Germany's Economy Minister Urges Nuclear Rethink As Energy Prices Surge, Growth Forecasts Slide Germany’s Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has openly called for a fundamental reassessment of the country’s long-standing rejection of nuclear power, warning that heavy dependence on gas has left Europe’s largest economy dangerously exposed to repeated energy shocks. Speaking at the launch of a new in...
Germany's Economy Minister Urges Nuclear Rethink As Energy Prices Surge, Growth Forecasts Slide Germany’s Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has openly called for a fundamental reassessment of the country’s long-standing rejection of nuclear power, warning that heavy dependence on gas has left Europe’s largest economy dangerously exposed to repeated energy shocks. Speaking at the launch of a new international investor conference aimed at drawing foreign capital into Germany, Reiche told the Financial Times that the decision by previous governments to phase out nuclear generation has eliminated any realistic alternative for reliable baseload electricit y. “ We need gas to secure our supply - that is the only baseload supply I have left, ” she said. “Politically speaking, I have no alternative.” Reiche, a senior figure in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union, made the remarks as fresh data highlighted the mounting costs of the nuclear exit, originally decided under Angela Merkel in 2011 and completed under Olaf Scholz. While the policy was accompanied by a massive push for renewables, it has left Germany more reliant on gas-fired power stations to keep the lights on when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. Related: German Chancellor Merz Admits Shutting Down Nuclear Energy Production Was A "Severe Strategic Mistake" Germany Blows Up Last Nuclear Plant Towers While Economy Collapses The US Shows A Way Out Of Germany's Energy Trap European gas prices have risen more than 60 per cent since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East , delivering the continent’s second major energy price crisis in under five years. Futures contracts for German electricity in May are trading at four times the level seen in France, Europe’s biggest nuclear producer, according to the energy exchange EEX. Reiche urged Germany to stop sitting on the sidelines of Europe’s nuclear revival. France, Sweden and Poland are all either building new reactors or extending t...
Semiconductor stocks are no longer driven solely by artificial intelligence (AI) demand. Instead, supply constraints and geopolitical risk are becoming increasingly important in the current market environment. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) , the leading chip manufacturer with a 72% share of the global foundry market, will report its March 2026 sales on April 10. That data point wi...
Semiconductor stocks are no longer driven solely by artificial intelligence (AI) demand. Instead, supply constraints and geopolitical risk are becoming increasingly important in the current market environment. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) , the leading chip manufacturer with a 72% share of the global foundry market, will report its March 2026 sales on April 10. That data point will provide investors with a real-time indication of how much AI demand the company is managing to actually fulfill amid the ongoing Iran conflict. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
In 2025, China witnessed an explosion of “sci-tech innovation bonds,” with issuance climbing to about 2.3 trillion yuan ($326 billion), an 87.5% increase from the previous year. The boom was catalyzed by a major policy push in May with the launch of a sci-tech innovation board for the bond market, creating a frenzy of activity among investors and state-backed issuers.
In 2025, China witnessed an explosion of “sci-tech innovation bonds,” with issuance climbing to about 2.3 trillion yuan ($326 billion), an 87.5% increase from the previous year. The boom was catalyzed by a major policy push in May with the launch of a sci-tech innovation board for the bond market, creating a frenzy of activity among investors and state-backed issuers.
Tatiana rico/iStock via Getty Images By Ewa Manthey , Commodities Strategist | Warren Patterson , Head of Commodities Strategy Energy – Oil jumps after Trump’s war escalation threats Oil rebounded sharply on Thursday, rising more than 5% after two days of declines, as US President Donald Trump threatened a further escalation of the war with Iran, injecting fresh uncertainty into energy markets. Br...
