Many people tout the benefits of opening a Roth IRA to avoid any taxation on capital gains, dividends, and withdrawals. While you pay taxes upfront, the argument is that all of the gains you'll generate in this plan will justify doing so. However, some people actually end up losing money with Roth IRAs and could have grown their nest eggs much faster with traditional IRAs. There are a few reasons ...
Many people tout the benefits of opening a Roth IRA to avoid any taxation on capital gains, dividends, and withdrawals. While you pay taxes upfront, the argument is that all of the gains you'll generate in this plan will justify doing so. However, some people actually end up losing money with Roth IRAs and could have grown their nest eggs much faster with traditional IRAs. There are a few reasons why you may want to think twice before opening up a Roth IRA. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
A joke made on a major US talk show has triggered backlash just as BTS prepares for a high-profile American television return – prompting a swift apology from a comedian caught at the centre of the controversy. Seth Herzog, a resident comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, came under fire after making an improvised remark during a Wednesday taping. While warming up the audience, Herzo...
A joke made on a major US talk show has triggered backlash just as BTS prepares for a high-profile American television return – prompting a swift apology from a comedian caught at the centre of the controversy. Seth Herzog, a resident comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, came under fire after making an improvised remark during a Wednesday taping. While warming up the audience, Herzog asked, “Anyone here from the North?” – a line reportedly intended as a general question about...
undefined Electric vehicle (EV) registrations in Thailand nosedived 80% to 6,168 cars in February from the previous month, following a dramatic reduction in government purchase subsidies, industry data showed. The weakened demand signals mounting headwinds for Chinese automakers, who dominate the Southeast Asian country’s EV market and rely on it as a key export hub.
undefined Electric vehicle (EV) registrations in Thailand nosedived 80% to 6,168 cars in February from the previous month, following a dramatic reduction in government purchase subsidies, industry data showed. The weakened demand signals mounting headwinds for Chinese automakers, who dominate the Southeast Asian country’s EV market and rely on it as a key export hub.
A private credit fund managed by Ares Management posted its steepest monthly loss on record in February, providing further evidence of deteriorating performance in the $1.8 trillion private credit market. Bloomberg's Sinead Cruise has more. (Source: Bloomberg)
A private credit fund managed by Ares Management posted its steepest monthly loss on record in February, providing further evidence of deteriorating performance in the $1.8 trillion private credit market. Bloomberg's Sinead Cruise has more. (Source: Bloomberg)
J Studios Blue Owl Capital ( OWL ) hasn’t seen a rise in defaults within its loan book, according to co-chief executive officer Doug Ostrover, who pushed back against growing concerns around private credit. “We are not seeing an increase in defaults,” Ostrover said Thursday at the Asia Pacific Financial and Innovation Symposium in Melbourne. “We’re not seeing any signs of trouble,” he added, sayin...
J Studios Blue Owl Capital ( OWL ) hasn’t seen a rise in defaults within its loan book, according to co-chief executive officer Doug Ostrover, who pushed back against growing concerns around private credit. “We are not seeing an increase in defaults,” Ostrover said Thursday at the Asia Pacific Financial and Innovation Symposium in Melbourne. “We’re not seeing any signs of trouble,” he added, saying he remains “cautiously optimistic” about the near-term outlook. “What we’re seeing in the portfolios today is pretty good growth, probably in the range of 8% to 10% revenue growth,” and a similar amount for earnings, Ostrover added. Blue Owl ( OWL ) is among several private credit managers that have faced a wave of redemptions from retail-focused funds in recent months, partly tied to worries about software companies. Just this week, Ares Management ( ARES ) and Apollo Global Management ( APO ) capped withdrawals from certain funds amid rising redemption requests. Days earlier, Blackstone’s ( BLK ) flagship private credit fund reported its first monthly loss in over three years. However, performance of portfolio companies appears solid, Ostrover stressed. The comments echoed bullish sentiment for the $1.8T private credit market voiced by senior executives from Apollo ( APO ) and Blackstone ( BLK ) earlier in the day at the symposium. “There is a big disconnect between the headlines and the news cycle and what we see in the portfolio,” Blackstone’s ( BLK ) co-chief investment officer Kenneth Caplan said at the symposium, adding the firm’s portfolio has “very low levels of default.” Meanwhile, Apollo ( APO ) president Jim Zelter said “dramatic” headlines were creating opportunities and that there is no evidence of systemic risks in private credit. Ostrover also mirrored the views of Zelter that distribution teams targeting retail and high-net-worth investors may not have clearly explained the liquidity restrictions inherent to the asset class. The industry “could have done ...
