Hapag-Lloyd employees monitor the status of cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz on a screen in Hamburg, Germany, on April 15. Photo: VCG The closure of the Strait of Hormuz that has come with the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran has been catastrophic for global energy markets and international trade. Both ocean freight and the air freight networks that sustain cross-border e-commerce have been crippl...
Hapag-Lloyd employees monitor the status of cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz on a screen in Hamburg, Germany, on April 15. Photo: VCG The closure of the Strait of Hormuz that has come with the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran has been catastrophic for global energy markets and international trade. Both ocean freight and the air freight networks that sustain cross-border e-commerce have been crippled, triggering a forced and painful restructuring of supply lines that experts said could take years to undo.
RHJ/iStock via Getty Images Source: Own Processing Precious metals royalty and streaming companies represent a very interesting sub-industry of the precious metals mining industry. They provide some leverage to the growing metals prices, similar to the typical mining companies; however, they are less risky in comparison to them. Their incomes are derived from royalty and streaming agreements. Unde...
RHJ/iStock via Getty Images Source: Own Processing Precious metals royalty and streaming companies represent a very interesting sub-industry of the precious metals mining industry. They provide some leverage to the growing metals prices, similar to the typical mining companies; however, they are less risky in comparison to them. Their incomes are derived from royalty and streaming agreements. Under a metal streaming agreement, the streaming company provides an upfront payment to acquire the right to future deliveries of a predefined percentage of the metal production of a mining operation. The streaming company also pays some ongoing payments that are usually well below the market price of the metal. They can be set as a fixed sum (e.g., $300/toz gold) or as a percentage (e.g., 20% of the prevailing gold price), or a combination of both (e.g., the lower of a) $300/toz gold and b) 20% of the prevailing gold price). The royalties usually apply to a small fraction of the mining project production (usually 1-3%), and they are not connected with ongoing payments. They can have various forms, but the most common is a small percentage of the net smelter return ("NSR"). The NSR is calculated as revenues from the sale of the mined products minus transportation and refining costs. To better track the overall performance of the whole sub-industry, I created a capitalisation-weighted index (the Precious Metals Royalty and Streaming Index) consisting of 11 companies (in June 2020, expanded to 15). Later, based on the inquiries of readers, I also introduced an equal-weighted version of the index. Until March 2021, both indices included the same companies and were calculated back to January 2019. However, some major changes occurred in April 2021. Due to the boom of the royalty and streaming industry and the emergence of many new companies, the indices experienced two major changes. First of all, the market capitalisation-weighted index was modified to include only the 5 biggest c...
Getty Images UnitedHealth ( UNH ) is down about 48% from its all-time high. This kind of drawdown, in a $450 billion revenue company that has compounded earnings for basically two decades, does not happen often. And when it does, there is usually a good reason for it. Data by YCharts In UNH's case, there were multiple good reasons. A margin crisis in Medicare Advantage, a C-suite turnover, and a h...
Getty Images UnitedHealth ( UNH ) is down about 48% from its all-time high. This kind of drawdown, in a $450 billion revenue company that has compounded earnings for basically two decades, does not happen often. And when it does, there is usually a good reason for it. Data by YCharts In UNH's case, there were multiple good reasons. A margin crisis in Medicare Advantage, a C-suite turnover, and a huge cyberattack . Plus the medical cost trend kept going higher every quarter. The market took all of that and priced the stock like the business was permanently broken. I don't think it is. What I think happened is that a fixable profitability problem got treated like a moat problem. And there is a big difference between those two things. I am long UNH. My cost basis on the shares I hold is around $328, so I am slightly in the red. But I am not writing this to justify my position. I am writing this because the setup has changed materially in the last few weeks, and I believe the market has not caught up to it yet. Also, I am entering into an interesting option trade, so I thought, why not share it with you guys? On April 6, CMS released the final 2027 Medicare Advantage rate notice at 2.48%, against an advance notice of 0.09% that had everyone modeling for the worst case. That single number, in my opinion, changes the trajectory of their margin recovery and 2027 earnings in a way the stock has not reflected yet. But before the trade in this piece, I want to walk you guys through what actually broke UNH and why the CMS rate surprise is a much bigger deal than the market is pricing right now. So, let me start with what went wrong with UnitedHealth. What Actually Broke UNH in 2025 UNH's 48% drop was because a very specific set of problems collided in a very short window, and the market correctly repriced the stock for a scenario where those problems got worse before they got better. The core issue was always Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage is their largest benefits seg...
