GaryPhoto/iStock via Getty Images Co-authored by Kody's Dividends Our goal at Dividend Kings is to provide readers with picks that can provide safe and routinely growing income. Hartford Funds - The Power of Dividends It's often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. That's why, rather than providing a long-winded thesis, we will refer to the illustration above. From 1973 through 2024, dividend growers and initiators generated the highest annual total returns among the S&P 500 index ( SP500 ) by dividend policy - 10.24%. A 159.1x nominal total return versus the 46.2x nominal total return for the equal-weighted S&P 500 index. All the while, they did so with 12% less volatility than the equal-weighted S&P 500 index. In other words, dividend growers and initiators delivered superior total returns with a less bumpy ride along the way. That brings us to our focus for today, which is the human capital management solutions company, Paychex ( PAYX ). When Kody last covered it with a Buy rating in October , he thought the integration of its Paycor acquisition was going well. Another plus was its BBB+ S&P credit rating. The stock was also trading at a double-digit percentage discount to Kody’s fair value estimate, which was the icing on the cake. Three months later, the fundamentals are just as strong. Paychex upped its forecast for anticipated synergies tied to the Paycor acquisition and is gaining traction with cross-selling opportunities. The company's net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is below its targeted net leverage ratio of 1.2x. Lastly, the stock's valuation is more compelling now than it was a few months ago. The Paycor Acquisition Is Proving Synergistic Paychex Q2 2026 Earnings Presentation On Dec. 19, Paychex shared its financial results for the fiscal second quarter ended Nov. 30, 2025. The company's total revenue climbed 18.3% higher over the year-ago period to $1.56 billion during the quarter. For more color, this was $10 million greater than Seeking Alpha's ana...

Hiroshi Watanabe/DigitalVision via Getty Images 2026 is just over five weeks old, but it is being quite apparent that the primary narrative that driven most of the gains in equities for just over three years now is starting to collapse. When the year ends, 2026 could well go down in history as the year the AI Bubble collapsed. Gurufocus In this article, I will highlight several assumptions that investors made around AI that are not playing out as planned. As the assumptions are increasingly being proved to be in error, the more pressure the overall market will come under. Especially given that, by many measures, equities are trading near or above levels last seen during the last vestiges of the Internet Boom. AI Buildout Costs Explode: Lisa Abramowicz - 02/05/2026 The projected costs for the AI infrastructure buildout have ratcheted up massively over the past year. Amazon ( AMZN ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Meta Platforms ( META ), and Alphabet ( GOOG ) have guided that they plan to spend roughly $600 billion in FY2026 in their capex budgets. The vast majority of this will go to the construction of massive data centers and associated components and infrastructure. This is up just over 70% from the roughly $350 billion they spent in FY2025. Real Investment Advice To put it in perspective, this number is more than twice the amount of AI-related revenues Morgan Stanley projects industry wide in FY2029. What possibly could go wrong? On the bright side, the additional $250 billion in spending from the "Big Four" in 2026 will provide a nice bump to GDP growth. On the downside, the increased spending will hamper these tech titans' earnings growth in the near and medium term. It also will reduce the funding available for stock buybacks that have been a significant driver of EPS growth. Houston We Have A Problem: More data centers are being built out in the coming years than were envisioned just 12 months ago. This means the needed electrical generation capacity that will need to ...

OlekStock/iStock via Getty Images On February 13, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will report the Consumer Price Index for January. Ahead of the data release, sentiment for the stock markets in the last week worsened, except on Friday. Dip buyers aggressively bought companies that dropped. Still, the weaker stock markets are due partly to the central bank holding interest rates at 350 to 375 basis points. Is the stock market anticipating the upcoming CPI data to indicate even higher inflation than anyone expected? The Federal Reserve said in its FOMC statement that inflation remained somewhat elevated . The statement suggests that CPI might come in modestly high enough to keep interest rates where they are for the next several months. Readers have four things to consider in the upcoming CPI report. 1. December 2025 Producer Prices In December, the U.S. Producer Price Index increased by 0.5% M/M . That figure is 0.2% above consensus and rose from the 0.2% reported previously. In the last 12 months, wholesale level inflation of 3.0%. Zooming out, the final demand price index fell for services, while final demand goods rose since “Liberation Day” after April 2025. BLS The PPI data supported Fed Chair Powell announcing no cut in interest rates. The one-month changes in PPI are volatile, fluctuating between 0.0% and 0.5% since last July: BLS For eight straight months, the index for final demand (excluding food, energy, and trade services) increased in December. The chances are high that PPI in January also rose. That would also lift the January CPI data, assuming that producers pass more inflation- and tariff-related costs to consumers. Machinery and equipment wholesaling accounted for over 40% of the December increase in PPI. If this rose again in January, it might lift CPI as well. In this sector, shares of Caterpillar ( CAT ), Deere ( DE ), and PACCAR ( PCAR ) traded near their 52-week highs. BLS In the stock chart above, those companies are up by at least 10% in 2026....

