Guido Mieth/DigitalVision via Getty Images Introduction The last time I covered W. P. Carey ( WPC ), I highlighted their strong AFFO growth, solid and very sustainable dividend yield, and compelling valuation, advancing on their pivot away from office real estate and focusing on industrial and retail instead. Following a strong year and continued pivot with record-breaking investment volumes and s...
Guido Mieth/DigitalVision via Getty Images Introduction The last time I covered W. P. Carey ( WPC ), I highlighted their strong AFFO growth, solid and very sustainable dividend yield, and compelling valuation, advancing on their pivot away from office real estate and focusing on industrial and retail instead. Following a strong year and continued pivot with record-breaking investment volumes and significant dispositions, WPC still trades at an attractive valuation, standing to benefit from these moves combined with eventual macro improvements and a long-term expansion into Europe. Pivot Advances With Record Investments W. P. Carey IR WPC reported a very strong Q4 and 2025 as a whole, as their pivot is paying out so far, beating the market's revenue and FFO estimates following very strong investments and issuing even better guidance than expected, with the AFFO reaching $1.098 billion throughout the year, meaning $4.97 per share, delivering a very strong 5.7% increase compared to 2024. Their portfolio recycling initiatives also advanced very well in 2025, with a record $2.1 billion in investments (26% into Europe) and a whopping ~$1.5 billion in dispositions, while the company boasted a solid 98% occupancy rate and a weighted-average lease term of 12 years, with over 370 tenants across their 1682 properties in the net lease portfolio and 11 self-storage properties that still hold a solid 87.6% average occupancy rate. For 2026, WPC expects a solid AFFO of $5.13 to $5.23 per share, expecting a smaller investment volume of $1.25 billion to $1.75 billion against $250 million to a massive $750 million in dispositions, continuing their pivot and portfolio recycling into better-rate properties. Compared to 2025's level, this would mark another solid ~4.23% increase on a per share basis, which remains very solid given the current environment. W. P. Carey IR Based on WPC's latest report , we can see a solid financial position, although the debt remains somewhat elevated compa...
If a company, particularly one that operates in the otherwise boring and slow-moving financial services industry, has seen its revenue soar 133% in three years, it's clearly doing something right. That's the best way to describe SoFi Technologies (SOFI +2.37%). The digital banking superstar ended 2025 with almost 13.7 million customers. Product innovation has been a key pillar of SoFi's success, a...
If a company, particularly one that operates in the otherwise boring and slow-moving financial services industry, has seen its revenue soar 133% in three years, it's clearly doing something right. That's the best way to describe SoFi Technologies (SOFI +2.37%). The digital banking superstar ended 2025 with almost 13.7 million customers. Product innovation has been a key pillar of SoFi's success, and in recent months, this core competency has been on full display. This fintech stock just proved that the ultimate cryptocurrency has a clear use case. Giving its members another tool to better handle their finances SoFi tapped Lightspark, a payments start-up founded in 2022 by former Meta Platforms executive David Marcus, to enable cross-border payments for its customers. Lightspark provides the back-end infrastructure, while SoFi Pay users can leverage this exciting capability. This feature leans on the Bitcoin (BTC +3.70%) Lightning network, a Layer-2 protocol that allows for fast and cheap transactions to occur. What stands out with this is that SoFi doesn't necessarily need to be bullish on Bitcoin. The management team simply picked what it thought was the most capable technological solution that could rapidly integrate and scale up. Since it was introduced in August last year, SoFi Pay now facilitates remittances to over 30 countries. At a high level, the person sending the money and the person receiving the money deal with their own respective local currencies. Underneath the hood, SoFi and Lightspark handle the conversion to and from Bitcoin. Besides how easy the feature is to use, SoFi could save its customers a lot of money. In 2024, $138 billion of remittances were sent from the U.S. to India, for example. Money-transfer services charge average fees that can be well above 5% of the value being sent. Expand CRYPTO : BTC Bitcoin Today's Change ( 3.70 %) $ 2546.95 Current Price $ 71431.00 Key Data Points Market Cap $1.4T Day's Range $ 67564.00 - $ 71646.00 52wk Ra...
"Far-Right" AfD Party Makes Historic Gains In German State Elections Only a year ago, the AfD was the target of an orchestrated media smear campaign , not to mention leftist government attempts to ban the party from elections. The same tactics have been used to stifle conservative and nationalist movements across Europe, but these movements are proving to be resilient. The latest Le Pen success st...
