A ship remains anchored on May 16, 2026 in the Strait of Hormuz near Larak Island, Iran. Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over opening this critical waterway have largely stalled as the countries have rejected each other's proposals to end the war that began when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Majid Saeedi | Getty Images News | Getty Images U.S. Central Command said Tuesda...
A ship remains anchored on May 16, 2026 in the Strait of Hormuz near Larak Island, Iran. Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over opening this critical waterway have largely stalled as the countries have rejected each other's proposals to end the war that began when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Majid Saeedi | Getty Images News | Getty Images U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that it had defeated multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones and launched defensive strikes in response to "attempted attacks" by Iran, the latest in a cycle of attacks that has further threatened a fragile ceasefire. Iran had launched several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors, though none hit their intended targets, according to a statement from CENTCOM. Two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait fell short or broke apart en route, and three missiles launched at Bahrain were immediately intercepted by U.S. and Bahrain air defense forces, it said. The U.S. also shot down three one-way attack drones launched by Iran toward civilian mariners that were transiting regional waters, according to the statement. American forces also conducted self-defense strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island. Three months in, the regional conflict has hardened into a stalemate as the U.S. and Iran have repeatedly failed to turn a fragile ceasefire into a lasting peace deal. Iran is reportedly reviewing an agreement proposed by the Trump administration to pause the war but has not communicated with Washington for a few days, Iranian media reported on Tuesday, while U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations were ongoing. Tensions on the ground have escalated in recent weeks. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has attacked the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters and an airbase and helicopters in the region using missiles and drones, in response to what the IRGC described as a U.S. attack on an a communications tower south of Qeshm Island, Reuters reported ...
Chinese investors are exiting Hong Kong‑listed stocks in record numbers, highlighting waning appetite as mainland AI shares broaden their appeal. Mainland-listed exchange-traded funds focused on Hong Kong equities saw 25 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) in outflows last week, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. That’s the largest weekly total on record, marking a sharp reversal from last year’s stead...
Chinese investors are exiting Hong Kong‑listed stocks in record numbers, highlighting waning appetite as mainland AI shares broaden their appeal. Mainland-listed exchange-traded funds focused on Hong Kong equities saw 25 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) in outflows last week, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. That’s the largest weekly total on record, marking a sharp reversal from last year’s steady inflows. Investors’ patience is wearing thin after four consecutive months of Hong Kong stocks’ underperformance to onshore peers . Flows are increasingly shifting to mainland-listed semiconductors and other AI-linked shares viewed as more immediate beneficiaries of rapid growth, a trend underscored by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Wednesday downgrade of H shares. “We lower H shares to market-weight as the ‘opportunity cost’ for staying overweight has gone up,” Goldman Sachs analysts including Kinger Lau wrote in a note. “China is an integral part of the global AI universe.” Lau and his colleagues cut their earnings-per-share growth forecast for MSCI China Index — home to Hong Kong-listed shares of internet giants like Tencent Holdings Ltd., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Meituan — for 2026 and 2027. They attributed the downgrade to the outsized weight of nine large internet firms in the index’s earnings profile. “Index construction matters,” they wrote. Signs that Chinese internet firms may be reaching an inflection point in AI development are failing to fully restore confidence. Tencent’s H-shares jumped 10% Tuesday after a report that it’s making progress on launching an AI agent in its flagship WeChat service. But southbound investors saw the rally as a chance to exit , selling HK$2.1 billion ($268 million) worth of its shares. Even as the Hang Seng Tech Index climbed 4.7% on Tuesday, led by Tencent, an ETF from ChinaAMC that tracks the gauge saw record withdrawals of about 1 billion yuan that same day. Investors should consider approaching the Hong Kong market through t...
Once one of the most dependent on the Colorado River, San Diego now may have water to sell to states that are seeing their supplies from the shrinking river cut. (Image credit: Annika Hammerschlag)
Once one of the most dependent on the Colorado River, San Diego now may have water to sell to states that are seeing their supplies from the shrinking river cut. (Image credit: Annika Hammerschlag)
It should have taken years, but Ash Koosha made a drama about Iran’s anti-government protests in weeks – and now it’s the first AI-made movie to screen at a major film festival. It could transform indie film-making, claims the director Next week a breakthrough 75-minute drama about the brutal crackdown in Iran on anti-government protesters in January will premiere at the Tribeca film festival in N...
