mavo/iStock via Getty Images By Seema Shah, Chief Global Strategist; Christian Floro, CFA, Market Strategist; and Magdalena Ocampo, Market Strategist The May employment report showed a significantly larger than expected 172,000 gain in payrolls, adding to the series of strong labor market data of late. This was further bolstered by a significant positive upward revision to the last two months’ gai...
mavo/iStock via Getty Images By Seema Shah, Chief Global Strategist; Christian Floro, CFA, Market Strategist; and Magdalena Ocampo, Market Strategist The May employment report showed a significantly larger than expected 172,000 gain in payrolls, adding to the series of strong labor market data of late. This was further bolstered by a significant positive upward revision to the last two months’ gains, with hiring over the past three months showing to be very robust. Overall, despite the overhang from higher energy prices, the labor market appears to be firming and will surely catch the Fed's attention. Report details Total non-farm payrolls increased by 172,000 in May, significantly exceeding expectations for an 88,000 gain. March and April’s already strong figures were also revised higher, adding 93,000 over the two months. The three-month moving average is now 188,000, strongly outpacing the Fed’s payroll breakeven estimate (the number of jobs needed to keep employment conditions steady), reflecting momentum in the labor market despite the uncertain macro outlook. Compared to a year ago, when conditions were softening and job gains were narrow, job growth in May was broad-based, with 8 of 11 major sectors posting gains. Healthcare continues to show steady momentum, while local government hiring has picked up. Notably, cyclical industries strengthened: gains in mining & logging, construction, and manufacturing point to an improvement in economic activity. Meanwhile, strong gains in leisure & hospitality suggest resilient consumer demand. Overall, the downstream impact from the energy shock has remained muted so far. By contrast, the financial services sector posted meaningful job losses, with most of the weakness concentrated in insurance. The information sector, which has shed jobs for seven consecutive months, continued to decline in May. According to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas survey, companies are increasingly citing AI as a driver of job cuts, suggesting ...
Jae Young Ju/iStock via Getty Images By Tae Yoon Kim, CFA, FRM, Manager, Global Investment Research, FTSE Russell | Belle Chang, MBA, Senior Manager, Global Investment Research, FTSE Russell In Korean Equities: Macro Recovery, Reform and AI [1], we discussed how Korea’s recovery in 2025 was supported by an improving macro backdrop, resilient export growth and government-led corporate reforms. Kore...
Jae Young Ju/iStock via Getty Images By Tae Yoon Kim, CFA, FRM, Manager, Global Investment Research, FTSE Russell | Belle Chang, MBA, Senior Manager, Global Investment Research, FTSE Russell In Korean Equities: Macro Recovery, Reform and AI [1], we discussed how Korea’s recovery in 2025 was supported by an improving macro backdrop, resilient export growth and government-led corporate reforms. Korean equities have delivered their strongest returns since the late 1990s, exports exceeded USD 700 billion for the first time, and the country sits at the heart of the global AI infrastructure buildout. Here in part 2, we examine some of the main industries driving that outperformance and their respective weights within the FTSE Korea Index. Exhibit 1: Total return since the Middle East conflict outbreak (USD, Rebased to 100) Source: FTSE Russell/LSEG. Data as of May 2026. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please see the end for important legal disclosures. The onset of the Middle East conflict in March triggered a sharp drawdown due to Korea’s dependence on energy imports from the region and the high foreign participation in its equity market. The sell-off proved short-lived, however, as geopolitical fears eased and investors refocused on underlying fundamentals. Korea’s hardware-heavy market composition drove a rapid recovery, and the index has extended its gains into 2026, with 113.6% (TR, USD) year-to-date. Exhibit 2: FTSE Korea Industry weights relative to the FTSE All-World Source: FTSE Russell/LSEG. Data as of May 2026. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please see the end for important legal disclosures. While FTSE has classified Korea as a developed market since 2009 [2], its industry breakdown differs significantly from peers. Relative to the FTSE All-World Index, FTSE Korea is heavily overweight Telecommunications and broadly on par with Technology (although this is skewed by Samsung Electronics being classified as a Telecom comp...