"Far-Right" AfD Party Makes Historic Gains In German State Elections Only a year ago, the AfD was the target of an orchestrated media smear campaign , not to mention leftist government attempts to ban the party from elections. The same tactics have been used to stifle conservative and nationalist movements across Europe, but these movements are proving to be resilient. The latest Le Pen success story in France's small town areas runs in tandem with the latest news from Germany. In the recent Rhineland-Palatinate state election, the Christian Democrats have, according to projections, won just over 30% of the vote and are well ahead of the leftist Social Democrats . However, the AfD is quickly catching up to the CDU, nearly doubling their seats in the same election with 20% of the voter share. For reference, CDU is a mainstream center-right party that supports strong EU integration, social market economy, NATO alliances, and has governed for decades. AfD is a right-wing populist movement that demands the EU reform, near-zero immigration, and prioritizes German national sovereignty over international commitments. 🚨 BREAKING: Germany's right-wing anti-Islamic migration party just SURGED in tonight's West Germany state elections, making a SURPRISING +11 point gain AfD has nearly DOUBLED its seats from just a few years ago Take your country BACK from the 3rd world! pic.twitter.com/SgA4JtClTY — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 22, 2026 The biggest gains went to the AfD, which, according to projections, comes in third. All three governing parties (SPD, Greens, and FDP) suffered significant losses. The CDU and Left Party’s enjoyed small gains of two to three percentage points. Meanwhile the AfD’s jump of more than eleven points is striking. The AfD is clearly established as Germany's second-strongest party at the national level with 152 seats total . These gains position the right-wing populists as a strong opposition force and Party leader Alice Weidel is already promisin...
Industrial companies such as Boeing and retailers including Costco Wholesale Corporation — even insurers such as Allstate Corporation — could win big if energy prices start to ease, according to JPMorgan. West Texas Intermediate futures fell more than 7% Monday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Iran had "productive" talks on the war in the Middle East, and promised to halt all U.S. st...
Industrial companies such as Boeing and retailers including Costco Wholesale Corporation — even insurers such as Allstate Corporation — could win big if energy prices start to ease, according to JPMorgan. West Texas Intermediate futures fell more than 7% Monday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Iran had "productive" talks on the war in the Middle East, and promised to halt all U.S. strikes on energy infrastructure for five days. JPMorgan recently calculated which companies stand to gain the most from lower energy costs, for themselves and their customers. The bank screened for stocks with the greatest inverse correlation to oil prices, based on relative returns to the S & P 500 across various industries, and found these: Delta Air Lines is nearly 4% higher Monday. The stock initially fell more than 10% in response to the start of the Iran war — before recovering after the first two weeks of the conflict — on that it will be hurt by costlier jet fuel and weaker travel demand. Kate Spade and Coach owner Tapestry jumped more than 4% Monday after dropping 9% since the Middle East war began, through Friday. Tapestry has been pressured by a concern that consumer spending will narrow as energy costs rise, shrinking demand for affordable luxury providers. Las Vegas Sands is another potential winner, JPMorgan said. The casino resort owner added more than 3% Monday, in tandem with other hotel companies that advanced on optimism that an economic downturn will be avoided.
e-crow/iStock via Getty Images Gold reached a record high on January 29, 2026, when the nearby April COMEX futures contract reached $5,626.80 per ounce. April gold futures declined 21.4% to $4,423.20 on February 2, before recovering to over $5,400 and running out of steam. On March 20, 2026, April COMEX gold futures settled at just below $4,575 per ounce, over $1,050 below the late January high. G...
