Hegseth Ousts Chief Of The Army As Iran War Persists The Pentagon shake-up under Trump has not ended, as on Thursday Pete Hegseth has dismissed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, asking him to step down into early retirement . The move is unusual, given this is the head of the Army and the United States is past the one-moth mark in Trump's Operation Epic Fury. A reason hasn't been given as to ...
Hegseth Ousts Chief Of The Army As Iran War Persists The Pentagon shake-up under Trump has not ended, as on Thursday Pete Hegseth has dismissed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, asking him to step down into early retirement . The move is unusual, given this is the head of the Army and the United States is past the one-moth mark in Trump's Operation Epic Fury. A reason hasn't been given as to what amounts to Gen. George being effectively fired . CBS writes , "One of the sources said Hegseth wants someone in the role who will implement President Trump and Hegseth's vision for the Army ." A top defense official has also said: "We are grateful for his service, but it was time for a leadership change in the Army." The chief of the Army is typically a four-year term, and already there's speculation over who will be the likely candidate to lead next: The current vice chief of staff of the Army, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who was formerly Hegseth's military aide, will likely be considered as a replacement. He previously served as the commanding general of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division from 2022 to 2023. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point posted photos on social media on Thursday of George, saying he "shared experience-driven guidance with cadets preparing to lead" during a visit. There's been s ome serious background controversy over the last weeks among top command ranks regarding the Trump admin's preferences : Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals, a highly unusual move that has prompted some senior military officials to question whether the officers are being singled out because of their race or gender. Two of the officers targeted by Mr. Hegseth are Black and two are women on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men, senior military officials said. Mr. Hegseth had been pressing senior Army leaders, including Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, for...
Yahoo Finance's "Market Madness" tournament has whittled down the competition of top-performing companies, pairing Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) against Tesla (TSLA) and Palantir Technologies (PLTR) against Walmart (WMT) in today's matchups.Carnegie Investment Counsel director of research Greg Halter decides who will move on to the Final Four in this clash of the corporations, detailing his reasoning and...
Yahoo Finance's "Market Madness" tournament has whittled down the competition of top-performing companies, pairing Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) against Tesla (TSLA) and Palantir Technologies (PLTR) against Walmart (WMT) in today's matchups.Carnegie Investment Counsel director of research Greg Halter decides who will move on to the Final Four in this clash of the corporations, detailing his reasoning and analysis behind each company's stock and growth drivers.
Getty Images I began discussing troubling signs and problems in the market early in the year. This was around when the initial volatility phase over Greenland transpired. I highlighted renewed tariff-related concerns and rising geopolitical risks as the primary factors for increased near term caution. Moreover, I also discussed worsening technical conditions and valuation concerns. While many stoc...
Getty Images I began discussing troubling signs and problems in the market early in the year. This was around when the initial volatility phase over Greenland transpired. I highlighted renewed tariff-related concerns and rising geopolitical risks as the primary factors for increased near term caution. Moreover, I also discussed worsening technical conditions and valuation concerns. While many stock valuations seemed reasonable from an intermediate and longer term standpoint, multiple compression due to worsening market sentiment was a real threat. Then came the Kevin Warsh nomination for the Fed Chairman position, which became one of the triggers for the gold and silver market crash. I called the nomination a potential policy error , as the market perceives Warsh as a relatively hawkish fella. At least from the market's point of view, it would have preferred a Fed Chair that was presumably more dovish. Then we witnessed the " SaaSpocalypse " period, which caused many well established software companies, including Microsoft ( MSFT ), Oracle ( ORCL ), Salesforce ( CRM ), and others essentially crash. Of course, this was all before the "main event," the Iran conflict, which has enabled oil prices to surge to over $100 for the first time since 2022. We should also consider that high oil prices played a significant role in increasing inflation, which then led to the Fed hiking rates more aggressively, ultimately resulting in a bear market in equities in 2022. So, it may be an understatement to say that the market has had a lot to deal with in Q1. More recently, it's become almost absurd with the war. There is so much conflicting information, that the market has essentially behaved like a pinball machine. S&P 500 1-Year Chart SPX (Stock Charts ) One day, the market may be down several percent due to a negative headline, and the next minute it may surge by 4-5% because the President comes out with a deescalating sounding "tweet." This type of absurdity occurred one Monday ...
Stock futures have slipped while Treasury yields pressed higher during Friday’s holiday trading session after a hotter-than-expected jobs report raised more questions about whether the Federal Reserve will deliver an interest-rate cut this year.
Stock futures have slipped while Treasury yields pressed higher during Friday’s holiday trading session after a hotter-than-expected jobs report raised more questions about whether the Federal Reserve will deliver an interest-rate cut this year.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett discusses the policy points he sees supporting the labor market as the US added 178,000 jobs in March, with the unemployment rate falling to 4.3%. (Source: Bloomberg)
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett discusses the policy points he sees supporting the labor market as the US added 178,000 jobs in March, with the unemployment rate falling to 4.3%. (Source: Bloomberg)
Global X - Silver Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:SIL) and SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEMKT:GLD) differ sharply on recent performance, cost, and portfolio exposure. SIL tracks silver mining stocks with higher risk and reward, while GLD offers a lower-cost, highly liquid route to gold bullion prices. SIL and GLD both target precious metals exposure, but they do so in fundamentally different ways. This comparison look...
Global X - Silver Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:SIL) and SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEMKT:GLD) differ sharply on recent performance, cost, and portfolio exposure. SIL tracks silver mining stocks with higher risk and reward, while GLD offers a lower-cost, highly liquid route to gold bullion prices. SIL and GLD both target precious metals exposure, but they do so in fundamentally different ways. This comparison looks at how each fund’s approach impacts cost, performance, risk, and what’s actually inside, to help investors understand which may better suit a given portfolio. Continue reading
Inok/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Back when I first covered Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. ( WPM ), I highlighted their solid but relatively risky exposure to gold and silver, with a leading growth pipeline, strong financials, and a good track record, rating them a Hold since their stock was trading around a fair value for the commodity prices we saw back then. With the stock up as a result...
