Good morning! Here’s the latest in trending:

AI moves: Meta (META) will deploy millions of Nvidia (NVDA) chips for its AI infrastructure. Meanwhile, Nvidia exited Arm Holdings (ARM).

13F review: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) reveals new bet on New York Times (NYT) and slashes Amazon (AMZN) stake.

Trade deal: Japan is set to invest up to $36B in oil, gas and critical mineral projects in Texas, Ohio and Georgia. Here are the details.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has pitched hiking property taxes by 9.5% as “a last resort” to help close an estimated $5.4B two-year revenue shortfall, if his proposal to tax the rich falls through. The deadline to finalize the city budget is June 30, following which it would go into effect in July.

Dig deeper: Mamdani initially proposed raising personal income taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $1M annually and hiking taxes on the most profitable corporations. He said this is “the most sustainable and fairest” path to bridge the city’s budget gap, “ending the drain by fixing the imbalance between what the City provides the State and what we receive in return.” But this would require the approval of the governor and state legislature, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul has already opposed this proposal.

Because of this, Mamdani floated the property tax hike and drawing $1.2B from the city’s reserves to plug the budget gap. He said this would be a “more harmful” path that would burden working and middle-class New Yorkers. “We do not want to have to turn to such drastic measures to balance our budget,” the mayor said while announcing his $127B preliminary budget. “But, faced with no other choice, we will be forced to.” If the city’s property taxes were raised, it would be the first such hike in more than two decades. And this would likely lead to higher rents, as landlords pass through the costs to tenants, and may push businesses away from the city.

The pushback: Mamdani’s proposal came a day after Hochul announced that the state will allocate an additional $1.5B over two years to help address New York City’s fiscal challenges. Hochul, who is up for re-election this year, said she is not supportive of a property tax increase, but noted that the decision is up to the City Council and Mamdani. “That’s their prerogative to look at that as an option,” she added. The property tax hike would require approval from the city council, but two of its members rejected the proposal as it would “worsen the affordability crisis.” Mark Levine, the city’s comptroller, said the tax hike would be regressive, and drawing down reserves would leave New York City vulnerable to economic turbulence. (5 comments)

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What else is happening…

Apple (AAPL) deepens AI push with trio of new and updated devices.

Meta’s (META) Zuckerberg set to testify in social media addiction trial.

Palo Alto (PANW) shares slide after earnings guidance disappoints.

Ford (F) targets mass market with $30K EVs, low-cost electric truck.

Tesla avoids California sales halt; robotaxis more accident-prone?

U.S. pitches critical minerals price floor system to counter China.

Bayer (BAYZF) eyes $10.5B settlement effort for Roundup lawsuits.

This fund aims to give retail access to SpaceX, Anthropic (ANTHRO).

Galaxy (GLXY) CEO: Bitcoin faces competition from sports betting.

Christine Lagarde weighs quitting as ECB chief before her term ends.

Today’s Markets

In Asia, Japan +1%. Hong Kong closed. China closed. India +0.3%.
In Europe, at midday, London +1%. Paris +0.5%. Frankfurt +0.8%.
Futures at 7:00, Dow +0.4%. S&P +0.4%. Nasdaq +0.5%. Crude +1.9% to $63.41. Gold +0.6% to $4,932.80. Bitcoin -0.5% to $67,473.
Ten-year Treasury Yield unchanged at 4.07%.

On The Calendar

Companies reporting today include Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Analog Devices (ADI).

See the full earnings calendar on Seeking Alpha, as well as today’s economic calendar.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Buffalo Wild Wings’ (BWW) use of the term “boneless wings,” rejecting a customer’s claim that the name misled him into thinking the dish was made from actual chicken wings with the bones removed.

In a lighthearted opinion packed with poultry puns, U.S. District Judge John Tharp Jr. said the plaintiff’s complaint had “no meat on its bones” and failed to show that reasonable consumers are deceived by the name.

The judge likened “boneless wings” to other familiar food nicknames, citing a recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling that noted diners don’t expect “chicken fingers” to be made of fingers.

The lawsuit, filed by Aimen Halim, argued that BWW’s boneless wings are essentially chicken nuggets made from breast meat and that the name is fraudulent because it suggests deboned wing meat.

2026 SUPER BOWL FOOD DEALS: WHERE TO FIND THE BEST GAME-DAY SAVINGS

BBQ wings (front) and medium traditional wings at Buffalo Wild Wings in Arlington, Va., on Nov. 28, 2017. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Halim brought the suit against BWW alleging violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act, breach of express warranty, common law fraud, and unjust enrichment.

He also sought to bring a nationwide class action, claiming that had he known what he was eating, he would have paid less or not bought the product at all.

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The Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Superior, Colo., on July 26, 2017. (Rick Wilking/Reuters / Reuters)

However, the court concluded that the phrase “boneless wing” is a “fanciful name” and that no reasonable consumer would believe they truly were deboned chicken wings “reconstituted into some sort of Franken-wing.”

