watch now VIDEO 2:13 02:13 Amrita Sen: Hormuz disruption is removing millions of barrels daily Morning Call Locked in a standoff with Iran that will break only when economic pain is no longer tolerable, President Donald Trump may have to maintain his naval blockade against Iran for weeks — forcing serious economic consequences on the world. Trump said Wednesday that he will keep the U.S. blockade ...
watch now VIDEO 2:13 02:13 Amrita Sen: Hormuz disruption is removing millions of barrels daily Morning Call Locked in a standoff with Iran that will break only when economic pain is no longer tolerable, President Donald Trump may have to maintain his naval blockade against Iran for weeks — forcing serious economic consequences on the world. Trump said Wednesday that he will keep the U.S. blockade against Iran in place until it agrees to a nuclear deal. Tehran, meanwhile, refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the U.S. calls off its Navy. It's unclear which side will budge first. Trump said Sunday that Iran's oil infrastructure is days away from exploding because crude is bottled up due to the blockade. "Something happens where it just explodes," Trump told Fox News . "They say they have only three days left before that happens. When it explodes, you can never rebuild it the way it was." But Iran has weeks of space left in its tanks to store oil that it can't export, experts said. This should give Tehran time to ramp down oilfields in an orderly way that avoids permanent damage, they said. The oil supply shock, meanwhile, grows worse every day Iran keeps the strait closed, putting pressure on the U.S. as the global economic damage mounts. "The question for me is who has a longer runway — Trump or Iran," said Fernando Ferreira, the head of Rapidan Energy's geopolitical risk service. Iran tankers blocked Tehran will feel the heat from the U.S. blockade. There has been no confirmed passage of an Iranian tanker through the U.S blockade zone, according to the ship-tracking firm Kpler. Iran-linked ships have crossed the strait but they did not make it past the blockade, which stretches from the Gulf of Oman to the Arabian Sea, according to Kpler. With Iran's tankers hunted by the U.S. Navy, oil and condensate loadings at its ports have collapsed from 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) before the blockade to just 567,000 bpd after, Kpler found. Iran will have to start ...
“For commercial companies trying to operate in this space, they have to be willing to understand that what they’re building is fundamentally different, and if they’re not willing to invest in this way, they can struggle with adoption,” said Skyler Onken, co-founder of Twenty, an offensive-cyber company seeking to reshape cyber warfare. On this episode of the Tech Disruptors podcast, Onken joins Bl...
“For commercial companies trying to operate in this space, they have to be willing to understand that what they’re building is fundamentally different, and if they’re not willing to invest in this way, they can struggle with adoption,” said Skyler Onken, co-founder of Twenty, an offensive-cyber company seeking to reshape cyber warfare. On this episode of the Tech Disruptors podcast, Onken joins Bloomberg Intelligence senior defense weapons analyst Wayne Sanders to discuss the speed, scaling and
The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged, with officials signaling they need more time to assess the extent of the Iran war’s jolt to the economy. The deposit rate was left at 2%, where it’s been since June 2025 and in line with the predictions of all analysts in a Bloomberg survey . The ECB offered no guidance on future decisions, reiterating it will act one meeting at a time based...
The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged, with officials signaling they need more time to assess the extent of the Iran war’s jolt to the economy. The deposit rate was left at 2%, where it’s been since June 2025 and in line with the predictions of all analysts in a Bloomberg survey . The ECB offered no guidance on future decisions, reiterating it will act one meeting at a time based on information as it arrives. “The upside risks to inflation and the downside risks to growth have intensified,” the Governing Council said on Thursday in a statement. “The Governing Council remains well positioned to navigate the current uncertainty.” While policymakers have stressed since the conflict broke out that they’ll act decisively if inflation shows signs of spiraling, data available so far haven’t convinced them . The ECB isn’t alone in holding fire: The Federal Reserve sat tight on Wednesday and the Bank of England decided against a move earlier on Thursday. The ECB is also mindful of the blow to output, with data published shortly before its rate announcement showing first-quarter gross domestic product grew by a less-than-expected 0.1% in the euro zone — feeding stagflation fears . Markets reckon officials will focus on the upswing in prices, which jumped by 3% in April — the quickest since the autumn of 2023 — due to the ramp-up in energy costs. Traders are fully pricing three quarter-point increases in borrowing costs by year-end. President Christine Lagarde will offer her thoughts at a news conference at 2:45 p.m. Follow Bloomberg’s TLIV blog here Heading into this week’s meeting, policymakers said two months of fighting in the Middle East and a continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have left the 21-nation euro zone somewhere between the ECB’s baseline and a more gloomy outcome presented in March. The base case assumes oil costs averaging $81.3 a barrel in 2026 whereas the adverse scenario sees Brent crude coming close to $120 this quarter. Oil touche...