Sometime around 2010, sophisticated malware known as Flame hijacked the mechanism that Microsoft used to distribute updates to millions of Windows computers around the world. The malware—reportedly jointly developed by the US and Israel—pushed a malicious update throughout an infected network belonging to the Iranian government. The lynchpin of the "collision" attack was an exploit of MD5, a crypt...
Sometime around 2010, sophisticated malware known as Flame hijacked the mechanism that Microsoft used to distribute updates to millions of Windows computers around the world. The malware—reportedly jointly developed by the US and Israel—pushed a malicious update throughout an infected network belonging to the Iranian government. The lynchpin of the "collision" attack was an exploit of MD5, a cryptographic hash function Microsoft was using to authenticate digital certificates. By minting a cryptographically perfect digital signature based on MD5, the attackers forged a certificate that authenticated their malicious update server. Had the attack been used more broadly, it would have had catastrophic consequences worldwide. Getting uncomfortably close to the danger zone The event, which came to light in 2012, now serves as a cautionary tale for cryptography engineers as they contemplate the downfall of two crucial cryptography algorithms used everywhere. Since 2004 , MD5 has been known to be vulnerable to "collisions," a fatal flaw that allows adversaries to generate two distinct inputs that produce identical outputs. Read full article Comments
The Keeper by Tana French; The Kindness of Strangers by Emma Garman; Mrs Shim Is a Killer by Kang Jiyoung; A Killer in the Family by Amin Ahmad; The Drowning Place by Sarah Hilary The Keeper by Tana French (Viking, £16.99) The final book in French’s Cal Hooper trilogy sees the retired Chicago detective drawn into a power struggle for the future of the small Irish town he has made his home. Ardnake...
The Keeper by Tana French; The Kindness of Strangers by Emma Garman; Mrs Shim Is a Killer by Kang Jiyoung; A Killer in the Family by Amin Ahmad; The Drowning Place by Sarah Hilary The Keeper by Tana French (Viking, £16.99) The final book in French’s Cal Hooper trilogy sees the retired Chicago detective drawn into a power struggle for the future of the small Irish town he has made his home. Ardnakelty is a place where everyone is interconnected, with grudges and loyalties lasting for generations, and Hooper, now engaged to local widow Lena and mentor to 16-year-old Trey, is becoming a part of its fabric. When the body of Rachel Holohan, girlfriend of the son of local bigshot Tommy Moynihan, is recovered from the river, the consensus is suicide, but Trey convinces Hooper to investigate. Tommy doesn’t like people interfering in his business, especially when it emerges that Rachel was concerned about his plans for the town. An immersive, slow-burn of a book, as much about the march of time and the inevitably changing nature of Irish rural life as it is about solving a crime, The Keeper is dense, compelling and superbly atmospheric. The Kindness of Strangers by Emma Garman ( Virago, £ 20) Set in a Chelsea boarding house in 1953, Garman’s debut novel opens with Jimmy Sullivan – who “wore spiv’s shoes and spoke in unmistakable Cockney tones” – bleeding to death under the dispassionate gaze of the landlady and her lodgers. The big Victorian house, presided over by bohemian literary widow Honor Wilson, is home to a debutante fallen on hard times, a wannabe writer, a young cinema usher with social aspirations, and a Jewish poet who managed to escape Hitler but lost his wife and child in the process. All have secrets, but none more than Honor herself, and the arrival of Jimmy, who claims to be the son of an old family retainer, threatens them all. This is not only an excellent mystery, but an evocative portrayal of a group of people displaced socially and geographically by war...
The sibling duo’s follow-up EP spikes their off-kilter pop with new darkness, adding atmospheric balladry to their glorious racket From South London Recommended if you like Charli xcx, Confidence Man, Klaxons Up next UK tour starts 21 April If this was April 2008, Punchbag, AKA south London siblings Clara and Anders Bach, would be headlining an NME tour alongside Alphabeat and Frankmusik, while th...