Eoneren/iStock via Getty Images Purpose I look at the high-frequency weekly indicators because while they can be very noisy, they provide a good nowcast of the economy, and will telegraph the maintenance or change in the economy well before monthly or quarterly data is available. They are also an excellent way to "mark your beliefs to market." In general, I go in order of long leading indicators, then short leading indicators, then coincident indicators. A Note on Methodology Data is presented in a "just the facts, ma'am" format with a minimum of commentary so that bias is minimized. Where relevant, I include 12-month highs and lows in the data in parentheses to the right. All data taken from St. Louis FRED unless otherwise linked. A few items (e.g., Financial Conditions indexes, regional Fed indexes, stock prices, the yield curve) have their own metrics based on long-term studies of their behavior. Where data is seasonally adjusted, generally it is scored positively if it is within the top 1/3 of that range, negative in the bottom 1/3, and neutral in between. Where it is not seasonally adjusted, and there are seasonal issues, waiting for the YoY change to change sign will lag the turning point. Thus I make use of a convention: data is scored neutral if it is less than 1/2 as positive/negative as at its 12-month extreme. With long leading indicators, which by definition turn at least 12 months before a turning point in the economy as a whole, there is an additional rule: data is automatically negative if, during an expansion, it has not made a new peak in the past year, with the sole exception that it is scored neutral if it is moving in the right direction and is close to making a new high. For all series where a graph is available, I have provided a link to where the relevant graph can be found. Recap of Monthly Reports January data started out with an improved ISM manufacturing index and continued positive services index. In lieu of the official jobs report, the ...

cmannphoto/iStock via Getty Images It has been just two weeks since Bitgo Holdings ( BTGO ) had its IPO in late January, and the stock has already been on a wild ride. After raising $213 million at $18 per share and a fully diluted valuation of $2.1 billion, shareholders of BTGO haven't had much to be excited about as the stock has fallen in sympathy with the broader cryptocurrency market. Data by YCharts Down nearly 45% from the company's IPO price in just 10 sessions amid the market carnage, is it time to take a shot on BTGO shares? In this coverage initiation article, I'll get into what Bitgo does and the estimated financials of the business through the end of 2025. Bitgo: A Brief Intro Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Bitgo aims to reduce the fragmentation in the digital assets financial services industry by providing an all-in-one platform for institutional and high-net-worth individuals. Bitgo Among other things, Bitgo offers clients self-custodial wallets, managed wallets, staking & restaking, stablecoin services, lending, settlement, token trading, wealth management, and asset custody. The company cites $104 billion in platform assets, nearly 5,000 clients, and over 1,550 tradable assets. Bitgo was co-founded by acting CEO Mike Belshe in 2011 and is the custodian for the Wrapped Bitcoin ( WBTC-USD ) token on Ethereum ( ETH-USD ) as well as the World Liberty Financial (WLFI-USD) stablecoin USD1. The company is leaning into real-world asset tokenization (or RWA) and sees the tokenization theme as a multi-trillion dollar opportunity. Tokenization is a digital asset narrative that I've explored through Seeking Alpha work dating back to at least as early as 2023 . Tokenization sounds compelling, from where I sit. However, I think it will be an uphill climb due to all of the existing financial market infrastructure that would be at risk of disruption in a fully tokenized market. Should tokenization efforts progress broadly, Bitgo could be well positione...

Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images Based on my assessment, I rate Allot Ltd. ( ALLT ) stock is a Buy based on a structural advantage within its business model shift from low-multiple hardware DPI to high-margin Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS). I do not consider Allot a legacy hardware vendor. For me, there is the Zero-CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) distribution advantage as Tier-1 CSPs absorb sales costs. This pattern is visible in Q3-FY2025’s simultaneous 14% revenue growth and OpEx contraction. This creates an operating leverage that will back a non-linear expansion in FCF margins as SECaaS ARR ( growing at over 60% ) becomes the dominant mix. For my strong buy thesis, major risks are protocol blindness (where encryption standards like TLS 1.3 render the legacy Smart traffic intelligence segment obsolete) and channel concentration toxicity (where reliance on a few massive Telco partners limits pricing power against commoditization pressures). Structural Margin Bifurcation and the Zero-CAC Distribution Advantage In my opinion, the main driver for Allot's stock price upside is beyond the headline 60% Y/Y growth in SECaaS ARR . The catalyst is the structural decoupling of its operating leverage resulting from a Zero-CAC distribution model that I consider is currently mispriced as a standard hardware turnaround. Allot is moving from a linear CAPEX-dependent DPI hardware vendor to a hyper-margin SaaS entity embedded within the core infrastructure of Tier-1 CSPs (Communication Service Providers). In Q3, there was a decisive breakout. Total revenue grew 14% to $26.4 million . However, non-GAAP OpEx decreased to $15.4 million from $15.6 million Y/Y. This revenue expansion, along with OpEx contraction, ticks that the incremental SECaaS revenue (now 28% of the mix) possesses a marginal contribution margin approaching 90%+. Different from being a standalone cybersecurity comp [like Zscaler ( ZS ) and Palo Alto Networks ( PANW )] that must spend the majority of revenue on Sales a...

DNY59/E+ via Getty Images MARA Holdings ( MARA ) is caught in the crossfires of Bitcoin’s weekend dip that saw over $2.5 billion in liquidations and cascading sell-offs of Bitcoin-related stocks. Some miners like TeraWulf ( WULF ) and IREN ( IREN ) held up comparatively stronger, initially only seeing a low single-digit drop over the weekend, but have since dropped more this week. MARA vs peers, 1W trend comparison (Seeking Alpha ) This contrast in market reaction between MARA and peers in the above 1W timeframe chart shows how the market is valuing their risk exposure to Bitcoin and other crypto assets. The others mentioned have executed their pivot to HPC and AI, while MARA has leaned more heavily toward equity raises to purchase more Bitcoin besides the one they mine, and has also followed a full hold strategy for the Bitcoin they mine. This is the core narrative divergence. WULF and IREN have successfully rebranded as power and compute firms with contracted AI revenue, while MARA remains seen as a pure-play levered BTC bet, which the market is punishing more during this dip (and will likely punish more if Bitcoin dips further). Every miner has pursued a diversification strategy in one way or the other, either through HPC/AI hosting, through manufacture of in-house hardware like Bitdeer ( BTDR ), or through balance sheet Bitcoin accumulation. In this update, I'll gauge MARA’s still elevated continued risk profile tied to BTC as we move into a proper crypto bear market (as the technical indicators currently show) and any near term relief from its diversification efforts, the timing, and maybe the potential for a short squeeze and snap-back momentum no matter what Bitcoin does. But to properly analyze MARA (especially from a technical analysis standpoint), I think it is important to establish some key facts about Bitcoin’s price movement at the moment. MARA tracking BTC (Seeking Alpha ) The setup for MARA has become highly bearish and unattractive at current BTC pr...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The decentralized finance space is entering a new phase of growth. As 2026 unfolds, attention is moving away from simple trading and toward platforms that offer practical lending and liquidity tools. Investors are increasingly searching for the next major opportunity before it becomes widely known. At the same time, activity is quietly increasing around one protocol that is moving against the broader market trend. This rise points to an important technical step coming soon, with early access narrowing faster than many expect. For those tracking capital flows, the message is becoming clear: a new contender is starting to stand out in decentralized liquidity. What is Mutuum Finance (MUTM) Preparing Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is a protocol being developed to improve how digital lending and borrowing works. It is building a non-custodial hub where users can keep their long-term crypto assets while still accessing liquidity. Instead of selling tokens, users can use them as collateral or supply assets to earn passive interest. The platform is designed around two lending markets . One is a pooled system, often called Peer-to-Contract (P2C), where assets are supplied to shared pools with automated rates. The other is a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) option planned for more flexible, user-defined terms. Together, these models aim to give users simple and practical ways to put their crypto to work. The project has reached an incredible level of support in a very short time. To date, Mutuum Finance has raised over $20.4 million in funding. This massive capital pool ensures that the team has everything they need to build a world-class platform. Even more impressive is the size of the community. More than 19,000 holders have already joined the ecosystem. This broad base of investors shows that there is a huge demand for a secure and easy-to-use DeFi crypto platform. Phase 7 Momentum and the Path to Growth Currently, the project is in...

