Richard Drury/DigitalVision via Getty Images Large-cap growth markets moved lower in the first quarter. The year began with increased volatility in many AI-related stocks, as investors weighed concerns about elevated valuations and the pace and durability of AI spending, prompting a general rotation toward more attractively valued market segments. The outbreak of the Iran conflict at the end of Fe...
Richard Drury/DigitalVision via Getty Images Large-cap growth markets moved lower in the first quarter. The year began with increased volatility in many AI-related stocks, as investors weighed concerns about elevated valuations and the pace and durability of AI spending, prompting a general rotation toward more attractively valued market segments. The outbreak of the Iran conflict at the end of February triggered a broad market selloff, driven by rising geopolitical uncertainty and higher oil prices. Despite these headwinds, the U.S. economy remained relatively healthy. Labor markets continued to show resilience, consumer spending remained solid, supported in part by higher tax refunds, and inflation data had yet to fully reflect rising energy prices. PERFORMANCE The Virtus Silvant Focused Growth Fund returned -10.27% (Class INST) for the quarter, compared to the Russell 1000® Growth Index's return of -9.78%. Information technology and healthcare stock selection and a lack of exposure to consumer staples stocks weighed the most on returns. Consumer discretionary and communication services stock selection added the most to returns. GE Vernova ( GEV ) and ASML Holdings ( ASML ) were among the top stock contributors to relative performance. Energy equipment manufacturing and services company GE Vernova reported a strong quarter, with earnings beating expectations by 10% and revenue exceeding estimates by 7%. Orders, a key metric for the stock, saw significant upside, reaching $22 billion versus an expected $18 billion. This strength came after the company's recent December 9th Investor Day, where it had already raised projections based on backlog and order velocity that continued to outpace market expectations. We added to the position as demand for the company's gas turbines remains very strong amid continued AI-driven power buildout, with an approximately 2x book-to-bill ratio. Semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer ASML Holdings reported a mixed quarter, with ...
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives says Apple is finally entering the AI game in a meaningful way, creating a new path for services growth that could drive further upside for the stock.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives says Apple is finally entering the AI game in a meaningful way, creating a new path for services growth that could drive further upside for the stock.
German police and state prosecutors are investigating a suspected arson attack on a substation in southern Germany that affected a hospital and tens of thousands of homes and businesses on Monday. Authorities said the fire in the city of Reutlingen in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg was most likely started deliberately. In January, an arson attack in Berlin cut power to about 50,000 households and...
German police and state prosecutors are investigating a suspected arson attack on a substation in southern Germany that affected a hospital and tens of thousands of homes and businesses on Monday. Authorities said the fire in the city of Reutlingen in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg was most likely started deliberately. In January, an arson attack in Berlin cut power to about 50,000 households and 2,000 businesses in the city in freezing weather. An activist network known as Volcano Group claimed responsibility. Read more: Sabotage Threats Have Put Europe’s Power Networks on Alert The investigation in Reutlingen is currently being conducted on suspicion of intentional arson as well as disruption of public services, police and state prosecutors said in a joint statement. There are currently no leads regarding possible suspects or motives. The forensic investigation isn’t yet complete. “We assume that this was most likely an arson attack,” Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told broadcaster ZDF. “The priority now is to continue investigating in all directions in order to determine the motive behind this arson attack and identify the perpetrators.”
Attractive yields and strong credit fundamentals are setting the municipal bond market up for a solid second half of the year, said Paul Malloy , the head of municipals at The Vanguard Group Inc. Investors in the highest tax bracket can collect a broad muni-market yield of 3.62% , equivalent to 6.1% on a taxable security. The latter surpasses US corporate bonds, yielding 5.26% and having a higher ...
Attractive yields and strong credit fundamentals are setting the municipal bond market up for a solid second half of the year, said Paul Malloy , the head of municipals at The Vanguard Group Inc. Investors in the highest tax bracket can collect a broad muni-market yield of 3.62% , equivalent to 6.1% on a taxable security. The latter surpasses US corporate bonds, yielding 5.26% and having a higher default rate. “You’ve got some really good yield back into the muni market and you’ve got a pretty steep curve,” Malloy, who oversees $300 billion in muni assets, said in an interview. “You’re paid to wait in the tax-exempt space and for whatever reason you get any sort of major economic volatility, it still serves as ballast in a broader fixed-income portfolio.” Investors have poured $46 billion into the muni market this year, running at the second-highest rate on record, JPMorgan Chase & Co. wrote in a June 5 report. The market’s 1.74% total return year to date bests a 0.08% return for US corporate bonds and close to 0.5% loss for US Treasuries, according to Bloomberg Indexes. The nearly 1.9 percentage point difference between 2-year and 30-year muni yields has attracted cash to long-end of the market, Malloy said. The run-up in stocks has also led some investors to reallocate to munis to keep their portfolios in balance. The municipal debt market could end the year with a 3.5% return, he said. Malloy also touched on the following: Prepaid Gas Bonds Google parent Alphabet Inc. ’s involvement in a prepaid energy has drawn greater attention to deals that allow utilities to lock in prices. More pre-paid energy deals are in the offing, he said. Data Centers Data centers have turned to every corner of the US debt market, apart from the municipal market, to finance facilities that house thousands of servers. US Internal Revenue Service rules on the use of proceeds from tax-exempt debt preclude data centers from tapping the muni market, Malloy said. Federal tax laws restrict pri...
