georgeclerk/E+ via Getty Images Wall Street ended the holiday-shortened week higher, as investors balanced a stronger-than-expected March jobs report with rising geopolitical tensions that pushed oil prices sharply higher. State Street Financial Sel Sec SPDR ETF ( XLF ) added 3.60% during the week, against the broader S&P 500's ( SP500 ) 3.36% jump. Among the megacap financial stocks, HSBC Holding...
georgeclerk/E+ via Getty Images Wall Street ended the holiday-shortened week higher, as investors balanced a stronger-than-expected March jobs report with rising geopolitical tensions that pushed oil prices sharply higher. State Street Financial Sel Sec SPDR ETF ( XLF ) added 3.60% during the week, against the broader S&P 500's ( SP500 ) 3.36% jump. Among the megacap financial stocks, HSBC Holdings ( HSBC ) led the weekly gainers for the second straight week , adding 6.00% week-over-week to close at $84.41. Goldman Sachs ( GS ) (+4.91% W/W to $863.04), Citigroup ( C ) (+2.53% W/W to $115.25), Bank of America ( BAC ) (+2.36% W/W to $49.38), and Wells Fargo ( WFC ) (+2.00% W/W to $80.60) followed. U.S. bank stocks climbed again this week, with analysts predicting the sector will report strong quarterly earnings despite macroeconomic headwinds. Piper Sandler analysts said in a research note that they expect the industry to report solid loan growth and capital markets and investment banking performance. Additionally, banks are expected to have solid credit quality and capital to deploy, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. For the losers, Visa ( V ) (-1.55% W/W to $300.80) and Mastercard ( MA ) (-1.46% W/W to $493.44) led the pack. Payments processing and financial brokerage stocks are said to have faced a sharp sell-off in 2026 on the back of the so-called AI scare trade . "A new beginning could materialize in the 2H26/2027 if investors believe once again that the stability in revenue growth, and thus EPS growth, for the space is dependable," said Loop Capital in a research note. Rocket Companies ( RKT ) was among the notable largecap gainers of the week, adding 7.24% from the prior week to close at $14.96. Recently, the stock was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Citizens. Ironically, RKT was featured among the most oversold financial stocks amid the Middle East disruptions, based on momentum indicators. Crypto stocks led the largecap losers, with Circ...
I’ve spent months in the lab testing the latest AR glasses from Xreal and Viture. By “lab,” I mean cozied up on my couch each night, playing my Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch 2 on a huge, virtual screen that only I can see through these glasses. Using AR glasses as a portable display for your handhelds (and other USB-C devices, like phones, tablets, and laptops) is nothing new. However, the latest ...
I’ve spent months in the lab testing the latest AR glasses from Xreal and Viture. By “lab,” I mean cozied up on my couch each night, playing my Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch 2 on a huge, virtual screen that only I can see through these glasses. Using AR glasses as a portable display for your handhelds (and other USB-C devices, like phones, tablets, and laptops) is nothing new. However, the latest versions have one must-have feature in common: three degrees of freedom, or 3DoF, which lets you anchor the screen anywhere you’d like, as opposed to having it nauseatingly wiggle with every head movement. This won’t make AR glasses worth their $400-plus costs for most gamers. But this makes them more useful if you travel a lot, or if you want a more ergonomic handheld setup. I tested three popular models — Xreal’s $449 1S , its $649 One Pro , and Viture’s $549 Beast — and there is no best pair that everyone should buy. Each does a few things well and a few things not so well, which leaves me no other choice than to list out the ingredients that would make for one perfect pair of AR glasses for gaming. The comfort, sound quality, and ease of use of Xreal’s glasses All of these AR glasses are heavier and thicker than regular glasses, but Xreal’s 1S glasses are the lightest model of the bunch. On my kitchen scale, they weigh 85 grams (for comparison, the One Pro glasses weigh 91 grams, while the Viture Beast glasses are 96 grams). A small thing that’s actually a big deal is that they (as well as the One Pro) have great weight distribution and thinner temple arms than Viture’s Beast, which helps me feel less strain on my ears. It’s great that Xreal’s most affordable AR glasses are just as comfortable as its most expensive pair. The 1S and One Pro glasses deliver better-sounding audio through their temple arms than Viture’s latest glasses. Xreal’s audio is tuned by Bose, and the glasses have balanced audio with surprisingly good low-end performance. Viture’s is tuned by Harman,...
