jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis In these times of high political uncertainty, it is particularly important to follow an investment approach that can help you to perform well across different macroeconomic and geopolitical scenarios. Portfolios that combine income and dividend growth while offering a broad sector and geographical diversification can bring many benef...
jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis In these times of high political uncertainty, it is particularly important to follow an investment approach that can help you to perform well across different macroeconomic and geopolitical scenarios. Portfolios that combine income and dividend growth while offering a broad sector and geographical diversification can bring many benefits at the same time for investors, such as: The constant generation of dividend income. Potential for both dividend growth and capital appreciation. Reduction of the downside risk of your portfolio to protect you against market downturns. In today's article, I will show you how to build a $75,000 dividend portfolio that holds the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF ( SCHD ) as a core position, enhanced by my top 10 high-yield dividend companies I have selected for 2026. Through the inclusion of companies such as Allianz ( ALIZF ) ( ALIZY ), Axa ( AXAHY ) ( AXAHF ) ( AXA:CA ), Nestlé ( NSRGY ) ( NSRGF ), and Petrobras ( PBR ), the portfolio also benefits from currency diversification, reducing the portfolio's dependence on the U.S. dollar alone. This allows investors to diversify currency exposure and receive dividend payments not only in U.S. dollars but also in euros, Swiss francs, and Brazilian reais, adding another layer of diversification to the portfolio while prioritizing income from U.S.-based companies. The portfolio is further complemented by the Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF Shares ( VNQ ) to enhance the portfolio proportion allocated to the Real Estate Sector and the NEOS Nasdaq 100 High Income ETF ( QQQI ) to raise the portfolio's potential for dividend income. Additionally, Visa (NYSE: V ), Nike ( NKE ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), AbbVie ( ABBV ), and Enbridge ( ENB ) have been added to this portfolio to ensure an attractive portfolio mix of income and dividend growth, making it suitable for investors of different age groups and for those who would like to position...
OpenAI on Monday released a new desktop application for its Codex artificial intelligence coding system, a tool the company says transforms software development from a collaborative exercise with a single AI assistant into something more akin to managing a team of autonomous workers. The Codex app for macOS functions as what OpenAI executives describe as a "command center for agents," allowing dev...
OpenAI on Monday released a new desktop application for its Codex artificial intelligence coding system, a tool the company says transforms software development from a collaborative exercise with a single AI assistant into something more akin to managing a team of autonomous workers. The Codex app for macOS functions as what OpenAI executives describe as a "command center for agents," allowing developers to delegate multiple coding tasks simultaneously, automate repetitive work, and supervise AI systems that can run for up to 30 minutes independently before returning completed code. "This is the most loved internal product we've ever had," Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, told VentureBeat in a press briefing ahead of Monday's launch. "It's been totally an amazing thing for us to be using recently at OpenAI." The release arrives at a pivotal moment for the enterprise AI market. According to a survey of 100 Global 2000 companies published last week by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, 78% of enterprise CIOs now use OpenAI models in production , though competitors Anthropic and Google are gaining ground rapidly. Anthropic posted the largest share increase of any frontier lab since May 2025, growing 25% in enterprise penetration, with 44% of enterprises now using Anthropic in production. The timing of OpenAI's Codex app launch — with its focus on professional software engineering workflows — appears designed to defend the company's position in what has become the most contested segment of the AI market: coding tools. Why developers are abandoning their IDEs for AI agent management The Codex app introduces a fundamentally different approach to AI-assisted coding. While previous tools like GitHub Copilot focused on autocompleting lines of code in real-time, the new application enables developers to "effortlessly manage multiple agents at once, run work in parallel, and collaborate with agents over long-running tasks." Alexander Embiricos , the product lead fo...
In a stressful time, this could be a lifesaver. You're used to your Social Security payments coming like clockwork, maybe so much so that you don't even check your bank account to verify that the deposit came through each month. So when you get a letter from the Social Security Administration saying you've been overpaid and that the government will start withholding 50% of your checks, it's only n...
