Li Xiaohong, a former senior disciplinary official in charge of national inspection, has been placed under investigation for suspected severe disciplinary and legal violations, China’s top anti-corruption authorities said on Tuesday. The downfall of the 73-year-old veteran – known for spearheading high-level anti-corruption crackdowns and his top disciplinary roles at the securities regulator – un...
Li Xiaohong, a former senior disciplinary official in charge of national inspection, has been placed under investigation for suspected severe disciplinary and legal violations, China’s top anti-corruption authorities said on Tuesday. The downfall of the 73-year-old veteran – known for spearheading high-level anti-corruption crackdowns and his top disciplinary roles at the securities regulator – underscores Beijing’s continued efforts to target corruption among its most senior disciplinary...
To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: The S&P 500’s consecutive daily winning streak now stands at nine. Lest we forget — there’s still no deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz . The US once again has more job vacancies than unemployed people to take them. Wall Street thinks there’ll be no AI jobpocalypse . AND: Some more unconsidered musica...
To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: The S&P 500’s consecutive daily winning streak now stands at nine. Lest we forget — there’s still no deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz . The US once again has more job vacancies than unemployed people to take them. Wall Street thinks there’ll be no AI jobpocalypse . AND: Some more unconsidered musical masterpieces . Released From Geography One of the most popular and readable non-fiction books of recent times was Tim Marshall ’s Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About the World . The title is self-explanatory. Beautifully clear and concise prose, accompanied by maps, it lays out just how many of the world’s most intractable political and economic problems are imposed by the immutable facts of geography (as Napoleon so aptly observed but failed to take to heart). If anyone thought they could ignore this, the global fascination with the Strait of Hormuz over the last three months is a potent argument otherwise. This is a track of the number of stories crossing the Bloomberg terminal, from all sources, to mention the Strait each day: On the face of it, events there have degenerated into a disaster, with both sides blockading the other. Bloomberg’s analysis of shipping through the waterway (which you can find in the fascinating terminal function MAP SHIP ) suggests that it’s to all intents and purposes closed, and has been for three months. Crude and gasoline prices are rising accordingly, and hopes for a reopening in June are dwindling on prediction markets. A dashboard basically describes what strategists would have called a nightmare scenario in early March: And yet the US stock market is on quite a tear. The S&P 500 was up on Tuesday, for the ninth trading day in succession. That’s because advances in technology have effectively freed us from geography. They’ve also, fascinatingly, rendered geography almost obsolete when it come...
MF3d/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Back in late March, I reiterated my strong buy rating on CoreWeave, Inc. ( CRWV ), citing exceptional demand, an enormous backlog, and a shockingly low valuation. Looking at the chart below, you can see that my upgrade to a strong buy back in December has worked out quite well, and the stock has gained another 47% since my previous update. The stock is now...
MF3d/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Back in late March, I reiterated my strong buy rating on CoreWeave, Inc. ( CRWV ), citing exceptional demand, an enormous backlog, and a shockingly low valuation. Looking at the chart below, you can see that my upgrade to a strong buy back in December has worked out quite well, and the stock has gained another 47% since my previous update. The stock is now up over 90% from 52-week lows. CoreWeave reported their 2026 Q1 earnings back in May, and there have been some important developments recently. Today, I have decided to provide an update for readers. Seeking Alpha Executive Summary Below, it is shown that Q1 was another strong quarter for growth and demand metrics. While margins were weaker than desired, this softness is likely temporary as the scaling of revenues should improve their operating leverage. At this point, CapEx remains justified, but high financial leverage is still a risk if a downturn comes at some point. CoreWeave raised their year-end ARR expectations, and they are moving to differentiate their business from competitors. Meanwhile, the forward P/S ratio remains well below the historic average, and so at this point, the risk/reward remains highly favorable for the bulls. Therefore, I've decided to reiterate my strong buy rating once again. Scaling Quickly CoreWeave Q1 Presentation A map very similar to the one shown above was discussed in my previous article. However, the numbers have changed quite a bit as CoreWeave has raced to scale their infrastructure. Active power is now in excess of 1GW after being at 850MW+ in Q4, while contracted power is also up notably. In all of 2025, the company added 11 data centers in total. Just in 2026 Q1, they added 6 data centers already, and so it is clear that the pace at which they are scaling is heating up. Since they have an increasing amount of contracted power secured, CoreWeave should have no problem expanding their presence further. We'll talk about CapEx a litt...
Computex Sends Three Key Signals: Nvidia Confirms Sufficient Taiwan Semiconductor Capacity, AI PC Chips Make Joint Debut, and Supply-Demand Imbalance to Persist Through 2027 富途牛牛
Computex Sends Three Key Signals: Nvidia Confirms Sufficient Taiwan Semiconductor Capacity, AI PC Chips Make Joint Debut, and Supply-Demand Imbalance to Persist Through 2027 富途牛牛
Earnings Call Insights: Ulta Beauty (ULTA) Q1 fiscal 2026 Management view “We entered fiscal 2026 with a keen focus on continuing our progress while optimizing our model with financial discipline to deliver profitable growth,” and “we remain execution-focused and are confident we will deliver our fiscal 2026 expectations.” (President, CEO & Director Kecia Steelman) “We delivered first quarter net ...
Earnings Call Insights: Ulta Beauty (ULTA) Q1 fiscal 2026 Management view “We entered fiscal 2026 with a keen focus on continuing our progress while optimizing our model with financial discipline to deliver profitable growth,” and “we remain execution-focused and are confident we will deliver our fiscal 2026 expectations.” (President, CEO & Director Kecia Steelman) “We delivered first quarter net sales growth of 11.1%, comparable sales growth of 5.3% and 15.5% diluted EPS growth,” with “all channels and major categories contributing,” and “we gained share in prestige beauty, and we were roughly flat in mass beauty.” (CEO Steelman) “This quarter marked the exciting launch of our TikTok Shop with a strategic focus on our Only at Ulta exclusive brands,” and “we are beginning work on a new highly experiential Ulta Beauty location in Times Square, New York… Expected to open in late 2027.” (CEO Steelman) “Net sales for the quarter increased 11.1% to $3.2 billion,” and “gross margin for the quarter increased 100 basis points to 40.1% of sales, primarily due to lower inventory shrink and higher merchandise margin.” (CFO & Principal Financial Officer Christopher DelOrefice) Outlook “We are maintaining our guidance for sales and continue to expect net sales will increase between 6% to 7%,” and “continue to expect comp growth for the full year will be between 2.5% and 3.5%.” (CFO DelOrefice) “We have enhanced our expectations and now expect operating profit will increase between 6.5% and 9% for the year,” while “we continue to expect gross margin will be roughly flat for the year.” (CFO DelOrefice) “We now expect diluted EPS will be between $28.36 and $28.80 per share,” and “in the first quarter, we announced an increase in our fiscal 2026 stock buyback target from $1 billion to $1.5 billion.” (CFO DelOrefice) Compared with last quarter’s fiscal 2026 outlook, management previously said, “we expect operating profit will increase between 6% and 9%,” and “we anticipate diluted EP...
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...