Apple ( AAPL ) has stopped offering the M4 Mac mini with the 256GB storage option, which effectively increased the starting price to $799 from $599. The 512GB Mac Mini with an M4 chip and 16GB of RAM, which was already priced at $799, now stands as the starting version of the device on the Apple site . Apple CEO Tim Cook said customer demand for the Mac mini and Mac Studio has been stronger than e...
Apple ( AAPL ) has stopped offering the M4 Mac mini with the 256GB storage option, which effectively increased the starting price to $799 from $599. The 512GB Mac Mini with an M4 chip and 16GB of RAM, which was already priced at $799, now stands as the starting version of the device on the Apple site . Apple CEO Tim Cook said customer demand for the Mac mini and Mac Studio has been stronger than expected and has led to supply constraints. "We think, looking forward, that the Mini and the Mac Studio may take several months to reach supply-demand balance," Cook said d uring Apple's earnings call on Thursday night. "The primary constraint is the availability of the advanced nodes our SoCs are produced on, not memory," Cook said. "And so I don't want to predict our ability for supply and demand to match because if I look at it realistically, I think on the Mac Mini and the Max Studio, I believe it will take several months to reach supply-demand balance. And so we're not at the point where we're saying this is going to end anytime soon." Apple plans to begin producing the Mac mini in the U.S. later this year. "As part of our $600B commitment to the U.S., we were pleased to share recently that Mac mini production is coming to America later this year, expanding our factory operations in Houston with a brand-new facility," Cook said. "In March, we were thrilled to welcome four new companies to our American manufacturing program to help manufacture essential materials and components for Apple products sold worldwide." The Mac mini has not only proven to be popular in the U.S. market but also abroad, as it proved to be the top-selling desktop in China during the March quarter, Cook said. More on Apple Why OpenAI's Smartphone Will Disrupt Apple, But Alphabet Will Ultimately Win Apple Delivers: New CEO, Looking Ahead To WWDC Apple: Great Earnings, Expensive Stock, Same Hold Rating Tariff refunds are a divisive issue for Wall Street and Washington. Apple may appease both. Divide...
imaginima The global economy is at a crossroads as energy shocks stemming from the Middle East conflict create a tug-of-war between economic momentum and building price pressures, according to JPMorgan’s chief economist. Bruce Kasman told CNBC on Friday that while the global economy shows healthy momentum heading through the first quarter, driven by strong tech demand across Asia and improving bus...
imaginima The global economy is at a crossroads as energy shocks stemming from the Middle East conflict create a tug-of-war between economic momentum and building price pressures, according to JPMorgan’s chief economist. Bruce Kasman told CNBC on Friday that while the global economy shows healthy momentum heading through the first quarter, driven by strong tech demand across Asia and improving business sentiment, the situation remains precarious because of energy market disruptions. “We’re starting to draw down inventories,” Kasman said. “We’re starting to potentially run into some physical constraints in places like Asia.” The economist warned that if markets don’t believe the ongoing conflict will be resolved soon, there is a risk of a “scramble for oil” ( USO ) ( BNO ) that could trigger nonlinear price increases. On monetary policy, Kasman said the Federal Reserve is taking the right approach by expressing patience amid two-sided risks of slower growth and higher inflation. He noted the Fed serves as an anchor for other central banks and equity markets ( SPY ) ( VT ). However, Kasman cautioned that even in a constructive scenario, the Fed may face pressure to raise rates within six to nine months. He expects energy prices to remain elevated, inflation to persist around 3% and labor markets to tighten because of weak supply. More on the Markets Dow Jones Nears 50,000 - Will Stock Market Bulls Ever Be Defeated? Inflation In The Entire U.S. Economy Is Rocking And Rolling, And It's Not Just Energy 3 Market Predictions For May Barclays turns neutral on risk assets as Hormuz closure persists Stocks rise to fresh record highs as May trading starts with oil falling
Welcome to ETF IQ, a weekly newsletter dedicated to the $19 trillion global ETF industry. I’m Bloomberg News reporter and anchor Katie Greifeld . Playing Both Sides (Poorly) April was an incredible month . Big tech reasserted itself, sparking a market-wide turnaround that most benefited the ecosystem of chipmakers supplying the AI revolution: the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index soared 38% in Apri...
