For Immediate Release Chicago, IL – February 2, 2026 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Microsoft MSFT, Silver ETF SLV, ProShares 2x Silver ETF AGQ, Gold ETF GLD, Direxion Gold Miners 2x Bear DUST. February Flinch: Why the Bull Market Is Due for a Breather Even the strongest bull markets require pullbacks. While U.S. equity markets enjoyed a strong start to 2026, some short-term wa...
For Immediate Release Chicago, IL – February 2, 2026 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Microsoft MSFT, Silver ETF SLV, ProShares 2x Silver ETF AGQ, Gold ETF GLD, Direxion Gold Miners 2x Bear DUST. February Flinch: Why the Bull Market Is Due for a Breather Even the strongest bull markets require pullbacks. While U.S. equity markets enjoyed a strong start to 2026, some short-term warning signs are building. So Go the Leaders, So Goes the Market Yesterday, despite beating Wall Street estimates, AI leaderMicrosoft saw its worst single session drop since March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic – before recovering late in the session. Investors are punishing the stock primarily due to a staggering rise in CAPEX spending. MSFT announced that it spent $37.5 billion last quarter to build AI data centers – a 66% year-over-year increase. Other concerns include a slight slowdown in MSFT's cloud business and an overreliance on ChatGPT-parent and partner OpenAI for revenue. Markets tend to follow the leaders, which are currently AI stocks. The adverse reaction to Microsoft earnings is likely to put a damper on AI stocks, and thus the market, over the coming weeks. Silver Blow-Off Top Spells Danger for Market After a historical run where silver has tripled in a handful of months, silver's bull market is coming to a close in classic form - a blow-off top. Recently, the precious metal showed several warning signs, including, record trading volume, a distance above the 200-day moving average of more than 100%, and several exhaustion gaps. For those who have studied market history, such moves have occurred in the past - most notably, when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the market in the 1980s and when the great commodity bull of the 2000s ended in 2011. Investors need to be watching this move because previous instances have had broader implications, resulting in 10% drops in the S&P 500 over the coming weeks. February Seasonality While there are several bullish tai...
Still, for credit investors and other lenders, AI is hard to resist—even if it comes with a sense of unease. The more conservative estimates from Morgan Stanley and Moody’s Ratings peg the capital expenditures at $3 trillion or more in the coming years, whereas JPMorgan projects more than $5 trillion of spending for the data center and AI boom, including related power supplies. At the same time, s...
Still, for credit investors and other lenders, AI is hard to resist—even if it comes with a sense of unease. The more conservative estimates from Morgan Stanley and Moody’s Ratings peg the capital expenditures at $3 trillion or more in the coming years, whereas JPMorgan projects more than $5 trillion of spending for the data center and AI boom, including related power supplies. At the same time, stock portfolios are bulging with richly valued AI-related stocks. (The so-called Magnificent 7 group of the biggest tech stocks, which also includes Alphabet, Apple, Nvidia and Tesla, now accounts for about a third of the S&P 500’s value.) Diversification is getting more challenging. “Portfolio managers are going to have to decide what level of AI exposure they’re willing to stomach in their portfolios,” says JPMorgan Chase & Co. credit strategist Tarek Hamid. “Your bond portfolio, which historically traded much more correlated with rates and banks’ performance, is now going to be correlated with technology companies’ performance.” Last year, AI-related companies and projects tapped debt markets for at least $200 billion—likely a significant undercount, as many deals are private. Projections are in the hundreds of billions of dollars of issuance for 2026 alone. The added demand for cash could nudge borrowing costs up across the rest of corporate America. And whether you’re an institutional investor or an individual saver, the fixed-income side of your portfolio is getting more and more AI-heavy. Blue-chip bonds, junk debt, private credit and complex asset-backed pools of loans. “The numbers are like nothing any of us who have been in this business for 25 years have seen,” says Matt McQueen, who oversees global credit, securitized products and municipal banking and markets at Bank of America Corp. “You have to turn over all avenues to make this work.” Not even the world’s biggest technology companies—not Amazon.com, not Microsoft or Meta Platforms—are prepared to foot the b...
Thrive Holdings, an offshoot of Joshua Kushner’s venture firm Thrive Capital Management, is putting $100 million into a months-old company it helped create called Shield Technology Partners — providing an early glimpse into how the holding company is using its $1 billion war chest. Formed last year, Thrive Holdings incubates, operates and invests in businesses that aim to bring artificial intellig...
Thrive Holdings, an offshoot of Joshua Kushner’s venture firm Thrive Capital Management, is putting $100 million into a months-old company it helped create called Shield Technology Partners — providing an early glimpse into how the holding company is using its $1 billion war chest. Formed last year, Thrive Holdings incubates, operates and invests in businesses that aim to bring artificial intelligence to service providers like accounting firms and other traditionally analog companies. Shield, launched last summer, acquires stakes in small and medium-sized IT businesses, and then applies artificial intelligence internally to make the core operations — such as resolving IT support tickets — more efficient. Shield plans to use some of the fresh $100 million to acquire majority stakes in other IT services businesses. The roll-up strategy, which is becoming more common in some corners of Silicon Valley, blends a private equity tactic with software and services industry businesses. “We’re sort of borrowing what works for each of those models and trying to do our own thing to meet the moment,” said Shield CEO Jim Siders, a former Chief Information Officer at Palantir. Current providers’ strategy of “stick a chat bot on the side and hope it works,” he said, “is turning out not to be valuable.” Shield’s technology is starting out by triaging and resolving IT service tickets that come in, helping decide which can be handled by artificial intelligence and which should be dealt with by human workers. About 60% of tickets that Shield sees can currently be addressed by its own AI product, said Anuj Mehndiratta, a partner at Thrive Capital and founding member of Thrive Holdings. Eventually, Shield’s vision is to create a fully-autonomous IT engineer. Thrive Holdings and investment firm ZBS Partners created Shield in June 2025 with an initial $100 million in funding. By the end of 2025, Shield had already made nine acquisitions. It crossed $100 million in annual total revenue last ...
