Listen on the go! A daily podcast of Wall Street Breakfast will be available by 8:00 a.m. on Seeking Alpha , iTunes , Spotify . Getty Images Up for a challenge? Test your knowledge on the biggest events in the investing world over the past week. Take the latest Seeking Alpha News Quiz and see how you stack up against the competition. Good morning! Here's the latest in trending: Insider info: The W...
Listen on the go! A daily podcast of Wall Street Breakfast will be available by 8:00 a.m. on Seeking Alpha , iTunes , Spotify . Getty Images Up for a challenge? Test your knowledge on the biggest events in the investing world over the past week. Take the latest Seeking Alpha News Quiz and see how you stack up against the competition. Good morning! Here's the latest in trending: Insider info: The White House warns staff against placing bets on Polymarket and Kalshi. Historic mission: Artemis II crew heads back to earth, with a splashdown expected tonight . Calls for a truce: Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a ceasefire - but only temporarily . Tolls and tokens The current shipping situation in the Strait of Hormuz is pretty cryptic and is also getting more crypto-esque by the day. The critical waterway was supposed to be fully open to traffic by now, but according to scans of the area, only several tankers have transited the chokepoint. Compounding the problems is that Iran wants to start charging pass-through tolls, which cannot be sanctioned or touched by the Western financial system. Quote: "Every very large crude carrier (VLCC) transiting the strait has been paying $2M (or $1 per barrel of oil), in line with what has been under discussion in parliament," said Hamid Hosseini, a spokesperson for Iran's oil, gas, and petrochemical products exporters' union. "Once the email arrives and Iran completes its assessment, vessels are given a few seconds to pay in bitcoin, ensuring they can't be traced or confiscated due to sanctions." It's a similar playbook taken by Russia in recent years to upend dollar supremacy , conducting international trade and cross-border transactions in crypto and other modes of currency. Iran's crypto ecosystem even reached $7.8B in 2025 , according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Payments have spanned commodities like oil and illicit arms transfers, as well as reaching regional militia proxies and paying foreigners to gather intellig...
The post Best Real Estate Penny Stocks by Chetan Shekar appeared first on Benzinga . Visit Benzinga to get more great content like this. Real estate is generally considered a safe investment but buying property can be an expensive ordeal. Real estate investment trusts and real estate penny stocks can help you own a small share in hot commercial and residential properties without burning a hole in ...
The post Best Real Estate Penny Stocks by Chetan Shekar appeared first on Benzinga . Visit Benzinga to get more great content like this. Real estate is generally considered a safe investment but buying property can be an expensive ordeal. Real estate investment trusts and real estate penny stocks can help you own a small share in hot commercial and residential properties without burning a hole in your pocket. Here’s a guide to help you invest in real estate penny stocks that are making headlines in the market. Best Real Estate Penny Stocks Symbol Company % Change Price Dividend Yield Invest MDJH + 0 % $0.000000 N/A Buy stock LFT Lument Finance Trust + 0 % $1.30 0.18 / 0.14% Buy stock LEJU + 0 % $0.000000 N/A Buy stock SQFT Presidio Property Trust + 61.26 % $4.08 N/A Buy stock NYMT + 0 % $0.000000 N/A Buy stock Table of contents [ Show ] Best Real Estate Penny Stocks Best Real Estate Penny Stocks MDJM (NASDAQ:MDJH) Lument Finance Trust (NYSE:LFT) Leju Hldgs (NYSE:LEJU) Presidio Property Trust (NASDAQ:SQFT) New York Mortgage Trust (NASDAQ:NYMT) What are Real Estate Penny Stocks? Best Online Brokers for Real Estate Penny Stock Features to Look for in Real Estate Penny Stock Strong Earnings Per Share Growth Low Price-to-Earnings Ratio Massive Real Estate Deals Make Room for Your Financial Growth Frequently Asked Questions Best Real Estate Penny Stocks Check out the best real estate penny stocks right now below to help you make the most informed investment decisions. MDJM (NASDAQ:MDJH) (:) 0.000 [%] Buy Sell Trade Now Compare Brokers Day’s Range – 52 Week Range – Open Shares 0.00K Vol / Avg. 0.00K/0.00K Mkt Cap 0.00K Outstanding 0.00K Div / Yield /0% Payout Ratio 0.000 Total Float 0.00K Founded in 2002, MDJM Ltd. is a real estate company based in China. It offers real estate agency services such as marketing and planning to real estate developers. MDJM has an extended clientele including real estate design agencies, urban planning bureau of the government, urban rail tra...
