Then along comes Google to pour some more gas onto the fire. If investors were looking for a steady, measured assessment of the new technology and the costs required to establish market leadership within it, they’re going to be disappointed. Alphabet the tech giant’s parent, told investors late Wednesday it will spend as much as $185 billion on AI investments this year.

格隆汇2月5日｜英国央行副行长拉姆斯登：英国国债收益率的波动一直处于非常狭窄的区间。

Emerald Fennell has revealed that Margot Robbie asked if she could play the lead role in the adaptation of Wuthering Heights before she had approached the actor to do so. Robbie, whose production company LuckyChap Entertainment produced the film, asked if she could play Cathy after reading the script. “I sent it to them to produce, and Margot luckily asked if she might play Cathy,” said Fennell in conversation at the BFI Southbank in London. “I was very nervous to ask her, because I think we have a different relationship, and I didn’t want to put her on the spot,” she said. “I was like: ‘Do I go for it?’ No, I didn’t. Of course I didn’t, because she’s braver than me. She asked me.” However the decision to cast Robbie in the role of Cathy has led to much scepticism and scrutiny ahead of the film’s release, specifically for its departure from the original 1847 novel by Emily Brontë. View image in fullscreen Jacob Elordi in Wuthering Heights. Photograph: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures Robbie, 35, will play Catherine Earnshaw who is written to be in her late teens in the original novel. The casting of Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff has also been criticised. In the book, the character is described by Brontë to be of “Gypsy” and “Lascar” (South Asian) descent, which accounts for the prejudice against the him in the book. However Fennell defended her decision. “I can’t adapt the book as it is but I can approximate the way it made me feel,” she said. The casting director Kharmel Cochrane also defended the choice at the Sands film festival in Scotland last summer, saying that “there’s no need to be accurate” and it’s “just a book”. Robbie co-founded the production company LuckyChap Entertainment in 2014 with her husband, Tom Ackerley, as well as producers Josey McNamara, and Sophia Kerr. The company produced Fennell’s previous two films, Saltburn and Promising Young Woman. The adaptation of Wuthering Heights will premiere on 5 February in London’s Leicester Square and will...

There’s nothing wrong with a good, hoppy IPA, but perhaps it’s time to reappraise classic styles of beer again The writer Vladimir Nabokov was extremely particular when it came to language, and rather more basic when it came to sustenance: “My habits are simple, my tastes banal,” he once told an interviewer. “I would not exchange my favourite fare (bacon and eggs, beer) for the most misspelt menu in the world.” I’ve often thought of this as I’ve perused misspelt beer menus over the years, wondering what Nabokov would make of all the hazy dubble IPAs and triple brown mocha porters, because, over the course of what we might have to label the “craft era”, beer has become anything but simple. You may well have lamented this, too, especially if you’ve ever been cornered by an enthusiast at a party. India pale ale (IPA), for example, which was once a distinctly British style of ale designed for export, has, in the hands of American craft brewers, become a sort of standard-bearer for complicated beer: aggressively hopped, often startlingly bitter and/or sour, and redolent of a bygone era of millennial hipster striving. Continue reading...

From afar, the low-rise homestead perched in the Wiltshire countryside may look like any other rural outpost, but step closer and the texture of the walls reveal something distinct from the usual facade of cement, brick and steel. The Rammed Earth House in the Cranborne Chase is one of the few projects in the UK that has been made by unstabilised rammed earth – a building material that consists entirely of compacted earth, and which has been used as far back as the Neolithic period. Today, as architects seek to improve the sustainability of a sector that is responsible for more than a third of global carbon emissions, the concept of using rammed earth sourced from, or near, the grounds of a proposed building site is attracting attention. The argument for a component that has been used for construction in places as meteorologically distinct as Spain and Japan is that traditional building techniques can be deployed to create a circular construction process and address contemporary problems. View image in fullscreen Inside the Rammed Earth House. Photograph: Jim Stephenson “Climate change makes it even more important that rammed earth is framed as a mainstream material,” says Emaad Damda, a lead architect at Tuckey Design Studio, which worked on the Rammed Earth House. “The fact that our temperatures [in northern Europe and other temperate climates] are rising means that rammed earth, as a material, offers thermal mass, temperature regulation and moisture control.” Last year, the OECD published a report on the outlook of urbanisation in Africa projecting that the continent’s urban population would double to 1.4 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, pressures on housing are already a common feature of city life worldwide. With the construction industry estimated to be the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally, the sector’s architects and engineers have turned to bio-based materials, such as bamboo and earth, to rethink ways of addressing growing demand for infrastru...

The 30th anniversary of the Telecom Act of 1996 is Feb. 8. For investors in telecom stocks, the event should be remembered, for good and bad.

