PARIS — L’Oréal has expanded its partnership with Nvidia to create a beauty and skin care AI engine allowing for new, rapid formulation discovery. L’Oréal has a strong internal knowledge and database on skin and hair biology — over 1 terabyte of data within the group, which counts 4,000 scientists. “We need partners outside that can help us with AI platforms,” said Guive Balooch, global vice presi...
PARIS — L’Oréal has expanded its partnership with Nvidia to create a beauty and skin care AI engine allowing for new, rapid formulation discovery. L’Oréal has a strong internal knowledge and database on skin and hair biology — over 1 terabyte of data within the group, which counts 4,000 scientists. “We need partners outside that can help us with AI platforms,” said Guive Balooch, global vice president of tech and open innovation at L’Oréal. Such collaborators can use the group’s expertise to help target new molecules faster. Already L’Oréal has worked with companies such as Chinese start-up Veminsyn and San Diego-based Debut. “We want to more and more develop the infrastructure to do that within the labs,” Balooch said. “This is where we’re starting partnerships with people like Nvidia.” In June 2025, L’Oréal and Nvidia announced they would collaborate on bringing next-generation AI to beauty. Through the tie-in, L’Oréal and its partner ecosystem planned to leverage the Nvidia AI Enterprise platform for speedy development and deployment of AI. The first focus was on digital and marketing, involving new and 3D designs for packaging and products, which could be done in a creative way at speed. “Now what we want is to be able to embed that in our R&I to be able to find and discover the next molecules faster than ever before,” Balooch said. “We live at a pace now where the biologists and chemists no longer need to be at the [lab] bench only. It’s a combination of the bench plus computational biology.” L’Oréal has three overarching goals for AI when it comes to R&I: understanding consumer needs, molecular discoveries and designing formulation. On Tuesday, L’Oréal revealed the expanded AI partnership with Nvidia aims to accelerate and redefine beauty innovation through AI-driven computational chemistry. The Nvidia Alchemi machine learning framework has been integrated into L’Oréal’s research-and-innovation ecosystem to develop the AI engine. “Think of Alchemi as a collect...
J Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images Strategy Overview The Calamos High Income Opportunities Strategy invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of US high-yield bonds. Rather than focusing exclusively on yield, the strategy employs a total-return framework designed to enhance our ability to generate alpha and preserve capital across entire credit cycles. Market Environment The US high-yield...
J Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images Strategy Overview The Calamos High Income Opportunities Strategy invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of US high-yield bonds. Rather than focusing exclusively on yield, the strategy employs a total-return framework designed to enhance our ability to generate alpha and preserve capital across entire credit cycles. Market Environment The US high-yield bond market, as represented by the Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Index, returned 1.31% in the fourth quarter. 2025 was a year of notable change. The Trump administration returned to an economy with 3% inflation and softening growth, and tension in its dual mandate left the Fed on “hold” pending clarity on the administration’s new fiscal initiatives, mainly tariffs and landmark tax legislation. By the fall, “better than feared” outcomes allowed the Fed to resume cutting overnight rates. Ten-year rates rose to 4.8% in January, before settling below 4.2% by year-end. At the same time, economic growth defied expectations and accelerated as 2025 progressed. The Fed’s policy is approaching the neutral rate of interest (around 3%). We believe that’s appropriate, given that inflation and unemployment are both heading gradually in the wrong direction. However, the labor market may be stronger than headlines suggest. With immigration enforcement contributing to a suppressed labor supply, approximately 50,000 jobs created per month may be enough to maintain a stable unemployment rate. This compares to the 250,000–300,000 run-rate once needed. Politicians, consumers, and investors all have slightly different reasons for wanting lower interest rates, and the incoming Fed chair will undoubtedly lean dovish. Nonetheless, the OBBBA is poised to provide material fiscal support to both households and businesses. This strong fiscal tailwind could slow the progress of further rate cuts, especially if affordability remains problematic or long-term rates rise. We believe tr...
Nvidia itself was, oddly enough, one of the technology stocks moving the least after CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote address at the chip maker’s GTC conference on Monday afternoon. “We did learn a lot I guess, but just seems to me the previews, hype and anticipation all well exceed the actual near term impact and stock moves into and out of the event,” wrote Jordan Klein, an analyst at Mizuho Securitie...
