Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) Stock Just Hit a Record High. Here's Why Nasdaq Taiwan Semiconductor Just Delivered Encouraging News for Nvidia Shareholders The Motley Fool Bull of the Day: Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) Yahoo Finance
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) Stock Just Hit a Record High. Here's Why Nasdaq Taiwan Semiconductor Just Delivered Encouraging News for Nvidia Shareholders The Motley Fool Bull of the Day: Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) Yahoo Finance
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who has died aged 53, shot dead by four masked assailants at his home, was for many years considered the heir apparent to his father Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s long-time dictator, and was still a potential force in his country’s fractured and violent politics. He was issued with an arrest warrant by the international criminal court in 2011 – and convicted in absentia by a Liby...
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who has died aged 53, shot dead by four masked assailants at his home, was for many years considered the heir apparent to his father Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s long-time dictator, and was still a potential force in his country’s fractured and violent politics. He was issued with an arrest warrant by the international criminal court in 2011 – and convicted in absentia by a Libyan court in 2015 – over war crimes committed during the 2011 revolution. Saif had promised that the regime would keep fighting the rebels “until the last man standing, even the last woman standing”. Since being captured while attempting to flee Libya after his father’s death later that year, he had largely remained, initially as a prisoner, in the western Libyan city of Zintan, where the assassins killed him. In 2021 he had announced, with the backing of the Gaddafist or “green” Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya, his candidacy in presidential elections, which his rivals feared he might win, but which did not in the end take place. In a rare 2021 New York Times interview as he contemplated his run, designed to appeal to Libyans disillusioned by economic hardship, instability and the effective partition of the country, he said: “They [Libya’s postwar leaders] raped the country – it’s on its knees. There’s no money, no security. There’s no life here … It’s more than a failure. It’s a fiasco.” Saif’s career can be roughly divided into three phases: first, that of a wealthy, well-educated – including controversially, as it would turn out, at the London School of Economics – and jet-setting English (and German) speaker – who for a time kept two tigers as pets. With many western businessmen and politicians, including Peter Mandelson, then a cabinet minister, he was an interlocutor who had shown – both at home, where he pursued a number of humanitarian initiatives, and abroad – an eagerness to democratise the Libyan state. The second phase was from February 2011, when he sh...
March WTI crude oil (CLH26) today is down -0.33 (-0.51%), and March RBOB gasoline (RBH26) is down -0.0195 (-0.98%). Crude oil and gasoline prices are under pressure today on energy demand concerns after US retail sales in December unexpectedly stagnated, a sign of weakness in consumer spending that is bearish for economic growth and energy demand. Losses in crude are limited after the dollar index...
March WTI crude oil (CLH26) today is down -0.33 (-0.51%), and March RBOB gasoline (RBH26) is down -0.0195 (-0.98%). Crude oil and gasoline prices are under pressure today on energy demand concerns after US retail sales in December unexpectedly stagnated, a sign of weakness in consumer spending that is bearish for economic growth and energy demand. Losses in crude are limited after the dollar index ($DXY) fell to a 1-week low today. Also, US-Iran tensions are adding a risk premium to crude prices. Don’t Miss a Day: Today's report on US retail sales was negative for crude after Dec retail sales were unchanged m/m, weaker than the +0.4% m/m expected, suggesting some weakness in consumer spending. Also, weakness in Dec retail sales could lead to a downward revision in Q4 GDP, a bearish factor for energy demand and crude prices. Concerns over an escalation of geopolitical risk in the Middle East have added a risk premium to crude oil, supporting prices. The US Department of Transportation on Monday issued a maritime advisory stating that American-flagged ships should stay as far as possible from Iranian waters when navigating the Strait of Hormuz. There are fears that if negotiations between Iran and the US fail to come to an agreement on Iran ending its enrichment of nuclear fuel, the US could proceed with military strikes against Iran, which could disrupt key shipping lanes as well as Iran's 3.3 million bpd of crude production. Iran is OPEC's fourth-largest producer, and a US attack on the country could potentially close the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world's oil passes. An increase in crude exports from Venezuela is also boosting global oil supplies and is bearish for prices. Reuters reported last Monday that Venezuelan crude exports rose to 800,000 bpd in January from 498,000 bpd in December. Crude oil also has support after Russia recently threw cold water on hopes of a breakthrough in peace talks with Ukraine, after the Kremlin said the "terri...