China is charting a course for a major increase in domestic gold output over the next five years, while also advancing a new round of mineral-exploration breakthroughs, to bolster self-sufficiency amid a global shift away from the US dollar and heightened geopolitical tensions that underscore gold’s role as a financial haven. The proposal, outlined by the China Gold Association, aims to upgrade mining and smelting technologies during the country’s 15th five-year plan period (2026-2030) while expanding investment in high-end gold materials to meet surging domestic demand. The group convened a meeting on Tuesday, bringing together insiders and experts to forge development plans for the gold industry. An online statement by the association on Wednesday offered insight into what was discussed. Advertisement It cited unidentified experts at the meeting as saying that progress should focus on breaking technological bottlenecks, including accelerating the development of deep-shaft mining techniques beyond 2,000 metres (6,562 feet) and advanced extraction equipment. Some industry representatives pledged to step up research into high-value gold materials to lift the metal’s value across manufacturing and technology sectors. These materials often include ultra-small “nanogold” products used in electronics, biomedicine and other hi-tech applications. Advertisement “Resource security is the foundation of the gold industry’s stable development,” the non-profit group’s statement quoted insiders as saying. There were also vows to advance a new round of gold exploration while improving gold recovery rates for low-grade, hard-to-extract and complex ores. The association added that broader adoption of what is known as cyanide-tailings technology – referring to methods of treating waste by-products of gold mining that contain cyanide, often to detoxify them and recover remaining valuable resources – would further support sustainable production.

TLDR Sumit Sadana, Micron’s Executive Vice President, sold $10.7 million in company shares on February 2. The sale involved 25,000 shares at prices between $429 and $431.76 each. Micron shares have surged over 300% in the past year driven by AI memory chip demand. Insider sentiment tracking shows negative confidence despite Wall Street’s Strong Buy consensus. Analysts maintain bullish outlook with 27 Buy ratings and average price target of $382.33. Micron Technology experienced major insider selling this week. Chief Business Officer Sumit Sadana sold $10.7 million worth of shares. The transaction marks one of the largest insider sales at the memory chip maker in recent months. Micron Technology, Inc., MU Sadana executed the sale on February 2, 2026. SEC filings reveal he sold 17,450 shares between $429 and $429.99. Another 7,500 shares sold between $430.58 and $431.44. He also offloaded 50 shares at $431.76. The executive still holds 248,021 shares directly after the sale. Sadana oversees product strategy and business operations at Micron. He has been critical to the company’s expansion into high-bandwidth memory for AI chips. Micron has been riding the AI wave. The stock has climbed more than 300% over the past year. Strong demand for memory used in AI servers has fueled the rally. What Insider Sales Actually Mean Insider transactions always catch investor attention. Executives sell stock for many reasons. Portfolio diversification and tax planning are common motivations. But timing matters. Sadana’s sale comes as Micron trades near its highest levels in years. The memory market has tightened considerably. DRAM and NAND pricing have both improved. TipRanks monitors insider activity across all publicly traded companies. Their data currently shows negative insider sentiment for Micron. This doesn’t necessarily predict poor performance. However, it does indicate key executives are reducing their positions. The semiconductor sector remains volatile. AI demand has absor...

“One of our busy surgeons said, when they do an aprevo procedure, it’s a boring day in the OR and that’s actually a good thing,” Carlsmed’s CEO Mike Cordonnier tells Bloomberg Intelligence, as he explains how the use of AI technology is the future for spine procedures. In this Vanguards of Health Care episode, Cordonnier sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about the design of the aprevo system, with its customized implants. He dives further into how aprevo reduces

ANDOVER, Mass., Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Byrna Technologies Inc. (“Byrna” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: BYRN), a personal defense technology company specializing in the development, manufacture, and sale of innovative less-lethal personal security solutions, today reported select financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter (“Q4 2025”) and full year ended November 30, 2025. Fiscal Fourth Quarter 2025 and Recent Operational Highlights Surpassed 750,000 launchers sold since inception, increasing cumulative unit sales by more than 250,000 units during fiscal 2025. Expanded monthly production capacity to 20,000 units to support growing demand, including larger than anticipated dealer reorders entering fiscal 2026. Appointed Adam Roth, former Vice President of North America Marketing at Nike, Inc., and TJ Kennedy, veteran technology and public safety executive, to its Board of Directors. Featured in an independent study conducted by researchers from Harvard Business School and Stanford University, which found increasing openness among gun owners toward non-lethal personal defense solutions as a complement to traditional firearms. Introduced the new Byrna CL XL launcher at SHOT Show, expanding the Company’s product lineup to address additional customer preferences. Subsequent to quarter end, secured a $20.0 million credit facility with Texas Capital Bank to support potential acquisitions and working capital needs. Expanding marketing investment to further broaden consumer reach, testing a local market advertisement during Super Bowl LX. Fiscal Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Results Results compare Q4 2025 to the 2024 fiscal fourth quarter ended November 30, 2024, unless otherwise indicated. Net revenue for Q4 2025 was $35.2 million, compared to $28.0 million in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2024 (“Q4 2024”). The 26% year-over-year increase was driven primarily by higher dealer and chain store performance, with Amazon and international channels also contributing str...