It should have taken years, but Ash Koosha made a drama about Iran’s anti-government protests in weeks – and now it’s the first AI-made movie to screen at a major film festival. It could transform indie film-making, claims the director Next week a breakthrough 75-minute drama about the brutal crackdown in Iran on anti-government protesters in January will premiere at the Tribeca film festival in New York. It is called Dreams of Violets and is based on journalism, video footage and eyewitness accounts. “I would say 80% of it is a recreation of events that actually happened,” says its Iranian-British director Ash Koosha. But Dreams of Violets is a work of fiction, not a documentary: a drama following a group of strangers caught up in the protests, who meet by chance in an alleyway. How on earth has Koosha managed to pull together a drama about the killings in less than six months? The answer, it turns out, is by using artificial intelligence. Every image and character in Dreams of Violets is AI-generated. Koosha says he created the characters by describing their physical appearances, using people he has known in the past as references. It would be too dangerous to base characters on living people in Iran, he says. “Because of the security issue, it would not be safe for the characters to even remotely resemble someone.” Continue reading...
Many EU governments oppose it, but the strategic advantages of swift admission could be immense Russia’s war on Ukraine is now in its fifth year and a ceasefire remains elusive. The US’s attention is divided, limiting external pressure for compromise, while Moscow and Kyiv both still believe they can strengthen their respective negotiating positions through battlefield gains. At some point, howeve...
Many EU governments oppose it, but the strategic advantages of swift admission could be immense Russia’s war on Ukraine is now in its fifth year and a ceasefire remains elusive. The US’s attention is divided, limiting external pressure for compromise, while Moscow and Kyiv both still believe they can strengthen their respective negotiating positions through battlefield gains. At some point, however, a deal will have to be done. The parameters of that deal are already understood by negotiators on all sides. Russia will give up on its original war aims and Ukraine will make de-facto territorial concessions. The US will provide Kyiv with security guarantees to deter future Russian aggression and the EU will provide Ukraine with a membership path as well as help with the country’s postwar reconstruction. Mujtaba Rahman is the managing director for Europe at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm Continue reading...
With the constant risk of being recorded, many young people are afraid of showing enthusiasm – let alone doing something so potentially embarrassing as dancing in public. Is there a way to set themselves free? In a video posted to TikTok, where Katie Whitney has 2.5 million followers, she says to camera, bluntly: “This video is for Cynthia Erivo. If you’re not Cynthia Erivo … you can keep on scrol...
With the constant risk of being recorded, many young people are afraid of showing enthusiasm – let alone doing something so potentially embarrassing as dancing in public. Is there a way to set themselves free? In a video posted to TikTok, where Katie Whitney has 2.5 million followers, she says to camera, bluntly: “This video is for Cynthia Erivo. If you’re not Cynthia Erivo … you can keep on scrolling.” Her demeanour then shifts, her voice becomes softer; more the way a person might talk to their puppy: “Hi Cynthia. Hi baby. Hey baby. How are you?” It’s toe-curling – or, in modern parlance, cringe – to watch. “I feel traumatised,” says one commenter. Others post photos of a stunned-looking Erivo and imagine: “What if the Wicked star were to actually watch this video?” Cringe! Now 25, but having started making this kind of content – “weird skits” – at 20, Whitney is part of what is known online as CringeTok, a subsection of the internet that deals in content designed to make your toes curl. It’s in many ways a reaction to a fear of being “cringe”, which is seeping into all parts of life – from social media to classrooms to the workplace. Continue reading...
From his multi-million pound beer brand to souvenir emporium flogging cufflinks, there’s such a cult of personality around the bumbling berk now that he’s basically morphing into Kim, Khloé et al. Stick to the farming, Jeremy! By now, five series in, the fatal flaw at the heart of Clarkson’s Farm has become unignorable. Ultimately, this is meant to be a show about failure; about an oafish man who ...
From his multi-million pound beer brand to souvenir emporium flogging cufflinks, there’s such a cult of personality around the bumbling berk now that he’s basically morphing into Kim, Khloé et al. Stick to the farming, Jeremy! By now, five series in, the fatal flaw at the heart of Clarkson’s Farm has become unignorable. Ultimately, this is meant to be a show about failure; about an oafish man who wades in to an industry he knows little about and mucks everything up. Except, well, it isn’t that any more, is it? Because in real life, Clarkson’s Farm has become so successful that Clarkson has now essentially colonised the entire Cotswolds in his image. His Farmer’s Dog pub is now such an attraction that it recently had to turn a nearby field into a 360-space car park – the same as a large supermarket – to cope with demand. His Diddly Squat farm shop is a souvenir emporium, catering to anyone who wants to buy branded hats and cufflinks , or to own a jar of honey with Clarkson’s face on it. And this isn’t even mentioning his Hawkstone beer brand, which reported sales of £21.3m in the year to March 2025 and has a stated goal of putting Peroni “out of business”. Clarkson’s Farm is on Prime Video Continue reading...
This is the forum for daily political discussion on Seeking Alpha. A new version is published every market day. Please don't leave political comments on other articles or posts on the site. The comments below are not regulated with the same rigor as the rest of the site, and this is an 'enter at your own risk' area as discussion can get very heated. If you can't stand the heat... you know what the...
