PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Written by Nick Ackerman, co-produced by Stanford Chemist JPMorgan ( JPM ) launched the JPMorgan Equity Premium Yield ETF ( ROCY ) recently, a fund that is specifically focused on providing tax-advantaged distributions. As the ticker would suggest, they are looking at return of capital distributions. These are advantages because they defer tax obligations f...
PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Written by Nick Ackerman, co-produced by Stanford Chemist JPMorgan ( JPM ) launched the JPMorgan Equity Premium Yield ETF ( ROCY ) recently, a fund that is specifically focused on providing tax-advantaged distributions. As the ticker would suggest, they are looking at return of capital distributions. These are advantages because they defer tax obligations for investors. For the distributions that are classified as ROC, this defers tax obligations because it reduces the cost basis. Therefore, putting off the potential tax obligations until the sale of the shares. One of my greatest hesitations for something like ( JEPI ) was specifically because of the exchange-linked notes (ELNs), which meant a call writing fund was producing ordinary income distributions. This can make it less appealing for investors who hold a lot of investments in a taxable account— which is admittedly a first-world problem. With ROCY, that is now not the case as they provide a tax-advantaged emphasis like most other call writing funds. With new competition in the ETF space, this is a natural progression for JPM to provide, as there are a number of funds that now provide distributions that are heavily characterized as ROC to their investors. This also competes against the old school closed-end funds, primarily from Eaton Vance, which have also shown a considerable level of ROC distributions over the years. ROCY Basics Dividend Frequency: Monthly Dividend Yield: TBD Expense Ratio: 0.35% Leverage: N/A Managed Assets: $98.66 million Structure: Active ETF ROCY's investment objective is "to deliver current yield while maintaining prospects for capital appreciation and total return." To achieve that and the key highlights, they provide severa l bullet points for investors: Generates yield through a combination of selling call option spreads and investing in U.S. large cap stocks, seeking to deliver monthly distributions from associated option premiums and stock ...
A flood of foreign money into Brazil’s biggest companies in the first quarter has left small caps trading at their cheapest versus larger peers in over six years, with some investors saying the shift has gone too far. Small caps, which typically trade at a premium on forecasts of faster profit growth than larger companies, are now valued at around 9.31 times forward earnings, compared with roughly...
A flood of foreign money into Brazil’s biggest companies in the first quarter has left small caps trading at their cheapest versus larger peers in over six years, with some investors saying the shift has gone too far. Small caps, which typically trade at a premium on forecasts of faster profit growth than larger companies, are now valued at around 9.31 times forward earnings, compared with roughly 9.41 for the Ibovespa index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It is first time in over six years that small caps have not commanded a clear premium against their larger peers. The reversal in valuations comes as overseas investors plowed more than 50 billion reais ($9.7 billion) into Brazilian stocks in the three months through March, the most for the first quarter since 2022. Those flows were largely directed to large-cap companies, including commodity producers and financials. But with interest rates now on a downward path after the central bank cut rates by 25 basis points in March, small caps may be ready for a comeback. “Investors often shift away from the index and begin buying the stocks that were left behind and are now trading at more attractive valuations,” said João Luiz Braga , a portfolio manager at Encore Asset Management. “Rate cuts can serve as a trigger for this rotation, but the valuation gap alone may already be enough to bring attention back to small caps.” The Ibovespa benchmark gauge has leaped 15% this year, triple the 4.2% rally in the country’s Small Cap Index on the back of the foreign inflows. The flows remained resilient in March, despite the risk-averse sentiment across global markets due to the conflict in the Middle East that sent oil prices soaring. Brazilian stocks have been hit, with both the Ibovespa and the Small Cap Indexes posting losses in March. As Brazil’s central bank is expected to further ease rates further, domestically focused companies and small caps could benefit, potentially narrowing the gap with the Ibovespa, said ...
shih-wei/iStock via Getty Images Broadcom Inc. ( AVGO ) doesn't look like a misunderstood stock at first glance. It’s a widely held stock, well covered and has one of the biggest themes in the market. Yet there’s a disconnect here. Broadcom is being treated like a late-stage AI winner, but its earnings profile looks like an earlier stage growth company with unusually high visibility. This is impor...