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) today is up +0.18%, the Dow Jones Industrials Index ($DOWI) (DIA) is up +0.46%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) is up +0.15%. March E-mini S&P futures (ESH26) are up +0.17%, and March E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQH26) are up +0.15%. Stock indexes are moving higher today, with the Dow Jones Industrials climbing to a new all-time high. The broader market has support...
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) today is up +0.18%, the Dow Jones Industrials Index ($DOWI) (DIA) is up +0.46%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) is up +0.15%. March E-mini S&P futures (ESH26) are up +0.17%, and March E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQH26) are up +0.15%. Stock indexes are moving higher today, with the Dow Jones Industrials climbing to a new all-time high. The broader market has support from today's weaker-than-expected reports on Dec retail sales and the Q4 employment cost index, which knocked bond yields lower and reinforced the case for the Fed to resume its interest rate cuts this year. The 10-year T-note yield fell to a 3-week low today at 4.14%. Join 200K+ Subscribers: Gains in stocks are limited as US retail sales unexpectedly stagnated in December, suggesting some weakness in consumer spending. Also, the weakness in retail sales could lead to a downward revision in Q4 GDP. The US Q4 employment cost index rose +0.7% q/q, weaker than expectations of +0.8% q/q and the smallest increase in 4.5 years. US Dec retail sales were unchanged m/m, weaker than expectations of +0.4% m/m. Dec retail sales ex-autos were also unchanged m/m, weaker than expectations of +0.4% m/m. The markets this week will focus on corporate earnings results and economic news. On Wednesday, Jan nonfarm payrolls are expected to climb +68,000, and the Jan unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.4%. Also, Jan average hourly earnings are expected to rise by +0.3% m/m and +3.7% y/y. On Thursday, initial weekly unemployment claims are expected to fall by -7,000 to 224,000. Also, Jan existing home sales are expected to decline by -4.3% m/m to 4.16 million. On Friday, Jan CPI is expected to be up +2.5% y/y, and Jan core CPI is expected to be up +2.5% y/y. Q4 earnings season is in full swing, as more than half of the S&P 500 companies have reported earnings results. Earnings have been a positive factor for stocks, with 79% of the 297 S&P 500 companies that have reported beati...
(RTTNews) - The Treasury Department kicked off this week's series of announcement of the results of its long-term securities auctions on Monday, revealing this month's auction of $43 billion worth of three-year notes attracted average demand. The three-year note auction drew a high yield of 3.093 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.43. Last month, the Treasury sold $44 billion worth of three-yea...
(RTTNews) - The Treasury Department kicked off this week's series of announcement of the results of its long-term securities auctions on Monday, revealing this month's auction of $43 billion worth of three-year notes attracted average demand. The three-year note auction drew a high yield of 3.093 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.43. Last month, the Treasury sold $44 billion worth of three-year notes, drawing a high yield of 2.927 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.45. The bid-to-cover ratio is a measure of demand that indicates the amount of bids for each dollar worth of securities being sold. The ten previous three-year note auctions had an average bid-to-cover ratio of 2.44. The Treasury is due to announce the results of this month's auctions of $33 billion worth of ten-year notes and $19 billion worth of thirty-year bonds on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Key Points Five years ago, Bumble shares went public at an IPO price of $43 per share. Shares rocketed 76% higher that day. The company's paying users have tripled since then, but you wouldn't know it from the share price. 10 stocks we like better than Bumble › Shares of Bumble (NASDAQ: BMBL) went public on Feb. 11, 2021. Shares of the Austin-based online dating company roared 76% higher on the da...
