_ Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing’s first trip to India since being sworn in as president signals New Delhi’s recognition of the strongman’s political status as it seeks to counter mounting Chinese influence, according to analysts. The five-day visit, which began on Saturday at the personal invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is aimed at strengthening ties with one of Myanmar’s key regional...
_ Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing’s first trip to India since being sworn in as president signals New Delhi’s recognition of the strongman’s political status as it seeks to counter mounting Chinese influence, according to analysts. The five-day visit, which began on Saturday at the personal invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is aimed at strengthening ties with one of Myanmar’s key regional partners. Despite Western sanctions imposed after the February 2021 coup, India has maintained...
Teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi wins a car for his performances in the Indian Premier League - but the 15-year-old will have to wait three years to drive it.
Teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi wins a car for his performances in the Indian Premier League - but the 15-year-old will have to wait three years to drive it.
President Donald Trump promised to eliminate taxes on Social Security. And although he did not change the tax rules directly related to benefits, he did introduce a tax deduction that means many retirees don't pay tax on their retirement checks. The president also has not made any direct moves to cut Social Security, which was another of his campaign promises. However, he has made his mark on Soci...
President Donald Trump promised to eliminate taxes on Social Security. And although he did not change the tax rules directly related to benefits, he did introduce a tax deduction that means many retirees don't pay tax on their retirement checks. The president also has not made any direct moves to cut Social Security, which was another of his campaign promises. However, he has made his mark on Social Security in important ways that could have a lasting impact on the program. Here are three ways that the Trump administration has begun reshaping Social Security since taking office. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Investors panicked when the U.S. attacked Iran in late February. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) fell nearly 8% over the following month as missiles and drones disrupted shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, causing the largest oil supply disruption in history. However, investors' anxiety eased when President Trump struck a more diplomatic tone in late March, and the ceasefire announced in ...
Investors panicked when the U.S. attacked Iran in late February. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) fell nearly 8% over the following month as missiles and drones disrupted shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, causing the largest oil supply disruption in history. However, investors' anxiety eased when President Trump struck a more diplomatic tone in late March, and the ceasefire announced in early April cemented the rebound. Over the eight-week period that ended May 22, the S&P 500 advanced 17.3%, the second-best eight-week rally in history. The stock market maintained its momentum last week. The S&P 500 has now climbed 19% since March 27 and closed higher in nine straight weeks, its longest win streak since 2023. And history says the index is likely to maintain its upward trajectory during the next year. Continue reading
Henrik Sorensen/DigitalVision via Getty Images Thesis We were quite excited when the Brookmont Catastrophic Bond ETF ( ILS ) came out in April 2025, because the catastrophe bond market had been closed for retail investors since its inception. While institutional investors could always access it via dedicated mutual funds or hedge funds, retail investors never had an accessible instrument to take a...
Henrik Sorensen/DigitalVision via Getty Images Thesis We were quite excited when the Brookmont Catastrophic Bond ETF ( ILS ) came out in April 2025, because the catastrophe bond market had been closed for retail investors since its inception. While institutional investors could always access it via dedicated mutual funds or hedge funds, retail investors never had an accessible instrument to take a position in it. We are always happy when we see institutional strategies and asset classes packaged for retail-friendly vehicles. As the name suggests, ILS is an exchange traded fund, with the manager surmounting issues around cat bond liquidity via holding a high cash balance in the fund (roughly 7% cash balance currently). This simply means that in the daily creation and retirement of units, the fund does not need to buy and sell significant amounts of actual ILS bonds but can use that cash buffer to a large extent. Not a bad way to overcome what many had called a massive flaw in coming up with an ILS fund. In today's article we are going to revisit ILS after a year of existence, and highlight what we like about the fund and what we do not like about the fund. Furthermore we are going to tell investors why we are downgrading this name to 'Hold' from our prior 'Buy' rating. Current composition Investors can find the latest composition on the fund's website , and it currently looks like this: Holdings (Fund Website) There are over 102 individual bonds currently in the fund holdings, and the perils are diversified: Perils (Fund Website) Remember that for a fund like ILS, it is important to ensure diversification in the portfolio. If the entire fund was in Florida Windstorm risk (FL WS), then a big enough hurricane could wipe out the entire fund. As an investor in this name you want to see diversification in the risks for the fund. The fund manager is not really very forthcoming regarding parsing out the holdings details, but it does provide the following details: WA portfol...
Tim Robberts/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment thesis Over the past two months, the price of Harmonic Inc. ( HLIT ) shares has surged, as illustrated in this one-year price chart: Data by YCharts Behind these surges is the increasing likelihood its Video business will be sold, and it will become a pure-play broadband company. At the same time, though, there is concern about the share price...
Tim Robberts/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment thesis Over the past two months, the price of Harmonic Inc. ( HLIT ) shares has surged, as illustrated in this one-year price chart: Data by YCharts Behind these surges is the increasing likelihood its Video business will be sold, and it will become a pure-play broadband company. At the same time, though, there is concern about the share price and target prices. As a result, I maintain my Hold rating. About Harmonic The company described itself in the 10-K for 2025 as a "leading global provider of broadband access solutions that enable broadband operators to more efficiently and effectively deploy high-speed internet for data, voice and video services for their customers." In previous years, though, it also included a video business, with which it was not satisfied. In October 2023, it began a strategic review, one that came to a temporary halt in April 2024. Then, in December 2025, it announced it had reached a deal with MediaKind to sell the Video business for $145 million in cash. And, as explained below, it completed most of the remaining steps in March 2026; it expects to finalize the deal in this second quarter of 2026. Harmonic management expects the divestiture to streamline its operations and to position it as a more profitable and faster growing business. The profitability potential comes out of broadband's higher margins. Broadband is software intensive, unlike the Video business that is hardware oriented. Hardware, as in the Video segment, is capital intensive, has low margins, and requires substantial manufacturing and inventory management. It may have high startup costs (R&D, for example) but has low variable costs, produces recurring sales at low cost, and is scalable. As a broadband company, Harmonic can scale up at a relatively low cost. Pre-Q1 earnings expectations The pre-earnings price growth began on March 31, when the stock registered a 1.47% increase. That is unremarkable by itself; howeve...