Inok/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Back when I first covered Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. ( WPM ), I highlighted their solid but relatively risky exposure to gold and silver, with a leading growth pipeline, strong financials, and a good track record, rating them a Hold since their stock was trading around a fair value for the commodity prices we saw back then. With the stock up as a result of their strong performance tied to the jump in gold and silver prices, WPM remains a Hold, trading slightly above what I would consider a fair value (same as before), while the company’s overall quality makes it worth paying attention to despite the geographic exposure and broader macro risks. Foundation Still Shines Wheaton Precious Metals IR WPM’s 2025 was solid overall, with sales nearly doubling from $1.28 billion in 2024 to $2.31 billion in 2025 and net earnings nearly tripling to $1.47 billion, further highlighting the kind of leverage this type of company offers, beating their gold high-end production guidance ( alongside the market’s estimates ) by ~6.74% and ~22.41% for other metals, with silver production near the top of the expectations, for a beat of ~3.23% on a GEO basis. Wheaton Precious Metals IR We can see a significant jump in FCF as a result of the increase in production and especially commodity prices, with significant investments in mineral stream interests - which more than doubled to $1.34 billion - while the dividend was a very sustainable ~$296.37 million last year and recently got increased by ~18%, for a ~0.57% yield. Wheaton Precious Metals IR WPM’s growth pipeline remains one of the main advantages compared to peers, with several investments made in recent history fueling their near-term growth, expected to expand their GEO (gold equivalent ounce) production by ~50% by 2030. They expect to maintain attributable production at ~1.2 million GEOs, while maintaining their majority gold-silver exposure, which also sets them apart from most other peer...
Getty Images By Magdalena Ocampo, Market Strategist Before geopolitics moved to the foreground, AI was the dominant force shaping equity markets. By late last year, however, enthusiasm had begun to fade. Concerns around debt‑funded AI capex, circular investment dynamics among large tech firms, and elevated valuations weighed on sentiment. In February, those worries intensified as rapid AI advances...
Getty Images By Magdalena Ocampo, Market Strategist Before geopolitics moved to the foreground, AI was the dominant force shaping equity markets. By late last year, however, enthusiasm had begun to fade. Concerns around debt‑funded AI capex, circular investment dynamics among large tech firms, and elevated valuations weighed on sentiment. In February, those worries intensified as rapid AI advances threatened to disrupt incumbent digital business models, triggering a sharp sell‑off and raising questions about whether the long-running tech rally had finally peaked. That narrative reversed quickly. As conflict-driven energy shocks unsettled markets in March—hitting cyclicals and international equities particularly hard, especially in Europe and Asia—U.S. technology stocks reasserted themselves as a perceived safe haven. Semiconductors, hardware, and software stocks stabilized and, notably, even outperformed defense stocks. While this relative performance during a geopolitical shock is unusual, it reinforces the view that tech’s earnings resilience and structural growth remain attractive amid rising macro uncertainty. Yet, this renewed appetite risks obscuring important vulnerabilities. Beneath the surface, global technology supply chains—especially semiconductors—are highly exposed to geopolitical disruption, both directly through energy dependence and indirectly through critical inputs. Energy: an underappreciated chokepoint for semiconductors Semiconductor manufacturing is highly energy-intensive and depends on uninterrupted power; even brief outages can destroy wafers and halt production. This creates a significant vulnerability given the geographic concentration of advanced chipmaking. Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung dominate global supply, with Taiwan alone producing more than 90% of advanced semiconductors. Both economies are heavily reliant on imported energy, leaving this critical supply chain exposed to Middle East tensions. Around 60-70% of crude oil ...
The U.S. job market perked up last month as employers added 178,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.3%, mainly because the number of people seeking work declined. (Image credit: Joe Raedle)
The U.S. job market perked up last month as employers added 178,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.3%, mainly because the number of people seeking work declined. (Image credit: Joe Raedle)
No one has a crystal ball, so pinpointing exactly where any stock will be in a week, a month, a year, or five years is impossible. On the other hand, investors crave clarity, and saying a stock is going to be higher or lower over a given time frame is stating the obvious. It doesn't do much to reduce ambiguity. With those disclaimers out of the way, market participants aren't going out on a limb w...
No one has a crystal ball, so pinpointing exactly where any stock will be in a week, a month, a year, or five years is impossible. On the other hand, investors crave clarity, and saying a stock is going to be higher or lower over a given time frame is stating the obvious. It doesn't do much to reduce ambiguity. With those disclaimers out of the way, market participants aren't going out on a limb when expecting Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to potentially trade noticeably higher in five years than where it resides as of March 31, which is around $600. That's down from a February flirtation with $700, or $692 to be precise, and that pullback may spell opportunity when it comes to getting involved with Lockheed Martin stock . The dip is one reason to consider this defense stock now. Still, for investors looking to the F-16 manufacturer as a long-term portfolio centerpiece, there's a sturdy fundamental outlook supporting that view. Continue reading
Magellan Asset Management, an investment management company, released the fourth quarter 2025 investor letter for “Magellan Global Fund”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund focuses on investing in outstanding companies at attractive prices and, at the same time, leverages a deep understanding of the macroeconomic landscape to manage risk. As […]
Magellan Asset Management, an investment management company, released the fourth quarter 2025 investor letter for “Magellan Global Fund”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund focuses on investing in outstanding companies at attractive prices and, at the same time, leverages a deep understanding of the macroeconomic landscape to manage risk. As […]