Microsoft Chief People Officer Amy Coleman explains the company’s "AI-first" strategy and how the tech giant is maintaining a human-centered culture. Coleman shares insights on what C-suite leaders must prioritize as the workplace evolves and AI integration accelerates.
Microsoft Chief People Officer Amy Coleman explains the company’s "AI-first" strategy and how the tech giant is maintaining a human-centered culture. Coleman shares insights on what C-suite leaders must prioritize as the workplace evolves and AI integration accelerates.
Olga Yastremska/iStock via Getty Images Foreword Investors have ignored dividend stocks for the greater part of three years while visions of other investing sugarplums danced in their heads. Money market funds and Treasuries offered better yields for no risk, for a start, and then came the artificial intelligence (AI) boom in growth stocks, all of which "sucked the capital out of the rest of the m...
Olga Yastremska/iStock via Getty Images Foreword Investors have ignored dividend stocks for the greater part of three years while visions of other investing sugarplums danced in their heads. Money market funds and Treasuries offered better yields for no risk, for a start, and then came the artificial intelligence (AI) boom in growth stocks, all of which "sucked the capital out of the rest of the market," says Jay Hatfield, chief executive of Infrastructure Capital Advisors and manager of the InfraCap Equity Income exchange-traded fund. Little wonder, then, that dividend stocks have lagged the S&P 500 in recent years. But the tide seems to be turning, in part because interest rates [came] down, which helped make dividend stocks more appealing. Hatfield says. "We think this trend will continue." Indeed, investors have forgotten some truisms about dividend-stock investing. Over the long haul, for one, dividend-paying stocks have outpaced non-dividend payers, and they've been less volatile, too, says John Buckingham, editor of the investing newsletter The Prudent Speculator. "Everyone's holy grail is higher returns and lower risk, and it's sitting right in front of us with dividend-paying stocks," he says. —BY NELLIE S. HUANG, Kiplinger Investing This collection of Dogcatcher Attractive Toy Dogs is low priced, and 20 reveal ideal dividends supported by free cash flow. Sadly, March showed twenty-four Toy Dogs that failed the safety check. Either those twenty-four “losers” had negative net income for the year or their free cash flow was inadequate to pay dividends; that meant paying dividends with borrowed money. With renewed downside market pressure to $15 or 62%, it could be possible for thirty of the forty-four top-yield YCharts “attractive” toy dogs to become elite fair-priced, with their annual yield (from $1K invested) meeting or exceeding their single share prices. [See a summary of the top ten fair-priced March YCharts Attractive Toy Dogs (below actionable conclus...
Tippapatt/iStock via Getty Images Bond investors were rewarded with positive returns across the U.S. bond market during the fourth quarter. Fund performance Columbia Quality Income Fund Institutional Class shares returned 0.97% for the three months ending December 31, 2025, outperforming its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) Index, which returned 1.71% for the same per...
Tippapatt/iStock via Getty Images Bond investors were rewarded with positive returns across the U.S. bond market during the fourth quarter. Fund performance Columbia Quality Income Fund Institutional Class shares returned 0.97% for the three months ending December 31, 2025, outperforming its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) Index, which returned 1.71% for the same period. Market overview Bond investors were rewarded with positive returns across the U.S. bond market during the fourth quarter. With indicators suggesting that economic growth was softening, the U.S. Federal Reserve continued to ease interest rates, with two additional 25-basis-point (bps) cuts at its October and December meetings, leaving the federal funds target rate in the 3.50% to 3.75% range. (A basis point is 1/100 of one percent.) The Fed also announced an end to its quantitative tightening program, under which it has reduced the size of its balance sheet by not reinvesting the proceeds from maturing bonds. The Fed cited a softening employment backdrop but also indicated caution with respect to additional rate cuts, given lingering inflation concerns. The Treasury yield curve steepened slightly over the quarter, while the 10-year Treasury yield finished essentially flat, moving from 4.16% to 4.18%. Against this backdrop, securitized assets outperformed, with mortgage-backed securities (MBS) continuing to benefit from lower interest-rate volatility and prepayment risk. The Bloomberg US MBS Index generated a 1.71% total return during the fourth quarter, supported by strong carry, reduced prepayment risk and positive technical signals. Demand improved from real-estate investment trusts (REITs) and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), which got relief on the number of mortgages they could hold on to their balance sheets. This uptick in demand was coupled with continued low supply, given tough affordability metrics. Inventories continued to rise. Existing homes availab...
