Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine speaks during a briefing on the Iran war, with a map in the background showing a blockade line on the Strait of Hormuz, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2026. Nathan Howard | Reuters Oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was at a near standstill Thursday, as tensions between the U.S. and Iran remain high. Just two vessels were observed transiting the sea lane, according to data from LSEG. The tanker Race exited the strait into the Gulf of Oman bound for India, the data showed. The cargo ship Neshat crossed the strait and appeared destined for Iran. The U.S. blockade of Iran's ports began Monday. As it enters its fourth day, the Navy has forced 14 vessels to reverse course so far, according to U.S. Central Command. Iran, meanwhile, has threatened to shut down traffic in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea in retaliation. At least two very large crude carriers , the RHN and the Alicia, crossed the strait into the Persian Gulf earlier this week. VLCCs are huge tankers that can carry about 2 million barrels of oil. Tanker traffic through the strait has plunged during the war, triggering the largest oil supply disruption in history. About 20% of global oil supplies passed through the sea lane before the war. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Developing countries will be given extra time to meet debt payments when hit by natural or economic disasters under plans drawn up by the UK government and a group of international bondholders. The arrangements, first floated last October, are designed to prevent emerging markets sinking into a debt spiral when disaster strikes. Under the proposals by the London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt and driven by the UK government, developing countries will be able to trigger a “pause clause” to defer debt payments in a crisis such as an armed conflict, hurricane or pandemic. The parties involved, including private sector creditors like T Rowe Price and Aberdeen Asset Management, hope the arrangement will improve restructuring outcomes for emerging markets and provide continued access to debt finance. Bondholders in return will have more clarity during the negotiations and better transparency to price risk under an “implementation guide for restructuring private sector sovereign loans” that accompanies the “pause clause.” The UK government said the proposals reflected Chancellor Rachel Reeves ’ “securonomics” principles by building a more resilient global economy. “We’re tackling the increasing number of worldwide economic shocks by strengthening the global financial system, safeguarding development gains, and protecting British business,” said Lucy Rigby , economic secretary to the Treasury . The London Coalition was formed last year to bring together banking representatives, lawyers, asset managers and organizations like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the African Union. Jose Vinals, the former chairman of Standard Chartered and a former IMF financial counselor, is leading the group with Rigby. The arrangement builds on the Bridgetown Initiative developed by Barbados in 2021 and the debt pause used by Grenada in the Caribbean in 2015 after the country was devastated by storms. Last year, Barbados became the first country to sell bonds that give t...

Chris Sutton takes on boxer Molly McCann and The Boo Radley's frontman Sice Rowbottom plus the BBC readers and AI with his predictions for this weekend's Premier League fixtures.

Leapmotor T03. Value oriented model that could provide base for Opel or other European brands owned by Stellantis. Emirhan Karamuk/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Stellantis N.V., following a dreadful 2025 that included a $26.3 billion annual net loss, faces a long, steep and difficult recovery to remain viable in the face of rising competition from the Chinese automotive industry and uncertainty over regulation governing electrification in major markets. The automaker’s guidance for 2026, issued in late February, is relatively vague: “a mid-single-digit percent increase in net revenues, a low-single-digit AOI margin, and improved industrial free cash flow generation year over year. Sequential improvement is also expected from the first half to the second half of the year.” Data by YCharts An early green shoot – not yet indicative of too much – is Stellantis’ 4% first-quarter increase in its U.S. unit sales against the backdrop of a domestic industry that reported an approximate 6% market decline. Following a business reset in the U.S. with new leadership and a pivot favoring the company’s strongest nameplates, sales were boosted by the Ram pickup truck and the Jeep division. Production bump On April 15, Stellantis announced a 12% YOY global shipment increase of vehicles to dealers, a total of about 1.36 million units. Shipments were up significantly across all major regions. In the U.S., the increase was driven by demand for Ram 1500 Hemi V8, refreshed Jeep Grand Wagoneer and the all-new Jeep Cherokee, Stellantis said. General Motors Company ( GM ) and Ford Motor Company ( F ), which had invested heavily into battery electric vehicles (BEVs), both saw significant unit declines for the quarter in the U.S., evidence that Stellantis has the ability to claw back lost market share against its domestic rivals. Stellantis had been developing BEVs at a slower pace than its U.S. rivals. Following the exit of previous CEO Carlos Tavares and promotion of Antonio Filosa to t...

lcva2/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Microsoft ( MSFT ) continued its multi-day rally on Thursday as CEO Satya Nadella revealed their Fairweather data center in Wisconsin has gone online ahead of schedule. Shares were up nearly 2% by early afternoon trading. "Our Fairwater datacenter in Wisconsin is going live, ahead of schedule," Nadella said in a post on X on Thursday morning. "As the world's most powerful AI datacenter, it will bring together hundreds of thousands of GB200s into a single seamless cluster. Congrats to all the teams who made this possible!" The Fairweather data center is located on more than 300 acres in Mt. Pleasant, Wisc. It is projected to reach 3.3 GW of capacity by late 2027. Last October, Microsoft brought its Fairweather data center in Atlanta online. These sites are directly connected to each other and eventually to others under construction throughout the US. They operate under a new type of dedicated network, allowing for faster data flows between them. Microsoft shares have gained 12.5% over the past five trading sessions, which marks its strongest streak since 2020. More on Microsoft Microsoft: Cheap For All The Wrong Reasons Microsoft: Claude Just Threatened Copilot Adoption Microsoft: The New Standard Oil - Why 'Intelligence Refinery' Is Future Of Global Profit Microsoft stock climbs in historic multi-day rally Snapshot of Quant and Wall St. ratings for quantum computing stocks after Nvidia's latest push

Huang highlights cooperation needs while export limits persist and Nvidia expands investment and supply commitments to Anthropic.

