It is easy to find an oil and natural gas producer that will benefit from rising commodity prices. In fact, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) doesn't stand out from the pack when energy prices are heading higher. And most investors should still consider it, because oil prices will eventually fall, as they always have before. And when that happens, Exxon will stand out. Here's why. The geopolitical conflict i...
It is easy to find an oil and natural gas producer that will benefit from rising commodity prices. In fact, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) doesn't stand out from the pack when energy prices are heading higher. And most investors should still consider it, because oil prices will eventually fall, as they always have before. And when that happens, Exxon will stand out. Here's why. The geopolitical conflict in the Middle East is a headline-grabbing event. It is having a dramatic impact on energy markets, pushing oil and natural gas prices higher. But such market dislocations are fairly common in the energy sector . Which is why buying any oil stock just because oil prices are rising isn't a great idea. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
The US Justice Department has opened an antitrust probe into the National Football League, looking at whether its broadcast deals with media companies drive up the costs for consumers, according to people familiar with the matter. The NFL and other sports leagues currently have an antitrust exemption that allows them to negotiate media deals collectively on behalf of their teams under the 1961 Spo...
The US Justice Department has opened an antitrust probe into the National Football League, looking at whether its broadcast deals with media companies drive up the costs for consumers, according to people familiar with the matter. The NFL and other sports leagues currently have an antitrust exemption that allows them to negotiate media deals collectively on behalf of their teams under the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act. But media outlets, regulators and members of Congress have recently highlighted how difficult it is for consumers to be able to watch games amid a labyrinth of streaming, broadcast and cable options. Policy experts have begun to debate whether the act applies to negotiations beyond free broadcast TV distribution. (Source: Bloomberg)
On April 9, CoreWeave (Nasdaq: CRWV) announced a new agreement with Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) to provide AI cloud capacity through December 2032. The deal is valued at approximately $21 billion. It builds on an existing relationship. CoreWeave had already signed a $14 billion ...
On April 9, CoreWeave (Nasdaq: CRWV) announced a new agreement with Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) to provide AI cloud capacity through December 2032. The deal is valued at approximately $21 billion. It builds on an existing relationship. CoreWeave had already signed a $14 billion ...
Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) haven't fallen this hard since the inflation panic of 2022. The stock has plummeted almost 24% since the start of the year and 31% from last summer's peak, despite strong revenue growth and earnings. Microsoft's fundamentals are on solid ground, so is the downward trend really a buying opportunity? First, we need to understand why the market soured so quickly on ...
Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) haven't fallen this hard since the inflation panic of 2022. The stock has plummeted almost 24% since the start of the year and 31% from last summer's peak, despite strong revenue growth and earnings. Microsoft's fundamentals are on solid ground, so is the downward trend really a buying opportunity? First, we need to understand why the market soured so quickly on Microsoft. Much of it has to do with the exorbitant amount of money allocated to capital expenditures this year. Microsoft could spend more than $120 billion. The top tech companies could spend a staggering $700 billion this year on AI infrastructure and investments. This spending, of course, will affect its short-term cash flow, with the hope that the increased cash investments will pay off in the long run. Wall Street, however, is not convinced. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Janett and Erika Liriano built a chocolate factory in their parents’ homeland – and gave farmers a stake in the company Janett and Erika Liriano grew up in Queens, the daughters of Dominican immigrants who pushed them to dream big. Their encouragement paid off: by the time they were in their late 20s, Janett had been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Listmaker and was the chief of staff at a biopharmaceu...
Janett and Erika Liriano built a chocolate factory in their parents’ homeland – and gave farmers a stake in the company Janett and Erika Liriano grew up in Queens, the daughters of Dominican immigrants who pushed them to dream big. Their encouragement paid off: by the time they were in their late 20s, Janett had been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Listmaker and was the chief of staff at a biopharmaceutical firm; younger sister Erika was making a name for herself in venture capital. But something was missing. “We were both comfortable but not happy with our jobs,” Janett said. “I felt unfulfilled and anxiously wanted to move forward.” But towards what, she wasn’t sure. Continue reading...
OLEKSII KRIACHKO/iStock via Getty Images Uncertain times are good for defensive stocks, and 2026 isn't turning out to be any different. Even as the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) is down by 1% YTD, British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE: BTI ) ( OTCPK:BTAFF ) or BAT is up by ~6%. The company's fundamentals back the rise and indicate that the uptick can continue. While risks exist too, here I discuss why the ups...
OLEKSII KRIACHKO/iStock via Getty Images Uncertain times are good for defensive stocks, and 2026 isn't turning out to be any different. Even as the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) is down by 1% YTD, British American Tobacco p.l.c. (NYSE: BTI ) ( OTCPK:BTAFF ) or BAT is up by ~6%. The company's fundamentals back the rise and indicate that the uptick can continue. While risks exist too, here I discuss why the upside is still greater. New Categories' Segment Expands Further... Second only to Philip Morris ( PM ) in its expansion of smoke-free products, BAT continues to see encouraging trends from its new categories segment, which is the highlight for the company right now. Here are the key positive developments from 2025 for the segment, which comprises vapes, smokeless tobacco sticks, and nicotine pouches: Bigger Revenue Impact, Bolstered By Strong H2 2025 Performance It brought in 14.1% of total revenue during the year, up from 13.3% in 2024. Further, the category's revenue grew by 7% in the year, which is slightly better than the expectation of "mid-single-digit growth". It does bear mentioning, though, that the growth rate slowed down from 8.9% in 2024. Still, the numbers for H2 2025 are encouraging, with an 8.5% YoY increase seen during this time compared to just a 2.3% YoY increase in H1 2025. This is an important development, since new product launches were due in H2 2025, as I noted in the last article in the stock. It launched products like the vape Vuse Ultra, heated tobacco stick glo Hilo, and nicotine pouch Velo Shift. The company says they have seen "encouraging early results" and have "further targeted rollouts planned in 2026." Source: British American Tobacco Growing Profitability The segment is also witnessing improved profitability. Category contribution, a non-GAAP measure defined as revenue minus variable costs, remained positive for the second consecutive year. And even saw a robust 77% YoY increase. The category contribution margin also expanded, to 12%, from 7...
