What's Behind The Jump In Alphabet Stock? Benzinga

Architect Shalom Baranes shows elevation drawings for a new $400 million ballroom at the White House to members of the National Capital Planning Commission on Jan. 8, 2026 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday blocked, for now, the construction of the new White House ballroom, which President Donald Trump has heavily touted. District Court Judge Richard Leon, in his order, enjoined Trump administration officials and the Executive Officer of the President, "from taking any action in furtherance of the physical development of the proposed ballroom at the former site of the East Wing of the White House." Leon said the order would take effect within 14 days. The delay gives Trump time to appeal the order. This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr said stablecoins present some areas of concern tied to potential money laundering and financial stability risks, in a warning for banking agencies as officials craft regulations. “The quality and liquidity of stablecoin reserve assets are critical to their long-run viability,” Barr said in prepared remarks for the Federalist Society. “At the same time, stablecoin issuers have an incentive to maximize the return on their reserve assets by extending the risk spectrum as far out as possible.” Barr also noted on Tuesday the potential benefits of digital assets, such as helping firms with their Treasury functions or remittance transfers. Stablecoins are recognized for their ability to quickly settle payments as compared to wire transfers, which can take several business days. Read More: Fed’s Bowman Says Regulators Working on Stablecoin Rules The Fed and other regulators are in the process of writing rules tied to the Genius Act, which requires stablecoin issuers to formally register and hold dollar-for-dollar reserves. Banks and crypto firms have recently clashed over digital asset regulations, including a fight over access to bank charters. “Tight control over reserve assets, coupled with supervision, capital and liquidity requirements, and other measures, could enhance the stability of stablecoins and make them more viable payment instruments,” he said. “But success in accomplishing these goals will depend on the details of regulatory implementation.”

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SCHD: 2026 Reconstitution I last analyzed the Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF ( SCHD ) on Feb 19 with an article titled “SCHD: I Projected Its 2026 Reconstitution Changes And Liked What I Saw.” The key projection from that article was that “my simulations suggest SCHD will reduce energy exposure, increase financials, and further boost healthcare allocations, aligning with robust value and growth metrics.” I felt bullish about these projected changes and rated the ETF as a buy. Since that article, the fund has actually announced its 2026 reconstitution at the end of March and made several material changes to its holdings. Besides these fund-specific catalysts, a few macroeconomic parameters have also changed substantially in the past 1~2 months. In particular, the geopolitical conflicts with Iran have changed the valuation and growth projection of the SP500 considerably. As such, my goals in this article are twofold. Firstly, I will review the changes that SCHD made in its 2026 constitution. Secondly and more importantly, I will analyze how these changes can impact SCHD’s return potential relative to the broader market as represented by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust ETF ( SPY ). In the end, my verdict is that the 2026 reconstitution has positioned SCHD well to outperform SPY in 2026 as well. Particularly as ongoing geopolitical conflicts introduce heightened volatility to the broader market, SCHD’s post-reconstitution increase in Health Care and decrease in energy provide a quality-first buffer that SPY, which is heavily tilted toward growth, lacks. SCHD and SPY ETF: Quick Introduction and Exposure Since the popularity of both SCHD and SPY among Seeking Alpha readers, I feel the following fund description is sufficient as a quick introduction. Here, I will focus more on the differences in their exposure as a result of their different indexing methods. SCHD Fund Description: SCHD’s index focuses on the sustainability and quality of dividends by screening companies based on...

Richard Drury/DigitalVision via Getty Images Lately, things have been going pretty well for shareholders of Unity Bancorp ( UNTY ). Back in early October of last year, I decided to upgrade the stock from a "Buy" to a "Strong Buy." This is rare for me. I have a very high bar for such a high rating in the financial sector because of how risky I view the space to be. But honestly, the company checked a lot of my preferred boxes. Fundamentals were strong, the balance sheet was expanding, the income statement was growing, and the stock was priced at levels that just made sense to me. That was a good call. Since then, the stock has risen 5.6%, while the S&P 500 is down 1.9%. In all honesty, I believe this trend will continue in the near term. And because of how cheap the stock remains relative to earnings and how high asset quality is, I think I would be ridiculous to downgrade it at this time. I’m still banking on Unity Bancorp Author - SEC EDGAR Data The newest data that we have regarding Unity Bancorp covers through the final quarter of the company's 2025 fiscal year. In many instances, when I analyze a publicly traded bank, I'd like to start with the balance sheet. But today, I have a different narrative to share with you. Today, I'm starting with meaningful margin improvement that the company is capturing. For the final quarter of 2025, for instance, Unity Bancorp saw a net interest margin of 4.60%. That's up from the 4.37% reported a year earlier. Over the last three completed fiscal years, net interest margin has actually expanded nicely from 4.06% to 4.52%. Author - SEC EDGAR Data Already, these numbers are high. Most banks sit in the 2% to slightly above 3% range. But the fact that it's also expanding is telling. In the chart above, you can see how certain metrics associated with parts of its balance sheet have behaved. Loans, for instance, have become much more valuable to the company. This is especially compared to what they were back in 2023. But we should not...

JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images So, for the past few weeks, I've been covering and updating on most of my "typical" insurance players, especially in the US market. I've also been adding a few to my list and covering some EU ones in the IG. Generally speaking, it's fair to say and accurate to quote me as being conservative and somewhat negative on the sector going forward into 2026. Why is that? In this article, I will use the The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. ( THG ) as a good example (in my view) of a company that seems to be liked by most (in that most recommendations are positive), but that I believe is perhaps a bit overestimated on the bullish side - or at least not enough highlighting of risk, if that makes sense. Because while THG is without a doubt a very solidly capitalized insurance company in the P&C sector, which stands for property & casualty, I believe this is one where investors may be liable to not see the "forest for the trees." As a value investor, I believe it is my purpose here on Seeking Alpha to provide this context to you to make sure you make the right decisions in investing - those being the right decision for you, and not for the "herd," as I would coin the majority of the investment base. I will go through THG's operations, show you what makes it a good investment, then shift into risks and look at what could make this company a bit of a problem on the risk side, and at a certain valuation. There are good reasons why many people, many investors, are positive right now, but let me offer a bit of contrast on this company. The Hanover Insurance Group - Quality in a stressful environment The reason I call the current insurance environment, especially in the U.S., a stressful one is one of many facets. I have covered it a bit in previous articles, and it can be summarized as follows (especially for P&C). Essentially, we're talking about the convergence of several serious factors, which I believe are being underestimated. On the one ...

Iran has the “necessary will” to end the war with the US and Israel, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday, stressing that Tehran was seeking guarantees the conflict would not flare up again. The comment by the head of state – which boosted markets in the US – came after a day of heavy strikes on Iran and followed a tough warning from the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Guards threatened to retaliate against leading US tech firms such as Google, Meta and Apple from...

Why is Intel Corporation stock gaining today? By Investing.com Investing.com UK

Electric bike startup Also, which spun out of carmaker Rivian, reached a $1 billion valuation in a new funding round and struck a partnership with DoorDash to work on autonomous deliveries. Also’s co-founder and President Chris Yu speaks with Matt Miller on “Bloomberg Tech.” (Source: Bloomberg)

【有線新聞】日本茨城縣南部5級地震，沒有發布海嘯預警，東京亦有震感。 茨城縣水戶市的監控鏡頭搖晃，日本放送協會在栃木縣宇都宮市的辦公室時鐘等擺設亦輕微搖晃。氣象廳指，茨城縣南部早上10時06分發生5級地震，震源深度50公里，鄰近的真岡市震度達日本標準的5弱級別，宇都宮及水戶等達4 級，東京亦有震感。JR東北新幹線來往東京站至新青森站，一度要暫停服務。

The entire source code for Anthropic's Claude Code command line interface application (not the models themselves) has been leaked and disseminated, apparently thanks to a serious internal error. The leak gives competitors and armchair enthusiasts a detailed blueprint for how Claude Code works—a significant setback for a company that has seen explosive user growth and industry impact over the past several months. Early this morning, Anthropic published version 2.1.88 of Claude Code npm package—but it was quickly discovered that package included a source map file, which could be used to access the entirety of Claude Code's source—almost 2,000 TypeScript files and more than 512,000 lines of code. Security researcher Chaofan Shou was the first to publicly point it out on X , with a link to an archive containing the files. The codebase was then put in a public GitHub repository, and it has been forked tens of thousands of times. Read full article Comments