This is the forum for daily political discussion on Seeking Alpha. A new version is published every market day. Please don't leave political comments on other articles or posts on the site. The comments below are not regulated with the same rigor as the rest of the site, and this is an 'enter at your own risk' area as discussion can get very heated. If you can't stand the heat... you know what they say... More on Today's Markets: Moderation Guidelines: We remove comments under the following categories: Personal attacks on another user account Anti-Vaxxer or covid related misinformation Stereotyping, prejudiced or racist language about individuals or the topic under discussion. Inciting violence messages, encouraging hate groups and political violence. Regardless of which side of the political divide you find yourself, please be courteous and don't direct abuse at other users. For any issue with regards to comments please email us at : moderation@seekingalpha.com. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
zimmytws/iStock via Getty Images Written by Nick Ackerman, co-produced by Stanford Chemist The Nuveen AMT-Free Municipal Credit Income Fund ( NVG ) had been a fund that traded at a sizeable discount. However, with a sizeable distribution increase, we've been seeing that the discount narrows materially, as we highlighted previously . In fact, the fund has now begun to trade at a premium most recent...
zimmytws/iStock via Getty Images Written by Nick Ackerman, co-produced by Stanford Chemist The Nuveen AMT-Free Municipal Credit Income Fund ( NVG ) had been a fund that traded at a sizeable discount. However, with a sizeable distribution increase, we've been seeing that the discount narrows materially, as we highlighted previously . In fact, the fund has now begun to trade at a premium most recently. Going from a discount to a premium since our late 2024 update helped to drive a good portion of the total returns seen during this period. NVG Performance Since Prior Update (Seeking Alpha) Of course, that doesn't mean that the fund is earning its payout, and a muni fund paying over 7% is a pretty sure sign alone that it isn't. This is then confirmed by a lack of coverage through income alone, which is something to be aware of before diving into the fund. It changes the tax nature that one may expect with a muni fund and becomes more of a bet on interest rates falling. NVG Basics 1-Year Z-score: 0.94 Discount/Premium: 0.16% Distribution Yield: 7.48% Expense Ratio: 1.09% Leverage: 41.71% Managed Assets: $4.66 billion Structure: Perpetual NVG's investment objective is "to provide current income exempt from regular federal income tax and to enhance portfolio value relative to the municipal bond market." They will do this by "investing in tax-exempt municipal bonds that the Fund's investment adviser believes are underrated or undervalued or that represent municipal market sectors that are undervalued. In addition, they leave the fund open to invest a bit more in lower-rate credit quality muni securities: The Fund invests in municipal securities that are exempt from federal income taxes. The Fund uses leverage. By investment policy, the Fund may invest up to 55% of its managed assets in municipal securities rated at the time of investment Baa/BBB and below or judged by the manager to be of comparable quality. This fund is a fairly standard leveraged muni-focused CEF, which c...
Getty Images I Still Like Celestica (Even At Its All-Time Highs) Celestica Inc. ( CLS ) has been transforming from a low-margin electronics assembly business into a connectivity and cloud solutions giant that has enjoyed the hyperscalers' CAPEX for the past few years, and as a result, the quotes have gone up from $8-10/share in 2021 to over $426/share now. Unfortunately, CLS caught my eye only whe...
Getty Images I Still Like Celestica (Even At Its All-Time Highs) Celestica Inc. ( CLS ) has been transforming from a low-margin electronics assembly business into a connectivity and cloud solutions giant that has enjoyed the hyperscalers' CAPEX for the past few years, and as a result, the quotes have gone up from $8-10/share in 2021 to over $426/share now. Unfortunately, CLS caught my eye only when it was at less than $44/share ( in March 2024 ). My most recent bullish article on it came out in March 2026, when CLS was trading at ~$280/share. Seeking Alpha, Oakoff's latest take on CLS Right now, when the S&P 500 ( SPY ) is breaking new highs, and the tech sector's valuation keeps recovering from oversold levels seen in April 2026 , Celestica looks quite expensive versus its historical norms. I totally agree with skeptics on this finding. However, I do not agree that Celestica's valuation should come back to its past five-year median P/E or EV/EBITDA levels because its business has structurally changed, and its operating leverage has allowed Celestica to drive up earnings massively. What comes over the next 2-3 years should allow CLS to trade at relatively high valuation levels, and there might be continued repricing as Celestica's EPS consensus gets beaten by stronger-than-expected reports or revised up by analysts who assess the surrounding catalysts and market opportunities. This is my updated thesis on the stock in a nutshell, and I'm reiterating my previous Buy rating on it today. My Updated Reasoning On CLS Stock Yet again, in the most recent quarter at CLS, we saw a massive surge in the CCS segment sales (+76% YoY), which helped the firm secure $4.05 billion in consolidated revenues (+53% YoY). The market seems to have expected a gradual recovery in terms of the non-CCS business, which is lagging, so there was a top-line miss of ~2 bps (less than $1 million). It looks like a rounding error to me, so I'm not worrying about it much. What still looks awesome is t...