Yori Meirizan/iStock via Getty Images Article Thesis My last article about POET Technologies Inc. ( POET ), a promising name in the data-center connectivity industry with their optical engines and light sources, was at the end of September. With the stock around $5.7 and a 2032 price target between $34-$45, for a little more than 30% CAGR, I saw it as a “Buy”. As described in a previous article, I...
Yori Meirizan/iStock via Getty Images Article Thesis My last article about POET Technologies Inc. ( POET ), a promising name in the data-center connectivity industry with their optical engines and light sources, was at the end of September. With the stock around $5.7 and a 2032 price target between $34-$45, for a little more than 30% CAGR, I saw it as a “Buy”. As described in a previous article, I had a small stock position (about 0.25x size) initiated in June, last year at $3.95. In September, I closed about two thirds at ~$5.85 for migrating to an options position, then I replenished around a third at $6.95, and finally sold all my shares at $8.85, as described in my last article , because there was a strong resistance around that level. Overall, this position brought ~58% return in about 10 months. As mentioned above, in September I migrated about two thirds of my shares to an options position through bull Call spreads, which I considered more interesting than a stock position, and I will detail below why. After rolling over these options and then closing my position yesterday, this strategy brought an even better return of ~72% in about 7 months. After recent inflammatory events, a reassessment of my price target and my position is in order. Business Highlights As probably known to POET investors, we experienced something very bizarre during the last week. The stock climbed to ~$10, one day after selling my shares at $8.85, probably fueled by the rebuttal of a short report , with their intention to re-domicile the Company in the U.S. Then, it rallied in just two days to ~$15, after a CFO commentary about an order received from Marvell ( MRVL ), linked to their newly acquired Celestial AI’s Photonic Fabric. POET’s role was to provide an external light source through their POET Starlight module. They were also awaiting responses on “additional orders from manufacturing partners and customers”, including Foxconn and Luxshare Precision, related to their optical engi...
frantic00 Microsoft ( MSFT ) shares fell 1.7% in premarket trading on Thursday even as the tech giant reported better-than-expected results and guidance that were boosted by its Azure cloud unit and artificial intelligence. For the period ending March 31, Microsoft said it earned an adjusted $4.27 per share as revenue rose 18% year-over-year to $82.89B. Included in that was $34.7B from its Intelli...
frantic00 Microsoft ( MSFT ) shares fell 1.7% in premarket trading on Thursday even as the tech giant reported better-than-expected results and guidance that were boosted by its Azure cloud unit and artificial intelligence. For the period ending March 31, Microsoft said it earned an adjusted $4.27 per share as revenue rose 18% year-over-year to $82.89B. Included in that was $34.7B from its Intelligent Cloud division, which consists of its Azure cloud unit. Microsoft said Azure revenue grew 40% year-over-year and 39% in constant currency. On its earnings call, Microsoft said it expects Azure's growth rate to be 40% in the fourth-quarter, above the 37% analysts were expecting and the second quarter in a row of 40% growth, as broad and growing customer demand continues to exceed supply. Cloud gross margin is expected to be around 64%, dragged down by its investments in AI and an increase in GitHub Copilot usage. Total revenue for the coming quarter is expected to be between $86.7B and $87.8B, up between 13% and 15% year-over-year. Following the conference call, Wall Street analysts were positive on Microsoft, as agentic AI looks to expand its total addressable market and Azure continues its strong growth. Here’s what a few of them had to say. Citi “We are reiterating our Buy Rating and lifting our TP to $620 (27x FY28 PE) after strong 3Q results that show the company’s core growth drivers (Azure, M365 Copilot) are back in the driver seat and hitting an inflection point that is resulting in accelerating growth,” Citi analyst Tyler Radke wrote in a note to clients. “While the outlook was mixed with slightly negative EBIT revisions for 4Q, stemming from weaker PCs from higher memory costs, we believe numbers for 4Q/FY27 are sufficiently reset to work higher from here. Importantly, the company’s strong backlog (Commercial RPO growth of 26% Y/Y), improving capacity execution is giving better line of sight to accelerating Azure and Copilot revenue which we see improving tota...
