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Chief financial officers at large organizations are struggling to fulfill their ambitions as strategic value creators, with an EY survey of 1,610 finance leaders finding that 60% believe they should shape value creation, but only 26% lead discussions on key value drivers. Operational responsibilities, including compliance, reporting, and internal controls, consume about 47% of CFOs’ time, while many also struggle to measure returns from technology and transformation investments. Financial services leads other sectors in AI readiness, but only 31% of its CFOs consider their organizations advanced or leading, with data quality, uncertain long-term benefits, and skills shortages limiting adoption. Transformation results also remain weak, with just 12% of CFOs saying initiatives exceeded expectations over the past two years, highlighting the importance of adaptable teams, stronger leadership development, and greater capacity for strategic decision-making.

 

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Target has appointed Chandhu Nair as its first chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer as it seeks a more coordinated approach to AI across areas including inventory management and decision-making. Mr Nair joins from Lowe’s, where he was senior vice president of stores, data, AI, and innovation. The appointment comes as Target and rivals including Walmart, Gap, and Best Buy increase investment in generative AI to improve customer experiences and internal operations.

 

CNBC	Wall Street Journal

General Motors has reached a deal with Procura Auto Parts, a company which specializes in sourcing rare or critical parts, to safeguard the automaker from supply shocks. Procura, which will buy parts inventory from key suppliers and front the cash, will receive funding through a bank syndicate led by JPMorgan Chase and Banco Santander. “Our industry has experienced significant supply chain disruptions in the past for various reasons, and it’s safe to assume they will happen in the future,” GM said. “This program will help ensure that we are prepared for multiple scenarios.” 

 

Bloomberg

CNBC

Wall Street Journal

Insurance companies have lost their bid to hold Southern California Edison (SCE) liable for the 2025 Eaton wildfire without a trial. Superior Court Judge Laura Seigle tentatively denied a request to hold SCE, ​a unit of Edison International, ‌automatically liable for billions of dollars in property losses from the Los Angeles-area fire. If the judge makes her tentative ruling final, Edison will get a chance to argue to a jury at a trial that the unusual circumstances around the ignition of the fire do not qualify for inverse condemnation. “We are pleased with the tentative ruling,” said SCE spokesperson Kathleen Dunleavy.

 

Bloomberg

Bloomberg reports that Google DeepMind's AGI Safety and Alignment Team, which seeks to mitigate the risks of advanced AI, is encouraging job candidates for its open roles to complete a special form alongside their application to eliminate the risk it may be automatically screened out by the company's internal AI systems, according to an internal document. "We have an applications system with a non-trivial probability your CV will be screened out incorrectly or take too long to reach us," the document reads. "Filling out this form makes sure that a real human on the team will get to see your application." A Google DeepMind spokesperson denied that the company's systems filter out applicants incorrectly.

 

Bloomberg

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is backing a bill that would require major delivery and warehouse operators, including Amazon and FedEx, to directly employ thousands of couriers rather than rely on subcontractors. Supporters say the measure would improve worker protections, safety, and accountability. Amazon has warned it could relocate warehouses outside New York City and put more than 5,000 subcontracted delivery jobs at risk. If passed, New York could become the first U.S. city to impose such a requirement on last-mile delivery operators.

 

Bloomberg

Wall Street Journal

Major U.S. companies have increasingly removed explicit diversity criteria from board appointments, with 61 S&P 100 companies dropping such provisions since 2023, including Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Starbucks, and Wells Fargo. The retreat has accelerated over the past year amid the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle DEI programs, with several companies also removing diversity requirements from chief executive succession policies. The proportion of companies using Rooney Rule-style provisions has fallen to 12% from 58% over the past year, according to executive recruiter Spencer Stuart, while women accounted for 29% of new S&P 500 directors this year, down from 46% in 2023. Companies are also increasingly turning to former CEOs for board seats, with this group accounting for 37% of new directors. More than 30 major companies continue to maintain explicit diversity criteria.