Bonjour et Bienvenue to the Paris Edition. I’m Bloomberg Opinion columnist Lionel Laurent . If you haven’t yet, subscribe now to the Paris Edition newsletter . A Breather Paris, like other parts of Europe, has this week felt mostly cautious relief after the announcement of a (still-shaky) two-week ceasefire in Iran. It signals a potential end in sight for the Hormuz closure that’s pushed up energy...
Bonjour et Bienvenue to the Paris Edition. I’m Bloomberg Opinion columnist Lionel Laurent . If you haven’t yet, subscribe now to the Paris Edition newsletter . A Breather Paris, like other parts of Europe, has this week felt mostly cautious relief after the announcement of a (still-shaky) two-week ceasefire in Iran. It signals a potential end in sight for the Hormuz closure that’s pushed up energy prices, darkened the economic outlook and worsened security threats. And also hope for diplomatic solutions as talks get underway, including a potential coalition to help secure Hormuz longer-term backed by Emmanuel Macron, even as he has insisted that “France did not choose this war.” The relief is tempered by the reality that the situation on the ground remains unstable. Macron has warned that the ceasefire won’t hold if it fails to include Lebanon, where Israel’s ongoing campaign against Iran-aligned Hezbollah this week included bombing parts of central Beirut in an operation that killed at least 200 people. Israel has agreed to talks while vowing to fight on; Paris has meanwhile delivered armored vehicles to Lebanon’s army and promised to support domestic efforts to counter Hezbollah. The outlook for the critical waterway of the Strait of Hormuz is also far from clear. Iran has woken up to its asymmetric ability to control this chokepoint; even as a French-owned cargo ship passed through last week, there have been reports of tolls charged in yuan or stablecoins and of preferential treatment given to countries deemed friendly. Shipping groups are taking a cautious stance and so are other European leaders, calling for a United Nations mandate before the kind of intervention Macron wants to mobilize. There are a few silver linings for Paris amid the fog. France’s electricity markets are better placed than they were in 2022 to withstand a geopolitically driven gas-price shock. Bloomberg Economics’ Jean Dalbard notes that higher nuclear output, more renewables and less dema...
UniqueMotionGraphics/iStock via Getty Images It now seems like a lifetime has passed since the market's concerns were things like " the AI bubble. " Yet the dangers don't seem to have disappeared, they have only changed: today the market trembles at the word "Strait of Hormuz," and the back and forth between Iran and Trump seems to favor the demand for short hedges or tactical hedges. My opinion: ...
