solarseven/iStock via Getty Images The financial sector entered 2026 with a notable disconnect between strong fundamentals and market performance. The State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLF ) underperformed through January, ranking as one of only two sectors with negative returns despite robust 2025 results that saw all major financial ETFs post double-digit gains. B elow is a list of small-cap U.S. regional banks that carry strong momentum grades (A- to A+) and are ranked by their price-to-book (P/B) multiples. The screen focuses on regional banking institutions that combine favorable momentum signals with relatively elevated book value-based valuations. T he price-to-book (P/B) multiple is a valuation metric that compares a company’s stock price to its book value per share. It’s calculated by dividing a company’s market capitalization by its total book value, or alternatively, by dividing its stock price by its book value per share. T he list is topped by Five Star Bancorp ( FSBC ), which has the highest price-to-book multiple among the screened regional banks while maintaining an A momentum grade. Northeast Bank ( NBN ) and Red River Bancshares ( RRBI ) follow, with Isabella Bank ( ISBA ) and Orange County Bancorp ( OBT ) rounding out the rest of the top five, all combining favorable momentum scores with elevated P/B valuations. Other notable names on the list, such as Amalgamated Financial ( AMAL ) and Southern First Bancshares ( SFST ), also feature competitive P/B multiples alongside A+ momentum grades, keeping them in focus for investors seeking regional bank exposure with strong price performance characteristics. H ere is the list: F ive Star Bancorp ( FSBC ), momentum grade: A, price-to-book (P/B) multiple: 1.95x N ortheast Bank ( NBN ), momentum grade: A, price-to-book (P/B) multiple: 1.86x R ed River Bancshares, Inc. ( RRBI ), momentum grade: A+, price-to-book (P/B) multiple: 1.67x I sabella Bank Corporation ( ISBA ), momentum grade: A+, pric...

A fresh wave of anti-government protests at several Iranian universities that began on Saturday has spread to more campuses.

Palantir Stock Slides Monday: What's Driving The Action? Benzinga

Legendary investor Warren Buffett advises to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. One way we can try to measure the level of fear in a given stock is through a technical analysis indicator called the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which me

Legendary investor Warren Buffett advises to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. One way we can try to measure the level of fear in a given stock is through a technical analysis indicator called the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which me

Legendary investor Warren Buffett advises to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. One way we can try to measure the level of fear in a given stock is through a technical analysis indicator called the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which me

Last week's surprise departure of Phil Spencer from Microsoft led to the promotion of Asha Sharma, who comes to head Microsoft's gaming division after two years as president of the company's CoreAI Product group . Despite that recent history, Sharma says in a new interview that she has "no tolerance for bad AI" in game development. Speaking with Variety , Sharma noted that "AI has long been part of gaming and will continue to be," before adding that "great stories are created by humans." The interview comes after Sharma promised in an introductory memo: "We will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us." Those statements seem like a clear line in the sand from Sharma against the use of AI tools in Microsoft's first-party game development, at the very least. But what separates "bad AI" and "soulless AI slop" from "innovative technology" that humans can use to create artful games is a matter of some significant debate in the gaming world. Read full article Comments

Nick Reiner, 32, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom on Monday, after his parents were found dead in their Brentwood home in December.

Palantir Technologies (PLTR) is well positioned to outperform the market, as it exhibits above-average growth in financials.

Is Palantir Technologies (PLTR) a Solid Growth Stock? 3 Reasons to Think "Yes" Yahoo Finance

Judge Says Jack Smith's Final 'Mar-a-Lago Docs' Report On Trump Can Never Be Released Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, A federal judge on Feb. 23 said that the final report on President Donald Trump compiled by a former special counsel shall not be released. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is based in Florida (and was appointed by President Trump), said in a 15-page decision that she was granting requests from Trump and his co-defendants to keep part two of the report from former special counsel Jack Smith shielded from the public. Cannon said that Smith wrongly forged ahead with investigating Trump and others for allegedly violating federal law by gathering and retaining sensitive documents even after she ruled his appointment was unconstitutional and threw out the case. “Rather than seek a stay of the Order, or clarification, Special Counsel Smith and his team chose to circumvent it, for months, by taking the discovery generated in this case and compiling it in a final report for transmission to then-Attorney General Garland, to Congress, and then beyond,” Cannon said. “ The Court need not countenance this brazen stratagem or effectively perpetuate the Special Counsel’s breach of this Court’s own order. ” She added later: “While it is true that former special counsels have released final reports at the conclusion of their work, it appears they have done so either after electing not to bring charges at all or after adjudications of guilt by plea or trial. The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt. ” The Department of Justice (DOJ) had appealed Cannon’s ruling, but dropped the appeal after Trump won a second term in office. The department also released part of Smith’s report just before Trump began his second term. The other part, which has not been made public, was not to be released, according to a January 2025 orde...