- Bitcoin treasury as of January 31, 2026 was 364.1 BTC valued at $29.1 million or $1.36 per share1 TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LM Funding America, Inc. (NASDAQ: LMFA) (“LM Funding” or the “Company”), a Bitcoin treasury and mining company, today announced its preliminary, unaudited Bitcoin mining and operational update for the month ended January 31, 2026. Metric December 2025 January 2026 - Bitcoin2 - Mined, net 7.5 7.8 - Sold - - - Purchased 47.0 - - Service Fee - - - Bitcoin HODL 356.33 364.13 - Machines2 - Oklahoma 4,480 4,608 - Mississippi 2,378 2,378 - Storage 365 237 - Total Machines 7,223 7,223 - Hashrate (EH/s2) - Oklahoma 0.52 0.54 - Mississippi 0.23 0.23 - Energized 0.75 0.77 “In January, our power assets demonstrated the flexibility and resilience of our operating model,” said Bruce Rodgers, Chairman and CEO of LM Funding. “During Winter Storm Fern, we proactively redirected power back to the grid to support local energy needs and help stabilize the grid during a critical period. As a result, we generated over a quarter’s worth of our average energy and curtailment sales in a single weekend and are forecasting sales of approximately $315,000 for the month, equivalent to nearly 4.0 Bitcoin.” “Even with a weekend of curtailment during Winter Storm Fern, we increased our total Bitcoin production for the month as we brought our second immersion container in Oklahoma online,” said Ryan Duran, President of USDM. “Importantly, our energy and curtailment sales have effectively no associated marginal costs and offsets any potential lost mining revenue.” The Company estimates that the value of its 364.1 Bitcoin holdings on January 31, 2026, was approximately $29.1 million or $1.361 per share, based on a Bitcoin price of approximately $79,960 as of January 31, 2026, compared to a stock share price of $0.40 as of January 30, 2026 close. About LM Funding America LM Funding America, Inc. (Nasdaq: LMFA), operates as a Bitcoin treasury and mining comp...

New York, Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GraniteShares today announced the weekly distributions for its GraniteShares YieldBOOST ETFs: COYY, TSYY, NVYY, XBTY, AMYY, TQQY, AZYY, YSPY, MTYY, PLYY, HOYY, SMYY, BBYY, FBYY, IOYY, MAAY, NUGY, SEMY, QBY, RGYY, HMYY and RTYY as shown in the table below. ETF Ticker ETF Name Distribution Frequency Distribution per Share Distribution Rate 1, 3 30-Day SEC Yield 2 ROC4 Ex-Date & Record Date 5 , 6 Payment Date 7 MAAY GraniteShares YieldBOOST MARA ETF Weekly $ 0.31736 149.64 % 0.35 % 98.62 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 COYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST COIN ETF Weekly $ 0.15042 149.54 % 0.59 % 98.16 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 RTYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST RIOT ETF Weekly $ 0.46003 148.42 % -0.09 % 84.96 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 IOYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST IONQ ETF Weekly $ 0.37725 146.16 % 0.25 % 98.57 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 HOYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST HOOD ETF Weekly $ 0.26948 143.30 % 1.04 % 98.20 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 QBY GraniteShares YieldBOOST QBTS ETF Weekly $ 0.35472 141.66 % 1.59 % 98.23 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 RGYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST RGTI ETF Weekly $ 0.39301 141.12 % 0.30 % 98.34 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 MTYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST MSTR ETF Weekly $ 0.17651 141.02 % 0.95 % 98.61 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 SMYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST SMCI ETF Weekly $ 0.31031 137.39 % 1.02 % 98.30 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 HMYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST HIMS ETF Weekly $ 0.32906 136.93 % 0.98 % 98.22 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 TSYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST TSLA ETF Weekly $ 0.11366 136.00 % 0.72 % 98.24 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 SEMY GraniteShares YieldBOOST SPY ETF Weekly $ 0.50015 135.93 % 0.31 % 0.00 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 AMYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST AMD ETF Weekly $ 0.36204 102.66 % 0.08 % 98.15 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 XBTY GraniteShares YieldBOOST Bitcoin ETF Weekly $ 0.17664 101.80 % 0.87 % 97.72 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026 PLYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST PLTR ETF Weekly $ 0.27709 100.35 % 0.66 % 97.44 % 6-Feb-2026 10-Feb-2026...

