It’s a good time to be a shareholder. After years of hoarding capital amid fears that regulators would come knocking, Wall Street’s biggest banks paid out the most in three years to investors in the form of dividends and buybacks. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, the six largest US banks delivered more than $100 billion. And there’s more where that came from: Top executives are expecting to offer additional payouts in 2025 given that the incoming Trump administration is likely to slash plans to force banks to hold more capital (to protect against another global financial crisis). This could free up cash for banks to lend more—and offer more to shareholders. The news comes on the heels of big banks’ successful earnings reports; Morgan Stanley’s fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, boosted by trading revenue that came in well ahead of estimates on volatility tied to the US elections. JPMorgan Chase’s report showed that its equities and fixed-income trading desks had their best fourth-quarter ever. Goldman Sachs said its equities traders notched a record year, and today Bank of America reported estimate-beating fourth-quarter profit. —Jordan Parker Erb
What You Need to Know Today
Los Angeles’ red flag warnings were expected to end at 3 p.m. local time today, but officials are now wringing their hands over next week’s forecast: little rain and another round of wind. In the meantime, firefighters are gradually starting to control the blazes that have plagued the region, and are expected to be aided by the weekend’s calmer winds, cooler temperatures and higher humidity levels. The two largest fires—the Palisades and Eaton fires—are still less than 50% contained, and local officials have warned that the conditions that turned parts of the region into an inferno remain a threat.
Rio Tinto and Glencore are discussing combining their businesses in what could result in the mining industry’s largest-ever deal. It’s said that the two groups recently held early-stage talks, though it’s unclear whether they’re still live. Rio Tinto is the world’s second-biggest miner with a market value of about $103 billion, while Glencore is valued at about $55 billion. Combining the two businesses would potentially create a behemoth to leapfrog longstanding industry leader BHP Group, which is worth about $126 billion.
The open pit mine at the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, jointly owned by Rio Tinto Group’s Turquoise Hill Resources unit and state-owned Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuaccused Hamas of reneging on parts of a ceasefire agreement that looked to pause more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza. The Israeli cabinet will not convene to approve the deal until the mediators confirm Hamas has accepted all elements of the accord, his office said. But as The Associated Press reported Thursday, it’s unclear whether the statement also was meant to hold Netanyahu’s coalition together. Since the tentative deal was first announced Wednesday, the AP reported that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 72 people in the Gaza Strip, citing the Hamas-run health ministry.
BP is cutting about 5% of its workforce Chief Executive Officer Murray Auchincloss told staff on Thursday. In total, about 4,700 internal staffers and 3,000 contractors will be terminated. BP has fallen further behind its fellow oil majors during Auchincloss’s tenure, and is now worth less than half as much as Shell. Faced with this performance, more cost-cutting efforts are planned this year and beyond, Auchincloss said.
Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s pick for US Treasury secretary, faced lawmakers during Thursday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing. Bessent, who hasn’t served in a federal office, is widely expected to win confirmation in the Republican-controlled Senate. Throughout the hearing, the 62-year-old hedge-fund investor and manager said he’d support dialing up sanctions on the Russian oil industry to end the war in Ukraine, and, as expected, stressed that maintaining the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency is critical to US economic health.
