The world's most valuable technology stocks have suffered sharp declines in market value this year after years of outsized gains, as investors question whether heavy spending on AI will generate sufficient returns to justify the lofty valuations. Microsoft shares have fallen about 17% year-to-date on concerns over risks to its AI business and growing competition from Google's latest Gemini mode...
The world's most valuable technology stocks have suffered sharp declines in market value this year after years of outsized gains, as investors question whether heavy spending on AI will generate sufficient returns to justify the lofty valuations. Microsoft shares have fallen about 17% year-to-date on concerns over risks to its AI business and growing competition from Google's latest Gemini model and Anthropic's Claude Cowork AI agent, wiping roughly $613 billion off its market value to about $2.98 trillion as of Friday. Amazon has shed around 13.85% so far this year, erasing about $343 billion in market value and leaving the company valued at roughly $2.13 trillion.
NVIDIA's favorable market setup has its price on track to rise by 100% to 200% over the next few years as AI spending plans convert to revenue and earnings.
NVIDIA's favorable market setup has its price on track to rise by 100% to 200% over the next few years as AI spending plans convert to revenue and earnings.
Strain on service means rounds are missed on a daily basis and parcels are prioritised over letters, says report Business live – latest updates Royal Mail has blamed stormy weather and too many workers being off sick after complaints over missed delivery rounds and late letters. The strain on the postal service has meant rounds are missed on a daily basis and letters have been left undelivered for...
Strain on service means rounds are missed on a daily basis and parcels are prioritised over letters, says report Business live – latest updates Royal Mail has blamed stormy weather and too many workers being off sick after complaints over missed delivery rounds and late letters. The strain on the postal service has meant rounds are missed on a daily basis and letters have been left undelivered for weeks, according to the BBC, which cited reports from more than a dozen Royal Mail postal staff at different delivery offices. Continue reading...
Technology secretary Liz Kendall says several organisations have concerns about ban on social media for under-16s before conclusion of government consultation Good morning. Parliament is in recess this week, but politics goes on, and the government an announcement about social media. The Online Safety Act, a vast piece of legislation that was first proposed in the last decade and passed in 2023, i...
Technology secretary Liz Kendall says several organisations have concerns about ban on social media for under-16s before conclusion of government consultation Good morning. Parliament is in recess this week, but politics goes on, and the government an announcement about social media. The Online Safety Act, a vast piece of legislation that was first proposed in the last decade and passed in 2023, is only now fully coming into force. But already there are claims that it is out of date and, under pressure from campaigners – and particularly the Conservative party – the government last month announced that it will consult on the case for banning under-16s from social media . Australia has introduced a ban of this kind, and in countries around the world governments are under growing pressure to do the same. The Tories are fully committed to a ban for under-16s, and recently won a vote on this in the Lords . Today’s government “announcement” on social media is actually three announcements. There are explained in this news release from No 10. They are: A loophole is being closed to ensure that material produced by AI chatbots is covered by Online Safety Act rules. When the act was being passed, AI chatbots weren’t widely available. Robert Booth has focused on this in is overnight Guardian story. The government is committing to legislating now so that, when its three-month consultation on a social media ban for under-16s wraps up later, if it decides it wants to change the law, it will be able to do so via secondary legislation (ie quickly), without having to wait for a new bill. (This is broadly what the Labour MP Fred Thomas, who is pushing for a ban on under-16s using social media, was arguing for after the government lost the vote on this in the Lords last month.) The government is also promising legislation to ensure that, if a child dies and social media is deemed relevant, that content gets preserved, not wiped. Campaigners refer to this as Jool’s law . We do think i...
The Chinese region of Inner Mongolia expects to start work this year on two new “flexible” power plants mixing coal and green energy. The plants, which will provide power to the eastern economic hubs of Shanghai and Jiangsu province, mark a major strategic shift in the use of coal because it will now be used to plug gaps in the power generated by wind and solar energy rather than being the primary...
The Chinese region of Inner Mongolia expects to start work this year on two new “flexible” power plants mixing coal and green energy. The plants, which will provide power to the eastern economic hubs of Shanghai and Jiangsu province, mark a major strategic shift in the use of coal because it will now be used to plug gaps in the power generated by wind and solar energy rather than being the primary source of energy. Inner Mongolia is home to around a quarter of China’s coal reserves but has also...
Sebastien Mercier/iStock via Getty Images Ladder Capital ( LADR ) undercovered its dividend with earnings available for distribution/EAD in the fourth quarter amid a realized loan loss. The mortgage REIT, however, otherwise reported solid results for Q4'25 and has a strong liquidity position to potentially take advantage of distressed opportunities in the commercial mortgage loan market or to make...
