Mid-cap growth stocks occupy a specific and often underappreciated position in a portfolio: large enough to have proven their business model, but still growing fast enough to reinvest aggressively rather than return cash to shareholders. Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Fund ETF Shares (NYSEARCA:VOT) is built around exactly that idea, and with $31.7 billion in net ... $31.7 Billion in Assets and a 0....
Mid-cap growth stocks occupy a specific and often underappreciated position in a portfolio: large enough to have proven their business model, but still growing fast enough to reinvest aggressively rather than return cash to shareholders. Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Fund ETF Shares (NYSEARCA:VOT) is built around exactly that idea, and with $31.7 billion in net ... $31.7 Billion in Assets and a 0.05% Fee: Is Vanguard’s VOT Actually Worth Holding?
It’s likely, but it also could be a boon for a new generation of entrepreneurs willing to take over established operations Want to buy my business? It’s been very profitable. I’ve run it for more than 25 years. But no, you don’t want to buy it. Like most small businesses in this country, there’s really nothing of value here. According to the Small Business Administration, there are approximately 3...
It’s likely, but it also could be a boon for a new generation of entrepreneurs willing to take over established operations Want to buy my business? It’s been very profitable. I’ve run it for more than 25 years. But no, you don’t want to buy it. Like most small businesses in this country, there’s really nothing of value here. According to the Small Business Administration, there are approximately 33m small businesses in the US. But fewer than 7m actually employ people. The rest comprise freelancers, side gigs and independent contractors. I’m sure many of these people are making a living. But are they building assets? A brand? Probably not. If that “business owner” suddenly disappears, their business disappears with them. No one wants to buy a business like that. There’s no value. Continue reading...
Pushing yourself to the limit, training through injury and choosing the gym over socialising are all signs that you may have an unhealthy reliance on exercise At the peak of his adventuring career, Luke Tyburski was a man of extremes. The former pro-footballer, then in his early 30s, had dedicated himself to intense endurance challenges, of the sort that make a marathon look like a fun run. Beginn...
Pushing yourself to the limit, training through injury and choosing the gym over socialising are all signs that you may have an unhealthy reliance on exercise At the peak of his adventuring career, Luke Tyburski was a man of extremes. The former pro-footballer, then in his early 30s, had dedicated himself to intense endurance challenges, of the sort that make a marathon look like a fun run. Beginning with the Marathon de Sables (a notorious multistage ultramarathon in the Sahara desert), he then ran the world’s highest ultramarathon at Mount Everest base camp, battled dehydration during a 100km run on a tropical island, and took on the vividly named Double Brutal Extreme Triathlon in north Wales. The endgame in all of this was a self-designed challenge, which saw him swimming from Africa to Europe, cycling through Spain and running to Monaco – 2,000km in total, in just 12 days. Tyburski was a professional adventurer, financing his pursuits via magazine articles and speaking gigs, and even making a documentary about his quest. His whole raison d’etre was to push past his limitations, showing what a person is capable of when their mindset is strong enough. Yet, privately, he was dealing with depression, related to a loss of identity after the end of his footballing career, which took in Australia, the US and Belgium before he tried out for clubs in the UK. “Training and racing creates an escape, and the highs are extremely high,” says Tyburski. “But when I returned home from an adventure, the lows were extremely low, because I hadn’t addressed what I was running away from.” Continue reading...
For decades, the United States led the charge in the pursuit of brain-computer interface technology, betting big on bold, high-risk breakthroughs that promised to revolutionise medicine and human-machine integration. In the end, it is China crossing the finish line first. Using a semi-invasive approach that may lend credence to the Confucian “doctrine of the mean” – or the philosophy of seeking a ...
For decades, the United States led the charge in the pursuit of brain-computer interface technology, betting big on bold, high-risk breakthroughs that promised to revolutionise medicine and human-machine integration. In the end, it is China crossing the finish line first. Using a semi-invasive approach that may lend credence to the Confucian “doctrine of the mean” – or the philosophy of seeking a middle path between extremes – a team in China has now come up with a commercially approved product...
In the face of existential anxiety it may be tempting to fret over smaller details, but there are positive steps we can take to prepare for a world that may change at any moment The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran, my therapy rooms have been flooded with clients talking about the possi...