US President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to head the Federal Reserve is unlikely to support a sustained rebound in the US dollar despite the possibility of short-term relief, Chinese economists said. Persistent doubts about the Fed’s autonomy during Trump’s second term could cap any durable recovery, as policy appeared increasingly geared towards domestic goals at the expense of the U...
US President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to head the Federal Reserve is unlikely to support a sustained rebound in the US dollar despite the possibility of short-term relief, Chinese economists said. Persistent doubts about the Fed’s autonomy during Trump’s second term could cap any durable recovery, as policy appeared increasingly geared towards domestic goals at the expense of the US dollar’s role as a global public good, they added. Concerns over the central bank’s independence have grown under current Fed chair Jerome Powell, fuelled by Trump’s public attacks and threats of criminal charges . Tariffs and soaring government debt have also intensified market anxiety and stoked talk of de-dollarisation Advertisement Analysts at China International Capital Corp, a Beijing-based state-backed investment management firm, called Warsh’s proposals “hawkish” in terms of reducing the Fed’s balance sheet but “dovish” on rate cuts, arguing that he could seek to restore monetary policy credibility while pushing an “America First” agenda in the financial sector. “In the short term, Warsh’s nomination will have limited impact on the rate-cut path, but it may lead to a revision of expectations for US dollar liquidity, and depreciation pressure on the US dollar may ease temporarily,” they wrote in a note on Sunday. Advertisement His proposals could leave the global financial system facing a “scarcer but more stable US dollar environment”, they added, as the dollar system would become more closely aligned with domestic priorities.
Do the people imprisoning these kids like Liam Ramos have no children of their own? Do they have no decency, compassion or basic humanity? Liam Conejo Ramos. We have all seen his picture, or by now we all should have seen the image of the adorable five-year-old in his bright blue hat, its floppy bunny ears so appropriate for a child whose middle name means “rabbit.” In the photo, he is wearing his...
Do the people imprisoning these kids like Liam Ramos have no children of their own? Do they have no decency, compassion or basic humanity? Liam Conejo Ramos. We have all seen his picture, or by now we all should have seen the image of the adorable five-year-old in his bright blue hat, its floppy bunny ears so appropriate for a child whose middle name means “rabbit.” In the photo, he is wearing his Spider-Man backpack, which, like so many kids his age, he loves and is very proud of. And we know – or we should know – what happened to him. On January 20, 2026, the pre-K student was seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on his way home from school in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. His family, which had emigrated from Ecuador in 2024, had applied for political asylum. No order of deportation had been issued against them, nor had any of them –obviously, not little Liam– been accused of a crime. Francine Prose is a former president of the PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Continue reading...
The 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada is less than six months away. Fifa’s ticketing process has been met with demand and controversy. Security concerns for fans traveling to the US have risen. We asked readers to share their experiences of buying World Cup tickets – or deciding not to. These are some of the stories we received. ‘The price was high but that’s reality for North American s...
The 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada is less than six months away. Fifa’s ticketing process has been met with demand and controversy. Security concerns for fans traveling to the US have risen. We asked readers to share their experiences of buying World Cup tickets – or deciding not to. These are some of the stories we received. ‘The price was high but that’s reality for North American sports’ When President Trump placed aggressive tariffs on Canadian exports, I completely swore off travel to the United States. So, when Fifa selected me during the “Domestic Exclusivity” phase, I leapt at the opportunity to buy tickets to a match in Canada. Each step of the online process was somewhat confusing, including a counter-clockwise circular countdown with imperceptibly slow movement and multiple login requests. Nevertheless, after a 90-minute wait, I was able to purchase tickets for my family to Canada’s last group game. They cost $270 (Canadian) each. The price was high, but that’s just the reality for North American sports today. There are tickets at that price and above for every NFL or NHL game. The price of the hotel I booked outside Vancouver was far more shocking. John, Winnipeg, Canada ‘They’re not getting a cent of my money’ I went to the World Cup in Germany in 2006 when I lived in the UK, and always wanted to go to another in my lifetime. I now live in Australia, and being conscious of the fact that I’d be receiving a decent tax rebate from the Aussie government, had decided to spend that on flying me and the missus to the World Cup taking in some games in the US and Mexico and was registered for tickets and a rough itinerary planned. However that decision all changed as I watched the clown show, clusterfuck of the Trump/Infantino White House press conferences, alongside the news of the appalling treatment of immigrants and tourists in the US. I’ve basically decided that not a cent of my money will go to making the tournament a success for either of tho...