Sebastien Mercier/iStock via Getty Images Ladder Capital ( LADR ) undercovered its dividend with earnings available for distribution/EAD in the fourth quarter amid a realized loan loss. The mortgage REIT, however, otherwise reported solid results for Q4'25 and has a strong liquidity position to potentially take advantage of distressed opportunities in the commercial mortgage loan market or to make up a dividend shortfall, if need be. While Ladder Capital underearning its dividend in Q4'25 was not great, the mortgage REIT has an overall strong historical coverage trend, and the firm's balance sheet quality is overall improving. Assuming that the $5M realized loan loss was an outlier in the fourth quarter, I believe that Ladder Capital's diversified origination platform and reliance on other non-loan segments provide sufficient diversification and downside protection. Shares are now trading at a much larger discount to book value than usual, which is a mispricing that investors may be able to exploit. Data by YCharts Previous rating I rated shares of Ladder a strong buy in my last coverage back in October 2025— 7% BV Discount, Covered Dividend, Loan Growth —because I liked the overall coverage trend and portfolio diversification. In the last quarter, Ladder unfortunately witnessed a deterioration in its coverage profile related to one specific commercial loan that was sold at a loss, but I believe that the REIT's long-term history of supporting its dividend is to be weighed more heavily against this backdrop. Ladder Capital suffers loan losses Ladder Capital missed distributable earnings expectations for its fourth quarter by $0.07 per share, mainly due to an unusual net realized loan loss related to a commercial property in Portland, Oregon. As of the end of the December quarter, Ladder Capital had a total portfolio worth $5.3B, which shows a $400M increase on a quarter-over-quarter basis. The main reason for the increase in Ladder Capital's portfolio is new originat...
laddawan punna/iStock via Getty Images Overview Enthusiasm for equities linked to artificial intelligence (AI) eased during the fourth quarter as investors questioned lofty valuations, uncertain payoffs from large-scale infrastructure buildouts and increasingly circular revenue flows among a few dominant companies. Worries about discretionary spending by U.S. households also weighed on parts of th...
laddawan punna/iStock via Getty Images Overview Enthusiasm for equities linked to artificial intelligence (AI) eased during the fourth quarter as investors questioned lofty valuations, uncertain payoffs from large-scale infrastructure buildouts and increasingly circular revenue flows among a few dominant companies. Worries about discretionary spending by U.S. households also weighed on parts of the market as the benchmark Russell 2000® Growth Index rose 1.22% for the quarter. Surpassing its benchmark, the Wasatch Ultra Growth Fund generated a total return of 9.02%. We were pleased to finish the year on a positive note, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the significant underperformance the Fund delivered for the full year. For perspective, 2025’s low-quality rally was one of the strongest we’ve seen in Wasatch’s 50-year history. Fascination with AI amplified this trend, extending risk-taking into adjacent themes like quantum computing, cryptocurrency, rare earth minerals and nuclear power. With the benchmark lifted by companies with minimal revenue, negative earnings or extreme price-to-sales multiples, our focus on higher-quality businesses led to significant underperformance for the Fund. Some of our holdings also posted lower-than-expected growth and traded significantly lower. We are disappointed with the results but remain confident in the makeup of the portfolio and in its ability to outperform over the long term. As speculation cooled during the final three months of the year, market conditions became more conducive to stock selection based on fundamentals. This shift worked in our favor as several holdings with solid underlying businesses finally gained traction. Helped by acquisitions, our health-care stocks were the largest source of outperformance relative to the benchmark and the main driver of the Fund’s return in the quarter. Biotechnology and medical-device names broadly benefited as investors recognized the long-term earnings power of these companies’ ...
The Global Neuromorphic Computing & Sensing Market 2026-2036 report unveils new frontiers in AI hardware, spotlighting brain-inspired processing technologies that offer unprecedented energy efficiency. As data centers approach 3% of global electricity consumption by 2030, neuromorphic solutions, led by giants like Intel and BrainChip, promise transformative applications in AI, IoT, and more. Explo...
The Global Neuromorphic Computing & Sensing Market 2026-2036 report unveils new frontiers in AI hardware, spotlighting brain-inspired processing technologies that offer unprecedented energy efficiency. As data centers approach 3% of global electricity consumption by 2030, neuromorphic solutions, led by giants like Intel and BrainChip, promise transformative applications in AI, IoT, and more. Explore future market dynamics, key technologies, and competitive insights for strategic growth in this r