Nvidia itself was, oddly enough, one of the technology stocks moving the least after CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote address at the chip maker’s GTC conference on Monday afternoon. “We did learn a lot I guess, but just seems to me the previews, hype and anticipation all well exceed the actual near term impact and stock moves into and out of the event,” wrote Jordan Klein, an analyst at Mizuho Securities, in a note Tuesday. The muted reaction from Nvidia and the wider tech sector doesn’t mean no stocks were reacting.
Scharfsinn86/iStock via Getty Images Neste ( NTOIY ) ( NTOIF ) +6.5% in Tuesday's trading as Barclays upgraded the provider of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel to Overweight from Equal Weight with a €32/share price target, foreseeing further upside momentum at least for 2026 even as margin uncertainty remains elevated in 2027. With operational delivery restored under the new manageme...
Scharfsinn86/iStock via Getty Images Neste ( NTOIY ) ( NTOIF ) +6.5% in Tuesday's trading as Barclays upgraded the provider of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel to Overweight from Equal Weight with a €32/share price target, foreseeing further upside momentum at least for 2026 even as margin uncertainty remains elevated in 2027. With operational delivery restored under the new management team, Barclays analysts led by Naisheng Cui see renewed momentum in Neste ( NTOIY ) ( NTOIF ) shares as the group now sits at the convergence of three secular drivers: elevated refining margins, improved biofuel mandates, and energy security imperatives accelerated by geopolitical disruption. The Barclays team forecasts global renewable diesel demand will grow by 35% in 2026 on the back of mandates acceleration and end up with a tighter supply-demand balance and expects Neste's ( NTOIY ) ( NTOIF ) valuation multiple to re-rate on European energy security as renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel are uniquely positioned as domestically produced, supply chain diversified energy vectors for critical transportation segments. More on Neste Oyj Neste Oyj Q4 2025 Earnings Call Presentation Neste: 2025's Tremendous Returns Are The Start Of Recovery Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Neste Oyj
By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (Reuters) - AmazonO> CEO Andy Jassy said during an internal all-hands meeting he expects artificial intelligence could help cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services achieve $600 billion in annual sales, double his own prior estimate. “I've been thinking for the last number of years that AWS, call it 10 years from now, could be about a $300 billio...
By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (Reuters) - AmazonO> CEO Andy Jassy said during an internal all-hands meeting he expects artificial intelligence could help cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services achieve $600 billion in annual sales, double his own prior estimate. “I've been thinking for the last number of years that AWS, call it 10 years from now, could be about a $300 billion annual revenue, run rate business,” said Jassy, according to a review of his comments by Reuters. “I think what's happening in AI that AWS has a chance to be at least double that.” (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (Reuters) - AmazonO> CEO Andy Jassy said during an internal all-hands meeting he expects artificial intelligence could help cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services achieve $600 billion in annual sales, double his own prior estimate. “I've been thinking for the last number of years that AWS, call it 10 years from now, could be about a $300 billion ann...
By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (Reuters) - AmazonO> CEO Andy Jassy said during an internal all-hands meeting he expects artificial intelligence could help cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services achieve $600 billion in annual sales, double his own prior estimate. “I've been thinking for the last number of years that AWS, call it 10 years from now, could be about a $300 billion annual revenue, run rate business,” Jassy said, according to a review of his comments by Reuters. “I think what's happening in AI that AWS has a chance to be at least double that.” Amazon held one of its regular all hands meetings on Tuesday to provide employees updates on businesses ranging from drone deliveries to advertising sales to Amazon Fresh groceries. AWS in 2025 booked $128.7 billion in sales, up 19% from 2024. Jassy’s projection suggests an average growth rate of nearly 17% every year for the next decade. He did not elaborate on how those sales might be distributed and Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Amazon shares were up about 1% to $213.87. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Chris Reese)
LewisTsePuiLung/iStock Editorial via Getty Images A JPMorgan Chase ( JPM )-led banking group has halted a $5.3B debt deal for the software firm Qualtrics International amid concerns related to AI disruption, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The company making online survey tools was set to acquire the data analytics firm Press Ganey Forsta in a $6.75B deal. Looking ...
