Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is set to raise about 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) in its first funding round from investors including Tencent Holdings and CATL, people with knowledge of the matter said. DeepSeek became China's national AI champion and garnered global fame early last year, when its V3 and R1 models drew widespread praise in Silicon Valley and challenged U.S. assumptions about China...
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is set to raise about 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) in its first funding round from investors including Tencent Holdings and CATL, people with knowledge of the matter said. DeepSeek became China's national AI champion and garnered global fame early last year, when its V3 and R1 models drew widespread praise in Silicon Valley and challenged U.S. assumptions about China's AI capabilities. The startup's founder, Liang Wenfeng, has committed 20 billion yuan of his own money, the people said, adding that tech conglomerate Tencent is considering 10 billion yuan and battery giant CATL is looking at 5 billion yuan, which would make them the largest external investors in the round.
An AI lecture in Hangzhou on April 13, 2026. Photo: VCG. Silicon Valley’s biggest technology firms are quietly engaging in an aggressive new hiring trend, snapping up graduates not with degrees in computer science, but in philosophy and journalism. What signal does this send? It suggests a profound shift: In the age of artificial intelligence, the value of a humanities education is being fundament...
An AI lecture in Hangzhou on April 13, 2026. Photo: VCG. Silicon Valley’s biggest technology firms are quietly engaging in an aggressive new hiring trend, snapping up graduates not with degrees in computer science, but in philosophy and journalism. What signal does this send? It suggests a profound shift: In the age of artificial intelligence, the value of a humanities education is being fundamentally redefined.
GenScript Biotech Holdings surged in Hong Kong after the Chinese biotechnology company pushed back against renewed scrutiny from US lawmakers over alleged national security concerns. The shares rose as much as 29 per cent on Wednesday before trimming gains to trade 18 per cent higher at HK$14.35 by late morning. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 1.6 per cent. The Nanjing-based company issued a st...
GenScript Biotech Holdings surged in Hong Kong after the Chinese biotechnology company pushed back against renewed scrutiny from US lawmakers over alleged national security concerns. The shares rose as much as 29 per cent on Wednesday before trimming gains to trade 18 per cent higher at HK$14.35 by late morning. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 1.6 per cent. The Nanjing-based company issued a statement saying it operated transparently and professionally across all markets and adhered to the...
Jeremy Poland/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Vistra Corp. ( VST ) is currently a desirable stock to watch due to long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) with hyperscalers such as Meta and AWS, rising electricity demand to power AI and data centers, strong EBITDA and FCFbG guidance, and a solid market position. Vistra’s share price has dipped from a 52-week high of roughly $219.82 in Septem...
Jeremy Poland/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Vistra Corp. ( VST ) is currently a desirable stock to watch due to long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) with hyperscalers such as Meta and AWS, rising electricity demand to power AI and data centers, strong EBITDA and FCFbG guidance, and a solid market position. Vistra’s share price has dipped from a 52-week high of roughly $219.82 in September 2025, to $157.97 as of this article. Seeking Alpha This dip, however, was not due to poor operations and/or financials. Rather, it was due to regulatory risks, fear of AI demand cooling, and a stretched valuation. Vistra had a trailing P/E of roughly 32.51x in FY25; now Vistra’s P/E ratio was 26.46x as of this article, calculated as a share price of $157.97 divided by diluted TTM EPS of $5.97. Throughout this article, I’ll discuss my bull case and some risks that go along with it. In sum, I rate Vistra a buy. Financials Vistra had strong Q1 2026 results on both a QoQ and YoY basis. Total revenue increased to $5.63 billion, up from $3.93 billion in Q1 2025. Vistra’s EBIT in the latest quarter was $1.50 billion, resulting in an operating margin of approximately 26.6%. This was a significant improvement compared to Q1 2025, partly because Vistra’s reported earnings in FY25 were pressured by large unrealized pre-tax hedge losses. Vistra’s FY25 net income declined to $944 million, largely due to an $808 million unrealized pre-tax loss from hedges. This also pressured reported EPS, although the loss was non-cash and did not reflect weaker core operations. Vistra’s adjusted EBITDA increased as well to $1.49B in Q1 2026 , up roughly 20% YoY. The YoY improvement was supported by improved energy margins and a contribution from the Lotus acquisition, while earnings were also helped by a positive swing in unrealized hedge activity. An important financial item to pay attention to is Vistra’s adjusted free cash flow before growth (FCFbG), which looks at cash flow a company generates ...
The United States is considering imposing tariffs of at least 10% on imports from most major trading partners after an investigation into products allegedly made with forced labor. The move comes as President Donald Trump attempts to reestablish a broad tariff regime that was previously invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court. The determination, made under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, found...
