Suddenly, fear is exceeding greed. That blissful suspension of disbelief — where investors could largely ignore both the situation in the Middle East and the stretched valuations of AI-related stocks — has been broken. Israel and Iran exchanged missile strikes on Monday despite President Donald Trump’s calls for both sides to halt the fighting and give peace talks a chance. Iran launched a fresh w...
Suddenly, fear is exceeding greed. That blissful suspension of disbelief — where investors could largely ignore both the situation in the Middle East and the stretched valuations of AI-related stocks — has been broken. Israel and Iran exchanged missile strikes on Monday despite President Donald Trump’s calls for both sides to halt the fighting and give peace talks a chance. Iran launched a fresh wave of attacks just hours after firing ballistic missiles at Israel on Sunday. Israel responded with strikes on military targets in western and central Iran, while Iranian state media reported multiple explosions in the capital, Tehran. The tit-for-tat strikes risk leading to further escalation across the region. Iran’s offensive is also a rare example of Tehran coming to Hezbollah’s defense in Lebanon — and the most serious challenge yet to a ceasefire that took effect on April 8. At the same time, the never-ending rally in tech shares is rapidly coming back to earth. As Bloomberg Opinion’s John Authers put it in his column, it’s as if markets are suffering from altitude hypoxia , a condition that can afflict pilots or mountaineers who ascend too high too fast. After the heavy losses on Wall Street on Friday, declines steepened in Asia. South Korea’s Kospi index, the biggest beneficiary of the AI boom, tumbled more than 8%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 4.2%. As a reflection of the recent turbulence, a gauge of 100-day volatility on MSCI’s Asian Pacific gauge rose to a six-year high. There are plenty of reasons for the dramatic shift. Strong US jobs data and higher oil prices are fueling speculation for higher Federal Reserve interest rates. A flood of new shares from tech companies risks overwhelming demand . And valuations reached extremes: The Nasdaq 100 has been further above its 50-day moving average, a measure of the short-term trend, than at any time since 2002. The result is a notable change in attitude. “It’s almost as if traders suddenly woke up to a different re...
The Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ) has emerged as one of the cleanest, lowest-cost vehicles for direct semiconductor exposure during the AI capex cycle. The fund tracks the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index, which represents the 30 largest U.S.-listed semiconductor companies, and carries a 0.19% expense ratio, materially cheaper than the older iShares competitor. Since launching ... SO...
The Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ) has emerged as one of the cleanest, lowest-cost vehicles for direct semiconductor exposure during the AI capex cycle. The fund tracks the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index, which represents the 30 largest U.S.-listed semiconductor companies, and carries a 0.19% expense ratio, materially cheaper than the older iShares competitor. Since launching ... SOXQ Semiconductor ETF Surges 181.74% as AI Chip Boom Lifts NVIDIA, Broadcom, AMD
Sven Piper Powerlaw ( PWRL ), a recently listed closed-end fund focused on private technology companies, disclosed that Space Exploration Technologies ( SPCX ) is its largest portfolio holding . The fund said its investment in SpaceX had a fair value of ~$117M as of May 13, representing 19.37% of net assets. The disclosure highlighted the fund's sizable exposure to SpaceX ahead of the company's ex...
Sven Piper Powerlaw ( PWRL ), a recently listed closed-end fund focused on private technology companies, disclosed that Space Exploration Technologies ( SPCX ) is its largest portfolio holding . The fund said its investment in SpaceX had a fair value of ~$117M as of May 13, representing 19.37% of net assets. The disclosure highlighted the fund's sizable exposure to SpaceX ahead of the company's expected public listing. SpaceX is reportedly targeting a valuation of approximately $1.75T. Powerlaw began trading on the Nasdaq through a direct listing on May 27. The fund invests in private companies across sectors including artificial intelligence, software, aerospace and defense, and consumer technology. Beyond SpaceX, the portfolio includes stakes in several high-profile private companies, including OpenAI, Stripe, Databricks, Canva, Figma, Perplexity, Waymo, Kraken, Kalshi, and Groq. The fund is advised by Powerlaw Fund Adviser, LLC. Powerlaw said it plans to publish an updated net asset value and NAV per share as of May 31 on or around June 9. More on Powerlaw, SpaceX Wall Street Brunch: SpaceX IPO, WWDC And CPI Revisiting The SpaceX Valuation: A Post-Prospectus Update SpaceX IPO: Boom, Bloodbath, Or Both Bybit launches tokenized IPO platform with SpaceX debut AI IPO wave could test Wall Street's appetite for new shares
libre de droit/iStock via Getty Images Recently, in May 2026, enGene Therapeutics Inc. ( ENGN ) stock crashed by roughly 80% in a single day because its Phase 2 interim data results were worse than expected. The biggest problem that arose was the 12-month durability of the therapy, which fell drastically and caused analysts to drop their estimates. EnGene has been focusing on a single asset, an in...
libre de droit/iStock via Getty Images Recently, in May 2026, enGene Therapeutics Inc. ( ENGN ) stock crashed by roughly 80% in a single day because its Phase 2 interim data results were worse than expected. The biggest problem that arose was the 12-month durability of the therapy, which fell drastically and caused analysts to drop their estimates. EnGene has been focusing on a single asset, an in vivo gene therapy called detalimogene voraplasmid (EG-70), for non-muscle bladder cancer (NMIBC). The whole company fully relies on this one drug, which makes it extremely volatile, but despite this, I believe that the 80% drop in the price is overexhausted. At this point, even though the data was worse than expected, it did not fail, and enGene is currently moving forward with the drug. At this point, I rate the company as a buy because they are trading below its cash value, and if there is a chance that the drug will get approved by the FDA, an investment at this price has huge potential. Even though there is also a huge risk connected to the investment (like competition, the therapy not getting approved, and insurance providers declining to fund the treatments), as the stock is trading below cash value, the total bottom cannot be too much further down, and so even if the drug is not approved, the price would hopefully not fall much further, which lowers the risk to gain ratio. Main Pipeline Drug The main pipeline drug of enGene (detalimogene voraplasmid) was created to treat high-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). This drug has potential among competing drugs, mainly thanks to its safety profile, because competing drugs often cause toxicity, physical irritation, or severe immune-related side effects. EnGene is focusing on a non-viral gene therapy that would be delivered straight into the bladder via a catheter. Detalimogene voraplasmid is based on a proprietary DDX platform that delivers genetically encoded plasmid DNA into the tissue. This package tells ...