The Iran war has been on the minds of investors since U.S. airstrikes on Iran began on Feb. 28. The economically vital Strait of Hormuz has largely been closed, shutting off oil and gas shipments to markets around the world that depend on them. Oil prices have spiked. All this bad news and global uncertainty might have driven nervous investors to sell their stocks and flee to the perceived safety ...
The Iran war has been on the minds of investors since U.S. airstrikes on Iran began on Feb. 28. The economically vital Strait of Hormuz has largely been closed, shutting off oil and gas shipments to markets around the world that depend on them. Oil prices have spiked. All this bad news and global uncertainty might have driven nervous investors to sell their stocks and flee to the perceived safety of cash or bonds. And yet stocks have rebounded. On Thursday, the S&P 500 index closed at a record high of 7,041.28. After a sluggish start to 2026, the S&P 500 is now up 2.9% year to date and has gained 11% since hitting a low on March 30 during the Iran conflict. War is a tragedy, and it's understandable that people feel worried, saddened, and preoccupied by the distressing news from war headlines. But the Iran war, like other conflicts in the past, is proving to be a bad reason to hit "sell" on your stocks. Continue reading
Navitas Semiconductor has added semiconductor veteran Gregory M. Fischer to its Board of Directors, effective April 13, 2026, with responsibilities on the Compensation and Executive Steering committees. Fischer’s four decades of experience across Broadcom, Semtech, Rockwell entities, and multiple advisory roles introduces deep operational and governance expertise to Navitas’ leadership bench. Next...
Navitas Semiconductor has added semiconductor veteran Gregory M. Fischer to its Board of Directors, effective April 13, 2026, with responsibilities on the Compensation and Executive Steering committees. Fischer’s four decades of experience across Broadcom, Semtech, Rockwell entities, and multiple advisory roles introduces deep operational and governance expertise to Navitas’ leadership bench. Next, we’ll examine how Fischer’s extensive semiconductor operating background could influence...
Reports suggest NVIDIA is exploring a large acquisition in the PC space, with market speculation focusing on Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) as a possible target. The talks have not been confirmed by the companies involved, but the potential size and scope of such a deal are drawing close attention from investors. Market reactions and commentary from industry observers highlight the scale of the pot...
Reports suggest NVIDIA is exploring a large acquisition in the PC space, with market speculation focusing on Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) as a possible target. The talks have not been confirmed by the companies involved, but the potential size and scope of such a deal are drawing close attention from investors. Market reactions and commentary from industry observers highlight the scale of the potential move for both NVIDIA and a major PC manufacturer. Dell Technologies, traded on the NYSE...
Guido Mieth/DigitalVision via Getty Images One of my better calls over the last few years now has involved Western Alliance Bancorp ( WAL ). Since I last called it a ‘buy’ back in July of 2023, the stock has risen 70.5%. That's comfortably better than the 53.5% increase that the S&P 500 saw over the same window of time. But that's not all. Since I originally turned bullish on it in April of 2023, ...
Guido Mieth/DigitalVision via Getty Images One of my better calls over the last few years now has involved Western Alliance Bancorp ( WAL ). Since I last called it a ‘buy’ back in July of 2023, the stock has risen 70.5%. That's comfortably better than the 53.5% increase that the S&P 500 saw over the same window of time. But that's not all. Since I originally turned bullish on it in April of 2023, the stock has risen an astounding 113.9%. The market, meanwhile, is up only 68.2% since then. Fundamentally speaking, the company seems to be doing quite well right now. Deposits continue to expand, and profitability is rising nicely. Asset quality is strong, and the stock actually looks fairly attractive in relation to earnings. When you add all of this together, I think it is premature to downgrade the business at this time. This is not to say that this view could not change. It just so happens that new data will soon be coming out. After the market closes on April 21st, management will be announcing financial results for the first quarter of the company's 2026 fiscal year. However, revenue is forecasted to rise. Interestingly, analysts believe that profitability for the company will contract. But given how cheap the stock is, even a small decline in earnings is not enough to derail my overall bullish assessment of the business. It would take a significant amount of pain to do that. It’s still worth banking on Western Alliance Bancorp Over the last three fiscal years, things have gone quite well for Western Alliance Bancorp. The company has seen its deposits expand from $55.33 billion in 2023 to $77.16 billion last year. This overall growth is encouraging. And what's really impressive is that, even as deposits expanded by 16.3% from 2024 to 2025, organic deposit growth had to have been higher. I say that because, during that window of time, high-cost brokered deposits that are borrowed from other financial institutions actually contracted from $5.6 billion to $4.3 billion...
A quarter featuring multiple eye-popping deals is no longer unusual for China’s pharmaceutical industry – in fact, it may soon be considered a slow season. In recent months, companies including CSPC Pharmaceutical and RemeGen have struck out-licensing agreements worth up to US$18.5 billion and US$5.6 billion respectively, while Haisco Pharmaceutical Group has added two of its own — most recently a...