May NY world sugar #11 (SBK26 ) today is down -0.28 (-1.97%), and May London ICE white sugar #5 (SWK26 ) is down -7.90 (-1.87%). Sugar prices continued their week-long slide today, with NY sugar dropping to a 1-month low and London sugar falling to a 3-week low. Negative carryover...
May NY world sugar #11 (SBK26 ) today is down -0.28 (-1.97%), and May London ICE white sugar #5 (SWK26 ) is down -7.90 (-1.87%). Sugar prices continued their week-long slide today, with NY sugar dropping to a 1-month low and London sugar falling to a 3-week low. Negative carryover...
Constellation Brands Inc. projected slower-than-expected growth for its beer business this year, renewing concern that declines in alcohol consumption have yet to hit their floor. Organic beer sales, which measure changes in sales volumes, are seen in a range of down 1% to up 1% in the company’s current year, Constellation said Wednesday. The range trails analysts’ average estimate for a 2.2% incr...
Constellation Brands Inc. projected slower-than-expected growth for its beer business this year, renewing concern that declines in alcohol consumption have yet to hit their floor. Organic beer sales, which measure changes in sales volumes, are seen in a range of down 1% to up 1% in the company’s current year, Constellation said Wednesday. The range trails analysts’ average estimate for a 2.2% increase. While the guidance represents an improvement from the previous fiscal year, which ended Feb. 28, the lower-than-expected outlook suggests even popular brands such as Modelo and Corona are struggling to sidestep a broader decline in the category. (Source: Bloomberg)
Meta Platforms (NasdaqGS:META) has agreed a multi year cloud AI infrastructure deal with CoreWeave reported at about $21b, running through 2032. The agreement follows the launch of Meta's Muse Spark AI model and its involvement in the Shared AI License Foundation for shared AI development frameworks. The contract is intended to secure dedicated access to advanced compute capacity for Meta's AI fea...
Meta Platforms (NasdaqGS:META) has agreed a multi year cloud AI infrastructure deal with CoreWeave reported at about $21b, running through 2032. The agreement follows the launch of Meta's Muse Spark AI model and its involvement in the Shared AI License Foundation for shared AI development frameworks. The contract is intended to secure dedicated access to advanced compute capacity for Meta's AI features across its platforms. Meta Platforms, trading at about $612.42 per share, has seen a 6.6%...
A federal appeals court refused to halt the Trump administration's efforts to blacklist Anthropic yesterday, denying the company's emergency motion for a stay. But the court granted the US-based AI firm's request to expedite the case and will hold oral arguments on May 19. The ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was issued by a panel of three judges appointed by ...
A federal appeals court refused to halt the Trump administration's efforts to blacklist Anthropic yesterday, denying the company's emergency motion for a stay. But the court granted the US-based AI firm's request to expedite the case and will hold oral arguments on May 19. The ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was issued by a panel of three judges appointed by Republicans, including Trump appointees Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao. Katsas previously served as deputy counsel to the president during Trump's first term, while Rao served in the Trump administration's Office of Management and Budget. The judges' decision is a setback for Anthropic, but it's only one of two cases it filed against the Trump administration, and the AI firm has had more success in the other one. Anthropic says it exercised its First Amendment rights by refusing to let Claude AI models be used for autonomous warfare and mass surveillance of Americans, and that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blacklisted it in retaliation. Trump directed all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic technology, and Hegseth labeled Anthropic a "Supply-Chain Risk to National Security," prohibiting military contractors from doing business with Anthropic. Read full article Comments
Nigeria‘s naira has stayed largely stable through the market volatility sparked by the Iran war, but that came at a cost to the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves. Reserves fell for 16 straight days through April 8, the longest declining run since July 2025, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The central bank’s foreign exchange holdings declined by $1.1 billion in the period to $48.94 billio...
Nigeria‘s naira has stayed largely stable through the market volatility sparked by the Iran war, but that came at a cost to the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves. Reserves fell for 16 straight days through April 8, the longest declining run since July 2025, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The central bank’s foreign exchange holdings declined by $1.1 billion in the period to $48.94 billion, the lowest level since Feb. 19, the data show. The decline comes as authorities defend the naira amid a selloff of emerging-market assets in March. The Central Bank of Nigeria had pledged to stabilize the naira, and boosted sales of high-yield short term debt to attract inflows of dollars. After initially weakening as the Iran war broke out, the Nigerian currency has recovered losses and is one of only four out of 23 African currencies not to fall over that period. With the war in Iran, the central bank had “to give the currency a level of support” as foreign investors exited emerging markets, said Patrick Ejumedia, head of research at Lagos-based Sterling Asset Management and Trustees Ltd. “It has to use some portion of reserves and oil sales revenue to do that, in addition to offering high-yield paper to investors to attract capital to the market,” he said. The central bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.