Copper extended losses alongside other industrial metals after the US carried out fresh strikes in the Persian Gulf and a deal to end the war with Iran remained elusive. Base metals have traded in a tight range in recent weeks as investors monitor negotiations to end the conflict that’s fueled inflation and reduced prospects for global growth. American forces carried out airstrikes on an Iranian m...
Copper extended losses alongside other industrial metals after the US carried out fresh strikes in the Persian Gulf and a deal to end the war with Iran remained elusive. Base metals have traded in a tight range in recent weeks as investors monitor negotiations to end the conflict that’s fueled inflation and reduced prospects for global growth. American forces carried out airstrikes on an Iranian military site, though a US official described the attacks as defensive, saying Washington intends to maintain the ceasefire that began last month. Meanwhile, Kuwait said it was responding to hostile missile and drone threats. In copper, traders are once again scouring the world for metal to send to the US amid renewed speculation about import tariffs, the threat of which has in the past drained supplies elsewhere. Read More: Copper’s Giant Tariff Trade Is Back and Squeezing Global Market Copper dropped 0.1% to $13,515 on the London Metal Exchange as of 11:25 a.m. in Shanghai, down for a third day. Nickel fell 0.8% to $18,785 a ton and zinc declined 0.3% to $3,502 a ton.
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. The artificial intelligence infrastructure boom is no longer just lifting a handful of semiconductor stocks like Nvidia Corp., Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp.. Goldman Sachs says it is now reshaping the entire U.S. business investment cycle. In a research note published Monday, the bank lift...
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. The artificial intelligence infrastructure boom is no longer just lifting a handful of semiconductor stocks like Nvidia Corp., Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp.. Goldman Sachs says it is now reshaping the entire U.S. business investment cycle. In a research note published Monday, the bank lifted its 2026 forecast for U.S. business investment to 7.8% on a fourth-quarter-over-fourth-quarter basis, from 6.5% previously. Driving the upgrade is the pace of AI spending: an annualized $650 billion in the first quarter, tracking toward more than $800 billion by year-end. Don't Miss: AI Capex Is Becoming A Macro Force “AI-related spending will continue to boost equipment and structures investment in 2026 as companies press ahead with the infrastructure buildout,” Goldman Sachs economist Elsie Peng wrote in a note. The spending wave stretches far beyond chips. Economists at the bank say AI investment is now flowing into servers, semiconductors, memory storage, power infrastructure, data centers, software and research and development. "Our analysis suggests that AI-related spending will boost true capex growth by about 3.3pp in 2026," Peng said. However, the direct impact on GDP growth is expected to remain relatively modest. The gap exists because semiconductor investment is still partially undercounted in official GDP statistics, according to the report. "We estimate that AI-related spending will add 0.3pp to true GDP growth but only 0.1pp to measured GDP growth in 2026," Peng said, noting that a large portion of the equipment is imported. Trending: Avoid the #1 Investing Mistake: How Your ‘Safe' Holdings Could Be Costing You Big Time Trump’s OBBBA Incentives Add Another Tailwind Goldman also said new tax provisions included in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" are beginning to show up in investment data. The bank expects the legislation's expanded expensing provisions to...
Gary Yeowell/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment Thesis The last time I wrote about Microsoft ( MSFT ), back in February 2026, I argued how the post-earnings selloff was a case of a glaring disconnect between company fundamentals and market sentiment, primarily driven by fears surrounding the so-called ‘SaaSpocalypse.’ I had upgraded my rating from a HOLD to a STRONG BUY with a price target ...
Gary Yeowell/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment Thesis The last time I wrote about Microsoft ( MSFT ), back in February 2026, I argued how the post-earnings selloff was a case of a glaring disconnect between company fundamentals and market sentiment, primarily driven by fears surrounding the so-called ‘SaaSpocalypse.’ I had upgraded my rating from a HOLD to a STRONG BUY with a price target of $562. Since the article was published, while MSFT has gained 2.11%, it has still underperformed the S&P 500, which gained 9.97% during the same period. In this article, I analyse MSFT’s Q3 earnings report and investigate why, despite the company delivering strong growth across its segments, investors still sold off the stock. I also analyse two key developments that have materialized since my last article—an increase in the company’s CY26 capex commitments and the evolution of the competitive landscape related to M365—both of which, in my view, warrant investors’ close attention. Q3 Offers Empirical Evidence for Further Capex Investments, but Question of Margin Expansion Remains Open In my last article on MSFT, I had highlighted that the company’s cloud capacity buildout was progressing at an impressive pace and that the elevated capex investments were a direct response to the strong demand faced by the company. My thesis has been further reinforced by the Q3 results. However, the unit economics on the cost side certainly deserves closer attention from long-term investors. MSFT IR Disclosures, SEC 10-Q filings, Author's Calculations From a demand perspective, the Q3 report offered more concrete quantitative evidence in a way that was not the case a quarter ago. For instance, the $627 billion in RPOs implies that the contracted backlog has nearly doubled y/y and provides multi-year visibility from a revenue perspective. More importantly, in my opinion, the 26% y/y growth in commercial RPOs obtained after excluding OpenAI’s commitments demonstrates that the backlog growth ...