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after the AVGO earnings overhang and the stronger-than-expected jobs report combined to drive one of the broadest global chip selloff of the year.
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after the AVGO earnings overhang and the stronger-than-expected jobs report combined to drive one of the broadest global chip selloff of the year.
Zinkevych/iStock via Getty Images Perrigo ( PRGO ) has been popping up for a while now on dividend screens as the performance of the stock has been miserable and the dividend yield is now over double digits. At a 10.9% yield, this is one of the highest I've found outside of energy companies with variable dividend policies. The dividend is not covered outside of divestiture proceeds, and, going for...
Zinkevych/iStock via Getty Images Perrigo ( PRGO ) has been popping up for a while now on dividend screens as the performance of the stock has been miserable and the dividend yield is now over double digits. At a 10.9% yield, this is one of the highest I've found outside of energy companies with variable dividend policies. The dividend is not covered outside of divestiture proceeds, and, going forward, the company desperately needs to either find a way to improve cash flow or divest more brands in order to build up enough to keep paying the dividend. I begin coverage with a Hold at this time, as I think there are more assets that can be used to put towards debt reduction, but I recognize that there is a large risk of a dividend cut in the near term. Business Profile Perrigo is a pure-play self-care company that provides OTC pharmaceuticals. The company owns many private label self-care products across many categories, including upper respiratory, healthy lifestyle, and women's health. In North America, they're known for the Opill and Mederma brands. In Europe, the company has a more branded offering, known for Compeed, ellaOne, Solpadeine, Jungle Formula, and ACO. From a category perspective, the company specifically has hundreds of product offerings across upper respiratory, nutrition, digestive health, pain and sleep aids, oral care, healthy lifestyle, skin care, women's health, vitamins, and others. It should be noted that the company has a meaningful customer concentration to Walmart ( WMT ), which currently represents about 12.9% of total sales. The company's top ten customers currently account for 47% of total sales. The company has the operating segments Consumer Self-Care Americas, referred to as "CSCA", and Consumer Self-Care International, referred to as "CSCI". In CSCA, the company has a 20.5% exposure to Upper Respiratory, 17.1% to Digestive Health, 15.8% to Nutrition, 12.9% to Pain and Sleep-Aids, and 12.2% to Healthy Lifestyle. All other categories are...
Alllex/E+ via Getty Images Gold mining stocks posted gains in May even as the gold price dipped, yet generalist investors remain largely absent from the sector despite record margins and strong balance sheets. The gold price closed at $4,540.26 per ounce on May 29 — down $77.59 per ounce, or 1.68% for the month. Positively, the gold mining stocks posted gains, despite gold’s loss for the month. Th...
Alllex/E+ via Getty Images Gold mining stocks posted gains in May even as the gold price dipped, yet generalist investors remain largely absent from the sector despite record margins and strong balance sheets. The gold price closed at $4,540.26 per ounce on May 29 — down $77.59 per ounce, or 1.68% for the month. Positively, the gold mining stocks posted gains, despite gold’s loss for the month. The MarketVector Global Gold Miners Index (MVGDXTR) 1 was up 1.11% for the month, while the MVIS Global Junior Gold Miners (MVGDXJTR) 2 was up 2.08%. Trust Is the Missing Commodity in Gold Equities The Australian Financial Review (AFR) Mining Summit took place in Perth on May 27, 2026. We had the opportunity to participate in a panel: “ Wall Street to Australia: Setting the Scene for Global Gold, ” and shared our perspective on the dynamics we see at play in gold equity markets today. We have a long history as managers of precious metal investment strategies. Today, everything seems to be going right in the sector, but it still doesn’t get much attention. We talked about how to make the gold equity case compelling enough and consistent enough that the broader investment community starts to see what we see: owning the miners is worth it despite all the additional complexity and risk. We made a direct case to gold mining companies about what we think are some of the steps this industry can take to help put gold equities on the radar of global investors. The title of our presentation said it plainly: “Trust is the missing commodity in gold equities.” Why Aren't Generalist Investors Buying Gold Mining Stocks? We started with the obvious question, “Why isn’t capital flowing into gold mining equities?” Gold is trading near all-time highs. Producers are carrying the strongest balance sheets they've had in a generation. Margins are at record levels, and free cash flow is strong. Management teams, by and large, are showing more discipline than this sector has historically been known f...