Meta’s second major trial of 2026 over alleged harms to children begins on Monday. The landmark jury trial in Santa Fe pits the New Mexico attorney general’s office against the social media giant. The state alleges that the company knowingly enabled predators to use Facebook and Instagram to exploit children. The trial will introduce evidence that Raúl Torrez, the state’s attorney general, believe...
Meta’s second major trial of 2026 over alleged harms to children begins on Monday. The landmark jury trial in Santa Fe pits the New Mexico attorney general’s office against the social media giant. The state alleges that the company knowingly enabled predators to use Facebook and Instagram to exploit children. The trial will introduce evidence that Raúl Torrez, the state’s attorney general, believes shows how Meta’s social networks create dangerous environments for children, exposing them to sexual exploitation, solicitation, sextortion and human trafficking. The lawsuit states that Meta’s design choices and profit incentives prioritized engagement over child safety and that it failed to implement effective safeguards. The state accuses the company of allowing unmoderated groups devoted to commercial sex and of facilitating the buying, selling, and sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). “While the New Mexico attorney general makes sensationalist, irrelevant and distracting arguments by cherry-picking select documents, we’re focused on demonstrating our longstanding commitment to supporting young people,” a Meta spokesperson said. “For over a decade, we’ve listened to parents, worked with experts and law enforcement, and conducted in-depth research to understand the issues that matter most. We use these insights to make meaningful changes – like introducing Teen Accounts with built-in protections and providing parents with tools to manage their teens’ experiences. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we’re always working to do better.” The lawsuit follows a two-year Guardian investigation, published in 2023, which revealed that the tech giant was struggling to prevent people from using its platforms to traffick children. The investigation is cited several times in the suit’s filings. In an interview with the Guardian in 2024, Torrez said he believes Meta is the “largest marketplace for predators and paedophiles globally”. After a week of jury selection,...
The Gunners had home comforts while the other teams had to travel long distances and cope with inferior facilities Arsenal are world champions. It’s a weird thing to say about the team fourth in the WSL, albeit with a game in hand, and who failed to qualify automatically for the Champions League quarter-finals and face a two-leg knockout phase playoff . However, the 3-2 defeat of the Copa Libertad...
The Gunners had home comforts while the other teams had to travel long distances and cope with inferior facilities Arsenal are world champions. It’s a weird thing to say about the team fourth in the WSL, albeit with a game in hand, and who failed to qualify automatically for the Champions League quarter-finals and face a two-leg knockout phase playoff . However, the 3-2 defeat of the Copa Libertadores champions, Corinthians, by the Uefa Champions League holders secured their global title. If Arsenal had lost – and at times it felt as if they were trying to – it would have been quite the spectacle given how much the tournament favoured them . Arsenal were in season and match fit, unlike Gotham FC and Corinthians, and not only did Fifa stick the tournament in England, it placed it in London and the final in Arsenal’s ground. The Gunners were in their own beds and benefiting from the elite facilities at their training ground and the backing of their fans, while the three other sides (the Moroccan champions AS Far completed the quartet) had to travel long distances, stay in hotels and manage with inferior facilities. A rethink is needed if this tournament is going to be taken seriously, with timing and location top of the agenda. Suzanne Wrack Continue reading...
The disclosure of more than 3m files related to Jeffrey Epstein suggests that other men were involved in his sexual abuse, prompting questions about officials’ contentions that there isn’t evidence to investigate third parties for potential involvement in the late financier’s crimes. Some newly released documents contain allegations that Epstein provided victims to other men. Documents released in...
The disclosure of more than 3m files related to Jeffrey Epstein suggests that other men were involved in his sexual abuse, prompting questions about officials’ contentions that there isn’t evidence to investigate third parties for potential involvement in the late financier’s crimes. Some newly released documents contain allegations that Epstein provided victims to other men. Documents released in prior disclosures, as well as court documents, also point to others’ possible criminal involvement with Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. One accuser said that Maxwell told her that Epstein had to leave his house but that there was a friend staying who she could massage. During this encounter, this associate allegedly offered her money if she engaged in sex. The woman alleged that she did so and that this friend paid her money. A “prosecution memorandum” dated 26 January 2021 and signed by assistant US attorneys from the southern district of New York described this encounter and said that when the woman’s lawyers showed her a photo of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, she identified him as this man. The names of the US attorneys are redacted. It’s not clear to what extent authorities investigated these allegations. Weinstein was never charged for any conduct related to Epstein. One document, and FBI presentation that appears to have been created sometime after late July 2025, described an allegation that Epstein “told [an accuser] to give [Harvey] Weinstein a massage, during which Weinstein tells her to take off her shirt, she refuses and then Weinstein threatens to get women to come force her too.” Weinstein, who is in jail after being convicted of sexual assault and was one of the most prominent targets of the MeToo movement, rejects misconduct claims. “Harvey denies this. The document cited is an internal prosecution memorandum in the Maxwell case that records allegations, not findings,” his rep said. “Mr Weinstein was never charged, investigated, or ...
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng Motors showcased its humanoid robot in front of hundreds of onlookers at a mall in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen over the weekend, but a backwards flop became headlines, reflecting the bumpy journey ahead for such machines. After completing a smooth catwalk to the centre of the audience on Saturday, Iron, the 178cm robot said to walk with humanlike g...