In a stressful time, this could be a lifesaver. You're used to your Social Security payments coming like clockwork, maybe so much so that you don't even check your bank account to verify that the deposit came through each month. So when you get a letter from the Social Security Administration saying you've been overpaid and that the government will start withholding 50% of your checks, it's only natural to be alarmed. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to minimize how much you lose from future checks, or maybe even avoid garnishment altogether. You can request a lower overpayment recovery rate You may be able to avoid Social Security garnishment altogether if you have the cash on hand to repay the excess in a lump sum. For many people, this isn't an option, so your next-best bet is to request a lower overpayment recovery rate. The standard overpayment recovery rate is 50%. So if you receive $2,000 monthly checks, you could lose up to $1,000 per month until you've repaid the excess. This high repayment rate means you'll pay back what you owe more quickly, but it can leave you struggling to get by on half the benefits you're used to. Fortunately, the Social Security Administration gives you the chance to request a lower overpayment recovery rate if losing half your checks would put you in a financial bind. Even if you only manage to drop the recovery rate to 40%, that would save you an extra $200 per month in our example above. How to request a lower overpayment recovery rate You'll need to fill out a Request for Change in Overpayment Recovery Rate form to kick off the process. You'll answer some basic questions about yourself. Then you'll need to provide a detailed picture of your finances, including the value of your assets (home, cars, etc.), monthly household income, and monthly household expenses. There's also a space where you can share any other relevant information the government might need to understand your financial situation. The Social Security Adm...
A major census test faces cutbacks — with postal workers tapped to help count toggle caption John Raoux/AP The Trump administration is scaling back plans for this year's field test of the 2030 census, raising concerns about the Census Bureau's ability to produce a reliable population tally for redistributing political representation and federal funding in the next decade. The 2026 test was designe...
A major census test faces cutbacks — with postal workers tapped to help count toggle caption John Raoux/AP The Trump administration is scaling back plans for this year's field test of the 2030 census, raising concerns about the Census Bureau's ability to produce a reliable population tally for redistributing political representation and federal funding in the next decade. The 2026 test was designed to help the bureau improve the accuracy of the country's upcoming once-a-decade head count. A mix of communities in six states, as well as a national sample of households, was expected to take part in the experiment. But the agency is now set to reduce the number of test sites to two — Spartanburg, S.C., and Huntsville, Ala. — while adding plans to try replacing temporary census workers with U.S. Postal Service staff, according to a Federal Register notice that was made available for public inspection Monday before its official publication. Sponsor Message The bureau is also cutting a plan to provide Spanish- and Chinese-language versions of the census test's online form, which is now set to only be available in English. Spokespeople for the bureau and its parent agency, the Commerce Department, did not immediately respond to NPR's questions, including about what prompted these changes and whether counting for the test is still scheduled to start in March. In a statement Monday announcing the "launch of the 2026 Census Test," the bureau said it "remains committed to conducting the most accurate count in history for the 2030 Census and looks forward to the continued partnership with local communities." Among the locations no longer part of the census test are rural communities in western Texas and Indigenous tribal lands within Arizona and North Carolina. Those include the Fort Apache Reservation, home to the White Mountain Apache Tribe; San Carlos Reservation, home to the San Carlos Apache Tribe; and the Qualla Boundary, home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Terri...
Nikada/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Apple Inc. ( AAPL ) entered the new fiscal year beating earnings expectations and guiding a strong Q2 , despite the limited upside of AI features in the iPhone 17 after the delayed Siri overhaul last year. It seems that consumers don't have AI high on their list when upgrading to a new phone. Therefore, this iPhone cycle is running hotter than anticipated,...
Nikada/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Apple Inc. ( AAPL ) entered the new fiscal year beating earnings expectations and guiding a strong Q2 , despite the limited upside of AI features in the iPhone 17 after the delayed Siri overhaul last year. It seems that consumers don't have AI high on their list when upgrading to a new phone. Therefore, this iPhone cycle is running hotter than anticipated, pushing the company into supply chase mode, a dynamic that I haven't seen since the 5G transition. To be direct, I'm not bullish on Apple because the recent results confirmed the iPhone cycle momentum. This is a nice upside, but it's not the core pillar of my bull case. The main pillar of my bull case is the Gemini partnership, a topic I covered extensively in my pre-earnings coverage . For reference, the upside that I see comes mainly from an AI distribution model, where Apple could charge model providers for default assistant or large language model (“LLM”) placement, and from an iPhone upgrade perspective, given that Apple Intelligence is only available for iPhone 15 Pro models and iPhone 16 models or newer. That said, this article is focused on the Q1 earnings results and some of the risks that I see this year, particularly around gross margins. Q1 Highlights: iPhone Demand and Services on Fire Despite the skepticism last year due to the delay of big Siri upgrades, iPhone sales totaled $85.27B in the last quarter. To put that figure into perspective, please take a look below at the revenue growth of the iPhone product line for the last 3 years. Author Compilation The demand for the new iPhone 17 is so high that management said in the earnings call that the company is in supply chase mode and is currently constrained due to the availability of advanced nodes used for its SoCs. Here are some of the remarks from CEO Tim Cook during the last earnings call on the unprecedented demand: First of all, we were thrilled with the customer response on the latest iPhone lineup. It ...