is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 115, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, go Seahawks I guess, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) I also have for you the best way to watch sports for the next few weeks, a great update to a great bookmarking app, a bunch of fun nostalgia-bait things, and much more. Also, don’t forget to send me your favorite non-Big Tech apps! I’ve heard from a ton of you about the email apps, productivity tools, office suites, and messaging platforms you’ve switched to, and I want to hear more. Lots more coming on that next week. For now, let’s dive in. (As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / playing / reading / listening to / hacking with OpenClaw this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.) The Drop Peacock’s Gold Zone . This is not strictly a new thing, really, just a PSA: For my money there is no better way to watch the Olympics than through Gold Zone, which whips around the Games to show you the most interesting thing happening at any given moment. Peacock in general is handily the best app for watching the Olympics (at least in the US), and I suspect I will watch way too much of it the next few weeks. This is not strictly a new thing, really, just a PSA: For my money there is no better way to watch the Olympics than through Gold Zone, which whips around the Games to show you the most interesting thing happening at any given moment. Peacock in general is handily the best app for watching the Olympics (at least in the US), and I suspect I will watch...

A social-media trend celebrating all things 2016 could usher in a makeup boom.

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“Volatility is the price of admission with bitcoin,” one investor says.

Opinion: Alternate endings for modern attention spans toggle caption Allstar Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo Rose Horowitch has caused a stir with a recent piece in The Atlantic where film professors say many of their students don't watch the whole movie they are assigned, and don't know the endings. "This is what happens when you grow up on smartphones, YouTube, TikTok, and infinite scroll," Jordan Ruimy wrote for World of Reel. "An ecosystem designed to destroy sustained attention. Today's students were raised inside that machine. Asking them to sit still and focus on a two-hour French New Wave film without stimulation feels, to them, like a marathon." I understand the professors' despair. But perhaps there's an opportunity here to tell film students how some classic films really end. Write this down: Sponsor Message In The Godfather, Michael Corleone decides he can't go on in organized crime and turns the family olive oil enterprise into the Corleone Knitting and Yarn Shop of Brattleboro, Vermont. The shop's slogan: "Make them a sweater they can't refuse!" In Casablanca, Ilsa decides to let Victor Laszlo get on the plane to Lisbon by himself, and leaves Rick on the tarmac, telling them both, "I don't need either of you to validate me." She walks into Rick's nightclub and commands the band, "Play 'Roar.' Play it!" Dorothy wakes up in her Kansas bedroom after a tornado in The Wizard of Oz and says she dreamed of Emerald City. Her doctor tells her, "That's just a bad reaction from the cough syrup you're taking. Read the fine print. 'May cause drowsiness, nausea, and visions of a Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion.'" In The Seven Samurai, warriors hired by Japanese villagers to protect them from bandits decide they're tired of roaming villages to fight bandits. They tell townspeople, "Just install a security system." The charming little extra-terrestrial botanist stranded on earth in E.T. teaches us about life and love, then is taken in by Immigration and C...

记者从国网宁夏电力（562350）公司获悉，截至今日，宁夏回族自治区累计外送电量突破9000亿千瓦时大关，达到9002亿千瓦时，标志着宁夏作为国家重要电力（562350）输出基地的地位进一步巩固。这是在2025年宁夏全年外送电量首次突破千亿千瓦时基础上，实现的又一历史性跨越。(中新网)

