Listen and subscribe to Trillions on Apple , Spotify , iHeart and the Bloomberg Terminal. SpaceX is finally going public — and at a valuation that’s likely to make it one of the world’s biggest companies when it hits the market. So what happens when a company worth as much as $2 trillion suddenly needs to be folded into indexes, exchange-traded funds and portfolios built for a different era? On th...
Listen and subscribe to Trillions on Apple , Spotify , iHeart and the Bloomberg Terminal. SpaceX is finally going public — and at a valuation that’s likely to make it one of the world’s biggest companies when it hits the market. So what happens when a company worth as much as $2 trillion suddenly needs to be folded into indexes, exchange-traded funds and portfolios built for a different era? On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts James Seyffart and Sharoon Francis to unpack the dawn of the mega-cap initial public offering. They explore how index providers are rewriting decades-old rules to accommodate SpaceX, why passive funds could become some of its biggest buyers, which ETFs and mutual funds already have exposure to the company and what it all means as other private giants — including OpenAI and Anthropic — prepare to enter the public markets. Money goes where it’s treated best. That simple truth is a big reason why more and more money (trillions of dollars, in fact) flows into a powerful, low-cost tool that’s quietly transformed investing. Exchange-traded funds let you invest in everything from the stock market to gold like never before. This biweekly podcast will demystify them—and hopefully delight you in the process.
Sundry Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Where I went wrong Over the past couple of months, or at least since the beginning of the year, the decision to buy or sell Micron ( MU ) involves weighing unprecedented AI-driven growth against technical sell-window warnings and scepticism. Micron has demonstrated exceptional performance through late May of this year, now up over 56%. For most,...
Sundry Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Where I went wrong Over the past couple of months, or at least since the beginning of the year, the decision to buy or sell Micron ( MU ) involves weighing unprecedented AI-driven growth against technical sell-window warnings and scepticism. Micron has demonstrated exceptional performance through late May of this year, now up over 56%. For most, a run of that magnitude flags caution, the kind I did not ignore, with my last coverage of Micron in early April being a sell. Needless to say, with the stock up 189% since then, that call has aged like milk. The Techie My last call wasn’t about the business; it was about the price, and that's exactly what ran me over. I downgraded the stock at $353.59 on the logic that Micron had "already paid for exceptional and was now being asked to pay for sustained exceptional." The business then delivered sustained exceptional results, and the market paid up for it. The stock closed on June 2nd at $1,064, nearly triple the price where I told you to step aside. The thesis I wrote down was that the easy money had been made. The easy money, as it turned out, was just starting. The same can’t be said about Micron at these levels, but I think the stock is now attractive on a pullback as momentum keeps spilling into the memory plays. Every concern I had is real and remains so at current levels, be it the capex raise or the margin ceiling math. I read Micron as a memory name late in a normal cycle, where overbought technicals and a sell-the-news reaction usually mark the top of the move. While the take was, and still is, that HBM4 sold out through 2026 was "real demand visibility,” the repricing since has been continuous, and I think that's how a stock behaves when the market stops pricing it as a memory company and starts pricing it as structurally short supply into a multi-year AI buildout. Micron crossed a $1 trillion valuation last Tuesday , SK hynix did the same, and the entire memory...
FEATURE The artificial-intelligence rally may be grinding to a halt. Technology stocks were getting hit hard Thursday after mediocre revenue guidance from Broadcom caused investors to question how fast AI demand will accelerate.
FEATURE The artificial-intelligence rally may be grinding to a halt. Technology stocks were getting hit hard Thursday after mediocre revenue guidance from Broadcom caused investors to question how fast AI demand will accelerate.
Taiyou Nomachi/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview The Invesco High Yield Equity Dividend Achvrs ETF ( PEY ) is a solid ETF for investors that want to prioritize dividends and stability within their portfolio. When I previously covered PEY, I issued a hold rating and discussed how it underperforms some peer ETFs. However, I wanted to reassess PEY by taking a more focused look at the ETF to det...