The sibling duo’s follow-up EP spikes their off-kilter pop with new darkness, adding atmospheric balladry to their glorious racket From South London Recommended if you like Charli xcx, Confidence Man, Klaxons Up next UK tour starts 21 April If this was April 2008, Punchbag, AKA south London siblings Clara and Anders Bach, would be headlining an NME tour alongside Alphabeat and Frankmusik, while the Popjustice forum would have hailed them as the new face of “wonky pop”. The sonic calling cards of that ramshackle iPod-era micro-genre – off-kilter, unvarnished electropop piled high with myriad other genres – were streaked across Punchbag’s debut single Fuck It. A sweaty riot of 90s rave, maximalist bass and Clara’s spit-soaked vocals, it felt tailor-made for soundtracking an awkward snog on Skins. Last May it was joined by three other frantic bangers on the duo’s debut EP, I’m Not Your Punchbag, the highlight of which, You Used to Be So Sexy, sounds like a GarageBand-produced the Veronicas had they grown up in east London as opposed to Brisbane. Continue reading...
Manchester City gained ground last weekend but the league leaders have plenty of reasons to remain positive By Opta Analyst Last weekend was nightmarish for Arsenal. They lost at home to Bournemouth on Saturday with a flat, disjointed performance, and matters deteriorated further the following day when Manchester City beat Chelsea convincingly at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal’s lead at the Premier Leag...
Manchester City gained ground last weekend but the league leaders have plenty of reasons to remain positive By Opta Analyst Last weekend was nightmarish for Arsenal. They lost at home to Bournemouth on Saturday with a flat, disjointed performance, and matters deteriorated further the following day when Manchester City beat Chelsea convincingly at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal’s lead at the Premier League summit has narrowed from nine points to six, and City still have a game in hand. The two sides meet at the Etihad on Sunday for a match that could define the title race. The narrative pretty much writes itself: City win that game, then win their game in hand, and the title is surely theirs given how strong they are at the end of the season. That scenario is being talked about as an inevitability in some quarters, as though Arsenal have already let things slip. Continue reading...
Store opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market joins growing unionization campaign across the coffee chain Workers at the historic first Starbucks store are seeking to unionize as the coffee retail giant and its union appear stalemated over their first contract. The first Starbucks store opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the store serves as a tourist site in Seattle. Continue...
Store opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market joins growing unionization campaign across the coffee chain Workers at the historic first Starbucks store are seeking to unionize as the coffee retail giant and its union appear stalemated over their first contract. The first Starbucks store opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the store serves as a tourist site in Seattle. Continue reading...
Last year, Anthropic PBC chief Dario Amodei and a handful of executives traveled 8,000 miles from San Francisco to the Middle East. They were there to meet with some of the world’s most deep-pocketed investors, including Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. Photos of Amodei and wealth fund officials including Ibrahim Ajami , head of ventures at Mubadala Capital , were widely circ...
Last year, Anthropic PBC chief Dario Amodei and a handful of executives traveled 8,000 miles from San Francisco to the Middle East. They were there to meet with some of the world’s most deep-pocketed investors, including Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. Photos of Amodei and wealth fund officials including Ibrahim Ajami , head of ventures at Mubadala Capital , were widely circulated online . Missing from the headlines was the trip’s organizer: Iconiq, a financial firm that has managed the personal fortunes of senior figures in Middle Eastern and Asian governments for more than a decade, as well as those of tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Satya Nadella. Historically a behind-the-scenes operator, Iconiq has grown into a behemoth with $100 billion in assets under management, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg and a person familiar with the matter. Its clients have included global royal families, billionaires and A-list stars like Tom Cruise and Pharrell Williams , the people said, relationships that haven’t been previously reported. Recently, Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang , the world’s eighth-richest person, has also signed on as a client, said one of the people with knowledge of the situation, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Iconiq, which is famously secretive, repeatedly declined to comment on its client list. Now, Iconiq is further branching out from the relatively staid world of money management, and expanding its reach into venture capital — making big bets on companies like Anthropic, pioneering a new style of investing and becoming a multibillion-dollar force in tech’s artificial intelligence frenzy. Iconiq put more than $3 billion into AI startups in 2025 alone, on par with the investment tallies of some of Silicon Valley’s best-known VC firms. Up next, San Francisco-based Iconiq is upping the stakes for its venture arm, with plans to raise billions for a new fund, according to a securities filing a...
China criticised Japan for sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait on Friday, just days after Tokyo announced its troops would join a major US-Philippine military drill for the first time. Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the entry of a Japanese Self-Defence Force vessel into the strait was a “deliberate provocation.” He added that Beijing had lodged a “strong protest” with Tokyo. “T...