Source: Bloomberg, 0:00

Key Points Once you've paid taxes on funds withdrawn from an RMD, you're free to use that money in any way you'd like. One option is to reinvest the money in a Roth IRA, where it can continue to grow. If it's been a while since you thought you needed life insurance, you may find that purchasing a new policy is a smart way to add to your estate. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › Ah, required minimum distributions (RMDs). Love 'em or loathe 'em, they're a way of life for you if you have a tax-deferred retirement account and you've reached the age of 73. RMDs are the government's polite way of telling you that you owe taxes on money you invested tax-free. If you use your RMDs to pay everyday living expenses, you probably don't see them as a burden. However, if you don't "need" RMDs, the requirement to pull money from a growing portfolio may be a bit of a pain. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks » Reinvest the funds There's no rule saying you can't withdraw your RMD, pay taxes on it, and reinvest it in something new. Maybe you've had your eye on a specific company or industry that you'd like to invest in, or you want to slide the money into a Roth IRA. Although you'll have to pay taxes on the withdrawal before reinvesting it in a Roth IRA, that money will be available for you to withdraw tax-free later down the road. Let's say you're 73 and your parents lived into their late 80s or 90s. If you're at all concerned about outliving your money, a Roth IRA is a nice way to provide you with the comfort of knowing you have another source of cash available when you need it. If you don't need it right now, that's great. That gives the funds time to grow through the power of compounding. Invest in life insurance Granted, life insurance won't directly benefit you, but it sure can become an important part of your es...

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,574 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,000. Get Astera Labs alerts: Sign Up A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Astera Labs by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,049,223 shares of the company's stock worth $1,089,491,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751,747 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Astera Labs by 151.4% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,543,500 shares of the company's stock worth $139,563,000 after buying an additional 929,600 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Astera Labs in the second quarter valued at approximately $55,827,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Astera Labs by 39.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,143,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $193,812,000 after acquiring an additional 604,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Astera Labs during the 3rd quarter worth $100,475,000. Institutional investors own 60.47% of the company's stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Astera Labs from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Astera Labs in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Astera Labs in a report on Friday, November 21st. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. TD C...

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Purchases New Holdings in Astera Labs, Inc. $ALAB MarketBeat

This volatile stock moves with other big tech trends, but its future is tied to bringing its solid state batteries to the market. In this video, Motley Fool contributor Jason Hall breaks down the latest with QuantumScape (QS +9.15%), and what investors should know about the stock and the business for 2026. *Stock prices used were from the afternoon of Feb. 3, 2025. The video was published on Feb. 7, 2025.

Key Points SCHQ charges a slightly lower expense ratio but trails SPLB on yield and one-year returns. SPLB has a higher five-year risk exposure but lost less value during recent drawdowns than SCHQ. SCHQ concentrates on long-term U.S. Treasuries, while SPLB covers a broad mix of long-term investment-grade corporate bonds. 10 stocks we like better than SPDR Series Trust - State Street SPDR Portfolio Long Termorate Bond ETF › The State Street SPDR Portfolio Long Term Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEMKT:SPLB) and Schwab Long-Term U.S. Treasury ETF (NYSEMKT:SCHQ) differ most in yield, sector exposure, and risk, with SCHQ offering Treasuries focus at a marginally lower cost and SPLB emphasizing corporate bonds with higher income potential. Both SPLB and SCHQ target long-duration bonds, appealing to investors seeking interest rate sensitivity or duration bets, but their underlying holdings and risk profiles diverge. This comparison unpacks how each fund approaches the long-end of the U.S. bond market, factoring in cost, recent returns, risk, and portfolio construction. Snapshot (cost & size) Metric SPLB SCHQ Issuer SPDR Schwab Expense ratio 0.04% 0.03% 1-yr return (as of 1/30/2026) 6.47% 4.17% Dividend yield 5.2% 4.6% Beta 0.66 0.52 AUM $1.2 billion $902.5 million SCHQ is marginally more affordable with a 0.03% expense ratio versus SPLB’s 0.04%, but SPLB stands out for a higher yield, offering a 0.6 percentage point advantage as of early 2026. Performance & risk comparison Metric SPLB SCHQ Max drawdown (5 y) (34.40%) (46.13%) Growth of $1,000 over 5 years $706 $599 What's inside SCHQ tracks the long-term U.S. Treasury bond market, holding 98 positions with a heavy tilt toward government securities—91% classified as cash & others, with smaller allocations to technology and communication services. The fund has a 6.3-year track record and its sector mix reflects a pure play on U.S. government credit risk, with little exposure to corporate credit events. In contrast, SPLB invests acr...