In the face of existential anxiety it may be tempting to fret over smaller details, but there are positive steps we can take to prepare for a world that may change at any moment The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran, my therapy rooms have been flooded with clients talking about the possibility of a world war and the widespread perception that we stand at a perilous tipping point in history. People are dealing with this differently, with some sanguinely shrugging and accepting they can’t change matters so there’s little point worrying, while others fret and compulsively check the news. Many describe a sense of strong doom. I too have experienced a similar awareness that the global order has changed irrevocably, with the same uncertainty as my clients are describing. Continue reading...
The tiny Caribbean island nation has a familiar face in their ranks whose time with Australia in 2018 is proving crucial ahead of the tournament Curaçao have been in dreamland since qualifying for a first World Cup last November but geopolitical reality kicked in as the team headed to Australia for games against China and the Socceroos. Due to war in the Middle East, Curaçao’s long-haul flight tha...
The tiny Caribbean island nation has a familiar face in their ranks whose time with Australia in 2018 is proving crucial ahead of the tournament Curaçao have been in dreamland since qualifying for a first World Cup last November but geopolitical reality kicked in as the team headed to Australia for games against China and the Socceroos. Due to war in the Middle East, Curaçao’s long-haul flight that should have been Amsterdam to Sydney via Dubai became instead Frankfurt to Singapore with lots of logistical stress and separate journeys. The two island nations – though Australia is about 17,000 times bigger than the Caribbean country – meet in Melbourne on Tuesday. Curaçao has a population of 155,000 making it the smallest nation to make it to the global stage. Despite the differences, the two teams have more than just 2026 World Cup preparation in common. Continue reading...
As the Iran war heads into a fifth week, Wall Street bank strategists have been touting trades that would pay off if a stock-market selloff is slow and steady. BBVA recently recommended April Euro Stoxx 50 Index put spreads, citing market complacency even in the face of a US troop buildup, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. mentioned activity in over-the-counter volatility “knock-out” puts where protectio...
As the Iran war heads into a fifth week, Wall Street bank strategists have been touting trades that would pay off if a stock-market selloff is slow and steady. BBVA recently recommended April Euro Stoxx 50 Index put spreads, citing market complacency even in the face of a US troop buildup, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. mentioned activity in over-the-counter volatility “knock-out” puts where protection evaporates if market swings exceed a certain level. Both kinds of strategies lower the cost of the option positions compared with just buying vanilla puts. The lack of immediate macroeconomic shock has so far kept the crisis relatively contained as far as US indexes are concerned. However, the potential impact of a pickup in inflation on central bank policy and disruption of trade flows threaten to turn the decline into a more dramatic, longer-term selloff that elevates volatility for an extended period. “The issue now isn’t whether investors are hedged, it’s how,” said Arnim Holzer , global macro strategist at Easterly EAB. “Many of the structures being used are designed for a grind lower, not a regime shift, which leaves the buy side implicitly short convexity if volatility gaps.” Convexity trades — which capture outsized gains in options during volatility spikes — are falling somewhat out of favor given the speed at which market selloffs have recently reversed, leaving traders scant opportunity to cash in. For now, the perception that there are a number of potential offramps for US President Donald Trump to end the Iran conflict keeps strategists wary of recommending extreme downside hedges. “We have seen decent activity in the grind lower trade — pricing parameters generally support trying to get short skew, short delta,” said Arnaud Jobert , JPMorgan’s global head of equities structuring and co-head of global strategic indexes. “We have seen trades in VKO puts and even putting a look-back feature on the VKO to smooth path dependency amid whipsawing markets.” During F...
A durable wave of hyperscale data center buildout should keep high‑end GPUs like AMD’s Instinct line and dense interconnection platforms such as American Tower’s CoreSite campuses in high demand.
A durable wave of hyperscale data center buildout should keep high‑end GPUs like AMD’s Instinct line and dense interconnection platforms such as American Tower’s CoreSite campuses in high demand.
Markets and Geopolitics: Guidelines for Volatile Times Markets and politics often intersect, and they crossed paths big time in March with the Iran conflict. We want to remind analysts of our guidelines and how to approach geopolitical topics in a challenging environment: Make sure to focus on how a political development may impact the macro picture, the stock market, or a specific investment idea...