China criticised Japan for sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait on Friday, just days after Tokyo announced its troops would join a major US-Philippine military drill for the first time. Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the entry of a Japanese Self-Defence Force vessel into the strait was a “deliberate provocation.” He added that Beijing had lodged a “strong protest” with Tokyo. “The Chinese military has dealt with this incident in accordance with regulations,” Guo said, without...
Welcome to the Business of Food newsletter, covering how the world feeds itself in a changing economy and climate. This week, Eko Listiyorini and Rosalind Mathieson report on Indonesia’s costly school meal program. Any tips or feedback? Email Agnieszka de Sousa . And if you aren’t yet signed up to receive this newsletter, please do so here . Worth It? It’s a weekday morning in Indonesia’s Timor an...
Welcome to the Business of Food newsletter, covering how the world feeds itself in a changing economy and climate. This week, Eko Listiyorini and Rosalind Mathieson report on Indonesia’s costly school meal program. Any tips or feedback? Email Agnieszka de Sousa . And if you aren’t yet signed up to receive this newsletter, please do so here . Worth It? It’s a weekday morning in Indonesia’s Timor and elementary school children race to their classrooms, eager to find out what’s inside the stainless steel containers sitting on their desks. They quickly clock cooked green beans and the eye-rolling starts. One pokes out his tongue at a friend and pretends to gag. If the pupils at this city school in Kupang are having doubts about their meals, spare a thought for the investors and economists scrutinizing the cost of the countrywide free nutrition program that funds them. Launched by Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto a little over a year ago, the scheme — run by a nutrition agency at an allocated cost of $15 billion for this year — aims to boost child nutrition, school retention and ultimately jobs and the economy. But as we report in our story and this video after a trip to Indonesian farms and school kitchens, the program has faced an array of logistical headaches and even food poisoning outbreaks. Critics say some kitchens may lean on ultra-processed foods. There’s little to suggest it’s proving an economic multiplier so far. And yet the program this year is targeting 83 million children, breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women across the world’s largest archipelago. Done well, school meal programs can make a difference , and they’re a focus in many countries. But unlike the initiatives in large developing countries like Brazil and India, Indonesia’s was rolled out fast, without official pilots. Some experts also say it should be changed — targeted at areas of need versus a one-size-fits-all approach. Indonesia’s government says it’s making fixes , including cracki...
In this article .VIX Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch now VIDEO 6:05 06:05 ETF Stress Tests: How funds are showing resilience in the face of uncertainty ETF Edge New innovation in the exchange-traded fund industry could come at a cost to investors during extreme conditions. According to MFS Investment Management's Jamie Harrison, ETFs involved in increasingly complex derivativ...
In this article .VIX Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch now VIDEO 6:05 06:05 ETF Stress Tests: How funds are showing resilience in the face of uncertainty ETF Edge New innovation in the exchange-traded fund industry could come at a cost to investors during extreme conditions. According to MFS Investment Management's Jamie Harrison, ETFs involved in increasingly complex derivatives and less transparent markets may be in uncharted territory when it comes to violent downturns. "Those would be something that you'd want to keep an eye on as volatility ramps up," the firm's head of ETF capital markets told CNBC's " ETF Edge " this week. "As innovation continues to increase at a rapid pace within the ETF wrapper, [it's] definitely something that we advise our clients to be really front-footed about… Lack of transparency could absolutely be an issue if we're going to start seeing some deep sell-offs." His firm has been around since 1924 and is known for inventing the open-end mutual fund. Last year, ETF.com named MFS Investment Management as the best new ETF issuer. "It's important to do due diligence on the portfolio," he said. "Having a firm that has deep partnerships, deep bench of subject matter experts that plays with the A-team in terms of the Street and liquidity providers available [are] super important." Liquidity as the real issue? Harrison suggested the real issue is liquidity, particularly during a steep sell-off. "We've all seen the news and the headlines around potential private credit ETFs. That picture becomes much more murky," he added. "It's up to advisors, to investors [and] to clients to really dig in and look under the hood and engage with their issuers." He noted investors will have to ask some tough questions. "What does this look like in a 20% drawdown? How does this liquidity facility work? Am I going to be able to get in? Am I going to be able to get out? And if I'm able to get out, am I able to get out at a price that's tight to...
