The United States and China are set to extend October’s trade war truce by up to a year when US President Donald Trump visits Beijing, the South China Morning Post reported exclusively on Thursday. Trump would probably meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in the first week of April, potentially after arriving on March 31 for a three-day trip, the newspaper said, citing unidentified sources. The timin...
The United States and China are set to extend October’s trade war truce by up to a year when US President Donald Trump visits Beijing, the South China Morning Post reported exclusively on Thursday. Trump would probably meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in the first week of April, potentially after arriving on March 31 for a three-day trip, the newspaper said, citing unidentified sources. The timing is still under discussion, as Beijing weighs scheduling around the April 5 Ching Ming...
SoftBank, the Japanese tech investor that has aggressively spent pursuing what it calls “artificial super intelligence,” said its recorded a $4.2 billion gain in the last quarter on its 11% stake in OpenAI.
SoftBank, the Japanese tech investor that has aggressively spent pursuing what it calls “artificial super intelligence,” said its recorded a $4.2 billion gain in the last quarter on its 11% stake in OpenAI.
(RTTNews) - European stocks traded at record high levels on Thursday as investors cheered upbeat earnings from the likes of Legrand, Hermes and Siemens.
(RTTNews) - European stocks traded at record high levels on Thursday as investors cheered upbeat earnings from the likes of Legrand, Hermes and Siemens.
courtneyk/iStock via Getty Images By Rupert Watts The latest addition to the S&P Aristocrats Index Series, the S&P 500 ® Buyback Aristocrats Index, represents a new generation of buyback indices. This index tracks companies that have consistently reduced their common shares outstanding for at least 10 consecutive years —a rare achievement that signals disciplined capital management, financial stre...
courtneyk/iStock via Getty Images By Rupert Watts The latest addition to the S&P Aristocrats Index Series, the S&P 500 ® Buyback Aristocrats Index, represents a new generation of buyback indices. This index tracks companies that have consistently reduced their common shares outstanding for at least 10 consecutive years —a rare achievement that signals disciplined capital management, financial strength and a steadfast commitment to shareholder interests. Just as the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ® identifies companies with a proven history of growing dividend payments, the S&P 500 Buyback Aristocrats Index recognizes firms that demonstrate sustained dedication to share repurchases, with a particular emphasis on net share count reduction. This parallel underscores a core principle: quality is not defined by isolated actions but by persistent behavior over time. By focusing on long-term buyback consistency, this index showcases companies focused on creating lasting value with a proven track record of enhancing shareholder returns. A Differentiated Buyback Strategy As of Dec. 31, 2025, the S&P 500 Buyback Aristocrats Index comprises 64 companies. Unlike traditional buyback strategies that rely on a single point-in-time assessment, this index emphasizes consistency across market cycles. This distinction is significant, as companies that regularly execute net buybacks tend to exhibit higher quality and more resilient earning power. Spreading buyback activity over multiple periods also helps address a common criticism of repurchases—that they are often poorly timed—thus resulting in a more balanced and reliable approach to capital return. Long-Term Outperformance Back-tested data shows that the S&P 500 Buyback Aristocrats Index has outpaced the S&P 500 by 2.46% on an annualized basis since June 30, 2000. This long-term outperformance makes sense: as companies reduce their shares outstanding, each remaining share represents a larger claim on future earnings. Moreover, a sust...
Samsung has begun early mass production of next generation HBM4 memory chips. The company has secured orders after passing Nvidia's quality certification. This move raises competitive pressure for Micron Technology in the AI hardware supply chain. For Micron Technology (NasdaqGS:MU), Samsung's early HBM4 ramp is closely connected to its AI memory ambitions. Micron's share price is currently $410.3...
Samsung has begun early mass production of next generation HBM4 memory chips. The company has secured orders after passing Nvidia's quality certification. This move raises competitive pressure for Micron Technology in the AI hardware supply chain. For Micron Technology (NasdaqGS:MU), Samsung's early HBM4 ramp is closely connected to its AI memory ambitions. Micron's share price is currently $410.34, with the stock up 8.2% over the past week and 18.6% over the past month. The move in HBM4...
Meet The Meta Supplier Behind Ray-Ban Smart Glasses For some time, we've been on the right side of this call: Meta's smart glasses are the clear winner versus Apple Vision Pro for one simple reason: they're built for daily life. The value proposition is obvious too. They're priced only a notch above high-end Ray-Bans, yet drastically cheaper than the goofy-looking $3,500 Vision Pro headset. Let's ...
