Generating cash is essential for any business, but not all cash-rich companies are great investments. Some produce plenty of cash but fail to allocate it effectively, leading to missed opportunities.
Generating cash is essential for any business, but not all cash-rich companies are great investments. Some produce plenty of cash but fail to allocate it effectively, leading to missed opportunities.
Ehud Barak withdrew Israeli forces from Lebanon in 2000, ending an occupation that lasted nearly two decades. He says that was a quagmire Israel shouldn't repeat. (Image credit: Israeli Government Press Office via Getty Images)
Ehud Barak withdrew Israeli forces from Lebanon in 2000, ending an occupation that lasted nearly two decades. He says that was a quagmire Israel shouldn't repeat. (Image credit: Israeli Government Press Office via Getty Images)
Meta has been ordered by the European Commission to restore free WhatsApp access for chatbots made by rival AI providers while the regulator finishes its antitrust investigation. The rare interim measure announced on Tuesday was deemed necessary "to prevent serious and irreparable damage to competition" in the general-purpose AI assistant market. This is only the second time that the EU has used t...
Meta has been ordered by the European Commission to restore free WhatsApp access for chatbots made by rival AI providers while the regulator finishes its antitrust investigation. The rare interim measure announced on Tuesday was deemed necessary "to prevent serious and irreparable damage to competition" in the general-purpose AI assistant market. This is only the second time that the EU has used the emergency power in more than 20 years, Politico reports. It follows the launch of a formal investigation in December 2025 into whether Meta was abusing its market dominance by banning third-party AI chatbots from its WhatsApp messaging platform. … Read the full story at The Verge.
This episode feels symbolic of a World Cup where the global game has been sacrificed to Fifa’s cynical money-making – and Trumpian whim Omar Abdulkadir Artan was supposed to make history this week, becoming the first Somali referee to officiate at a World Cup. Instead, he’s watching from outside the US, denied entry without explanation by the Trump administration. Welcome to the most inclusive Wor...
This episode feels symbolic of a World Cup where the global game has been sacrificed to Fifa’s cynical money-making – and Trumpian whim Omar Abdulkadir Artan was supposed to make history this week, becoming the first Somali referee to officiate at a World Cup. Instead, he’s watching from outside the US, denied entry without explanation by the Trump administration. Welcome to the most inclusive World Cup ever. Fifa, the game’s governing body, is projecting revenues of $8.9bn (£6.7bn) from this tournament – double what the 2024 Olympics made. More teams: 48, up from 32. More matches: 104 over 39 days. More markets, just how they like it. This is good business. Morgan Ofori is a reporter, blogger and subeditor for the Guardian’s The Long Wave Continue reading...
Ton Molina/Getty Images News A rare technical signal has flashed for Brazil's equity market, suggesting a bullish setup for the coming months, according to a chart shared by i3 Invest's Guilherme Tavares. The chart showed the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF ( EWZ ) trading above its one-year moving average while its 14-day Relative Strength Index remained below 27, an uncommon combination that has occurre...
Ton Molina/Getty Images News A rare technical signal has flashed for Brazil's equity market, suggesting a bullish setup for the coming months, according to a chart shared by i3 Invest's Guilherme Tavares. The chart showed the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF ( EWZ ) trading above its one-year moving average while its 14-day Relative Strength Index remained below 27, an uncommon combination that has occurred only seven times historically. According to Tavares, the signal has produced an average forward two-month return of 12.43%, with positive performance 86% of the time. The chart highlighted EWZ holding above its longer-term trend despite a deeply oversold RSI reading, a setup the analyst described as supportive of a contrarian bullish position in Brazilian equities. Tavares said the historical pattern suggests the rare technical combination has typically been followed by strong short-term gains, with the latest occurrence indicating another potentially favorable entry point for investors. Here are the holdings of EWZ ranked as per SA's quant ratings: Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras ( PBR ): Strong Buy (4.94) Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras ( PBR.A ): Strong Buy (4.93) Vale S.A. ( VALE ): Strong Buy (4.63) B3 S.A. – Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão ( BOLSY ): Strong Buy (4.54) Ambev S.A. ( ABEV ): Strong Buy (4.53) Banco Bradesco S.A. ( BBD ): Buy (4.12) Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. ( ITUB ): Hold (3.37) Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo – SABESP ( SBS ): Hold (2.94) Nu Holdings Ltd. ( NU ): Hold (2.91) WEG S.A. ( WEGZY ): Sell (1.99) More on iShares MSCI Brazil ETF EWZ: A Compelling Opportunity For Brazilian Equities At A Discount Eyes On Brazilian Assets - Compelling 2026 Opportunity Transmission Channels Of The War On Iran To The Brazilian Economy Trump administration proposes 25% Brazil tariffs Emerging markets rally despite Middle East war, energy fears
brianb2/iStock via Getty Images With hundreds of millions of dollars in additional federal subsidies recently announced for coal-fired power plants across the US, questions remain over whether the funding will move the needle for a sector that continues to lose ground to natural gas and renewables. Some analysts said investments in existing and new coal plants may pose risks for developers and ele...