In this article UBER Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT An Uber Eats courier is seen in Krakow, Poland, on Aug. 21, 2025. Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images Returning packages is a pain. Uber says it can fix that. Uber Eats announced a returns feature on Friday that lets customers do it all from the phone, and a courier will pick up and return the items purchased from retailers ...
In this article UBER Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT An Uber Eats courier is seen in Krakow, Poland, on Aug. 21, 2025. Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images Returning packages is a pain. Uber says it can fix that. Uber Eats announced a returns feature on Friday that lets customers do it all from the phone, and a courier will pick up and return the items purchased from retailers on the app for a fee. "A first for the on-demand delivery industry, customers will now be able to send back eligible retail items purchased on Uber Eats and receive an instant refund," the announcement said. The launch will apply to retailers on Uber Eats, including Best Buy , Dick's Sporting Goods and Petco . Refunds are processed when the courier picks up the returned item, which must cost at least $20. To avoid the courier fee, which is calculated by the driver's time and distance, customers can still return items themselves. Read more CNBC tech news Amazon sellers boycott ads in policy change revolt: 'We're running out of f---ing margin' TSMC and ASML post-earnings stock moves could be a sign of what's to come from chip companies The public sours on AI and data centers as Anthropic, OpenAI look to IPO and tech keeps spending Dems probe NLRB decision to drop charges against SpaceX over retaliatory firings Originally just a ride-hailing app, Uber's seen growing success since entering the delivery space. In the last quarter of fiscal 2025, Uber made $4.9 billion in delivery revenue , a 30% increase year over year. Returns for online purchases have been a growing problem for years, frustrating retailers and customers alike. In a recent survey of 1,000 people who had made an online return in the last year, a third said that printing labels and finding packaging were stressful, according to post-purchase platform Route. Waiting for the refund ranked as the top return stress point, with 43% of respondents. To streamline the process for customers, Amazon accepts returns at reta...
In today's video, I discuss recent updates affecting Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and other AI stocks. To learn more, check out the short video, consider subscribing, and click the special offer link below. *Stock prices used were the post-market prices of April 2, 2026. The video was published on April 2, 2026. Continue reading
In today's video, I discuss recent updates affecting Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and other AI stocks. To learn more, check out the short video, consider subscribing, and click the special offer link below. *Stock prices used were the post-market prices of April 2, 2026. The video was published on April 2, 2026. Continue reading
Marvin Samuel Tolentino Pineda/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Listen below or on the go on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Reed Hastings will leave as chairman of Netflix in June . (0:15) Federal regulators to look at MLB online distribution deals . (1:44) OpenAI commits over $20B to Cerebras chip-powered AI servers. (2:33) The following is an abridged transcript: Netflix ( NFLX ) is tumbling premar...
Marvin Samuel Tolentino Pineda/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Listen below or on the go on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Reed Hastings will leave as chairman of Netflix in June . (0:15) Federal regulators to look at MLB online distribution deals . (1:44) OpenAI commits over $20B to Cerebras chip-powered AI servers. (2:33) The following is an abridged transcript: Netflix ( NFLX ) is tumbling premarket on softer-than-expected guidance and news that Chairman, co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings will leave the company’s board in June . Hastings, who helped transform Netflix from mailing DVDs to customers into the gold standard of streaming, said he is shifting his focus to philanthropy and other pursuits. He co-founded the company in 1997 and served as CEO for more than two decades before handing the role to co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. In Q1, Netflix posted EPS of $1.23, though the figure is not comparable to the Street’s $0.76 estimate because it includes a $2.8B Warner merger breakup fee tied to Paramount Skydance ( PSKY ). Revenue rose 16% Y/Y to $12.25B, topping expectations of $12.17B, reflecting stronger subscription growth, pricing gains and higher ad revenue. However, investors had hoped for a lift to full-year guidance now that the Warner Bros. Discovery ( WBD ) battle is behind it. Instead, Netflix maintained its revenue outlook of $50.7B to $51.7B, with the midpoint below the $51.38B consensus estimate. For Q2, the company guided to an operating margin of 32.6%, down 150 basis points from a year earlier. Seeking Alpha analyst Max Greve said Netflix has been “feasting on the upside of ads and sports,” but warned that engagement friction, league dependency and scripted crowding were becoming more apparent. “This report makes all those negative trends manifest,” he added. Regulators are examining the distribution of streaming rights for Major League Baseball as part of a broader federal probe into how professional sports leagues deliver games to on...