primeimages/E+ via Getty Images Market Review International equities struggled in the first quarter of 2026, shaped by a notable inflection in U.S. monetary policy and diverging central-bank paths elsewhere amid persistent geopolitical risk. The Fed delivered three target rate cuts late last year, citing cooling inflation, a softening labor market, and tighter financial conditions. The Fed in Dece...
primeimages/E+ via Getty Images Market Review International equities struggled in the first quarter of 2026, shaped by a notable inflection in U.S. monetary policy and diverging central-bank paths elsewhere amid persistent geopolitical risk. The Fed delivered three target rate cuts late last year, citing cooling inflation, a softening labor market, and tighter financial conditions. The Fed in December also ended “quantitative tightening,” or the shrinking of its balance sheet. Investors viewed its subsequent balance-sheet guidance—renewed liquidity injections and reinvestment flexibility—as a shift back to quasi-“quantitative easing.” Outside the U.S., monetary policy was less synchronized. The ECB signaled a cautious bias toward further easing as growth softened in the Eurozone and inflation drifted toward target. The BOJ kept its gradual normalization, allowing yields to stay more market-driven while emphasizing patience. In China, policy combined targeted fiscal stimulus with incremental monetary support to stabilize its property market and bolster domestic consumption, boosting investor sentiment toward Chinese and broader EM equities. But geopolitical risks also weighed on sentiment. Ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia/Ukraine reinforced energy security and defense spending globally, while strategic competition around advanced technology and supply chains remained a focal point of trade and industrial policy. These dynamics supported select industrial, technology and infrastructure-related firms, even as headline risk spurred market volatility, which we welcomed. Equity leadership broadened during the quarter. Cyclical sectors tied to financials and industrials benefited from improving liquidity, while growth stocks with strong balance sheets and visible earnings trajectories regained momentum—particularly in IT and select consumer and health care segments. Currency markets were relatively stable. The U.S. dollar’s 7.3% decline on a trade-weighted b...
In trading on Tuesday, shares of Bank of America Corp's Floating Rate Non-Cumulative Preferred Stock, Series 5 (Symbol: BML.PRL) were yielding above the 6% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $1.0941), with shares changing hands as low as $18.17 on the day. Th
In trading on Tuesday, shares of Bank of America Corp's Floating Rate Non-Cumulative Preferred Stock, Series 5 (Symbol: BML.PRL) were yielding above the 6% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $1.0941), with shares changing hands as low as $18.17 on the day. Th
In trading on Tuesday, shares of GLOP's 8.625% SERIES A CUMULATIVE REDEEMABLE PERPETUAL (Symbol: GLOP.PRA) were yielding above the 8.5% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $2.1562), with shares changing hands as low as $25.32 on the day. This compares to an av
In trading on Tuesday, shares of GLOP's 8.625% SERIES A CUMULATIVE REDEEMABLE PERPETUAL (Symbol: GLOP.PRA) were yielding above the 8.5% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $2.1562), with shares changing hands as low as $25.32 on the day. This compares to an av
Google has been chasing real-time translation for years, which it says has been one of its "pioneering machine learning experiments." We've seen numerous demos on stage at Google events in the past, but you needed Google phones, earbuds, or some other specific setup. Last year, Google brought real-time translation to more users in the Translate app, and now it's expanding availability more. With t...
Google has been chasing real-time translation for years, which it says has been one of its "pioneering machine learning experiments." We've seen numerous demos on stage at Google events in the past, but you needed Google phones, earbuds, or some other specific setup. Last year, Google brought real-time translation to more users in the Translate app, and now it's expanding availability more. With the release of Gemini 3.5 Live Translate, you'll have access to instant translation in more places and with lower latency than ever before. The new AI model is part of the version 3.5 family that launched at I/O . Before today, Google had only rolled out the Flash version, but we're expecting a Pro model to drop in the coming weeks. Gemini 3.5 Live Translate is a speech-to-speech model tuned to automatically detect and translate in more than 70 languages. Google says Gemini 3.5 Live Translate is fast enough to keep up with a normal conversation, following just a few seconds behind the speaker while also matching intonation, pacing, and pitch. In short, the voice sounds more like you than a generic robot. The demos, which are all being recorded under controlled conditions, do sound impressive. You won't have to wait long to verify the model's abilities for yourself, though. Read full article Comments
The rapid spread of footage shows how social media is pivotal in enabling far-right agitators to mobilise internationally Filmed at about 10.30pm on Monday night on a Belfast street, bystanders captured the moment when a man, believed to be a Sudanese asylum seeker, wielded a knife over another man he had pinned to the ground. By Tuesday, the clip had become the latest transnational “trigger event...