frantic00 Microsoft ( MSFT ) shares fell 1.7% in premarket trading on Thursday even as the tech giant reported better-than-expected results and guidance that were boosted by its Azure cloud unit and artificial intelligence. For the period ending March 31, Microsoft said it earned an adjusted $4.27 per share as revenue rose 18% year-over-year to $82.89B. Included in that was $34.7B from its Intelli...
frantic00 Microsoft ( MSFT ) shares fell 1.7% in premarket trading on Thursday even as the tech giant reported better-than-expected results and guidance that were boosted by its Azure cloud unit and artificial intelligence. For the period ending March 31, Microsoft said it earned an adjusted $4.27 per share as revenue rose 18% year-over-year to $82.89B. Included in that was $34.7B from its Intelligent Cloud division, which consists of its Azure cloud unit. Microsoft said Azure revenue grew 40% year-over-year and 39% in constant currency. On its earnings call, Microsoft said it expects Azure's growth rate to be 40% in the fourth-quarter, above the 37% analysts were expecting and the second quarter in a row of 40% growth, as broad and growing customer demand continues to exceed supply. Cloud gross margin is expected to be around 64%, dragged down by its investments in AI and an increase in GitHub Copilot usage. Total revenue for the coming quarter is expected to be between $86.7B and $87.8B, up between 13% and 15% year-over-year. Following the conference call, Wall Street analysts were positive on Microsoft, as agentic AI looks to expand its total addressable market and Azure continues its strong growth. Here’s what a few of them had to say. Citi “We are reiterating our Buy Rating and lifting our TP to $620 (27x FY28 PE) after strong 3Q results that show the company’s core growth drivers (Azure, M365 Copilot) are back in the driver seat and hitting an inflection point that is resulting in accelerating growth,” Citi analyst Tyler Radke wrote in a note to clients. “While the outlook was mixed with slightly negative EBIT revisions for 4Q, stemming from weaker PCs from higher memory costs, we believe numbers for 4Q/FY27 are sufficiently reset to work higher from here. Importantly, the company’s strong backlog (Commercial RPO growth of 26% Y/Y), improving capacity execution is giving better line of sight to accelerating Azure and Copilot revenue which we see improving tota...
Booz Allen Hamilton ( NYSE: BAH ) on Thursday said it has made a strategic investment in PDW to accelerate the development and production of autonomous drone systems. PDW, based in Huntsville, Alabama, designs and manufactures unmanned aerial systems for defense and public safety and has the capacity to produce up to 100,000 drones annually. The investment aims to combine Booz Allen’s expertise in...