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after the AVGO earnings overhang and the stronger-than-expected jobs report combined to drive one of the broadest global chip selloff of the year.
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after the AVGO earnings overhang and the stronger-than-expected jobs report combined to drive one of the broadest global chip selloff of the year.
In front of L’industrie Pizzeria, as at many other New York restaurants and shops, customers queue up behind barriers – in this case, all to grab a prized pizza slice. Not everyone in America’s biggest city finds standing in line to be a chore. The power of social media trends means that for some, waiting for hours is an attraction in itself. “It’s gotten pretty crazy in the city recently,” said f...
In front of L’industrie Pizzeria, as at many other New York restaurants and shops, customers queue up behind barriers – in this case, all to grab a prized pizza slice. Not everyone in America’s biggest city finds standing in line to be a chore. The power of social media trends means that for some, waiting for hours is an attraction in itself. “It’s gotten pretty crazy in the city recently,” said food influencer Ali Chilton, who has 168,000 followers on Instagram. “Some would blame me for the...
Here’s a tweet from Michael Saylor of Strategy Inc. fame: “Sell a kidney if you must. But keep the Bitcoin .” Compelling stuff. But as often is the case with this sort of thing, it turns out he did really mean your kidney. Not his. This week, Strategy disclosed the sale of 32 coins, a tiny drop in its vast ocean of 843,700. The sale comes with a perfectly reasonable explanation: The company needs ...
Here’s a tweet from Michael Saylor of Strategy Inc. fame: “Sell a kidney if you must. But keep the Bitcoin .” Compelling stuff. But as often is the case with this sort of thing, it turns out he did really mean your kidney. Not his. This week, Strategy disclosed the sale of 32 coins, a tiny drop in its vast ocean of 843,700. The sale comes with a perfectly reasonable explanation: The company needs the money to support dividend distributions on the firm’s perpetual preferred stock. There’s a lot of technical stuff in the story but also one clear message: Bitcoin isn’t what you were told it was going to be. The original white paper made no mention of it being an investment of any kind (that’s a new narrative). Instead, it presented Bitcoin as a “peer-to-peer version of electronic cash,” one that would allow payments “without going through a financial institution.” That sounds good. But 17 years on, you can see that it really hasn’t worked out. If it had, Saylor would never have had to promise dollar dividends or indeed sell Bitcoin to support distributions. He just would have used Bitcoin as a “peer-to-peer version of electronic cash,” no conversion required — something anyone investing in a firm designed specifically to hold Bitcoin (as Strategy is) would presumably be fine with. This is worth mentioning simply because, even as the stories Bitcoin fans tell have shape-shifted over the years (it’s an inflation hedge! It’s a new asset class!), the original idea was for it to be money. Even now, Saylor refers to it as the “dominant digital monetary network of the world,” which presumably is where he thinks its value comes from. Let us then look at Bitcoin, and what it might be worth, with this in mind. Good news: Bank of England economist John Lewis has done the numbers on the Bank Underground blog. Economic equation fans can go deep here, but the upshot is Bitcoin’s value as a medium of exchange (money) depends on its total supply (M), the real value of all transactions...
asbe/iStock via Getty Images Equities are turning lower to end the week, putting the S&P 500 on pace to end a nine-week winning streak. The 2.25% decline as of this writing today also puts the index on pace to close within one standard deviation of its 50-DMA (neutral territory) for the first time since April 13th. Likewise, the tech sector that has fueled much of the recent rally is pulling back ...
