Good morning from Melbourne. Today, Fortescue faces questions from China over the quality of its low-grade product, just as the Australian mining giant looks to secure a long-term contract with China’s state-owned iron ore buyer. Elsewhere, elevated inflation expectations , which can bleed through to real inflation, may pressure further action by the Reserve Bank of Australia. In the US, stocks hi...
Good morning from Melbourne. Today, Fortescue faces questions from China over the quality of its low-grade product, just as the Australian mining giant looks to secure a long-term contract with China’s state-owned iron ore buyer. Elsewhere, elevated inflation expectations , which can bleed through to real inflation, may pressure further action by the Reserve Bank of Australia. In the US, stocks hit a new record , even as progress on a US-Iran deal remains unclear.— Rich Henderson , Australian Finance Reporter What’s happening now China’s state-owned iron ore buyer is asking steel mills to quiz Fortescue about its new low-grade product , according to people familiar with the matter, as negotiations over long-term supply hit a rough patch. China Mineral Resources Group Co. has asked steelmakers with significant exposure to Fortescue ore to check with the miner about quality, the people said. Inflation expectations are on the rise , and that’s a sign the Reserve Bank of Australia may have to act stridently to make sure they don’t become entrenched, Ian Harper, an RBA board member, said Tuesday. Most Australian firms expect artificial intelligence to cut up to 20% of jobs within two years, a Mercer survey has found. Speaking on Bloomberg Television’s Australia Ahead, Mercer Workforce Solutions Leader Cynthia Cottrell outlines the potential impact on employment from AI adoption. Click image to play. Australia has increased the minimum wage. The country’s industrial relations umpire raised the national base pay 4.75% — just shy of the RBA’s inflation forecast — to A$1,004.90 ($719.90) a week, or A$26.44 an hour. What happened overnight Gains for tech stocks and fresh optimism Washington and Tehran can secure an accord to end the Iran war helped drive the S&P 500 equity benchmark to a new high on Tuesday. The advance cemented a nine-day run of gains for the US stock market, its best run since May last year. Australian equity futures were slightly higher early Wednesday. Bi...
As of June 2026, the Asian markets have been navigating a complex landscape shaped by geopolitical developments and fluctuating oil prices, with investor sentiment buoyed by optimism surrounding U.S.-Iran negotiations and advancements in artificial intelligence. Amid these conditions, growth companies with high insider ownership in Asia are gaining attention for their potential resilience and alig...
As of June 2026, the Asian markets have been navigating a complex landscape shaped by geopolitical developments and fluctuating oil prices, with investor sentiment buoyed by optimism surrounding U.S.-Iran negotiations and advancements in artificial intelligence. Amid these conditions, growth companies with high insider ownership in Asia are gaining attention for their potential resilience and alignment of interests between management and shareholders.
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) on Tuesday closed up +0.13%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI ) (DIA ) closed up +0.45%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) closed up +0.48%. June E-mini S&P futures (ESM26 ) rose +0.14%, and June E-mini Nasdaq futures...
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) on Tuesday closed up +0.13%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI ) (DIA ) closed up +0.45%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) closed up +0.48%. June E-mini S&P futures (ESM26 ) rose +0.14%, and June E-mini Nasdaq futures...
Ocean Observatories Initiative, $368m network that has provided crucial climate data, latest victim of Trump cuts The Trump administration plans to dismantle a $368m deep-sea observation system that has for more than a decade provided crucial data on ocean systems and climate change. In a notice , the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it had “initiated descoping of the Ocean Observa...
Ocean Observatories Initiative, $368m network that has provided crucial climate data, latest victim of Trump cuts The Trump administration plans to dismantle a $368m deep-sea observation system that has for more than a decade provided crucial data on ocean systems and climate change. In a notice , the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it had “initiated descoping of the Ocean Observatories Initiative” (OOI), a vast ocean observation network comprising more than 900 instruments that collect data on ocean health, including current patterns, climate variability and marine biodiversity. Continue reading...
The retirement conversation usually circles the same handful of questions. How big is the nest egg? When should you claim Social Security? How much can you safely pull out each year without running dry? All of that matters. But there is one decision that shapes everything else and almost never gets equal airtime. The question ... The Retirement Decision That Rarely Gets Discussed
The retirement conversation usually circles the same handful of questions. How big is the nest egg? When should you claim Social Security? How much can you safely pull out each year without running dry? All of that matters. But there is one decision that shapes everything else and almost never gets equal airtime. The question ... The Retirement Decision That Rarely Gets Discussed
RiverNorthPhotography/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Brinker International, Inc. ( EAT ) reported Q3'26 back in late April, which was a decent quarter on the top line with continued same-store sales growth at Chili's. The stock fell anyway and is down roughly 13% since my February piece on the company. At the current valuation of 13.8x forward earnings, I think that's too cheap for a business ...
