Georgia players celebrated championship at White House President shakes hands of men, not women in video Former tennis star Navratilova leads criticism A White House photo celebrating a champion women’s sports team has drawn backlash due to the positioning of Donald Trump and a group of men, who overshadowed the female athletes by lining up in front of them. The University of Georgia women’s tenni...
Georgia players celebrated championship at White House President shakes hands of men, not women in video Former tennis star Navratilova leads criticism A White House photo celebrating a champion women’s sports team has drawn backlash due to the positioning of Donald Trump and a group of men, who overshadowed the female athletes by lining up in front of them. The University of Georgia women’s tennis team was one of several collegiate teams to visit the White House on Wednesday to mark a recent championship win. In a photo shared by press aide Margo Martin, a group of six men, including Donald Trump, took up the front row of a stage setup, with 11 women standing in the background on a riser. Continue reading...
The Cabinet Office permanent secretary’s 100 minutes before the foreign affairs committee will be required viewing UK politics live – latest updates Here we go again. Some of the public may have had enough of the Peter Mandelson scandal by now, and would rather the focus returned to things such as the Iran war and the cost of living crisis. But Westminster has barely started on Mandy. Can’t get en...
The Cabinet Office permanent secretary’s 100 minutes before the foreign affairs committee will be required viewing UK politics live – latest updates Here we go again. Some of the public may have had enough of the Peter Mandelson scandal by now, and would rather the focus returned to things such as the Iran war and the cost of living crisis. But Westminster has barely started on Mandy. Can’t get enough of him. This one will run and run. You can almost hear the groans from No 10. By now it has finally dawned on everyone that Mandelson was never going to be a success as the US ambassador even if he hadn’t maintained close links with Jeffrey Epstein and leaked insider information to a bank. Continue reading...
Tesla stock wavers after earnings call despite strong sales and 'tailwinds' Yahoo Finance Tesla Boosts Spending Plan to $25 Billion in AI, Robotics Push Bloomberg.com Tesla Earnings Live: EV Maker Posts Strong Results, Projects Big Jump in Capital Spending Investopedia Tesla Q1: Trading On Belief, Not Results (NASDAQ:TSLA) Seeking Alpha Tesla boosts spending plan to $25 billion for AI and robots L...
Tesla stock wavers after earnings call despite strong sales and 'tailwinds' Yahoo Finance Tesla Boosts Spending Plan to $25 Billion in AI, Robotics Push Bloomberg.com Tesla Earnings Live: EV Maker Posts Strong Results, Projects Big Jump in Capital Spending Investopedia Tesla Q1: Trading On Belief, Not Results (NASDAQ:TSLA) Seeking Alpha Tesla boosts spending plan to $25 billion for AI and robots Los Angeles Times Here’s what will really matter to Tesla investors when the company reports earnings MarketWatch Earnings call transcript: Tesla beats Q1 2026 EPS forecasts, stock rises Investing.com Tesla increases spending plans as company reports positive free cash flow The Globe and Mail Tesla (TSLA) Bets Big on AI and Robots, but Falling Returns Raise Questions TipRanks
Gary Yeowell Mizuho Securities defended Travel + Leisure ( TNL ) after its sharp post-earnings decline. Analyst Ben Chaiken and his team believe there is a unique opportunity to buy the travel stock on weakness since core operations are trending better than expected. Chaiken pointed out that the trading anxiety is based on commentary on the earnings call regarding a “wobble” in loans that have ori...
Gary Yeowell Mizuho Securities defended Travel + Leisure ( TNL ) after its sharp post-earnings decline. Analyst Ben Chaiken and his team believe there is a unique opportunity to buy the travel stock on weakness since core operations are trending better than expected. Chaiken pointed out that the trading anxiety is based on commentary on the earnings call regarding a “wobble” in loans that have originated in the last several quarters, suggesting deteriorating consumer. In addition, it was noted that Travel + Leisure ( TNL ) beat Q1 results by $10M but did not increase its full-year guidance, which suggests a deceleration in the second half. Chaiken said he follows the logic but thinks the impact is being overstated by the share price move. Shares of Travel + Leisure ( TNL ) are down more than 15% since the earnings report was released. More on Travel+Leisure Travel + Leisure: Delinquency Fears Appear Overdone Travel + Leisure Co. (TNL) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Travel + Leisure: Positive Momentum Continues Travel + Leisure reaffirms 2026 EBITDA of $1.03B-$1.055B while expanding multi-brand VOI mix toward 10% Travel+Leisure Non-GAAP EPS of $1.45 beats by $0.14, revenue of $961M beats by $6.17M
Laurence Berger/iStock via Getty Images Since the conflict in the Middle East began, investors have been using a very simple heuristic for telling whether the S&P 500 would be up or down. One only had to look at oil prices to gauge, directionally, what the S&P 500 was doing on a certain day. That trend (oil up, equities down) broke this week. On April 22, to everyone's surprise, despite the war he...