Key Points Five years ago, Bumble shares went public at an IPO price of $43 per share. Shares rocketed 76% higher that day. The company's paying users have tripled since then, but you wouldn't know it from the share price. 10 stocks we like better than Bumble › Shares of Bumble (NASDAQ: BMBL) went public on Feb. 11, 2021. Shares of the Austin-based online dating company roared 76% higher on the day of its initial public offering (IPO), giving it a valuation of $14 billion. At the time of its IPO, the company's prospectus noted 40 million monthly users on its free-to-use Bumble and Badoo dating apps. Its "freemium" business model was a bet that by allowing users to send likes and messages to other profiles for free, the company would eventually grow its ranks of paying users by building brand trust and offering premium features to subscribers. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » From Jan. 29, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2020, Bumble brought in $376.6 million in revenue, with $231.5 million coming from its Bumble app and $145.1 from Badoo. In that nine-month stretch, it reported a net loss of $84.1 million. Despite the net loss, there were encouraging signs. The company's Badoo app, launched in 2008, was profitable just two years later. The Bumble app, launched in 2014, began monetizing in 2016. And Bumble's paying users had grown to 1.1 million in the nine months ending Sept. 30, 2020, compared to 844 million the year prior. So, what would $1,000 invested then be worth today? In the five years since, shares of Bumble have tumbled 92.5% from its IPO price. After its IPO surge, shares lost momentum and slid downward over the next five years, closing at $3.24 per share last week. Anyone investing $1,000 at the IPO price would have owned 25.5 shares worth just $75 today. While paying users across it...
The G-10 FX narrative has mainly been dollar- and structurally driven year-to-date, while euro headlines have been sidelined. This could change into 2H as European fiscal stimulus starts to lift the region’s economic narrative and validates the ECB-driven relative yield advantage into 2H. In this episode of FX Moment, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief FX Strategist Audrey Childe-Freeman and Constantin ...
The G-10 FX narrative has mainly been dollar- and structurally driven year-to-date, while euro headlines have been sidelined. This could change into 2H as European fiscal stimulus starts to lift the region’s economic narrative and validates the ECB-driven relative yield advantage into 2H. In this episode of FX Moment, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief FX Strategist Audrey Childe-Freeman and Constantin Bolz, Head of G-10 FX for UBS’s Chief Investment Office, focus on the euro side of the bullish euro-
Wirestock/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Ferrari ( RACE ) investors are still shaken up from a disappointing investor day in late 2025, which essentially ended the dream that was Ferrari's double-digit growth expectations. In the months that followed, investors hoping to go back to the good old days received exactly the opposite, as the stock continued its plummet. As investors lost confidence ...
Wirestock/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Ferrari ( RACE ) investors are still shaken up from a disappointing investor day in late 2025, which essentially ended the dream that was Ferrari's double-digit growth expectations. In the months that followed, investors hoping to go back to the good old days received exactly the opposite, as the stock continued its plummet. As investors lost confidence even in the mid-single-digit growth prospects guided by management, the fourth-quarter print is at least proof that things aren't that bad. However, the path to becoming an attractive investment is still long. I maintain my previous “Hold” rating. Ferrari's Fourth Quarter Results: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Coming into the quarter, expectations were extremely low in light of tough comps and low confidence following the investor day. Ferrari exceeded those low expectations, with small beats on both the top and bottom lines. That pretty much sums up the “Good” in the results. Ferrari Q4'25 Earnings Release The “Bad” is that Ferrari's revenue growth slowed once again, rising only 4% Y/Y, compared to 7% in Q3. Digging a little deeper, we note that most of the growth wasn't driven by the Cars & Spare Parts segment, which grew as low as 1%. It was the Sponsorship & Lifestyle segment, with 17% growth, and the Other segment, with 29% growth, that fueled the beat. Previously, my bullish thesis on Ferrari projected that these non-car revenues were going to pull the company's growth rate upwards. However, this was predicated on stable growth in the core car segment, which, evidently, isn't happening. Ferrari Q4'25 Earnings Release The “Ugly” is the shipments figure. Or, more specifically, Ferrari's inability to compensate for lower shipments with higher ASPs. It's worth repeating here that Ferrari's growth strategy isn't about volumes; it's about smoothly replacing older model lines with newer, pricier ones. This is a very difficult strategy to execute perfectly because developme...
