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)
NexLiving Communities ( NXLV:CA ) : Q4 FFO increased +53% to C$2.0 million and fully diluted FFO per share increased +53% to C$0.06. More on NexLiving Communities Dividend scorecard for NexLiving Communities Financial information for NexLiving Communities
NexLiving Communities ( NXLV:CA ) : Q4 FFO increased +53% to C$2.0 million and fully diluted FFO per share increased +53% to C$0.06. More on NexLiving Communities Dividend scorecard for NexLiving Communities Financial information for NexLiving Communities
The fragile ceasefire agreement was tested again on Friday after Iran refused to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Israel and Hezbollah traded strikes in Lebanon, and Kuwait was attacked with drones. (Image credit: ABBAS FAKIH)
The fragile ceasefire agreement was tested again on Friday after Iran refused to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Israel and Hezbollah traded strikes in Lebanon, and Kuwait was attacked with drones. (Image credit: ABBAS FAKIH)
The hottest day of the year so far was this week, obliging everyone to lose their minds Easter Monday and we’re out in Camden, observing the tween girls’ stations of the cross: namely, Pop Mart and Miniso, Chinese retailers selling toys, collectibles and “blind boxes”, in which the devotional parent is invited to pay 15 quid for their child to unwrap a surprise. (The surprise – can you guess? – is...
The hottest day of the year so far was this week, obliging everyone to lose their minds Easter Monday and we’re out in Camden, observing the tween girls’ stations of the cross: namely, Pop Mart and Miniso, Chinese retailers selling toys, collectibles and “blind boxes”, in which the devotional parent is invited to pay 15 quid for their child to unwrap a surprise. (The surprise – can you guess? – is that it’s not worth 15 quid.) Other purchasing options include: the “Action Figure Squid Game Set”, which retails for – adjusts glasses – £250. A range of DC Comics collectible figures starting at £32 a pop. And something called a “Cinnamoroll figurine”, which is, inexplicably, £95. Continue reading...
Nike 's stock is still looking expensive despite the already steep slide this year, according to Piper Sandler. The investment firm downgraded Nike to neutral from overweight. It also lowered its price target on shares to $50 from $60. Nike shares have plunged 31% since the beginning of the year, fueled by expectations the sportswear company's sales could continue to slow amid a challenging macroe...
Nike 's stock is still looking expensive despite the already steep slide this year, according to Piper Sandler. The investment firm downgraded Nike to neutral from overweight. It also lowered its price target on shares to $50 from $60. Nike shares have plunged 31% since the beginning of the year, fueled by expectations the sportswear company's sales could continue to slow amid a challenging macroeconomic environment. Late last month, Nike issued a lackluster sales outlook, which caused the shares to plunge by 15%. The stock has yet to recover. "Stock reset after F3Q26 print but is still not cheap at 22x our FY28E EPS and given absence of a catalyst (Investor Day not until 2H26) is likely in penalty box for now," Piper Sandler analyst Anna Andreeva said Friday in a note to clients. NKE YTD mountain Nike shares are down 31% in the year to date. The sportswear company forecasted a sales dip in the range of 2% to 4% in the fiscal fourth quarter compared to the same period a year ago. That figure came in well below the 1.9% increase expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Nike pinned its expectations of a sales slump on its corporate strategy shift that has taken longer than anticipated to increase customers' appetites for its brand. Sales are also likely to slow as Nike faces stiffer competition in key product segments such as athleisure, where some demand seems likely to dry up, Piper Sandler said. "We worry that Athleisure (aka Sportswear for NKE) is becoming too saturated across the industry, with frequency metrics at peakish levels," Andreeva wrote. "Sport lifestyle (or athleisure, 37% of the space) is becoming more mature, with many brands looking similar and demand driven more by new entrants (like Solomon) as opposed to legacy players." Piper Sandler's call goes against consensus on the Street. Of the 40 analysts covering Nike, 21 have a buy or strong buy on the stock.
soumik das/iStock via Getty Images The market is currently selling off even high-performing business development companies (BDCs) ( BIZD ) due to concerns about AI disruption of software, potentially leading to losses on software loans. There are also broader concerns about the health of the private credit sector, and even the economy as a whole, in the wake of spiking energy prices. This is creat...
