szakalikus/iStock via Getty Images By Bert Colijn , Chief Economist, Netherlands Eurozone production ticked up in February, but by just 0.4% compared to January. That leaves production levels below most of 2025. And the surge in energy prices has put further pressure on energy-intensive industries as of March. Don’t expect a rebound soon. Eurozone industry has been very resilient throughout 2025 d...
szakalikus/iStock via Getty Images By Bert Colijn , Chief Economist, Netherlands Eurozone production ticked up in February, but by just 0.4% compared to January. That leaves production levels below most of 2025. And the surge in energy prices has put further pressure on energy-intensive industries as of March. Don’t expect a rebound soon. Eurozone industry has been very resilient throughout 2025 despite significant trade turmoil. But the start of 2026 has not been encouraging. As front-loading by American businesses has eased, production levels have dropped again. And while manufacturers have become more optimistic on infrastructure and defence investment promises, the Middle East war has dashed hopes of a broad-based rebound. Energy-intensive industries, in particular, are set to suffer from higher prices. The February increase in production was not at all broad-based. Germany, France and the Netherlands experienced declines in industrial output, while Italy experienced a slight uptick. Ireland – notorious for volatile production data – saw an increase of 5.7% in February. Production categories also haven’t shown a clear trend in recent months. With the war in the Middle East starting in March, expect more downward pressure on production to come through. Energy-intensive industry will see its competitiveness come under renewed pressure, and uncertainty could feed through to investment decisions. While other – mainly high-tech – sectors could continue to perform very well, we do note that downside risks for production have increased. Content Disclaimer This publication has been prepared by ING solely for information purposes irrespective of a particular user's means, financial situation or investment objectives. The information does not constitute investment recommendation, and nor is it investment, legal or tax advice or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell any financial instrument. Read more Original Post Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article...
The growing dominance of a handful of banks supplying billions of dollars to help juice bets at hedge funds and proprietary trading firms is sparking new financial stability risks, ratings agency S&P Global Inc. warned. Its latest analysis shows disclosed revenues relating to “markets financing” at four major investment banks — BNP Paribas SA , Barclays Plc , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan St...
The growing dominance of a handful of banks supplying billions of dollars to help juice bets at hedge funds and proprietary trading firms is sparking new financial stability risks, ratings agency S&P Global Inc. warned. Its latest analysis shows disclosed revenues relating to “markets financing” at four major investment banks — BNP Paribas SA , Barclays Plc , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley — jumped 25% between 2024 and 2025 to more than $24 billion, representing roughly 30% of these firms’ markets business at that time. Such scale and concentration creates a risk to financial stability, the S&P report warned. Banks’ prime-brokerage units — which includes a range of services to hedge funds and other investment firms — exceeded $2.5 trillion of lending in 2024, a figure that has doubled over the past four years, the report said. Hedge funds’ use of borrowed money to fuel their bets — known as leverage — has approached historic highs while assets overseen by those firms hit a record $5 trillion last year. Regulatory concerns around non-bank investment firms have heightened since the collapse of Archegos Capital Management LP saddled lenders with $10 billion of losses in 2021 and and hastened the demise of Credit Suisse Group. They have also scrutinized whether these funds have become too big to fail given their increasing presence in vital markets such as those for US and UK government bonds. “A small network of global banks has underpinned nonbank trading firms’ ascent to the center of the financial ecosystem,” the report said. “Together with record leverage and scale and the concentration of such exposures in a handful of banks, this means the ecosystem exhibits an inherent fragility that could be tested under severe stress,” it added, citing a potential impact on bank ratings. Data is also limited in this area, given many firms do not disclose such information, S&P said, adding the true scale is difficult to quantify. That said, risk of failures includi...
DragonImages/iStock via Getty Images It seems to me that the 'golden child' of for-profit ed has surprised Wall St. again, hasn't it? Well, a little over two months ago I kind of entered the debate with the bears of Grand Canyon Education ( LOPE ) and showed you why this wasn't a broken company just because they interrupted a 13-quarter double-beat cycle. Sounds like an exaggeration, I know. But t...
DragonImages/iStock via Getty Images It seems to me that the 'golden child' of for-profit ed has surprised Wall St. again, hasn't it? Well, a little over two months ago I kind of entered the debate with the bears of Grand Canyon Education ( LOPE ) and showed you why this wasn't a broken company just because they interrupted a 13-quarter double-beat cycle. Sounds like an exaggeration, I know. But the stock really dropped more than 20% post Q3 FY 2025 earnings, and that quickly became the narrative. Seeking Alpha I don't know about you, but when one of the best students in the class gets a C or D, you don't expect them to keep getting low grades. Same thing the other way around. I was more of a C student, so when I pulled an A, that was basically a once-a-year event. If you want to use an allegory (a very fitting one, since we're talking about universities), if for-profit stocks were in a classroom, GCE would be that student who only gets high grades. To vary things a bit, this time they reported an EPS beat once again. That's 14 consecutive quarters (if we exclude the last in-line quarter from the comparison, of course) exceeding Wall Street EPS estimates. But you know what's funny? The stock barely moved in the post-earnings period! If you ask me, investors are still spooked by the energy-driven stagflation narrative and end up forgetting that this environment can be good for for-profit ed, especially around retraining and job-focused programs. It's no coincidence that before the new 'asset-light' zeitgeist for education, these stocks were countercyclical, since in bad economies people went back to college. Almost all for-profit ed stocks outperformed the S&P during the GFC (Seeking Alpha) Factor also that a lot of enrollments are now B2B; the default risk looks a lot lower. That's the good thing about not depending on 'bad enrollments' like universities did in the past. Phoenix Education Partners ( PXED ) was a great example before Apollo ( APO ) took the reins. Bu...