RiverNorthPhotography/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Brinker International, Inc. ( EAT ) reported Q3'26 back in late April, which was a decent quarter on the top line with continued same-store sales growth at Chili's. The stock fell anyway and is down roughly 13% since my February piece on the company. At the current valuation of 13.8x forward earnings, I think that's too cheap for a business where traffic trends are improving, the cost structure is improving, and the unit growth runway is just starting to become visible. A Look At Q3'26 Results When looking at the latest quarterly results for Brinker International, the company delivered revenue growth of 3.2% at $1.47 billion , coming in essentially in line with estimates. EPS of $2.90 increased 9.0% from last year and surpassed analyst expectations by 4 cents. Growth was driven by Chili's same-store sales growth of 4.0%, which was significant as this marked the 20th consecutive quarter of positive comps. Management noted on the earnings call that they've been outperforming the casual dining industry by 420bps. Investor Presentation When breaking down Chili's 4% comp, pricing contributed 4.6%, mix 0.6%, and traffic was -1.2%. The detractors came from January weather headwinds and a holiday calendar shift that negatively impacted Chili's sales and traffic by 2.1% during the quarter. Strip that out, and the underlying traffic picture in February and March was considerably healthier. On the conference call that followed the quarter, management confirmed that Chili's comparable restaurant sales grew 5.9% in both February and March with positive traffic. So that Q3 headline underrepresents the momentum. Company Filings At Brinker International's other big brand, Maggiano's, declined 4.6%, and this continues to be the weaker part of the portfolio. There's been some sequential stabilization, and management is working through a menu refresh, but Maggiano's is not a near-term earnings driver, so I wouldn't model much fr...
NVIDIA and Microsoft are back in the headlines following the unveiling of a recent 'superchip', namely RTX Spark, which is designed to completely reinvent Windows PCs for the AI era.
NVIDIA and Microsoft are back in the headlines following the unveiling of a recent 'superchip', namely RTX Spark, which is designed to completely reinvent Windows PCs for the AI era.
Bjoern Wylezich/iStock via Getty Images I wanted to revisit Daqo New Energy Corp. ( DQ ), which is one of my holdings, since the performance once again began to go the other way, and give some comments on why I think this is going to take a bit longer and why I am lowering my rating to a Hold and will be looking to add more later. Patience is required here. Since the last article , the company’s s...
Bjoern Wylezich/iStock via Getty Images I wanted to revisit Daqo New Energy Corp. ( DQ ), which is one of my holdings, since the performance once again began to go the other way, and give some comments on why I think this is going to take a bit longer and why I am lowering my rating to a Hold and will be looking to add more later. Patience is required here. Since the last article , the company’s share price is down around 28% compared to the S&P 500’s ( SPY ) 17% increase. The company is a lot more attractive now, but I will add closer to $15 a share and lower. Recent Financial Performance Revenues plummeted by 78.5% for Q1 ’26 to $26.7m, which threw analysts off guard, as the headline number missed by $182.68m. This was a deliberate move by the company because it doesn’t want to sell below cost, as that is what is happening right now. The company still produced 43,402 MT in the latest quarter, which was up from 42,181 MT in Q1 ’25; however, the company only sold 4,482MT vs. 38,167 MT in Q4 ’25. Total production cost increased to $5.95/kg, with the cash cost increasing to $4.59/kg, while the average selling price increased by 13 cents to $5.96/kg. At this point, they are not gaining or losing anything, but they decided to halt the sales of polysilicon and absorb the costs that come with the associated production. The company adhered to China’s self-regulation rules and refused to sell below its cost of production to avoid dumping into the overly saturated market and making it even worse. In the past, the company was still selling at a price that was below its production costs, to an extent, but this quarter marked a massive reduction in sales volume. The company still held its utilization rate at around 57%, which was well above the utilization rate of the industry, which was 39%. In terms of profitability, or lack thereof, gross margins went down to (521.5%), with a loss from operations coming in at ($150.8m). Net loss came in at ($88.4m), and an adjusted loss per ...
Polymarket is now flashing a sharp warning: there is nearly a 50% probability that Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) could fall below $50K by year-end. The concern is already visible in price action. Bitcoin recently slipped to $66.43K, dropping over 6% in just 24 hours and nearly 14% in the past month. At the same time, the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) gained about +5.26%, showing a clear divergence between equities and ...
