Investors appear hopeful the sell-off is coming to an end, even if there's more volatility ahead in the near-term. Stocks staged a massive comeback this week, with the S & P 500 posting its best day since May on Tuesday, at the end of the quarter, and then advancing again on Wednesday, as a new month began. Ultimately, the broader index ended the holiday-shortened week higher by 3.4%, even as stoc...
Investors appear hopeful the sell-off is coming to an end, even if there's more volatility ahead in the near-term. Stocks staged a massive comeback this week, with the S & P 500 posting its best day since May on Tuesday, at the end of the quarter, and then advancing again on Wednesday, as a new month began. Ultimately, the broader index ended the holiday-shortened week higher by 3.4%, even as stocks vacillated between gains and losses during Thursday's session. The two-day rally was substantial enough to assure bulls that the equity market is closer to moving on from the U.S.-Iran war now that investors have had time to digest the potential impact higher oil prices will have on the economy. But there is still a sizeable camp that warn against trading this moment, saying saying equities have to consolidate a bit further before this chapter closes. "I just don't think this volatility is over yet," said Mark Malek, investment chief at Siebert Financial. Duration remains the primary risk, and it's why headlines are continuing to drive the market . Investors already understand that inflation is on its way higher, with U.S. gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon as ships remain unable to cross the Strait of Hormuz. But they're also hopeful an end to the war will mean any spike in pricing pressures will be temporary. .SPX 5D mountain SPX 5-day chart In a nationwide address Wednesday night, President Donald Trump said the war is "getting very close" to an end. But first, he said, the U.S. will hit Tehran "extremely hard." Investors are assessing what Trump's plans will mean for restoring trade through the Strait of Hormuz. The critical shipping passage has been largely impassable since the conflict began more than a month ago. That's pushed up not only oil prices, but the cost of fertilizer and other key commodities such as helium . Next week will bring some major inflation data, most importantly the March reading of the consumer price index on Friday. It will be the first to ...
Morsa Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Summary Following my coverage on BOX, Inc. ( BOX ) in Dec '25, which I recommended a buy rating due to my expectation that revenue growth will continue to accelerate as suggested by the forward indicators, this post is to provide an update on my thoughts on the business and stock. I remain bullish on BOX. Enterprise Advanced is becoming a real growth dri...
Morsa Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Summary Following my coverage on BOX, Inc. ( BOX ) in Dec '25, which I recommended a buy rating due to my expectation that revenue growth will continue to accelerate as suggested by the forward indicators, this post is to provide an update on my thoughts on the business and stock. I remain bullish on BOX. Enterprise Advanced is becoming a real growth driver, the product roadmap is getting stronger, and the go-to-market motion is proving to be effective. The valuation also still looks too cheap for a business that, in my view, has a credible path to mid-teens growth. Enterprise Advanced In December, my bull case for BOX was really based on one idea, and that is growth should accelerate as the gap between recognized revenue and the forward indicators closes. I still believe that. But that is no longer the whole story for BOX, as Enterprise Advanced has become a real revenue growth driver. To refresh readers’ memory, in Q4 , management said Enterprise Advanced reached 10% of revenue just one year after launch, and they also said it is carrying a 30% to 40% price uplift vs. Enterprise Plus. One point to note here is that enterprise advanced growth did not come at the expense of enterprise plus. Overall suites (Advanced + Plus) are now 66% of revenue, up from 60% in Q4 2025. This mix shift tells us that BOX is successfully pushing more of its base into a better product mix with better monetization. I have high confidence that we will continue to see adoption pick up as these are in demand for real use cases. I point readers back to the latest Q4 transcript, where management explicitly cited more use cases. I previously touched on data extraction but am positively surprised by new use cases being brought up like quote creation and approvals and even contractual risk management. Those are practical workflow problems that drag down labor productivity. As I said before, the idea is to save employees time by cutting manual work, and...