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Artisan Mid Cap Fund Q1 2026 Commentary . The portfolio generated negative absolute returns but modestly outpaced the Russell Midcap® Growth Index. After a strong performance in 2025, value continued to outperform growth by a wide margin in Q1 as markets rotated toward lower volatility and more income-orie...
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Artisan Mid Cap Fund Q1 2026 Commentary . The portfolio generated negative absolute returns but modestly outpaced the Russell Midcap® Growth Index. After a strong performance in 2025, value continued to outperform growth by a wide margin in Q1 as markets rotated toward lower volatility and more income-oriented equities. Within the Russell Midcap® Index, companies with dividend yields above 3% rose 5.6%, while those with yields below 1% declined more than 2%. Portfolio Activity During the quarter, we initiated new positions in Semtech, Tradeweb Markets and SiTime. Semtech ( SMTC ) designs semiconductor solutions for high-performance analog and mixed-signal connectivity used in data centers, communications and industrial applications. We initiated a Garden SM position, supported by rising AI-driven bandwidth demand and the need for high-speed connectivity solutions. In addition, a potential divestiture of the lower quality Sierra Wireless business could simplify the story and supports higher earnings estimates and multiple expansion. Tradeweb ( TW ) operates one of the largest global over-the-counter fixed income electronic trading marketplaces. We reinitiated a Garden SM position following a prior exit in mid-2025, with the stock now trading at a more attractive valuation and the recent pause in market share gains appearing temporary. Continued share gains in interest rate swaps, strong international growth and a long runway toward the electronification of fixed income markets support a path to sustained growth and margin expansion. We view the business as a durable compounder with limited disruption risk. SiTime ( SITM ) develops silicon-based timing solutions used across communications, data center and industrial applications. We initiated a Garden SM position as we believe the company is well placed to take advantage of the transition from legacy quartz timing solutions to...
Apple (AAPL) stock is down about 5% year-to-date due to concerns about higher input costs, tariffs, and the impact of macro uncertainty on consumer spending. Nonetheless, ahead of Apple’s Q2 FY26 earnings, AAPL bulls are optimistic about the stock, citing several positives, including a loyal iPhone customer base and innovative offerings like the new MacBook Neo. On Tuesday, top Bank of America ana...
Apple (AAPL) stock is down about 5% year-to-date due to concerns about higher input costs, tariffs, and the impact of macro uncertainty on consumer spending. Nonetheless, ahead of Apple’s Q2 FY26 earnings, AAPL bulls are optimistic about the stock, citing several positives, including a loyal iPhone customer base and innovative offerings like the new MacBook Neo. On Tuesday, top Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan reiterated a Buy rating on AAPL stock and raised his price target to $325 from $320
Barratt Redrow blames effects of Iran war, and likely impact on mortgage rates and costs, for further reduction Business live – latest updates Britain’s largest housebuilder is planning to dramatically cut back on buying new land, blaming the impact of the conflict in the Middle East and putting Labour’s ambitious housebuilding target under more pressure. Barratt Redrow said that it intends to app...
Barratt Redrow blames effects of Iran war, and likely impact on mortgage rates and costs, for further reduction Business live – latest updates Britain’s largest housebuilder is planning to dramatically cut back on buying new land, blaming the impact of the conflict in the Middle East and putting Labour’s ambitious housebuilding target under more pressure. Barratt Redrow said that it intends to approve between 7,000 and 9,000 plots of land for purchase in its current financial year, far lower than previous guidance of between 10,000 and 12,000. Continue reading...
Bank of America press release ( BAC ): Q1 GAAP EPS of $1.11 beats by $0.09 . Revenue of $30.3B (+7.2% Y/Y) beats by $350M . Revenue, net of interest expense, of $30.3 billion ($30.4 billion FTE), ( A ) up 7%, reflected higher net interest income (NII), sales and trading revenue, asset management fees, and investment banking fees NII of $15.7 billion ($15.9 billion FTE), ( A ) up 9%, driven by high...
Bank of America press release ( BAC ): Q1 GAAP EPS of $1.11 beats by $0.09 . Revenue of $30.3B (+7.2% Y/Y) beats by $350M . Revenue, net of interest expense, of $30.3 billion ($30.4 billion FTE), ( A ) up 7%, reflected higher net interest income (NII), sales and trading revenue, asset management fees, and investment banking fees NII of $15.7 billion ($15.9 billion FTE), ( A ) up 9%, driven by higher NII related to Global Markets activity, higher deposit and loan balances, and fixed-rate asset repricing, partially offset by the impact of lower interest rates Provision for credit losses of $1.3 billion decreased from $1.5 billion in 1Q25 and was relatively flat to 4Q25 More on Bank of America Bank of America Earnings: A Pivotal Report For 2026 Expectations Bank Of America: Heading Into Q1 With More Priced In Than Left To Price Bank of America: Not A Bad Time To Buy The Dip Quant snapshot: JinkoSolar, PNC Financial lead top-rated names as SL Green Realty, Badger Meter lag Wall Street trading desks poised for $40B quarter amid geopolitical turmoil