Polymarket is now flashing a sharp warning: there is nearly a 50% probability that Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) could fall below $50K by year-end. The concern is already visible in price action. Bitcoin recently slipped to $66.43K, dropping over 6% in just 24 hours and nearly 14% in the past month. At the same time, the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) gained about +5.26%, showing a clear divergence between equities and crypto risk appetite. The below chart tells what happened with Bitcoin in one month. Bitcoin price crash one-month chart (TradingView) At the start of May, the crypto asset was trading near ~$77K and even spiked above ~$81K, but the rally failed to hold. Since mid-May, the structure has turned bearish with consistent lower highs and lower lows—a classic sign that sellers are dominating. Momentum indicators are fully aligned with the downtrend. MACD remains deeply negative with widening separation, showing strong downward momentum. RSI has fallen near 22, entering oversold territory—meaning short-term bounce risk exists, but the trend is still weak. Volume surged during the decline, confirming that the move was backed by aggressive selling rather than a lack of buyers. Adding to the pressure, Bitcoin liquidations over the past 24 hours reached 799.82M, highlighting the scale of forced position closures and panic across the market. Now the market is trapped between two narratives: an oversold bounce or continuation toward the feared $50K liquidity zone. More on Bitcoin USD, Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF Bitcoin Breaks Below $70,000 As Sell-Off Continues As Asset Managers Exit Crypto, The Music May Be Stopping For Many Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin Drops Below $76,000 And Enters Correction Phase From committee to calendar: “Clarity Act” moves closer to Senate vote; details here Bitcoin hit by largest 2026 outflow; crypto weekly ETF report under pressure
Patients with knee arthritis who took medications for at least three years at reduced risk of needing surgery Taking weight-loss drugs for at least three years could prevent thousands of knee replacements a year, research suggests. Globally, more than 500 million people have osteoarthritis. Knee arthritis is the most common form, affecting about 14 million people in the US and more than 5 million ...
Patients with knee arthritis who took medications for at least three years at reduced risk of needing surgery Taking weight-loss drugs for at least three years could prevent thousands of knee replacements a year, research suggests. Globally, more than 500 million people have osteoarthritis. Knee arthritis is the most common form, affecting about 14 million people in the US and more than 5 million in the UK . Many will require knee surgery. In the UK more than 120,000 knee replacements are carried out every year. Continue reading...
For over 25 years, Bill Gates, primarily through the Gates Foundation Trust, has been giving away an increasing share of the wealth created from his founding and scaling up of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) into one of the world's leading tech companies. Gates' foundation hasn't kept its $31.6 billion endowment entirely in Microsoft shares. In fact, after decades of slowly selling off its position, the ...
For over 25 years, Bill Gates, primarily through the Gates Foundation Trust, has been giving away an increasing share of the wealth created from his founding and scaling up of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) into one of the world's leading tech companies. Gates' foundation hasn't kept its $31.6 billion endowment entirely in Microsoft shares. In fact, after decades of slowly selling off its position, the Gates Foundation sold off the last of it during the first quarter of this year, according to the company's latest 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You have likely heard of the fund's top holdings, which include Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) , WM (NYSE: WM) , and Canadian National Railway (NYSE: CNI) , but alongside these high-profile stocks are a few under-the-radar names. Continue reading
The global AI trade has turned South Korea and Taiwan into Asia’s top two stock markets this year. Yet for foreign investors, the region’s most compelling destination lies elsewhere: Japan. Overseas investors have sold nearly $70 billion of Korean shares this year, while flows into Taiwanese equities have also flipped negative, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By contrast, Japan had attrac...
The global AI trade has turned South Korea and Taiwan into Asia’s top two stock markets this year. Yet for foreign investors, the region’s most compelling destination lies elsewhere: Japan. Overseas investors have sold nearly $70 billion of Korean shares this year, while flows into Taiwanese equities have also flipped negative, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By contrast, Japan had attracted $73.6 billion of inflows as of May 22. Japan also emerged as the favorite Asian stock market in a Bank of America fund manager survey conducted May 8-14. The contrast shows global investors’ growing preference for the Japanese market’s structural advantages, including its depth and diversity, as well as the country’s corporate governance reforms. Their retreat from Korea and Taiwan also raises fresh questions about the durability of a blistering AI rally concentrated on a few chipmakers and accelerated by a rapid buildup of financial leverage. “Japan is the most investable Asia market after all, as it’s much bigger and broader,” said Chauwei Yak , chief executive officer at hedge fund GAO Capital in Singapore. “Even though the Korea market has done better, it’s really like two stocks there.” Yak was referring to Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc., which together make up more than half of the total weightings of Korea’s benchmark Kospi index. Similarly, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. accounts for nearly 42% of the Taiex gauge. Meanwhile, the weightings of Japan’s Topix index are so spread out that its top three constituents Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, SoftBank Group Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. each accounts for around 3%. While financial firms have been the outperformers in Japan this year, the country’s technology companies also have benefited as the popular AI trade broadened. Among the highlights are Taiyo Yuden and Murata Manufacturing Co. , which dominate supply of a key product used for constructing AI data centers. Both have seen their shares a...
