Mexico’s central bank resumed its monetary easing cycle after a brief pause, signaling concern over a weakening economy even as consumer inflation accelerates, driven by domestic pressures and the fallout from weeks of war in Iran. Banxico, as the bank is known, cut its key rate by 25 basis points to 6.75% in a split decision on Thursday, a move expected by 14 of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomber...
Mexico’s central bank resumed its monetary easing cycle after a brief pause, signaling concern over a weakening economy even as consumer inflation accelerates, driven by domestic pressures and the fallout from weeks of war in Iran. Banxico, as the bank is known, cut its key rate by 25 basis points to 6.75% in a split decision on Thursday, a move expected by 14 of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. In a statement accompanying their decision, policymakers said they’re considering one additional rate cut at an unspecified timing. “It will take into account the effects of all determinants of inflation and will monitor the evolution of external conditions,” they wrote. The move comes just days after Mexico’s annual inflation accelerated more than expected, reaching 4.63% in the first two weeks of March. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel prices, slowed just slightly to 4.46%. Banxico targets inflation of 3%, plus or minus 1 percentage point. The war in Iran has provoked additional inflationary pressures, as hostilities have caused crude oil prices to spike while disrupting global supply chains. Curbing stubborn price increases in Mexico has been especially challenging for Banxico. The monetary authority already pushed off its forecast for when it expects headline inflation to reach its target to the second quarter of next year, from this year’s third quarter. Last month, policymakers paused a nearly two-year easing cycle by holding the benchmark interest rate steady at 7% in their first unanimous decision in months. At the time, Banxico board members signaled increased caution for further rate cuts as most expected a more gradual decline in prices despite the effect of new Mexican tariffs on Asian products and higher taxes on sweetened drinks and online purchases. In the latest Banxico minutes, board member Jonathan Heath wrote a dissenting opinion noting that the bank’s current inflation projection is still more optimistic than every private forecas...
In this article AMD MSFT GOOGL AMZN Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes a keynote speech during the Meta Connect annual event, at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25, 2024. Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters Meta is boosting its spending commitment on a forthcoming AI data center in West Texas by more than sixfold to $10 billion, with...
In this article AMD MSFT GOOGL AMZN Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes a keynote speech during the Meta Connect annual event, at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25, 2024. Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters Meta is boosting its spending commitment on a forthcoming AI data center in West Texas by more than sixfold to $10 billion, with an aim to reach 1 gigawatt of capacity by the time the facility comes online in 2028, the company said on Thursday. The data center being built in El Paso will lead to the creation of 300 new jobs, Meta said, with more than 4,000 construction workers required at its peak. The company also said it's committed to adding over 5,000 megawatts of clean power to the grid, and will ease the water burden by working with specialized nonprofits to bring fresh water to the area. "Since breaking ground last year, we have been proud to call El Paso home and are committed to being a good neighbor," the company said in a blog post on Thursday. When Meta started construction at the 1.2-million-square-foot site in October, its planned investment was $1.5 billion. Gary Demasi, Meta's vice president of data center development, revealed the steppedup investment at an annual Borderplex Alliance summit in El Paso. Meta is ramping up its spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure as the company and its hyperscaler peers try to meet what they say is unprecedented and soaring demand for computing resources. In its latest earnings report in January, Meta said capital expenditures for the year would reach up to $135 billion. But unlike tech rivals Google , Amazon and Microsoft , Meta doesn't have a cloud infrastructure business, and its hefty spending is garnering extra scrutiny from Wall Street. The stock is down 16% for the year, including a 7% drop on Thursday that followed two stinging defeats in court this week related to the company's failure to adequately police Facebook and Instagram...
Meta Platforms Inc. will spend more than $10 billion to develop a data center in El Paso, Texas, a jump from prior projections and the latest in a series of major investments focused on the infrastructure needed to support its artificial intelligence ambitions. Meta initially announced the data center alongside a commitment to spend $1.5 billion on the project , but said in a blog post Thursday th...
Meta Platforms Inc. will spend more than $10 billion to develop a data center in El Paso, Texas, a jump from prior projections and the latest in a series of major investments focused on the infrastructure needed to support its artificial intelligence ambitions. Meta initially announced the data center alongside a commitment to spend $1.5 billion on the project , but said in a blog post Thursday that it was increasing its investment. The gigawatt-sized data center is expected to come online in 2028, and will support more than 300 on-site jobs once completed, Meta said. Meta also said its construction needs will grow given the increased investment, and now anticipates 4,000 temporary workers to be on site during the peak construction period. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to spend aggressively to amass the data centers, computing power and talent needed to compete in a fast-moving AI race. This year alone, Meta projected as much as $135 billion in capital expenditures, with a focus on AI infrastructure projects. Before the end of the decade, Zuckerberg has promised to spend hundreds of billions more on AI infrastructure projects. Meta is quickly expanding its data center fleet, with more than 30 data centers already operational or in development. Many of its newer projects have expected capacity of at least 1 gigawatt, or enough energy to power about 750,000 homes.
lyash01/iStock via Getty Images Gerdau ( GGB ) was upgraded Thursday to Sector Outperform from Sector Perform and Ternium ( TX ) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform at Scotiabank, swapping steel company ratings against a backdrop of global turmoil. With the share price down 10% YTD, Scotiabank's Alfonso Salazar said Gerdau's ( GGB ) risk/reward proposition starts to look attrac...