Source: Bloomberg, 5:25

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周二向媒体表示，他认为伊朗战争可能很快就会结束，其他国家将自行牵头重新开放霍尔木兹海峡。 “我们不会再在那里待太久了。我们现在正在把他们彻底摧毁，这是彻底的摧毁，”特朗普告诉媒体称。 “嗯，我认为海峡会自动开放，但我的态度是，我已经摧毁了这个国家。他们已经没有剩余的力量了，让那些使用海峡的国家去开放它吧……因为我想象控制石油的人会非常乐意开放海峡，”他说。 责任编辑：张俊 SF065

The recent selling pressure in U.S. equity markets ( SP500 ), ( COMP:IND ), ( DJI ) has little connection to geopolitical tensions and is not fundamentally driven, according to Matthew Mishkin, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife John Hancock Investments. In an interview with CNBC, Mishkin argued that “most of the selling pressure you’ve seen in the U.S. equity market has been driven from AI concerns or regulatory concerns or communication services or private credit and financial services.” He added that high-quality tech stocks, despite being “beaten up the most,” have not been impacted by war-related factors. Mishkin characterized the market downturn as a healthy correction following a momentum-driven rally earlier in the year. “Some of this stuff had just rallied way too much year-to-date,” he explained, noting that the market needed “corrective price action” and “a resetting of sentiment because it was just getting a little too frothy.” The strategist views this pullback as a natural unwinding of trend-following investment strategies that had dominated recent months. The U.S. remains well-positioned to weather current challenges, according to Mishkin. He pointed to the country’s status as a net oil exporter with world-class natural gas reserves, along with technology and other industries that are not heavily reliant on energy resources. “It’s not cheap by any means, but it’s cheaper than where we were just about a month ago,” he said of current market valuations. With earnings season approaching, Mishkin advised investors to focus on fundamentals rather than geopolitical headlines. He emphasized the importance of identifying “companies that can drive earnings growth through this challenging macro environment.” High-quality stocks with solid earnings potential represent an opportunity for investors seeking value during this period of uncertainty. For a three-to-six-month outlook, Mishkin’s top recommendation centers on infrastructure-related equities, whic...

Stocks are surging while Bitcoin and Ethereum hit their highest prices in days after Iran's president said he's looking to end the conflict.

VST bets on data center demand and ERCOT growth, with hedging and long-term nuclear deals shaping a potential pricing inflection by 2027-2028.

Editor's note: Seeking Alpha is proud to welcome Supply Chain Alpha as a new contributing analyst. You can become one too! Share your best investment idea by submitting your article for review to our editors. Get published, earn money, and unlock exclusive SA Premium access. Click here to find out more » Backiris/iStock via Getty Images Summary The Strait of Hormuz handles ~20% of global oil flows and significant LNG exports. Even partial disruption can reprice energy and fertilizer markets. Historical precedent (2022) shows fertilizer equities can outperform during energy shocks. I see a favorable risk/reward in agriculture and fertilizer positioning via Invesco DB Agriculture Fund ETF ( DBA ), Teucrium Soybean Fund ETF ( SOYB ) (the October calls), and fertilizer equities: CF Industries Holdings ( CF ), Intrepid Potash ( IPI ), and Nutrien ( NTR ). Introduction Every now and then the market reminds you that geography still matters. The Strait of Hormuz is one of those places. It is easy to overlook when things are calm, but when tensions rise, energy markets tend to react quickly. I am not a geopolitical expert, and I am not trying to predict how events unfold. Like most people, I would prefer stability. But markets do not wait for certainty. They price risk as it develops. Right now, the situation does not need to escalate dramatically to matter. Even small changes, such as higher shipping insurance, slower transit, or cautious export behavior, can push energy costs higher. Once energy starts moving, it rarely stays contained. It tends to work its way through supply chains. One of the first places that impact shows up is fertilizer, and from there it often moves into agriculture. That is the part of the market I am focused on. Key Market Insight Energy disruptions rarely stop at energy. They tend to move through the system in stages. First, energy prices adjust. After that, input-heavy industries such as fertilizer production begin to respond. Eventually, those h...

Staci Warden, CEO of Algorand Foundation, joins Scarlet Fu and Tim Stenovec on "Bloomberg Crypto." ALGO is the native token of the Algorand blockchain. The blockchain was launched in 2019, and this month received the distinction of being classified as a digital commodity rather than a security. (Source: Bloomberg)