Booz Allen Hamilton ( NYSE: BAH ) on Thursday said it has made a strategic investment in PDW to accelerate the development and production of autonomous drone systems. PDW, based in Huntsville, Alabama, designs and manufactures unmanned aerial systems for defense and public safety and has the capacity to produce up to 100,000 drones annually. The investment aims to combine Booz Allen’s expertise in AI and autonomy with PDW’s manufacturing capabilities to support scalable, domestically produced drone technologies for defense applications. BAH +0.07% premarket to $76.50 . Source: Press Release More on Booz Allen Booz Allen Hamilton: Undeterred By What I See As Momentary Weakness Booz Allen Hamilton names Troy Lahr as EVP.& CFO in growth-led reshuffle Booz Allen sinks as Bessent says Treasury has lost confidence in the company for government contracts Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Booz Allen Historical earnings data for Booz Allen
What we inherit in the kitchen isn’t only a list of ingredients, but a living tradition – one that shifts with our lives, our fridges and the people we feed • Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, Feast “Chicken, leek, flour, a few more ingredients.” That was it: my grandma’s WhatsApp response to me earnestly asking if she’d mind sharing her time-honoured chicken pie recipe. She wasn’t bein...
What we inherit in the kitchen isn’t only a list of ingredients, but a living tradition – one that shifts with our lives, our fridges and the people we feed • Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, Feast “Chicken, leek, flour, a few more ingredients.” That was it: my grandma’s WhatsApp response to me earnestly asking if she’d mind sharing her time-honoured chicken pie recipe. She wasn’t being obtuse – well, not deliberately. She had simply never before committed a dish that was second nature to paper, let alone an iPhone screen. It wasn’t how she’d learned it and it wasn’t how I’d go on to learn it, either. I knew I’d have to make her chicken pie many times to get it even close to her standard, that I’d have to learn by watching as well as by asking, and that even then there’d be elements I’d miss. Such is the nature of a family dish – indeed, of any dish that has taken time, repetition and love to master, and for which, even then, perfection remains ephemeral. There is more to their method, meaning and flavour than can ever be confined to and conveyed by a recipe. Continue reading...
Robert Way Mastercard ( MA ) stock slipped 1.4% in Thursday premarket trading after the payment network delivered better-than-expected Q1 earnings and revenue. April-to-date trends, though, showed a slowdown in cross-border transaction growth. Q1 adjusted EPS of $4.60 , topping the average analyst estimate of $4.41, fell from $4.76 in Q4 and rose from $3.73 in Q1 2025. Q1 non-GAAP revenue of $8.40...
Robert Way Mastercard ( MA ) stock slipped 1.4% in Thursday premarket trading after the payment network delivered better-than-expected Q1 earnings and revenue. April-to-date trends, though, showed a slowdown in cross-border transaction growth. Q1 adjusted EPS of $4.60 , topping the average analyst estimate of $4.41, fell from $4.76 in Q4 and rose from $3.73 in Q1 2025. Q1 non-GAAP revenue of $8.40B, topping the $8.26B consensus, increased from $8.81B in the previous quarter and $7.25B in the year-ago period. Gross dollar volume of $2.70T, vs. the Visible Alpha consensus of $2.65T, dropped from $2.82T in Q4 and grew from $2.42T in last year’s Q1. Payment network revenue increased 12% Y/Y, or 8% on a currency-neutral basis. Payment network rebates and incentives provided to customers increased 23%, or 19% on a currency-neutral basis. Value-added services and solutions net revenue rose 22%, or 18% on a currency-neutral basis. Cross-border volume growth of 13%, on a local currency basis, compared with 14% in Q4. Switched transactions rose 9% Y/Y vs. 10% in Q4. Q4 adjusted operating margin of 60.8%, improved from 57.7% in the previous quarter and 59.3% a year ago. Mastercard’s ( MA ) April month-to-date switched volume rose 8%, vs. 9% in Q1. Switched transactions increased 9%, vs. 9% in Q1. Cross-border volume growth of 9% slowed from 13% in Q1. Conference call at 9:00 AM ET. More on Mastercard Mastercard: The Market Is Pricing In Fear, But My Bull Case Points To $590 Mastercard's Earnings Preview: It's A Buy Once Again Mastercard: Buy This Dividend Growth All-Star On Sale Now Mastercard Non-GAAP EPS of $4.60 beats by $0.19, revenue of $8.4B beats by $140M Visa, Mastercard up for another strong quarter, but cross-border volumes will impact sentiment
Kenneth Cheung/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images I was sitting at my desk waiting for Meta Platforms's ( META ) Q1 print to hit the wire, and when it did, I was shocked. Within a millisecond, shares declined by -5% and then crossed over -6%. This is where I start to have a problem with algos and how trading just takes over the narrative. The print wasn't even out for 30 seconds, and the stock was...