Even as Donald Trump pushes for talks to end the war against Iran, the US has ordered thousands of troops to the region, fuelling fears that the president is gearing up for exactly the sort of risky ground invasion that he once campaigned against. Iran has publicly rejected Trump’s diplomatic outreach and threatened massive retaliation if the US does put boots on the ground in a bid to break Tehra...
Even as Donald Trump pushes for talks to end the war against Iran, the US has ordered thousands of troops to the region, fuelling fears that the president is gearing up for exactly the sort of risky ground invasion that he once campaigned against. Iran has publicly rejected Trump’s diplomatic outreach and threatened massive retaliation if the US does put boots on the ground in a bid to break Tehran’s will. For a president who faulted his predecessors’ so-called forever wars, the potential...
bigjom/iStock via Getty Images Investment Summary NTG Clarity Networks ( NYWKF , NCI:CA ) is a Canadian-led, Egypt-based, and Saudi-focused digital transformation provider benefiting from strong tailwinds in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The recent weakness in margins and cash flow appears more temporary than structural. They hired staff ahead of demand to meet contract delivery, which came slightl...
bigjom/iStock via Getty Images Investment Summary NTG Clarity Networks ( NYWKF , NCI:CA ) is a Canadian-led, Egypt-based, and Saudi-focused digital transformation provider benefiting from strong tailwinds in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The recent weakness in margins and cash flow appears more temporary than structural. They hired staff ahead of demand to meet contract delivery, which came slightly later than expected. The key question in FY26 is whether NTG can convert its pre-built capacity into revenue, allowing margins and cash conversion to improve. At around 0.55x sales, 3.8x EV/EBITDA, and ~6x earnings, the market prices the stock like a slow-growth, project-based contractor that is too concentrated geographically and across key accounts with limited conversion visibility. We believe this valuation fails to reflect NTG's long-term growth trajectory, margin normalization potential, contract momentum, and structurally advantaged operating model. Business Overview NTG Clarity Networks is a digital transformation and IT services provider. It serves telecom operators, enterprises, banks, governments, and utilities. It operates mostly in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. NTG has two main business lines. First, they provide digital transformation development services, including full-stack software engineering, business analysis, project management, and quality control testing. They deliver these services through a hybrid model with offshore delivery from Egypt for cost efficiency ( 50% customer savings over on-site services) with on-site execution in Saudi Arabia. They also provide proprietary software products and solutions through NTGApps, their no-code platform that provides custom app templates for companies to either deploy ready-made solutions or build new apps covering ERP, IT ticketing, telecom network management, asset tracking, etc. NTGApps is not SaaS, but it helps NTG productize parts of its delivery model to improve repeatability, shorten implementation time, ...
Alones Creative/iStock via Getty Images The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil and LNG trade. When traffic through this corridor falls - as it has sharply since early March 2026 - the effects don't stay contained to energy markets. They ripple outward in ways that many investors haven't fully priced. The disruption is real and structural - What began as a short-...
Alones Creative/iStock via Getty Images The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil and LNG trade. When traffic through this corridor falls - as it has sharply since early March 2026 - the effects don't stay contained to energy markets. They ripple outward in ways that many investors haven't fully priced. The disruption is real and structural - What began as a short-term energy story has evolved into something longer-term. The scale and duration of this disruption look meaningfully different from recent history, and the repercussions may fundamentally reshape the global economy. Alternative routes are ramping up, but capacity is limited - Crude loadings at Yanbu on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast have risen sharply as flows reroute away from the strait. But existing infrastructure can only partially offset the disrupted Gulf export volumes, and a recent Iranian missile strike on Yanbu underscores how fragile even these workarounds remain. LNG and natural gas prices are surging - European TTF gas prices have spiked to levels not seen since the Russia-Ukraine conflict, reflecting tightening global LNG supply. Disruptions to Qatari exports, including Qatar Energy's declaration of force majeure, are a key driver, with downstream consequences extending well into chemical and fertilizer supply chains. Refining margins are spiking - European crack spreads have surged well above historical ranges, signaling acute product market tightness as crude flows and refining inputs are disrupted simultaneously. The Agricultural Transmission: From LNG to the Farm The concentration of chemical and fertilizer production in the Persian Gulf reflects the region's abundant, low-cost natural gas, which serves as both an energy source and a raw material feedstock for producing nitrogen, ammonia, and downstream fertilizer products. When that gas supply is disrupted, the effects move directly into agriculture. Qatar alone produces roughly 5.5 million tons of nitroge...