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images The January Employment Situation report will be delayed due to the partial government shutdown that started on Sunday, according to media reports. The nonfarm payroll and unemployment rate data was scheduled to be released on Friday, Feb. 6. However, Congress didn't pass legislation to fund the government before the stopgap spending measure expired on Sunday...
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images The January Employment Situation report will be delayed due to the partial government shutdown that started on Sunday, according to media reports. The nonfarm payroll and unemployment rate data was scheduled to be released on Friday, Feb. 6. However, Congress didn't pass legislation to fund the government before the stopgap spending measure expired on Sunday, Feb. 1. The jobs report "will be rescheduled upon the resumption of government funding," an associate commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics told Bloomberg News. With the partial government shutdown, the BLS suspended its data collection, processing, and dissemination. The December Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, which was due to be released on Tuesday, will also be delayed, the article said. More on the US Economy ISM Manufacturing PMI expands for the first time in a year in January House Speaker Johnson is confident partial shutdown will end by Tuesday 3 Things To Expect From The January 2026 Job Report
After a strong rally, Broadcom (AVGO) stock has come under pressure, dropping 20% from its 52-week high of $414.61. Broadcom is a key supplier of semiconductors, enterprise software, and security solutions, and the company continues to benefit from solid demand tailwinds. In particular, the company's artificial intelligence (AI) focused semiconductor products are seeing significant momentum, while...
After a strong rally, Broadcom (AVGO) stock has come under pressure, dropping 20% from its 52-week high of $414.61. Broadcom is a key supplier of semiconductors, enterprise software, and security solutions, and the company continues to benefit from solid demand tailwinds. In particular, the company's artificial intelligence (AI) focused semiconductor products are seeing significant momentum, while adoption of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) has been strengthening its infrastructure software business. The main concern weighing on AVGO shares is profitability, particularly gross margins. Management recently projected that first-quarter consolidated gross margin could decline by 100 basis points sequentially. This is largely due to a higher mix of AI-related revenue, which carries lower margins compared to Broadcom’s software business. As AI revenue becomes a larger share of the business, overall gross margins may remain under pressure throughout the fiscal year. The company also noted that margins will continue to fluctuate depending on the balance between infrastructure software and semiconductor sales, as well as the specific product mix within chips. That said, Broadcom is focusing on improving operating leverage, implying that the company expects higher revenue volumes to translate into stronger operating profit dollars, even if gross margin percentages decline. In other words, Broadcom believes it can offset some margin compression through scale and efficiency. Looking ahead to the second half of the fiscal year, Broadcom expects to ship more AI systems. This will involve passing through additional component costs that are not manufactured by Broadcom, similar to how memory and other components are bundled into XPU. As a result, gross margin percentages may fall further because more third-party costs will flow through revenue. However, the company expects total gross margin dollars to rise, even if margins as a percentage of revenue decline. Broadcom believes opera...
What Happened? Shares of memory chips maker Micron (NYSE:MU) jumped 5.7% in the afternoon session after investor optimism grew amid an industry-wide memory supply shortage and soaring demand for its chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The surge in demand was tied to data center operators expanding their AI capabilities. Micron's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) products were in hig...