LewisTsePuiLung/iStock Editorial via Getty Images A JPMorgan Chase ( JPM )-led banking group has halted a $5.3B debt deal for the software firm Qualtrics International amid concerns related to AI disruption, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The company making online survey tools was set to acquire the data analytics firm Press Ganey Forsta in a $6.75B deal. Looking to raise debt for the deal, banks had held early discussions on the financing in late February and were set to start selling debt in March. Qualtrics was expecting $3.3B in leveraged loans and $2B to be sold to investors in either the junk bond or private credit markets, the Tuesday, March 17, report noted. Investors in the leveraged loan and junk-bond markets balked, considering the company's exposure to the software rout , according to the people who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The company's existing ~$1.5B loan due in 2030 has fallen to about 86 cents on the dollar in secondary trading from close to par value of about 100 cents in February. Investors can buy Qualtrics' debt at a better price in the secondary market as compared to a new loan, the Bloomberg report noted. More on JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase: Hold On Mixed Signals JPMorgan Chase: I'm Starting To Get Interested Under $300 With The Dividend Yield Above 2% JPMorgan Chase: Stretched Near 2.2x P/B, Concerning Price Action (Downgrade) JPMorgan taps Goldman Sachs veteran Zhang Ti to lead China IB push - report JPMorgan falls 17% from its January peak as the stock hits a more than 8-month low
Cisco is infusing security into the core of Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA. This helps enterprises safeguard their AI platforms and services not only from external threats but also from rogue agent behavior. Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall delivers consistent security policies across a diverse set of enforcement points, including network switches, workload agents and more. The solution is now extended t...
Cisco is infusing security into the core of Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA. This helps enterprises safeguard their AI platforms and services not only from external threats but also from rogue agent behavior. Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall delivers consistent security policies across a diverse set of enforcement points, including network switches, workload agents and more. The solution is now extended to enable policy enforcement on NVIDIA BlueField data processing units embedded in NVIDIA GPU servers connected to Cisco Nexus One fabrics. This ensures that threats are blocked at the server level before they reach an organization’s data. Cisco AI Defense delivers model security, automated vulnerability testing and purpose-built guardrails for AI agents at the edge through integration with NVIDIA NeMo Guardrails, a part of NVIDIA AI Enterprise software. AI Defense, as a part of the Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA, now extends to secure agent-to-agent interactions that are necessary to accomplish tasks and execute workflows in an increasingly distributed AI deployment process. Cisco Systems CSCO is expanding its Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA), which will enable enterprises to run AI everywhere instead of only in large data centers. The expanded solution will help enterprises deploy AI faster and keep AI systems secure from the beginning. The Cisco-NVIDIA collaboration is helping companies by offering support for edge inference use cases. Cisco is now enabling enterprises to run mission-critical AI workloads at the edge without the energy cost and footprint of data center-scale hardware. This is possible because NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs are now supported across the Cisco UCS and Cisco Unified Edge portfolios. The Cisco AI Grid with NVIDIA reference design combines the power of Cisco's Mobility Services Platform with NVIDIA RTX PRO Blackwell Series GPUs. Supported by this solution, service providers can leverage their existing net...
Eli Lilly shares are down 6% Tuesday and on pace for their worst day since February after an HSBC downgrade. The crux of HSBC's call: Wall Street is too optimistic about the size of the GLP-1 obesity market. The firm's analysts project it to be between $80 billion and $120 billion in 2032, compared with the current consensus north of $150 billion. They also argued that price competition in the GLP...
Eli Lilly shares are down 6% Tuesday and on pace for their worst day since February after an HSBC downgrade. The crux of HSBC's call: Wall Street is too optimistic about the size of the GLP-1 obesity market. The firm's analysts project it to be between $80 billion and $120 billion in 2032, compared with the current consensus north of $150 billion. They also argued that price competition in the GLP-1 market is "likely to be significant," though they note that Lilly's 2026 guidance implies the company will see enough volume growth to overcome pricing headwinds tied to its agreement with the Trump administration . In that agreement, unveiled in November, Lilly agreed to cut prices on some of its obesity drugs in exchange for access to Medicare. Additionally, the analysts said they are concerned that Eli Lilly's reliance on people buying the drugs out of pocket — rather than through a health insurance plan — could become a problem if the U.S. economy hits a rough patch and middle-class people have less money to spend on GLP-1 drugs. They even mentioned the possibility of AI-driven disruption to white-collar jobs. HSBC acknowledged that right now Lilly's strength in the cash-pay market is an advantage over struggling rival Novo, but they're essentially saying it may not always be welcome exposure. Another of HSBC's worries is that Lilly's looming obesity pill may prove a long-term disappointment if patients do not stick to the medication. "We think that the market's assumed compliance and persistence on oral is inconsistent with the discontinuation rates in clinical trials," they wrote. "On balance, we do not like the risk/reward balance in Lilly shares," they added. LLY 1Y mountain Eli Lilly's stock performance over the past 12 months. It's difficult to refute some of HSBC's long-term concerns at this very moment, given that evidence of adherence to the obesity pill and of cyclicality in the cash-pay market is based on future assumptions. At the same time, there is some...