Mark Carney said he had held a “positive” conversation with Donald Trump after the US leader threatened to block a key bridge between their two countries, reminding the president that Canada paid for the structure – and that the US shares ownership. Late on Monday, Trump posted a lengthy message on social media, falsely claiming that the $4.6bn Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ont...
Mark Carney said he had held a “positive” conversation with Donald Trump after the US leader threatened to block a key bridge between their two countries, reminding the president that Canada paid for the structure – and that the US shares ownership. Late on Monday, Trump posted a lengthy message on social media, falsely claiming that the $4.6bn Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, had “virtually no US content”. In his post, Trump had also claimed that Canada owns both ends of the bridge and made a bizarre assertion that increased trade between Canada and China would include a ban on Canadians playing ice hockey. “Now, the Canadian Government expects me, as President of the United States, to PERMIT them to just ‘take advantage of America!’ What does the United States of America get – Absolutely NOTHING!” he wrote. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday ahead of a flashpoint ice hockey game between the two countries at the Olympics, Carney downplayed Trump’s comments, telling reporters in French the “situation will be resolved”. “I explained that Canada paid for the construction of the bridge … that the ownership is shared between the state of Michigan and the government of Canada, and that in the construction of the bridge, obviously there’s Canadian steel and Canadian workers, but also US steel, US workers that were involved,” he said. “This is a great example of cooperation between our countries.” Trump blamed his predecessor Barack Obama for “stupidly” approving the bridge project. But the former Conservative MP Jeff Watson pointed out “construction began in earnest in your first term as President … Back then you called for expeditious construction” of the bridge. “It’s just insane, when I read that post I can’t believe what I’m reading, but it’s par for the course,” the Windsor mayor, Drew Dilkens, told CBC News. Since winning a second term, Trump has focused much of his attention and outrage on Canada, replaying many of his...
In Beirut, Lebanon's cats of war find peace on university campus toggle caption Tamara Saade for NPR BEIRUT — There are several things that make the American University of Beirut unique. Among them are its 160-year-old liberal arts education in the center of the Middle East. There is its seaside location in a cosmopolitan capital. But hands down, the college's most unusual feature is its campus ca...
In Beirut, Lebanon's cats of war find peace on university campus toggle caption Tamara Saade for NPR BEIRUT — There are several things that make the American University of Beirut unique. Among them are its 160-year-old liberal arts education in the center of the Middle East. There is its seaside location in a cosmopolitan capital. But hands down, the college's most unusual feature is its campus cats — as many as 1,600 of them. The cat rescue started during the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s when animals sought shelter from street fighting in the 1980s on its campus in the downtown Hamra area. It has evolved into a continuing program to care for cats abandoned during more recent wars. toggle caption Tamara Saade for NPR "There were serious, severe street battles around here, around the university and in Hamra and everywhere. So the cats flocked to AUB en masse because this seemed like protection for them. And they stayed," says AUB staff member Henry Matthews of the civil war era. Sponsor Message Beirut has seen more than its share of war — the latest was a year of fighting between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel that began in late 2023. Israel is still launching attacks. In between people fleeing their homes and a severe financial crisis, many abandoned their pets. "Many people dumped their cats because they don't have any home for them," says veterinarian Rana Bou Khalil, who runs two clinics teeming with cats. Bou Khalil, who says AUB is a magnet for pet owners who believe their cats will be taken care of if they leave them near the campus, says she has spayed or neutered 1,000 cats in the past two years. From a feline population of 800 a little over a year ago, Bou Khalil says she estimates there are now between 1,200 and 1,600. The exact number, of course, is difficult to determine. toggle caption Tamara Saade for NPR toggle caption Tamara Saade for NPR toggle caption Tamara Saade for NPR Each one that can be brought to the clinic is sterilized...
