The Fort Worth Press

Chocolate prices high before Christmas despite cocoa fall

After soaring for nearly two years, cocoa prices dropped sharply in 2025. However, chocolate, in demand ahead of the festive holiday season, has seen prices rise.

Asian traders cheer US rate cut but gains tempered by outlook

Most Asian markets rose Thursday as traders welcomed the Federal Reserve's third straight interest rate cut, though the euphoria was tempered by an indication officials could hold off another reduction any time soon.

AI's $400 bn problem: Are chips getting old too fast?

In pursuit of the AI dream, the tech industry this year has plunked down about $400 billion on specialized chips and data centers, but questions are mounting about the wisdom of such unprecedented levels of investment.

MSC Industrial Supply Co. To Webcast Review of Fiscal 2026 First Quarter Results

MELVILLE, NY AND DAVIDSON, NC / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / MSC INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY CO. (NYSE:MSM), a premier distributor of Metalworking and Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) products and services to industrial customers throughout North America, today announced that the Company's conference call to review its fiscal year 2026 first quarter results, as well as its current operations, will be broadcast online live on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

SMX Just Gave Cotton its First Circularity Engine, and the Fashion Industry Will Wear it Well

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / The fashion industry has spent years promising circularity. Recycling initiatives, take-back bins, and ESG roadmaps have filled annual reports with optimism, but these efforts have struggled to scale because they have all relied on a single fragile assumption. The belief that recycled materials could somehow be tracked without a system capable of tracking them. That assumption has now reached its limit.

Black Titan Announces DAT+ Liquidity and Operational Readiness Pillar to Support Institutional-Grade Digital Asset Engagement

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / Black Titan Corporation (NASDAQ:BTTC) released the fifth pillar of its DAT+ framework, outlining the liquidity and operational criteria used to assess digital assets within an institutional environment.

SMX Keeps Adding Mileage to Its Molecular Empire, and Cotton Is the Latest Proof That the Deal-Making Bonanza Is Real

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / The market keeps trying to put SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) in a box. Plastics. Metals. Electronics. Rubber. Fashion. Every time a new industrial win lands, analysts scramble to guess which vertical SMX belongs to. The answer is simpler than anyone expected. SMX is involved with virtually all of them, building a molecular identity network capable of spanning every material class that moves through global trade.

Black Titan Introduces DAT+ Collaborative Engagement Pillar to Support High-Value Decentralized Ecosystems

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / Black Titan Corporation (NASDAQ:BTTC) announced the fourth pillar of its DAT+ initiative, outlining a framework for structured collaboration with decentralized projects demonstrating technical strength and long-term potential.

Cotton Just Became a Digital Asset, and SMX Is Building its Market Where Proof Sets the Price

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / For most of modern history, materials have been commodities with no memory. Cotton is grown, harvested, traded, blended, spun, and finished, and somewhere along the way, its identity disappears into the machinery. That anonymity has shaped the global textile industry for decades, limiting transparency and bottlenecking any serious effort toward circularity or responsible sourcing. The world accepted it as the cost of doing business.

Black Titan Releases DAT+ Earnings Alignment Pillar Highlighting How Token Utility Interfaces With Economic Activity

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / Black Titan Corporation (NASDAQ:BTTC) unveiled the third pillar of its DAT+ strategy, focusing on how token utility interacts with the economic structures of decentralized ecosystems.

SMX Cracked the Textile Code, and It Changes Everything for the Global Cotton Supply Chain

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / Some breakthroughs feel inevitable in hindsight. SMX's (NASDAQ:SMX) latest industrial pilot is one of those moments. The kind of shift that forces an industry to redraw the map overnight. Cotton has long had a traceability problem. Once fibers are shredded, blended, spun, and transformed into fabric, the paper trail collapses. Brands rely on declarations. Regulators rely on hope. Consumers rely on whatever the tag says.

Black Titan Outlines DAT+ Risk Management Pillar Focused on Diversification and Institutional Oversight

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / Black Titan Corporation (NASDAQ:BTTC) released the second pillar of its DAT+ strategic framework, presenting a structured, institutional approach to risk evaluation and diversified asset assessment.

Black Titan Introduces DAT+ and Releases First Pillar Focused on Utility-Driven Digital Asset Participation

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / Black Titan Corporation (NASDAQ:BTTC) today announced the planned introduction of Digital Asset Treasury Plus (DAT+), a comprehensive strategic framework outlining how the Company may evaluate and potentially engage with digital assets going forward. DAT+ is structured as a multi-layered approach that considers utility, governance, liquidity, operational readiness, earnings alignment, and strategic collaboration.