UniqueMotionGraphics/iStock via Getty Images It now seems like a lifetime has passed since the market's concerns were things like " the AI bubble. " Yet the dangers don't seem to have disappeared, they have only changed: today the market trembles at the word "Strait of Hormuz," and the back and forth between Iran and Trump seems to favor the demand for short hedges or tactical hedges. My opinion: it's not time for SQQQ. I think the market is sending a clear signal about what it expects from this conflict. And who are we to ignore it? But before explaining my reasons … A brief summary of SQQQ and previous research There are some elements, which I have already discussed here , that I want to bring back for clarity of exposition and to better understand what we are talking about. SQQQ belongs to the family of leveraged/inverse ETFs by ProShares with a TER of 0.95%, managed as a vehicle with a daily objective, not as a fund designed for linear multi-period tracking. Specifically, it is an inverse leveraged ETF at -3x daily on the Nasdaq-100. This places it directly (in my opinion) in the category of tactical tools for short-term trading or hedging and (again in my opinion) any interpretation of the product as a "long-term short on the Nasdaq" is conceptually misleading. SQQQ: Price Performance (Seeking Alpha) It is a synthetic fund, built mainly through swap agreements and futures, without a physical equity component as an anchor, and what both the prospectus and the factsheets insist on is the fact that the fund does not seek to achieve -3x over periods longer than one day; and anyone who invests, and I stress anyone, must remember that yes: SQQQ is not a linear position on the Nasdaq, but a compounding machine. The implication is that the risk is not only "getting the direction wrong," but "being right in the wrong way," meaning with a path that is too slow or too choppy. There is therefore the possibility of loss even with the Nasdaq flat or declining: the prospectus...
Welcome to our guide to the commodities driving the global economy. Today, reporter Will Wade looks at nuclear power’s funding challenges as another US state embraces the technology. It’s official: New Jersey wants a new nuclear power plant. It’s just not clear who’s going to pay for it. Recently inaugurated Governor Mikie Sherrill signed legislation this week to remove a rule dating back to the 1...
Welcome to our guide to the commodities driving the global economy. Today, reporter Will Wade looks at nuclear power’s funding challenges as another US state embraces the technology. It’s official: New Jersey wants a new nuclear power plant. It’s just not clear who’s going to pay for it. Recently inaugurated Governor Mikie Sherrill signed legislation this week to remove a rule dating back to the 1970s that had effectively stymied the construction of new reactors. She also set up a task force to “advance the state’s pursuit of new nuclear energy.” At first glance, the Garden State seems like a promising location for a new reactor. In addition to support from state leaders, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., New Jersey’s biggest utility, already operates two nuclear plants there and is among just a handful of companies with a federal permit to build another one. But Sherrill’s bill-signing ceremony at the Hope Creek nuclear facility on Wednesday — a striking photo-op with a cooling tower in the background — was light on detail. “We know how to do this,” she said. There was no discussion about who might actually build a new reactor, or how it might be financed. New Jersey’s baby steps highlight the challenge in reviving nuclear as a source of new electricity generation in US. Despite a surge in interest — with support from the White House, Silicon Valley, Wall Street and, it would seem, even formerly skeptical voters — no one has quite figured out yet how to advance the kind of large, conventional reactors needed to keep pace with growing demand. US utilities remain chastened by the nuclear industry’s last big project, the Vogtle plant in Georgia, completed seven years behind schedule and at more than double its original budget. Soon after Sherrill signed her bill, PSEG issued a statement reiterating it would be happy to host a new reactor, as long as that doesn’t involve “investing PSEG’s own capital.” Neighboring New York is being more aggressive. Governor Kathy H...
Dreamlapse Imagery/iStock via Getty Images By Lynn Song , Chief Economist, Greater China Taiwan's tech exports continue to defy expectations Taiwan's March export growth surged to 61.8% YoY, tripling the growth rate from the Lunar New Year-impacted February growth of "just" 20.6% YoY. Once again, exports have significantly surpassed market forecasts. Unsurprisingly, most of the strength remains ti...