Казаков Анатолий Павлович/iStock via Getty Images Showcase Intro In January, we welcomed 27 new analysts who published their first-ever article on Seeking Alpha. In this article, our editors highlight some of the best ideas from these new analysts and introduce them. The first five introductions are spotlight features, including a longer excerpt from the analyst's article. The rest of the new analysts will be introduced after these with a more brief excerpt and are generally organized by rating from Strong Sell to Strong Buy . Each section includes details about the new analysts' interests and backgrounds, so you can get to know them a bit more. With all the ideas and information shared in this article, we'd invite you to join the conversation and let others know what you think: are any of these picks worth following up on ? To our new analysts: welcome to the community ! And please don't hesitate to share more in the comments to introduce yourself to our readers. Top Stock Picks From Seeking Alpha's New Analysts Investor Valoris Fundamentalis | IHS Holding: 2026 Macro Tailwinds Create A 'Perfect Storm' For Upside Biography: “I am a dedicated value investor focused on the "Circle of Competence" principle. I do not chase hype. My process involves deep-dive due diligence—scrutinizing 10-Ks, 10-Qs, and earnings calls—to value businesses based on their cash flows. My core philosophy is grounded in cash flow; I evaluate almost every business through the lens of FCFF and ROIC while closely monitoring the macroeconomic catalysts that drive them. What to expect as a contributor: I believe in quality over quantity. I only cover stocks I understand deeply, often owning the names I write about." Strong Buy | “I’m initiating a Strong Buy for IHS Holdings ( IHS ) driven by multiple macroeconomic tailwinds, i.e., lower inflation, stronger currency, and significant proposed investment for Nigeria, IHS’s main customer, in 2026. Recent announcements by Chevron Corporation ( CVX ) an...

HappyNati/iStock via Getty Images In June 2025, I had recommended the YieldMax AMZN Option Income Strategy ETF ( AMZY ) as a tactical play on rangebound amazon share price expectations. The latter part of the assumption, i.e. rangebound Amazon share prices have broadly played out, but AMZY has failed to deliver the alpha it was most likely to have generated in its most strongest market condition — flat to rangebound underlying moves. The lack of total returns over months of slow moving underlying prices brings several alternatives into play, including a DIY-styled investment in Amazon and that used to fund payouts, or even cash secured puts. AMZY's lack of alpha in terms of total returns even in a tactically favorable regime, makes it a Hold. Performance and Implications Since the Buy call, Amazon.com Inc. ( AMZN ) has gone through a slow move up -up by ~16%. In the same period, AMZY tracks Amazon well, but underperforms the underlying's total returns almost through the period. This is as close to a flat market regime as is practically possible in real market conditions. To really show an absolute flat end-to-end regime, I have plotted AMZY total returns against Amazon for almost a 5 month period from September 2025 to January 2026. Amazon has moved within a strict and flattish band of 9% on the upside and 6% down in this period. Still, AMZY has not consistently delivered the option premium income accumulation (alpha) over the underlying. Data by YCharts Data by YCharts The implications of the lack of alpha in AMZY in such a market shows the lack of alpha-additive capabilities in its covered call layer. We cannot expect the underlying to be flatter than what we have seen in the past 5 months — if that is the regime where AMZY's option layer adds income. In short, AMZY does not add value in flat regimes. Adding that to the known limited drawdown benefits (illustrated in my last thesis, generally ~4% downside mitigation in crashes) and structurally limited upside capt...

Daniel Grizelj/DigitalVision via Getty Images Recent volatility in software stocks like Salesforce ( CRM ), Workday ( WDAY ), and Snowflake ( SNOW ) due to AI disruption has been unsettling for investors. That’s why infrastructure companies like railroads, pipelines, and real estate that aren’t disrupted by AI can make for great portfolio diversifiers and stabilizers. This brings me to Canadian National Railway ( CNI ), which I last covered in September 2025, highlighting its defensive, high-quality business, operational efficiency, and robust free cash flow. While the market gyrated, CNI delivered a steady 7.3% total return since my last article, outperforming the 3.6% rise in the S&P 500 ( SPY ) over the same timeframe. At the current price of $99, CNI remains reasonably attractive with a price in the middle of its 52-week range, as shown below. CNI Stock 1-Yr Trend (Seeking Alpha) In this article, I revisit CNI, including recent business results , and discuss why now may be a great time to pick up this quality compounder for steady returns in a volatile market, so let’s get started! Why CNI? Canadian National Railway is North America’s largest freight rail network operator. Its tracks span 18,900 miles and link Canada’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts with the U.S. Midwest and Gulf of Mexico. CNI serves a broad range of industries that include bulk commodities and intermodal freight, petroleum, chemicals, metals, and forest products. CNI’s network facilitates the movement of hundreds of millions of tons of goods annually. It acts not just as a transporter but as a supply chain enabler in a capital-intensive industry with high barriers to entry. As shown below, CNI’s network accesses 7 major ports on three coasts and has multiple touchpoints across large cities in Canada and the U.S. heartland. Investor Presentation CNI demonstrated strong results in Q4 2025, with adjusted EPS growing by 14% YoY during the quarter and 7% for the full year. This was driven by solid net...

JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The Electronic Arts Investment Thesis Electronic Arts ( EA ) will most likely merge with Silver Lake and the Public Investment Fund. So I wanted to check if there could be room for a merger arbitrage play. At the current share price of just under $200, I don't see a good risk-reward ratio here. The merger will probably not be completed until the first quarter of fiscal 2027, at which point EA shares will be converted into $210 in cash. In my opinion, it's not an attractive risk-reward ratio for a return of just ~5%. What was my previous coverage like I wrote my only article about EA in April 2026, when I saw EA as the best sports game developer . In the mobile games sector, I saw them as a minor player and the ROIC of 12% was also too low for me. So, I ultimately saw the shares as rather overvalued. Electronic Arts' Q3 results Electronic Arts Q3 Earnings Electronic Arts has missed the profit and revenue targets for the third quarter. And, in contrast to 2024, EA has also generated lower net revenue, gross profit and net income over the first nine months of the 2025 financial year. Not a good look in my opinion. The operating expenses have increased significantly, while the income has decreased. This suggests that capital allocation is not particularly efficient. Data by YCharts With an 8% return on capital, the situation looks rather weak, and the ROIC is in decline, as it was over 12% in 2024. So, in my view, EA remains unattractive in terms of capital allocation, as I expect a ROIC of at least 15% from a company. Electronic Arts Q3 Earnings The comparison of the trailing 12 months period shows the same picture. Here, we can see that especially the Live Services segment has shrunk in the year-over-year comparison. On a positive note, it is worth mentioning that significantly more shares have been repurchased in 2025 than in 2024. I've played a lot of FC26 Ultimate Team from EA this winter, and I have to say that the packs...

ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images Normally a nice quiet fabless semiconductor play, Silicon Labs ( SLAB ) surged on Wednesday with an early earnings release that came with an announcement that they had agreed to be acquired by Texas Instruments ( TXN ) in an all-cash deal for $231 per share . A 50% rise in share price has Silicon Labs just above $203 by the end of the day, an exciting gain for a stock that rarely makes wide moves. I’ve never covered Silicon Labs before, but I have covered Texas Instruments , and I think this is a good opportunity to break down the deal, and see why this was very much a Texas Instruments kind of transaction. Silicon Labs: Small and Specialized Texas-based Silicon Labs operates in a very specialized segment of microcontrollers and timing chips. Their products are used in a lot of Internet of Things devices, both on the industrial and commercial side. If you’re buying smart devices, you likely have some Silicon Labs silicon in some of them, even if you didn’t know it. Silicon Labs is growing, but still somewhat pre-profit, as their numbers released this morning show. FY2024 FY2025 Revenue $584 million $785 million Gross Profit $312 million $457 million Operating Income ($165 million) ($71 million) Net Income ($191 million) ($65 million) GAAP EPS ($5.93) ($1.98) Click to enlarge (Source: Press release from 2/4/26) You can see where there’s still a pretty big GAAP loss, though that is shrinking and 2025 actually saw them operating free cash flow positive, something they weren’t able to claim the year prior. So there’s progress, but it’s not an earner, at least not yet. The $231 per share sale price gives Silicon Labs shareholders 9.55 times trailing 12 months revenue, which is very high for a sector where the median is 3.35. Recognizing that Texas Instruments is also paying roughly 78 times trailing 12 months operating free cash flow clarifies this picture, this is a very good deal for Silicon Labs shareholders, and I don’t expect the vo...

BrettCharlton/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Caesars Entertainment, Inc. ( CZR ) is going to report the company’s Q4 results on the 17 th of February. The casino giant’s report comes with high importance as debt weighs on the company, and Las Vegas tourism has continued to experience a sharp downturn. Strength in regional casinos and online betting has to offset a significant amount of weakness on the Strip. I initiated the stock at a Hold rating in my previous September 2025 article on the stock, titled “ Caesars Entertainment: A Split Performance.” The stock has since lost a further -20% of its value as high debt continues to weigh on earnings. The S&P 500 has returned 3% in the same period. My Rating History on CZR (Seeking Alpha) Debt Creates Importance in Caesars’ Upcoming Q4 Report After Caesars’ Las Vegas revenues declined by -9.8% to slightly less than a billion in Q3 , not fully offset by strong 6.2% growth at regional casinos and slight growth in digital, the upcoming Q4 report has clear importance and a focus on Caesars’ brick-and-mortar performance. Caesars noted in late October that the company is seeing improving trends in Las Vegas entering Q4. The company’s leisure investments at The Flamingo should drive some incremental visitors to the property, creating some hope of stabilization. Improved revenue stability is critical; net margins have significant revenue leverage due to fixed costs, further leveraged by Caesars’ massive debt load . Caesars’ current $11.8 billion in interest-bearing debts raises clear concerns, especially if the company doesn’t manage to stabilize earnings. Progress in paying down debt has been relatively slow. Author's Illustration Using TIKR Data Wall Street estimates overall Q4 revenues to grow by 2.9% to $2.88 billion, a noticeable expected improvement from a -0.2% decline in Q3. The adjusted EPS is expected to be negative at -$0.23 as debt weighs on earnings, improving by a cent year-on-year. Las Vegas Tourism Decline We...