Welcome to ETF IQ, a weekly newsletter dedicated to the $19 trillion global ETF industry. I’m Bloomberg News reporter and anchor Katie Greifeld . Playing Both Sides (Poorly) April was an incredible month . Big tech reasserted itself, sparking a market-wide turnaround that most benefited the ecosystem of chipmakers supplying the AI revolution: the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index soared 38% in April, its best monthly showing since February 2000. Judging from a pair of massive leveraged funds, the ETF industry got the trade completely wrong. Consider the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X ETF (ticker SOXS), which aims to deliver three times the inverse performance of the Philadelphia chip index: SOXS plunged 66.6% (spooky!) in April, its worst monthly performance on record Investors poured $2.4 billion into the ETF, its biggest monthly haul ever Things were even more dramatic on the other side of the trade. Here are last month’s stats for Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X ETF (SOXL): SOXL surged 165% in April, its best monthly performance on record More than $9.1 billion was yanked, its biggest monthly withdrawal on record The normal caveats apply: maybe some percentage of these flows can be explained by hedging or profit-taking, et cetera. And it’s probably unfair to pin it entirely on retail investors. However, Goldman Sachs’s trading desk notes that retail has been particularly active as of late: Much like institutional investors, retail has turned to select pockets of the market rather than simply levered index activity. Retail participation in SOXS (3x short semis ETF) and SOXL (3x long semis ETF) has reached the 97th and 99th percentiles, respectively, on a 5y lookback. That persisting interest should lead to more “more violent thematic moves under the hood,” Goldman’s traders including Gail Hafif, Lee Coppersmith and Brian Garrett wrote in the report. Fun! Supply Glut Speaking of leverage-loving retail traders, single-stock funds went from being a punchlin...
Apple is officially retiring its net-cash-neutral target, and some suspect the iPhone maker is preparing for a major acquisition to close the gap in the AI race.
Apple is officially retiring its net-cash-neutral target, and some suspect the iPhone maker is preparing for a major acquisition to close the gap in the AI race.
Meta Buys Robot Brain Startup As Zuck Wants Humanoids In Homes After the Oculus and Metaverse bets turned into costly disappointments for Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Platforms, the tech giant's pivot to real-world humanoid robotics appears to be gaining momentum, with news Friday afternoon that it is acquiring Assured Robot Intelligence. Bloomberg reports that Meta has closed the acquisition of the hum...
Meta Buys Robot Brain Startup As Zuck Wants Humanoids In Homes After the Oculus and Metaverse bets turned into costly disappointments for Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Platforms, the tech giant's pivot to real-world humanoid robotics appears to be gaining momentum, with news Friday afternoon that it is acquiring Assured Robot Intelligence. Bloomberg reports that Meta has closed the acquisition of the humanoid robotics startup, which develops AI models to help robots understand, predict, and adapt to human behavior in complex environments. What Meta has acquired appears to be a "robot brain" designed to give Zuckerberg's humanoid robots better control, self-learning capabilities, and whole-body movement, enabling them to operate around people and perform physical tasks. Eventually, Zuckerberg wants these bots in your home . Under the deal, co-founders Lerrel Pinto and Xiaolong Wang will join Meta Superintelligence Labs and work with the Meta Robotics Studio. There is no information about the robot brains on ARI's website. Using the commercial risk intelligence firm Sayari, we can see the founders and directors of the startup. More interestingly, trade data shows that ARI imported "8529.90 - Parts for TVs & Radios" from India. Hopefully, Zuck can end his cold streak of failures with humanoid robots. Tyler Durden Fri, 05/01/2026 - 15:35
The hedge-fund manager’s recent comments came after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, singled out Griffin’s ownership of a $238 million penthouse.
The hedge-fund manager’s recent comments came after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, singled out Griffin’s ownership of a $238 million penthouse.
