A Gulfstream G-IV private jet on approach to Washington's Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, June 12, 2024. J. David Ake | Getty Images As the Iran war pushes jet fuel prices higher , well-heeled travelers are facing hefty surcharges to fly private, sometimes on flights booked months prior, charter brokers and aviation insiders told CNBC. Vimana Private Jets CEO Ameerh Naran said the ...
A Gulfstream G-IV private jet on approach to Washington's Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, June 12, 2024. J. David Ake | Getty Images As the Iran war pushes jet fuel prices higher , well-heeled travelers are facing hefty surcharges to fly private, sometimes on flights booked months prior, charter brokers and aviation insiders told CNBC. Vimana Private Jets CEO Ameerh Naran said the firm recently booked a $520,000 flight from Dubai to London on a Boeing business jet for a client. That same trip cost the client $400,000 in 2023. The difference was entirely due to jet fuel prices — which now average about $4.65 a gallon globally — Naran said. It's yet another ripple in the recent disruptions to air travel. More customers turned to private air travel during the pandemic to avoid crowds. The option remains popular and has become more important to the aviation sector as wealthier households prop up spending in travel and other sectors. These deep-pocketed travelers are less likely to get priced out as airfares rise, but they have to navigate unexpected fees as brokers and charters differ on how they pass along fuel costs. Jet fuel prices in major U.S. cities were up more than 80% last month, according to Airlines for America, an industry group, citing Argus data. Jet charter brokers like Vimana arrange flights with jet operators, which own the planes and buy fuel, on behalf of passengers. Naran said Vimana does not renegotiate contracts and does not reprice flights, but that charter prices have surged quickly. He advised travelers to book sooner than later, saying any price hikes are likely to be sticky even if the Iran war ends soon. Larger jet operators are slower to pass along fuel costs to passengers as they buy fuel in bulk and want to avoid alienating customers, according to Naran. However, operators will likely have to pay more at the pump when they replenish their supplies, and some are taking losses by not repricing flights, he said. "There's a lon...
Eastwall, a Microsoft-only Azure-focused engineering services firm, today announced it has earned the Microsoft "AI Apps on Microsoft Azure" specialization, validating its advanced capabilities in designing, building, and deploying cloud-native, AI-powered applications on Azure.
Eastwall, a Microsoft-only Azure-focused engineering services firm, today announced it has earned the Microsoft "AI Apps on Microsoft Azure" specialization, validating its advanced capabilities in designing, building, and deploying cloud-native, AI-powered applications on Azure.
Joe Hendrickson/iStock Editorial via Getty Images SoFi: I didn't expect this >50% decline A 55% decline in the stock of SoFi Technologies ( SOFI ). No matter how I layer it or spin it, or inject euphemism to mitigate the downside bias, the fact is that significant damage has already been done to SOFI’s bullish sentiments. By the time you read my update right now, as I try to get your attention in ...
Joe Hendrickson/iStock Editorial via Getty Images SoFi: I didn't expect this >50% decline A 55% decline in the stock of SoFi Technologies ( SOFI ). No matter how I layer it or spin it, or inject euphemism to mitigate the downside bias, the fact is that significant damage has already been done to SOFI’s bullish sentiments. By the time you read my update right now, as I try to get your attention in the midst of the financial sector facing multitudinous headwinds, you should also know that SOFI appears to be forming a bottom, somewhere over the $15 level. SOFI valuations (TIKR) Now, just to be clear. I'm not saying that there is no chance that SOFI will definitely not drop further. After all, SOFI is by no means valued at a discount, and that's not even close. Compared to the sector median of 10x, SOFI’s valuation (27x forward P/E) has really decelerated and compressed significantly over the past few months. But, it's still way above that of its high-growth fintech peers, such as Affirm ( AFRM ), rated at 12.5x forward earnings, and Upstart ( UPST ), slotted in at just under 11.3x forward P/E. SoFi: Facing more troubling stress sensors in the financial sector now In an otherwise less onerous economic climate where risks of a recession are decidedly lower, I believe investors might be willing to pay up to own SoFi. After all, the company isn't going for the most financially stressed customers in the economy. Back in my previous SoFi writeup , I explained why I think the firm’s robust execution across its various business segments has proved to me that its flywheel is working. And that should help keep investor confidence high in the stock. However, the sprawling challenges that afflicted the financial sector recently have also affected the market’s confidence in the sector. And, being a stock valued at a relative premium, it didn't surprise me that SOFI took the brunt of the selling pressure, as the market readjusted their outlook, compounded by the downside risks emana...
aprott/iStock via Getty Images By Diederik Stadig , Senior Economist, Healthcare & Technology Which exemptions have already been negotiated? We expect the 100% tariff to apply to branded pharmaceuticals for which no exemptions have been negotiated. This means tariffs on branded pharma goods imported into the US from the EU, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and the UK would be capped at the rates n...
aprott/iStock via Getty Images By Diederik Stadig , Senior Economist, Healthcare & Technology Which exemptions have already been negotiated? We expect the 100% tariff to apply to branded pharmaceuticals for which no exemptions have been negotiated. This means tariffs on branded pharma goods imported into the US from the EU, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and the UK would be capped at the rates negotiated in bilateral deals. Also, 16 big pharma companies are exempt for three years after concluding deals with Trump to lower the prices of new and existing medicines under most favoured nation (MFN) principles. And it’s likely that drugmakers now negotiating with the Department of Health and Human Services would be exempt. As such, the scope of this 100% tariff is rather limited, as evidenced by the US import figures below. Most top exporters to the US are covered under trade deals US imports of pharmaceutical products by country share, 2023 Source: Global Trade Tracker, LSEG Datastream; WITS; UN Comtrade; ING calculations Why this tariff is mostly geopolitical This leaves only companies without an MFN deal or a country-level bilateral agreement exposed to a possible 100% levy. The key countries involved include Singapore, India, and China – none of which currently export a substantial volume of branded pharmaceuticals to the US. The economic impact will therefore be negligible. Rather, the tariff is geopolitical in nature and should be seen as a shot across the bow for more intense competition between the US and China in biotech and pharma. China has developed into a biopharmaceutical innovation hub . We estimate that roughly one‑third of all new molecules in global pipelines now originate in China – up from just 4% 12 years ago. The country has surpassed Europe and is nearing the US in the number of global drug approvals. This is why we believe that the next Pfizer will be Chinese rather than American or European. US policymakers on both sides of the aisle have reali...