Taiyou Nomachi/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview The Invesco High Yield Equity Dividend Achvrs ETF ( PEY ) is a solid ETF for investors that want to prioritize dividends and stability within their portfolio. When I previously covered PEY, I issued a hold rating and discussed how it underperforms some peer ETFs. However, I wanted to reassess PEY by taking a more focused look at the ETF to determine who this type of fund is actually for. I think there are some benefits that investors will enjoy from PEY, while there are also some tradeoffs that should be considered. Looking at the performance over the last twelve months, we can see that PEY's share price has increased by a little more than 10%. When including all distributions paid out to shareholders, the total return jumps up to roughly 15.5% over the same time frame. PEY now offers investors a starting dividend yield of about 4.5%, while issuing its payouts on a monthly basis. PEY also has a solid history of dividend growth over time, which can be ideal for investors that want to see their annual income compound over time with a straightforward buy-and-hold approach. Data by YCharts Ultimately, PEY provides exposure to some of the highest quality companies in the world, so I expect the ETF to do well. However, the defensive approach means that PEY is also likely to underperform over time. During a time of optimism and rapid expansion in the indices, investors should consider the opportunity risks. Furthermore, I believe that the fund has the potential to substantially increase its growth by making some slight adjustments to its allocation strategy to specific sectors. Fund Strategy According to the latest fund overview , PEY now has total assets of $1.05B that are spread across 51 different holdings. The fund's primary goal is to provide exposure to high quality dividend-paying companies that have a history of raising payouts. In order to achieve this goal, PEY only selects its holdings from the Nasdaq U.S. D...
Michael Vi/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction Visa ( V ) is a company that ticks all our investment criteria. It commands strong, durable competitive advantages, operates a capital-light business model, and holds a near-monopoly status in the payment market. However, we are not the first to discover Visa's lucrative market position; it has also caught the attention of the U.S. Departme...
Michael Vi/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction Visa ( V ) is a company that ticks all our investment criteria. It commands strong, durable competitive advantages, operates a capital-light business model, and holds a near-monopoly status in the payment market. However, we are not the first to discover Visa's lucrative market position; it has also caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice ( DOJ ). There is an ongoing litigation risk against Visa, which has put a drag on the stock price. Visa, a company that previously traded at very lofty valuations, is now starting to look more appealing from a valuation perspective. In this article, we will establish a baseline valuation for the company using our DCF model and investigate two alternative scenarios, one with slower margin development as a result of the litigation risk and an optimistic scenario where margins continue to expand. Data by YCharts Data by YCharts Data by YCharts The DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Visa As stated in the DOJ's September 2024 complaint , "Visa illegally maintains a monopoly over debit network markets by using its dominance to thwart the growth of its existing competitors and prevent others from developing new and innovative alternatives." "More than 60% of debit transactions in the United States run on Visa’s debit network, allowing it to charge over $7 billion in fees each year for processing those transactions" Through this lawsuit, the DOJ seeks to "restore competition to this vital market on behalf of the American public." The DOJ's Case The DOJ's complaint focuses on three core pillars regarding Visa's business model. Exclusionary pricing structures: The complaint alleges that Visa "wields its dominance, enormous scale, and centrality to the debit ecosystem to impose a web of exclusionary agreements on merchants and banks. These agreements penalize Visa’s customers who route transactions to a different debit network or alternative payment system" Furthermore the...
Investors may weigh Fidelity MSCI Financials Index ETF (NYSEMKT:FNCL) for its low-cost approach and broad diversification against iShares U.S. Financials ETF (NYSEMKT:IYF) , which offers concentrated exposure and higher historical returns. These two ETFs provide targeted access to the U.S. financial sector, including banking, insurance, and brokerage services. While they share similar goals, their...
Investors may weigh Fidelity MSCI Financials Index ETF (NYSEMKT:FNCL) for its low-cost approach and broad diversification against iShares U.S. Financials ETF (NYSEMKT:IYF) , which offers concentrated exposure and higher historical returns. These two ETFs provide targeted access to the U.S. financial sector, including banking, insurance, and brokerage services. While they share similar goals, their underlying strategies differ in depth and cost. This analysis explores how their differing portfolio sizes and expense structures impact long-term investor outcomes. Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. Dividend yield is the trailing-12-month distribution yield. Continue reading
Intel is teaming up with Apple supplier Foxconn to develop artificial-intelligence infrastructure—but that wasn’t enough to stop the chip manufacturer’s stock from sliding on Thursday. The selloff came after Intel and Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry said they would collaborate to speed up the AI buildout. “Together, we are accelerating the delivery of end-to-end platforms that un...
Intel is teaming up with Apple supplier Foxconn to develop artificial-intelligence infrastructure—but that wasn’t enough to stop the chip manufacturer’s stock from sliding on Thursday. The selloff came after Intel and Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry said they would collaborate to speed up the AI buildout. “Together, we are accelerating the delivery of end-to-end platforms that unlock new capabilities and extend the impact of AI worldwide,” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said.
Vertigo3d/iStock via Getty Images Bot traffic has overtaken human activity in a closely watched slice of the internet, underscoring how quickly AI ( AIQ ) agents and other automated systems are reshaping the web. Cloudflare ( NET ) Radar data shared by CEO Matthew Prince on Thursday showed bots accounting for 57.5% of worldwide HTTP requests to HTML content over the last seven days, versus 42.5% f...