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng Motors showcased its humanoid robot in front of hundreds of onlookers at a mall in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen over the weekend, but a backwards flop became headlines, reflecting the bumpy journey ahead for such machines. After completing a smooth catwalk to the centre of the audience on Saturday, Iron, the 178cm robot said to walk with humanlike grace, lost its balance and fell backwards when standing still on the stage, according to multiple videos circulated online. A staffer broke its fall and it ended up face down on the ground. Staff quickly carried it away, and it returned after adjustments to complete interactive performances with children, asking trivia questions like what colour a giant panda’s poop would be. Advertisement On Sunday, the second day of the campaign, the machine did not walk, but instead was strapped to a frame during educational and entertaining chats with the audience. Despite having walked without incident several times during its Saturday appearance, the robot’s plunge made headlines. It was the fourth most searched topic on Baidu on Monday morning, and the top trending topic on Sunday night on ByteDance’s news platform Jinri Toutiao, according to data from Entobit.cn, which tracks social media. Advertisement “It reminds me of how all toddlers learn to walk,” He Xiaopeng, co-founder and CEO of Xpeng, said on Sunday on microblogging site Weibo. “After a fall, they will stand firm; the next step is to begin running, and to keep running.” Non-humanoid robots represented by robotic dogs had achieved commercialisation faster than humanoids, GF Securities said in a report last year. “Compared to bipedal humanoid robots, quadrupedal robotic dogs possess higher payload capacity and exceptional balance capabilities, while also being easier to control, design and maintain,” it said.
I am a crazy cat lady, except for one small obstacle: I do not own a cat. Though my boyfriend and I discuss names for cats, like other couples do for children, renting in London has put a stop to adding one to our family. So I had pushed dreams of filling the cat-sized hole in my life to one side, only allowing myself momentary relapses when friendly cats crossed my path in the street. That was un...
I am a crazy cat lady, except for one small obstacle: I do not own a cat. Though my boyfriend and I discuss names for cats, like other couples do for children, renting in London has put a stop to adding one to our family. So I had pushed dreams of filling the cat-sized hole in my life to one side, only allowing myself momentary relapses when friendly cats crossed my path in the street. That was until I stumbled across the best solution to being reluctantly feline free: becoming a cat-sitter. It started when I decided to quit my job. Faced with the daunting prospect of living without a guaranteed salary, I was lured in by social media videos promising that any number of “simple” side hustles would make me happier, richer and freer. Initially, I spent five days and £60 setting up an Etsy shop. Four months later, I had made two sales (one from my brother) and a net loss. Next, I had a brief dalliance with “affiliate marketing”. No, I’m not sure what that is either. In a last-ditch attempt, I spent hours uploading my camera roll to sell on a stock photography website – the vast majority of which did not meet the minimum quality threshold. Frustrated, poorer and stifled, I was on the verge of taking early, unpaid retirement from side hustling when I saw an influencer on TikTok suggest cat-sitting. Within minutes, I had set up a free profile on Cat in a Flat and, a few weeks later, I secured my first booking. Cat-sitting is not a high earner and can’t be relied upon as a sole income, though I have made a nice amount of pocket money and I feel enriched in other ways. I get to cosplay as a cat owner, even if just for 30 minutes, and I find being around animals improves my mental health. I maintain that cats instinctively know when you’ve had a bad day. Take Figgy, one of my cat clients, who curled up on my lap for the first time after I’d had a challenging morning. Or Luna, who could reset my nervous system simply by rubbing up against my legs. Meanwhile, Pickle, a shy cat ...
‘Your home isn’t weird enough.” So says the US interior designer Lily Walters. Her popular Instagram series urges people to make their homes “personal and slightly unhinged”, suggesting what they need is an alligator toilet flush, a decorative stained-glass traffic cone, or a snail-adorned table. The statement makes me feel as if Walters might not see inside many homes (odd, given her job), becaus...
‘Your home isn’t weird enough.” So says the US interior designer Lily Walters. Her popular Instagram series urges people to make their homes “personal and slightly unhinged”, suggesting what they need is an alligator toilet flush, a decorative stained-glass traffic cone, or a snail-adorned table. The statement makes me feel as if Walters might not see inside many homes (odd, given her job), because all homes are weird! And not cultivated and curated to add a whimsical touch of eccentricity, but properly weird, verging on disturbing. In the room I’m working in, there’s a feather-filled shrine to various dead hens, two candles in the shape of Saint Lucy’s eyes, a stuffed Australian magpie, a wig, three pewter goats and a French revolutionary cockade made from a jam pot lid (an illustrative selection; there’s much more). Other people are similarly well stocked with weirdness: my father has a lifesize wooden sheep. One friend sent me a picture of a purloined “3D printed tentacle” he keeps on a shelf; another admitted to possessing “a dead bumblebee in a box on a little cushion”; my son has a homemade poster on the history of the toaster on display. Reddit records some choice weirdness spotted in people’s homes: casually repurposed coffins, a pet dog’s amputated leg And that’s the stuff we’re aware of – the real weirdness comes not from decorative choices, but incidental oddities we no longer notice. “No, we don’t have a bathroom door,” for example (I experienced this). “Oh yes, you need to use that chopstick to turn the extractor fan on.” “Watch out for the cat’s special bucket.” “Don’t sit there, it’s where we keep my auntie’s ashes, so she can see the TV.” Unsurprisingly, Reddit records some choice weirdness spotted in people’s homes: casually repurposed coffins, a pet dog’s amputated leg, a bowl of bear penis bones. When my family moved into our current house, we found a forgotten metal box in the loft that said something like “Radioactive material, do not touch” (it...