The United States is considering imposing tariffs of at least 10% on imports from most major trading partners after an investigation into products allegedly made with forced labor. The move comes as President Donald Trump attempts to reestablish a broad tariff regime that was previously invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court. The determination, made under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, found that all 60 countries have failed to impose or effectively enforce a prohibition on forced labor-related imports, creating what it called an “unlevel playing field” for American workers. USTR has proposed a 10% duty rate for economies that have adopted a full or partial prohibition on forced labor trade, and 12.5% for all other economies. The trade authority also proposed a separate textile mechanism that would allow for a certain volume of apparel and textile imports from some economies to enter the U.S. at reduced rates. “The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable. This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field,” said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “We will no longer tolerate this disparity. Some trading partners have taken initial steps to prevent the importation of forced labor goods, including through USMCA and commitments in Agreements on Reciprocal Trade. However, each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labor globally.” Here are some market tracking funds: ( DIA ), ( DDM ), ( DOG ), ( DXD ), ( SDOW ), ( SPY ), ( VOO ), ( IVV ), ( RSP ), ( SSO ), ( UPRO ), ( SH ), ( SDS ), ( SPXU ), ( QQQ ), ( QQQM ), ( TQQQ ), ( QID ), and ( SQQQ ) More on S&P 500 Index Fasten Your Seatbelt More Data Showing A Weirdly Decent Labor Market Why The "AI Mania" May End Badly Stocks to watch on Tuesday after-hours: PANW, ULTA, GTLB 3 things to look out for on Wednesda...
Li Xiaohong, a former senior disciplinary official in charge of national inspection, has been placed under investigation for suspected severe disciplinary and legal violations, China’s top anti-corruption authorities said on Tuesday. The downfall of the 73-year-old veteran – known for spearheading high-level anti-corruption crackdowns and his top disciplinary roles at the securities regulator – un...
Li Xiaohong, a former senior disciplinary official in charge of national inspection, has been placed under investigation for suspected severe disciplinary and legal violations, China’s top anti-corruption authorities said on Tuesday. The downfall of the 73-year-old veteran – known for spearheading high-level anti-corruption crackdowns and his top disciplinary roles at the securities regulator – underscores Beijing’s continued efforts to target corruption among its most senior disciplinary...
To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: The S&P 500’s consecutive daily winning streak now stands at nine. Lest we forget — there’s still no deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz . The US once again has more job vacancies than unemployed people to take them. Wall Street thinks there’ll be no AI jobpocalypse . AND: Some more unconsidered musica...
To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: The S&P 500’s consecutive daily winning streak now stands at nine. Lest we forget — there’s still no deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz . The US once again has more job vacancies than unemployed people to take them. Wall Street thinks there’ll be no AI jobpocalypse . AND: Some more unconsidered musical masterpieces . Released From Geography One of the most popular and readable non-fiction books of recent times was Tim Marshall ’s Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About the World . The title is self-explanatory. Beautifully clear and concise prose, accompanied by maps, it lays out just how many of the world’s most intractable political and economic problems are imposed by the immutable facts of geography (as Napoleon so aptly observed but failed to take to heart). If anyone thought they could ignore this, the global fascination with the Strait of Hormuz over the last three months is a potent argument otherwise. This is a track of the number of stories crossing the Bloomberg terminal, from all sources, to mention the Strait each day: On the face of it, events there have degenerated into a disaster, with both sides blockading the other. Bloomberg’s analysis of shipping through the waterway (which you can find in the fascinating terminal function MAP SHIP ) suggests that it’s to all intents and purposes closed, and has been for three months. Crude and gasoline prices are rising accordingly, and hopes for a reopening in June are dwindling on prediction markets. A dashboard basically describes what strategists would have called a nightmare scenario in early March: And yet the US stock market is on quite a tear. The S&P 500 was up on Tuesday, for the ninth trading day in succession. That’s because advances in technology have effectively freed us from geography. They’ve also, fascinatingly, rendered geography almost obsolete when it come...
MF3d/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Back in late March, I reiterated my strong buy rating on CoreWeave, Inc. ( CRWV ), citing exceptional demand, an enormous backlog, and a shockingly low valuation. Looking at the chart below, you can see that my upgrade to a strong buy back in December has worked out quite well, and the stock has gained another 47% since my previous update. The stock is now...
MF3d/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Back in late March, I reiterated my strong buy rating on CoreWeave, Inc. ( CRWV ), citing exceptional demand, an enormous backlog, and a shockingly low valuation. Looking at the chart below, you can see that my upgrade to a strong buy back in December has worked out quite well, and the stock has gained another 47% since my previous update. The stock is now up over 90% from 52-week lows. CoreWeave reported their 2026 Q1 earnings back in May, and there have been some important developments recently. Today, I have decided to provide an update for readers. Seeking Alpha Executive Summary Below, it is shown that Q1 was another strong quarter for growth and demand metrics. While margins were weaker than desired, this softness is likely temporary as the scaling of revenues should improve their operating leverage. At this point, CapEx remains justified, but high financial leverage is still a risk if a downturn comes at some point. CoreWeave raised their year-end ARR expectations, and they are moving to differentiate their business from competitors. Meanwhile, the forward P/S ratio remains well below the historic average, and so at this point, the risk/reward remains highly favorable for the bulls. Therefore, I've decided to reiterate my strong buy rating once again. Scaling Quickly CoreWeave Q1 Presentation A map very similar to the one shown above was discussed in my previous article. However, the numbers have changed quite a bit as CoreWeave has raced to scale their infrastructure. Active power is now in excess of 1GW after being at 850MW+ in Q4, while contracted power is also up notably. In all of 2025, the company added 11 data centers in total. Just in 2026 Q1, they added 6 data centers already, and so it is clear that the pace at which they are scaling is heating up. Since they have an increasing amount of contracted power secured, CoreWeave should have no problem expanding their presence further. We'll talk about CapEx a litt...