Vertigo3d/iStock via Getty Images Bot traffic has overtaken human activity in a closely watched slice of the internet, underscoring how quickly AI ( AIQ ) agents and other automated systems are reshaping the web. Cloudflare ( NET ) Radar data shared by CEO Matthew Prince on Thursday showed bots accounting for 57.5% of worldwide HTTP requests to HTML content over the last seven days, versus 42.5% for humans. "Thought it would be end of 2027, then early 2027, but agentic traffic [is] growing so fast that bots have now passed human traffic online for the first time in the Internet's history," Prince wrote in a social media post. That is a narrower measure than all internet traffic, though it is still a striking milestone because HTML requests sit close to the core of ordinary web browsing and content consumption. Cloudflare Radar More on State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF Single Stock Volatility Jumps To A Record Vs. The VIX Index Hyperscaler's CDS Fears Are Rising Semis Versus Software: Should You Follow The Investment Giants And Their 13-F Actions? Workforce shakeup: tech plummets, real estate spared CTS and Arteris lead list of least attractively valued small-cap tech stocks
Tevarak/iStock via Getty Images Crypto-linked stocks came under pressure alongside Bitcoin as the world’s largest cryptocurrency extended its losing streak amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and weakening institutional demand signals. Bitcoin recently slipped below $64,000, while several major crypto-related equities moved lower in premarket trading, including miners, exchanges, ...
Tevarak/iStock via Getty Images Crypto-linked stocks came under pressure alongside Bitcoin as the world’s largest cryptocurrency extended its losing streak amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and weakening institutional demand signals. Bitcoin recently slipped below $64,000, while several major crypto-related equities moved lower in premarket trading, including miners, exchanges, and digital asset infrastructure companies. Investor sentiment has also been pressured by persistent outflows from U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs and a decline in Coinbase’s premium index, signaling softer demand from U.S.-based buyers. Despite the recent pullback, several crypto-linked stocks continue to maintain strong quantitative ratings based on factors including valuation, growth, momentum, and profitability. Leading the list is Galaxy Digital ( GLXY ), which currently carries a Strong Buy Quant Rating of 4.80. The digital asset investment and infrastructure firm has remained one of the highest-rated names in the cryptocurrency financial services space. Block ( XYZ ), the payments and fintech company with growing Bitcoin and digital asset exposure, follows closely behind with a Strong Buy rating of 4.72. The remainder of the list consists primarily of Hold-rated crypto infrastructure and mining companies, reflecting the sector’s continued volatility despite strong long-term momentum in select names. Among the Hold-rated stocks, Hut 8 ( HUT ) stands out with year-to-date gains of nearly 186%, while TeraWulf ( WULF ) and Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) have also posted triple-digit percentage gains this year. The list spans several areas of the crypto economy, including digital asset mining, financial services, payments, and blockchain infrastructure. Top crypto-linked stocks by Quant Rating: Galaxy Digital ( GLXY ) - Quant Rating: 4.80 Block ( XYZ ) - Quant Rating: 4.72 Hut 8 ( HUT ) - Quant Rating: 3.48 Cipher Digital ( CIFR ) - Quant Rating: 3.47 TeraWulf ( WULF ) - Quant Rat...
Welcome to Bloomberg’s Banking Monitor . Every Thursday we’ll deliver you the top news of the global banking industry with emerging trends, winners and losers and market opportunities. Sign up now if you’re not already on the list. We have not reached the place where lenders will dump their private loans, but you can see it from here. That’s one of the nervous vibes that emerged during this week’s...
Welcome to Bloomberg’s Banking Monitor . Every Thursday we’ll deliver you the top news of the global banking industry with emerging trends, winners and losers and market opportunities. Sign up now if you’re not already on the list. We have not reached the place where lenders will dump their private loans, but you can see it from here. That’s one of the nervous vibes that emerged during this week’s Bloomberg Global Credit Forum attended by bankers and their alternative-lending counterparts. More on that in a minute, but in the meantime, there’s lots of money still to be made on the equity side. Anthropic chose Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to lead its initial public offering, and the SpaceX IPO could be worth as much as $500 million to the bankers even after Elon Musk pestered them into cutting their fee . And that’s just fine: their involvement seen as a prestige boost, with the fees less important than the bragging rights . Speaking of IPOs, Revolut could turn its leader Nikolay Storonsky into a billionaire 76 times over if the fintech goes public within the next two years. JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon counts himself as an admirer of the firm. (By contrast, Dimon had some harsh words for the head of Coinbase about crypto’s push to pay interest on digital currency.) Fintech darling Nubank unnerved investors by doing something apparently radical — appointing a highly qualified and deeply experienced new chief financial officer ahead of its US expansion. Back to Bloomberg’s Credit Forum: Loans made during the lax, low-interest heydays at the start of this decade don’t make sense anymore to some bankers, and there’s talk that would-be investors are deliberately tanking their bids to avoid getting stuck with loans they don’t really want. More debtors are going to fail, and a survey of attendees found their top concerns include a potential oversupply of AI-related debt. For a summary of the event, check out our Going Private newsletter ( sign up here ). You might w...