I was four when Cocolo accidentally became part of our family, so my memories are a bit patchy and predominantly sensory (I still remember the pleasant feel of his furry ears). But my mum has filled me in on the details. We’d gone to live in Jerusalem for a year as my dad was doing some work over there. For a Sunday treat we sometimes went to the American Colony hotel for a buffet lunch, and on on...
I was four when Cocolo accidentally became part of our family, so my memories are a bit patchy and predominantly sensory (I still remember the pleasant feel of his furry ears). But my mum has filled me in on the details. We’d gone to live in Jerusalem for a year as my dad was doing some work over there. For a Sunday treat we sometimes went to the American Colony hotel for a buffet lunch, and on one such occasion Mum was chatting with the doorman. A man was passing in the street leading a donkey, and Mum casually told the doorman that she’d always wanted a donkey. A few days later there was a knock on the door of our flat; my dad answered to find a man with another donkey. “I believe you ordered this,” he said. “Oh no we bloody didn’t,” said my dad. “Oops,” said Mum. “It’s possible we inadvertently did.” “We want a donkey,” my elder sister, Sophy, and I shouted. We’d already fallen in love with him; he was brown and adorable and his ears felt nice. We called him Cocolo – after a donkey in a children’s book by Bettina Ehrlich. Cocolo moved into the garden we shared with our upstairs neighbours. We had a car but Mum decided Cocolo was the ideal mode of transport for the school run, even though there was a busy road to cross where he was prone to stall in the middle of rush hour (donkeys can be obstinate, who knew?). So, while our classmates at the Christian international school were getting dropped off in the family Volvo, we were led up the circular drive on Cocolo. I know, embarrassing or what? Stereotypical obstinacy aside, Cocolo was a good-natured donkey, though possibly lonely or frightened at night when he hee-hawed often and loudly. We became increasingly unpopular with the neighbours. After a few months, Cocolo was banished to a farm in the West Bank. He was still ours, we would visit at weekends. I remember going for rides around Nebi Samuel, safe from the snakes and scorpions below. But I don’t think Cocolo ever forgave us for sending him away; something was...
Would you inherit a rare Stradivarius violin, polish it up for a few years, and then decide to take a hammer to it? Would you somehow acquire the Hope diamond, set it in a blue velvet case, and then toss the whole thing into the Potomac River? These incomprehensible acts are not too far afield from what Jeff Bezos is doing these days with the Washington Post, where self-inflicted wounds are wreaki...
Would you inherit a rare Stradivarius violin, polish it up for a few years, and then decide to take a hammer to it? Would you somehow acquire the Hope diamond, set it in a blue velvet case, and then toss the whole thing into the Potomac River? These incomprehensible acts are not too far afield from what Jeff Bezos is doing these days with the Washington Post, where self-inflicted wounds are wreaking what may be permanent damage to a great newspaper. I worked on staff at the Post for six years, until 2022, as its media columnist, after admiring the paper for decades; it was an inspiring place to work, and I got to know its readership and its staff from the inside. It breaks my heart to see what’s happening now, and has been happening for more than a year. As a major round of newsroom layoffs is threatened – losses that would further weaken an already decimated staff – Bezos is doing what should be unthinkable. And he is doing so at a time when strong, fact-based journalism could not be more important in America and around the world. He should reverse course. He can preserve a great news organization and maybe even recover his own legacy as the paper’s steward – a legacy that was looking good for years until he took a strange, Trump-related bad turn. The turn began in earnest when Bezos – apparently trying to protect his other commercial interests – spiked the draft of an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris for president. Whatever one thinks about endorsement editorials, the timing was terrible; it was the 11th hour, shortly before the 2024 election. Unsurprisingly, droves of Post subscribers canceled. They were disgusted by the apparent effort to please Donald Trump at the price of editorial independence. Later, even more subscribers decamped after Bezos made it clear that he wanted its opinion section to take a sharp right turn. Some of the nation’s best columnists departed, and a fine cartoonist, Ann Telnaes, left after she tried to publish a cartoon depicting Bezos ...
Robin Vanbiesen’s documentary uses the killing of Mawda Shawri in Belgium as the starting point to explore the dehumanising machinery of border policy Here is an insightful but perhaps over oblique Belgian documentary that sets itself an ambitious goal: to expose the hidden infrastructure of state coercion that supports European migration policy, even down to the point of using reductive language ...
Robin Vanbiesen’s documentary uses the killing of Mawda Shawri in Belgium as the starting point to explore the dehumanising machinery of border policy Here is an insightful but perhaps over oblique Belgian documentary that sets itself an ambitious goal: to expose the hidden infrastructure of state coercion that supports European migration policy, even down to the point of using reductive language such as “immigrant”. It arrives at these abstractions via the horrific story of the 2018 killing of Mawda Shawri , a two-year-old German-born Iraqi Kurd shot during a bungled border control raid on the van she was travelling in with her parents. Director Robin Vanbiesen reveals this tragedy through documents and testimony read out for the audience of activists seen here. The infant’s body is dumped in a bin bag by the presiding officers, and her parents, Phrast and Shamden, refused access; the lies of the police, who played to the myth of immigrant barbarity by claiming Mawda had been thrown on to the highway by her fellow passengers; the justice system closing ranks by putting the onus of responsibility on the van driver for dangerous conduct that supposedly forced the police officer to fire. Continue reading...
