Key PointsIonQ and D-Wave are leading the way from a pure-play standpoint.

USDA SIGNS $300 MILLION DEAL WITH PALANTIR TO MODERNIZE FARMER SERVICES wfiwradio.com

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a rendering of his proposed ballroom as he meets with Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., Oct. 22, 2025. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters The plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's $400 million White House ballroom project on Monday rejected a demand by the Department of Justice to drop that legal challenge in the wake of a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner that Trump was evacuated from. "Your assertion that this lawsuit puts the President's life at 'grave risk' is incorrect and irresponsible," wrote Gregory Craig, a lawyer for the plaintiff, The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, to DOJ Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate. "Simply put, this case does not jeopardize the President's safety in any way," Craig wrote in the new letter, which he provided to CNBC. "And nothing prevents you from asking Congress at any time for the necessary authorization required by the Constitution and federal law." Craig's response came after two days of renewed calls by Trump, Republican lawmakers and supporters of the president for the suit to be rejected by a federal court, and for the way to be cleared for the ballroom to be built. Trump and the others say the proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom would be much more secure than the Washington Hilton Hotel, where Saturday's shooting occurred, and than other venues outside the White House grounds. Shumate, in his letter to Craig on Sunday, said the trust's lawsuit "puts the lives of the President, his family, and his staff at great risk." "I hope that yesterday's narrow miss will help you finally realize the folly of a lawsuit that literally serves no purpose except to stop President Trump no matter the cost," wrote Shumate. "Enough is enough," Shumate wrote. "Your client should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit toda...

$Micron Technology (MU.US)$ waiting for next opportunity Moomoo

8vFanI/iStock via Getty Images Sentiment toward BDCs – funds that invest in small and midsize private U.S. businesses – has improved since early March. BDC bond spreads have stabilized and outperformed the broader investment grade (IG) index, suggesting credit investors are increasingly comfortable with downside risk. Publicly listed BDC equities have also rebounded (see Figure 1). Despite the strong co-movement in recent weeks, however, the equity and credit narratives differ. Figure 1: BDC bonds have enjoyed a stronger recovery than BDC equities this year Source: Bloomberg, PIMCO as of 15 April 2026 On the equity side, the debate centers on NAV credibility. Investors remain skeptical of where portfolios are marked, and without better price discovery that skepticism is likely to persist. Elevated dispersion in marks is part of the problem: For loans held across multiple BDCs, the gap between the most optimistic and most conservative managers exceeds five percentage points (see Figure 2). Rather than providing comfort, that spread signals uncertainty around true asset values and makes it harder for reported NAVs to serve as an anchor – hampering confidence in dividend sustainability and underlying earnings power. Figure 2: Dispersion in price marks in BDC portfolios remains unusually wide Source: PitchBook LCD, PIMCO as of 31 December 2025 A parallel in real estate History offers a useful parallel. In U.S. real estate markets, after the rapid rise in interest rates in 2022–2023, private vehicles diverged sharply from publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), with public markets repricing faster and more aggressively before the two ultimately converged about halfway back toward the baseline. The lesson is not that equities are immediately “right,” but that when marks are opaque and stale, public markets tend to apply a large – and often persistent – discount until clarity emerges. Figure 3 illustrates this dynamic by comparing cumulative price returns fo...

The partnership change gives both companies more freedom as they each work to expand their individual AI products—and comes ahead of OpenAI’s initial public offering.

Markets are hitting all-time highs—but Rebecca Patterson, a former chief investment strategist at Bridgewater who's now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. is warning that investors may be ignoring serious geopolitical risks. From the ticking clock on oil supply disruptions to the fragile AI boom, she explains why today’s rally could face sudden reality checks if global tensions escalate or growth assumptions falter. (Source: Bloomberg)

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) today is down -0.12%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI ) (DIA ) is down -0.14%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) is down -0.30%. June E-mini S&P futures (ESM26 ) are down -0.14%, and June E-mini Nasdaq futures...

Northland Downgrades AMD to Market Perform: Is the Chip Rally Running on Fumes? AOL.com

Microsoft (MSFT) and OpenAI have amended their partnership under which the technology giant will no

