DKosig/iStock via Getty Images Welcome to another installment of our BDC Market Weekly Review, where we discuss market activity in the Business Development Company [BDC] sector from both the bottom-up, highlighting individual news and events, as well as the top-down, providing an overview of the broader market. We also try to add some historical context as well as relevant themes that look to be d...
DKosig/iStock via Getty Images Welcome to another installment of our BDC Market Weekly Review, where we discuss market activity in the Business Development Company [BDC] sector from both the bottom-up, highlighting individual news and events, as well as the top-down, providing an overview of the broader market. We also try to add some historical context as well as relevant themes that look to be driving the market or that investors ought to be mindful of. Market Action BDCs finished the week in the red after a sharp fall on Friday. The catalyst for the drop appears to be the news of a bankruptcy of a UK mortgage finance company, MFS. Systematic Income There are a few interesting parallels so far. One, this appears to be a case of fraud and double-pledging of assets, similar to the earlier saga with First Brands and Tricolor. Two, the companies on the hook appear to be a combination of banks (Barclays, Jefferies) as well as asset-backed finance investors such as Atlas SP Partners (owned by Apollo) and Castlelake LP. This was also what we saw in the cases of First Brands and Tricolor, with one difference: there were some small positions across a handful of BDCs in First Brands loans. What's also interesting is that the size of the MFS default appears to be fairly low given how much noise it has made. The total liability amount of the company appears to be smaller than either First Brands or Tricolor. All in all, the MFS story is not only less material but is also even further removed from BDC lending than First Brands/Tricolor which was almost entirely a non-BDC story. Market Commentary This was a busy week for BDC Q4 earnings reports. Outside of a couple of poor results from TCPC and FSK , two BDCs that we have avoided, the numbers were just fine, if not spectacular. BBDC delivered a good Q4 result with a 2.3% total NAV return (2.9% on a valuation-adjusted basis based on the latest discount of 21%). NII fell from Q3; however, it wasn’t far off the midpoint of the pre...
J Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images Ares Management Corporation ( ARES ) and Ares Capital ( ARCC ) were not immune to the Private Credit carnage last week. ARES is among the worst performing Private Credit advisor equities year-to-date. Yet ARCC’s approximate 6% discount to its year-end $19.94 Net Asset Value (“NAV”) is a far richer relative valuation than OWL’s OBDC, FS/KKR’s FSK, and Blacks...
J Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images Ares Management Corporation ( ARES ) and Ares Capital ( ARCC ) were not immune to the Private Credit carnage last week. ARES is among the worst performing Private Credit advisor equities year-to-date. Yet ARCC’s approximate 6% discount to its year-end $19.94 Net Asset Value (“NAV”) is a far richer relative valuation than OWL’s OBDC, FS/KKR’s FSK, and Blackstone’s BXSL. Ares’ 2026 equity performance paired with its Business Development Company (“BDC”) trading still trading near NAV among a heavily discounted peer group presents a market paradox. This article will address the market paradox as informed by my background in 1940 Act companies and the dynamic market environment for Private Credit and its vehicles. The Week In Private Credit The latest week in Private Credit finished with BlackRock ( BLK ) limiting Q1 redemptions of its flagship private credit fund. As recently as Tuesday, the concerns had only been the requests for record redemptions. And to be clear, BlackRock's $1.2 billion request brought the total among two high-profile non-traded funds revealed in the week to a clean $5 billion. But Blackstone’s massive $82 billion non-traded BCRED had met all of its record-high redemption requests BlackRock did not expand its buyback to meet such redemptions. Market observers appear alarmed, but any surprise should be limited. The N2 (prospectus/registration statement) for the fund reads, “Under our share repurchase program, to the extent we offer to repurchase shares in any particular quarter, we intend to limit the number of shares to be repurchased to no more than 5% of our outstanding Common Shares as of the last day of the immediately preceding quarter.” While any potential effect on BlackRock’s brand is uncertain, the redemption went as clearly stated. Of course, BlackRock could have chosen to make an exception, as Blackstone did. I am visualizing a Saturday Night Live parody where a black-colored stone and a black-col...