Bond market participants widely see the US Treasury refraining from any major shift in debt-issuance plans in a key statement Wednesday, though the Trump administration’s aggressive financial maneuvers elsewhere have put investors on watch for any surprise move to hold down yields. Next week’s so-called quarterly refunding auctions are anticipated at $125 billion, where they’ve been since May 2024...
Bond market participants widely see the US Treasury refraining from any major shift in debt-issuance plans in a key statement Wednesday, though the Trump administration’s aggressive financial maneuvers elsewhere have put investors on watch for any surprise move to hold down yields. Next week’s so-called quarterly refunding auctions are anticipated at $125 billion, where they’ve been since May 2024 — the longest stretch of unchanged sales since the mid-to-late 2010s, when the totals were less than half what they are now. The Treasury may also reiterate past guidance that it aims to maintain sales of interest-bearing securities steady for “at least the next several quarters.” While Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had suggested favoring a tilt in issuance toward longer-dated securities before he took office, their higher yields have made that unattractive. Ten-year notes — his key market metric — yield around 4.25%, more than 80 basis points more than 12-month bills . Federal budget deficits mean the Treasury eventually is expected to boost auctions of securities beyond bills, which mature in up to a year. Debate among market participants has centered on whether Bessent’s team will hold off on taking that step until 2027, and even potentially scale back issuance of the longest-dated debt to temper their yields. Diminished investor demand for the likes of 30-year bonds round the world has prompted governments in Europe and Japan to reduce issuance of such securities, raising questions about whether the US might do the same. Fed’s Role “The real focus will be whether they are looking to adjust coupon sizes lower in light of high bill demand,” said Guneet Dhingra , head of US interest-rate strategy at BNP Paribas. Though he expects unchanged auction sizes for the coming quarter, Dhingra has suggested the government could abolish the 20-year bond it revived in 2020 to lukewarm demand . A bigger-than-expected move by the Federal Reserve to purchase T-bills, unveiled in Dec...
When you picture a virtual reality headset user, you’re probably not picturing someone like Sherry Dickson. At 69, the snowy-haired, retired elementary school teacher hops into her Meta Quest headset five days a week, for roughly 60 to 90 minutes at a time. She’s not attending live concerts or watching immersive films. Dickson, a fitness buff since Jane Fonda workout videos in the ’80s, largely us...
When you picture a virtual reality headset user, you’re probably not picturing someone like Sherry Dickson. At 69, the snowy-haired, retired elementary school teacher hops into her Meta Quest headset five days a week, for roughly 60 to 90 minutes at a time. She’s not attending live concerts or watching immersive films. Dickson, a fitness buff since Jane Fonda workout videos in the ’80s, largely uses her headset for one reason — to play Supernatural, a VR fitness game with a huge, loyal fan base and a tight-knit community. Supernatural isn’t dead, but it might as well be. A few weeks ago, Meta shut down three VR studios as part of broader layoffs in its Reality Labs division. As a result, Supernatural will no longer get new content. That’s why Dickson is spearheading an online social media campaign to save Supernatural from slowly fading into oblivion. Supernatural is a mix between a Peloton class and rhythm games like Just Dance or Beat Saber. You swat at targets as they fly toward you, timed to music, inside a picturesque virtual world. You can choose from a library of dance-like Flow workouts, boxing, or even meditative breathing classes. Like any connected fitness game, Supernatural’s stickiness relies on an ever-evolving content library. New music, levels, and choreography keep people hooked because they not only keep things fresh, but strengthen the bond between users and the game’s charismatic coaches. “Mark Zuckerberg helped buy a ballroom for a fascist. Perhaps it is not surprising that he killed Supernatural.” For a game like Supernatural, shutting down content production was a death knell that left Dickson and countless other Supernatural fans blindsided with shock, then grief. The Supernatural Facebook page has over 110,000 members, many of whom have written sprawling odes to the game. Over 7,000 and counting have also signed a Change.org petition, begging Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to rethink the decision. Dickson is what your typical Supernatural user...
00:00 Speaker A Another big theme, Allie, heading into these reports is going to be cloud growth. Uh I'm just curious, you know, Amazon, Microsoft, Google broadly. What kind of cloud growth are you looking for Allie? You know, year over year? Is it flat? You think it's going to be stronger than expected? What do you forecast? 00:16 Allie Well, uh I think for for Amazon specifically, I think it's g...