asbe/iStock via Getty Images Equities are turning lower to end the week, putting the S&P 500 on pace to end a nine-week winning streak. The 2.25% decline as of this writing today also puts the index on pace to close within one standard deviation of its 50-DMA (neutral territory) for the first time since April 13th. Likewise, the tech sector that has fueled much of the recent rally is pulling back sharply, eyeing a 5% decline on the session, to also end its streak of overbought readings. Tech has been overbought for 38 sessions in a row through yesterday's close. Assuming today's decline holds and the sector closes within one standard deviation of the 50-DMA, it would be the longest streak of overbought readings since July 31, 2025, when it had spent 56 sessions in a row in overbought territory. For the S&P 500, the aforementioned streak of elevated closes is now the longest since April 2024. For the broad S&P 500, Friday's decline is the largest single-day drop since October 10, 2025, and for tech, it's been even longer since we have seen such a large decline. The sector is on pace to close with the largest daily decline since April 4, 2025. However, today's decline is in the context of a few days of weakness. Tech peaked on Tuesday, and at the moment it is down over 8% versus that high. As shown below, that is the largest three-day decline since the tariff-fueled sell-off in the spring of last year. For all days since sector data began in late 1989, the three-day drop ranks in the first percentile of all periods. Original Post Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.
aprott/iStock via Getty Images Five IPOs, including two billion-dollar deals, priced this week. Six SPACs also priced. Four IPOs and four SPACs submitted filings. Despite two big listings coming to market, the biggest news this week came from SpaceX ( SPCX ), which set terms for an IPO that could raise $75 billion at a $1.8 trillion market cap. At the proposed price of $135 per share, it would be ...
aprott/iStock via Getty Images Five IPOs, including two billion-dollar deals, priced this week. Six SPACs also priced. Four IPOs and four SPACs submitted filings. Despite two big listings coming to market, the biggest news this week came from SpaceX ( SPCX ), which set terms for an IPO that could raise $75 billion at a $1.8 trillion market cap. At the proposed price of $135 per share, it would be the largest IPO in history by a wide margin. Natural gas engine producer INNIO Holding ( INIO ) priced its upsized IPO at the top of the range to raise $2.4 billion at a $20.3 billion market cap. Innio Group is a manufacturer of reciprocating gas engines for power generation and gas compression applications. The company operates two segments: Equipment and Services, selling engines under its Jenbacher and Waukesha brands, which range from 200 kW to 10 MW in output and are designed to run on natural gas as well as alternative fuels, including hydrogen blends. The industry is experiencing strong market growth driven by AI data centers and broader electrification, although the company is leveraged at 3.6x net debt/EBITDA. INNIO finished the week up 19%. Quantum computer developer Quantinuum ( QNT ) priced its upsized IPO above the range to raise $1.7 billion at a $15.9 billion market cap. Quantinuum develops quantum computing systems and software with the goal of commercializing quantum technology for enterprise and government applications. The company operates on the premise that future computing will be hybrid in nature, combining classical processors, GPU-based accelerated compute, and quantum processing units to tackle problems that conventional systems cannot efficiently solve. Quantinuum has achieved best-in-class fidelity and a best-in-class overhead ratio, but it currently has limited commercial traction due to how early stage the technology is. It finished the week down 6%. Advertising mobile app software Liftoff Mobile ( LFTO ) priced its IPO above the range to raise...
asbe/iStock via Getty Images Originally published on June 3, 2026 By Jennifer Nash The May U.S. Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) from S&P Global inched down 0.3 points to 50.7, indicating slower expansion in the services sector. The latest reading was lower than the forecast of 50.9 and was among the weakest months of expansion in the past 2.5 years. From the latest press release , Chris ...