 

Los Angeles Times

H&R Block has reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1.14bn, up from $1.11bn a year earlier and ahead of analysts’ $1.12bn estimate, while net income declined to $293.7m from $299.4m. Adjusted earnings of $2.38 per share also exceeded expectations of $2.21. For fiscal 2027, the tax preparation and financial services company expects revenue of $4.11bn-$4.16bn and adjusted earnings of $6.04-$6.24 per share, both above current analyst forecasts. H&R Block also raised its quarterly dividend by 10% to $0.46 per share, and its shares gained 11% in after-hours trading following the results.

 

Investing

Wall Street Journal

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has contributed $102m to Building a Better California, a political nonprofit backing two November ballot measures that could block Proposition 40, a proposed one-time 5% tax on the assets of California billionaires. Proposition 40 is expected by supporters to raise roughly $100bn, primarily for healthcare, with additional funding for education and food assistance, although the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates revenues would more likely total tens of billions of dollars. Building a Better California is supporting Propositions 41 and 42, which would impose restrictions on new state taxes and could nullify Proposition 40 if either receives more approval votes.

 

Los Angeles Times

A new opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) argues that President Trump's “private advisers” outside of government may now be protected from future congressional and legal investigations. The 21-page memo indicates to the White House that the president can move to extend executive privilege, the right of the president to contain confidential communications within the executive branch, to advisers who are not employed by the federal government, but who provide him with direct advice. “The purpose of executive privilege is to protect the government’s decisionmaking processes,” wrote T. Elliot Gaiser, assistant attorney general for the OLC. “The interests motivating the privilege are at their apex when it comes to decisions of the President. The need for ‘candid, objective, and even blunt or harsh opinions’ . . .  is all the more important for the President, who is tasked with making ‘the most sensitive and far-reaching decisions entrusted to any official under our constitutional system.’”

 

Bloomberg Law

Punchbowl News

Swiss Re Institute has warned that Europe’s record temperatures are creating a “chronic” heat risk, with the continent warming almost twice as fast as the rest of the world. Extreme heat is reducing agricultural and labor productivity, straining water and energy systems, and damaging infrastructure, while Europe’s relatively low use of air conditioning leaves households particularly exposed. The insurance industry is also confronting growing wildfire risks as hotter, drier conditions increase the likelihood and potential cost of severe fires, with wildfires in France, Spain, and Greece estimated to have caused as much as €19.1bn ($22bn) in total damage and economic losses this summer. Although global insured losses from natural catastrophes fell to $42bn in the first half of 2026, Swiss Re cautioned that the quieter period does not signal a reversal of the long-term upward trend in losses, and said insurers need to focus increasingly on how Europe adapts to rising temperatures.

 

Bloomberg

Claims Journal

Wall Street Journal

Brazilian police have said two Goldman Sachs executives are suspects in an investigation into whether the U.S. bank misrepresented details about ownership of a stake in cancer-treatment company Oncoclinicas. The Goldman employees are alleged to have concealed ownership details ⁠in public documents and executed transactions to ​transfer shares without triggering a mandatory tender ​offer, deceiving minority shareholders and causing them losses in violation of statutory obligations, according to police documents. The bank said the claims were unfounded. "We continue to ​believe that we acted appropriately," it said in a ‌statement.

 

Bloomberg Law

Reuters

The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed the Common Cents Act, which would formally end penny production, while keeping existing pennies as legal tender, and allow businesses to round cash transactions to the nearest five cents. The legislation would also authorize the Treasury to test a cheaper zinc-and-nickel composition for the nickel, which cost 13.31 cents per coin to produce in fiscal 2025, marking the 20th consecutive year its production cost exceeded its face value. The House has passed its own version of the legislation, but the nickel would remain unchanged unless the measure becomes law and an alternative composition passes cost and compatibility testing.

 

The Hill