Yes, he betrayed the national interest in his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein – but also in his sanctioned role as enabler of corporate power History is being rewritten. The story we are told is that an evil man called Peter Mandelson, pursuing his own interests, went rogue to collaborate with a serial abuser of girls and women, undermining the good work of people seeking to defend the public intere...
Yes, he betrayed the national interest in his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein – but also in his sanctioned role as enabler of corporate power History is being rewritten. The story we are told is that an evil man called Peter Mandelson, pursuing his own interests, went rogue to collaborate with a serial abuser of girls and women, undermining the good work of people seeking to defend the public interest. All this is true. But – and I fear many will find this hard to accept – it is only half the story. The much harder truth is that Mandelson’s disgraceful dealings with Jeffrey Epstein were less a betrayal of his brief than an unauthorised extension of it. In 2009 – just as, we now know, Mandelson was passing sensitive information to Epstein – I argued that the government department he ran , called Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr), “functions as a fifth column within government, working for corporations to undermine democracy and the public interest”. George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here . Continue reading...
Dennis Diatel Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Over the past week, the market has experienced a typical pullback in risk assets, with BTC ( BTC-USD ) and ETH ( ETH-USD ) nearing a 15% drop in extreme single-day conditions. This was accompanied by amplified intraday volatility and rapid shifts in sentiment indicators. However, what warrants attention is not merely "how much" prices hav...
Dennis Diatel Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Over the past week, the market has experienced a typical pullback in risk assets, with BTC ( BTC-USD ) and ETH ( ETH-USD ) nearing a 15% drop in extreme single-day conditions. This was accompanied by amplified intraday volatility and rapid shifts in sentiment indicators. However, what warrants attention is not merely "how much" prices have fallen, but "how they have fallen." Structurally, this resembles a "systematic sell-off" triggered by institutional risk controls and magnified by derivatives hedging chains, rather than a typical crash induced by liquidity squeeze. The distinction is crucial: the former often maintains a relatively healthy appearance in terms of trading volumes and spreads, yet leaves behind more challenging-to-repair legacies in the funding structure—long-term capital exits, increasing short-term capital ratios, and a market that appears tradable while the "quality" of liquidity deteriorates. The Dangers of a "Clean Drop" In traditional markets, when volatility rises, correlations increase, and tail-risk pricing becomes expensive, institutional risk systems exhibit highly consistent behaviour: reducing exposure, tightening leverage, and increasing the proportion of cash and high-liquidity assets. The persistent volatility in precious metals (especially gold and silver) has caused risk budgets across frameworks such as "risk parity," "volatility targeting," "CTA trend/reversal," and "multi-asset VaR constraints" to tighten simultaneously. Gold’s realised volatility has come close to levels seen during the 2008 and 2020 financial crises in recent weeks, triggering widespread selling of high-beta assets. Source: FRED Although crypto assets differ fundamentally from precious metals, they are often grouped in the same "high-volatility risk asset basket" within risk management systems: rising volatility implies higher costs of unit risk exposure, leading to passive or active reductions in exp...
Seiya Tabuchi/iStock via Getty Images Simply investing in a low-cost S&P 500 ( SPY ) or NASDAQ 100 ( QQQ ) ETF is fine for the know-nothing investor who wants to pursue the simple path to compounding wealth over the long term. However, for retirees who wish to live on greater than a 3% or 4% rule in retirement, and especially those who want to mitigate sequence-of-returns risk, these vehicles are ...