Tatiana rico/iStock via Getty Images By Ewa Manthey , Commodities Strategist | Warren Patterson , Head of Commodities Strategy Energy – Oil jumps after Trump’s war escalation threats Oil rebounded sharply on Thursday, rising more than 5% after two days of declines, as US President Donald Trump threatened a further escalation of the war with Iran, injecting fresh uncertainty into energy markets. Brent was trading above $107/bbl, while WTI was close to $106/bbl on Thursday morning following Trump’s address to the nation last night. The President said the US would hit Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks and could target “each and every one” of the country’s power plants. He also claimed the Strait of Hormuz would reopen “naturally” once the conflict ends, though he offered no details or a clear timeline. Trump additionally urged allies reliant on Middle Eastern energy to help resolve the near‑closure of Hormuz. Even if shipping through the Strait of Hormuz resumes, a return to prewar market conditions is likely to be slow, as upstream production restarts, logistics normalisation and inventory rebuilding will take time. US inventory data were mixed. EIA figures showed crude stocks rose for a sixth consecutive week, increasing by 5.5m barrels, below the 10.3m‑barrel build reported earlier by the API. Total crude inventories climbed to 461.6m barrels, the highest since June 2023 and close to the five‑year average. Cushing stocks rose by 520k barrels to 31.5m barrels, also the highest since July 2024. Crude imports were steady at 6.5m b/d, while exports increased by 199k b/d to 3.5m b/d. In refined products, gasoline and distillate stocks fell by 0.6m barrels and 2.1m barrels, respectively, reflecting weak refinery runs despite rising implied demand amid heightened supply concerns. Refinery utilisation slipped 0.8ppt week-on-week to 92.1%. Metals – Aluminium rallies on more Gulf smelter halts Aluminium prices rallied above $3,500/t on Thursday after repo...
Anthropic's launch of Claude CoWork marks a significant progression in agentic AI -- turning a large language model (LLM) into a proactive digital workforce that can plan, execute, and deliver complex workflows. By granting Claude access to local files, applications, and browsers, the artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of compressing multistep projects into a single, conversational interface....
Anthropic's launch of Claude CoWork marks a significant progression in agentic AI -- turning a large language model (LLM) into a proactive digital workforce that can plan, execute, and deliver complex workflows. By granting Claude access to local files, applications, and browsers, the artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of compressing multistep projects into a single, conversational interface. CoWork's debut is making smart investors question whether general-purpose AI agents will eventually render specialized subscription tools redundant. I'm asking a deeper, more narrow question: Does Claude CoWork endanger Palantir Technologies ' (NASDAQ: PLTR) Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), or is the company's domain-specific architecture insulated? Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Khanchit Khirisutchalual/iStock via Getty Images The last time I talked about Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM) I was very positive, and I would be lying to you if I told you that despite the declines… even today… for me it still makes sense to be. We were at the beginning of a sector rotation toward defensive sectors, at the expense of technology. A rotation that was generating a valuation gap that c...
Khanchit Khirisutchalual/iStock via Getty Images The last time I talked about Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM) I was very positive, and I would be lying to you if I told you that despite the declines… even today… for me it still makes sense to be. We were at the beginning of a sector rotation toward defensive sectors, at the expense of technology. A rotation that was generating a valuation gap that caught my attention: earnings expectations for the Nasdaq-100 remained high, but prices were flat/down. With the operation in Iran, and the spike in oil prices, this valuation gap widened even further, becoming impossible to ignore. Are these good valuations or is this one of those traps better to avoid? Here I will answer with numbers, but first… A necessary TL;DR Who doesn’t know QQQM? It is a widely used passive ETF (AUM above $68B) that tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index with physical replication / full replication, rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually with a turnover of 6%. QQQM: Price performance overview (Seeking Alpha) It has gained traction because the fund has a management fee of 0.15% and a total expense ratio of 0.15% with a negligible bid/ask spread (0.01%); for example, QQQ has it at 0.18%, with a difference of about 0.03%. In any case, this is offset by a modest but present dividend yield typically below 0.60%. QQQM- QQQ: ETF profile overview (Seeking Alpha) The fund therefore has about 100 holdings, which it includes using a modified market capitalization-weighted methodology where no single stock can exceed about 24% of the index weight. However, the Nasdaq-100 today remains quite concentrated, with the top 5 holdings representing about 30.2% and the top 10 holdings about 46.8%-50%; predominantly tech and 100% US. QQQM: Top holdings overview (Seeking Alpha) For further insights, I invite you to read this previous research . The thesis that guided my BUY rating In the last coverage I talked about an extreme trade-off between opportunity and tail risk, dri...