Markets and Geopolitics: Guidelines for Volatile Times Markets and politics often intersect, and they crossed paths big time in March with the Iran conflict. We want to remind analysts of our guidelines and how to approach geopolitical topics in a challenging environment: Make sure to focus on how a political development may impact the macro picture, the stock market, or a specific investment idea. Make sure any investment or macro takeaway is actionable. Make sure to provide support and sourcing from credible sources (and consider using Seeking Alpha’s news coverage as a source; see details on sourcing below). Most importantly, make sure any political commentary does not distract or overwhelm your macro or investment-specific assessment. What we avoid: Articles should not take a position on the merits of a policy or politician. And we won’t present articles that contain an attack on a politician, a policy, or other analysts. We’ll pass on articles that focus on a political topic without a direct connection to an investment or a clearly defined macro theme. We won’t present content that contains unsupported speculation or allegations regarding intent. And we don't present politically based acronyms within analysis articles. That includes "TACO," "BigMAC" and "TUNA." Once an article is posted, make sure to remain respectful of opposing viewpoints. We rely on analysts to ensure that article comments remain polite and useful for all readers. Our guidelines on politics and the markets can be found here . Secondary Tickers: Details Matter Adding in secondary tickers to an article puts more eyeballs on the content. Articles with secondary tickers will appear in the "Related Analysis" section of that ticker’s profile page. And users who have that ticker in a portfolio will see the article appear on their "My Portfolio" page. Our guidelines for secondary tickers: Articles should present a decent amount of detail on any company with a secondary ticker designation. Just a sin...
In the coming years, HBO wants its new Harry Potter series to become " the streaming event of the decade " as it adapts each of the franchise's seven original books . The show could very well become a hit that captures the imaginations of a new generation of fans who weren't there for the first wave of Pottermania that intensified with the releases of each book and Warner Bros.' subsequent film ad...
In the coming years, HBO wants its new Harry Potter series to become " the streaming event of the decade " as it adapts each of the franchise's seven original books . The show could very well become a hit that captures the imaginations of a new generation of fans who weren't there for the first wave of Pottermania that intensified with the releases of each book and Warner Bros.' subsequent film adaptations. And if this Harry Potter is a success, it could give author J.K. Rowling a reason to consider writing more stories set in the magical world that turned her into a billionaire. But all of that hinges on whether people will actually watch HBO … Read the full story at The Verge.
NASA pulled off the moon landing in 1969 with a clear goal from the outset: to be the first nation to put boots on the lunar surface. The US was locked in a space race with the Soviet Union, and the Apollo 11 landing helped cement America’s lead in the competition to be the reigning geopolitical superpower in the depths of the Cold War. Now, NASA is heading back with its Artemis program. As early ...
NASA pulled off the moon landing in 1969 with a clear goal from the outset: to be the first nation to put boots on the lunar surface. The US was locked in a space race with the Soviet Union, and the Apollo 11 landing helped cement America’s lead in the competition to be the reigning geopolitical superpower in the depths of the Cold War. Now, NASA is heading back with its Artemis program. As early as April 1, the agency will send a crew of four around the moon as a precursor for a landing this decade. But why spend nearly $100 billion to repeat a journey NASA has already made? The goal of Artemis is less obvious than that of Apollo — so much so that the justification for NASA’s lunar return largely depends on who is answering the question. It could be about outracing its current rival, China. It might be sustainability — setting up a lunar base to make further exploration easier. Or it could be much simpler: NASA is returning to the moon because it wants destinations for its astronauts, and the lunar surface is the next logical place to showcase its technological prowess. “Human spaceflight is at the core of the institution of NASA going back to Apollo, and the self identity of a large swath of the agency,” said Casey Dreier , chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, a space advocacy group. The Apollo program set a precedent that NASA should strive to have a flagship human spaceflight initiative that drives US space exploration forward. After Apollo, NASA’s crewed efforts rallied around the Space Shuttle and then the International Space Station. both in low-Earth orbit rather than farther out in space. With the Shuttle retired and the ISS set to end this decade, NASA sees a future where humans can travel deeper into the solar system. “Now that, in a sense, NASA has done low-Earth orbit and done the reusable Shuttle, it’s now the moon,” Dreier said. There has been tension for decades, however, about where the next cosmic destination should be: back to the moon ...