Lawrence Glass/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Prior to the Iran war and the doubling of jet fuel prices, LATAM Airlines ( LTM ) was one of my top picks in the sector due to a benign competitive landscape, aggressive fleet expansion, appreciating Latin American currencies, and stable, low fuel prices. Today, this has changed. If jet fuel prices do not decline in 2H26, the companies' hedges wi...
Lawrence Glass/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Prior to the Iran war and the doubling of jet fuel prices, LATAM Airlines ( LTM ) was one of my top picks in the sector due to a benign competitive landscape, aggressive fleet expansion, appreciating Latin American currencies, and stable, low fuel prices. Today, this has changed. If jet fuel prices do not decline in 2H26, the companies' hedges will reset at a higher price, causing a sharp reduction in margins that is not incorporated into the share price. I downgrade LTM from Buy to Sell and introduce a $46 price target. Guidance and Consensus At the end of 2025, the company had about 40% of its fuel consumption hedged at the US $90 BOE level and used this as part of its guidance to achieve $1.7 billion in FCF and an EBITDA margin of 27%. They also expect to increase ASK (available seat kilometer) by 8-10% with the purchase of 40 aircraft for $1.7 billion in capex. This is an aggressive growth and spending plan built on expectations of cheap oil, strong local currencies, and improving macro growth across the region, as well as benign competition. Azul, Gol/Avianca are all focused on cash flow after exiting Chapter 11, not on growth or price wars. LTM The consensus forecasts revenue growth of 11% and an EBITDA margin of 27% for 2026, valuing the shares at $70 with an EV/EBITDA price target of 6x. Very much in line with guidance and global peers. The market has not taken into account the potential impact of fuel costs on the business model. It's very likely that LTM revises this guidance in the 1Q26 results report, or even preempts it with an earnings warning. Created by author with data from Capital IQ Jet Fuel Price Impact LTM has 40% of 2026 fuel consumption hedged, locked in at about $90 BOE or $2.7 per gallon, which should safeguard margins through 2Q26 . However, jet fuel prices are now near $200 BOE or $5 a gallon, and unless they decline back to pre-Iran war levels in 3 months, fuel costs will jump by 80% in ...
Elis Cora/iStock via Getty Images MarketAxess ( MKTX ) operates a platform for trading fixed-income securities. The platform connects buyers, sellers, and dealers by different trading protocols. Its asset-light business creates high margins and returns on capital. MarketAxess has a strong net cash balance sheet that enables it to invest for growth and return capital to shareholders in the form of ...
Elis Cora/iStock via Getty Images MarketAxess ( MKTX ) operates a platform for trading fixed-income securities. The platform connects buyers, sellers, and dealers by different trading protocols. Its asset-light business creates high margins and returns on capital. MarketAxess has a strong net cash balance sheet that enables it to invest for growth and return capital to shareholders in the form of growing dividends and buybacks. MarketAxess' financial performance is enhanced by the oligopolistic nature of the electronic trading and protected by significant network effects. After a steep 70% price decline and dropping from the S&P 500, MarketAxess' valuation has normalized to an attractive level. In a multi-year timeframe, MarketAxess’ share price has diverged from its main listed rival, Tradeweb Markets ( TW ). The management has acknowledged market share loss, taken corrective measures, and there are initial signs that the actions are working. A platform in a growth market MarketAxess collects fees from matching buyers and sellers of debt securities. On its platform there are available corporate debt, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, and U.S. government bonds. It is a market leader in corporate debt and a challenger in other classes of debt. MarketAxess believes its competitive advantage comes from its global network of more than two thousand institutional investors, dealers, and a thousand liquidity providers, and the data the platform creates. There are several ways to trade debt on MarketAxess’ platform. In summary, there’s a different trading protocol for different needs and markets. The traditional way is to place an RFQ to selected dealers in order for them to quote on a specific debt. It has several protocols for dealers to conduct trades; the newest is the so-called Mid-X. Portfolio trading means placing a larger selection of different debt for sale. Over the years, portfolio trading has taken share from the traditional and dealer initiated ...
Downed U.S. Drone Appears On TikTok Live As Iraqi Children Try To Sell It As the U.S.-Iran conflict enters its second month, America's Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, is becoming increasingly visible across the Middle East theater, a sign that the Department of War has learned one critical lesson from both the Iranian drone playbook and the Ukraine-Russia war: cheap drones are th...
