State Florida Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.As boos rang out among the audience of University of Central Florida (UCF) graduates, commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield turned to the faculty staff behind her to ask what had happened. Then it dawned on her: She had mentioned artificial intelligence (AI).The real estate executive pressed on. “Only a few years ago,” she said, “AI was not a factor in our lives.” When that statement was greeted with loud cheers, Caulfield said: “We’ve got a bipolar topic here, I see.”For any commencement speaker in 2026, no conversation about the future could be credible without mentioning AI.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The waitstaff in restaurants should be aware: Patrons are less generous with tips over the weekend.That is the finding of a recent study that analyzed 68 million credit-card transactions at 47 restaurant chains operating in 41 states. Patrons, the study found, tipped their servers up to about 1% less on Saturdays and Sundays.The average tip for weekdays alone was 21.30%, with the highest tips on Tuesdays (21.45%) and Thursdays (21.47%).

. Also under consideration: unusual lockup times that limit share sales by early investors, preferential treatment for investors in his other companies and allocating an outsize portion of shares to individual investors, people familiar with the matter said.The company is considering hosting events at SpaceX locations including its sprawling complex near the Los Angeles airport and its rocket launch site in Florida’s Cape Canaveral area, people familiar with the matter said.

Infosys Ltd’s announcement late Wednesday to buy two US-based tech services firms for $560 million takes its acquisition spend in a fiscal to an all-time high, reflecting the pressing need for new capabilities as automation tools upend India’s tech sector.The country’s second-largest information technology (IT) services company said it will spend up to $465 million to buy Optimum Healthcare IT, a Florida IT services and consulting firm.On the same day, it announced the acquisition of Stratus, a New Jersey-based tech services provider to the insurance sector, for up to $95 million.Both deals are in cash and are expected to close by June. The payment includes upfront amounts and earn-outs but excludes management incentives and retention bonuses.The acquisitions will add $319 million in incremental revenue to Infosys, including $276 million from Optimum Healthcare and $43 million from Stratus, making up almost 45% of Infosys’ incremental revenue last year.Infosys ended last year with $19.28 billion in revenue, up 3.85% on a yearly basis.

”The back-and-forth was the latest demonstration of one of the dangers that AI technology has posed to global affairs: Not only can AI fakery deceive millions online, but real videos can also be dismissed as AI-generated lies,” a New York Times report said. The phenomenon, known as the “liar’s dividend,” has proliferated during the current West Asia conflict, with thousands of videos leaving watchers unable to tell the difference.As far as can be verified, Netanyahu appears hale and hearty.Meanwhile, Israel assassinated two top Iranians: Ali Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force.The killings underscore a problem highlighted by US President Donald Trump on Friday: there are few leaders left in Iran to negotiate an end to the war.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For a few minutes after the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s signature tariffs Friday, Ethan Allen Chief Executive Farooq Kathwari felt a jolt of relief. Then a jumble of emails from colleagues began pouring in.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. American students are increasingly looking to Europe to go to college. Attending university in the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A former Florida investment advisor who orchestrated a $94 million Ponzi scheme that targeted Venezuelan nationals, Catholic dioceses, and the elderly has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Andrew Jacobus, 64, was taken into custody at the end of his sentencing hearing, his lawyer confirms.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Tech stocks retreated Wednesday, with declines in Nvidia and other chip companies dragging the Nasdaq composite to its worst day in almost a month. Driving the moves: concerns about high valuations and additional regulation.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SARASOTA, Fla.—Michele Butler and Wells Chapin moved to the west coast of Florida from Michigan in 2023 in anticipation of her plan to exit the restaurant business and join her partner in retirement. They bought a $950,000 home at a new resort-style development in Lakewood Ranch, just outside Sarasota, that draws many new, well-heeled retirees.

One, draconian limits on refugees: Admissions had grown under Joe Biden, swamping US support systems.On Trump’s first day in office, he pivoted to the other extreme with an executive order that shut the Refugee Admissions Program, leaving thousands of refugees stranded, including those with applications in process. The new admission rate is just 7,500.Trump has decried immigrants from what he calls ‘Third World’ countries and been vocal about a preference for White immigrants.