Is Palantir Technologies (PLTR) a Solid Growth Stock? 3 Reasons to Think "Yes" Nasdaq

tum3123/iStock via Getty Images The current supportive growth-inflation backdrop is expected to keep emerging markets ( EEM ) and value stocks ( IUSV ) outperforming this year as equity leadership broadens, J.P. Morgan wrote in a note to clients Monday. Analyst Mislav Matejka pointed to positive corporate earnings and upward revisions, as well as improving momentum in national manufacturing activity, with "no material signs of overheating or increasing inflationary pressures," he wrote. "We are staying with the view that inflation is set to be well behaved, on the back of slowing wage growth, reducing services inflation and Brent price which is unlikely to move up much, absent any transitory geopolitical escalation." Even with the recent upside surprises across manufacturing, payrolls and industrial production, long bond yields ( US10Y ) ( US30Y ) have moved lower in the last few weeks, as fed funds futures traders price in nearly as much easing as they did at the start of the year." The 10-year tenor is hovering around its lowest level year-to-date at just over 4%. "In a nutshell, this is the Goldilocks setup we were hoping for," said Matejka. If the above-described backdrop shows continued traction, together with USD ( DXY ) trading on the weaker side, within the market we reiterate our call that there will likely be a broadening in leadership." Within equities, the analyst still prefers value over growth and small caps ( IJR ) over large caps ( SPY ), arguing that the rotation beyong last year's narrow leadership has further room to run. Regionally, he maintained an overweight rating on emerging markets. Meanwhile, two of last year's standout performers — defense and banks — are unlikely to deliver another year of meaningful outperformance in 2026, he added, "despite the still solid fundamentals for both groups." Emerging Market ETFs: ( IEMG ), ( VWO ), ( EEM ), ( SPEM ), ( SCHE ), and ( AVEM ). Value ETFs: ( VTV ), ( VBR ), ( EFV ), ( IWS ), ( AVUV ), ( DFUV ), ...

Shareholders of Academy Sports & Outdoors Inc (Symbol: ASO) looking to boost their income beyond the stock's 0.9% annualized dividend yield can sell the July covered call at the $70 strike and collect the premium based on the $2.55 bid, which annualizes to an additional 11.2

DKosig/iStock via Getty Images The resilience of global markets will be tested anew this week as investors grapple with the implications of three risks that could roil sentiment: slower economic growth, the Supreme Court’s ruling that President Trump’s tariffs are illegal, and the threat of a US strike on Iran. Let’s start with the US economy, which posted sharply slower growth in Friday’s fourth quarter GDP report. Output rose 1.4% — roughly half the pace expected and far behind the much stronger increases of 4.4% and 3.8% in the third and second quarters, respectively. The government shutdown was a key factor that weighed on economic activity and was estimated to have reduced growth by a percentage point. The economy probably cooled even without the shutdown, but the slowdown was exaggerated in the official Q4 numbers. “The core of the economy is resilient,” said Michael Pearce at Oxford Economics. “With tariff pressures fading and tax cuts beginning to fuel an increase in capital spending, the economy will gather momentum in 2026.” The initial nowcast for Q1 GDP points to a robust rebound, according to the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model , which is projecting a 3.1% increase. Sentiment in betting markets this morning is on board with the outlook: a 60% probability is currently priced in for Q1 growth of 3.0% or higher, according to Polymarket. The economy may be stronger than it appears in the Q4 data, but uncertainty for trade policy spiked on Friday after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s import taxes were illegal. The President quickly countered that he would use another provision to impose a 15% tariff on all foreign goods coming into the country. But the whirlwind of trade policy news since Friday raises several questions that will take time to answer. Among the new issues raised: * Trump’s new tariffs draw on authority from Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 , but the provision limits how long tariffs can be imposed by the President — 150 days. Congress can...