"Gul Meer was in the facility for over seven months now. Since last night when the attack happened, we have no information about him, I don't know what happened to him, I am waiting for the list to be announced later," said the woman, a mother of nine.
"Gul Meer was in the facility for over seven months now. Since last night when the attack happened, we have no information about him, I don't know what happened to him, I am waiting for the list to be announced later," said the woman, a mother of nine.
Getty Images Much like the rest of the energy sector, British oil producer BP ( BP ) has seen a substantial price rise YTD of 23%. All other sectors have lost value or just about retained it in the past month. This makes it tempting to buy energy stocks. But I'm not sure if the price rise is a given, especially for BP. Here we discuss four reasons why it can fluctuate going into the remainder of 2...
Getty Images Much like the rest of the energy sector, British oil producer BP ( BP ) has seen a substantial price rise YTD of 23%. All other sectors have lost value or just about retained it in the past month. This makes it tempting to buy energy stocks. But I'm not sure if the price rise is a given, especially for BP. Here we discuss four reasons why it can fluctuate going into the remainder of 2026, if not correct. Price Returns (YTD): BP, XLE and SP500 (Source: Seeking Alpha) #1. Muted Average Price Rise Forecast We know that crude oil prices have been on a tear since the recent crisis in the Middle East started at the end of February. A 66% YTD increase in Brent crude has tipped its price over $100/bbl now, as the chart below shows. On the face of it, oil producers like BP stand to gain big from it, considering that its oil production & operations segment brought in 47% of the company's adjusted EBITDA in 2025. There's a catch, though. Going by the US EIA's recently released s hort-term energy outlook , the increase in crude price over 2026 might not be as big. While the agency has indeed upped its oil price forecast by 37% for 2026 to $79/bbl, the outlook reflects an expected softening in price as the situation normalizes more over the course of the year. As a result, compared to 2025, the price is expected to rise by only 14.5%. This is still an increase, to be sure. In fact, the number is also higher than the $70/bbl assumption made by BP for the present year (see Note 1 in the link for details). Margins could expand as a result. But that shouldn't automatically be assumed to translate into either higher absolute levels of revenues or profits, as explained in the next point. Brent Crude Price ($/bbl) (Source: Trading Economics) #2. Production Can Be Affected In its guidance for 2026 released on February 10, the company expected "reported upstream production to be slightly lower and underlying upstream production to be broadly flat compared with 2025." With th...
is a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. All the smart home news, reviews, and gadgets you need to know about Ikea’s new Matter-over-Thread products were supposed to prove...
is a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. All the smart home news, reviews, and gadgets you need to know about Ikea’s new Matter-over-Thread products were supposed to prove that the smart home could be cheap, accessible, and reliable. The highly anticipated line — which includes sensors, remotes, smart plugs, air-quality monitors, and smart bulbs — has most everything you need to build a smart home, with prices starting at $6. It’s an exciting idea, but it’s still not ready for primetime. When I first got the Ikea devices in January, I had a lot of problems connecting them to my main platform, Apple Home. And it turned out I was not alone. Reddit forums and user reviews were full of reports of onboarding and connectivity issues. Many people were struggling to get devices connected to every smart home platform — from Apple Home to Google Home, and even Ikea’s own Dirigera hub. YouTuber Shane Whatley documented his experience trying to onboard to Apple Home in real time, and it’s fairly painful to watch. While I waited for Ikea to figure out what was up, I tried some more creative troubleshooting in my home. The only (admittedly odd) fix I found was to force Apple Home not to use my main Home Hub, an Ethernet-connected Apple TV. Instead, I told it to use a HomePod, and was able to onboard an Ikea Bilresa button and a Grillplats smart plug that had repeatedly failed to connect. (Hat tip to Whatley for this idea.) Why Apple would prefer I not use my high-powered, hardwired Home Hub is anyone’s guess. In any case, it didn’t last long. When I tried to add a Myggspray motion sensor as well, it failed. I then tried connecting the same Myggspray to Google Home using an Android phone, and it joined on the first try. Admittedly, I have a complicated net...
efks/iStock via Getty Images Thesis Summary MercadoLibre, Inc. ( MELI ) is down over 30% in the past six months, as investors raise concerns over margin pressure. But the way I see it, this is a deliberate company policy and the exact strategy that was used by Amazon.com, Inc. ( AMZN ) to become one of the largest companies in the world. MELI is now in a similar situation, and with commerce, finte...