Make better investment decisions with Simply Wall St's easy, visual tools that give you a competitive edge. Aurora Innovation (NasdaqGS:AUR) has appointed David Wehner, former Meta executive, to its board of directors. Wehner brings extensive experience in finance and corporate development from his prior senior roles at a large technology company. The appointment marks a board-level change at a ti...
Make better investment decisions with Simply Wall St's easy, visual tools that give you a competitive edge. Aurora Innovation (NasdaqGS:AUR) has appointed David Wehner, former Meta executive, to its board of directors. Wehner brings extensive experience in finance and corporate development from his prior senior roles at a large technology company. The appointment marks a board-level change at a time when Aurora continues to build out its autonomous driving technology and commercial partnerships. Aurora Innovation focuses on self driving technology, aiming to deploy its systems across freight and passenger transportation. The broader autonomous vehicle space has seen investment, regulatory attention, and ongoing pilot programs as companies test commercial use cases. Board appointments like this can matter for how a company sets priorities across capital allocation, risk management, and partnerships. For you as an investor, the addition of a seasoned tech and finance executive may be a signal to watch how Aurora positions itself over the coming quarters. It can be useful to track any changes in disclosure, governance practices, or business focus that follow, and to see whether the board refresh coincides with key product, commercial, or funding milestones. Stay updated on the most important news stories for Aurora Innovation by adding it to your watchlist or portfolio. Alternatively, explore our Community to discover new perspectives on Aurora Innovation. NasdaqGS:AUR 1-Year Stock Price Chart Does the team leading Aurora Innovation have what it takes? See our full breakdown of the management team's track record and compensation. For Aurora, bringing in David Wehner appears aligned with where the company is trying to go next. It has an autonomous trucking business that is scaling driverless miles, adding freight lanes across the Sun Belt, and discussing expansion to more than 200 trucks and a second generation, observer free fleet. At the same time, it is still running...
Key Points In general, anyone with a tax-deferred retirement account must take withdrawals called required minimum distributions (RMDs) beginning at age 73. RMDs are calculated by dividing the retirement account balance from the prior year by a life expectancy factor (found on an IRS table) based on current age. The 2025 RMD for a 73-year-old with $500,000 invested in a traditional IRA as of Dec. ...
Key Points In general, anyone with a tax-deferred retirement account must take withdrawals called required minimum distributions (RMDs) beginning at age 73. RMDs are calculated by dividing the retirement account balance from the prior year by a life expectancy factor (found on an IRS table) based on current age. The 2025 RMD for a 73-year-old with $500,000 invested in a traditional IRA as of Dec. 31, 2024, will equal $18,867.92. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › Tax-deferred accounts, like traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) plans, let workers delay taxes on qualified distributions, provided they meet income-based eligibility requirements. However, the government will not let you withhold those tax payments indefinitely. Upon reaching a certain age, individuals with tax-deferred retirement accounts must begin taking required minimum distributions (RMDs), meaning they must withdraw a percentage of the account balance each year. At that point, the contribution and any investment gains are subject to income tax. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Read on to learn more about RMDs, including when they begin and how to calculate the withdrawal amount for a retirement account with a balance of $500,000. Which account types are subject to required minimum distributions (RMDs)? A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the smallest amount of money that retirees must withdraw from tax-deferred accounts each year. RMD rules apply to account holders and beneficiaries with the following plans: Importantly, RMD rules do not apply to Roth accounts while the original owner is alive, but beneficiaries of Roth accounts must abide by RMD rules. In general, account holders must take RMDs by Dec. 31 each year. The only exception is that the first RMD can be postponed until April 1. For instance, anyone who turned 73 in 2025 could...
Cache Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,006 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,521 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approxim...
Cache Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,006 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,521 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 4.1% of Cache Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Cache Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $23,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Get Meta Platforms alerts: Sign Up Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,587,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of the South increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the third quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,359,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the third quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,159,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by ...
Finemark National Bank & Trust lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,103 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 965 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.4% of Finemark National...
Finemark National Bank & Trust lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,103 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 965 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.4% of Finemark National Bank & Trust's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Finemark National Bank & Trust's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $41,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Get Meta Platforms alerts: Sign Up A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after buying an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,489,621 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,694,644,000 after buying an additional 262,550 shares...
Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR - Free Report) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,558 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,520 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC's holdings in Pal...
Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR - Free Report) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,558 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,520 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC's holdings in Palantir Technologies were worth $2,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Get Palantir Technologies alerts: Sign Up A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 778.7% in the 3rd quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 61,326 shares of the company's stock worth $11,187,000 after acquiring an additional 54,347 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 205,717,666 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,043,432,000 after purchasing an additional 7,194,216 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palantir Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $550,000. Watershed Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 75.3% in the third quarter. Watershed Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,798 shares of the company's stock worth $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 3,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAM Holding AG lifted its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 39.0% in the third quarter. GAM Holding AG now owns 13,788 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 3,868 shares in the last quarter. 45.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Palantir Technologies news, insider David A. Glaze...
Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,957 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 5,948 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 5.3% of Foyst...
Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,957 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 5,948 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 5.3% of Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $24,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Get Meta Platforms alerts: Sign Up Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 64.8% during the third quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rat...
‘I’m useless at this bit,” Malorie Blackman laughs, shifting awkwardly in a plum-coloured jacket and smart black trousers. It is a gloomy February evening in the back room of a theatre in west London, and she is having her photograph taken, the rain pummelling the brick outside. Blackman is, by any reasonable metric, one of the most significant writers Britain has produced in the past quarter of a...
‘I’m useless at this bit,” Malorie Blackman laughs, shifting awkwardly in a plum-coloured jacket and smart black trousers. It is a gloomy February evening in the back room of a theatre in west London, and she is having her photograph taken, the rain pummelling the brick outside. Blackman is, by any reasonable metric, one of the most significant writers Britain has produced in the past quarter of a century – the closest thing my generation, who were raised on her books, has to a literary rockstar. And yet, she seems faintly baffled by the notion that the spotlight should rest on her for long. “I hate being in front of the camera!” This year marks a quarter century since the publication of her most famous book, Noughts & Crosses, the first in what became a nine-book young adult phenomenon. Set in Albion – an alternative Britain colonised centuries earlier by Africa – Black citizens (known as Crosses) hold political, economic and cultural power; white citizens (Noughts) are the underclass, segregated, overpoliced and structurally disadvantaged. The country is recognisable but inverted: there has never been a Nought prime minister; “flesh-coloured” plasters do not match Nought skin; segregated schools are defended as tradition; and extremist groups radicalise young men who feel they have nothing left to lose. Noughts & Crosses was Blackman’s 50th book, and her first that tackled racism head on. “I sat down at my computer really angry,” she tells me. It was the 1990s, the time of the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the Macpherson report’s finding of institutional racism within the Metropolitan police. “It was my way of channelling that anger.” Even before she wrote a word, she encountered resistance. “People were telling me, ‘Oh, no one wants to read about racism.’ And I thought – that’s interesting. You haven’t read it. You don’t know what it is. You’re already making assumptions.” She remembers her mum calling her midway through reading a proof. “Is Callum [one of the p...
Donald Trump ordered the launch of the war on Iran last Friday afternoon while on board Air Force One, as the presidential plane made its descent towards Corpus Christi, Texas. Trump was on his way to the port city to give a speech titled American Energy Dominance and had spent the three-hour flight chatting to Texas Republican politicians including the state’s two hawkish senators, John Cornyn an...
Donald Trump ordered the launch of the war on Iran last Friday afternoon while on board Air Force One, as the presidential plane made its descent towards Corpus Christi, Texas. Trump was on his way to the port city to give a speech titled American Energy Dominance and had spent the three-hour flight chatting to Texas Republican politicians including the state’s two hawkish senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, about his options in Iran. Also present on the plane in the countdown to Operation Epic Fury was a veteran film star, Dennis Quaid. At some point in the flight, Cruz filmed Quaid sitting next to Trump and persuaded the actor to reprise his role as Ronald Reagan in a 2024 reverential biopic, so that Cruz could frame the encounter as “two great American presidents”. Speaking as Reagan, Quaid declared Trump was “like me on steroids”. It was a highly stylised passing of the flame from the patron saint of Republican hawks to their current hero. Not mentioned was the fact that Quaid had also played a slapstick version of George W Bush in a 2006 film, American Dreamz, as a clueless good-ol’-boy president manipulated by war-hungry and oil-thirsty aides into invading Iraq, unaware there were more than “two kinds of Iraqistanis”. The shadow of Bush and the regional conflagration he ignited have loomed over the events of the past week, though the inevitable comparisons have gone unacknowledged or been angrily rejected by the White House. Trump had, after all, campaigned as a leader who would end America’s “forever wars” begun by Bush in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. His Maga movement was built on antipathy to foreign entanglement, and the president himself spent much of 2025 lobbying to be awarded the Nobel peace prize. In the space of a few months, however, the “peace president” became the first US leader since Bush to lead a regime change war against a major adversary. The factors behind this apparent transformation in the run-up to Operation Epic Fury are many and va...
