When China’s DeepSeek released a competitive new artificial intelligence model called R1 last January purportedly built for less than many rivals, some feared the achievement posed a threat to America’s lead in artificial intelligence. More than a year later, DeepSeek has unveiled preview versions of a long-awaited new flagship model called V4, which costs less than many alternatives to use but do...
When China’s DeepSeek released a competitive new artificial intelligence model called R1 last January purportedly built for less than many rivals, some feared the achievement posed a threat to America’s lead in artificial intelligence. More than a year later, DeepSeek has unveiled preview versions of a long-awaited new flagship model called V4, which costs less than many alternatives to use but doesn’t meaningfully narrow the US lead in AI capabilities. You could almost hear sighs of relief emanating from Washington and Silicon Valley. “It is not competitive with frontier US models, and does not appear to close the gap with the United States in AI,” said Chris McGuire, a senior fellow for China and emerging technologies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Dean Ball, a former AI adviser in the Trump administration, echoed the sentiment. “R1 remains the closest I’ve seen Chinese models get to the U.S. frontier,” he wrote in a post on social media. “V4 is further behind than that.” DeepSeek unveiled the V4 Flash and V4 Pro series on Friday, touting top-tier performance in coding benchmarks and big advancements in reasoning and agentic tasks. But in a paper accompanying the release, the Chinese company conceded that, in certain respects, the new model lags the most cutting-edge AI software in the US. “DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max demonstrates superior performance relative to GPT-5.2 and Gemini-3.0-Pro on standard reasoning benchmarks,” the company said, referring to months-old models from OpenAI and Alphabet Inc. ’s Google. “Nevertheless, its performance falls marginally short of GPT-5.4 and Gemini-3.1-Pro, suggesting a developmental trajectory that trails state-of-the-art frontier models by approximately 3 to 6 months.” DeepSeek’s model is likely even further behind OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 , a newer offering released the day before V4 that’s designed to be better at completing tasks without much direction. While it will take time for people to adopt the model and test it out, the ini...
Paolo Gagliardi/E+ via Getty Images STMicroelectronics ( STM ) just posted Q1 results, and the stock is booming. The investment is up 12.3% since my last analysis but up 114% in the last 12 months. Is the stock getting too hot to handle? Maybe, but I'm not afraid of a little heat. "Let your winners run." Could the stock see a pullback soon? Sure, and I'm not denying that. Any momentum play could. ...
Paolo Gagliardi/E+ via Getty Images STMicroelectronics ( STM ) just posted Q1 results, and the stock is booming. The investment is up 12.3% since my last analysis but up 114% in the last 12 months. Is the stock getting too hot to handle? Maybe, but I'm not afraid of a little heat. "Let your winners run." Could the stock see a pullback soon? Sure, and I'm not denying that. Any momentum play could. But when you take a look at the long-term trajectory, it's hard not to just see that as a reason to add. AI is growing as far as we can see. Bottlenecks may emerge, and drawdowns in the iShares Semiconductor ETF ( SOXX ) may emerge, but guess what? I'll be buying the dislocation hand over fist. For me, total semiconductor weight should be about 10% of NAV due to rotation discipline. But I understand why the dominant industry players are "all-in." Data by YCharts Q1 Earnings: Don't Fight The Semiconductor Tsunami STM's headline Q1 numbers were good, but I'm more interested in the broader sentiment trend, given that is what is driving returns. Firstly, though, let's look at what was reported. Revenue was up by 23% year-over-year, even though it was down sequentially by 7%. In the earnings materials , management cited strong bookings, normalized distribution inventory, and a book-to-bill well above 1.0, which far outweighs the revenue beat. For Q2, the revenue guide indicates 24.9% year-over-year growth. The AI trend is now a core growth driver for the company, with data center revenue nicely above $500M in 2026 and well above $1B in 2027. AWS ( AMZN ), Nvidia ( NVDA ) 800V DC power architecture, and silicon photonics are all adding credibility to the STM investment case. That said, company-wide operating margin on GAAP terms was only 2.3%, so STM has not yet really proven the high-quality margin expansion needed to bring sustenance to the present valuation. Along a similar line, free cash flow was negative at -$723M; notably, the Power and Discrete segment had a -21.5% operat...
Earnings Call Insights: Baker Hughes (BKR) Q1 2026 Management view “Despite a complex operating environment, we delivered another strong quarter of financial results, reflecting the strength of our portfolio and disciplined execution, which more than offset the significant impact of regional disruptions.” (Chairman, President & CEO Lorenzo Simonelli) Simonelli highlighted portfolio actions, saying...
