Makeda George steps out of a Mixue store in downtown Brooklyn, New York, clutching a bubble tea as she weaves through a crowd of teenagers. The local resident says she had been eager to try the brand after noticing a surge of new outlets opening in recent months. “I decided to try the bubble tea. It was good,” she said, adding that she did not know it was a Chinese drink chain but figured it was A...
Makeda George steps out of a Mixue store in downtown Brooklyn, New York, clutching a bubble tea as she weaves through a crowd of teenagers. The local resident says she had been eager to try the brand after noticing a surge of new outlets opening in recent months. “I decided to try the bubble tea. It was good,” she said, adding that she did not know it was a Chinese drink chain but figured it was Asian given the branding. “Everywhere you go, every nook, every cranny, you just see them popping...
J. Michael Jones/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Thesis Vanguard is an asset management powerhouse, and as of late, they have been rolling out a number of generic funds with very low expense ratios to capture allocation flows. The Vanguard Total Treasury ETF ( VTG ) is such a name. The ETF was IPO-ed fairly recently, namely in mid-2025. By ETF standards, that is very new. In today's article, we ...
J. Michael Jones/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Thesis Vanguard is an asset management powerhouse, and as of late, they have been rolling out a number of generic funds with very low expense ratios to capture allocation flows. The Vanguard Total Treasury ETF ( VTG ) is such a name. The ETF was IPO-ed fairly recently, namely in mid-2025. By ETF standards, that is very new. In today's article, we are going to take a close look at VTG's composition, its analytics, and its goals, as well as articulate our view on this name in today's macro context. What does the fund do? Let us start by looking at what VTG aims to do exactly: Seeks to track the performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Total Return Unhedged USD Index. So the ETF is passive, aiming to track an index. The details regarding the index can be found here . The index aims to capture intermediate-duration U.S. treasuries, thus representing a take on intermediate rates: Bloomberg Index (Bloomberg) As a reminder, there are three distinct sections in the yield curve as currently parsed out by market participants: Front End (Short End): 1-3 years tenor. Intermediate Rates (The Belly): 3-10 years tenor. The Back End (Long End): 10-30 years tenor. VTG targets intermediate rates via its composition. We can see those details in VTG's holdings, which have the following characteristics: Duration: 5.7 years. Portfolio yield to maturity: 4.2%. Number of bonds: 282. Expense ratio: 0.03%. SEC yield: 4.32%. This new fund aims to capture significant institutional flow via its ultra-low expense ratio of only 3 bps. That is a very, very low figure, and for allocators who just need to have exposure to intermediate-duration treasuries, that aspect is very appealing. Institutional investors and retail investors are very different actors when it comes to portfolio allocations. While retail investors aim to make a high total return (irrespective of the segments invested in), institutional investors usually have allocation buckets ...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] AI has long been caught in a paradox: AI workloads demand high performance storage, long associated with flash, but scaling at AI levels with all-flash is prohibitively expensive. Hard disk drives (HDDs), on the other hand, already store the majority of AI data cost-effectively at scale. They are the proven, cost-effective...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] AI has long been caught in a paradox: AI workloads demand high performance storage, long associated with flash, but scaling at AI levels with all-flash is prohibitively expensive. Hard disk drives (HDDs), on the other hand, already store the majority of AI data cost-effectively at scale. They are the proven, cost-effective capacity foundation of the modern data centre. What has separated them is the assumption that...
Social media protection service offered by Fifa English FA yet to confirm whether it will use service Fifa will expand the use of AI at the World Cup to reduce the amount of abusive messages that teams and players are exposed to on social media. World football’s governing body introduced a social media protection service after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and has offered its moderation element for ...
Social media protection service offered by Fifa English FA yet to confirm whether it will use service Fifa will expand the use of AI at the World Cup to reduce the amount of abusive messages that teams and players are exposed to on social media. World football’s governing body introduced a social media protection service after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and has offered its moderation element for free to all football associations at the 2026 tournament, which starts next Thursday. The Football Association has not confirmed whether it is taking up the offer. Continue reading...
As markets (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) prepare for the public launch of SpaceX (SPAX.PVT) on June 12, should investors be skeptical of these mega-IPOs expected to sweep Wall Street? 9i Capital Group founder and CEO Kevin Thompson cites the circular investing occurring between Big Tech names and these pre-IPO companies — SpaceX, OpenAI (OPAI.PVT), Anthropic (ANTH.PVT). OpenAI and Anthropic have also filed...
As markets (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) prepare for the public launch of SpaceX (SPAX.PVT) on June 12, should investors be skeptical of these mega-IPOs expected to sweep Wall Street? 9i Capital Group founder and CEO Kevin Thompson cites the circular investing occurring between Big Tech names and these pre-IPO companies — SpaceX, OpenAI (OPAI.PVT), Anthropic (ANTH.PVT). OpenAI and Anthropic have also filed to go public in 2026.
You signed up for Social Security this year, and you're already feeling the pinch from rising inflation. Your checks may not go as far as you expected, forcing you to fall back on your personal savings or a job to cover the rest. The 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) coming your way in January may make your life a bit easier. But even though it's expected to be an above-average...
You signed up for Social Security this year, and you're already feeling the pinch from rising inflation. Your checks may not go as far as you expected, forcing you to fall back on your personal savings or a job to cover the rest. The 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) coming your way in January may make your life a bit easier. But even though it's expected to be an above-average boost, it probably won't help you get ahead. Here's a look at what the latest COLA projections say about the average 62-year-old's impending benefit bump. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
JulieAlexK/iStock via Getty Images By James Knightley & Francesco Pesole Inflation and jobs data don't justify hawkish shift At the April Bank of Canada policy meeting, officials struck a dovish tone, saying they were prepared to "look through the war’s immediate impact on inflation." Assuming a relatively swift conclusion to the conflict, "a policy rate close to current settings looks appropriate...
JulieAlexK/iStock via Getty Images By James Knightley & Francesco Pesole Inflation and jobs data don't justify hawkish shift At the April Bank of Canada policy meeting, officials struck a dovish tone, saying they were prepared to "look through the war’s immediate impact on inflation." Assuming a relatively swift conclusion to the conflict, "a policy rate close to current settings looks appropriate." Six weeks on, and unfortunately, the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, and energy prices remain elevated. Nonetheless, there is little in the data to justify a more hawkish shift from the BoC at their forthcoming meeting on June 10. April inflation undershot expectations with headline CPI rising more modestly than feared to 2.8% from 2.4% – the market consensus had been 3.1% – while core inflation surprisingly slowed. Meanwhile, the labour market has been mixed. After losing 112,300 jobs in the first four months of the year, employment rebounded by 87,800 in May, but the unemployment rate remains elevated at 6.6%. Recession and USMCA still argue for a dovish stance The biggest headlines were generated by the fact that Canada is now in a technical recession after the economy contracted 0.1% annualised in the first quarter after a 1% drop in the fourth quarter last year. In fact, Canada has recorded three quarters of negative growth out of the past four, meaning that the BoC’s previous 1.2% full year GDP forecast looks set to be missed. The early estimate for the monthly April GDP print is better at 0.4% month-on-month, but while higher energy prices are a boon for Canada’s economy given it is a major net producer of oil and gas, the ongoing uncertainty about trade policy continues to hold back sentiment. The coming evaluations of the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal and the potential for the US to put more of a squeeze on trade partners prompted BoC Governor Tiff Macklem to warn that a further rate cut cannot be ruled out if rule changes significantly harm Canada. W...