watch now VIDEO 3:18 03:18 Why this MLB season could be the last before major changes for the league CNBC Sport Thursday's Opening Day may be the calm before the storm for Major League Baseball. The league's collective bargaining agreement with its players expires at the end of this season. Owners, with the commissioner's backing, are almost sure to push for a salary cap (which would likely come w...
watch now VIDEO 3:18 03:18 Why this MLB season could be the last before major changes for the league CNBC Sport Thursday's Opening Day may be the calm before the storm for Major League Baseball. The league's collective bargaining agreement with its players expires at the end of this season. Owners, with the commissioner's backing, are almost sure to push for a salary cap (which would likely come with a salary floor to get players to the negotiating table). MLB owners have never been able to get a cap passed by the players union. It's unclear if the end of the 2026 season will lead to a different result, but MLB Players Association Interim Executive Director Bruce Meyer told ESPN last month he expects a lockout is "all but guaranteed." In addition to the CBA's expiration, there are major shifts underway for baseball media rights. One-third of the league's teams didn't have local TV deals in place for this season until this week. Nine MLB teams – the Washington Nationals, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, and Detroit Tigers – announced Wednesday their brand new MLB-operated team channels will be carried by DirecTV. Most of those teams had previously been part of Main Street Sports (previously Diamond Sports Group), which operates FanDuel Sports Networks (previously Bally Sports). That entity has been teetering with liquidation, and the teams terminated their contracts with the company due to missed payments earlier this year. Get the CNBC Sport newsletter directly to your inbox The CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media, delivered weekly to your inbox. Subscribe here to get access today . A 10th team, the Atlanta Braves, is launching a new network called BravesVision. The Braves and Charter's Spectrum announced a multiyear distribution agreement earlier this week . MLB ideally wan...
FactoryTh Nouveau Monde Graphite ( NMG ) said Thursday it signed a binding long-form term sheet with Canada's government establishing principal commercial terms for the supply, storage, and resale of graphite concentrate from the company's Phase 2 Matawinie mine in Quebec. Nouveau Monde ( NMG ) said Canada agreed to buy 30K metric tons/year of flake graphite concentrate from the mine on a take-or-...
FactoryTh Nouveau Monde Graphite ( NMG ) said Thursday it signed a binding long-form term sheet with Canada's government establishing principal commercial terms for the supply, storage, and resale of graphite concentrate from the company's Phase 2 Matawinie mine in Quebec. Nouveau Monde ( NMG ) said Canada agreed to buy 30K metric tons/year of flake graphite concentrate from the mine on a take-or-pay basis over a seven-year term. The fixed-price deal, to be adjusted annually for inflation, lets the company resell the material and split any gains above the set price with the government. Graphite concentrate, once processed, is used to produce anodes used in electric vehicles and batteries, as well as in steelmaking and industrial processes. The company also said it is progressing toward a final investment decision on the mine following a commitment letter for US$335M in senior secured project debt facilities from Export Development Canada and the Canada Infrastructure Bank. More on Nouveau Monde Graphite Financial information for Nouveau Monde Graphite Nouveau Monde Graphite: Updated Feasibility Study Isn't Compelling Enough
Copper Fox Metals press release ( CUU:CA ): Q1 GAAP EPS of $0.00. As at January 31, 2026, the Company's cash position was $306,730 (October 31, 2025- $686,236) and as of the date of this news release the Company's cash position is $1,308,194. More on Copper Fox Metals Financial information for Copper Fox Metals
Copper Fox Metals press release ( CUU:CA ): Q1 GAAP EPS of $0.00. As at January 31, 2026, the Company's cash position was $306,730 (October 31, 2025- $686,236) and as of the date of this news release the Company's cash position is $1,308,194. More on Copper Fox Metals Financial information for Copper Fox Metals
Pernod Ricard SA is exploring a potential acquisition of Brown-Forman Corp. , the owner of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, as alcoholic drink companies look at ways to consolidate amid an industry downturn, people familiar with the matter said. The French beverages company has held some initial discussions with Louisville, Kentucky-based Brown-Forman about a potential combination, according to the people, ...
Pernod Ricard SA is exploring a potential acquisition of Brown-Forman Corp. , the owner of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, as alcoholic drink companies look at ways to consolidate amid an industry downturn, people familiar with the matter said. The French beverages company has held some initial discussions with Louisville, Kentucky-based Brown-Forman about a potential combination, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Brown-Forman has fallen about 32% in New York trading over last 12 months, leaving it with a market value of around $10.8 billion. The company, whose other brands include Fords Gin and Herradura tequila, has been battling soft demand from premium liquors in the US. Pernod Ricard is one of Europe’s largest alcoholic drinks companies, with a market capitalization of around €16.2 billion ($18.6 billion). Its portfolio includes Absolut vodka, Havana Club rum and Jameson whiskey. Pernod and Brown-Forman have each been looking at ways to strengthen their businesses at a time when consumers are drinking less and switching to less expensive liquors. Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty they will result in a deal, the people said. Representatives for Pernod Ricard and Brown-Forman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Paris-based Pernod has in recent years been building exposure to spirits like bourbon and tequila through acquisitions. In 2022 , it agreed to take a majority holding in Código 1530 Tequila — a brand co-founded by the US country music star George Strait. The following year, it agreed to buy into flavored whiskey maker Skrewball.