President Donald Trump's " liberation day " didn't just reshape global trade, it also spawned a new play in the stock market: the "TACO trade." "Trump Always Chickens Out" was coined as a way to navigate major Trump policy announcements that the markets find hostile. The idea is that Trump often presents an extreme position on policy initially, then after negotiations, ends up in a more palatable ...
President Donald Trump's " liberation day " didn't just reshape global trade, it also spawned a new play in the stock market: the "TACO trade." "Trump Always Chickens Out" was coined as a way to navigate major Trump policy announcements that the markets find hostile. The idea is that Trump often presents an extreme position on policy initially, then after negotiations, ends up in a more palatable place for equities — leading investors to then "buy the dip." Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, said the trade has had incredible staying power. "That memory of the post-liberation day event. … If you were caught on the wrong side of that 9% rally, you don't want that to happen again," he said, referencing the S & P 500's rebound after its dramatic liberation day sell-off. It's the reason why he thinks the decline from the U.S.-Iran war has been softer than investors feared. "If there's a rally, they don't want to be left behind." But the returns on the trade haven't been as strong over time, and data on whether traders are still buying the dips amid the Middle East war is murky. Sosnick said Interactive Brokers' traders are, but Vanda Research and JPMorgan wrote at the end of March that retail investors — who drove the "TACO" trade — were relatively less active during the month. The original 'TACO' Following a more than 12% decline in the S & P 500 on the back of Trump's "liberation day" tariff announcements, the index surged 9.52% on April 9, 2025 after Trump announced a 90-day pause on his reciprocal levies applied to all countries except China. The surge marked the end of the sell-off that began in late February over uncertainty regarding the president's trade policy. China 'TACOs' The high tariffs on China spooked markets and led the S & P 500 to decline 5.4% over the seven sessions that followed the April 9 bounce. But on April 22 , Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the levies on China — then 145% — would not last and that there would be de-e...
Starmer should just admit we’re being held to ransom by Trump – but instead he’s making the king go on a state visit Donald Trump has suggested that the war with Iran will be over in two to three weeks . The rest of the world just shrugs. We’ll believe it when we see it. The US president has said so many contradictory things over the past few weeks, it’s hard to take anything that seriously. Conti...
Starmer should just admit we’re being held to ransom by Trump – but instead he’s making the king go on a state visit Donald Trump has suggested that the war with Iran will be over in two to three weeks . The rest of the world just shrugs. We’ll believe it when we see it. The US president has said so many contradictory things over the past few weeks, it’s hard to take anything that seriously. Continue reading...
If I were looking to double my positions in two dividend stocks, my choices would be an easy decision: Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) and Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) . These companies have two of the largest midstream and pipeline networks in the U.S., which provide steady streams of cash flow to pay out robust distributions. And the master limited partnerships (MLPs) are both trading at ...
If I were looking to double my positions in two dividend stocks, my choices would be an easy decision: Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) and Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) . These companies have two of the largest midstream and pipeline networks in the U.S., which provide steady streams of cash flow to pay out robust distributions. And the master limited partnerships (MLPs) are both trading at historically attractive valuations. If you are looking for stocks with high yields that are poised to continue to grow their payouts, these are the dividend stocks for you. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
An award-winning documentary capturing the lives of six girls over 10 years by Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting will be screened at a film festival in Italy, three years after it was pulled from local cinemas due to a lack of consent from interviewees. To My Nineteen-year-old Self, which centres on Ying Wa Girls’ School, was one of the four special screenings revealed in the Far East Film...
An award-winning documentary capturing the lives of six girls over 10 years by Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting will be screened at a film festival in Italy, three years after it was pulled from local cinemas due to a lack of consent from interviewees. To My Nineteen-year-old Self, which centres on Ying Wa Girls’ School, was one of the four special screenings revealed in the Far East Film Festival’s line-up on Thursday. The film festival, to be held between April 24 and May 2 in Udine,...