00:00 Speaker A Another big theme, Allie, heading into these reports is going to be cloud growth. Uh I'm just curious, you know, Amazon, Microsoft, Google broadly. What kind of cloud growth are you looking for Allie? You know, year over year? Is it flat? You think it's going to be stronger than expected? What do you forecast? 00:16 Allie Well, uh I think for for Amazon specifically, I think it's going to be a little bit stronger. Um again, their issue the last few quarters haven't necessarily been demand. It's just been uh limited it's just been basically uh capacity. 00:27 Allie And uh and as they've accelerated investment on that front and that opens up their uh computing capabilities and all of that. So the demand whether it's driven by AI or just overall continuing cloud transition, uh is going to uh, you know, turn into additional revenue for those guys. So, I think I think those guys, uh they're going to see some acceleration on the cloud side. 00:46 Allie Uh but to answer your question more directly, I do see acceleration on the cloud side of revenue for all of them, but I just think that we just think that Amazon's is going to be uh a little bit faster. 00:53 Allie Uh, you know, and after Amazon probably see some uh uh some cloud uh revenue acceleration on uh with Google, especially given the fact that Gemini has been doing so well since they came out with Gemini, uh the latest Gemini version and uh you know, we've seen that with all of the uh uh download stats and so forth. So, um that's going to help them too. 01:11 Allie And then uh and then Azure, obviously the num still the number two player on the cloud side and hopefully their co-pilot or agent co-pilot uh is going to help them a little bit, although, you know, they are seeing additional competition and they're actually currently to a certain extent utilizing uh what Anthropic is is offering in addition to Open AI's offerings. 01:25 Allie So, but I do think that uh we do think that, you know, Microsof...
Investors are betting Chile’s monetary authority will reduce interest rates by a quarter-point at the next policy meeting in March, two weeks after a new government comes to power that has pledged to reinvigorate economic growth. Almost two-thirds of the 20 analysts and traders polled by Bloomberg last week saw the key rate reduced to 4.25% on March 24. It would be the 14th — and likely the last —...
Investors are betting Chile’s monetary authority will reduce interest rates by a quarter-point at the next policy meeting in March, two weeks after a new government comes to power that has pledged to reinvigorate economic growth. Almost two-thirds of the 20 analysts and traders polled by Bloomberg last week saw the key rate reduced to 4.25% on March 24. It would be the 14th — and likely the last — in a series of reductions over the previous three years. The forecast of a cut in borrowing costs comes amid mounting optimism over economic growth as President-elect Jose Antonio Kast prepares to take office on March 11. Kast has pledged to slash red-tape and reduce the corporate tax rate to revive growth that faltered in the second half of last year. As rates come down and optimism mounts over growth, about 55% of those surveyed forecast a steepening in the nominal bond curve, the highest percentage since August. “High copper prices, deregulation/cutting red tape, and pro-business policies under Kast are expected to drive higher investment and increased activity going forward, justifying a steepening in the curve,” said Christopher Mejia , EM sovereign analyst at T Rowe Price. Chile’s Imacec index, a proxy for gross domestic product, rose just 1.2% in November from the year earlier, compared with GDP growth of 1.6% in the third quarter and about 2.8% in the first half of the year. Central Bank Board members led by Rosanna Costa voted unanimously to keep borrowing costs steady at 4.5% last Tuesday, as policymakers estimate that inflation will hit the 3% target in coming months for the first time in five years. But the statement lacked forward guidance on when the easing cycle would be renewed, showing caution about intensifying risks in the global economy. Still, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Itau have penciled in a final 25 basis point cut for March, while Santander Chile views it as “likely.” That would put the policy rate well into the central bank’s estimated neutral ra...
With revenue and operating income surging in 2025, what do shareholders have to worry about? Netflix (NFLX +0.37%) just had another phenomenal performance in 2025. The company's revenue increased 16% year over year to $45.2 billion. Operating income soared 28%. And there are now 325 million subscribers. With strong fundamentals like this, it might be a shock to learn that there's one warning sign ...
With revenue and operating income surging in 2025, what do shareholders have to worry about? Netflix (NFLX +0.37%) just had another phenomenal performance in 2025. The company's revenue increased 16% year over year to $45.2 billion. Operating income soared 28%. And there are now 325 million subscribers. With strong fundamentals like this, it might be a shock to learn that there's one warning sign for Netflix investors. Lagging the overall streaming market Almost common knowledge these days is just how much streaming entertainment has taken over. In the U.S., a mature market, far less than half of all households still have traditional cable TV subscriptions. That's down from a peak share of 88% penetration in 2010. Consumers are voting with their dollars and eyeballs and choosing the better user experience that streaming video offers. According to data from Nielsen, streaming hours (excluding Netflix) represented 37.7% of total TV viewing time domestically as of the third quarter of 2025. This was up dramatically from a 24.8% share at the end of 2022, translating to a 52% growth rate. It's not all good news, though. Netflix, a company no one would argue dominates the industry, saw its share of TV time increase from 7.5% to 8.6% over the same time period. This equates to just a 15% expansion, much lower than the overall market. Alphabet's YouTube is winning the race. Although it specializes in user-generated video, the main platform is notably ahead of Netflix in engagement. This is a warning sign for investors. And it indicates that rivals are grabbing more viewer attention. Competition is stiff, not just from direct rivals but also from social media apps. And it doesn't help that Netflix isn't invested as much in live sports as its peers are. Management is, unsurprisingly, still optimistic. "Given the still substantial amount of linear viewing globally, we believe there's plenty of opportunity to expand our share of TV engagement," Netflix's Q3 2025 press release re...
Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after President Donald Trump said he was hopeful over negotiations with Iran, taking some of the fear premium out of the commodity.
Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after President Donald Trump said he was hopeful over negotiations with Iran, taking some of the fear premium out of the commodity.