Cash Is King, Dowd Sees $10,000 Gold As The Credit Market "Is Starting To End The Party" Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com , Wall Street money manager and financial analyst Ed Dowd of PhinanceTechnologies.com warned at the end of January that the “Credit Destruction Cycle” was showing up in something called private credit. Dowd was worried about extreme risk in the economy, especially with all the...
Cash Is King, Dowd Sees $10,000 Gold As The Credit Market "Is Starting To End The Party" Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com , Wall Street money manager and financial analyst Ed Dowd of PhinanceTechnologies.com warned at the end of January that the “Credit Destruction Cycle” was showing up in something called private credit. Dowd was worried about extreme risk in the economy, especially with all the growth in lending in the last two years coming from private credit. Has this gotten better or worse? Dowd says, “ It’s gotten worse, and it has spread ..." "The number if credit funds that have gated their investors keeps growing. This is important because high net worth individuals, insurance companies and pension funds put millions of dollars in these private credit funds and now they want to redeem them, and there is a gate. The last two years of loan growth in the economy was from banks loaning to private credit. . .. There have been earth shaking events in private credit land. That started a cascading effect of people becoming worried about their private credit fund. Then, redemptions started, and some funds like Blue Owl have taken massive hits. T hey had to gate their fund. Apollo gated their fund. Black Rock gated their fund, and KKR has gated their fund. So, there is a lot of gating going on. Basically, this is the beginning of the credit cycle rolling over. This starts in the most egregious sector, which looks like private credit. . .. So, the credit market is starting to end the party, and we are going to see this cascade throughout the whole economy.” The Iran war just turbocharges the entire negative global scenario. Dowd says, “You layer on top of this the Iran war and that only hastens the whole thing unless there is a quick resolution.” Isn’t Iran getting creamed financially speaking? Dowd say: “Financially speaking, yes, but we have no way to know what’s going on or who they are negotiating with. It’s kind of an information black hole. There is propaganda ...
Magellan Asset Management, an investment management company, released the fourth quarter 2025 investor letter for “Magellan Global Fund”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund focuses on investing in outstanding companies at attractive prices and, at the same time, leverages a deep understanding of the macroeconomic landscape to manage risk. As […]
Magellan Asset Management, an investment management company, released the fourth quarter 2025 investor letter for “Magellan Global Fund”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund focuses on investing in outstanding companies at attractive prices and, at the same time, leverages a deep understanding of the macroeconomic landscape to manage risk. As […]
Research for TUC analyses link between job quality and economic inactivity, as UK youth unemployment rises Young people in the UK are more likely to leave their job for health reasons and become economically inactive when they work in insecure, low-paid sectors, a study has found. Research carried out for the Trades Union Congress by the consultancy Timewise charts a connection between the jobs yo...
Research for TUC analyses link between job quality and economic inactivity, as UK youth unemployment rises Young people in the UK are more likely to leave their job for health reasons and become economically inactive when they work in insecure, low-paid sectors, a study has found. Research carried out for the Trades Union Congress by the consultancy Timewise charts a connection between the jobs young people are most likely to do – in hospitality, retail and care, for example – and the proportion of people leaving work because of ill health. Continue reading...
Gary Yeowell/DigitalVision via Getty Images I have a very good track record when it comes to the market. But nobody's perfect. One of my biggest flaws as an investor is that I sometimes do not give enough weight to the prospect of growth. I am, after all, a value investor. So I am incredibly sensitive to the price that I am paying for the value that I am receiving. When there are instances where a...
Gary Yeowell/DigitalVision via Getty Images I have a very good track record when it comes to the market. But nobody's perfect. One of my biggest flaws as an investor is that I sometimes do not give enough weight to the prospect of growth. I am, after all, a value investor. So I am incredibly sensitive to the price that I am paying for the value that I am receiving. When there are instances where a high quality growth company offers potential upside but at a price, I tend to err on the side of caution. Often, this allows me to avoid costly mistakes. But other times, the end result is missed upside. One of the best examples of this can be seen by looking at Construction Partners, Inc. ( ROAD ), a rather interesting business that operates as a civil infrastructure company that focuses on construction and maintenance activities for roadways in the markets in which it operates. At one point, I had been bullish about the company . And during that time, shares rose 62.5%, far outpacing the 13.6% increase that the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) saw over the same window of time. I eventually downgraded the stock in May of 2024. The Hold rating that I assigned it then, and that I reaffirmed in October of that year, was based on the view that, even though the company had been doing well to grow, shares were priced at levels that looked expensive. But since then, the stock has performed remarkably well, skyrocketing 101.1%. That's almost four times as much as the 28.5% increase that the S&P 500 saw over the same window of time. Looking at the data now, I regret that decision. And with new data now available, I actually think that upgrading it to a soft Buy, even though the stock is fair value at the moment, is wholly appropriate. A wild ride down the road to growth Author - SEC EDGAR Data Over the last few years now, Construction Partners has achieved exceptional growth. From 2023 through 2025, revenue nearly doubled from $1.56 billion to $2.81 billion. As revenue grew, profitability skyroc...