“Despite his best efforts, Halim did not ‘drum’ up enough factual allegations to state a claim,” Judge Tharp Jr. wrote in his 10-page ruling.

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Buffalo Wild Wings during the Variety Power Of Comedy event in Austin, Texas, on March 10, 2023. (Mat Hayward/Variety via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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While he found Halim had standing to sue because he alleged economic harm, he dismissed the claims for failing to plausibly allege deception.

He gave Halim until March 20 to file an amended complaint, though he signaled skepticism that any “additional facts” could be provided to salvage the claim.

British Steel has created 23 jobs as part of the contract and also resumed round the clock manufacturing

British Steel has secured a contract worth tens of millions of pounds to provide rail for a significant high-speed electric railway in Turkey. The eight-figure deal, backed by UK Export Finance, will see British Steel deliver 36,000 tonnes of rail to ERG International Group.

The contract has created 23 new roles fresh positions at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, also prompted the company to restart round-the-clock rail production for the first time in more than a decade. The rail British Steel will provide will contribute to constructing a 599km railway line linking Turkey’s capital, Ankara, with İzmir.

The confirmed agreement builds upon Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement in November that British Steel would supply £35m worth of its world-class rail products for Turkey’s high-speed rail network.

British Steel’s chief commercial officer, Lisa Coulson, said: “Securing this prestigious contract – with the support of UK Export Finance – was a major achievement and underlines British Steel’s ability to build the sustainable track systems of the future. It also demonstrates the importance of British Steel, the UK’s only manufacturer of rail, to this country’s economy and Britain’s global trading partners.”

She noted the firm was “extremely grateful for the UK Government’s support in sealing this contract” and anticipated collaborative efforts “to secure more orders for our world-class products”. The new high-speed railway will transform transport infrastructure in Turkey, reports Grimsby Live.

Journey times between Ankara and İzmir will be slashed by more than 10 hours. Beyond offering passengers and freight operators a quicker, more effective rail service, it will also deliver substantial emissions reductions through a lower-carbon alternative to existing transport modes.

British Steel will provide its rail to ERG International Group, which is executing the project on behalf of Turkey’s government. The steelmaker is set to supply 60E2 rail, which will be dispatched throughout 2026 in 36-metre lengths. Upon completion, the railway will be operated by Turkish State Railways.

Craig Harvey, British Steel’s commercial director for rail, said: “We have a distinguished record of supplying into high-speed rail projects across the world and have previously delivered rail into Türkiye through ERG for earlier phases of the Ankara to Izmir line. For this new agreement, we were again able to comply with the demanding technical specifications and the project delivery schedule which we can support with a robust logistics supply chain.”

Mr Harvey described the contract as “the catalyst” for resuming round-the-clock rail production at British Steel’s Scunthorpe facility. “We are also optimistic we can supply other steel products into this project and are working with ERG to support its future needs,” he added.

Industry Minister Chris McDonald said: “UK-made steel is renowned for its high quality, and this order is welcome news for British Steel. Supporting deals like this is at the heart of our Steel Strategy. Every tonne of British made steel used in projects at home and abroad helps sustain skilled employment and reinforces its quality for the world’s most ambitious engineering projects.”

ERG International UK’s CEO, Melike Erdem, said the agreement marked “another major milestone in our long-standing partnership with British Steel”.

She further noted that the Ankara-Izmir high-speed rail line is “progressing at pace” and the agreement “ensures the delivery of world-class rail products”. ERG International UK’s chief commercial officer, Mohamed Ibrahim, expressed pride in deepening collaboration with the UK supply chain.

“This new rail supply agreement follows successful deliveries in 2025 and paves the way for further collaboration between ERG International and British Steel on upcoming projects.”

Operator

Welcome to BICO Q4 2025 Report Presentation. [Operator Instructions]

Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers, CEO, Maria Forss; and CFO, Jacob Thordenberg. Please go ahead.

Maria Forss
President & CEO

Hello and welcome to BICO Group’s Quarter 4 2025 Earnings Call. I’m Maria Forss, President and CEO; and I will together with BICO’s CFO, Jacob Thordenberg, present this year’s end report. Here’s today’s agenda. I will open today’s session by summarizing 2025 and also describe how BICO serves the world’s leading pharma and biotech companies with solutions that transform how labs operate, innovate and solve our customers’ challenges. Following that, I will summarize the full year 2025 as well as quarter 4 ’25 and Jacob will then present the group’s financial performance.

We will then proceed and comment on our performance in the 2 business areas, Life Science Solutions and Lab Automation. I will also comment on our R&D pipeline with our ongoing product development efforts. Additionally, I will highlight product launches made at SLAS, the Society of Lab Automation and Screening Congress, that took place last week in Boston. The session will conclude by highlighting our focus for 2026 before we open up for Q&A.

When summarizing 2025, we can conclude that we finished the year on a strong note with double-digit organic sales growth in Lab Automation and a strengthened cash position. After the quarter in January ’26, we successfully raised new capital, enabling investments to support further growth. 2025 has been a year of strategy execution. We have delivered on all

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