BING-JHEN HONG Nvidia's ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang said the company’s proposed $100B investment in OpenAI was “never a commitment” and that the AI chipmaker would consider any funding rounds “one at a time,” Bloomberg News reported. “It was never a commitment,” said Huang to reporters in Taipei on Sunday. “They invited us to invest up to $100 billion and of course, we were, we were very happy and h...
BING-JHEN HONG Nvidia's ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang said the company’s proposed $100B investment in OpenAI was “never a commitment” and that the AI chipmaker would consider any funding rounds “one at a time,” Bloomberg News reported. “It was never a commitment,” said Huang to reporters in Taipei on Sunday. “They invited us to invest up to $100 billion and of course, we were, we were very happy and honored that they invited us, but we will invest one step at a time,” the report added . Nvidia and OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha. In September 2025, Nvidia noted that it intends to invest up to $100B in Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed OpenAI ( OPENAI ) progressively to build and deploy at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers with Nvidia systems. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the investment plan stalled after some insiders within Nvidia expressed doubts about the agreement. Huang had privately told business associates that the original agreement was not binding and finalized. He also identified OpenAI’s business approach as lacking discipline and noted the rivalry the company faces from AI players such as Google and Anthropic ( ANTHRO ), which is backed by Alphabet ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) and Amazon ( AMZN ). When asked about the report that seemed to suggest he wasn't very happy with OpenAI, Huang said on Saturday, "That's nonsense," the report noted. "We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters then. "I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They're one of the most consequential companies of our time." Huang did not say exactly how much the company could invest but described the investment as “huge” and potentially “the largest investment we've ever made.” Huang added that Nvidia's contribution to OpenAI’s current funding round would not approach $100B, the report noted. When asked if the companies' plan to deploy the first gigawatt under their joint investment plan is on schedule, H...
Written by Emily J. Thompson , Senior Investment Analyst Source: Newsfilter ORCL $ 164.58 + Infinity % 1D 1D 5D 1M 3M 6M YTD 1Y 5Y 1D Line Candle Analyst Views on ORCL Wall Street analysts forecast ORCL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ORCL is 309.59 USD with a low forecast of 180.00 USD and a high forecast of 400.0...
Written by Emily J. Thompson , Senior Investment Analyst Source: Newsfilter ORCL $ 164.58 + Infinity % 1D 1D 5D 1M 3M 6M YTD 1Y 5Y 1D Line Candle Analyst Views on ORCL Wall Street analysts forecast ORCL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ORCL is 309.59 USD with a low forecast of 180.00 USD and a high forecast of 400.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals. 34 Analyst Rating Wall Street analysts forecast ORCL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ORCL is 309.59 USD with a low forecast of 180.00 USD and a high forecast of 400.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals. 25 Buy 9 Hold 0 Sell Moderate Buy Current: 169.010 Low 180.00 Averages 309.59 High 400.00 Current: 169.010 Low 180.00 Averages 309.59 High 400.00 Morgan Stanley Equal Weight downgrade $320 -> $213 2026-01-23 Reason Morgan Stanley Price Target $320 -> $213 AI Analysis 2026-01-23 downgrade Equal Weight Reason Morgan Stanley lowered the firm's price target on Oracle to $213 from $320 and keeps an Equal Weight rating on the shares. GPU-as-a-Service is "a sizable revenue opportunity," but the firm's work suggests the buildout will push Oracle EPS below targets and drive materially higher funding needs, the analyst says. The firm struggles to see a viable path to Oracle's EPS targets, which is a view factored into the current share price and reduced price target, the analyst tells investors. Meanwhile, even after underperformance, the firm thinks key risks, including its own new higher forecasts for funding needs and l...
BING-JHEN HONG Nvidia's ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang said the company’s proposed $100B investment in OpenAI was “never a commitment” and that the AI chipmaker would consider any funding rounds “one at a time,” Bloomberg News reported. “It was never a commitment,” said Huang to reporters in Taipei on Sunday. “They invited us to invest up to $100 billion and of course, we were, we were very happy and h...
BING-JHEN HONG Nvidia's ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang said the company’s proposed $100B investment in OpenAI was “never a commitment” and that the AI chipmaker would consider any funding rounds “one at a time,” Bloomberg News reported. “It was never a commitment,” said Huang to reporters in Taipei on Sunday. “They invited us to invest up to $100 billion and of course, we were, we were very happy and honored that they invited us, but we will invest one step at a time,” the report added . Nvidia and OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha. In September 2025, Nvidia noted that it intends to invest up to $100B in Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed OpenAI ( OPENAI ) progressively to build and deploy at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers with Nvidia systems. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the investment plan stalled after some insiders within Nvidia expressed doubts about the agreement. Huang had privately told business associates that the original agreement was not binding and finalized. He also identified OpenAI’s business approach as lacking discipline and noted the rivalry the company faces from AI players such as Google and Anthropic ( ANTHRO ), which is backed by Alphabet ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) and Amazon ( AMZN ). When asked about the report that seemed to suggest he wasn't very happy with OpenAI, Huang said on Saturday, "That's nonsense," the report noted. "We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters then. "I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They're one of the most consequential companies of our time." Huang did not say exactly how much the company could invest but described the investment as “huge” and potentially “the largest investment we've ever made.” Huang added that Nvidia's contribution to OpenAI’s current funding round would not approach $100B, the report noted. When asked if the companies' plan to deploy the first gigawatt under their joint investment plan is on schedule, H...