Laurence Berger/iStock via Getty Images Since the conflict in the Middle East began, investors have been using a very simple heuristic for telling whether the S&P 500 would be up or down. One only had to look at oil prices to gauge, directionally, what the S&P 500 was doing on a certain day. That trend (oil up, equities down) broke this week. On April 22, to everyone's surprise, despite the war headlines and the jump in crude prices, both the technology and energy sectors were in the green. Guidance Terminal | April 22 | Regular trading hours | Market cap weighted returns By the end of April 22, the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLK ) was up 2.2%, and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLE ) was up 1.2%. When stocks rise on negative headlines, the market may be seeing something the rest of us have not caught yet. In this piece, I discuss what that may be. I will also provide an overview of the recent events in the Middle East, which are anything but encouraging. Therefore, the near term may remain volatile. As for me, I remain fully invested in U.S. equities as I prefer to look beyond the near-term headlines. Looking Beyond The War Headlines As I said in many previous articles, it's incredibly easy to get caught up in the tsunami of new headlines coming from the Middle East, similar to what happened last year with the tariffs. I will review the latest developments on the conflict in the next section. Here, I'm mainly trying to make sense of the reasons why (finally), the S&P 500 wasn't down when the energy sector ( XLE ) was up. Seeking Alpha As seen above, the inverse relationship between the two was blatantly obvious until April 22. That day, the XLE was up 1.2%, and the SP500 was up 0.59%. The heuristic that we've all been using since the start of the war was very simple: if oil is up, energy is up, and U.S. equities are down. Seeing the first signs of a decoupling in that relationship is very encouraging. Here are my arguments as...
US Business Confidence Soared In April Amid "Panic, Emergency" Buying Ahead Of Price Spike Despite the recent slide in 'hard' macro data, analysts expected an incremental improvement in the preliminary April S&P Global PMI data this morning. Consensus was right as both Services and Manufacturing surveys signaled an uptick in April US business activity growth recovered slightly in April having slow...
US Business Confidence Soared In April Amid "Panic, Emergency" Buying Ahead Of Price Spike Despite the recent slide in 'hard' macro data, analysts expected an incremental improvement in the preliminary April S&P Global PMI data this morning. Consensus was right as both Services and Manufacturing surveys signaled an uptick in April US business activity growth recovered slightly in April having slowed to near-stagnation in March following the outbreak of war in the Middle East. However, the overall pace of expansion remained subdued, most notably in the services economy where demand faltered. Flash US Services PMI Business Activity Index: 51.3 (March: 49.8). 2-month high. Flash US Manufacturing PMI: 54.0 (March: 52.3). 47-month high . Source: Bloomberg “A rebound in business output growth in April is good news after the near-stagnation seen in March," but, warns Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence : "...over the past three months we have seen the weakest expansion of output recorded since the start of 2024 with the war in the Middle East squarely to blame." The April PMI is broadly consistent with the economy struggling to manage annualized growth in excess of 1% , with the vast service sector acting as the principal drag. "Orders for services ranging from travel and tourism to financial products barely rose as the war caused hesitancy for spending among both household and business customers, with surging prices and the prospect of higher borrowing costs acting as a further deterrent." There was better news from manufacturing : "here an expansion of output and orders could be partly traced to the building of safety stocks, with survey respondents reporting “panic” and “emergency” buying ahead of price hikes and supply shortages in echoes of the problems seen during the pandemic. While there is no prices paid (nor other subcomponents) released in the flash PMI, the market is looking for signs of inflation and margin pressures in...