shih-wei/iStock via Getty Images Broadcom Inc. ( AVGO ) doesn't look like a misunderstood stock at first glance. It’s a widely held stock, well covered and has one of the biggest themes in the market. Yet there’s a disconnect here. Broadcom is being treated like a late-stage AI winner, but its earnings profile looks like an earlier stage growth company with unusually high visibility. This is important because Broadcom isn’t just a chip company anymore. It’s an AI infrastructure gatekeeper with custom silicon, networking and the high stickiness of the VMware layer. Broadcom Is Building the AI Backbone Broadcom differentiates itself from a lot of the AI exposure stocks because its exposure isn’t just based on volumes. It’s in two different layers and its exposure becomes more valuable as the customer tries to optimize away from a one-size-fits-all compute solution. The CEO said that their customers are building long-duration AI platforms and we’re helping them design the silicon, package it, connect it, and secure the supply several years ahead. This is a much better position than just supplying a component into a hot market. The first quarter of the fiscal year 2026 made it hard to ignore. Revenue was up 29% year over year at $19.3 billion . AI semiconductor revenue was up 106% year over year at $8.4 billion and the Free cash flow reached $8 billion. Guidance for the second quarter was about $22 billion in revenue and $10.7 billion in AI semiconductor revenue. Data by YCharts Another part of the narrative that I think is being misunderstood is the Broadcom AI business. The way the market is looking at it is the simplistic: is it ASIC or is it GPU? The reality is Broadcom is not asking anyone to pick one or the other. They will participate in either case because the Ethernet business will still be the winner. Tan mentioned that AI networking was one-third of their AI revenue in Q1 . It should be about 40% in Q2 with the introduction of the Tomahawk 6 and the demand fo...
Booming prediction market sites, such as Kalshi and Polymarket, face scrutiny from states and Congress Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox The US government sued Illinois on Thursday to stop what it described as the state’s unlawful efforts to regulate prediction markets. The booming industry of online prediction markets – which allow users to bet on virtu...
Booming prediction market sites, such as Kalshi and Polymarket, face scrutiny from states and Congress Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox The US government sued Illinois on Thursday to stop what it described as the state’s unlawful efforts to regulate prediction markets. The booming industry of online prediction markets – which allow users to bet on virtually anything from Oscar winners to the weather to ongoing military conflicts – has been facing greater scrutiny as companies continue to fight state-led efforts to regulate the fast-growing industry – which many argue is “basically gambling but with another name”. Continue reading...
Abdullah Baig alleged Meta ignored flaws putting billions at risk, but a US judge ruled he lacked sufficient evidence A US court has dismissed a lawsuit from WhatsApp ’s former security chief, who alleged that parent company Meta ignored internal flaws he flagged about the messaging app’s digital defenses. Abdullah Baig, who claims he was fired in retaliation for raising these concerns, had allege...
Abdullah Baig alleged Meta ignored flaws putting billions at risk, but a US judge ruled he lacked sufficient evidence A US court has dismissed a lawsuit from WhatsApp ’s former security chief, who alleged that parent company Meta ignored internal flaws he flagged about the messaging app’s digital defenses. Abdullah Baig, who claims he was fired in retaliation for raising these concerns, had alleged that billions of users had been put at risk because of these vulnerabilities. Thousands of employees could view sensitive user data, including profile photos and location, Baig claimed in the lawsuit filed in September. A judge ruled he had not presented enough evidence to move forward. Continue reading...
(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent long spell fairly deep down in negative territory, European stocks staged a good recovery around late afternoon on Thursday. A few markets even managed to move above the flat line by the time the market ended.
(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent long spell fairly deep down in negative territory, European stocks staged a good recovery around late afternoon on Thursday. A few markets even managed to move above the flat line by the time the market ended.
Get a jump start on the US trading day with Matt Miller and Dani Burger on "Bloomberg Open Interest." From rising hopes of peace to fresh fears of escalation, President Trump signals tougher action on Iran with no clear timeline. Hedge funds were hit hard as oil surges and trades unravel. Apollo’s Jim Zelter pushes back on private credit fears, while Oaktree’s Armen Panossian says it’s a vintage i...