Copper fell along with other base metals as investors monitored the uncertainty surrounding US-Iran negotiations to possibly end the war. The US has insisted talks are ongoing while Iran has publicly rejected President Donald Trump’s outreach. The war, now nearing the one-month mark, has raised concerns about inflation and slowing industrial activity across the world, clouding the demand outlook f...
Copper fell along with other base metals as investors monitored the uncertainty surrounding US-Iran negotiations to possibly end the war. The US has insisted talks are ongoing while Iran has publicly rejected President Donald Trump’s outreach. The war, now nearing the one-month mark, has raised concerns about inflation and slowing industrial activity across the world, clouding the demand outlook for metals. Confusion over the direction and duration of the conflict is keeping some traders on the sidelines. “I have exited positions on base metals futures,” said Aces Zhou, a Shanghai-based trader at KS Commodities Ltd. “At this price level, I tend to wait for the geopolitical story to be done first and wait for another trading topic.” Still, investors are monitoring recovering demand in China after copper prices slipped 8% this month due to the Iran war. “It will be very comfortable for some fabricators to buy at current price level” as the country’s robust exports, especially of power equipment, drive demand, Zhou said. Copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 1.1% to $12,179 a ton as of 10:37 a.m. in Shanghai and aluminum declined 0.7%. Nickel steadied following a jump of 2.3% on Wednesday, after the world’s top producer Indonesia approved taxes on exports of the battery metal.
Earnings Call Insights: Journey Medical Corporation (DERM) Q4 2025 Management View Claude Maraoui, Founder, President, CEO & Director, described 2025 as a milestone year, highlighting the successful launch of Emrosi, Journey’s internally developed oral rosacea treatment. "Emrosi was made available to pharmacies in late March of last year, and our promotional activities began in early April. I am p...
Earnings Call Insights: Journey Medical Corporation (DERM) Q4 2025 Management View Claude Maraoui, Founder, President, CEO & Director, described 2025 as a milestone year, highlighting the successful launch of Emrosi, Journey’s internally developed oral rosacea treatment. "Emrosi was made available to pharmacies in late March of last year, and our promotional activities began in early April. I am pleased to report that during the 3 quarters of 2025 in which Emrosi was commercially available, the product achieved $14.7 million in net sales." Maraoui reported, "We delivered total net product revenue growth of 11%, and we improved our gross margin by nearly 3.5 percentage points compared to the 2024 period. Importantly, our business was able to make solid financial progress despite pressure on our Accutane franchise and other legacy products due to generic competition." The company recorded positive adjusted EBITDA as well as positive EBITDA in Q4 2025 and expects to remain adjusted EBITDA positive in 2026 and beyond. Maraoui stated, "With our solid cash position of approximately $24 million, I believe that Journey is well positioned to execute on our business plan and grow sales and profitability with the resources that we have in place." Prescription volume for Emrosi grew nearly 50% sequentially in Q4 versus Q3, with over 3,500 unique dermatology prescribers having written at least one script for Emrosi by year end. Maraoui noted, "At present, approximately 100 million commercial covered lives have access to Emrosi. This includes contracts in place with 2 of the top 3 group purchasing organizations in the United States." Plans to launch one or two incremental dermatology products later in 2026 were announced. Joseph Benesch, CFO, stated, "Total revenues for the year were $61.9 million, representing a 10% increase compared to $56.1 million for 2024. The increase reflects incremental net product revenue related to the successful U.S. commercial launch of Emrosi." Outlo...