The semiconductor sector has become shorthand for the AI boom, and Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ) sits at the center of that trade. Trading at $64.24 per share as of February 9, 2026, the fund has surged 64% over the past year as investors bet on AI infrastructure spending. That momentum carried into 2026 with ... SOXQ Holds $1 Billion in AI Chip Stocks as Hyperscaler Capex Dictates ...
The semiconductor sector has become shorthand for the AI boom, and Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ) sits at the center of that trade. Trading at $64.24 per share as of February 9, 2026, the fund has surged 64% over the past year as investors bet on AI infrastructure spending. That momentum carried into 2026 with ... SOXQ Holds $1 Billion in AI Chip Stocks as Hyperscaler Capex Dictates What Happen Next
Continuing extreme weather has caused deaths of 16 people, evacuation of thousands and destruction of homes Europe live – latest updates Portugal is under pressure to draw up plans to adapt to the climate emergency as the country continues to be lashed by an unprecedented series of storms that have killed at least 16 people and left tens of thousands without electricity. More than 3,000 people wer...
Continuing extreme weather has caused deaths of 16 people, evacuation of thousands and destruction of homes Europe live – latest updates Portugal is under pressure to draw up plans to adapt to the climate emergency as the country continues to be lashed by an unprecedented series of storms that have killed at least 16 people and left tens of thousands without electricity. More than 3,000 people were evacuated from the Coimbra area of central Portugal on Wednesday as the Mondego River reached critical levels, while part of the country’s main motorway, the A1, collapsed after a dyke on the Mondego gave way under the weight of flood water. Continue reading...
stockcam/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Duolingo ( DUOL ) is currently is a very fortunate position. When most companies talk about AI transformation , they are mainly talking about how AI makes their internal tooling more efficient. In Duolingo's case, AI completely changes the unit-economics of the product itself of making lessons, improving lessons, and scaling lessons into entirely new sub...
stockcam/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Duolingo ( DUOL ) is currently is a very fortunate position. When most companies talk about AI transformation , they are mainly talking about how AI makes their internal tooling more efficient. In Duolingo's case, AI completely changes the unit-economics of the product itself of making lessons, improving lessons, and scaling lessons into entirely new subjects and domains. Duolingo does not just benefit from AI internally. Rather, it offers a product which can continually absorb the rapid progress of the latest frontier models with minimal refactors. It also allows the company increase the rate of compounding in which it can improve its own product, through data, iteration speed, and a learning flywheel. Duolingo's Habit-Building and Size Advantage Duolingo is now a clear dominant leader in the global gamified learning industry. The company boasts tens of millions of daily users and over 100 million monthly active users. This scale matters because even small improvements in course quality translate to millions of extra practice sessions. These millions of extra practice sessions can then turn into signals in which Duolingo can and does use for improved personalization and teaching. AI is a Catalyst For Fast Course Creation To say that AI is beneficial to Duolingo's business model is an understatement. Historically, the largest costs associated with edtech was the human labor associated with created high-quality and tailored course content. AI allows Duolingo to create high-quality content at far faster pace by treating it as an engineering problem: Course experts define course guardrails and goals, and AI helps generate these courses at a fraction at a cost and at far greater speed. From the consumer's perspective, AI allows Duolingo to address many of the bottlenecks that have plagued the company. Most notably, AI's ability to allow for conversational role-play can vastly improve the language learning experience. Another e...
solarseven/iStock via Getty Images A powerful rotation is taking hold beneath the surface of the U.S. equity rally, with leadership broadening well beyond mega-cap technology names. Data compiled by Societe Generale showed U.S. small caps ( RTY ) have outperformed the Nasdaq-100 ( NDX ) ( QQQ ) ( QQQM ) by roughly 13% over the past six months—the strongest relative run in five years during a risin...
solarseven/iStock via Getty Images A powerful rotation is taking hold beneath the surface of the U.S. equity rally, with leadership broadening well beyond mega-cap technology names. Data compiled by Societe Generale showed U.S. small caps ( RTY ) have outperformed the Nasdaq-100 ( NDX ) ( QQQ ) ( QQQM ) by roughly 13% over the past six months—the strongest relative run in five years during a rising market. The surge marks a sharp reversal from the narrow, mega-cap-led advance that defined much of the past two years. The improvement is not limited to price action. According to Societe Generale’s Manish Kabra, Head of U.S. Equity Strategy and Multi-Asset Strategist, market breadth has strengthened materially, with nearly two-thirds of S&P 500 constituents now outperforming the benchmark. That shift signals a healthier participation profile and suggests investor flows are rotating into more cyclical and domestically exposed segments. Historically, such inflection points in relative small-cap momentum have coincided with improving risk appetite and expanding profit expectations. If sustained, the current rotation could reduce concentration risk in U.S. equities and provide a more durable foundation for the broader bull market. Here is a chart from Societe Generale: Societe Generale More markets Strong Jobs Market Suggests Considering Cyclical Stocks Teen Employment Situation Little Changed In January 2026 Dow Jones And U.S. Index Outlook: Hawkish NFP Sends Stocks Lower Crypto prices retreat after strong jobs report sends stocks on wild ride Stocks are struggling to grind higher in 2026, SA analyst notes that cracks are emerging
British racer poised for podium after opening rounds Sledder turned in back-to-back Cortina track records This was the race that will always be remembered for the one man who didn’t make the start. Exactly 21 minutes before the men’s skeleton was scheduled to begin the IOC put out their press release announcing that they had revoked the Olympic accreditation of the Ukrainian slider Vladyslav Heras...