blinow61/iStock Editorial via Getty Images My last article on Shell plc ( SHEL ) discussed the refocusing effort. Management summarized the effort with the following chart : Shell Company Summary Of Refocusing And Profitability Improvement Efforts (Shell Corporate Presentation Fourth Quarter 2025) As shown above, this effort is going to take some time. Larger companies that are the size of a supermajor often begin a project several years ahead of when it becomes apparent to shareholders. In this case, what is shown above should become apparent to shareholders shortly. Managements with goals like this often have ways to measure their success. Many times, that measurement of success is presented to shareholders. Shareholders can then judge the effectiveness of management. For investors, that should mean that the corporate breakeven will be slowly declining. More importantly, a management like this is highly likely to replace achieved goals with more goals to "keep the ball rolling." After all, technology does not only improve operations, but it also improves the office as well. That "structural cost reductions" is likely to be both in the office and in operations. Many are very aware that operations throughout the industry have experienced some material improvements for quite some time. Office improvements are a bit less visible because the "office costs" are often much smaller than the operating costs. But it is every bit as important to keep staff and overhead "lean and mean." Therefore, shareholders should expect management to find tangible measurements that demonstrate progress until that progress becomes obvious in the form of increasing profitability (that will at least partially offset inflation). Iranian Situation This situation has impacted the supermajors. So far, the negatives of the situation seem to be outweighed by the positives. While I sure hope it continues that way, there is no guarantee that will be the case. Shell First Quarter Guidance Including T...

Green party byelection winner says ‘you can smell the alcohol when people are in between votes’ UK politics live – latest updates When Hannah Spencer spoke of her shock that in Westminster “you can smell the alcohol when people are in between votes”, she may not have expected such a lively response. The Green party MP, who won the Gorton and Denton byelection in February, made the comments in an interview with the Joe website , saying she was “really uneasy” about the drinking culture in parliament. Continue reading...

IRM heads into Q1 earnings with expected revenue and AFFO growth, driven by storage stability and expanding data center demand.

Why Micron Stock Popped Again Today AOL.com

A combination image shows Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S., on November 16, 2023 and Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter during Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. Carlos Barria | Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters Jury selection is beginning in the high-stakes legal battle between longtime friends turned rivals Elon Musk and Sam Altman at a federal courthouse in Oakland, California. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is overseeing the proceedings, starting Monday, between the world's richest person and the CEO of OpenAI . Nine jurors will be seated and there will be no alternates, according to a March filing . CNBC is in the courtroom for the proceedings. Musk , who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, sued the company, Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president, in 2024, alleging they reneged on their commitments to keep the artificial intelligence lab a nonprofit and follow its charitable mission. OpenAI has repeatedly dismissed Musk's lawsuit as "baseless." Musk left OpenAI's board in 2018, and five years later started xAI as a rival, merging that company with SpaceX earlier this year. Musk has sought a number of different remedies over the course of the case, including the removal of Altman and Brockman from their roles at OpenAI. Musk's lawyers said in January that he should receive up to $134 billion in "wrongful gains," though he has since asked to funnel those funds back into the OpenAI charity. Read more CNBC tech news Nvidia backs AI company Vast Data at $30 billion valuation Google unveils chips for AI training and inference in latest shot at Nvidia SpaceX says it can buy Cursor later this year for $60 billion or pay $10 billion for 'our work together' Apple's elevation of silicon head Johny Srouji signals sprint to build ...

benedek/iStock via Getty Images Orchid Island Capital, Inc. ( ORC ) cut its monthly dividend from $0.12 to $0.10 on April 16th and recently announced earnings. Since the dividend cut, the stock has set a new 52-week low, closing at $6.76. While this dividend cut is a significant 16.6%, this potential dividend cut wasn't completely unexpected, with a recent article by contributor Colorado Wealth Management discussing it here . I also have been covering (and investing in) ORC for just over a year now, with my first of two previous articles published on 4/12/2025. While my main and ongoing thesis on Orchid is based on its juicy dividend yield, an investor should exercise caution and limit the portion of a dividend portfolio in ORC shares due to the performance of the company, share and book value drops over time, and the now lower dividend yield. While my original thesis holds, I have been proven to have been overly optimistic and will lay out a case to remain bullish, although the expected 50% return was Pollyanna at best! Two cautionary facts should be considered, which I'll discuss in more detail. First, since the dividend cut was announced, the price drop has been roughly under 8%, while the dividend cut was 16.6%. Additionally, 1st quarter earnings were just released, and while the earnings report won't be discussed in detail, the company swung to a large quarterly loss. This article posits that some fear of a dividend cut was baked in, and the earnings report indicates that the main loss was an unrealized paper loss. But there may be some share price drops left, which obviously will negate some of those nice monthly dividend payments. For the aggressive and higher-risk portion of a broad REIT portfolio, Orchid Island Capital could provide a dividend boost if shares are bought shrewdly and other potential risk-management techniques are employed, such as call writing to capture premium and reduce basis. Quarterly Earnings Report: Not Great News, But… After the mark...

PayPal stock is down 31.4% in six months, but AI commerce, Venmo expansion and global PYUSD rollout could shape its next recovery phase.