SMX Demonstrates End-to-End Breakthrough in Cotton Traceability: Proves Ability to Verify Origin and Recycled Content from Mechanical Recycling Through Yarn Spinning and Finished Fabric

PARIS, FR AND SINGAPORE, SG / ACCESS Newswire / December 11, 2025 / SMX (Security Matters) PLC (NASDAQ:SMX), the global leader in molecular-based material authentication and digital product passports, today announced a successful multi-day industrial pilot validating SMX's ability to deliver full-chain traceability for cotton.

Bonk, Inc. Reaffirms Capital Allocation Strategy: Net Cash Flow from Digital Operations to be Deployed Directly into Aggressive Accumulation of BONK Digital Assets

Company Commits Revenue from Majority Interest in BONK.fun to Fuel Strategic Target of Owning 5% of Global Supply; Beverage Division to Reinvest for Growth

Oracle shares dive as revenue misses forecasts

Shares in business computing giant Oracle fell more than 10 percent on Wednesday on word its revenue missed heady expectations, dampening artificial intelligence euphoria in the market.

US stocks rise, dollar retreats as Fed tone less hawkish than feared

Wall Street stocks rose and the dollar retreated Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates again as it seeks to shore up a vulnerable US labor market.

Divided US Fed makes third straight rate cut, signals higher bar ahead

A divided US Federal Reserve lowered interest rates Wednesday for a third consecutive time this year, flagging labor market concerns even as inflation remained elevated as President Donald Trump's tariffs bite.

French far right sparks debate with proposal to reopen brothels

Marine Le Pen's far-right party wants to bring back France's once legendary brothels, sparking a fresh debate about prostitution in a country with a long history of liberal attitudes to sex.

Instagram users given new algorithm controls

Instagram on Wednesday unveiled a new AI-powered feature that lets users view and adjust the algorithm shaping their Reels feed, calling it a pioneering move toward greater user control.

US Fed expected to make third straight rate cut despite divisions

The US Federal Reserve is expected to deliver a further interest rate cut Wednesday despite divisions among its ranks, with chief Jerome Powell's ability to secure support from fellow policymakers put to the test.

EU seeks better Spain-France energy links after blackout

The EU said Wednesday it wants to boost energy links between France and Spain as part of a bloc-wide push to secure power supplies, months after a massive outage hit the Iberian Peninsula.

Madeleine McCann's father says 'lucky' to survive media attention

The father of missing British girl Madeleine McCann has called for greater scrutiny of the UK's media, saying in an interview published Wednesday that his family received a "monstering" from sections of the press.

Greek govt in emergency meeting as farmers block central port

Greece's government held emergency meetings Wednesday to address a growing farm protest movement, as demonstrators temporarily blocked the central port of Volos.

China consumer prices pick up pace but demand still slack

Rising food costs pushed consumer inflation in China last month to its fastest pace in nearly two years, data showed Wednesday, but lower factory-gate prices suggested demand in the world's second-largest economy remains weak.

Not just pizza: Italian cuisine makes UNESCO list

UNESCO recognised Wednesday that Italian food is more than pizza, pasta and gelato, adding the range and ritual of the famed cuisine to its list of intangible cultural heritage.

France's 'Battery Valley' makes use of Asian experts

France is developing domestic production of electric vehicle batteries with an eye on industrial independence but Asian experts are proving key in launching operations.

Stocks in retreat as traders eye Fed decision, tech earnings

Most markets fell Wednesday following a tepid day on Wall Street as investors bided their time ahead of a highly anticipated Federal Reserve policy announcement later in the day.

China surplus pushing EU to take 'offensive' trade measures: business lobby

China's mammoth trade surplus with Europe as well as challenges faced by foreign firms in the country are incentivising Brussels to adopt more "offensive" policies, a business lobby warned Wednesday.

Veggie 'burgers' at stake in EU negotiations

EU countries and lawmakers will wrangle Thursday over whether to give plant-based "sausages" and veggie "burgers" the chop, amid a push to restrict such labels to meat products.

UK public urged to keep eyes peeled for washed-up bananas

A "major" clean-up operation was ongoing in southern England on Tuesday after eight containers of bananas went overboard a cargo ship, with hundreds of rotting fruits washing up along the shoreline.

South Korea chip giant SK hynix mulls US stock market listing

South Korean chip giant SK hynix said on Wednesday it was considering a US stock market listing using treasury shares as part of efforts to boost shareholder value.

The Fort Worth Press - Economy (English)

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