Kenneth Cheung/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images I was sitting at my desk waiting for Meta Platforms's ( META ) Q1 print to hit the wire, and when it did, I was shocked. Within a millisecond, shares declined by -5% and then crossed over -6%. This is where I start to have a problem with algos and how trading just takes over the narrative. The print wasn't even out for 30 seconds, and the stock was in a downward spiral. Shares of META finished the after-hours session down -7% as -$46.87 was eliminated from the share price. The conference call hadn't started, and there was no way anyone read through the press release . From the price action, you would have thought that META missed on the top and bottom line and provided weak guidance. What happened was the exact opposite, as META generated $56.31 billion in revenue, which was an increase of 33.1% YoY and a beat of $760 million on the consensus estimates. Their EPS came in at $10.44, which beat estimates by $3.78. This feels like Q3 2025 all over again when META took the tax charge and its EPS missed by a wide margin. Last week I had said that if Mark Zuckerberg comes into the print and raises CapEx and then talks about the Metaverse on the earnings call, it doesn't matter what the numbers are; shares of META will go lower. I truly believe that is exactly why shares of META spiraled downward after hours because the rest of the print was very strong. Mr. Zuckerberg has earned the latitude to take chances, in my opinion, and it looks like the market is giving bulls another opportunity to grab shares at a cheaper valuation as the long-term narrative hasn't changed. Seeking Alpha Following up on my previous article about META The last time I covered META was at the end of October when I discussed the tax charge from Q3 earnings ( can be read here ). Since then, shares of META have rallied from $674.51 to $738.31 at the end of January, then fallen to $525.72 at the end of March, and settled at $669.12 before the print hit t...
Kenneth Cheung/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images I was sitting at my desk waiting for Meta Platforms's ( META ) Q1 print to hit the wire, and when it did, I was shocked. Within a millisecond, shares declined by -5% and then crossed over -6%. This is where I start to have a problem with algos and how trading just takes over the narrative. The print wasn't even out for 30 seconds, and the stock was...
Kenneth Cheung/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images I was sitting at my desk waiting for Meta Platforms's ( META ) Q1 print to hit the wire, and when it did, I was shocked. Within a millisecond, shares declined by -5% and then crossed over -6%. This is where I start to have a problem with algos and how trading just takes over the narrative. The print wasn't even out for 30 seconds, and the stock was in a downward spiral. Shares of META finished the after-hours session down -7% as -$46.87 was eliminated from the share price. The conference call hadn't started, and there was no way anyone read through the press release . From the price action, you would have thought that META missed on the top and bottom line and provided weak guidance. What happened was the exact opposite, as META generated $56.31 billion in revenue, which was an increase of 33.1% YoY and a beat of $760 million on the consensus estimates. Their EPS came in at $10.44, which beat estimates by $3.78. This feels like Q3 2025 all over again when META took the tax charge and its EPS missed by a wide margin. Last week I had said that if Mark Zuckerberg comes into the print and raises CapEx and then talks about the Metaverse on the earnings call, it doesn't matter what the numbers are; shares of META will go lower. I truly believe that is exactly why shares of META spiraled downward after hours because the rest of the print was very strong. Mr. Zuckerberg has earned the latitude to take chances, in my opinion, and it looks like the market is giving bulls another opportunity to grab shares at a cheaper valuation as the long-term narrative hasn't changed. Seeking Alpha Following up on my previous article about META The last time I covered META was at the end of October when I discussed the tax charge from Q3 earnings ( can be read here ). Since then, shares of META have rallied from $674.51 to $738.31 at the end of January, then fallen to $525.72 at the end of March, and settled at $669.12 before the print hit t...