A quarter featuring multiple eye-popping deals is no longer unusual for China’s pharmaceutical industry – in fact, it may soon be considered a slow season. In recent months, companies including CSPC Pharmaceutical and RemeGen have struck out-licensing agreements worth up to US$18.5 billion and US$5.6 billion respectively, while Haisco Pharmaceutical Group has added two of its own — most recently a deal worth up to US$745 million. Under the terms of the deal, the Beijing-based Haisco granted US...
Spillover Conflict Still Raging In Iraq: Three Iranian Kurds Killed The Iran war seems to be cooling, as a two week ceasefire holds, but people are still dying from spillover effects and sporadic conflict in neighboring Iraq. " Drone and rocket strikes in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region on Friday killed three Iranian Kurds, including two women fighters , an exiled opposition group said, blaming t...
Spillover Conflict Still Raging In Iraq: Three Iranian Kurds Killed The Iran war seems to be cooling, as a two week ceasefire holds, but people are still dying from spillover effects and sporadic conflict in neighboring Iraq. " Drone and rocket strikes in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region on Friday killed three Iranian Kurds, including two women fighters , an exiled opposition group said, blaming the attack on Iran ," AFP reports . It's unclear if the projectiles were sent across the border, or whether pro-Iran groups inside Iraq carried out the killings. Illustrative: Alhurra This comes several weeks after US officials first floated the possibility of arming Iranian Kurdish dissident groups . Kurdish organizations in Iraq and along the border insisted at the time that there was no plan to receive arms and training from the US. The fear was that the US statements and avalanche of international press reports claiming a potential impending plan to use Kurds as a proxy ground force served to put a bright red target on the Kurdish community of Iran (and by extension Iraq). Indeed throughout the conflict there had been sporadic Iranian attacks on Kurdish areas, particularly in northern Iraqi Kurdistan. That appears to still be happening, with the Friday report : “The Islamic Republic of Iran launched a new wave of missile and drone strikes today targeting... civilian camps of the PDKI,” killing one person and wounding his father, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) said on X. In a separate attack, two women fighters were killed and other fighters wounded, the party added. A PDKI official told AFP the fighters were killed in an attack on their positions in the Soran area, nestled in the Zagros mountains near the Iranian border. In other Iraq-related news connected to the Iran war, the US Treasury on Friday has slapped new sanctions on a series of Shia pro-Iran militia leaders. The United States Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has ta...
AlexSecret/iStock via Getty Images By Ryan J. Puplava War Fade Fuels Melt-Up The dominant driver of markets this week was not just geopolitics, but the change in trajectory of those headlines. What began as a high-risk escalation between the U.S. and Iran quickly transitioned into a narrative of containment, and ultimately, de-escalation. That shift - particularly through the lens of oil - trigger...
AlexSecret/iStock via Getty Images By Ryan J. Puplava War Fade Fuels Melt-Up The dominant driver of markets this week was not just geopolitics, but the change in trajectory of those headlines. What began as a high-risk escalation between the U.S. and Iran quickly transitioned into a narrative of containment, and ultimately, de-escalation. That shift - particularly through the lens of oil - triggered one of the strongest two-week rallies in recent years. At the start of the week, markets were on edge. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a blockade of Iranian ports, coupled with failed ceasefire negotiations over the weekend, sent oil prices surging above $100 per barrel and equity futures sharply lower. Yet, that early weakness was short-lived. As reports surfaced of potential renewed negotiations - including a possible in-person meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials - equities reversed course aggressively. By Tuesday, the tone had shifted decisively. Oil prices collapsed nearly 8% in a single session, settling near $91 per barrel, as the market grew confident that supply disruptions would be temporary. This decline in energy prices acted as a release valve for inflation fears and interest rate expectations, unleashing broad-based equity buying. Growth stocks led the charge, with Nvidia ( NVDA ), Amazon ( AMZN ), and Meta Platforms ( META ) all posting strong gains amid renewed risk appetite. The momentum accelerated midweek. The S&P 500 broke to new all-time highs, driven largely by mega-cap leadership. Microsoft ( MSFT ) surged alongside software names like ServiceNow ( NOW ) and Datadog ( DDOG ), as investors rotated back into high-growth segments. Even as some semiconductor names lagged following cautious guidance from ASML ( ASML ), the broader trend remained intact. The decisive catalyst came Friday. Iran’s announcement that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen to commercial traffic during the ceasefire triggered a sharp collapse in oil prices - down mor...
Their backgrounds stand out. And not in a good way. Two bankruptcies and six law enforcement jobs in three years. An allegation of lying in a police report to justify a felony charge against an innocent woman – an incident that led to a US$75,000 settlement and criticism of his integrity. A third job candidate once failed to graduate from a police academy, then lasted only three weeks in his only ...
Their backgrounds stand out. And not in a good way. Two bankruptcies and six law enforcement jobs in three years. An allegation of lying in a police report to justify a felony charge against an innocent woman – an incident that led to a US$75,000 settlement and criticism of his integrity. A third job candidate once failed to graduate from a police academy, then lasted only three weeks in his only job as a police officer. Their common bond: all were hired recently by US Immigration and Customs...