Just_Super/iStock via Getty Images On seeing hardware companies Dell Technologies ( DELL ) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( HPE ) rally by more than 100% in one year, driven by strong demand for AI compute, one wonders which stock could be next. This thesis aims to show that cloud computing provider Rackspace Technology, Inc. ( RXT ), which I had covered in May last year but with a Hold position, ...
Just_Super/iStock via Getty Images On seeing hardware companies Dell Technologies ( DELL ) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( HPE ) rally by more than 100% in one year, driven by strong demand for AI compute, one wonders which stock could be next. This thesis aims to show that cloud computing provider Rackspace Technology, Inc. ( RXT ), which I had covered in May last year but with a Hold position, is well positioned for upside following the enhancement of its infrastructure through deals with Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) and Palantir ( PLTR ). These partnerships are a more margin-friendly, asset-light way to build AI infrastructure for a company that's progressing toward profitability but has not yet recovered to its post-COVID high, as charted below. Data by YCharts First, it's important to emphasize the progress made in s hifting away from low-margin infrastructure services since my last coverage, as competition from hyperscalers (giant cloud service providers) remains fierce. Advancing Toward Profitability By Focusing On High Margin Products, As Growth Is Back Looking at the rearview mirror, double-digit revenue growth in FY-20 and FY-21 highlights how Rackspace benefited from the COVID-led digital transformation trend as its cloud infrastructure was in high demand, and it reached an all-time high of $26 in April 2021. However, as I had explained before, it could not keep pace with Amazon's ( AMZN ) AWS, Microsoft's ( MSFT ) Azure, and Google's ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) GCP, and sales suffered. Subsequently, the emergence of Generative AI with ChatGPT since November 2022 exacerbated the stock's downside as per the above chart because a loss-making company with a high debt load could not invest in expensive Nvidia ( NVDA ) GPUs, which cost as much as $40K per unit for the H100. Thus, with relatively limited capital to compete across the broader enterprise cloud market and fewer R&D dollars than hyperscalers, Rackspace instead focused on " higher -value enterprise engage...
Spending can be exciting – but how do you function outside of it? Experts share their tips for paring down buying For years, I have been caught in a tiresome, expensive cycle: when I’m bored (or sad, or insecure) I scroll through my phone, looking for stuff to buy. In those moments, it feels like the right purchase will relieve me of ennui or unpleasantness. These shoes will make my life more glam...
Spending can be exciting – but how do you function outside of it? Experts share their tips for paring down buying For years, I have been caught in a tiresome, expensive cycle: when I’m bored (or sad, or insecure) I scroll through my phone, looking for stuff to buy. In those moments, it feels like the right purchase will relieve me of ennui or unpleasantness. These shoes will make my life more glamorous! This face wash will make me feel forever beautiful! Sometimes this rush lasts up to two days after I receive my item. But the excitement fades – sometimes as soon as I click “confirm purchase” – and I inevitably think: “Why did I do that?” Continue reading...
Apple's WWDC keynote ended with a farewell message from Tim Cook as he gets ready to step down from his role as CEO. "On a personal note, some of the greatest highlights of my time as CEO have been events like this," Cook said.
Apple's WWDC keynote ended with a farewell message from Tim Cook as he gets ready to step down from his role as CEO. "On a personal note, some of the greatest highlights of my time as CEO have been events like this," Cook said.
Recent exchange of missiles between Iran and Israel highlights diverging views between US president and Israeli PM The latest eruption of hostilities between Iran and Israel appears to have been contained for now after Donald Trump insisted he called “all the shots” in the Middle East, but in a dangerously fragile region Benjamin Netanyahu has again shown he is ready to take shots of his own. The ...