SimonSkafar/E+ via Getty Images Investment Thesis How much return do you expect from investing in Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. ( STRL )? What's the minimum you'd expect? This article makes a bold assumption. Your minimum required rate of return is 10%. Here's the deal. Every cash-generating asset has an intrinsic value. A bond that pays $100 has an intrinsic value of $2000 for a person whose mini...
SimonSkafar/E+ via Getty Images Investment Thesis How much return do you expect from investing in Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. ( STRL )? What's the minimum you'd expect? This article makes a bold assumption. Your minimum required rate of return is 10%. Here's the deal. Every cash-generating asset has an intrinsic value. A bond that pays $100 has an intrinsic value of $2000 for a person whose minimum required rate of return is 5% and $1000 for a second investor asking for 10%. In the trailing twelve months, STRL generated $14.5/share in FCF. If this were a bond, a reasonable investor requiring a 10% return would value it at $145 per share. Its price today is $860, after nearly tripling this year. Part of this premium stems from STRL's expected growth. This article tries to model this growth to determine whether, at current prices and projected cash flow growth, investors can realize at least a 10% return in the coming years. If you take one thing from this piece, it should be that the price you pay for an asset will determine the return, and at ~$860/share, returns on STRL look slim. Company Overview STRL is a leading construction contractor specializing in early site preparation, including land clearing, soil compaction, and excavation. It operates three segments: E-Infrastructure, Transport, and Building Solutions. Last September, it acquired CEC, adding electrical contracting to its portfolio. The AI infrastructure buildout has flipped the company's reality upside down, with unprecedented growth and margin expansion. Revenue per employee increased, as idle time dropped with a higher backlog. Their competitive edge is reputation and scale. They have the financial power to post bonds (insurance if things go wrong) and a reputation to protect, adding another layer of assurance that the company will honor its contracts, often lump-sum or fixed-unit contracts that shift the risk of a project going over budget from the customer to STRL. YCharts The revenue growth rate ...
Personal terms agreed on contract until 2030 Tchouaméni and Wharton among other targets Manchester United have reached an agreement with Atalanta to sign Éderson for an initial €40.5m (£35m), with the midfielder set to be the first signing of Michael Carrick’s tenure as the permanent manager. As reported in April , the 26-year-old was identified by Carrick and Jason Wilcox, the director of footbal...
Personal terms agreed on contract until 2030 Tchouaméni and Wharton among other targets Manchester United have reached an agreement with Atalanta to sign Éderson for an initial €40.5m (£35m), with the midfielder set to be the first signing of Michael Carrick’s tenure as the permanent manager. As reported in April , the 26-year-old was identified by Carrick and Jason Wilcox, the director of football, as a replacement for Casemiro, who has now left the club after the expiry of his contract. Continue reading...
Dems Have A Voter Problem. Gerrymandering Was Never Going To Fix It Authored by Ryan Young via RealClearPolitics , In November 2024, 47% of Virginia voters cast ballots for Republican congressional candidates. Under the map Virginia Democrats tried to push through, those voters would have ended up with exactly one Republican district out of 11 . Going from a 6-5 to a 10-1 split was what Democrats ...
Dems Have A Voter Problem. Gerrymandering Was Never Going To Fix It Authored by Ryan Young via RealClearPolitics , In November 2024, 47% of Virginia voters cast ballots for Republican congressional candidates. Under the map Virginia Democrats tried to push through, those voters would have ended up with exactly one Republican district out of 11 . Going from a 6-5 to a 10-1 split was what Democrats called "restoring fairness." To get it done, Democrats bypassed a bipartisan redistricting commission that Virginia voters had specifically created in 2020 to end partisan map-drawing. They drafted the new map behind closed doors. They passed a constitutional amendment on Oct. 31, 2025, even though early voting for the general election had been underway since Sept. 19 - violating the state constitution's requirement that an intervening election occur between the two legislative votes. They missed the requirement that amendments be posted publicly 90 days before a vote. And they put a ballot question before voters asking whether they wanted to "restore fairness" - language a circuit court judge called "flagrantly misleading." Every step of this process required ignoring a rule or deceiving a voter. That is not a party making a policy argument. That is a party that has decided winning at any cost is more important than following the rules. When the Virginia Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the effort was unconstitutional, Democrats did not stop and reflect. Instead, they doubled down. Rather than accept the Virginia Supreme Court's decision, House Speaker Don Scott and Attorney General Jay Jones filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, riddled with spelling errors and mistakes. U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the ruling "unprecedented and undemocratic." U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said four unelected judges had "cast aside the will of the voters." Most revealingly, the New York Times reported tha...