Meet The Meta Supplier Behind Ray-Ban Smart Glasses For some time, we've been on the right side of this call: Meta's smart glasses are the clear winner versus Apple Vision Pro for one simple reason: they're built for daily life. The value proposition is obvious too. They're priced only a notch above high-end Ray-Bans, yet drastically cheaper than the goofy-looking $3,500 Vision Pro headset. Let's take a step back to December 2024: Meta Smart Ray-Ban Glasses Big Winner? Goldman Finds App Downloads Hit 200% YoY One of our focuses has been Meta's smart glasses supply chain. That work highlighted how Meta reportedly took a nearly 3% stake in EssilorLuxottica , the world's largest eyewear maker and the parent of Ray-Ban and Oakley, in a deal valued at around $3.5 billion last summer. The investment only made sense at the time, with research firm Sensor Data showing increased downloads of the Meta app that implied surging demand for the smart glasses, while Apple Vision Pro slid into the abyss. Fast forward to today. EssilorLuxottica reported fourth-quarter sales rose 18% (constant currency) to 7.6 billion euros, well above the roughly 11% increase Wall Street analysts tracked by Bloomberg expected. Growth was driven by surging demand for Meta's Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Oakley smart glasses. The company sold more than 7 million units last year. Full-year 2024 adjusted operating income rose 6.8% to 4.5 billion euros, but the adjusted margin was 16%, about 70 basis points lower than 2023 (constant exchange rates), with pressure intensifying in the second half. " Looking ahead to the next five years, we are committed to delivering solid revenue growth, with the adjusted operating profit's pace broadly aligned ," CEO Francesco Milleri and Deputy CEO Paul Du Saillant wrote in a statement. Since the Meta Ray-Bans launched in September 2023, shares of EssilorLuxottica in Europe have nearly doubled, though they've more recently pulled back about 21% from the high reached in...
Following a successful pilot program at several NHS Trusts, Oracle Health today announced its Clinical AI Agent, Clinical Note is now available in the UK. The new AI solution allows caregivers at the NHS and private practices to use an ambient voice and screen-driven assistant to draft patient notes, so they can reduce administrative tasks and devote more time to patient care. Trusts participating...
Following a successful pilot program at several NHS Trusts, Oracle Health today announced its Clinical AI Agent, Clinical Note is now available in the UK. The new AI solution allows caregivers at the NHS and private practices to use an ambient voice and screen-driven assistant to draft patient notes, so they can reduce administrative tasks and devote more time to patient care. Trusts participating in the pilot program, including Barts Health NHS Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and
Richard Drury/DigitalVision via Getty Images The Fundstrat Granny Shots US Large Cap ETF ( GRNY ) caught my attention recently as it's quite different from the usual large-cap growth funds. It's actively managed, with a novel and transparent methodology, and it's equal-weighted. This article looks at why its flexibility and swift turnover could be an advantage in the current market environment. GR...
Richard Drury/DigitalVision via Getty Images The Fundstrat Granny Shots US Large Cap ETF ( GRNY ) caught my attention recently as it's quite different from the usual large-cap growth funds. It's actively managed, with a novel and transparent methodology, and it's equal-weighted. This article looks at why its flexibility and swift turnover could be an advantage in the current market environment. GRNY Basics GRNY was developed by Tom Lee, who is the co-founder of Fundstrat and a very famous analyst. Unfortunately for Lee, his record of good calls has recently been sullied by overoptimism in the crypto space. Here he is in November '25 calling for Ethereum to reach $7-9k by the end of January. As we know, rather than the expected rally, it crashed and made an early February low of just $1.7k. Of course, we all get market calls wrong, but this was way off the mark, and he has doubled down on it multiple times. It makes me cautious about GRNY, but thankfully, there is a solid methodology behind stock selection and a (short) history of good performance. Furthermore, Lee or the other fund managers may get some calls wrong, but since the holdings are equally weighted, not too much damage can be done (the top holding has only 3.7% weighting). The active management comes at a cost of 0.75%, which is slightly higher than the industry average of 0.65% but happens to be exactly the same as another theme-based, actively managed ETF headed by a famous analyst, Cathie Wood's ARK Innovation ETF ( ARKK ). They are quite different funds, though, as ARKK's themes are based on innovation, while GRNY is more flexible. Furthermore, the equal weighting in GRNY gives investors a much smoother ride as volatility is less. Data by YCharts Data by YCharts There is a high correlation to the Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 ETF ( QQQ ) and a steady outperformance since the fund's inception in November 2024. Data by YCharts That outperformance could be a function of higher beta, as GRNY has slightly hi...