7:00 a.m. ET.

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Crossdresser James Brown’s sister, Gracious, has moved out of his rented home hours after he called her out for joining forces with his neighbor to a§§ault him.

She left the house as she shared the video of herself leaving the house they rented together and she said very shortly she will come out to defend every allegation her brother leveled against her with proves. But for now, she needed time to heal and clear her head.

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