e-crow/iStock via Getty Images Gold reached a record high on January 29, 2026, when the nearby April COMEX futures contract reached $5,626.80 per ounce. April gold futures declined 21.4% to $4,423.20 on February 2, before recovering to over $5,400 and running out of steam. On March 20, 2026, April COMEX gold futures settled at just below $4,575 per ounce, over $1,050 below the late January high. Gold mining stocks are more volatile than the underlying metal, as mining is a leveraged business. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF ( GDX ) holds a portfolio of leading publicly traded gold mining companies and provides diversified exposure to the sector. GDX reached a record high of $113.50 per share on January 29, and fell 18.9% to $92 per share on February 2, when gold reached its high and lows. GDX outperformed gold futures during the price correction, which was a bullish sign, and gold recovered. Meanwhile, even though gold futures remained below the late January high, GDX has made a new high of $117.17 per share on March 2. However, the senior gold mining ETF has plunged 32.8% to a low of $78.74 per share on March 20, and well below the $92 low on February 2 when gold futures reached their most recent bottom. Gold mining shares indicate a bearish bias in the gold market. If sentiment changes and gold’s rally reemerges, gold mining shares are likely to attract buying, which will cause them to outperform on the upside. The Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 2X ETF ( NUGT ) turbocharges the GDX ETF’s price action. Those looking to buy gold amid the current price weakness could magnify their exposure with NUGT, but any risk position requires careful attention and discipline regarding risk-reward dynamics. Buying gold on price weakness has been optimal for over two and a half decades Gold’s bull market began in 1999, when the price bottomed at $252.80 per ounce. Quarterly COMEX Gold Futures Chart (Barchart) The chart shows the bullish price action in the leading precious metal that ...
All four strategies represent first-to-market exposures on emerging growth and blue-chip stocks NEW YORK, March 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tradr ETFs, a provider of ETFs designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders, announced that it expects to launch four first-to-market single stock leveraged ETFs on Tuesday, March 24. The Cboe-listed funds seek to deliver either two times the inv...
All four strategies represent first-to-market exposures on emerging growth and blue-chip stocks NEW YORK, March 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tradr ETFs, a provider of ETFs designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders, announced that it expects to launch four first-to-market single stock leveraged ETFs on Tuesday, March 24. The Cboe-listed funds seek to deliver either two times the inverse (-200%) or two times long (200%) the daily performance of a specific underlying stock. Expected Tradr launches: Tradr 2X Short AMZN Daily ETF (Cboe: AMZO) – tracks Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) Tradr 2X Long AAOI Daily ETF (Cboe: AAOX) – tracks Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (Nasdaq: AAOI) Tradr 2X Long HL Daily ETF (Cboe: HLXX) – tracks Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) Tradr 2X Long IBM Daily ETF (Cboe: IBX) – tracks International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) For detailed information on Tradr ETFs and the significant risks involved with leveraged ETFs, please visit www.tradretfs.com. About Tradr ETFs Tradr ETFs are designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders who are looking to express high conviction investment views. The strategies include leveraged and inverse ETFs that seek short or long exposure to actively traded stocks and ETFs. IMPORTANT RISK INFORMATION Tradr ETFs are for sophisticated investors and professional traders with high conviction views and are very different from most other ETFs. The Funds are intended to be used as short-term trading vehicles and pursue leveraged investment objectives, which means they are riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Funds magnify the performance of their underlying security. The volatility of the underlying security may affect a Fund's return as much as, or more than, the return of the underlying security. Investors in the fund should: (a) understand the risks associated with the use of leverage; (b) understand the consequences of seeking inverse and leveraged investment results; (c)...
All four strategies represent first-to-market exposures on emerging growth and blue-chip stocks NEW YORK, March 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tradr ETFs, a provider of ETFs designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders, announced that it expects to launch four first-to-market single stock leveraged ETFs on Tuesday, March 24. The Cboe-listed funds seek to deliver either two times the inv...
All four strategies represent first-to-market exposures on emerging growth and blue-chip stocks NEW YORK, March 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tradr ETFs, a provider of ETFs designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders, announced that it expects to launch four first-to-market single stock leveraged ETFs on Tuesday, March 24. The Cboe-listed funds seek to deliver either two times the inverse (-200%) or two times long (200%) the daily performance of a specific underlying stock. Expected Tradr launches: Tradr 2X Short AMZN Daily ETF (Cboe: AMZO) – tracks Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) Tradr 2X Long AAOI Daily ETF (Cboe: AAOX) – tracks Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (Nasdaq: AAOI) Tradr 2X Long HL Daily ETF (Cboe: HLXX) – tracks Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) Tradr 2X Long IBM Daily ETF (Cboe: IBX) – tracks International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) For detailed information on Tradr ETFs and the significant risks involved with leveraged ETFs, please visit www.tradretfs.com. About Tradr ETFs Tradr ETFs are designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders who are looking to express high conviction investment views. The strategies include leveraged and inverse ETFs that seek short or long exposure to actively traded stocks and ETFs. IMPORTANT RISK INFORMATION Tradr ETFs are for sophisticated investors and professional traders with high conviction views and are very different from most other ETFs. The Funds are intended to be used as short-term trading vehicles and pursue leveraged investment objectives, which means they are riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Funds magnify the performance of their underlying security. The volatility of the underlying security may affect a Fund's return as much as, or more than, the return of the underlying security. Investors in the fund should: (a) understand the risks associated with the use of leverage; (b) understand the consequences of seeking inverse and leveraged investment results; (c)...