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify Watch Odd Lots on YouTube Subscribe to the newsletter A year ago, all of the talk was about how the big AI companies were wildly overvalued. Everyone was calling it a bubble. Fast forward to now, and a dominant idea in the markets is that AI is so powerful that all kinds of legacy businesses — particularly software — could go to ze...
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify Watch Odd Lots on YouTube Subscribe to the newsletter A year ago, all of the talk was about how the big AI companies were wildly overvalued. Everyone was calling it a bubble. Fast forward to now, and a dominant idea in the markets is that AI is so powerful that all kinds of legacy businesses — particularly software — could go to zero. So where does the truth lie? And what now for AI valuations? On this episode, recorded live at the On Air podcast festival in Brooklyn on February 25, we catch up again with Henry Blodget, the former Wall Street analyst turned Business Insider CEO, who is now the founder of Regenerator. In a wide-ranging conversation, Henry argues against the software doom scenario, and sees problems for OpenAI as it faces massive spending costs with stiff competition.
A year ago, all of the talk was about how the big AI companies were wildly overvalued. Everyone was calling it a bubble. Fast forward to now, and a dominant idea in the markets is that AI is so powerful that all kinds of legacy businesses — particularly software — could go to zero. So where does the truth lie? And what now for AI valuations? On this episode, recorded live at the On Air podcast fes...
A year ago, all of the talk was about how the big AI companies were wildly overvalued. Everyone was calling it a bubble. Fast forward to now, and a dominant idea in the markets is that AI is so powerful that all kinds of legacy businesses — particularly software — could go to zero. So where does the truth lie? And what now for AI valuations? On this episode, recorded live at the On Air podcast festival in Brooklyn on February 25, we catch up again with Henry Blodget, the former Wall Street analy
Tingting Ji/iStock via Getty Images By Shannon L. Saccocia, CFA February's market broadening came with volatility, as AI disintermediation fears pressured software and services companies in both equity and credit markets—even as Q4 S&P 500 earnings delivered broadly strong results. The Month in Markets While the past several years have been marked by a meaningful concentration in technology and ot...
Tingting Ji/iStock via Getty Images By Shannon L. Saccocia, CFA February's market broadening came with volatility, as AI disintermediation fears pressured software and services companies in both equity and credit markets—even as Q4 S&P 500 earnings delivered broadly strong results. The Month in Markets While the past several years have been marked by a meaningful concentration in technology and other artificial intelligence-adjacent industries and companies, February brought another month of broadening performance, but not without some hand-wringing. At the highest level, one could argue that improving earnings and momentum for sectors outside of technology should be welcomed by investors, but the rationale behind this month’s sharper moves came at a cost—and that cost was reflected in pressure on companies across sectors that face the threat of disintermediation by AI. What began with the meaningful outperformance of semiconductors versus software for much of 2025 morphed into a question of survival, not only for software companies, but for myriad service businesses that face obsolescence as AI expands its reach. This pressure was not only felt by the companies themselves in the form of stock drawdowns but was also reflected in the credit markets, both public and private, contributing to an undercurrent of uneasiness and a pickup in volatility during the month. This pressure came even as Q4 S&P 500 earnings were strong. With 96% of companies reporting, 73% of companies reported both positive revenue and earnings surprises, with earnings growth coming in at +14.2%—the fifth straight quarter of double-digit earnings growth. The strength was widespread as well, with 10 of 11 sectors reporting higher-than-expected earnings, but the broader revenue growth was even more notable at +9.4%—the highest since 2022. Perhaps most encouraging for broad benchmark investors was the continued strength in Magnificent 7 earnings. Despite seemingly ever-higher capex, and expectations ...