efks/iStock via Getty Images Thesis Summary MercadoLibre, Inc. ( MELI ) is down over 30% in the past six months, as investors raise concerns over margin pressure. But the way I see it, this is a deliberate company policy and the exact strategy that was used by Amazon.com, Inc. ( AMZN ) to become one of the largest companies in the world. MELI is now in a similar situation, and with commerce, fintech, and advertising all compounding together, the current margin pressure doesn't concern me at all. Valuation is historically cheap, and we have a nice sign of reversal on the technical side. It's time to buy this dip. What’s Changed Since My Last Article? In my previous piece , “ MercadoLibre: The Best Anti-Dollar Stock ,” I argued that MELI offered a compelling combination of strong fundamentals and geographic diversification away from the U.S. dollar. This thesis remains intact, and Latin America continues to be one of the most interesting growth regions globally. MELI has pulled back as investors react to declining margins and increased investment spending following Q4, but this is shortsighted. The investment case is even more compelling today than it was when I last wrote about MELI, and I think this dip will be short-lived. The Bear Case: Margins Are Falling Let’s start by taking the bearish case seriously. Margins are under pressure, and management has been explicit about why. MELI margins (Macrotrends) MELI is investing heavily in free shipping, logistics, credit expansion, and international fulfillment, which have hit the bottom line. As we can see above, while revenue continues to expand and even accelerate, operating margin is now down to around 11%. While you could argue that growth is coming at the expense of profitability, this is a necessary evil, and there’s strong precedent for that. The Amazon Playbook MELI is following the Amazon Playbook Since its inception, Amazon has sacrificed margins to reinvest aggressively in its own business. Yes, this took a to...
After a strong rally, Nvidia (NVDA) stock has cooled off and has seen a period of consolidation. However, recent commentary from CEO Jensen Huang suggests that underlying business momentum remains robust. At the company’s recent GTC (GPU Technology Conference), its big AI-centric conference for developers, Huang emphasized that demand for Nvidia’s GPUs is “off the charts.” As enterprises and gover...
After a strong rally, Nvidia (NVDA) stock has cooled off and has seen a period of consolidation. However, recent commentary from CEO Jensen Huang suggests that underlying business momentum remains robust. At the company’s recent GTC (GPU Technology Conference), its big AI-centric conference for developers, Huang emphasized that demand for Nvidia’s GPUs is “off the charts.” As enterprises and governments accelerate their adoption of AI capabilities, the need for high-performance computing continues to expand, strengthening Nvidia’s dominant position within this ecosystem. Nvidia has significantly raised its projections for its next-generation chip platforms, Blackwell and Rubin. After estimating roughly $500 billion in GPU demand tied to these platforms last year, the company now expects cumulative demand and purchase commitments to exceed $1 trillion through 2027. With demand remaining strong and growth expected to continue over the coming quarters, Nvidia could deliver strong financials in fiscal 2027 and beyond, which could support upward movement in its stock. Explosive Demand for Nvidia AI Chips Supports Long-Term Growth Outlook Nvidia’s growth outlook remains strong, supported by sustained demand for its AI chips, particularly within its data center segment. In fiscal 2026, the company’s data center business generated $194 billion in revenue, representing a 68% year-over-year (YoY) increase. Management anticipates continued momentum and projects sequential revenue growth throughout calendar year 2026. Nvidia has also secured sufficient inventory and supply commitments to meet future demand, with shipment visibility extending into calendar year 2027. Next-gen products continue to play a key role in Nvidia’s growth. Ongoing strength in Nvidia’s Blackwell and Blackwell Ultra platforms is expected to drive future growth. At the same time, robust demand for Nvidia’s AI infrastructure could continue to support demand for its Hopper-based products, reflecting broad-ba...
Arianna Simpson, former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, joins Scarlet Fu and Tim Stenovec on "Bloomberg Crypto." They discuss growing investment in stablecoin technology. (Source: Bloomberg)
Arianna Simpson, former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, joins Scarlet Fu and Tim Stenovec on "Bloomberg Crypto." They discuss growing investment in stablecoin technology. (Source: Bloomberg)
BlackSalmon/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Invesco Summit Fund Q4 2025 Commentary. Portfolio positioning At quarter end, the fund's largest overweights were in industrials, energy and communication services. Within the industrials and energy sectors, AI-related energy demand has continued to drive electrical infrastructure and power generation supply chain spe...