America’s biggest oil companies are warning that global crude markets may be nearing an inflection point of higher prices the longer the Strait of Hormuz stays closed. Every day the waterway remains shut, the world is using up commercial stockpiles, strategic reserves and crude that was stored in vessels before the US and Israel launched the Iran war, Exxon Mobil Corp. , Chevron Corp. and ConocoPh...
America’s biggest oil companies are warning that global crude markets may be nearing an inflection point of higher prices the longer the Strait of Hormuz stays closed. Every day the waterway remains shut, the world is using up commercial stockpiles, strategic reserves and crude that was stored in vessels before the US and Israel launched the Iran war, Exxon Mobil Corp. , Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips said this week. These supplies helped “mitigate” prices through March and April but cannot be sustained indefinitely, Exxon CEO Darren Woods said on a call with analysts Friday. “It’s obvious to most that if you look at the unprecedented disruption and the world’s supply of oil and natural gas, the market hasn’t seen the full impact of that yet,” Woods said. “There’s more to come if the strait remains closed.” Read More: Exxon, Chevron Beat Profit Estimates on War-Driven Oil Rally Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz has long been considered a nightmare scenario in energy markets because a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes daily through the chokepoint, which separates the Persian Gulf from open ocean. While prices have climbed more than 50% since Iran effectively closed the waterway two months ago, at just over $100 a barrel, they’re far from record levels. This could soon change as storage runs out, Woods said. “As you get to the kind of the minimum working levels of inventory on the commercial side, you’re going to lose one of these sources of supply,” he said. “We anticipate as that happens in the strait remains closed, that we will continue to see increased prices in the marketplace.” West Texas Intermediate dropped about 4% to settle around $102 a barrel Friday as Iran signaled readiness to continue diplomatic efforts with the US over the nine-week conflict. Uncertainty over future supplies and messaging from the Trump administration that the Strait will reopen soon have contributed to volatile trading. WTI has jumped more than 50% ...
Earnings Call Insights: MasTec, Inc. (MTZ) Q1 2026 Management View "Revenue for the quarter was $3.829 billion, up 34% year-over-year" (CEO Jose Mas) and "adjusted earnings per share was $1.39" alongside "backlog at quarter end was $20.3 billion, a $1.4 billion sequential increase and a new record level" (CEO Jose Mas). "AI is driving a level of demand for fiber capacity, redundancy and low latenc...
Earnings Call Insights: MasTec, Inc. (MTZ) Q1 2026 Management View "Revenue for the quarter was $3.829 billion, up 34% year-over-year" (CEO Jose Mas) and "adjusted earnings per share was $1.39" alongside "backlog at quarter end was $20.3 billion, a $1.4 billion sequential increase and a new record level" (CEO Jose Mas). "AI is driving a level of demand for fiber capacity, redundancy and low latency that we haven't seen before" and "we think that creates a multiyear opportunity measured in the tens of billions of dollars" (CEO Jose Mas), while "Utilities are spending heavily on transmission, system hardening, and reliability" (CEO Jose Mas). "Our recent turnkey data center award is progressing very well" and "the demand for both the skill set that MasTec has developed in construction management, coupled with the capabilities we have in civil, power, telecom and maintenance provides us the opportunity to exponentially grow this part of our business" (CEO Jose Mas). "Given our strong performance and momentum, we are increasing our full year guidance" (CEO Jose Mas): "We now expect revenue of $17.5 billion, adjusted EBITDA of $1.5 billion and earnings per share of $8.79" (CEO Jose Mas). "We now expect to generate almost 45% of our full year EBITDA in the first half of 2026, implying markedly lower seasonality than our business has experienced historically" (Executive VP & CFO Paul Dimarco). Outlook "We are raising our full year guidance to reflect the first quarter beat and our improving outlook for the remainder of 2026" (Executive VP & CFO Paul Dimarco): "We now expect revenue of $17.5 billion" and "adjusted EBITDA" of "$1.5 billion" with "adjusted EPS" of "$8.79" (Executive VP & CFO Dimarco). Segment-level direction included "Power Delivery" revenue guidance "higher to approximately $4.8 billion" with "Full year EBITDA margins" that "remain on track to approach double digits" (Executive VP & CFO Dimarco), and Clean Energy & Infrastructure "full year revenue guidance ...