Gary Yeowell/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment Thesis The last time I wrote about Microsoft ( MSFT ), back in February 2026, I argued how the post-earnings selloff was a case of a glaring disconnect between company fundamentals and market sentiment, primarily driven by fears surrounding the so-called ‘SaaSpocalypse.’ I had upgraded my rating from a HOLD to a STRONG BUY with a price target ...
Gary Yeowell/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment Thesis The last time I wrote about Microsoft ( MSFT ), back in February 2026, I argued how the post-earnings selloff was a case of a glaring disconnect between company fundamentals and market sentiment, primarily driven by fears surrounding the so-called ‘SaaSpocalypse.’ I had upgraded my rating from a HOLD to a STRONG BUY with a price target of $562. Since the article was published, while MSFT has gained 2.11%, it has still underperformed the S&P 500, which gained 9.97% during the same period. In this article, I analyse MSFT’s Q3 earnings report and investigate why, despite the company delivering strong growth across its segments, investors still sold off the stock. I also analyse two key developments that have materialized since my last article—an increase in the company’s CY26 capex commitments and the evolution of the competitive landscape related to M365—both of which, in my view, warrant investors’ close attention. Q3 Offers Empirical Evidence for Further Capex Investments, but Question of Margin Expansion Remains Open In my last article on MSFT, I had highlighted that the company’s cloud capacity buildout was progressing at an impressive pace and that the elevated capex investments were a direct response to the strong demand faced by the company. My thesis has been further reinforced by the Q3 results. However, the unit economics on the cost side certainly deserves closer attention from long-term investors. MSFT IR Disclosures, SEC 10-Q filings, Author's Calculations From a demand perspective, the Q3 report offered more concrete quantitative evidence in a way that was not the case a quarter ago. For instance, the $627 billion in RPOs implies that the contracted backlog has nearly doubled y/y and provides multi-year visibility from a revenue perspective. More importantly, in my opinion, the 26% y/y growth in commercial RPOs obtained after excluding OpenAI’s commitments demonstrates that the backlog growth ...
tang90246 Nio ( NIO ) shares surged 9% on Wednesday after the Chinese electric vehicle maker launched its highly anticipated ES9 flagship SUV, pushing the U.S.-listed stock further into positive territory for 2026. Priced as low as 390,000 yuan ($57,470) under a battery-as-a-service model, the premium vehicle represents Nio's ( NIO ) latest bid to capture market share in China's fiercely competiti...
tang90246 Nio ( NIO ) shares surged 9% on Wednesday after the Chinese electric vehicle maker launched its highly anticipated ES9 flagship SUV, pushing the U.S.-listed stock further into positive territory for 2026. Priced as low as 390,000 yuan ($57,470) under a battery-as-a-service model, the premium vehicle represents Nio's ( NIO ) latest bid to capture market share in China's fiercely competitive EV landscape with faster delivery timelines and aggressive pricing compared to its previous flagship models. The car starts deliveries on Thursday, reflecting far lower prices and a faster go-to-market speed than Nio’s prior flagship, the ET9 sedan. Nio signed on several brand promoters, including Robin Zeng, the CEO of CATL ( CATL ), the industry’s battery giant, who affirmed in a marketing video that about 2,000 of his employees had bought Nio cars, as per CNBC . More on NIO NIO: Margin Growth, Profitable, And Cheap Impressive Q1 For NIO Inc.: I Can't Give It Anything But Buy NIO Inc. (NIO) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript China EV exports jump 40% to 278,081 units as shipments to Brazil skyrocket 221% NIO Q1 earnings preview: Margins and delivery growth in focus