No company typifies the change in sentiment over the clean energy transition and the surge in power demand driven by the AI application boom more than GE Vernova (NYSE: GEV) . The positive changes were confirmed in the company's latest results, and it's making a strong start to 2026 with no sign of any slowdown. The stock rose 11.1% in January, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence ,and is currently up 12.9% in 2026 and more than 100% over the last year. It's a remarkable turnaround from the days when it was the problematic part of the former General Electric. At the end of the 2010s, there was a real fear that the clean energy transition would result in a structural shift to solar and wind power, leaving GE Vernova's core gas turbine equipment and services (where the real money is made) facing mediocre growth prospects. Fast forward a few years, and the realization that renewable energy's intermittency, soaring costs, and significant logistical difficulties (moving massive blades around, for example), combined with soaring demand for power to support AI-led data center demand, has rejuvenated the company. That much is evident in its growing gas turbine orders, measured in gigawatts (GW). Continue reading

Getty Images Google Now Reigns Supreme Alphabet Inc. ( GOOGL ) ( GOOG ) is the quintessential AI company, plain and simple. What does it mean? Google has always built its business with AI in mind, from its integrated chip stack, infusion of AI across its advertising business, while also having published the seminal transformer paper back in 2017. But it wasn't until recently that the market believed that Google possessed the right capabilities to mount a highly credible campaign to win the AI race. Now, it is no longer just a conjecture or belief, but it has been validated by users, investors, and increasingly enterprise companies. Google has been playing to its strength, dominating the chip stack software layers and, most importantly, the most crucial distribution platform on search. And it is that platform that has seen its consumer AI efforts are now catching up with OpenAI in terms of MAUs (>750M), as it quickly gains traction while OpenAI itself contends with more challenges as skepticism about its capabilities starts to deepen. Google Q4 highlights (Google) In my previous Google write-up , I expected its margins on free cash flow to bottom in 2026, but I didn't quite expect management to provide such a massive upgrade to its capital expenditure outlook such that margins for this year could be even lower than I had imagined previously. Nevertheless, it does seem that Google is ready to overcome the challenges of seeing near-term margin compression while preparing for the next stage of advance in the burgeoning AI arms race. Having a foundation model at the cutting edge has helped Google regain the bullish narrative among the skeptics. Now they have finally realized that whatever gap between OpenAI and Google isn't inevitable. With the right execution, these bifurcations and disconnects that previously existed can be closed sufficiently. And the fact that Google owns the full stack means the company is well positioned to exploit its distributional advantage once...

Getty Images Google Now Reigns Supreme Alphabet Inc. ( GOOGL ) ( GOOG ) is the quintessential AI company, plain and simple. What does it mean? Google has always built its business with AI in mind, from its integrated chip stack, infusion of AI across its advertising business, while also having published the seminal transformer paper back in 2017. But it wasn't until recently that the market believed that Google possessed the right capabilities to mount a highly credible campaign to win the AI race. Now, it is no longer just a conjecture or belief, but it has been validated by users, investors, and increasingly enterprise companies. Google has been playing to its strength, dominating the chip stack software layers and, most importantly, the most crucial distribution platform on search. And it is that platform that has seen its consumer AI efforts are now catching up with OpenAI in terms of MAUs (>750M), as it quickly gains traction while OpenAI itself contends with more challenges as skepticism about its capabilities starts to deepen. Google Q4 highlights (Google) In my previous Google write-up , I expected its margins on free cash flow to bottom in 2026, but I didn't quite expect management to provide such a massive upgrade to its capital expenditure outlook such that margins for this year could be even lower than I had imagined previously. Nevertheless, it does seem that Google is ready to overcome the challenges of seeing near-term margin compression while preparing for the next stage of advance in the burgeoning AI arms race. Having a foundation model at the cutting edge has helped Google regain the bullish narrative among the skeptics. Now they have finally realized that whatever gap between OpenAI and Google isn't inevitable. With the right execution, these bifurcations and disconnects that previously existed can be closed sufficiently. And the fact that Google owns the full stack means the company is well positioned to exploit its distributional advantage once...