brianb2/iStock via Getty Images With hundreds of millions of dollars in additional federal subsidies recently announced for coal-fired power plants across the US, questions remain over whether the funding will move the needle for a sector that continues to lose ground to natural gas and renewables. Some analysts said investments in existing and new coal plants may pose risks for developers and electric utilities. President Donald Trump announced the latest round of grants during a June 4 White House event touting "beautiful, clean coal." Nine of the 15 existing coal-fired power plants selected to receive funding for upgrades, and one new plant planned for West Virginia, belong to the PJM Interconnection wholesale electricity market, where coal generation is expected to shrink in the coming years. The S&P Global Market Indicative Power Forecast for the first quarter of 2026 shows coal generation in PJM declining from about 20% of the power mix in 2027 to about 10% by 2031 and dropping further after that. Even with the new federal funding in the picture, the trend is unlikely to change, said Tanya Peevey, a senior principal analyst with S&P Global Energy CERA. "Gas plants in PJM are forecast to not fully meet debt return requirements on energy revenue alone and rely heavily on capacity revenue to meet debt payment obligations, both to the bank and equity holders," Peevey said in an interview. "Coal power plants, which typically run much less often, are going to meet this same difficultly even in markets where demand is growing, as resources that are cheaper to run — gas and renewables — will be dispatched first." The infusion of federal funding is unlikely to move future projections of debt payments down far enough to make coal plants more competitive than natural gas-fired generation despite power demand growth, Peevey said. Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard University's Electricity Law Initiative, agreed. "The subsidies allow the coal plants to come back online or jus...
PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview When I previously covered the New Mountain Finance ( NMFC ), I issued a sell rating due to the continued NAV decline and lack of earnings growth. Since then, NMFC's share price has fallen by a little over 19.4% as the BDC market continues to face headwinds. Even when including all distributions paid, the total return sits at a double-digit loss. No...
PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview When I previously covered the New Mountain Finance ( NMFC ), I issued a sell rating due to the continued NAV decline and lack of earnings growth. Since then, NMFC's share price has fallen by a little over 19.4% as the BDC market continues to face headwinds. Even when including all distributions paid, the total return sits at a double-digit loss. Now that we're approaching the mid-point of 2026, I wanted to reassess NMFC's current value proposition following the release of its last earnings report. When I previously covered NMFC, it traded at a discount to NAV of 20.90%. Due to the decline of the BDC market, NMFC now trades at a deeper discount to NAV of 28.66%. Referring to the red line on the graph below, we can see that NMFC now trades near the bottom end of its historical price to NAV range. For instance, NMFC has traded at an average discount to NAV of 7.66% over the last five years. However, it is clear that this growing discount is a clear reflection of the weakness that NMFC is currently experiencing. For instance, NMFC's NAV per share has maintained a downward trend for more than a year straight. CEF Data Despite the risks, NMFC now offers investors a high starting dividend yield of about 12.8%. Following a recent distribution reduction, the payouts are now supported by net investment income. While NMFC may be okay from an income perspective, I believe that the growth prospects remain weak. For instance, NMFC has struggled to allocate sufficient capital towards new investment activity. Therefore, I have little confidence that earnings will grow over the next quarter. Q1 Earnings According to the latest portfolio overview , NMFC has investments at a fair value of $2.31B that are spread across 115 different portfolio companies. What I like about NMFC's portfolio structure is that 89% of its assets are structured on a floating rate basis. This means that NMFC is technically aligned to collect a higher level of i...