格隆汇2月24日｜中国裁军事务大使沈健2月23日在日内瓦裁军谈判会议高级别周全会发言，阐述中方关于当前国际安全与军控热点问题立场。沈健表示，面临复杂严峻的国际安全形势，中国秉持公正、合作、平衡、有效的军控理念，致力于增进国际安全合作，完善全球安全治理。核军控是维护全球战略稳定的重要保证。国际社会应秉持公正合理、理性务实的核裁军理念，坚持政治外交解决核不扩散问题，遵守国际法治，重振多边军控裁军机制。沈健强调，中国坚定支持《全面禁止核试验条约》宗旨和目标。美国指责中国开展核爆炸试验，毫无事实依据，是为自身重启核试验编造借口。中方敦促美国重申五核国“暂停核试验”承诺，维护全球禁止核试验共识。

NoDerog/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Introduction Constellation Brands, Inc. ( STZ ) has been quite the laggard in terms of share price and even operations due to the shifting consumer tastes and overall tariff headwinds. I wanted to go over its performance and give some comments on its outlook and why I think it is still not a good time to start a position. Last time I covered the company was back in June of last year , and since then, the company’s share price has been down almost 3%, while the broader market index is up 12%. Briefly on Performance Looking at the company’s revenue trend, we can see these have been declining for the whole year now. Some of this decline is due to the STZ’s strategically significant divestitures. The company has divested a big portion of its mainstream, lower-priced wines and spirits. Another reason the company’s top line has been on a decline is the fact that its beer segment began to see some headwinds after being a powerhouse for many years. High-end buy rates among the Hispanic consumers, who are STZ’s core demographic, declined more sharply than the general market due to macroeconomic pressures. Additionally, the rising costs of raw materials, like aluminum for cans, meant that the company had to increase prices, which tested consumer elasticity, leading to lower sales. Also, in broader terms, the younger generations are generally consuming less alcohol and opting for dry months and some other non-alcoholic alternatives, while the company’s premiumization strategy of selling more expensive drinks may be bad at this point due to persistent inflation, which is leading a lot of consumers to look for deals on cheaper brands. Seeking Alpha Going over to the company’s profitability and efficiency, we can see that over the last year, the margins across the board have been somewhat resilient. I was expecting to see steeper declines than what actually occurred, which tells us that the strategy of going towards more premium offering...

If you're looking for the company-specific headline that sent shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) soaring today, don't bother. You won't find one. Rather, investors are proverbially connecting dots based on other pharmaceutical companies ' headlines. In this instance, what's bad for (much-bigger) Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) is good for Viking. Getting straight to the point, Novo Nordisk's injectable weight-loss drug CagriSema is good, but not better than Eli Lilly 's (NYSE: LLY) tirzepatide when administered the same way for the same length of time. Specifically, whereas patients receiving subcutaneous injections of Lilly's tirzepatide lost an average of 25.5% of their body weight over 84 weeks, CagriSema users only lost an average of 23%. To win the FDA's approval, a new treatment must be at least as effective as an alternative that's already on the market, or offer some other discernible benefit like better patient tolerability. Continue reading

Source: Bloomberg, 0:00

Keeping healthcare costs under control is crucial for retirees.

Eversource Energy is set to raise $1.5 billion from selling its first hybrid bonds, as the New England utility operator looks to refinance debt. The 30.5-year securities are being offered in two $750 million parts, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. One of the bonds can’t be bought back for 5.25 years, and the other not for 10.5 years, said the person, who asked not to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak publicly. The notes are poised to respectively yield 6.1% and 6.35%, both about 0.4 percentage point less than initial price talk, the person added. Hybrid bonds have features of both debt and equity. They’ve grown more popular in recent years, particularly among utility holding companies , after a change in policies from Moody’s Ratings made it easier for corporations to determine how much equity-like credit they would get for selling the securities. Barclays Plc, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. are bookrunners for the debt sale. The deal is among 10 in the US investment-grade market on Monday — half of them from utilities.

Former British ⁠ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson has been arrested by London police on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following revelations over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey ‌Epstein. Mandelson, 72, was fired from the most prestigious posting in Britain’s diplomatic service in September, when the depth of his friendship with Epstein started to become clear. Police earlier this month began a criminal investigation into Mandelson after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s...

Legendary investor Warren Buffett advises to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. One way we can try to measure the level of fear in a given stock is through a technical analysis indicator called the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which me