Dreamlapse Imagery/iStock via Getty Images By Lynn Song , Chief Economist, Greater China Taiwan's tech exports continue to defy expectations Taiwan's March export growth surged to 61.8% YoY, tripling the growth rate from the Lunar New Year-impacted February growth of "just" 20.6% YoY. Once again, exports have significantly surpassed market forecasts. Unsurprisingly, most of the strength remains tied to Taiwan's primary export engine, the broader Machinery and Electrical Equipment category, which grew by 81.9% YoY and accounted for 85.8% of total exports in March. Within this category, Information, Communication and Audio-Video Products exports surged 134.5% YoY, electronic parts rose 44.0%, and semiconductor exports rose 45.7% in March from a year ago. The continued outperformance has led to Taiwan's trade and economy becoming increasingly concentrated and dependent on this segment; the subcategory represented 84.0% of total exports in 1Q26, up from 80.4% in 2025 and 73.2% in 2024. A major reason for the outperformance is tied to a notable pickup in export prices. Taiwan's USD-adjusted export price index surged 12.7% YoY in March, the highest level since 2022. Combined with strong demand on a volume level, this is a major factor causing outperformance, as we've also observed across other economies in the region. Outside of this category, export growth generally looked pretty soft, with most other subcategories showing either single-digit or negative YoY growth. Export price surge has contributed to headline export growth outperforming Imports also surge but trade balance continues to beat Imports also well eclipsed forecasts, surging to 38.3% YoY, up from 6.8% YoY in February. We also saw some of the same price factors play out on the import side, as import prices rose 8.5% YoY in March. Interestingly, the data suggests that this wasn't attributed to energy prices quite yet, with the price of oil imports rising to 72.2 USD per barrel, which rose to -8.5% YoY from -1...
Key PointsThe Federal Reserve aims to keep the inflation rate steady at around 2% per year, as measured by the core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE).
Key PointsThe Federal Reserve aims to keep the inflation rate steady at around 2% per year, as measured by the core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE).
A lot of artificial intelligence (AI) talk centers on promises of future returns, but some companies are generating sales today in areas like the AI agent voice market. It's currently a small sector, but it's growing and can continue to meaningfully grow as AI voice agents become more ingrained in everyday life. It was estimated to be a $2.5 billion global market in 2025, but is forecast to grow t...
A lot of artificial intelligence (AI) talk centers on promises of future returns, but some companies are generating sales today in areas like the AI agent voice market. It's currently a small sector, but it's growing and can continue to meaningfully grow as AI voice agents become more ingrained in everyday life. It was estimated to be a $2.5 billion global market in 2025, but is forecast to grow to around $35 billion by 2033. The company that could be a leader in that space is SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) . Continue reading
China will allow pre-profit technology companies to list on the ChiNext board in Shenzhen and introduce market makers to improve liquidity, as regulators step up efforts to bolster the mainland’s second-largest stock exchange and advance the country’s push for technological self-reliance. Under the new rules, emerging-industry companies with an estimated market value of at least 3 billion yuan (US...
China will allow pre-profit technology companies to list on the ChiNext board in Shenzhen and introduce market makers to improve liquidity, as regulators step up efforts to bolster the mainland’s second-largest stock exchange and advance the country’s push for technological self-reliance. Under the new rules, emerging-industry companies with an estimated market value of at least 3 billion yuan (US$439 million) and revenue no less than 200 million yuan in the most recent financial year would be...
Kira-Yan Downloads of Meta Platforms' ( META ) AI app on iOS in the U.S. saw an increase of 87% day-over-day on April 8, when the company released its new model called Muse Spark, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Muse Spark is the first AI model developed by the company's Superintelligence team and is aimed at products. On the U.S. Apple App Store rankings charts on April 8, Met...