Intercom is taking an unusual gamble for a legacy software company: building its own AI model. The 15-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based massive customer service platform announced Fin Apex 1.0 on Thursday, a small, purpose-built AI model that the company claims outperforms leading frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic on the metrics that matter most for customer support. The model powers Interco...
Intercom is taking an unusual gamble for a legacy software company: building its own AI model. The 15-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based massive customer service platform announced Fin Apex 1.0 on Thursday, a small, purpose-built AI model that the company claims outperforms leading frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic on the metrics that matter most for customer support. The model powers Intercom's existing Fin AI agent , which already handles over one million customer conversations weekly. According to benchmarks shared with VentureBeat, Fin Apex 1.0 achieves a 73.1% resolution rate—the percentage of customer issues fully resolved without human intervention—compared to 71.1% for both GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4.5, and 69.6% for Claude Sonnet 4.6. That roughly 2 percentage point margin may sound modest, but it's wider than the typical gap between successive generations of frontier models. "If you're running large service operations at scale and you've got 10 million customers or a billion dollars in revenue, a delta of 2% or 3% is a really large amount of customers and interactions and revenue," Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe told VentureBeat in a video call interview earlier this week. The model also shows significant improvements in speed and accuracy. Fin Apex delivers responses in 3.7 seconds—0.6 seconds faster than the next-fastest competitor—and demonstrates a 65% reduction in hallucinations compared to Claude Sonnet 4.6. Perhaps most striking for enterprise buyers: it runs at roughly one-fifth the cost of using frontier models directly, and is included in Intercom's existing "per-outcome"-based pricing structure for its existing customer plans. What's the base model? Does it even matter? But there's a catch. When asked to specify which base model Apex was built on—and its parameter size—Intercom declined. "We're not sharing the base model we used for Apex 1.0—for competitive reasons and also because we plan to switch base models over time," a company spokesperson...
AXP rolls out a 2% cash back Graphite card and unveils AI-driven tools, betting on integrated solutions to deepen business customer engagement in 2026.
AXP rolls out a 2% cash back Graphite card and unveils AI-driven tools, betting on integrated solutions to deepen business customer engagement in 2026.
Ian Tuttle/Getty Images Entertainment Roblox Corporation ( RBLX ) continues to slump as the market hits stocks in the software, gaming and media businesses due to AI impact fears. The AI gaming platform just completed an extremely successful year and the market has extrapolated slower growth into big fears. My investment thesis is ultra Bullish on the stock, but Roblox is still looking for a botto...
Ian Tuttle/Getty Images Entertainment Roblox Corporation ( RBLX ) continues to slump as the market hits stocks in the software, gaming and media businesses due to AI impact fears. The AI gaming platform just completed an extremely successful year and the market has extrapolated slower growth into big fears. My investment thesis is ultra Bullish on the stock, but Roblox is still looking for a bottom. Source: Finviz Remarkable Year The market sold off the immersive gaming stock despite the incredibly strong quarterly results Roblox reported all of last year. The company reported Q4'25 bookings surged 63% to reach $2.2 billion while the stock has collapsed since the end of October. Source: Roblox Q4'25 presentation Roblox reported off the charts metrics beyond bookings as follows: Average DAUs: 144 million, up 69% YoY Hours engaged: 35 billion, up 88% YoY Average MUPs: 36.7 million, up 94% YoY The market got spooked on new AI coding tools from Google Project Genie and just overall fears from Anthropic AI coding prowess. Just about every expert has shot down these threats as the Project Genie prototype only generates 60 seconds of virtual video with no game play tools and requires a $250 monthly subscription. On the Q4'25 earnings call , CEO David Baszucki made this statement about the lack of a threat: We're building multiplayer platform technology. We're building stuff that brings people together. And a lot of the current work that you see out there is operating in video latent space rather than synchronize 3D multiplayer cloud space. Roblox posted data on Twitter discussing 4D AI models that go far beyond what Google provides with Project Genie. OpenAI even just closed down the Sora video generation app, leading Disney ( DIS ) to cancel a $1 billion investment in the service. The move highlights the high costs of the AI video technology and complications of making AI videos and turning those into a profitable business. At the recent Morgan Stanley Technology conferen...