Underneath the glass and wrought iron ceiling of Antwerp’s stock exchange last month, French President Emmanuel Macron addressed a hall full of executives from heavy industries. He wasted no time in diving into the issue everyone cared most about: Europe’s perennially high energy prices. It is, he said bluntly, “a weakness.” Even before the war in Iran pushed up oil and gas prices and disrupted su...
Underneath the glass and wrought iron ceiling of Antwerp’s stock exchange last month, French President Emmanuel Macron addressed a hall full of executives from heavy industries. He wasted no time in diving into the issue everyone cared most about: Europe’s perennially high energy prices. It is, he said bluntly, “a weakness.” Even before the war in Iran pushed up oil and gas prices and disrupted supplies of key fossil fuels across the globe, energy was a major concern in Europe, where power prices are far higher than in the US and China. Plants have been shut down as costs made them uneconomical, there have been repeated complaints from corporate giants like BASF SE and industries such as steelmaking, and politicians have fretted about how their economic ambitions for the region risk being undone by the problem. The fallout from Middle East conflict is upping the pressure to act. This week, gas prices in Europe rose to the highest in three years . The spike probably added at least €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) to the continent’s energy costs, according to calculations by Strategic Perspectives, a climate think tank. Though levels are well shy of the peak seen after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the latest moves come amid an increasing drumbeat of calls to cut prices. “This is really happening at the wrong time — we are very exposed to the global energy market, both in terms of prices and in terms of volume,” said Anne-Sophie Corbeau , research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy in Paris. “Industry is going to be thinking, ‘oh no, not another crisis.’ There aren’t any magical solutions.” It’s fueling a frantic rush for action. Proposals have ranged from scrapping taxes to ditching costly climate policies, yet critics say that jeopardizes Europe’s ability lower energy costs in the longer term by building out renewables. In Brussels, the scale of the concern is clear. At one meeting this week, senior EU officials warned member states that the Iran wa...
The price of Bitcoin (BTC 4.04%) is down more than 40% from its all-time high. Meanwhile, gold is trading near record highs. This is an important dichotomy as geopolitical events lead to increased market volatility. Far from being a hedge against market risk, as some market watchers had hoped, Bitcoin has turned out to be a volatility risk all on its own at exactly the point when investors probabl...
The price of Bitcoin (BTC 4.04%) is down more than 40% from its all-time high. Meanwhile, gold is trading near record highs. This is an important dichotomy as geopolitical events lead to increased market volatility. Far from being a hedge against market risk, as some market watchers had hoped, Bitcoin has turned out to be a volatility risk all on its own at exactly the point when investors probably hoped it would serve as a bulwark. Where is Bitcoin going? Prediction markets are a relatively new tool for monitoring sentiment across a wide range of topics, from the outcome of a political race to the weather. There's also a prediction market around Bitcoin. The numbers are interesting. It appears that prediction markets suggest an 11% chance for Bitcoin to hit $150,000 by the end of 2026. That would push the cryptocurrency to a new high, well above the roughly $126,000 it reached in October. What's more interesting is that the chance of revisiting just $120,000 is only about 21%, which isn't much better. If you bought at the recent highs, prediction markets aren't looking pretty for you right now. And that's an important factor to keep in mind as you consider why you bought Bitcoin in the first place. Bitcoin hasn't proven itself yet Cryptocurrencies are a speculative asset. The huge price swings are a sign that emotions drive price movements. Still, one of the big argument in favors of owning Bitcoin is that it could serve as a store of wealth, making it analogous to gold. However, as geopolitical tensions have risen, gold has soared while Bitcoin has plunged. And if prediction markets are any indication, Bitcoin isn't likely to regain the ground it has lost during the past few months. Expand CRYPTO : BTC Bitcoin Today's Change ( -4.04 %) $ -2855.38 Current Price $ 67828.00 Key Data Points Market Cap $1.4T Day's Range $ 67495.00 - $ 70763.00 52wk Range $ 60255.56 - $ 126079.89 Volume 40B If you bought Bitcoin expecting it to be a hedge against market risk, it hasn't ...