They're cured of leprosy. Why do they still live in leprosy colonies? toggle caption Pam Fessler for NPR Alamelu, a gray-haired woman who wears a bright pink sari and a gap-tooth smile, has lived in the Kalvari Nagar leprosy colony in India for 22 years and another colony before that. Her family sent her away when she was only 12 years old after she was diagnosed with what is likely the world's most misunderstood and stigmatized disease. They feared her presence in the home would tarnish the family's reputation and her siblings would never be married. Alamelu, who is now 75, never saw her family again. Like most residents of Kalvari Nagar, this woman was cured of leprosy years ago. But she has no plans to leave the colony. This is her home. Sponsor Message On a recent Tuesday, Alamelu waited with ten other colony residents to see a visiting doctor. They sat in white plastic chairs in a warehouse-like building, each holding a colored folder containing their medical files. (NPR agreed to refer to residents of the leprosy colony by only their first names because of the stigma that surrounds the disease.) toggle caption Pam Fessler for NPR While these elderly residents no longer have leprosy, they still suffer from the disabling long-term effects of the disease — crippled hands, blindness, amputations and, most of all, foot lesions that never seem to heal. If untreated, these can lead to dangerous infections. Nurses and helpers bathe the patients' feet and remove dead tissue around the wounds to help them heal. They massage the patients' legs with oil to prevent future lesions and bandage the feet of those with the worst ulcers — some as big as a fist. The patients are given plastic bags with enough gauze, bandages and ointment to care for their wounds between the doctor's visits, although not everyone follows the advice. toggle caption Pam Fessler for NPR The legacy of leprosy colonies This colony in Tamil Nadu in Southern India is one of about 750 leprosy colonies tha...

India has proposed opening up parts of its agriculture industry to cheaper imports from the US, a move that may lower food and feed costs but intensify pressure on some domestic farmers. The world’s most populous nation agreed to cut or eliminate import duties on US food and agricultural products, including distillers dried grains, red sorghum for animal feed, soybean oil, tree nuts, and fresh and processed fruit, according to a joint statement on the framework for an interim trade deal. India also agreed to address long-standing non-tariff barriers to the trade in US food and agricultural products. This marks the broadest lowering of trade barriers in the politically sensitive agriculture sector — accounting for about a fifth of India’s GDP — for US producers under a push to deepen trade ties. However, President Donald Trump ’s Monday announcement of reducing tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50% without many details had sparked wide concerns that the country will open up the agriculture sector where millions of small farmers remain protected from external competition. Read more: India Made Long Push With Trump Behind Scenes to Clinch US Deal Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an agricultural group, had vowed to organize protests nationwide over the coming days, including a possible strike on Feb. 12. Mohini Mishra, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, a separate farmers’ group that is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s ideological parent organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, said it won’t allow “US farmers to enter India.” “Agricultural output from India will now be able to go to the US on zero duties,” said India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal at a media briefing Saturday. “We have not given any concessions or done anything that will hurt the farmers,” he said, referring to the joint statement. Goyal, who clarified that India has not provided any concessions on import of genetically modified crops from the US, said agriculture products such as dairy, poultry...

Chip stocks continued their strong run in January after a monster 2025, with a broadening out of the winners. Shares of the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX +5.34%) rallied 12% in January, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The SOXX provides diversified exposure to the semiconductor sector, with 30 names in a modified weighting scheme, and no stock exceeding 8% at the start of each rebalancing period. Moreover, this ETF excludes companies domiciled outside the United States, such as sector heavyweights Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM +5.57%) and ASML Holdings (ASML +4.64%). And yet, it was likely the earnings results from TSMC and its capital-spending projections, along with skyrocketing memory prices, that drove this outperforming sector even higher. Expand NASDAQ : SOXX iShares Trust - iShares Semiconductor ETF Today's Change ( 5.34 %) $ 17.68 Current Price $ 348.51 Key Data Points Day's Range $ 335.87 - $ 349.56 52wk Range $ 148.31 - $ 363.80 Volume 9.1M Memory prices and CPUs join the AI party The first two years of the artificial intelligence boom mainly came from AI GPUs made by Nvidia (NVDA +7.87%). And while it appears that GPUs are still in short supply, sometime late last year, the memory and storage sector experienced its own boom, along with traditional CPUs. The move likely has to do with the AI buildout migrating from the training stage to deploying more infrastructure for inference, which is essentially the use of AI models in everyday tasks. That appears to have reignited demand for traditional DRAM, NAND flash, and hard disk drives for local storage, as well as for enterprise CPUs to deploy the models, orchestrate traffic, and enable machines to talk to one another. During the quarter, forecasts for both DRAM and NAND flash pricing skyrocketed. In fact, the price of traditional DRAM is expected to increase by 90% to 95% compared with the prior quarter, while NAND flash is projected to surge by 55% to 60%, according to Trendforce. Thus, ...