soumik das/iStock via Getty Images The market is currently selling off even high-performing business development companies (BDCs) ( BIZD ) due to concerns about AI disruption of software, potentially leading to losses on software loans. There are also broader concerns about the health of the private credit sector, and even the economy as a whole, in the wake of spiking energy prices. This is creating opportunities to buy high-yielding income machines at compelling valuations, and in today's article, I'm going to detail two that I've been buying recently. The Gold Standard of BDCs The first one I'm going to talk about is Ares Capital ( ARCC ), which is broadly considered to be the gold standard of externally managed BDCs. It is managed by Ares Management ( ARES ), which is a large and proven direct lending investor and manager, and ARCC itself has one of the longest and most impressive BDC track records, dating back to before the Great Financial Crisis. Over the long term, it has delivered stellar total returns for shareholders. ARCC is well diversified across 588 companies in its portfolio, and its portfolio is well diversified in a way that gives it an all-weather-type performance profile, with 66% allocated to senior secured loans. It also has meaningful exposure to junior debt and equity investments that can give it capital appreciation and higher-yielding potential. Given its skilled underwriting, it is able to balance these portfolio trades to deliver attractive total return without suffering too much downside during economic downturns. While 24% software exposure is likely one of the main reasons why the stock has sold off recently, it has a 40% weighted average loan-to-value along these lines and, to date, has an excellent track record. It has been underwriting AI risk for a while and is focused on names that are better positioned to weather potential AI disruption of the software space. ARCC's Rock-Solid Portfolio Metrics Its portfolio today also looks quite...
bjdlzx/iStock via Getty Images Oil futures were headed for their steepest weekly drop since last June, even as prices edged higher Friday on renewed worries about Saudi supply and shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures ( CO1:COM ) were trading at $95.98/bbl at press time, while the West Texas Intermediate futures ( CL1:COM ) were up 0.2% to $98.04. Brent and WTI benchmarks are...
bjdlzx/iStock via Getty Images Oil futures were headed for their steepest weekly drop since last June, even as prices edged higher Friday on renewed worries about Saudi supply and shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures ( CO1:COM ) were trading at $95.98/bbl at press time, while the West Texas Intermediate futures ( CL1:COM ) were up 0.2% to $98.04. Brent and WTI benchmarks are down 11-12% this week. However, fighting has continued, and the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily restricted, keeping futures prices near $100 a barrel and pushing prices in the physical market to record highs. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained less than 10% of normal volumes as Tehran asserted its control by warning ships to keep to its territorial waters, Reuters reported. "The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively constrained and operation of the global oil system is far from normal," Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said, adding that futures markets have priced in a partial normalisation but the physical market is reflecting acute scarcity. Elsewhere, attacks on Saudi energy facilities have cut the kingdom's oil production capacity by about 600,000 barrels per day and reduced its East-West Pipeline throughput by about 700,000 bpd, state news agency SPA reported on Thursday. About 50 infrastructure assets in the Gulf have been damaged by drone and missile strikes over nearly six weeks since the conflict started, with approximately 2.4 million bpd of oil refining capacity taken offline, investment bank JPMorgan said, as per the report. U.S. natural gas futures ( NG1:COM ) fell, with the front-month May contract down 0.3% to $2.66/MMBtu, down 4.7% for the week. ETFs: ( USO ), ( BNO ), ( UCO ), ( SCO ), ( USL ), ( DBO ), ( DRIP ), ( GUSH ), ( USOI ), ( UNG ), ( BOIL ), ( KOLD ), ( UNL ), ( FCG ), ( XLE ) More on Crude Oil Futures, Brent Futures, etc. Commodities: Oil Supported By Ongoing Supply Risks Reinventing The Petrodollar: How U...
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News The Artemis II astronauts are heading back to earth after a historic mission that launched the first crewed flight toward the moon in over half a century, with the Lockheed Martin ( LMT )-built Orion capsule set for splashdown Friday night. "The Artemis II astronauts have hit the 'halfway' mark between the Moon and the Earth," NASA posted late on Thursday. "They ...
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News The Artemis II astronauts are heading back to earth after a historic mission that launched the first crewed flight toward the moon in over half a century, with the Lockheed Martin ( LMT )-built Orion capsule set for splashdown Friday night. "The Artemis II astronauts have hit the 'halfway' mark between the Moon and the Earth," NASA posted late on Thursday. "They will splash down in the Pacific Ocean around 8:07 pm ET on Friday, April 10 off the coast of San Diego." During re-entry, the service module – which powers the spacecraft – will separate around 7:33 pm ET, about 20 minutes before Orion reaches the upper atmosphere southeast of Hawaii, according to NASA's website. At 7:37 pm, a final trajectory‑adjustment burn will fine‑tune the flight path before the spacecraft begins a series of roll maneuvers to safely distance itself from departing hardware. Orion will enter a planned six‑minute communications blackout at 7:53 pm as plasma forms around the capsule during peak heating. After emerging from blackout, Orion will jettison its forward bay cover, deploy its drogue parachutes and then unfurl its three main parachutes around 6,000 feet at 8:04 pm to slow the capsule for splashdown. The crew will be extracted from Orion within two hours after splashdown and flown to the USS John P. Murtha, where they will undergo medical evaluations before returning to shore. The Artemis II astronauts ventured farther into space than any human has before, flying around the far side of the moon. The crew reached a peak of 252,756 miles from earth, surpassing the previous record of ~248,000 miles set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970. More on Artemis II mission Artemis momentum lifts space outlook as BofA sees valuations steady Artemis II crew nears historic distance record during lunar flyby Artemis II: U.S. set to launch first crewed moon mission since 1972