British racer poised for podium after opening rounds Sledder turned in back-to-back Cortina track records This was the race that will always be remembered for the one man who didn’t make the start. Exactly 21 minutes before the men’s skeleton was scheduled to begin the IOC put out their press release announcing that they had revoked the Olympic accreditation of the Ukrainian slider Vladyslav Heraskevych after he refused to compete without his helmet decorated with the images of his fellow athletes who have been killed during the Russian invasion of his country. It was so late the two British competitors, Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt said they didn’t even find out about it till after they had finished. By then, the news had already spread around the world, and the one Ukrainian journalist present, Stanislav Oroshkevych, from tribuna.com, found he was suddenly surrounded by colleagues from Germany, Britain, Japan, and a dozen other countries, all asking him for public comment on what was going on. Soon, the Ukrainian press attache arrived to save him and announced that Heraskevych would come to give an impromptu press conference himself. The photos of Heraskevych standing behind the barriers near the finish, his helmet tucked under his arm, addressing a crowd of 30 journalists, will be one of the iconic images of these Olympics. Continue reading...
alexsl/iStock via Getty Images Piper Sandler ( PIPR ) took a hit today. In terms of earnings, results were quite good. Healthcare drove the equity financing business, as in the previous coverage, with healthcare meaning medtech and biotech being decent areas in the laggard recovery in the reflexive parts of the public markets responding positively to lower rates. All businesses were strong or flat...
alexsl/iStock via Getty Images Piper Sandler ( PIPR ) took a hit today. In terms of earnings, results were quite good. Healthcare drove the equity financing business, as in the previous coverage, with healthcare meaning medtech and biotech being decent areas in the laggard recovery in the reflexive parts of the public markets responding positively to lower rates. All businesses were strong or flat other than fixed income, which was up against tough comps, and municipal financing was lackluster but with continued potential. Sponsors also seem to be coming back, and the market hiccup in tech stocks doesn't seem to be affecting ECM, which it could have with that business being low visibility. The reason the stock was down today, regardless of solid performances in capital markets, seems to be linked to Altruist Corp's AI tool, which could have applications in wealth management and tax advisory, able to generate tax strategies. Our understanding is that this technology is LLM-based. We do not believe LLMs have the attention to detail and guarantee of precision necessary for displacing advisory shops for capital markets, which would have to be the concern given that PIPR doesn't have direct exposure to the markets that this tool might disrupt. It has an investment banking and brokerage business. Moreover, advisory shops add value through their networks of interested buyers and sellers among corporates and financial sponsors, which is what the industry's human capital brings to the table, and we don't see the threat here from LLMs. This should be a tactical buying opportunity. Results Headline segment results (Q4 Pres) Q4 performance was phenomenal . On very significant growth in advisory driven by key depositary, industrial, and healthcare franchises, compensation ratios fell considerably, leading to an almost doubling in EPS. Corporate financing had a strong performance, driven again, it would seem, by a lagged recovery in IPO markets and therefore in ECM thanks to the ...
Amrit Bansal-McNulty claim relates to alleged racism Clubs deny wrongdoing in case being heard at tribunal Queens Park Rangers and Crawley Town are being sued for more than £11m by a former player who is claiming they failed to protect him from alleged racist banter that he says destroyed his career. The Championship club are joint defendants with Crawley in a claim currently being heard at the Ce...
Amrit Bansal-McNulty claim relates to alleged racism Clubs deny wrongdoing in case being heard at tribunal Queens Park Rangers and Crawley Town are being sued for more than £11m by a former player who is claiming they failed to protect him from alleged racist banter that he says destroyed his career. The Championship club are joint defendants with Crawley in a claim currently being heard at the Central London Employment Tribunal, brought by the former Northern Ireland Under-21 international Amrit Bansal-McNulty, who is suing for £11.1m for a loss of opportunity and personal injury. Both clubs have denied wrongdoing. Continue reading...