The rapid spread of footage shows how social media is pivotal in enabling far-right agitators to mobilise internationally Filmed at about 10.30pm on Monday night on a Belfast street, bystanders captured the moment when a man, believed to be a Sudanese asylum seeker, wielded a knife over another man he had pinned to the ground. By Tuesday, the clip had become the latest transnational “trigger event” – in the mould of the Southport killings and the case of the murdered 18-year-old student Henry Nowak – as far-right activists from Britain and beyond seized on it. Continue reading...
On June 9, the Asset Management Association of China released detailed rules on information disclosure for private investment funds, which will take effect on September 1. Photo: VCG China’s asset management regulator has issued finalized information disclosure rules for private investment funds, mandating greater transparency for complex structures like nested products and cross-border investment...
On June 9, the Asset Management Association of China released detailed rules on information disclosure for private investment funds, which will take effect on September 1. Photo: VCG China’s asset management regulator has issued finalized information disclosure rules for private investment funds, mandating greater transparency for complex structures like nested products and cross-border investments. The new framework, taking effect Sept. 1, marks the latest effort by authorities to mitigate risks in the country’s sprawling private fund sector by forcing managers to look through opaque investment layers while streamlining routine reporting obligations.
Theeraphat Uamduang/iStock via Getty Images Elevator Pitch Adobe Inc. ( ADBE ) reports its Q2 results on 11 Jun post-market hours . This is my current thesis on the stock and the key monitorables for the upcoming release: AI features cannibalize some legacy product revenue. Gross margins may remain stable as lower data center costs are offset by pricing pressures. ADBE stock looks undervalued, but...
Theeraphat Uamduang/iStock via Getty Images Elevator Pitch Adobe Inc. ( ADBE ) reports its Q2 results on 11 Jun post-market hours . This is my current thesis on the stock and the key monitorables for the upcoming release: AI features cannibalize some legacy product revenue. Gross margins may remain stable as lower data center costs are offset by pricing pressures. ADBE stock looks undervalued, but it is undershooting required earnings growth. The bulls and the bears seem to be in balance. AI Features May Cannibalize Some Legacy Product Revenue Adobe has been introducing generative AI tools in its feature stack. The problem is this is displacing and cannibalizing some of its traditional products. For example, the Adobe Stock business that provides images and videos not created by AI experienced a steeper decline than management anticipated during Q1 2026: ...our traditional stock business saw a steeper decline than we expected. This shift is playing out more quickly than we had planned for, and our focus remains on giving customers meaningful choice between stock and generative AI as they build their creative and marketing workflows. - CFO Daniel Durn in the Q1 FY26 earnings call . Customers are increasingly relying more on the Adobe Firefly generative AI suite instead. This is a direct cannibalization that led to a 15-16% hit ($70M hit of a total $450M) in the Adobe Stock business. Also, in the last quarter, Adobe cautioned that its freemium web and mobile applications in Express , Firefly, Photoshop , and Premiere will have a near-term impact on ARR. We need to pay close attention to the magnitude of this ARR hit in Q2: Total Adobe ARR ($B) (Company Filings, Hunting Alphas) Overall, I'm penciling in a revenue growth deceleration for the next couple of quarters: Revenues ($M) (Company Filings, Hunting Alphas) Gross Margins May Remain Stable As Lower Data Center Costs Are Offset By Pricing Pressures In Q1, Adobe noted a YoY increase in the cost of subscription revenu...
A customer shops at Handy Market on May 14, 2026 in Burbank, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Inflation numbers out Wednesday are expected to cross another unpleasant threshold as the cost of living continues to climb for U.S. consumers. If the Wall Street consensus is correct, the consumer price index is expected to show inflation running at a 4.2% annual rate off an expected 0.5% month...
A customer shops at Handy Market on May 14, 2026 in Burbank, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Inflation numbers out Wednesday are expected to cross another unpleasant threshold as the cost of living continues to climb for U.S. consumers. If the Wall Street consensus is correct, the consumer price index is expected to show inflation running at a 4.2% annual rate off an expected 0.5% monthly gain in May. That would mark the first time the CPI has passed 4% since May 2023 and would be the highest reading since April of that year. Of course, much of the rise in the headline number, which was at just 2.4% a year ago, can be attributed to the energy surge resulting from the Iran war. However, even core prices, which exclude food and energy, are projected to post a 2.9% annual reading after rising 0.3% in May, according to Dow Jones.the Inflation burst In fact, worries are accelerating that the burst of inflation is broadening , as the jump in oil prices starts to spread through the economy and raise expectations that inflation isn't dissipating anytime soon. "It's not just an oil story, it's a money supply story, and it's increasingly an AI story," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. "So this is a broader inflation problem than just energy, meaning that we probably still have somewhat sticky inflation." Sonders added that "a lot of this skittishness" from investors is about inflation, so "something worse than expected probably doesn't sit well with the equity market." The Trump administration has made the case that inflation will come down quickly once the fighting in the Middle East settles down. However, Sonders advised against counting on that with so much damage already done to supply. "Even if there would be a quick resolution to the war, you probably wouldn't see oil prices come down to prior lows, because there's been so much disruption to production," she said. "That's not something that a switch can just be turned back o...