Get a jump start on the US trading day with Matt Miller and Dani Burger on "Bloomberg Open Interest." From rising hopes of peace to fresh fears of escalation, President Trump signals tougher action on Iran with no clear timeline. Hedge funds were hit hard as oil surges and trades unravel. Apollo’s Jim Zelter pushes back on private credit fears, while Oaktree’s Armen Panossian says it’s a vintage issue, not a crisis. Retired General “Spider” Marks warns US strikes may have only delayed Iran’s nuclear program. Plus—Khloé Kardashian’s Khloud bets big on protein snacks, and HSBC’s Racquel Oden on why markets are holding steady through the chaos. (Source: Bloomberg)
OpenAI has reportedly purchased TBPN, the viral online talk show that often interviews AI executives and other tech leaders. This story is breaking. Please check back for updates. Read the full story at The Verge.
OpenAI has reportedly purchased TBPN, the viral online talk show that often interviews AI executives and other tech leaders. This story is breaking. Please check back for updates. Read the full story at The Verge.
It’s unclear exactly how many employees lost their jobs, with reports ranging from 10,000 to 30,000. The latter would represent almost 19% of the company’s 162,000 workers.
It’s unclear exactly how many employees lost their jobs, with reports ranging from 10,000 to 30,000. The latter would represent almost 19% of the company’s 162,000 workers.
Gulf States Considering Network Of New Pipelines To Bypass Strait Of Hormuz One month ago, at the start of the war, we said it was surprising that UAE's oil export terminal of Fujairah was not a bigger terminal as it bypasses the Straits completely, and predicted a "major infrastructure push here after the war." Surprising Fujairah is not a bigger oil terminal: it bypasses the straits completely. ...
Gulf States Considering Network Of New Pipelines To Bypass Strait Of Hormuz One month ago, at the start of the war, we said it was surprising that UAE's oil export terminal of Fujairah was not a bigger terminal as it bypasses the Straits completely, and predicted a "major infrastructure push here after the war." Surprising Fujairah is not a bigger oil terminal: it bypasses the straits completely. Expect major infrastructure push here after the war. https://t.co/Do1gK7KBDQ — zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 3, 2026 Couple that with the latest news that the Saudi East-West pipeline is now running at capacity of roughly 7mmb/d (including non-oil products), and one can see the urgency gripping the Gulf in finding alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz which has emerged as Iran's biggest source of leverage in the war. And that's just the start. Confirming our observation from a month ago, the FT writes today that the threat of open-ended Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz is pushing Gulf countries to revisit costly plans for pipelines to bypass the choke point so they can continue to export oil and gas. According to officials and industry executives, new pipelines may be the only way to reduce Gulf countries’ enduring vulnerability to disruption in the strait, even though such projects would be expensive, politically complex and take years to complete. We have already discussed the 1200km East-West pipeline: the war has underscored the strategic value of this Hormuz bypass. Built in the 1980s after fears that the Iran-Iraq “tanker war” would close the strait, it is now a key lifeline, delivering 7mn barrels of oil a day to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, bypassing Hormuz entirely. “In hindsight the East-West pipeline looks like a genius masterstroke,” said one senior Gulf energy executive. Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi’s state-run oil giant Aramco, told analysts last month that the pipeline is the “main route that we are capitalizing on right now”. Now, the kingdom i...
janiecbros/iStock via Getty Images The U.S. manufacturing economy remains challenging. While the last three ISM Manufacturing reports have been above 52 (indicating expansion), hiring isn’t expanding, cost pressures are significant, and a general note of caution persists. That makes for still-challenging conditions for industrial distributors like MSC Industrial ( MSM ), Fastenal ( FAST ), and Gra...
