(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence offset uncertainty over U.S.-Iran negotiations aimed at ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the energy market globally.
(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence offset uncertainty over U.S.-Iran negotiations aimed at ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the energy market globally.
undefined CSI Semiconductor Industry Index (closing level) China Chip Stocks Extend Selloff Sources: China Economic Information Service, CEIC May 6 June 1 7,097 4,000 5,000 Chinese semiconductor stocks extended losses Monday, with the CSI Semiconductor Industry Index down more than 15% from late-May highs, as profit-taking, stake reductions and IPO expectations hit sentiment.
undefined CSI Semiconductor Industry Index (closing level) China Chip Stocks Extend Selloff Sources: China Economic Information Service, CEIC May 6 June 1 7,097 4,000 5,000 Chinese semiconductor stocks extended losses Monday, with the CSI Semiconductor Industry Index down more than 15% from late-May highs, as profit-taking, stake reductions and IPO expectations hit sentiment.
No region of the world produces more oil and gas than the countries straddling the Persian Gulf. Most of this energy can only be exported aboard tankers that cross the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that’s effectively been blocked for more than three months. Iran has throttled traffic through the strait since being attacked by the US and Israel in late February. It’s refused to reopen the vital shi...
No region of the world produces more oil and gas than the countries straddling the Persian Gulf. Most of this energy can only be exported aboard tankers that cross the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that’s effectively been blocked for more than three months. Iran has throttled traffic through the strait since being attacked by the US and Israel in late February. It’s refused to reopen the vital shipping route until the US lifts a naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports. Restoring free navigation has been a key sticking point in peace talks. As the stalemate continues, the economic pain from the Hormuz disruption is building across the globe. Supplies of oil, gas and other commodities are being increasingly squeezed and prices are much higher than before the war. How has the Iran war affected shipping through the Strait of Hormuz? Iran has sporadically attacked ships in and around the Persian Gulf, leaving most shipowners unwilling to attempt Hormuz crossings and risk the loss of life, cargo and vessels. Some ships have braved the journey , turning off their transponders to try to avoid becoming targets. There’s evidence that the US military has quietly helped guide vessels through the waterway. Iran has also allowed certain ships to cross the strait via a corridor that hugs the Iranian coast, often after talks for safe passage and sometimes after requesting payments of as much as $2 million. Nonetheless, the average number of daily ship transits through Hormuz has dropped below 10, from around 135 in peacetime. The collapse in traffic has forced oil producers in the region to halt most of their output as they run out of space to store their crude. Iran has resisted pressure from the US blockade to reopen Hormuz. It’s even expanded its claimed area of control and created a new entity called the Persian Gulf Strait Authority to control crossings. The Iranian ambassador to France, Mohammad Amin-Nejad, said that Iran is discussing how to set up some form of permanent tol...
PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Enterprise Products Partners ( EPD ) just printed one of its strongest quarters in years, and its unit price has declined after breaking out to $40. If you were just watching the chart, you may be under the assumption that something was wrong, but what actually happened is that oil fell roughly -19% in May. The market grew optimistic that a U.S.-Iran ceasef...
PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Enterprise Products Partners ( EPD ) just printed one of its strongest quarters in years, and its unit price has declined after breaking out to $40. If you were just watching the chart, you may be under the assumption that something was wrong, but what actually happened is that oil fell roughly -19% in May. The market grew optimistic that a U.S.-Iran ceasefire would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and EPD got dragged down with the broader energy complex. There are some investors who are treating EPD as a leveraged bet on the war premium, which is the wrong way to think about this business, in my opinion, because the gap between how the market is pricing the units and what the company actually is produces alpha for investors. The recent dip is the market discounting something transient, which was a geopolitical spread bump that was always going to fade. EPD is a durable energy infrastructure company with an earnings engine that is tied to fee-based volume growth feeding a multi-decade wave of natural gas and NGL demand from AI data centers, LNG, and petrochemicals. EPD has a growing distribution that is yielding around 6% and is covered by its distributable cash flow (DCF) and backed by one of the best balance sheets in the sector. I think that many investors are not looking at the energy infrastructure sector because they are considered boring income plays, but I am looking at EPD as a heavy asset company with an infrastructure moat that is next to impossible to replace. Seeking Alpha Following Up on My Previous Article About EPD Back in November I wrote an article on EPD ( can be read here ) and discussed why I was still bullish on EPD. I outlined how EPD was a premier energy infrastructure company poised to benefit from rising energy demand driven by data centers and industrial growth. At the time, EPD was generating a 6.7% distribution yield with 27 consecutive years of growth, and the Q3 results highlighted fee-based cash fl...
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment overview I wrote about Kanzhun Limited ( BZ ) previously with a buy rating, as the business continues to show healthy core growth, and white-collar hiring was indeed recovering. I am maintaining my buy rating after Q1. The headline revenue growth looked weak, but the quarter was distorted by the later Chinese New Year. What matters more to...
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment overview I wrote about Kanzhun Limited ( BZ ) previously with a buy rating, as the business continues to show healthy core growth, and white-collar hiring was indeed recovering. I am maintaining my buy rating after Q1. The headline revenue growth looked weak, but the quarter was distorted by the later Chinese New Year. What matters more to me is that the underlying signals improved: large enterprises recovered, blue-collar revenue became a larger growth pillar, AI monetization became more measurable, and margins remained strong. 1Q26 earnings At the top, BZ’s Q1 revenue came in at RMB2.07 billion, up ~8% y/y, which, on its own, may look softer vs. Q4 2025. However, I do not think this should be read that simply. Chinese New Year came later this year, so the peak recruitment season mainly fell in March. For reference, last year, the peak season covered February and March. That meant Q1 2026 captured only one full peak-season month, not two. As such, the headline revenue growth was not on a like-for-like basis. Underlying growth metrics were all healthy. Total revenue growth was driven mainly by the increase in paid enterprise customers, which reached 7.1 million as of March 31, 2026, up 10.9% y/y. Average MAU also improved, reaching 60.9 million for the quarter vs. 57.6 million last year. March was much stronger than the quarterly average, with MAU >72 million. The latter is important because it lines up with the delayed peak season and shows activity picked up when the recruitment season actually started. For the quarter, total operating expenses fell 3% y/y to RMB1.45 billion, which led to income from operations growing by an astonishing ~42% y/y to RMB623.6 million. Consequently, adj. EBIT grew ~18% y/y to RMB814.6 million, with adj. EBIT margin at 39.4%. Hiring demand looks broader than the headline growth suggests In my previous update, the key positive was that BZ’s customer base was broadening across s...
STOCKHOLM, June 03, 2026--Klarna Group plc (NYSE: KLAR) wishes to update investors that the Patent and Market Court in Stockholm, Sweden (Patent- och marknadsdomstolen) has postponed publication of its judgment in the antitrust damages proceedings brought by PriceRunner, a Klarna subsidiary, against Google.
STOCKHOLM, June 03, 2026--Klarna Group plc (NYSE: KLAR) wishes to update investors that the Patent and Market Court in Stockholm, Sweden (Patent- och marknadsdomstolen) has postponed publication of its judgment in the antitrust damages proceedings brought by PriceRunner, a Klarna subsidiary, against Google.