Downed U.S. Drone Appears On TikTok Live As Iraqi Children Try To Sell It As the U.S.-Iran conflict enters its second month, America's Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, is becoming increasingly visible across the Middle East theater, a sign that the Department of War has learned one critical lesson from both the Iranian drone playbook and the Ukraine-Russia war: cheap drones are the future of warfare. The latest news on LUCAS comes from an unverifiable TikTok video, amplified on X, which appears to show a downed drone seized by Iraqi children who are reportedly trying to sell it. If authentic, the footage is another reminder that low-cost drones are proliferating so widely across the region that they will likely spread to other parts of the world. Iraqi boys trying to sell crashed drone on TikTok That's a U.S. LUCAS kamikaze drone (Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System), reverse-engineered from Iran's Shahed-136. Dimensions: ~3 meters long, ~2.4 meters wingspan. pic.twitter.com/DPJ9nKFp03 — Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) April 4, 2026 In a separate video reposted on X, Iranian forces appear to have recovered a LUCAS drone in the Persian Gulf area. 🚨 BREAKING: 🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iranian forces seized a largely intact U.S.-made LUCAS drone, a Shahed-type system, in the Persian Gulf. pic.twitter.com/WjrtvLuadf https://t.co/0n1GC5O4x0 — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 3, 2026 In the first week of the U.S.-Iran conflict, Iraqi civilians reportedly found an entirely intact LUCAS. Locals in Iraq appear to have recovered a crashed and almost entirely intact Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS), an American copy of the Iranian Shahed-136 Attack Drone, which is confirmed to have been used recently by Task Force Scorpion Strike during U.S. attacks on… pic.twitter.com/SEqO6627en — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 2, 2026 Our coverage on LUCAS: US Launched Kamikaze Drones Against Iran, Reflecting Lessons Learned From Ukraine India Unveils AI Kamikaze Drone ...
Storm Dave expected to cause Easter weekend travel disruption, though warm weather could return next week Storm Dave is expected to cause travel disruption this Easter weekend, with warnings for heavy snow and gale-force winds issued across northern parts of the UK, but a reprieve from the cold snap could be on the way, with temperatures forecast to reach the mid-20s next week. The Met Office has ...
Storm Dave expected to cause Easter weekend travel disruption, though warm weather could return next week Storm Dave is expected to cause travel disruption this Easter weekend, with warnings for heavy snow and gale-force winds issued across northern parts of the UK, but a reprieve from the cold snap could be on the way, with temperatures forecast to reach the mid-20s next week. The Met Office has issued a yellow severe weather warning in Scotland for heavy snow and blizzards causing some travel and power disruption. Up to 30 centimetres of snow could fall. An amber weather warning for wind has been issued for parts of northern England, Scotland and Wales on Saturday evening. Continue reading...
When Erling Haaland swept the ball home for a first Manchester City hat-trick since August 2024 it sent swathes of Liverpool fans for the exits. Only 57 minutes were gone yet City were cruising at 4-0 and Arne Slot’s men were being schooled. Haaland’s third, when Jérémy Doku and Nico O’Reilly walked the ball through Liverpool before the No 9 hooked in off the bar, epitomised the patheticalness tha...
When Erling Haaland swept the ball home for a first Manchester City hat-trick since August 2024 it sent swathes of Liverpool fans for the exits. Only 57 minutes were gone yet City were cruising at 4-0 and Arne Slot’s men were being schooled. Haaland’s third, when Jérémy Doku and Nico O’Reilly walked the ball through Liverpool before the No 9 hooked in off the bar, epitomised the patheticalness that set in with the striker’s 39th-minute penalty opener. Continue reading...
The Federal Reserve had the last day of its most recent meeting on March 18. The decision was to leave the federal funds rate unchanged, in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Furthermore, the central bank's dot plot, which shows officials' expectations (anonymously) of short-term interest rates, is now pointing to just one rate cut before the end of 2026. The market tends to give the Federal Reserve a lot ...
The Federal Reserve had the last day of its most recent meeting on March 18. The decision was to leave the federal funds rate unchanged, in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Furthermore, the central bank's dot plot, which shows officials' expectations (anonymously) of short-term interest rates, is now pointing to just one rate cut before the end of 2026. The market tends to give the Federal Reserve a lot of attention. And this can influence some investors to think they need to make portfolio moves. That thinking is understandable. But here are two reasons why long-term investors might just be better off not doing anything. Continue reading