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Calico Life Sciences LLC (Calico), a clinical-stage biotechnology organization focused on aging and age-related diseases and founded by Alphabet Inc. and Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., today announced the appointment of Joseph R. Arron, M.D., Ph.D., as Head of Human Biology and Genetics. In this role, Dr. Arron will lead Calico's efforts to use large-scale human cohorts to systematically understand the biology of aging and disease pathogenesis to discover and validate novel therapeutic targets. Calico Logo (PRNewsfoto/Calico) "Joe brings to Calico a deep expertise in human biology and a proven ability to bridge the gap between innovative scientific inquiry and the rigorous process of drug discovery," said Dr. Michael Lenardo, Calico's Chief Scientific Officer. "As Calico continues to expand its focus on clinical development, Joe's leadership will be vital in advancing our work to translate our biological insights into meaningful therapeutics for patients with age-related diseases." Dr. Arron joins Calico from Sonoma Biotherapeutics where he served as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Head of R&D overseeing preclinical research and clinical development activities for the company's engineered regulatory T-cell therapy programs. Previously, he served as CSO at 23andMe Therapeutics leading target discovery, translational research, and preclinical drug development for diseases associated with human genetic variation. Prior to 23andMe, Dr. Arron spent 15 years at Genentech where he was most recently Vice President of Immunology Research and Senior Fellow leading a department of more than 20 laboratories responsible for target and biomarker discovery, translational research, and preclinical therapeutic development in inflammatory, autoimmune, fibrotic, and ophthalmic diseases. "I am honored to join the Calico team and build upon its track record of success in characterizing fundamental mechanisms of human aging," said ...

World’s Leading Mathematicians Unveil Platform to Transform AI from Plausible to Provable NEW YORK, February 05, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Midas, a company that uses mathematical verification to make artificial intelligence systems reliable and secure, today announced its public launch after closing a $10 million funding round led by Valor Equity Partners and Nova Global. The company is backed by investors behind OpenAI, Tesla, and SpaceX, signaling early confidence from institutions with direct experience building some of the most consequential technology companies in the world. Midas is formed by 11 medalists from the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) and the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), the most selective academic competition in the world, where countries are allowed to send only a handful of participants each year. The team brings experience from Jane Street, Google, AWS, NVIDIA, and Mercor, and academic backgrounds spanning Stanford, MIT, Cambridge, Princeton, and Duke. Together, they are applying formal mathematical verification to one of the most urgent problems in AI: trust. "Modern AI produces fluent, convincing answers, but it cannot prove they are correct," said Shalim Monteagudo-Contreras, President and Co-Founder of Midas. "Midas is building the barrier between probabilistic outputs and real-world systems. We enforce correctness mathematically, so results are not inferred, argued, or hoped for, but proven before they are allowed through." Fluency is not a property you can audit. Proof is. Renzo Balcazar, CEO and Co-Founder of Midas, added: "Every human institution, from law to science to finance, runs on evidence. Artificial intelligence is the first form of intelligence that operates without it." AI is the first intelligence deployed at scale without a proof loop. It produces results without explanation, confidence without causality, output without evidence. As AI systems generate outputs faster than humans can evaluate them, the e...

Opentrons integrates NVIDIA Isaac and NVIDIA Cosmos physical AI software with Opentrons’ global network of 10,000 laboratory robots to enable AI systems that learn from real-world biological experimentation NEW YORK, February 05, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Opentrons Labworks Inc., a laboratory robotics company enabling AI-driven autonomous science, is accelerating the development and deployment of physical AI-enabled laboratory robotics with NVIDIA. Through this integration, Opentrons is using NVIDIA Isaac and NVIDIA Cosmos platforms to develop training data for physical AI models purpose-built for laboratory environments. Opentrons delivers a unique set of real-world assets, including a global fleet of more than 10,000 deployed robotic systems across leading research universities and biopharma companies, as well as deep experimental expertise spanning both Opentrons platforms and a wide range of third-party laboratory instruments. Opentrons, with NVIDIA, is bridging simulation and reality to bring physical AI into everyday laboratory workflows. BioNeMo provides the foundation for training and deploying AI models for biological discovery, while Opentrons supplies the standardized physical execution layer required to close the loop between digital design and experimental validation. Until now, AI in drug discovery has largely been constrained to prediction: proposing molecular structures, suggesting targets, and analyzing datasets. Experimental execution now represents the bottleneck to novel discoveries. By standardizing experimental execution and generating high-quality training data from real laboratory operations, Opentrons enables AI systems to continuously learn from wet-lab results. "We see a future where physical AI unlocks autonomous experimental execution throughout laboratory environments," said James Atwood, CEO of Opentrons. "AI models and agents propose a hypothesis and experimental plan; our systems execute that experiment. The results are then fed back to...

For USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ: USAR) , the timing is hard to ignore. Founded in 2019, the young mining company is riding a shift that's bigger than itself and may prove fruitful for many years or decades to come. That shift is the growing urgency around rebuilding the U.S.' domestic supply chain of rare-earth metals, which is currently negligible and inadequate to serve the industrial needs of American companies. Just consider this: China accounted for roughly 59% of the world's rare-earth mining, 91% of refining, and 94% of permanent magnet production in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency. You don't need to be a statistician to see the problem: The U.S. is uncomfortably dependent on China for rare-earth metals, and one policy change -- such as China deciding not to sell these metals to the U.S. -- could wreak havoc on the American economy. USA Rare Earth is just one of a handful of companies working to rebuild domestic capacity over rare-earth metals. It's a company in a critical position, and, if everything swings its way, it could become a millionaire maker for early investors. Continue reading

乌克兰总统办公室主任布达诺夫当地时间2月5日表示，此轮乌美俄三方会谈富有建设性，他感谢美国和阿联酋为此次谈判提供了高质量的组织和协调服务。稍早前，乌克兰国家安全与国防委员会秘书乌梅罗夫的发言人表示，第二轮俄美乌三方会谈已结束。当地时间2月4日，原定于上周末举行的俄美乌三方会谈于阿联酋首都阿布扎比举行。这是三国代表组成的安全问题工作组继1月23日至24日首轮会谈后，在阿布扎比举行的第二轮会谈。4日进行的第一天会谈结束后，乌方称当天的三方会谈“富有成效”，而俄方称将继续推进军事行动，直到乌方作出足以结束冲突的“决定”。（央视新闻）

财联社2月5日讯（记者 沈娇娇 王彦琳） 正在举行的上海两会中，上海市人大代表、上海莉莉丝科技股份有限公司联合创始人胡睿关注人工智能深度赋能数字文化产业、新兴产业人才流动友好规则，助力上海打造产业新高地。 推动人工智能深度赋能数字文化产业 上海作为全国人工智能产业高地和数字文化产业集聚区，2025年人工智能规上产业规模预计突破5500亿元，网络视听、网络游戏等数字文化产业规模均超千亿。然而，胡睿发现，与此同时，人工智能技术迭代速度明显快于产业吸收消化能力，应用多停留在工具化、浅层嵌入阶段，在应用场景中难以充分释放其发展效能。此外，技术应用也带来了一定人才要素不足和就业替代的问题。 胡睿指出，从当前“人工智能+”数字文化产业情况来看，面临几大挑战：通用模型难以满足文化创意等垂直领域的专业需求，企业应用成本高、适配难，制约了技术赋能深度；AI应用尚处探索期，商业模式未定，同时技术快速迭代、路径不明，导致试错成本高，阻碍了规模化落地；AI替代基础岗位速度超过新岗位创造，复合型人才紧缺，结构性失衡短期影响就业稳定，长期可能削弱产业人才吸引力。 为此，胡睿表示，应当建立技术产业深度融合机制，鼓励头部AI企业与数字文化企业开展联合研发，推动模型能力与业务流程精准对接，探索智能原生的生产方式和商业模式；强化要素保障降低创新成本，培育长期投资市场，支持AI应用初创企业及配套工具开发，鼓励个人开发者参与细分场景创新；分阶段应对就业调整，短期加强AI应用就业风险评估与转岗培训，中期完善高校学科专业布局，长期通过全学段AI通识教育提升社会数字素养。 激活新兴产业人才流动 针对人才流动与商业秘密保护的平衡问题，胡睿指出，尽管最高人民法院、人力资源和社会保障部近期出台文件对竞业限制泛化纠偏，但实践中“防御性使用”仍较普遍，与新兴产业技术迭代规律形成冲突。 “上海新兴产业发展现状和人才高地、开放前沿的特殊地位，进一步放大了本地人才流动的规模与速度，使得竞业限制问题更加凸显和复杂。”胡睿表示。 她进一步分析，现行竞业限制存在三大矛盾：一是与技术迭代节奏不匹配，造成人才浪费；二是限制内部创新孵化空间，压缩创新来源；三是融资与上市环节放大法律和市场风险。 在这样的背景下，胡睿建议完善规则适用指引，通过负面清单明确不宜适用竞业限制的通用技术岗位，合理缩短期限、收窄范围，同时精准界定核心商业秘密例外情形...