NewcelX and Eledon Pharmaceuticals are collaborating to advance one of the few scalable approaches to a potential functional cure in Type 1 Diabetes, NCEL-101, as the flagship program and key long-term value driver toward IND-enabling milestones
NewcelX and Eledon Pharmaceuticals are collaborating to advance one of the few scalable approaches to a potential functional cure in Type 1 Diabetes, NCEL-101, as the flagship program and key long-term value driver toward IND-enabling milestones
Don Wu/E+ via Getty Images My Investing Philosophy I like companies that have a long history of consistently rising dividends and are temporarily trading below fair market value. I also prefer companies paying a dividend yield that is above 2.5% for my initial investment and rising faster than the long-term rate of inflation. Industry leaders with competitive advantages regularly draw my attention...
Don Wu/E+ via Getty Images My Investing Philosophy I like companies that have a long history of consistently rising dividends and are temporarily trading below fair market value. I also prefer companies paying a dividend yield that is above 2.5% for my initial investment and rising faster than the long-term rate of inflation. Industry leaders with competitive advantages regularly draw my attention. I am retired, so I like adding layer after layer of income that will keep growing and that is the type of company I generally write about. I believe in holding most of my investment assets in a core portfolio consisting mainly of dividend-paying stocks with a small allocation focused on growth. You can find more of my dividend ideas here . Company Background I first wrote about Sonoco Products ( SON ) in June of 2025 when the stock was trading even lower than today. SON now has raised its dividend 43 consecutive years, making it a dividend aristocrat. Sonoco designs, manufactures and markets sustainable packaging products globally. It develops products that specifically meet the needs of its customers, creating deep relationships that can result in high costs related to switching vendors. Its global footprint also enables it to provide consistent packaging designs across all geographies and cultures for multinational, consumer-focused companies. Customer retention is well above the industry average. Sonoco Segments (Sonoco Q1 Presentation) The stock had been rising very nicely since my earlier report until a recent announcement drove less committed, short-term traders out the door. The Q1 earnings announcement came on April 21st, the day before the stock fell 16%. President and CEO, Robert Corker was quoted as saying: “Based on current estimates, we believe this inflation could add between $8 million to $10 million in additional costs in the second quarter.” For a company that is forecasting quarterly income of $150-200 million that extra cost equates to about 5%, using t...
The ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have sparked wild swings in oil prices, with significant consequences for the global economy. It's led to market volatility over the last few months; however, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) , the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) , and the Nasdaq-100 still managed year-to-date gains of between 1.6% and 7.1%. The Russell 2000 , which ...
The ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have sparked wild swings in oil prices, with significant consequences for the global economy. It's led to market volatility over the last few months; however, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) , the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) , and the Nasdaq-100 still managed year-to-date gains of between 1.6% and 7.1%. The Russell 2000 , which tracks the performance of approximately 2,000 of the smallest companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges, is doing even better in 2026 with a return of 11.1% so far. Many of these companies conduct the majority of their business inside America, so they are more insulated from global geopolitical risks than the multinational giants that dominate other indexes like the S&P 500. The Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF (NASDAQ: VTWO) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the performance of the Russell 2000 by holding the same stocks. Here's why it can continue beating the major U.S. indexes during 2026. Continue reading
More on Medical Properties Trust Medical Properties Trust: From Crisis To Comeback Medical Properties Trust: The Second-Most Shorted REIT And Its 7.2% Dividend Yield Medical Properties Trust: New Tenant Risk Meets Promising Recovery Cadence - Contrarian Buy Medical Properties Trust FFO of $0.14 misses by $0.01, revenue of $252.07M beats by $2.39M Medical Properties Trust Q1 earnings preview: What ...
More on Medical Properties Trust Medical Properties Trust: From Crisis To Comeback Medical Properties Trust: The Second-Most Shorted REIT And Its 7.2% Dividend Yield Medical Properties Trust: New Tenant Risk Meets Promising Recovery Cadence - Contrarian Buy Medical Properties Trust FFO of $0.14 misses by $0.01, revenue of $252.07M beats by $2.39M Medical Properties Trust Q1 earnings preview: What to expect