What Happened? Shares of memory chips maker Micron (NYSE:MU) jumped 5.7% in the afternoon session after investor optimism grew amid an industry-wide memory supply shortage and soaring demand for its chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The surge in demand was tied to data center operators expanding their AI capabilities. Micron's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) products were in high demand, with its chips designed into new GPUs from Nvidia and AMD. Major tech companies also signaled plans to increase their spending to support growing AI needs. This industry-wide memory supply shortage drove prices for dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) to their highest levels since 2019. Both Micron and a key competitor mentioned that their HBM products were sold out for 2026, highlighting the strong market conditions. More from Yahoo Scout What caused Micron's stock to surge today? What are analysts saying about Micron's price targets? How has Micron performed over the past year? How is AI demand affecting memory chip prices? Is now the time to buy Micron? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free. What Is The Market Telling Us Micron’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 42 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business. The previous big move we wrote about was 12 days ago when the stock gained 5.9% on the news that analysts at multiple firms, including Barclays, Stifel, and TD Cowen, raised their price targets on the stock, citing strong demand for its AI-related memory chips. Barclays increased its price target to $450, while Stifel lifted its target to $360, and TD Cowen also set a new target of $450. The optimism was fueled by Micron's strong performance, as its recent earnings report showed that sales grew by more than 50% from the year-ago period, with its cloud memory division revenue near...
"To find out now that after all that time, the level of trust that I had built up, to find that all that time he's been lying to me and pretending that he was supporting my case and supporting getting justice for Stephen."
"To find out now that after all that time, the level of trust that I had built up, to find that all that time he's been lying to me and pretending that he was supporting my case and supporting getting justice for Stephen."
A shortage of mental health beds and poor communication between agencies contributed to the death of a teenage girl on hospital grounds, an inquest has found. Ellame Ford-Dunn, 16, who had a history of self-harm, died in March 2022 after absconding from an acute children’s ward where she had been put because of a dearth of appropriate mental health beds. Her family and campaigners say Ellame’s dea...
A shortage of mental health beds and poor communication between agencies contributed to the death of a teenage girl on hospital grounds, an inquest has found. Ellame Ford-Dunn, 16, who had a history of self-harm, died in March 2022 after absconding from an acute children’s ward where she had been put because of a dearth of appropriate mental health beds. Her family and campaigners say Ellame’s death exposed a mental health system “crumbling at the seams”. The inquest jury at West Sussex coroner’s court was told that Ellame absconded “multiple times” during her stay at Worthing hospital’s Bluefin ward, which was not a specialist mental health unit. Jurors concluded the decision to place Ellame there was “inappropriate” and “more than minimally” contributed to her death. They found “inadequate provision” of mental health beds also contributed to her death. The coroner, Joanne Andrews, said she would issue a prevention of future deaths report to warn that more children would die unless the inadequate provision of mental health beds was tackled. Ellame’s parents Ken and Nancy Ford-Dunn urged the government to increase funding for mental health services to ensure “other families don’t have to experience the worst thing imaginable”. When Ellame absconded she was not immediately followed by staff, because they were not allowed to chase patients out of the ward, the inquest heard. It took 59 minutes for her to be found by police, the jury was told. University hospitals Sussex (UHSussex), which runs the acute ward, was fined £200,000 last year in a separate prosecution over Ellame’s death. Her mental health care was provided by Sussex partnership NHS foundation trust (SPFT). Jurors concluded that “poor coordination, communication and accountability” between “multiple agencies” also contributed to Ellame’s death. “Inconsistency in nursing handovers” and a lack of guidance for staff were another factor in her death, they found. The jury foreman said: “The instructions given to...
I recently described in a Barchart article why Microsoft Corp (MSFT) stock looks cheap here, despite the market's concerns about its free cash flow (FCF). My price target is $521, or 23% higher over the next year. One play for value investors is to sell short at-the-money and out-of-the-money put options with one-month expiration periods. MSFT is down today at $424.53 per share, well off its recen...