Europe’s reliance on its two biggest providers of LNG surged to a record last month, stoking concern that the region is still failing to diversify. The European Union got more than 80% of its liquefied natural gas from the US and Russia in January, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s a stark shift from four years ago, when other suppliers provided about half the total during the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The ramp-up in US flows — accounting for 63% of imports — is of particular concern, with several EU politicians warning the bloc could become beholden to an administration that’s increasingly used financial coercion against long-time allies. Since the assault on Ukraine in 2022 — and particularly after Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency — Europe has come under pressure to bump up its purchases of American LNG. A trade deal with Washington last year included a commitment to purchase $750 billion of US energy by 2028. Yet with Trump threatening various economic penalties against countries that don’t bend to his will, such deep commercial ties can start to look like strategic vulnerabilities. EU officials including competition chief Teresa Ribera and energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen have recently voiced concerns about the bloc’s dependence on US LNG, particularly in the wake of Trump’s threats to take over Greenland . Read More: EU Warns of Over-Reliance on US Gas After Russian Phase-Out Meanwhile, Russian LNG shipments to the EU have hovered around record levels, representing an 18% share of the total last month. That may reflect a push by traders to secure supplies before a ban on Russian gas imports gradually kicks in, with all EU-Russia energy dealings set to end by late 2027. A clutch of other suppliers to the bloc — from Algeria and Qatar to Norway and Trinidad & Tobago — covered the remaining 19% of LNG imports last month, the lowest share in Bloomberg data going back to 2017. France, Germany Franc...

Gregor Townsend has claimed reports he is to take over at Newcastle after the 2027 World Cup is an attempt to “disrupt” Scotland before the Six Nations. The 52-year-old last year took on a consultancy role with Red Bull, who own Newcastle and it was reported on Thursday that Townsend will take charge of the Prem club when his contract with Scotland expires after next year’s World Cup in Australia. “Well, it’s pure speculation,” the head coach said at a press conference in Edinburgh on Thursday after naming his team to face Italy on Saturday. “I’ve not signed a contract beyond the World Cup with anybody, so it’s a story that I think is being put out there to try to disrupt ahead of this game or next week’s game against England. “It’s just something that comes out, things like this, I think ahead of the England game in particular. But yeah, there’s no truth in that I’ve signed a contract beyond the World Cup. My focus is on the Scotland team right now and hopefully up until the World Cup.” Asked if he was concerned such stories may have a negative impact on his squad, Townsend said: “No, not at all.” Townsend has made the bold call to drop what has generally been his first-choice back three in recent seasons for Saturday’s clash in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, with Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe out of the 23 altogether and Darcy Graham on the bench. Bristol’s Tom Jordan gets the nod at full-back, with the in-form Glasgow pair Jamie Dobie and Kyle Steyn preferred on the wings to Scotland’s record-try scorer Van der Merwe and Graham, who is second on that list. “Blair, Duhan and Darcy have had some terrific games for us and they’re very proud of playing for Scotland,” said Townsend. “But there’s competition in that back-three area like there is in other positions and we feel Jamie, Kyle and Tom deserve their starts given how well they’ve been playing. “I feel all three of them individually have taken games to the opposition. But the three players that weren’t select...

Aguus/E+ via Getty Images Shares of Macom Technology Solutions ( MTSI ) fell about 3% premarket on Thursday despite fiscal first quarter results and outlook exceeding analysts expectations. For the first quarter ended Jan. 2, Macom — which makes analog semiconductor products for the telecommunications, industrial, defense, and data center industries — saw its adjusted EPS grow 29% year-over-year to $1.02. Meanwhile, revenue jumped around 24.5% year-over-year to $271.6M. Both top and bottom line numbers beat estimates. "We delivered a solid start to fiscal year 2026,” said Macom's President and CEO Stephen Daly. "We remain focused on executing our strategic plan and providing differentiated solutions to the markets we serve." The company's gross margin was 55.9%, compared to 53.7% in the previous year's fiscal first quarter and 54.5% in the prior fiscal quarter. Outlook For the fiscal second quarter ending April 3, Macom expects revenue to be in the range of $281M to $289M (midpoint at $285M) versus a consensus revenue estimate of $275.73M. The company expects adjusted EPS to be between $1.05 and $1.09 (midpoint at 1.07) compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $1.03. Macom forecasts adjusted gross margin to be between 57.0% and 59.0%. More on Macom MACOM Technology beats top-line and bottom-line estimates; initiates Q2 outlook MACOM Technology Q1 2026 Earnings Preview Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on MACOM Technology Historical earnings data for MACOM Technology Financial information for MACOM Technology

Pre-Market Stock Futures: Futures are trading lower once again after another up-and-down day on Wall Street. Once again, the rotation narrative rang out as software and chip stocks were hit hard, and in some cases, after posting solid fourth-quarter results. One headline screamed, “Hedge Funds made $24 billion shorting software stocks so far this year”. ... Here Are Thursday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: CAVA Group, DigitalOcean, Fox Corp, Jack Henry, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Snap, Zoom

当地时间2月5日，苏丹民间机构“苏丹医生网”发布声明称，苏丹南部南科尔多凡州库韦克市一家医院（884301）当天遭遇无人机（885564）袭击，造成包括4名医务人员在内的22名平民死亡，另有8人受伤。声明指责苏丹快速支援部队发动此次袭击，并表示该武装近期多次将医疗卫生设施作为攻击目标，公然违反国际人道主义法，进一步加剧了当地人道主义危机。对于该声明，快速支援部队暂未回应。(央视新闻)