He launched a guitar band just as the world was moving on. But they still went stratospheric. Fray talks about uniting Manchester after the attacks – and writing his first single on a Fred Perry comp slip Manchester has yet to erect a structure that hometown boys Courteeners cannot sell out. But tonight, a stadium band is squeezed into the narrowest of venues. At a heaving Night & Day cafe, disbel...
He launched a guitar band just as the world was moving on. But they still went stratospheric. Fray talks about uniting Manchester after the attacks – and writing his first single on a Fred Perry comp slip Manchester has yet to erect a structure that hometown boys Courteeners cannot sell out. But tonight, a stadium band is squeezed into the narrowest of venues. At a heaving Night & Day cafe, disbelieving fans snap photos of their entry wristbands to a rare intimate show in honour of a new greatest hits collection. “Twenty years,” marvels frontman Liam Fray, contemplating his band’s lifespan. “You don’t get rid of us that easily.” For most of the audience there has barely been a Manchester without them. Charlotte, 18, has seen Courteeners at their enormous Heaton Park shows. “All my friends like them,” she says. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham tells me he became a fan through his son. Paul, 56, has seen them more than 100 times. “There’s not many actual bands any more,” he says, which seems key to their appeal. Continue reading...
George Robertson says diplomatic tone from White House is at ‘historic low’ and two allies are likely to keep diverging UK politics live – latest updates Britain’s high military dependence on the US is “no longer tenable” and the UK has to become increasingly independent of the special relationship with Washington, a former Nato chief has said. George Robertson, who last week accused British leade...
George Robertson says diplomatic tone from White House is at ‘historic low’ and two allies are likely to keep diverging UK politics live – latest updates Britain’s high military dependence on the US is “no longer tenable” and the UK has to become increasingly independent of the special relationship with Washington, a former Nato chief has said. George Robertson, who last week accused British leaders of a “corrosive complacency” towards defence, said on Wednesday that the traditional allies were diverging over values – and that even after Donald Trump leaves the White House, the separation was likely to continue. Continue reading...
Media Castle/iStock via Getty Images This is Part 2 of a 3 part series on the silver market. Part 1 of the series is available on Seeking Alpha as: Silver Investment Asset : Altered Market Reality and the Silver Elephant . I am using the parable of the 5 wise men and the elephant to describe the journey into uncovering the big picture of the silver market. Feeling just a single part of the elephan...
Media Castle/iStock via Getty Images This is Part 2 of a 3 part series on the silver market. Part 1 of the series is available on Seeking Alpha as: Silver Investment Asset : Altered Market Reality and the Silver Elephant . I am using the parable of the 5 wise men and the elephant to describe the journey into uncovering the big picture of the silver market. Feeling just a single part of the elephant, each blind man describes only that which he feels. It leaves each blind man with an incorrect and incomplete picture of the elephant. The big picture can only be appreciated when all major facets of the silver elephant are revealed. The standing of silver in industry, the unique and unsurpassed material characteristics of silver, the history of silver pricing, silver's standing as commodity and investment, cost accounting in silver's major applications, the supply/demand deficit in the silver market, and silver use in solar (PVs) as the first industrial application market under stress, are the facets of the silver elephant discussed in Part 1 of the series. We continue the journey of discovery by following the research evidence in this Part 2, and proceed with Electric Vehicles ("EVs") as the next industrial application market under stress. Silver Demand Categories Under Stress. Silver in Electric Vehicles (“EVs”) including Solid State Battery (“SSB”) Deployment The discussion around solar in Part 1 was a reminder of the pitfalls of predicting silver demand in a fast growing but innovative silver-using industry. The EV industry certainly meets that description, likely even more dynamic in both growth and innovation. Let’s kick off this investigation researching growth in EVs by units sales and by sales value. EV Unit and Value Sales as reported by the International Energy Agency (“IEA”): IEA IEA It is crystal clear that the EV market is booming in sales units and sales value, but how does that impact silver demand? The discussion in Part 1 on the relative use and cost of...
tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. ( HTZ ) has had a wild ride since pandemic days. The company was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020, but made a strong comeback a year later with the help of creditors. This strong comeback, however, proved to be short-lived. Structural problems facing Hertz and the broader car rental sector have taken center...
tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. ( HTZ ) has had a wild ride since pandemic days. The company was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020, but made a strong comeback a year later with the help of creditors. This strong comeback, however, proved to be short-lived. Structural problems facing Hertz and the broader car rental sector have taken center stage in the past couple of years. Hertz has reported YoY declines in revenue in each of the past 2 years. The company is still loss-making. And bondholders won a court case in 2024, forcing Hertz to pay accrued interest despite being waived off by the bankruptcy court a couple of years earlier. Amid continued challenges, Hertz stock has surged by ~85% since March 12. As I discuss below, these gains have mostly come on the back of a short squeeze that has taken short-sellers for a wild ride in the past month. Despite the growing enthusiasm for Hertz stock among retail investors, I believe long-term-oriented growth investors should avoid Hertz for a few reasons. Understanding The Short Squeeze Hertz entered April with the perfect setup for a short squeeze, with the short interest hovering around 21% of the float. As illustrated below, days to cover stood at just 9 days, so any uptick in the stock price was meant to send short sellers scrambling to cover their positions. This is exactly what happened. Exhibit 1: Hertz short interest overview as of March 31 MarketBeat Not just Hertz but its closest peer Avis Budget Group ( CAR ) has also had an unbelievable run in the past ~6 weeks, with the stock up more than 4x. For a short squeeze to work perfectly, you need a fundamental catalyst as well. At least that's what I believe in based on a study of short squeezes in the past 5 years or so. For Hertz, the fundamental catalyst came in the form of decent Q4 numbers and a surprisingly positive guidance for Q1 (revenue projected to grow in mid single digits). The company highlighted ...
BROOMFIELD, Colo., April 22, 2026--Exabeam, the leader in behavior intelligence for the agentic enterprise, today announced new Exabeam Agent Behavior Analytics (ABA) capabilities for agents built with Google Cloud’s Agent Development Kit (ADK) and an integration framework with Google Agent Gateway, establishing Exabeam at the forefront of securing enterprises as they adopt agentic workflows. This...
BROOMFIELD, Colo., April 22, 2026--Exabeam, the leader in behavior intelligence for the agentic enterprise, today announced new Exabeam Agent Behavior Analytics (ABA) capabilities for agents built with Google Cloud’s Agent Development Kit (ADK) and an integration framework with Google Agent Gateway, establishing Exabeam at the forefront of securing enterprises as they adopt agentic workflows. This update extends Exabeam ABA across the Google agent ecosystem, including Gemini Enterprise, custom-b
wildpixel Micron Technology ( MU ) is on board with a proposed law making its way through the halls of Congress that intends to tighten semiconductor manufacturing equipment exports by U.S. allies to China, according to Reuters. The legislation, known as the MATCH Act, or Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware , intends to strengthen national security by closing gaps in export c...
wildpixel Micron Technology ( MU ) is on board with a proposed law making its way through the halls of Congress that intends to tighten semiconductor manufacturing equipment exports by U.S. allies to China, according to Reuters. The legislation, known as the MATCH Act, or Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware , intends to strengthen national security by closing gaps in export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment by U.S. allies such as the Netherlands-based ASML ( ASML ). A U.S. House of Representatives panel began a session on Wednesday to vote on the bipartisan bill. Micron has told lawmakers the U.S. needs to do more to inhibit the development of China's memory market, according to the report , citing people familiar with the issue. The memory maker has reportedly engaged with lawmakers throughout the drafting process. The MATCH Act specifically targets China's largest fabs, such as those run by ChangXin Memory Technologies, Hua Hong, Huawei, Semiconductor Manufacturing International, and Yangtze Memory Technologies, including all subsidiaries and affiliates. "If ASML was restricted from selling DUV immersion but not DUV dry tools into China, that would limit the ability of Chinese chipmakers to build out new production lines in their fabs," said Citi analyst Andrew Gardiner. "This bill proposes extending and coordinating U.S. export restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment to allied partners," according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies . "The bill's primary targets are leading lithography and equipment suppliers, such as Dutch company ASML, as well as Japanese companies Nikon and Canon." "While the MATCH Act underscores a growing bipartisan effort in Washington to curb Chinese advanced technology capabilities, the bill's breadth and its diplomatic mechanics introduce serious questions for European allies and U.S. transatlantic relationships," the center added. The MATCH Act is one of several propo...