Recent exchange of missiles between Iran and Israel highlights diverging views between US president and Israeli PM The latest eruption of hostilities between Iran and Israel appears to have been contained for now after Donald Trump insisted he called “all the shots” in the Middle East, but in a dangerously fragile region Benjamin Netanyahu has again shown he is ready to take shots of his own. The exchange of missiles on Sunday and Monday was ample demonstration of the inherent instability of the current limbo between war and peace, but it also shone a bright light on the complex and conflicted relationship between the US president and the Israeli prime minister, frenemies who could determine the fate of the current ceasefire. Continue reading...
sharply_done/E+ via Getty Images ,Devon Energy ( DVN ) up 1.8% in Monday's trading, rising with most oil and gas producers alongside crude oil prices, as J.P. Morgan adds coverage with an Overweight rating and $62 year-end price target following a period of restriction associated with the Coterra merger . Since the Conterra deal was announced earlier this year, Devon ( DVN ) shares have lagged lar...
sharply_done/E+ via Getty Images ,Devon Energy ( DVN ) up 1.8% in Monday's trading, rising with most oil and gas producers alongside crude oil prices, as J.P. Morgan adds coverage with an Overweight rating and $62 year-end price target following a period of restriction associated with the Coterra merger . Since the Conterra deal was announced earlier this year, Devon ( DVN ) shares have lagged large-cap E&P peers by ~9%, which JPM analyst Arun Jayaram says likely reflected some risk arbitrage pressure before the transaction's close, the lack of pro forma guidance, and some uncertainty associated with the go-forward portfolio, as well as some sticker shock associated with the recent U.S. federal lease sale. Jayaram thinks Devon ( DVN ) trades at an attractive entry point given the compelling absolute and relative valuation proposition, upside synergy capture opportunities, and potential for a looming portfolio high-grading process to unlock value, as well as provide currency for an aggressive buyback program given the dislocated valuation of the stock. Devon ( DVN ) has an outstanding acreage position in the “core of the core” of the Delaware Basin, Bakken, and Eagle Ford shale plays, with optionality to the STACK and Powder River Basin plays, the analyst says, believing the company's core franchise assets have the potential to provide a large inventory of lower-risk, high rate-of-return development drilling opportunities. More on Devon Energy Devon Energy: Stone Ridge Expresses Interest In The Marcellus Business (Rating Upgrade) Devon Energy: A New Era Begins, And The Market Still Undervalues It Devon Energy: Still Cheap With FQ2'26 & H2'26 Commodity Tailwinds - Reiterate Buy
"If you're grabbing a bite with friends and point your iPhone at the bill, then [you can] select what you ordered to split the tab with Apple Cash," said Apple VP of Software Sebastien Marineau-Mes.
"If you're grabbing a bite with friends and point your iPhone at the bill, then [you can] select what you ordered to split the tab with Apple Cash," said Apple VP of Software Sebastien Marineau-Mes.
Heather Conley, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute joined discuss the recent escalation in Iran as well as the development in the Ukraine war. She said that despite Ukraine's military wins, she expects Putin to keep the war going at great cost. (Source: Bloomberg)
Heather Conley, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute joined discuss the recent escalation in Iran as well as the development in the Ukraine war. She said that despite Ukraine's military wins, she expects Putin to keep the war going at great cost. (Source: Bloomberg)
Gilnature/iStock via Getty Images By Jim Iuorio It wasn’t long ago that the loudest concern surrounding tech was valuation. Multiples were stretched. Positioning was crowded. The trade looked over-owned. So when U.S. equity markets hit their 2026 lows on March 30 – with the Nasdaq down roughly 14% and the S&P 500 off about 10% – conventional wisdom said tech would trail the recovery. However, the ...
Gilnature/iStock via Getty Images By Jim Iuorio It wasn’t long ago that the loudest concern surrounding tech was valuation. Multiples were stretched. Positioning was crowded. The trade looked over-owned. So when U.S. equity markets hit their 2026 lows on March 30 – with the Nasdaq down roughly 14% and the S&P 500 off about 10% – conventional wisdom said tech would trail the recovery. However, the Nasdaq went on to surge more than 19% off those lows. The S&P recovered 13%, and the Russell rallied 15%. The selloff had a seemingly straightforward story behind it. Iran’s conflict disrupted supply through the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices sharply higher at precisely the moment the labor market appeared to be softening, potentially complicating the Fed’s rate path. Whispers of 1970s-style stagflation started circulating. Slowing growth plus sticky inflation is typically a challenging combination for equities, and investors moved accordingly. What happened over the following weeks rewrote that story almost entirely and, in doing so, raised a more fundamental question about how markets allocate capital during a shock. Three Reasons Tech Has Recovered The first part of the story involves a shift in macroeconomic signals. The April 3 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) nonfarm payrolls report was exceptionally strong, immediately casting doubt on the narrative that the economy was stalling. Markets recalibrated quickly – if growth was holding up, then elevated oil prices represented an inflation problem, not a stagflation problem. Inflation is bad, but inflation accompanied by positive growth is considerably less dangerous than inflation paired with contraction. The second part of the story was more mechanical. The stock market correction had pushed prices materially lower while earnings and forward earnings estimates continued moving higher. In other words, multiples compressed quickly. Large-cap tech suddenly looked much more reasonable from a valuation standpoint. This...