Alina Vytiuk/iStock via Getty Images Biglari Holdings Inc. ( BH.A )( BH ) is reasonably well positioned. They have oil exposure whose excess cash flows from the oil crisis could be considerable and add a couple of percent to the NAV. Insurance remains solid, and the company is doing a good job with its restaurant business, with profitability increasing nicely as they transition away from tradition...
Alina Vytiuk/iStock via Getty Images Biglari Holdings Inc. ( BH.A )( BH ) is reasonably well positioned. They have oil exposure whose excess cash flows from the oil crisis could be considerable and add a couple of percent to the NAV. Insurance remains solid, and the company is doing a good job with its restaurant business, with profitability increasing nicely as they transition away from traditional franchising. Reviewing the valuation and making sure to include, in addition to the private and public investments, also the significant bought-back stock, the NAV discount is present. However, there are outstanding compensation quirks, which we've covered before with this company , that could reduce that discount to a less attractive level if modeled. As a general rule, NAV discounts only become interesting when they start to exceed 30%, which Biglari, by our reckoning, does not. Review Of The Results The company's NAV is mostly indexed to the restaurant business. We are seeing continued overall closures, but they are focused on the traditional franchise, which is where locations are opened up in previously untapped markets. It's a more intensive and riskier business. Franchise partners is more about transitioning company-owned restaurants to franchisees but remaining leveraged to the performance of those stores on a less capital-intensive basis . Closures (10-K) In general, the performance is impressive. Labor costs are actually down as a percentage of sales despite minimum wage increases, which is a business risk, and also higher sales on fixed management labor. This relates to the fact that there were considerable same-store sale increases that offset some of the closure vector. You only need one manager per location. The rationalization is working well. Marketing expenses were up a bit due to product promotion. Contribution from the business is up. Restaurant segment (10-K) The other businesses require a less granular look. Insurance chugs on, writing more business ...
Jozef Durok/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Article Thesis Levi Strauss & Co. ( LEVI ) offers an interesting combination of economic moat (a narrow one) with their iconic brand, dividend growth, and undervaluation. Therefore, it might be an interesting fit in a diversified dividend growth portfolio. However, I am not interested in that because their growth is modest (about 5%) and their underval...
Jozef Durok/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Article Thesis Levi Strauss & Co. ( LEVI ) offers an interesting combination of economic moat (a narrow one) with their iconic brand, dividend growth, and undervaluation. Therefore, it might be an interesting fit in a diversified dividend growth portfolio. However, I am not interested in that because their growth is modest (about 5%) and their undervaluation is not very high (more about that later). I am interested in a strategy with the following characteristics: Positive leverage around the current price (with a bit of margin of safety on the downside) and for a modest stock appreciation. I am not interested in a scenario with huge upside, but I can’t see it as very realistic. On the other hand, I can stomach negative leverage on the downside below that margin of safety (let’s say moderate stock depreciation) because I see such a scenario with low probability due to their undervaluation and acceptable uncertainty around their growth. Besides, I can gradually increase my position on the downside. Business Analysis and Economic Moat Levi Strauss is one of the world's largest brand-name apparel companies, with iconic brands like: Levi’s®, with products sold in approximately 120 countries and over half of net revenues from outside the United States. Recently bought Beyond Yoga®, a US brand but with global ambitions. As many other companies, LEVI will feel the impact of the ongoing Middle East conflict. However, their Middle East business is a small one, less than 1% of the total business, and management reassured us that even elevated oil prices shouldn’t have a very big impact (although I would say that it depends on how elevated and for how long): I mean, as you think about the impact of oil in businesses like ours, I mean, we went back, Aida and I went back and looked at what happened in 2008, what happened in 2011, what happened with the Russia-Ukraine war. The thing that we saw was sales didn't suffer at all. There wa...
The S&P 500 has been on rocky ground over the past several weeks, upset by a variety of concerns -- from worries about the war in Iran to concerns about the U.S. economy and questions about the massive levels of corporate spending on artificial intelligence (AI). All of these elements have weighed on the benchmark and on many stocks. But some stocks have stood out as winners during this time of un...
The S&P 500 has been on rocky ground over the past several weeks, upset by a variety of concerns -- from worries about the war in Iran to concerns about the U.S. economy and questions about the massive levels of corporate spending on artificial intelligence (AI). All of these elements have weighed on the benchmark and on many stocks. But some stocks have stood out as winners during this time of uncertainty. One in particular may surprise you as it's struggled in recent years. Revenue growth stalled, the company's sense of direction seemed unclear, and the stock performance reflected this -- it sank 38% over five years. Today, though, this consumer goods player is not only delivering gains but may also be on the path to recovery and growth. Let's take a close look at this previously down-on-its-luck stock that's been quietly outperforming the market and consider whether it's a buy. Continue reading
Retail investors have led the buy-the-dip and "TACO" trades over the past year. Lately, though, they've lost a lot of steam. Retail flows fell to $3 billion in the week beginning on March 19 and ending March 25, below the 12-month average of $6.8 billion, according to JPMorgan. Overall, stock purchases from retail traders has also fallen sharply, making up just 30% of levels seen before the U.S.-I...