₹96,557 crore) in dividends and share buybacks and about $1.5 billion (around ₹14,000 crore) on acquisitions, Mint research showed. Earlier in FY22, the same companies spent about ₹27,000 crore on buyouts and gave ₹81,669 crore to shareholders.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Disney’s public image has taken a beating this year. It got dragged into the woke wars with its “Snow White" remake and angered both conservatives and liberals when the company briefly benched Jimmy Kimmel.

HCL Technologies Ltd announced acquisitions for $400 million in the past week, the most spent on such transactions in three years, to strengthen its AI and data offerings for customers increasingly adopting automation.India’s third-largest IT services company said on Monday that it would spend more than $240 million to buy Jaspersoft, a US data analytics company. That day, HCL also said it would buy Wobby BV, a Belgian startup that provides AI agents for data analysis purposes.The company’s acquisition spree started on 18 December, when it said it would purchase the Telco Solutions business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise for $160 million.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—Some of the most influential people in President Trump’s orbit, past and present, are facing off in the unfolding drama over the future of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—In one of the first big political tests of AI, Big Tech won. But the fight has given new signals of populist opposition to technology that holds the promise of eliminating lots of jobs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The first few years in retirement are often the most difficult. But they also can set the stage for how you’ll fill the years ahead—both financially and psychologically.

Fred Ridley’s quiet diplomacy offers a temporary truce. Ridley, the chairperson of the Augusta National Golf Club, walks a careful line – safeguarding Augusta’s traditions while navigating golf’s deepest divide. The Florida man has emerged as an unexpected diplomat amid the sport’s most contentious civil war. His committee upholds strict qualification standards, demonstrating subtle flexibility that acknowledges golf’s evolving landscape without explicitly taking sides in the PGA TourLIV Golf dispute. Joaquin Niemann received a second consecutive special invite alongside Nicolai Hojgaard.

US stock market has started witnessing a chaos. President Donald Trump's big raise in tariffs has triggered an escalating trade war and sent global markets plummeting. The S&P 500 fell 6 per cent on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 5.5 per cent and the Nasdaq composite dropped 5.8 per cent. Wall Street went into free fall, following similar collapses in Asia and Europe. For a second straight day, markets plunged, wiping vast sums off investment and retirement portfolios alike. US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned the tariffs were likely to spur «higher inflation and lower growth», as per an AFP report. Losses in US financial markets were estimated at more than $6 trillion since Trump unveiled his «Liberation Day» tariffs. Trump, who unveiled his barrage of import duties against dozens of countries Wednesday, was unrepentant, posting that «my policies will never change,» AFP reported. «This is a great time to get rich,» he wrote.

Donald Trump arrived in Miami for a weekend of golf and appearances. Even though Marine One experienced an unanticipated delay when it appeared that it had two flat tyres at Miami International Airport, President Trump arrived at his Doral golf resort Thursday afternoon for a LIV Golf event, as quoted in a report by CBS News. President Trump planned a weekend of speeches and golf, including time at Mar-a-Lago. Local officials warned drivers about traffic delays near the resort. ALSO READ: White House grounds off-limits as anti-Trump protests loom, forcing postponement of iconic garden tours

Donald Trump antagonised world leaders across the globe with his most extensive set of tariffs yet, he was scheduled to fly to Florida and potentially see the one leader he has called his «favourite president». That leader, President Javier Milei of Argentina, had flown overnight to receive an award Thursday at a right-wing gala at Mar-a-Lago. Trump was scheduled to also be there late Thursday — Milei said Trump would receive an award, too — and Milei said he hoped the two would meet. It was Milei's 10th trip to the US in 15 months as president, and nearly every time, he has met Trump or Elon Musk. Trump has posited that he is reshuffling US foreign policy strictly around what is good for the United States. So what can be puzzling about his elevation of Argentina to the front row of America's allies — Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were the only world leaders onstage at Trump's inauguration — is that the chronically distressed South American nation is not particularly important as an economic or geopolitical partner. Instead, through Milei, Argentina has offered Trump something else he appears to crave: adoration. «I love him because he loves Trump,» Trump said of Milei in a speech last year. «Anybody that loves me, I like them.»