wildpixel Micron Technology ( MU ) is on board with a proposed law making its way through the halls of Congress that intends to tighten semiconductor manufacturing equipment exports by U.S. allies to China, according to Reuters. The legislation, known as the MATCH Act, or Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware , intends to strengthen national security by closing gaps in export c...
wildpixel Micron Technology ( MU ) is on board with a proposed law making its way through the halls of Congress that intends to tighten semiconductor manufacturing equipment exports by U.S. allies to China, according to Reuters. The legislation, known as the MATCH Act, or Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware , intends to strengthen national security by closing gaps in export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment by U.S. allies such as the Netherlands-based ASML ( ASML ). A U.S. House of Representatives panel began a session on Wednesday to vote on the bipartisan bill. Micron has told lawmakers the U.S. needs to do more to inhibit the development of China's memory market, according to the report , citing people familiar with the issue. The memory maker has reportedly engaged with lawmakers throughout the drafting process. The MATCH Act specifically targets China's largest fabs, such as those run by ChangXin Memory Technologies, Hua Hong, Huawei, Semiconductor Manufacturing International, and Yangtze Memory Technologies, including all subsidiaries and affiliates. "If ASML was restricted from selling DUV immersion but not DUV dry tools into China, that would limit the ability of Chinese chipmakers to build out new production lines in their fabs," said Citi analyst Andrew Gardiner. "This bill proposes extending and coordinating U.S. export restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment to allied partners," according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies . "The bill's primary targets are leading lithography and equipment suppliers, such as Dutch company ASML, as well as Japanese companies Nikon and Canon." "While the MATCH Act underscores a growing bipartisan effort in Washington to curb Chinese advanced technology capabilities, the bill's breadth and its diplomatic mechanics introduce serious questions for European allies and U.S. transatlantic relationships," the center added. The MATCH Act is one of several propo...
The primary insight within Intuitive Surgical’s (ISRG) Q1 2026 performance is the establishment of a structural "Platform Refresh Wall." Beyond the $2.50 EPS beat and 23% revenue growth, this cycle resets the competitive landscape for the next decade.
The primary insight within Intuitive Surgical’s (ISRG) Q1 2026 performance is the establishment of a structural "Platform Refresh Wall." Beyond the $2.50 EPS beat and 23% revenue growth, this cycle resets the competitive landscape for the next decade.
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction The price of Capital One ( COF )'s Series N 4.25% fixed-rate preferred shares ( COF.PR.N ) is little changed so far in 2026, withstanding pressures from a small increase in 30-year treasury yields ( US30Y ) as well as a double-digit slump in COF common stock. In my previous coverage of COF preferred shares I only rated the Series N preferred...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction The price of Capital One ( COF )'s Series N 4.25% fixed-rate preferred shares ( COF.PR.N ) is little changed so far in 2026, withstanding pressures from a small increase in 30-year treasury yields ( US30Y ) as well as a double-digit slump in COF common stock. In my previous coverage of COF preferred shares I only rated the Series N preferreds a Hold, highlighting their lower yield relative to COF's other preferred series. While the Buy rating on the other four preferred series turned out to be premature, pricing on COF.PR.N is now quite attractive and in line with other COF preferreds, warranting an upgrade of the Series N preferreds to a Buy. The bullish investment thesis behind COF.PR.N can be summarized as: COF preferred shares remain well-covered both from a net income (29.5x) and common equity market capitalization (23.6x) perspective. The relative safety is further amplified by the sizable 35% book value discount offered by the Series N preferreds. I estimate a circa 10% total return for COF.PR.N investors with a H2 2027/H1 2028 investment horizon, principally driven by current income complemented by capital gains. Preferred Dividend Coverage In Q1 2026 COF paid $73 million in preferred dividends . Relative to the $2.15 billion of net income before preferred distributions, we observe that preferred dividends enjoy a robust 29.5x coverage by net income. This high coverage is in line with COF's financial results track record , with preferred dividends well covered even during adverse financial conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Capital One net income and preferred distributions (Seeking Alpha) COF currently has $5.4 billion in cumulative preferred equity outstanding. Relative to the common equity market capitalization of circa $127 billion, we see that preferred equity is covered roughly 23.6x, again underscoring the relatively high safety of COF preferred shares. To sum up, we see that COF...