Kira-Yan Downloads of Meta Platforms' ( META ) AI app on iOS in the U.S. saw an increase of 87% day-over-day on April 8, when the company released its new model called Muse Spark, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Muse Spark is the first AI model developed by the company's Superintelligence team and is aimed at products. On the U.S. Apple App Store rankings charts on April 8, Meta AI rose to the 21st spot, up from 60 on April 7, analyst Abe Yousef noted in the report . Meta AI saw about 46,000 U.S. iOS app downloads on April 8, representing an increase of 87% day-over-day. "This massive surge in downloads could be attributed to the recent release of Meta’s new AI model, Muse Spark, which may have prompted a rise in consumer interest," said the analyst. However, U.S. downloads of Meta AI on Android only grew 3% day-over-day on April 8, the report added. Downloads of the app on iOS in Canada, the U.K., France, and Germany surged 51%, 32%, 27%, and 25% day-over-day, respectively. Data from the firm indicated that daily web visitors for Meta AI in the U.S. soared over 450% day-over-day. Daily web visitors for the app in the U.S. reached an all-time high on April 8, showcasing how the release of new models, features, and functions can prompt a material uptick in adoption and usage, the analyst noted. Daily web visitors for Meta AI in the U.S. on April 8 grew more than 570% compared to the average registered in the previous 30 days, the analyst added. In addition, the analyst noted that four out of the five top-ranked overall apps on the U.S. Apple App Store on April 9 were AI apps — OpenAI's ( OPENAI ) ChatGPT, Anthropic's ( ANTHRO ) Claude, Google's ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) Gemini, and Meta AI — highlighting how app adoption trends are being primarily driven by AI. A year ago, on April 10, 2025, only one out of the top five ranked overall apps on the U.S. Apple App Store was an AI app, which was ChatGPT, the report added. Initial benchmarks from Artificial A...
Kira-Yan Downloads of Meta Platforms' ( META ) AI app on iOS in the U.S. saw an increase of 87% day-over-day on April 8, when the company released its new model called Muse Spark, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Muse Spark is the first AI model developed by the company's Superintelligence team and is aimed at products. On the U.S. Apple App Store rankings charts on April 8, Met...
Kira-Yan Downloads of Meta Platforms' ( META ) AI app on iOS in the U.S. saw an increase of 87% day-over-day on April 8, when the company released its new model called Muse Spark, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Muse Spark is the first AI model developed by the company's Superintelligence team and is aimed at products. On the U.S. Apple App Store rankings charts on April 8, Meta AI rose to the 21st spot, up from 60 on April 7, analyst Abe Yousef noted in the report . Meta AI saw about 46,000 U.S. iOS app downloads on April 8, representing an increase of 87% day-over-day. "This massive surge in downloads could be attributed to the recent release of Meta’s new AI model, Muse Spark, which may have prompted a rise in consumer interest," said the analyst. However, U.S. downloads of Meta AI on Android only grew 3% day-over-day on April 8, the report added. Downloads of the app on iOS in Canada, the U.K., France, and Germany surged 51%, 32%, 27%, and 25% day-over-day, respectively. Data from the firm indicated that daily web visitors for Meta AI in the U.S. soared over 450% day-over-day. Daily web visitors for the app in the U.S. reached an all-time high on April 8, showcasing how the release of new models, features, and functions can prompt a material uptick in adoption and usage, the analyst noted. Daily web visitors for Meta AI in the U.S. on April 8 grew more than 570% compared to the average registered in the previous 30 days, the analyst added. In addition, the analyst noted that four out of the five top-ranked overall apps on the U.S. Apple App Store on April 9 were AI apps — OpenAI's ( OPENAI ) ChatGPT, Anthropic's ( ANTHRO ) Claude, Google's ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) Gemini, and Meta AI — highlighting how app adoption trends are being primarily driven by AI. A year ago, on April 10, 2025, only one out of the top five ranked overall apps on the U.S. Apple App Store was an AI app, which was ChatGPT, the report added. Initial benchmarks from Artificial A...
The stage is set for high-stakes peace talks in Islamabad, as US and Iranian officials work toward a fragile ceasefire. Adam Ramey, Associate Dean of Social Science and Associate Professor of Political Science at NYU Abu Dhabi spoke to Joumanna Bercetche on Horizons Middle East and Africa about what is on the table, and what it may mean for Iran's regional alliances (Source: Bloomberg)
The stage is set for high-stakes peace talks in Islamabad, as US and Iranian officials work toward a fragile ceasefire. Adam Ramey, Associate Dean of Social Science and Associate Professor of Political Science at NYU Abu Dhabi spoke to Joumanna Bercetche on Horizons Middle East and Africa about what is on the table, and what it may mean for Iran's regional alliances (Source: Bloomberg)