EyeEm Mobile GmbH/iStock via Getty Images The market isn’t focused on jobs anymore; it's now focused on oil and inflation. That is a major shift ahead of March’s non-farm payroll report, which is expected to show improvement following February’s weak print. But even if the labor data rebounds, it may actually make things worse, not better. A Big Improvement Is Expected For March, analysts expect n...
EyeEm Mobile GmbH/iStock via Getty Images The market isn’t focused on jobs anymore; it's now focused on oil and inflation. That is a major shift ahead of March’s non-farm payroll report, which is expected to show improvement following February’s weak print. But even if the labor data rebounds, it may actually make things worse, not better. A Big Improvement Is Expected For March, analysts expect non-farm payrolls to rise by 55,000, versus a decline of 92,000 in February. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.4%, while average hourly earnings rise by just 0.3% m/m, down from 0.4%. If the February data were a fluke and March comes in as expected or better, it will likely take pressure off the employment side of the Fed's mandate and shift back to inflation, which, given oil's sudden rise, is quickly becoming a more pressing issue in the months ahead. Inflation Expectations Inflation expectations have surged, with year-over-year inflation rates expected to rise dramatically to around 3.4% in March, then climb to almost 3.9% by May before easing. However, that is assuming the worst of the oil impacts are behind us. If oil prices continue to rise, the CPI swap market is likely to adjust to higher levels over time. Values For Aug Through Nov Are Estimated (Mott Capital, Data From LSEG) From Rate Cuts To Rate Hikes? What this has done is lead the market to exclude rate cuts from its 2026 equation. Currently, Fed Fund Futures for December 2026 are trading at 3.7%, very close to the upper end of the Fed Fund target range, which is between 3.5% and 3.75%. At least at this point, the market sees no rate cuts from the Fed in 2026. TradingView Other measures for the path of monetary policy also suggest that not only will there be no rate cuts in 2026, but there is the potential for rate hikes. The 3-month Treasury 12-month forward rate is currently trading at a 24-basis-point premium over the 3-month Treasury bill. That is the widest the spread has been sinc...
Map Shows Homebuilders Pulling Back Nationwide "Given Limited Visibility To Demand" Even as homebuilders offer mortgage-rate buydowns, closing-cost incentives, and upgraded amenities to attract buyers on the sidelines, clouds of uncertainty continue to build over the housing market. New U.S. single-family permit activity fell again in January, highlighting yet more caution among builders ahead of ...
Map Shows Homebuilders Pulling Back Nationwide "Given Limited Visibility To Demand" Even as homebuilders offer mortgage-rate buydowns, closing-cost incentives, and upgraded amenities to attract buyers on the sidelines, clouds of uncertainty continue to build over the housing market. New U.S. single-family permit activity fell again in January, highlighting yet more caution among builders ahead of the spring selling season as they respond to softer demand . Goldman analysts, led by Susan Maklari, provided clients on Friday with a snapshot of homebuilders across America and a housing heat map suggesting continued sluggishness across the industry. On a trailing 12-month basis, single-family permits fell 8% in January, versus 7% in the previous month, and were up 6% in December 2025. Maklari said, "Ongoing moderation comes as builders look to limit unsold inventory given limited visibility to demand." Some of the January weakness stemmed from severe winter weather and dangerously cold temperatures, which delayed permits and construction in parts of the eastern U.S., including major homebuilding markets such as Texas, Florida, and the Southeast. However, the snow and sub-zero temperatures are only one part of the slowdown story. The analyst added that builders are dealing with a challenging macroeconomic environment for buyers, noting that sales traffic improved earlier in the year but vanished in March, according to the latest industry checks, as consumers "react to the effects of the Middle East conflict." At the same time, mortgage rates have jumped about 40 basis points over the last month, making monthly payments even less affordable as the housing market is stuck in the worst affordability crisis in a generation, a leftover gift from the Biden-Harris era. The slowdown is most visible in some of the biggest new-home states: Single-family permits for the 3-months ended January fell 11% YOY, compared to -9% in December, and -1% a year ago. That said, they were up 7% v...