janiecbros/iStock via Getty Images The U.S. manufacturing economy remains challenging. While the last three ISM Manufacturing reports have been above 52 (indicating expansion), hiring isn’t expanding, cost pressures are significant, and a general note of caution persists. That makes for still-challenging conditions for industrial distributors like MSC Industrial ( MSM ), Fastenal ( FAST ), and Grainger ( GWW ), even though the market has already moved ahead of a real recovery. MSC shares are up about 10% since my last update , underperforming Fastenal and Grainger modestly (they were moving roughly equally until a post-earnings sell-off at MSC), but outperforming the broader industrial space by around five points. At this point I’m more cautious on MSC Industrial shares. I think the market repositioning cycle has largely played out, and while I do still see some upside on pricing, the overall pace of the manufacturing recovery is still wobbly. What’s more, I think the story is transitioning to a place where MSC’s company-specific self-help initiatives are more critical to driving outperformance, and with years of unfulfilled promises here (albeit under different management), I think some degree of caution is warranted. A Disappointing Mid-Year Report While MSC Industrial’s fiscal first quarter results did meet my expectations of growth at the high end of the guidance range (up about 4%), the fiscal second quarter marked a step back with weaker results, partially offset by better guidance for the third quarter. Second quarter revenue rose about 3% (down 5% sequentially), with price figuring even more significantly into the growth, as price drove 6.6% growth versus 4.2% in the prior quarter. With that, then, volumes did weaken noticeably, falling 4% after a modest decline in Q1. The overall sales figure was about 2% weaker than the Street expected. Flat sales in National accounts remains a little curious to me given large recent manufacturing company reports, but the ...
Shrugging off Wednesday's lethargy to rekindle Tuesday's solid bullishness, shares of Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ: LUNR) are flying again today, up 12.5% as of 1:40 p.m. ET. Just don't look for any company-specific news from or about this name. You won't find it. Rather, look to the skies... literally. The chief reason LUNR shares are soaring is currently racing toward the moon, taking at least som...
Shrugging off Wednesday's lethargy to rekindle Tuesday's solid bullishness, shares of Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ: LUNR) are flying again today, up 12.5% as of 1:40 p.m. ET. Just don't look for any company-specific news from or about this name. You won't find it. Rather, look to the skies... literally. The chief reason LUNR shares are soaring is currently racing toward the moon, taking at least some Intuitive Machines' technology with it. Yes, the catalyst here is Wednesday evening's successful launch of NASA's Artemis II mission to the moon. It wouldn't be happening like it is without Intuitive Machines' technology . Continue reading
Software-sector weakness, liquidity concerns and a series of bad underwriting vintages are all widening the moat between public and non-traded private credit vehicles, according to Oaktree Capital Management ’s Armen Panossian . As rates came down following the pandemic, tremendous amounts of capital flowed into credit markets, and private lending in particular. For retail-focused vehicles, like b...
Software-sector weakness, liquidity concerns and a series of bad underwriting vintages are all widening the moat between public and non-traded private credit vehicles, according to Oaktree Capital Management ’s Armen Panossian . As rates came down following the pandemic, tremendous amounts of capital flowed into credit markets, and private lending in particular. For retail-focused vehicles, like business development companies, managers sought to deploy cash quickly and selection standards suffered, according to the co-chief executive officer of Oaktree. “Any time that in a short period you get meaningful inflows and cash drag creates a big problem for returns — you do see excessive risk-taking,“ Panossian, who’s also CEO of the BDC Oaktree Specialty Lending , said in an interview on Bloomberg Television Thursday. “That’s true in credit, that’s true in private credit – and we’ve seen that over the last five, six years.” Although the long-dated nature of closed-end private debt funds runs more parallel with how larger institutions — like retirement and pension funds — invest, money still poured into several retail-focused private credit funds, and managers sought to deploy committed capital quickly, Panossian said. The divide between both bases has quickly grown, exacerbated by a wave of retail-investor redemptions on public BDCs. Earlier Thursday, Blue Owl Capital Inc. said it would cap redemptions at 5% for two of its private credit funds after facing an unprecedented surge in withdrawal requests. Investors in the $36 billion Blue Owl Credit Income Corp. fund asked to pull nearly 22% of shares in the first quarter, while another fund, Blue Owl Technology Income Corp., saw shareholders demand just over 40% back. Read More: Blue Owl BDCs Impose Caps After Facing 41%, 22% Requests to Exit To be sure, private credit funds are still seeing inflows on a gross basis, asset managers have said. Those reviewed by Bloomberg have raised more than $5 billion so far this year, ac...