All four strategies represent first-to-market exposures on emerging growth and blue-chip stocks NEW YORK, March 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tradr ETFs, a provider of ETFs designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders, announced that it expects to launch four first-to-market single stock leveraged ETFs on Tuesday, March 24. The Cboe-listed funds seek to deliver either two times the inv...
All four strategies represent first-to-market exposures on emerging growth and blue-chip stocks NEW YORK, March 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tradr ETFs, a provider of ETFs designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders, announced that it expects to launch four first-to-market single stock leveraged ETFs on Tuesday, March 24. The Cboe-listed funds seek to deliver either two times the inverse (-200%) or two times long (200%) the daily performance of a specific underlying stock. Expected Tradr launches: Tradr 2X Short AMZN Daily ETF (Cboe: AMZO) – tracks Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) Tradr 2X Long AAOI Daily ETF (Cboe: AAOX) – tracks Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (Nasdaq: AAOI) Tradr 2X Long HL Daily ETF (Cboe: HLXX) – tracks Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) Tradr 2X Long IBM Daily ETF (Cboe: IBX) – tracks International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) For detailed information on Tradr ETFs and the significant risks involved with leveraged ETFs, please visit www.tradretfs.com. About Tradr ETFs Tradr ETFs are designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders who are looking to express high conviction investment views. The strategies include leveraged and inverse ETFs that seek short or long exposure to actively traded stocks and ETFs. IMPORTANT RISK INFORMATION Tradr ETFs are for sophisticated investors and professional traders with high conviction views and are very different from most other ETFs. The Funds are intended to be used as short-term trading vehicles and pursue leveraged investment objectives, which means they are riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Funds magnify the performance of their underlying security. The volatility of the underlying security may affect a Fund's return as much as, or more than, the return of the underlying security. Investors in the fund should: (a) understand the risks associated with the use of leverage; (b) understand the consequences of seeking inverse and leveraged investment results; (c)...
France’s local elections, closely watched for clues to next year’s crunch presidential vote, have given parties of the centre a welcome and unexpected lift as the far right and radical left fell some way short of their ambitions. The 35,000 municipal ballots often focus on local survival and their outcomes do not always reflect national voting patterns, but they do show trends in popularity and su...
France’s local elections, closely watched for clues to next year’s crunch presidential vote, have given parties of the centre a welcome and unexpected lift as the far right and radical left fell some way short of their ambitions. The 35,000 municipal ballots often focus on local survival and their outcomes do not always reflect national voting patterns, but they do show trends in popularity and suggest what kind of alliances can be struck in a fragmented political landscape. The far-right National Rally (RN), either of whose likely candidates in the 2027 race – Jordan Bardella or Marine Le Pen – is seen as clear favourite to succeed Emmanuel Macron, multiplied its number of councillors by 13 in Sunday’s second-round vote. The party held onto Perpignan and captured other smaller southern towns including Carcassonne, Menton and Cannes. It also claimed victory in France’s resolutely conservative fifth city, Nice, through its ally, the breakaway rightwinger Éric Ciotti. But the RN failed to seize its most coveted target – the country’s second-largest city, Marseille – or several others that it had high hopes of winning, including Toulon and Nîmes, puncturing a growing air of invincibility. In Paris, the Socialist party’s Emmanuel Grégoire, running on a united left platform that included the Greens, defeated the rightwing former minister Rachida Dati and the radical left La France Insoumise (LFI) to become the capital’s mayor. 1:03 Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire arrives on bicycle after being elected mayor of Paris – video The results suggest that when the mainstream parties cooperate and organise effectively, they can still combine in a “Republican front” to block the RN, particularly in France’s larger cities where the nationalist party’s brand still repels many voters. Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s LFI, shunned by much of the mainstream left over allegations of extremism, antisemitism and violence, also had a mixed night, scoring a couple of symbolic wins but failing to make big ...