Earnings Call Insights: Baker Hughes (BKR) Q1 2026 Management view “Despite a complex operating environment, we delivered another strong quarter of financial results, reflecting the strength of our portfolio and disciplined execution, which more than offset the significant impact of regional disruptions.” (Chairman, President & CEO Lorenzo Simonelli) Simonelli highlighted portfolio actions, saying Baker Hughes “announced the divestiture of Waygate Technologies” and, together with “the sale of PSI to Crane and the joint venture with Cactus,” expects “gross proceeds of approximately $3 billion in 2026.” (Chairman, President & CEO Simonelli) Simonelli emphasized IET demand and backlog visibility, including “bookings reaching a record of $4.9 billion,” IET “book-to-bill of 1.5x,” and “a record RPO of $33.1 billion,” while also stating, “we are increasingly confident that our Horizon 2 IET order target will exceed $40 billion.” (Chairman, President & CEO Simonelli) “As Lorenzo mentioned, we once again delivered strong orders in the first quarter with total company orders of $8.2 billion, including $4.9 billion from IET.” (Executive VP & CFO Ahmed Moghal) Outlook Moghal guided for Q2 company revenue of $6.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $1.13 billion, based on an assumption “the situation in the Middle East will continue through the end of June without further escalation” and that guidance “does not account for any potentially significant secondary impacts, such as elevated inflationary pressures or broader supply chain disruptions.” (Executive VP & CFO Moghal) For Q2 segments, Moghal projected IET EBITDA of $670 million and OFSE EBITDA of $540 million with OFSE revenues estimated at $3.2 billion, adding that Middle East activity assumptions imply the region “potentially falling… more than 20% sequentially.” (Executive VP & CFO Moghal) On full-year 2026, Moghal said Baker Hughes is “maintaining our company's revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance range” but “anticipate ful...
(RTTNews) - Treasuries saw considerable volatility early in the session, treasuries moved modestly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday.
(RTTNews) - Treasuries saw considerable volatility early in the session, treasuries moved modestly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday.
US judge orders release of a woman and her five children who were family of the 2025 Colorado fire attack suspect A woman and her five children, whose immigration detention of more than 10 months marked the longest family detention under Donald Trump’s second administration, were released on Thursday hours after a judge’s order, their lawyer said. US district judge Fred Biery of the western distri...
US judge orders release of a woman and her five children who were family of the 2025 Colorado fire attack suspect A woman and her five children, whose immigration detention of more than 10 months marked the longest family detention under Donald Trump’s second administration, were released on Thursday hours after a judge’s order, their lawyer said. US district judge Fred Biery of the western district of Texas ordered the family’s release. Continue reading...
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 18, 2026. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is likely in his final weeks at the central bank helm and now faces a choice, following a Justice Department decision Friday, of wheth...
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 18, 2026. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is likely in his final weeks at the central bank helm and now faces a choice, following a Justice Department decision Friday, of whether he stays on at the institution. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced in a social media post that she was referring a criminal probe into renovations at Fed headquarters to the central bank's inspector general, effectively removing the Justice Department from the investigation for now. While a significant move on its face, it's even more important as Powell has vowed to stay on until the criminal probe is resolved. Now that a decision has been made he faces a choice: Does he follow historic precedent and walk away from the Fed, as most other prior chairs have done, or stay on for the final two years of his term as governor? The decision could have important ramifications for policymaking at an especially delicate time. "Powell has kept his cards close to his chest. If the investigation had never taken place we think he would have left the Fed completely on May 15," Krishna Guha, head of global policy and central bank strategy at Evercore ISI, said in a note. "But, we think the DoJ move may well have come too late – and the threat of restarting the probe is too inconclusive – for Powell to leave on May 15." Instead, Guha reasoned, Powell may stay on for a time even if he doesn't fill the full governor's term that expires in January 2028. President Donald Trump has threatened to fire Powell if he doesn't leave on his own after his term as chair expires. Issues at stake At the heart of the matter is the perceived threat to the Fed's immunity from political interference. Trump has been vocal like none of his predecessors when it comes to badgering the central bank, demanding...
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the best NASDAQ growth stocks to buy and hold forever. On April 23, NVIDIA entered into a strategic agreement with Oklo Inc. and Los Alamos National Laboratory/LANL to integrate its AI and accelerated computing infrastructure with advanced nuclear technology. The collaboration focuses on developing nuclear-powered AI factories, combining NVIDIA’s […]
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the best NASDAQ growth stocks to buy and hold forever. On April 23, NVIDIA entered into a strategic agreement with Oklo Inc. and Los Alamos National Laboratory/LANL to integrate its AI and accelerated computing infrastructure with advanced nuclear technology. The collaboration focuses on developing nuclear-powered AI factories, combining NVIDIA’s […]