I recently described in a Barchart article why Microsoft Corp (MSFT) stock looks cheap here, despite the market's concerns about its free cash flow (FCF). My price target is $521, or 23% higher over the next year. One play for value investors is to sell short at-the-money and out-of-the-money put options with one-month expiration periods. MSFT is down today at $424.53 per share, well off its recent Jan. 28 peak of $481.63, before its market close release of fiscal Q2 earnings on the same day. This is a near-12 % decline over several days that seems overdone. Upside Potential My Jan. 30 Barchart article discussed this ("Microsoft's Free Cash Flow Crashes Due to High Capex - But Is MSFT Stock's Dip Overdone?"). I showed why Microsoft's FCF could reach $86 billion over the next 12 months (NTM), and this could give Microsoft a $3.87 trillion market cap. That is 22.66% higher than today's market cap of $3.155 trillion, according to Yahoo! Finance. In other words, MSFT could be worth: $424.53 stock price x 1.2266 = $520.73 per share Upside: +23% Other analysts are also optimistic. Yahoo! Finance's survey of 57 analysts' price targets (PTs) is $599.58. That's +41% higher than today's depressed stock price. Similarly, Barchart's mean survey price target (PT) is $604.46. However, AnaChart.com, which tracks recent stock analysts' write-ups, shows that the average PT of 29 analysts is $511.78. That still implies upside of 20.6% from today. So, along with me, most analysts are bullish over the long-term. That does not mean MSFT stock couldn't keep falling in the near term. This prospect has elevated put option premiums. That makes it profitable for value investors to sell short puts in one-month expiration periods. Shorting MSFT Puts This play allows investors to set a lower potential buy-in point for MSFT stock and also get paid while waiting. For example, look at the March 6, 2026, option expiration period, 32 days to expiry (DTE). It shows that the $410.00 put option exercis...
The US Department of Labor headquarters building is seen at dusk on June 21, 2024 in Washington, DC. J. David Ake | Getty Images News | Getty Images The Bureau of Labor Statistics will not be releasing the January jobs report as scheduled Friday due to the government shutdown, a department spokesman confirmed Monday. "The Employment Situation release for January 2026 will not be released as schedu...
The US Department of Labor headquarters building is seen at dusk on June 21, 2024 in Washington, DC. J. David Ake | Getty Images News | Getty Images The Bureau of Labor Statistics will not be releasing the January jobs report as scheduled Friday due to the government shutdown, a department spokesman confirmed Monday. "The Employment Situation release for January 2026 will not be released as scheduled on Friday, February 6, 2026. The release will be rescheduled upon the resumption of government funding," Emily Liddel, associate commissioner of the BLS, said in a statement. Following last year's record shutdown that stretched into early November, the bureau also was forced to delay a number of its routine releases and was just catching up from that incident. The BLS also releases the consumer price index, import and export data and multiple other labor- and consumer-related data pieces. It was not known if the Commerce Department also would face delays in its reporting due to the impasse in Washington. The decision comes ahead of a busy week for economic data that would have culminated with the nonfarm payrolls release, also known as the unemployment situation. The report provides a count of how many hires businesses report, which provides the headline nonfarm payrolls count, as well as a household count of how many people report holding jobs, which is used to tabulate the unemployment rate. Markets had been expecting the report to show an increase of 55,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.4%. The government closed its doors again Saturday after Congress was unable to come up with a spending plan by the deadline. One of the sticking points in the bill was funding for the Department of Homeland Security following unrest over its efforts to stem illegal immigration. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said over the weekend that he expects the impasse could be resolved by Tuesday.
JHVEPhoto Seeking Alpha's roundup of statements, announcements, and remarks that could impact markets, sectors, or individual stocks. The U.S. and India have finally reached a trade deal. "Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduce...
JHVEPhoto Seeking Alpha's roundup of statements, announcements, and remarks that could impact markets, sectors, or individual stocks. The U.S. and India have finally reached a trade deal. "Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%. They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers against the United States to ZERO," Trump said in a long post on Truth Social . "The Prime Minister also committed to “BUY AMERICAN,” at a much higher level, in addition to over $500 BILLION DOLLARS of U.S. Energy, Technology, Agricultural, Coal, and many other products. Our amazing relationship with India will be even stronger going forward," Trump added. Trump also said that India has agreed to stop buying Russian oil and buy more oil from the U.S. and potentially Venezuela. Disney ( DIS ) CEO Bob Iger, who is slated to step down at the end of the year, told investors Monday that the entertainment company was on a "path to continued growth." “I’m incredibly proud of all that we’ve accomplished over the past three years to set Disney on the path to continued growth. I’m inspired and energized by the opportunities ahead for this wonderful company,” Iger said during a conference call with investors, according to CNBC . Disney reported better-than-expected fiscal Q1 earnings early Monday. On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Iger would like to step down as CEO before his contract expires at the end of 2026. Josh D’Amaro, who oversees Disney's theme parks and resorts division, is believed to be a frontrunner for the job. Disney's board is expected to vote on Iger's successor later this week, according to CNBC. Devon Energy ( DVN ) and Coterra Energy ( CTRA ) have agreed to merge through an all-stock deal with an enterprise value of aroun...