Seiya Tabuchi/iStock via Getty Images Simply investing in a low-cost S&P 500 ( SPY ) or NASDAQ 100 ( QQQ ) ETF is fine for the know-nothing investor who wants to pursue the simple path to compounding wealth over the long term. However, for retirees who wish to live on greater than a 3% or 4% rule in retirement, and especially those who want to mitigate sequence-of-returns risk, these vehicles are suboptimal due to their extremely low dividend yields. Thus, income investors are increasingly turning to alternative strategies. One of the most popular that has emerged in recent years is investing in covered call ETFs, which hold underlying S&P 500 or NASDAQ-style index structures and then overlay a covered call strategy on top of them with the intent of generating attractive current income while also delivering returns that are at least somewhat close in nature to those delivered by the underlying indexes. However, the implications of this sort of investment are important to keep in mind before making it a substantial part of your portfolio. So, in this article, I am going to detail when covered calls should be included in a portfolio and when they should be avoided. How Covered Call Strategies Really Work Most covered call ETFs, like JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF ( JEPI ), JPMorgan NASDAQ Equity Premium Income ETF ( JEPQ ), as well as the Neos ( SPYI )( QQQI ) and Goldman Sachs ( GPIX )( GPIQ ) versions of these funds, own an index, which is either the S&P 500 or something similar to it, or the NASDAQ or something similar to it, and then they sell covered calls against them, collecting option premiums and distributing that as income to shareholders each month, with the tradeoff being income today for capped upside. Meanwhile, the downside remains unlimited, just as if you were holding the underlying equity. This skews the total return profile of the NAV to the downside in exchange for creating a high-yield fund out of a portfolio of stocks that normally would not ...
Earnings Call Insights: Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (ZBH) Q4 2025 Management View Ivan Tornos, President, CEO & Chairman of the Board, began by expressing gratitude to employees and highlighted that Zimmer Biomet is “a totally different company than it was just a few short years ago.” Tornos reported the company delivered on sales growth, EPS, and free cash flow commitments despite facing tariff ...
Earnings Call Insights: Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (ZBH) Q4 2025 Management View Ivan Tornos, President, CEO & Chairman of the Board, began by expressing gratitude to employees and highlighted that Zimmer Biomet is “a totally different company than it was just a few short years ago.” Tornos reported the company delivered on sales growth, EPS, and free cash flow commitments despite facing tariff headwinds and integrating three acquisitions in 2025. "From a constant currency organic revenue standpoint, we ended 2025 right at the middle of our initial yearly guidance, marking the fifth consecutive year for Zimmer Biomet growing mid-single digit or above." He noted U.S. business sales increased 5.7% and international grew 5% in Q4, with U.S. Knee growth at 6% and U.S. Hip growth at nearly 8%, driven by product momentum and new leadership. Tornos emphasized a strategic shift: “We’re accelerating the transition to a dedicated and specialized U.S. sales channel in order to drive more durable and consistent growth,” expecting the vast majority of this transition to be complete by the end of 2027. He introduced 2026 guidance of low single-digit organic constant currency revenue growth (1%–3%) and adjusted EPS of $8.30 to $8.45, including Paragon 28’s contribution beginning April 21. Suketu Upadhyay, CFO & Executive VP of Finance, Operations & Supply Chain, stated, “In the fourth quarter, we grew sales 5.4% on an organic constant currency basis and delivered adjusted earnings per share of $2.42, which was up 4.8% year-over-year despite dilution from the Paragon 28 transaction, the impact of tariffs and continued investments in our commercial organization.” Outlook Management expects full year 2026 organic constant currency revenue growth of 1% to 3% and adjusted EPS of $8.30 to $8.45, with free cash flow growth of 8% to 10%. Upadhyay explained, “This guidance contemplates end market growth in line with 2025, the risk of disruption from the U.S. sales force transition, conti...
The dollar index (DXY00) slid to a 1-week low today and is down -0.05%. The dollar is under pressure today after T-note yields fell on the weaker-than-expected US economic reports on the Q4 employment cost index and Dec retail sales. The weaker reports bolstered expectations that the Fed will resume easing monetary policy this year, a bearish factor for the dollar. Strength in the Chinese yuan als...