Retail investors have led the buy-the-dip and "TACO" trades over the past year. Lately, though, they've lost a lot of steam. Retail flows fell to $3 billion in the week beginning on March 19 and ending March 25, below the 12-month average of $6.8 billion, according to JPMorgan. Overall, stock purchases from retail traders has also fallen sharply, making up just 30% of levels seen before the U.S.-Iran war. For the past year, everyday investors have used market pullback as buying opportunities, especially around proclamations from President Donald Trump. The TACO strategy — shorthand for "Trump Always Chickens Out" — came to prominence in 2025 as President Donald Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs with a slew of imports, only for the commander to back off or impose less-severe duties. Sectors impacted would fall, then investors would swoop in and reap the gains after Trump backed off. Buying dips in general was also a successful approach for retail investors in 2025, which marked one of the strongest years for retail trading activity. However, since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, the stock market has experienced high volatility due to rising oil prices and concerns about inflation. This caused retail traders to pull back. The S & P 500 is down around 5% since the war began in late February. .SPX mountain 2026-03-02 SPX in March "The trend since the start of March has been one of gradually receding retail participation, alongside systematic deleveraging and only modest buying from long-only and hedge fund investors on the other side," Vanda Research wrote Tuesday. The week began with low optimism from retail investors despite a major market surge. Everyday traders sold $20.6 million of single stocks on Monday, the first day of net selling since November 2023, Vanda data shows. That day, however, the S & P 500 soared 1.2% after Trump signaled the U.S. and Iran discussed an end to the war. To be sure, Iran denied the talks took place. "Monday stood o...
Arm Holdings is fundamentally transforming its business model by launching its own in-house AI chip to capture a larger share of the data center market.
Arm Holdings is fundamentally transforming its business model by launching its own in-house AI chip to capture a larger share of the data center market.
jbk_photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images PayPal ( PYPL ) ( PYPL:CA ), Stripe ( STRIP ), Visa ( V ) ( VISA:CA ), and Mastercard ( MA ) ( MA:CA ) are the latest financial firms to be warned about debanking by the Trump administration regulators. The Federal Trade Commission has issued debanking warning letters to the CEOs of the four payment processors. U.S. President Donald Trump was said ...
jbk_photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images PayPal ( PYPL ) ( PYPL:CA ), Stripe ( STRIP ), Visa ( V ) ( VISA:CA ), and Mastercard ( MA ) ( MA:CA ) are the latest financial firms to be warned about debanking by the Trump administration regulators. The Federal Trade Commission has issued debanking warning letters to the CEOs of the four payment processors. U.S. President Donald Trump was said to have filed a $5B lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) and its longtime CEO Jamie Dimon, alleging the bank cut ties with him and his businesses for political reasons. Last year, Trump's privately-owned conglomerate filed a lawsuit against Capital One ( COF ), accusing the bank of wrongfully terminating more than 300 company accounts in 2021. " Full participation in commerce and public life necessarily requires that law-abiding individuals can access, and freely participate in, our financial system," said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson in his latest letter. "That is why President Trump's August 7, 2025, Executive Order on debanking makes clear that it is unacceptable to debank law-abiding citizens due to political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities," said Ferguson. Dear readers: We recognize that politics often intersects with the financial news of the day, so we invite you to click here to join the separate political discussion. More on related tickers PayPal: Mr. Market Is Ignoring Just How Cheap It Is PayPal: The Great Algorithmic Mistake And The Valuation Paradox With A P/E Of 8 Mastercard: You Swipe, I Win Sports betting legalization tied to rise in credit delinquencies, NY Fed study finds Visa unveils new value‑added service for Digital Issuer Solutions business
Julie Rubinstein, the president and COO of Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) , reported the sale of 179,703 shares of Common Stock between March 11, 2026 and March 13, 2026, following an option exercise, according to the SEC Form 4 filing . Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average purchase price ($13.21). Adaptive Biotechnologies operates at scale in the biotechnology sector, fo...
Julie Rubinstein, the president and COO of Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) , reported the sale of 179,703 shares of Common Stock between March 11, 2026 and March 13, 2026, following an option exercise, according to the SEC Form 4 filing . Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average purchase price ($13.21). Adaptive Biotechnologies operates at scale in the biotechnology sector, focusing on immune medicine platforms for disease diagnosis and monitoring. The company's strategy leverages proprietary immunosequencing technology and high-profile collaborations to drive innovation in clinical diagnostics and research applications. Its competitive edge lies in its robust product pipeline, strategic partnerships, and ability to address unmet needs in oncology and immune-related conditions. Continue reading