lyash01/iStock via Getty Images Gerdau ( GGB ) was upgraded Thursday to Sector Outperform from Sector Perform and Ternium ( TX ) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform at Scotiabank, swapping steel company ratings against a backdrop of global turmoil. With the share price down 10% YTD, Scotiabank's Alfonso Salazar said Gerdau's ( GGB ) risk/reward proposition starts to look attractive, and he expects strong results in North America to continue, supported by steel tariffs that have proved effective to protect domestic producers. While conditions in the Brazilian steel market remain uncertain, the analyst believes new tariffs may solve the high imports problem only partially, with margins improving gradually, provided the ongoing energy disruptions due to the Middle East war are resolved. Free cash flow generation should improve as investments in Brazil and North America decline over the coming years, Salazar said, estimating Gerdau's ( GGB ) FCF yield to average 12.1% over the 2026-28 period; finally, he expects an attractive shareholders’ distribution that combines dividends and buybacks. Salazar sees no such attractive upside for Ternium ( TX ), failing to see conditions for a fast renegotiation and final resolution regarding the USMCA agreement, while also fearing that U.S. steel tariffs imposed by the Trump administration may remain in place. As such, the economics of Ternium's ( TX ) investments in Mexico may be questioned by the market, as the benefits from increased integration can take longer than originally expected to materialize, the analyst said, adding the ongoing uncertainty related to USMCA likely will remain as a drag to the much anticipated new wave of investments in the country. More on Gerdau and Ternium Gerdau Q4 2025 Earnings Call Presentation Gerdau: Up, And Back Down Again In 2026E (Rating Upgrade) Ternium: Strong Steelmaker Providing Both Growth And Income
gorodenkoff/iStock via Getty Images North America’s small- and mid-cap industrial sector is entering a new phase of recalibration, as investors weigh resilient demand against uneven near-term upside, according to a March 26 report from J.P. Morgan. In a sweeping review of 26 companies across specialty, engineering and construction, automation and building products, analyst Tomohiko Sano outlines a...
gorodenkoff/iStock via Getty Images North America’s small- and mid-cap industrial sector is entering a new phase of recalibration, as investors weigh resilient demand against uneven near-term upside, according to a March 26 report from J.P. Morgan. In a sweeping review of 26 companies across specialty, engineering and construction, automation and building products, analyst Tomohiko Sano outlines a sector that remains fundamentally strong but increasingly differentiated, prompting a reshuffling of stock ratings and investment priorities. Sector strength remains, but selectivity rises J.P. Morgan maintains a broadly constructive view on the group, citing durable demand trends, infrastructure investment and long-term industrial modernization. However, the firm is shifting toward a more selective approach, emphasizing relative valuation and near-term return potential over blanket optimism. “The sector is undergoing a strategic rebalance,” Sano wrote, highlighting the need to distinguish between companies with immediate upside and those with longer-dated potential. That shift led to the downgrade of TIC Solutions ( TIC ), Great Lakes Dredge & Dock( GLDD ) and Timken ( TKR ) to Underweight, not due to deteriorating fundamentals but because of comparatively weaker expected returns in the near term. Niche leaders emerge Amid ongoing market volatility, J.P. Morgan is leaning into niche market leaders with strong competitive positioning and exposure to secular growth trends. Valmont Industries ( VMI ) stands out as the firm’s top pick, driven by demand tied to electrification, grid modernization and infrastructure investment. The company’s utility business is expected to benefit from sustained capital expenditure, even as its agricultural segment remains soft. Other favored names include Rollins ( ROL ) and Service Corp. International ( SCI ), which are viewed as relatively defensive due to stable demand profiles and lower sensitivity to macroeconomic swings. Engineering, aut...
Thossaphol/iStock via Getty Images By Ashutosh Sureka Natural gas ( NG1:COM ) is at $2.97 this morning. Two days ago, it was testing $2.85 and looked like it could break lower. It held. Buyers came in twice at that level, and the market has been grinding higher since. RSI is in the low 60s for the first time since early March. That is a different picture from what this chart showed last week. The...
Thossaphol/iStock via Getty Images By Ashutosh Sureka Natural gas ( NG1:COM ) is at $2.97 this morning. Two days ago, it was testing $2.85 and looked like it could break lower. It held. Buyers came in twice at that level, and the market has been grinding higher since. RSI is in the low 60s for the first time since early March. That is a different picture from what this chart showed last week. The 20- and 50-period EMAs at $2.94 and $2.95 spent most of last week acting as a ceiling. Price is now above both. The 100-period EMA at $2.98 is the next test, sitting just above the current price. Above that, the 200-period EMA at $3.02 is where the market has twice turned buyers away in the past 2 weeks. Natural gas price dynamics (March 2026) (Source: TradingView) $2.85 was tested on March 19 and again on March 24. Both times, buyers showed up fast. The bounce off the second test has been steadier than the first, which is encouraging. Price has not spiked, it has just quietly moved higher each session. RSI at 61 with the signal line trailing at 57 is the best momentum reading this chart has produced since the March 7 spike to $3.47. War risks and LNG demand offset mild weather pressure Natural gas futures edged higher on March 25 as Tehran's rejection of a U.S. peace plan kept war risks in play, with LNG feed gas demand and bullish storage expectations adding support. Energy Information Administration, removing one of the more bearish arguments that had been weighing on the market through mid-March. ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance noted that even if the Iran conflict ends quickly, a lift in global natural gas prices is likely locked in, given limited production on the horizon. That combination of tightening storage and geopolitical risk is what has kept $2.85 from breaking, and is now pushing prices back toward $3.02. Back above key EMAs, but resistance remains close Getting through $2.98 cleanly matters. That is the 100-period EMA, and the price has not closed above it sin...