The dollar index (DXY00) slid to a 1-week low today and is down -0.05%. The dollar is under pressure today after T-note yields fell on the weaker-than-expected US economic reports on the Q4 employment cost index and Dec retail sales. The weaker reports bolstered expectations that the Fed will resume easing monetary policy this year, a bearish factor for the dollar. Strength in the Chinese yuan also undercut the dollar after the yuan rose to a 2.5-year high against the dollar today. The US Q4 employment cost index rose +0.7% q/q, weaker than expectations of +0.8% q/q and the smallest increase in 4.5 years. Join 200K+ Subscribers: US Dec retail sales were unchanged m/m, weaker than expectations of +0.4% m/m. Dec retail sales ex-autos were also unchanged m/m, weaker than expectations of +0.4% m/m. The dollar sank to a 4-year low late last month when President Trump said he's comfortable with the recent weakness in the dollar. Also, the dollar remains under pressure as foreign investors pull capital from the US amid a growing budget deficit, fiscal profligacy, and widening political polarization. Swaps markets are discounting the odds at 22% for a -25 bp rate cut at the next policy meeting on March 17-18. The dollar continues to see underlying weakness as the FOMC is expected to cut interest rates by about -50 bp in 2026, while the BOJ is expected to raise rates by another +25 bp in 2026, and the ECB is expected to leave rates unchanged in 2026. EUR/USD (^EURUSD) today is down by -0.09%. The euro is slightly lower today after a dovish ECB blog post said that lower interest rates can reduce the drag on inflation and economic growth caused by higher US tariffs. Losses in the euro are contained after ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said that current interest rates in the Eurozone are appropriate. ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said, "We believe that risks are balanced and the current level of interest rates is appropriate in the Eurozone." Swaps are discounting a 2%...
Oklo had a 500% bull run in 2025 but has since retreated. Is it worth a look in 2026? Oklo (OKLO 6.06%) is an intriguing stock. It sits at the crossroads of several big trends in nuclear power and tech, namely small modular reactors (SMRs) and their potential to solve the power problems created by artificial intelligence (AI). It's also working on liquid-metal reactors, which use molten lead or so...
Oklo had a 500% bull run in 2025 but has since retreated. Is it worth a look in 2026? Oklo (OKLO 6.06%) is an intriguing stock. It sits at the crossroads of several big trends in nuclear power and tech, namely small modular reactors (SMRs) and their potential to solve the power problems created by artificial intelligence (AI). It's also working on liquid-metal reactors, which use molten lead or sodium as a coolant. Note, Oklo's specifically are sodium-based. That sounds counterintuitive but in some ways it's actually safer than water because they can handle higher temperatures at lower pressure than conventional water-cooled reactors. Though, they aren't with their problems. Liquid sodium is much more corrosive than water, for instance. Finally, the company is working on an up to $1.68 billion nuclear fuel plant in Oak Ridge Tennessee. It has also partnered with the Air Force to put one of its Aurora small liquid-cooled reactors at the Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Despite all of that though, Oklo is not a buy for 2026, and given that it has tumbled considerably from its peak of $174 late last year, it might be a sell. Let's get into it. Expand NYSE : OKLO Oklo Today's Change ( -6.06 %) $ -4.55 Current Price $ 70.50 Key Data Points Market Cap $12B Day's Range $ 70.17 - $ 76.31 52wk Range $ 17.42 - $ 193.84 Volume 169K Avg Vol 13M Potential energy, flawed reaction The problem with Oklo isn't its technology, it's the company's financials -- or rather the total lack thereof. Right now, Oklo generates no revenue whatsoever and is entirely dependent upon investor dollars and lines of credit. A lack of profitability can easily be forgiven if a company is growing its revenue regularly and getting closer to profitability, but Oklo doesn't have any money coming in from its own business. In the company's latest quarter, the third quarter of 2025, the company had a net loss of $29.7 million, and it expanded its total debt position to $1.9 million. Now, Oklo did grow its ca...