Earnings Call Insights: Summit Hotel Properties (INN) Q1 2026 Management View "We are pleased with our first quarter financial results, which were driven by a meaningful sequential improvement in operating fundamentals throughout the quarter," said (President, CEO & Director Jonathan Stanner), highlighting that "RevPAR in our pro forma portfolio inflected positive in the first quarter, increasing ...
Earnings Call Insights: Summit Hotel Properties (INN) Q1 2026 Management View "We are pleased with our first quarter financial results, which were driven by a meaningful sequential improvement in operating fundamentals throughout the quarter," said (President, CEO & Director Jonathan Stanner), highlighting that "RevPAR in our pro forma portfolio inflected positive in the first quarter, increasing 20 basis points year-over-year." (President, CEO & Director Stanner) said March was the inflection point: "While RevPAR declined in January and February, those declines were more than offset by 4.1% RevPAR growth in March," adding it was "driven by a robust 5.6% increase in average rate" and that the company has "been pleased to see these trends continue in April." (President, CEO & Director Stanner) framed the demand mix shift as higher-rated business returning: "Our best-performing demand segments were our highest rated segments, which allowed us to yield out a portion of lower-rated business," and he pointed to business transient improvement: "RevPAR growth increased 3% for the quarter, and 10% in March in our negotiated segment." (President, CEO & Director Stanner) detailed capital recycling and shareholder returns, including a closed sale and an under-contract sale: "The hotel was sold for $12.3 million" (Hilton Garden Inn Longview, Texas) and "we entered into an agreement to sell our wholly owned Courtyard and Residence in Dallas, Arlington South hotels for a combined sale price of $19 million." He also said, "we repurchased 1.4 million common shares for an aggregate purchase price of $6 million," and "as of March 31, 2026, we had approximately $29 million of remaining capacity under the program." "For the first quarter, adjusted EBITDA was $44.2 million, and adjusted FFO was $25.5 million or $0.21 per share," said (Executive VP & CFO William H. Conkling), attributing outperformance to "positive RevPAR trends and strong cost controls." Outlook "We have increased our R...
PeopleImages/iStock via Getty Images A month ago we talked about the reconstitution of the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF ( SCHD ). We discussed how it was one of the larger moves made in recent years and went into detail on the sector exposure. What we did not hone in on, though, was a deeper dive of the top holdings. Folks, while the market environment has shifted significantly, our core thesis...
PeopleImages/iStock via Getty Images A month ago we talked about the reconstitution of the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF ( SCHD ). We discussed how it was one of the larger moves made in recent years and went into detail on the sector exposure. What we did not hone in on, though, was a deeper dive of the top holdings. Folks, while the market environment has shifted significantly, our core thesis remains the same. You can go back to bed. We think owning this name, you can sleep pretty well at night. This fund is not designed for those looking to strike it rich overnight or for investors who are obsessed with the highest possible headline yield. Instead, it remains a reliable workhorse for those who value a steady foundation with moderate growth and ongoing dividend income. Yes, it can drop when the market gets hammered. Yes, over the last 5 years it has lagged the market thanks to the massive surge thanks to the AI revolution, but it remains a solid ETF to consider as part of your holdings. As we alluded to earlier, the common criticism of SCHD is that it often struggles to keep pace during massive tech-led bull runs, and that is a perfectly valid observation. However, for an investor focused on risk management and consistent dividend growth, this remains a premier peace-of-mind option in our opinion. While it may feel like the fund is due for a breather whenever the broader market gets frothy, it continues to deliver safe income and long-term capital appreciation. Make no mistake at all, if you are looking for high-conviction growth ideas or aggressive income strategies, those conversations are better suited for our BAD BEAT Investing group discussions. But for the portion of your portfolio that needs to be simple and reliable, we still view this ETF as a solid buy-and-hold candidate. Maybe not here at current levels and where the market is, but on the next 10% drawdown, and they do come often, we think you can consider adding to holdings. As we discussed previous...