asbe/iStock via Getty Images Originally published on June 3, 2026 By Jennifer Nash The May U.S. Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) from S&P Global inched down 0.3 points to 50.7, indicating slower expansion in the services sector. The latest reading was lower than the forecast of 50.9 and was among the weakest months of expansion in the past 2.5 years. From the latest press release , Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: "While the US manufacturing economy is reporting a surge in demand as war-related supply and price worries drive precautionary stock building, it’s a different story in the service sector. Demand for services has been largely stalled over the past three months, losing the strength seen earlier in the year. "The sluggish services economy is acting as drag on overall economic growth, which the PMI data signal to be running at a modest annualized pace of just above 1% so far in the second quarter. "Hardest hit are the consumer-facing service sectors, where orders are now falling at the steepest pace since the pandemic in 2020, blamed on a combination of squeezed spending power from energy prices hikes and customers pushing back on higher prices being charged for services. However, business services are also seeing reduced order book growth compared to earlier in the year and financial services firms are coming under pressure from higher interest rates. "Rising costs and cooling demand are meanwhile causing service companies to cut staff at the fastest rate seen since the early months of the pandemic. "The increase in input cost inflation being signaled by the PMI points to a further rise in consumer price inflation in the coming months, but on the other hand the weakening of demand growth and downturn in the labor market being indicated could help allay concerns over any inflation spike becoming more entrenched." Background on the S&P Global US Services PMI The S&P Global US Services PMI™ measures th...
John M. Chase/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images A few weeks ago, I assessed the value of SpaceX ahead of its initial public offering , with the admission that I was making my estimates with drabs of data, some of it coming from unofficial sources. I also promised to revisit my valuation when the prospectus came out, and now that it has, I will examine how the information it contains has changed m...
John M. Chase/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images A few weeks ago, I assessed the value of SpaceX ahead of its initial public offering , with the admission that I was making my estimates with drabs of data, some of it coming from unofficial sources. I also promised to revisit my valuation when the prospectus came out, and now that it has, I will examine how the information it contains has changed my view of the company and its valuation. I will also use this post to talk about the information gained by having access to a company's financials and why the information you glean from those financials is different at younger companies, with growth potential, relative to mature companies. The Prospectus: Data versus Information The requirement that companies that plan to go public in the United States have to register with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and file a prospectus has been in place for decades, but the contents have changed over time, with disclosures added partly by regulation and partly in response to investor demands. In a paper focusing on IPO disclosures from a couple of years ago, I noted that prospectuses have become more bloated over time, often running four to five times longer than those filed by companies that went public three or four decades ago, but not necessarily more informative. The SpaceX prospectus that we made public on May 20, 2026 , is 277 pages long, with an addendum that runs another 100 pages, with dozens of pictures (mostly of spaceships going into orbit), a soaring story, but with weak links and multiple distractions. To get a measure of how the prospectus changes my pre-prospectus story and valuation, I will start with the easy part of the update, where I use the numbers from the financial statements in the prospectus to replace my pre-prospectus estimates, on operating metrics like revenues and earnings as well as on share count and IPO proceeds. I will then move on to the weightier part of the analysis, where I assess how...
China and New Zealand held a bilateral trade commission meeting in Beijing on Friday, where officials exchanged views on deepening economic ties and cooperation in regional and multilateral frameworks. Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang said both sides should further promote trade and investment cooperation and advance negotiations on a services trade “negative list” under their free trad...
China and New Zealand held a bilateral trade commission meeting in Beijing on Friday, where officials exchanged views on deepening economic ties and cooperation in regional and multilateral frameworks. Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang said both sides should further promote trade and investment cooperation and advance negotiations on a services trade “negative list” under their free trade agreement, according to a statement from the commerce ministry on Saturday. The country also called for safeguarding the multilateral trading system centered on the World Trade Organization, while both sides highlighted closer coordination in regional frameworks including APEC, the statement said.
Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) reports progress toward first criticality at its Groves Isotopes Test Reactor following key regulatory approvals. The company has entered agreements to provide advanced nuclear power for AI focused data centers operated by Meta Platforms and Switch. Oklo joined the U.S. Department of Energy's Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program in partnership with newcleo, targeting advanced fue...
Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) reports progress toward first criticality at its Groves Isotopes Test Reactor following key regulatory approvals. The company has entered agreements to provide advanced nuclear power for AI focused data centers operated by Meta Platforms and Switch. Oklo joined the U.S. Department of Energy's Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program in partnership with newcleo, targeting advanced fuel sourcing. The acquisition of Atomic Alchemy adds exposure to medical and industrial...