Professor25/iStock via Getty Images Wix ( WIX ) confirmed Thursday that it planned to slash around 1,000 jobs in the coming months. This is roughly 20% of its workforce, and easily the largest layoffs in the company's history. Wix is the latest of a long line of well-known companies taking an ax to their workforces in recent months, with the primary reason cited being AI. A recent survey of corpor...
Professor25/iStock via Getty Images Wix ( WIX ) confirmed Thursday that it planned to slash around 1,000 jobs in the coming months. This is roughly 20% of its workforce, and easily the largest layoffs in the company's history. Wix is the latest of a long line of well-known companies taking an ax to their workforces in recent months, with the primary reason cited being AI. A recent survey of corporate executives was almost unanimous in finding leaders believe AI related layoffs will happen at their company over the next two years. Jobs most vulnerable to be displaced by AI (CloudTweaks) 2026 has seen a notable increase in the number of AI-related layoffs. Alphabet ( GOOG ) announced it plans to lay off up to 30,000 employees in April. That is nearly 20% of its current workforce. Meta Platforms ( META ) disclosed this month it will lay off 10% of its staff, or some 8,000 people. The company will also not fill thousands of currently open positions. Amazon has laid off 30,000 corporate employees since October to help support its projected $200 billion capex budget in 2026. Company Filings, RIA Advisors, Financial Times Both hyperscalers are scaling back their workforces to free up capital to feed their voracious capital ex budgets. The five major hyperscalers will spend nearly $700 billion on capex this year, up just north of 80% over 2025. This massive surge in tech spending has put revenue and profit growth on steroids for semiconductor companies like Micron Technology ( MU ), Intel ( INTC ) and NVIDIA Technology ( NVDA ) and AI related concerns like Datadog ( DDOG ). BofA Global Investment Research, Bloomberg However, the spending binge has decimated the free cash flows at the hyperscalers, with both Amazon ( AMZN ) and Oracle ( ORCL ) projected to has significantly negative free cash flow in 2026. Macrotrends This has resulted in a large increase in debt issuance to fund these large AI infrastructure buildouts at these hyperscalers. Alphabet just announced it will r...
alvarez/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Back when I last covered FLEX LNG Ltd. ( FLNG ), I reiterated their Buy rating, highlighting their modern fleet offering strong and predictable future cash flow, with a robust balance sheet that came with no maturities until 2029. Following a mixed quarter but a boost in guidance thanks to surging spot rates seen as a result of the Iran disruptions that...
alvarez/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Back when I last covered FLEX LNG Ltd. ( FLNG ), I reiterated their Buy rating, highlighting their modern fleet offering strong and predictable future cash flow, with a robust balance sheet that came with no maturities until 2029. Following a mixed quarter but a boost in guidance thanks to surging spot rates seen as a result of the Iran disruptions that helped their two ships that were available on spot rates, FLNG remains a Buy, as the valuation continues to imply a solid margin of safety and weak expectations despite the company’s potential stemming from long-term tailwinds. Mixed Quarter, Guidance Boost FLEX LNG IR Although FLNG reported mixed Q1 results , with a miss on EPS and a beat on revenue and an Average Time Charter Equivalent that continued to fall to $65,729 (vs. $70,119 in Q4 2025) and the Adj. EBITDA fell to $53.2 million (vs. $61.8 million in Q4’25), the company boosted its outlook by about 10% compared to the February guidance. FLEX LNG IR As we can see, the company expects an 8% boost in the average TCE rate during the year, translating into a 10% revenue guidance increase to $345 million to $370 million, and an 11% higher Adj. EBITDA than back in February, to $255 million to $280 million (vs. $251.1 million in 2025). FLEX LNG IR Although we see Artemis and Volunteer on fixed hires until Q2 and Q3 (compared to spot trading at the beginning of the year and during Q1; Artemis is employed until the end of September, Volunteer until early July), the company doesn’t have that much exposure to near-term rates, and especially given the options to extend a couple of the near-term contract expirations, it’s important to treat this as a long-term investment rather than jump on the current spot prices and treat this as a quick trade, in my opinion. FLEX LNG IR Financially, we continue to see an overall solid position, with current assets covering their current liabilities significantly, with no maturity until 2029 ...