Fototocam/iStock via Getty Images Genuine Parts Company ( GPC ) reported the company’s Q1 results on the 21 st of April. The automotive and industrial replacement part company reported fairly good results in its Industrial business and North America Automotive, expectedly set back by weakness in International Automotive. The macroeconomic environment is volatile due to surging oil prices, but GPC ...
Fototocam/iStock via Getty Images Genuine Parts Company ( GPC ) reported the company’s Q1 results on the 21 st of April. The automotive and industrial replacement part company reported fairly good results in its Industrial business and North America Automotive, expectedly set back by weakness in International Automotive. The macroeconomic environment is volatile due to surging oil prices, but GPC seems to be managing industry volatility quite well. I initiated the stock at a Hold rating in my previous February article on the stock, titled “ Genuine Parts: Bumpy Q4 In Automotive ”. The stock has since lost -8% of its value, meanwhile the S&P 500 has returned 4%. My Rating History on GPC (Seeking Alpha) GPC Q1 Review: A Good Report in a Shaky Environment GPC’s Q1 results came in nearly in line with market expectations. Sales improved by 6.8% year-on-year to $6.26 billion, even beating Wall Street’s consensus by $100 million. While the adjusted EPS only improved by two cents year-on-year to $1.77, the bottom line figure also beat Wall Street’s stagnant expectations. Under the surface, GPC’s segment performance was more positive than previously, but still a bit mixed. The Industrial segment showed quite a good performance after also ending 2025 on a strong note. Comparable sales grew by 3.9% due to strong momentum in North America, leading total segment sales to grow by 5.2% to $2.32 billion when including a slight boost from currency fluctuations and acquisitions. The segment’s profitability was even better, as segment EBITDA grew by 12.7% to $314 million. The EBITDA margin improved by 90 basis points to 13.6%, reflecting improved pricing power and disciplined cost control. GPC Q1'26 Investor Presentation Macroeconomic conditions have clearly improved, aiding the company – competitor Fastenal Company ( FAST ) also reported great and accelerating sales momentum in the quarter. The U.S. manufacturing PMI has shown very positive readings during the January-March period, i...
Sundry Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction My focus as an investor and an author on this platform is primarily on the tech sector, including data center buildout, powered by growing demand for AI models training and inference. As a result, I have been bullish on a couple of industries that create AI supply chain bottlenecks, and energy is one of them. As a matter of fact, th...
Sundry Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction My focus as an investor and an author on this platform is primarily on the tech sector, including data center buildout, powered by growing demand for AI models training and inference. As a result, I have been bullish on a couple of industries that create AI supply chain bottlenecks, and energy is one of them. As a matter of fact, this industry had started rallying way before I could possibly assume it would start its rapid growth, as a result of the oil crisis related to the Middle East war, and not due to the AI energy consumption. The Strait of Hormuz plays a crucial role in the global oil supply chain, and the fact that the strait remains “closed” even after the ceasefire doesn’t add certainty: Usually, about 20 mb/d of oil, equivalent to 20 percent of daily global oil consumption, flow daily through the strait, of which 15 mb/d is crude oil. Major oil-producing facilities were also shut down as a precaution or as storage ran out or was damaged. Global strategic and commercial inventories, standing at a five-year high of 8 billion barrels, offer only a partial buffer. While Enphase Energy, Inc. ( ENPH ) is focused on solar solutions for households and small businesses, it should also see significant tailwinds as a result of both oil constraints and AI data-center buildout. It hasn’t been a simple couple of years for the company, as they have seen an explosive growth a few years back, powered by the post-pandemic demand for solar in-house solutions, and a favorable policy mix. Before 2023, households were able to get credits for the excessive power they produced and contributed to the grid, but then it was cut substantially, making the whole idea that the U.S. is going to become a solar-only country less and less probable. As a result of these factors, the previous revenue growth for Enphase Energy came to an abrupt end, shrinking since. Data by YCharts However, according to the International Energy...
As investors panic over a lost contract between Super Micro Computer and Oracle, recent supply chain intelligence suggests a much bigger problem exists with its inventory, as slowing business with xAI and other customers weigh on near-term revenue.
As investors panic over a lost contract between Super Micro Computer and Oracle, recent supply chain intelligence suggests a much bigger problem exists with its inventory, as slowing business with xAI and other customers weigh on near-term revenue.