BlackSalmon/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Invesco Summit Fund Q4 2025 Commentary. Portfolio positioning At quarter end, the fund's largest overweights were in industrials, energy and communication services. Within the industrials and energy sectors, AI-related energy demand has continued to drive electrical infrastructure and power generation supply chain spending. The fund's industrials exposure also includes companies we believe are poised to benefit from higher global defense spending. We favor communication services for its AI-driven monetization potential. The largest underweight was health care, due to the loss of Affordable Care Act subsidies and reduced health care insurance expected in 2026. Information technology (IT) is also an underweight due to underweights in Apple ( AAPL ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ), relative to their large index weights. Financials, which in our view should benefit from stimulus from tax cuts and bank deregulation, was close to equal weight. New Positions Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ): The company has been executing on multi-year transformational secular growth in AI, data center and high performance computing. AMD has been ramping its MI350 chip series that directly competes with NVIDIA's Blackwell graphic processing units (GPUs). We are really interested in its MI450 series, which is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2026; we think adoption of this series will be strong. Fabrinet ( FN ): Fabrinet is a leading provider of high-speed optical components used in AI infrastructure, hyperscale data centers and next-generation networking hardware. The company is in our view poised to benefit from the multi-year AI spending cycle, driven by data center expansion for AI workloads. Notable Sales KKR ( KKR ) and Blackstone ( BX ): Stocks of alternative asset managers like KKR and Blackstone have been struggling technically and have historically tended to decline when there are credit concerns, which...
Following May’s elections, first ministers committed to independence could be in place in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast The general election of July 2024 did not just call time on a decade and a half of Conservative rule. It also delivered the most pro-Union parliament since the early 2010s, when the meteoric rise in support for the Scottish National party (SNP) began. In Scotland, a 16-point swi...
Following May’s elections, first ministers committed to independence could be in place in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast The general election of July 2024 did not just call time on a decade and a half of Conservative rule. It also delivered the most pro-Union parliament since the early 2010s, when the meteoric rise in support for the Scottish National party (SNP) began. In Scotland, a 16-point swing away from the SNP allowed Labour to win the most votes and most seats; in Wales, Plaid Cymru made modest gains but won only four places in the House of Commons, compared to 27 for Sir Keir Starmer’s party. Since then, the many missteps of Sir Keir’s government have contributed to a swift and remarkable reversal of fortunes. In May’s Senedd elections, Plaid is on course to replace Labour as the largest party in Wales for the first time since devolution. Also profiting from the government’s woes, a revived SNP has weathered its own scandals to lead comfortably in polling for the Scottish parliament. At the party’s spring conference on Saturday, its leader, John Swinney, pointed to the “absolutely seismic” possibility that come 8 May, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (which does not vote again until next year) could all have first ministers in place committed to taking their countries out of the United Kingdom. Continue reading...
The projected cost of the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative has risen to $185 billion, an increase of roughly $10 billion, as officials push to fast-track key space-based capabilities. Program director and Space Force General Michael Guetlein said Tuesday that major defense contractors including Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), RTX ( RTX ) and Northrop Grumman ( NOC ) are now serving as pr...
The projected cost of the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative has risen to $185 billion, an increase of roughly $10 billion, as officials push to fast-track key space-based capabilities. Program director and Space Force General Michael Guetlein said Tuesday that major defense contractors including Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), RTX ( RTX ) and Northrop Grumman ( NOC ) are now serving as prime contractors on the effort, Reuters reported. Golden Dome aims to expand existing ground-based defenses such as interceptor missiles, sensors and command systems, while adding a significant layer of space-based infrastructure. That orbital component is expected to include advanced satellite constellations designed to detect and track incoming threats, along with potential countermeasures that remain under discussion. According to Guetlein, the additional funding will accelerate several core programs, including the Advanced Missile Tracking Initiative, a new space-based data network and the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, or HBTSS. Speaking at a defense conference in Arlington, Virginia, he said the push reflects growing urgency as adversaries advance hypersonic weapons capabilities. HBTSS is intended to provide persistent, space-based tracking of both hypersonic and traditional ballistic missiles. Its prioritization highlights the Pentagon’s focus on closing gaps in early detection and tracking, particularly against faster and more maneuverable threats. The $185 billion estimate represents what officials describe as the program’s “objective architecture,” or full buildout over roughly the next decade. Guetlein pushed back on external projections suggesting the system could cost more than $1 trillion, arguing those figures rely on assumptions better suited to overseas combat systems rather than a homeland-focused defense design. A central component of Golden Dome is its command-and-control architecture, which Guetlein described as a critical differentiator...