Alex Sacerdote, founder of Whale Rock Capital, dropped a line on a recent Invest Like the Best episode that stopped listeners cold: “When we were buying Nvidia in 2023, we were paying 4 times earnings. When we bought Tesla in 2019 for the car S-curve, we were paying 5 times earnings. When we were owning ... Prominent Tech Investor: ‘When We Were Buying Nvidia in 2023, We Were Paying 4 Times Earnin...
Alex Sacerdote, founder of Whale Rock Capital, dropped a line on a recent Invest Like the Best episode that stopped listeners cold: “When we were buying Nvidia in 2023, we were paying 4 times earnings. When we bought Tesla in 2019 for the car S-curve, we were paying 5 times earnings. When we were owning ... Prominent Tech Investor: ‘When We Were Buying Nvidia in 2023, We Were Paying 4 Times Earnings’
Fahroni/iStock via Getty Images Headline Fatigue and Fears of Stagflation The conflict in the Middle East is clearly “the story” of the first quarter, but it only became obvious in March. That final month practically felt like a full quarter unto itself. January and February, however, entertained plenty of other narratives across the geopolitical sphere that included Venezuela, Greenland, and Iran...
Fahroni/iStock via Getty Images Headline Fatigue and Fears of Stagflation The conflict in the Middle East is clearly “the story” of the first quarter, but it only became obvious in March. That final month practically felt like a full quarter unto itself. January and February, however, entertained plenty of other narratives across the geopolitical sphere that included Venezuela, Greenland, and Iran. Geopolitics took center stage early in the new year with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3. Venezuela has considerable oil reserves, so market participants had to weigh the prospect for supply disruptions in the short term against potentially greater oil production in the medium to long term. There was also considerable military buildup in the Middle East in January, along with signs from the Trump administration that a more aggressive posture was developing with regards to Iran. Oil markets responded in kind, and front-month futures pricing for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 13.6% in January. Greenland also received considerable attention in January, as the President insisted that the United States needed the territory for national security reasons. Specific tariff threats were made to “facilitate” a peaceful transfer, engendering a less-than-enthusiastic response from multiple corridors across Europe. These tensions initially challenged risk assets, but a “framework of a future deal” regarding Greenland was announced before the end of the month that offered a respite for all parties involved. Little detail was offered regarding this framework, but markets were content to move on. In fact, stocks—using the S&P 500® Index as a proxy—established a new high before the end of January. Broadly upbeat fundamental data and anticipated fiscal stimulus from last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” helped support the broad consensus of solid growth in 2026. February, however, turned market focus toward AI and the potential disruptions that could follo...
Leon O’Leary threw a smoke grenade and Connor Bishop a traffic cone at officers during disturbance in Southampton Two men who threw a smoke grenade and traffic cone at police during the violence in Southampton that followed the sentencing of Henry Nowak’s killer have been jailed. Leon O’Leary, 41, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, was sentenced to three years and one month after throwing a smoke grenad...
Leon O’Leary threw a smoke grenade and Connor Bishop a traffic cone at officers during disturbance in Southampton Two men who threw a smoke grenade and traffic cone at police during the violence in Southampton that followed the sentencing of Henry Nowak’s killer have been jailed. Leon O’Leary, 41, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, was sentenced to three years and one month after throwing a smoke grenade at officers. Continue reading...
Fears grow over anti-immigration protests after asylum seeker charged with attempted murder in Northern Ireland The Sudanese barber shop owner was at his cash register and smiling at the question, “Did he feel safe in Belfast?”, when two men strolling down the street paused at his open doorway and unleashed a sudden, shrieking howl. It ended as abruptly as it began and without saying a word the tw...
Fears grow over anti-immigration protests after asylum seeker charged with attempted murder in Northern Ireland The Sudanese barber shop owner was at his cash register and smiling at the question, “Did he feel safe in Belfast?”, when two men strolling down the street paused at his open doorway and unleashed a sudden, shrieking howl. It ended as abruptly as it began and without saying a word the two men, white, in their 20s, wearing grey tracksuits, resumed their stroll. Continue reading...