Key Points The iShares Semiconductor ETF delivered a strong January after a nearly 40% rally in 2025. The AI buildout continues to boost chip stocks. However, January's winners were not uniform, as other parts of the sector are now getting a boost besides Nvidia GPUs. 10 stocks we like better than iShares Trust - iShares Semiconductor ETF › Shares of the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SOXX) rallied 12% in January, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The SOXX provides diversified exposure to the semiconductor sector, with 30 names in a modified weighting scheme, and no stock exceeding 8% at the start of each rebalancing period. Moreover, this ETF excludes companies domiciled outside the United States, such as sector heavyweights Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM) and ASML Holdings (NASDAQ: ASML). Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » And yet, it was likely the earnings results from TSMC and its capital-spending projections, along with skyrocketing memory prices, that drove this outperforming sector even higher. Memory prices and CPUs join the AI party The first two years of the artificial intelligence boom mainly came from AI GPUs made by Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). And while it appears that GPUs are still in short supply, sometime late last year, the memory and storage sector experienced its own boom, along with traditional CPUs. The move likely has to do with the AI buildout migrating from the training stage to deploying more infrastructure for inference, which is essentially the use of AI models in everyday tasks. That appears to have reignited demand for traditional DRAM, NAND flash, and hard disk drives for local storage, as well as for enterprise CPUs to deploy the models, orchestrate traffic, and enable machines to talk to one another. During the quarter, forecasts ...

TLDR Nvidia stock surged nearly 8% after CEO Jensen Huang defended the tech industry’s massive AI spending as sustainable and necessary Major tech companies including Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft could spend up to $660 billion on AI infrastructure this year Huang called the current moment “the largest infrastructure buildout in human history” driven by exceptional demand for computing power Even six-year-old Nvidia chips like the A100 are fully rented, showing sustained demand for AI computing capabilities Companies are investing heavily because they expect cash flows to rise as AI products generate profits and revenue grows 💥 Find the Next KnockoutStock! Get live prices, charts, and KO Scores from KnockoutStocks.com , the data-driven platform ranking every stock by quality and breakout potential. Nvidia shares jumped nearly 8% Friday after CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC that the tech industry’s exploding AI spending is both justified and sustainable. NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA Huang’s remarks came at a crucial time. His biggest customers just reported earnings. Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft plan to dramatically increase their AI infrastructure budgets. Together, these hyperscalers could spend $660 billion on capital expenditures this year. Much of that money will go toward buying Nvidia chips. Wall Street had a mixed reaction to the spending surge. Meta and Alphabet saw their stocks rise. Amazon and Microsoft got punished. But Huang pushed back on any concerns. He described the situation as “the largest infrastructure buildout in human history.” The CEO’s confidence rests on a simple formula. Companies are spending more today because they expect to earn more tomorrow. “The reason for that is because all of these companies’ cash flows are going to start rising,” Huang explained. He backed up his argument with real-world examples of how companies are using AI right now. Real Applications Driving Demand Meta is upgrading its recommendation systems from older CP...

Keir Starmer has been accused of hypocrisy after cutting funding to the UN World Food Programme by a third while pledging to tackle “suffering and starvation”. The reduction in UK funding to the World Food Programme (WFP) from $610m (£448m) in 2024 to $435m last year is part of a wider reduction in aid spending that campaigners say is putting lives at risk. On top of the WFP cuts, government has also failed to make any financial pledge despite hosting a two-day conference last year on starvation and malnutrition in Afghanistan. A government spokesperson said the UK remained the fifth largest donor to the WFP. The peerMichael Bates, a former Conservative aid minister, said ministers were cutting funding as cases of starvation were growing “exponentially”. He said: “If this was just a UK story it would be bad enough, but we are seeing it is a French story, it is a German story and a US story. “All these countries are cutting. There will be a time lag but this will cost lives. We have a responsibility to protect these lives.” Bates said it was “hypocritical” to talk about the need for action and then to reduce government spending in an area in which the UK had been a global leader. The UK made a commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on development in 2015 in order to align with a UN target. The Conservative government cut that commitment to 0.5%. On entering government, Starmer told a G20 summit in Brazil that his administration would prioritise “the fight against hunger” and would tackle “suffering and starvation”. But last year, Starmer announced that aid spending would be reduced to 0.3% of GDP by 2027, in order to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in the same time frame. View image in fullscreen Starmer told a G20 summit in Brazil that his government would prioritise ‘the fight against hunger’ and would tackle ‘suffering and starvation’. Photograph: Saul Loeb/Reuters The pivot by the government comes amid a global sea change towards aid spending....