Jon Tetzlaff/iStock Editorial via Getty Images While the airline world is dealing with the consequences of high oil prices, jet makers The Boeing Company ( BA ) and Airbus SE ( EADSF ) are currently not seeing any slowdown in demand. Both manufacturers, however, do face significant challenges in meeting demand and delivering planes on revised delivery plans. Airbus is dealing with engine shortages due to the issues with Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan, while Boeing is improving its build rates, but in March had to delay some deliveries to address a wiring issue on the Boeing 737 MAX. Overall, we note that Boeing is having a lot more momentum compared to Airbus, but it also has a long recovery trajectory ahead. In this report, I analyze the airplane orders and deliveries for the first quarter of 2026. As mentioned in prior analyses, we're uniquely positioned to provide value estimates on orders and deliveries to more closely reflect the actual benefit to the businesses. Below, I have attached the explanation of the analysis methodology from a prior report : Explanation Of Analysis Methodology For Airplane Orders And Deliveries Boeing For this analysis, I use an internally developed tool available on The Aerospace Forum . I will be assessing the net orders and deliveries. For each, I will discuss the units ordered and delivered and the associated dollar value. The net orders provide us with a view of demand. This is a reflection of factors such as pricing, economic growth prospects, and availability. Boeing and Airbus have a total backlog of nearly 15,000 airplanes. So, currently, we're not viewing things through the scope of needing more orders to support or increase production. The fact is that the backlogs have to be brought down to healthier levels, and that can be achieved through higher deliveries. Deliveries are what matter, and that's also the area where we see that neither Boeing nor Airbus has been able to support demand. Assessing the deliveries gives us ...

Olivier Le Moal/iStock via Getty Images Introduction & Investment Thesis The AI bull run is about to face its toughest test, as judgment day arrives two days later when four hyperscalers that include Amazon ( AMZN ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet Inc./Google ( GOOG ) and Meta ( META ) report their earnings on 04/29. As the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) creates new all-time highs, participation from the above companies remains mixed. You see, both Microsoft and Meta peaked sometime in 2025 and are currently 23% and 16% away from their all-time highs. Meanwhile, Google, which was rallying in line with the S&P 500 at the start of 2026, has refused to participate this time, sitting 2% away from its all-time highs. Finally, Amazon has finally woken up from its slumber, as I said it would in early March , creating new all-time highs in line with the broader index. The thing is that earlier in 2026, all four companies were under considerable pressure when they raised their full-year FY26 capex projections, far more than estimates. As I wrote in this post , we are now looking at a combined $680B in AI capex for 2026 for the four companies combined; that is double that of the FY25 figure and could alter the free cash flow dynamics given the lag in the AI revenue realization timeline. While some of the AI capex-related scrutiny has eased since February, especially as companies like Amazon, Google, and even Meta double down on their custom silicon roadmap to unlock operating leverage, investors will be keenly watching for signs of acceleration in AI monetization and margins while demanding a clearer timeline on demonstrating ROI. The way I see it, this is probably one of the crucial earnings reports for these four hyperscalers that will set the tone and the direction of the next phase of the AI bull market. As an existing investor in Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft with a combined 20% portfolio allocation in The Pragmatic Optimist portfolio, the stakes are high. In this post, I will break down...

A chip stock winning streak that dates back to March was in danger Monday. The PHLX Semiconductor Index was down 1.7%, putting it on track to close lower for the first time since March 30. A decline today would snap an 18-day winning streak that began March 31.

Details about the shooting at the White House correspondents' gala have started to surface as the alleged shooter is set to be charged. The suspect was able to get close to where Donald Trump and many other senior officials were gathered, before law enforcement officers stopped him. It happened less than two years after the US president was the target of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a subsequent attempt at a golf course in Florida. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian's Washington bureau chief David Smith, who was in attendance Continue reading...

As of the end of March, there were 4,915 exchange-traded products (ETPs), including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), listed on U.S. exchanges. That's a big universe, one that seemingly grows daily. That vast population also ensures some ETFs are mirror images of competing funds. A familiar example is the landscape of market capitalization-weighted S&P 500 ETFs . The titans of this space all do the same thing: track the S&P 500 , with only branding and expense ratios differing. In this silver ETF rivalry, investors would do well to choose the lower-cost fund. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading

亚马逊CEO安迪·贾西表示，未来数周内，将携手全新的有状态运行时环境，在亚马逊云科技Bedrock平台向客户直接开放OpenAI系列模型。（财联社）

印尼铁路官员称，当晚发生在印尼勿加泗东站的列车相撞事故已造成至少2人死亡。印尼铁路公司（KAI）雅加达分部公共关系经理弗拉诺托·维博沃证实，医院记录显示，事故已造成至少2人死亡。此外，他解释称，通勤线列车先在平交道附近与一辆出租车发生碰撞后缓慢停车，就在它停稳之际，从后方驶来的长途列车撞上其车厢尾部。事故除造成两人死亡外，另有数人受伤，伤者已被紧急送往当地医院救治。印尼铁路公司雅加达分部已发布正式道歉声明，并联合国家交通安全委员会（KNKT），调查事故经过与具体原因。（央视新闻）

Source: Bloomberg, 0:00