Nkarta ( NKTX ) added ~13% on Thursday after the cell therapy developer said that the company reached an agreement with the U.S. FDA to change the protocol of a clinical program that allows outpatient dosing of its lead asset, NKX019. The ongoing Ntrust-1 and Ntrust-2 clinical trials are designed to evaluate NKX019 in patients living with autoimmune diseases such as lupus nephritis and primary membranous nephropathy. As part of the amended trial protocol, a requirement for overnight stays will no longer be in force, the South San Francisco, California-based biotech said. It will also reduce the overall treatment burden on trial subjects, as community research centers and rheumatologists will be allowed to administer NKX019 in outpatient settings. “Reaching agreement with the FDA on outpatient dosing—reducing the need for patient monitoring from 24 hours to 2 hours—will reduce patient burden and expand access,” CEO Paul Hastings remarked. The company is on track to present initial data from Ntrust-1 and Ntrust-2 at a medical conference this year. More on Nkarta Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Nkarta Historical earnings data for Nkarta Financial information for Nkarta

格隆汇4月17日｜据知情人士透露，特朗普正考虑任命Michael Murray领导美国司法部的反垄断事务。

Be careful with that leeway.

Key PointsYour first RMD can be delayed until Apr. 1 of the following year.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said on Thursday night that a key suspect in a corruption scandal that has sparked public outrage in the Philippines has been arrested in the Czech Republic and that efforts were under way to repatriate the former lawmaker. Zaldy Co, who resigned from the House of Representatives in September after being implicated in financial anomalies involving flood control projects, was detained by authorities in Prague after crossing into the Central European...

The lack of a unified digital repository for patients and healthcare workers means that key medical changes are often missed. But the NHS can learn from US intelligence sharing Will Parman is the winner of the The Guardian Foundation’s 2026 Emerging Voices award (19-25 age category), recognising young talent in political opinion writing As she battles cancer, my mum fears that she will forget to tell her consultant something important. Like many people with complex and chronic health needs, she clutches a Post-it note with 10 bullet-pointed symptoms, such as “cannot stand” and “spasms”. It is her companion during stressful appointments. We rehearse her list before we enter, and worry that we deviated too much when we leave. Even then, her peer-reviewed lists, sometimes on the back of envelopes, are inadequate when her condition may change day to day. Each list, too, must be tailored for each of her consultants – many lists get lost in her tall pile of notes and letters. I hate those car rides home when we’re upset that we didn’t say something important, fearing the consequences of this omission. In a health system in which people can wait more than a year for an appointment, you wonder how meticulous these Post-it notes need to be to convey every change in their medical condition since the initial referral letter. It raises the question of how many people have experienced this unsettling ride home. Will Parman is the winner of the The Guardian Foundation’s 2026 Emerging Voices award (19-25 age category), recognising young talent in political opinion writing Continue reading...

Pavel Herasimau/iStock via Getty Images By Elior Manier The US dollar is under some complex dynamics, still moving along with crude oil prices, and both are just stuck in the mud. The talks, supposed to begin today in Islamabad, haven't made it to the news yet, so it seems that there are some delays – the US is still eager to reach a deal, but Pete Hegseth, Head of the Department of War, just issued an address to reaffirm that the most powerful army is "to restart combat if Iran doesn't agree to a deal". Amid the borderline-insane price action in the stock markets, with two of the three major indexes reaching all-time highs (Nasdaq just set a new record in overnight trading) , participants are taking a break to await clearer developments. After all, at current levels, whether for the USD, stocks, or WTI, risks to the upside and downside are both extreme. WTI Crude and Dollar Index (DXY) Correlation since April 5 – Source:TradingView For now, crude has stopped its move to the downside and is even moving higher, keeping the broader market awaiting – you can see how significant the WTI-dollar correlation has remained throughout the entire Ceasefire. Hence, tracking oil is almost more important than the headlines themselves for Forex trading. Stock markets, on the other hand, did own heavy lifting, having relatively decoupled from Black Gold, but will be looking at the commodity for the next phase. In terms of pure geopolitics, the Israel-Lebanon talks under US supervision seem to be progressing smoothly, with a potential ceasefire in the coming hours/days. Hezbollah will have to be put on the side, and they are reportedly exerting heavy pressure to not enter into deals with Israel. The terrorist organization has prevented deals ever since 1993, the year when Jordan and Israel reached a peace deal that has held since. There have been reports that there are no more deadlocks in the US-Iran mediated negotiations – but these headlines haven't been as decisive to provide fu...

Getty Images The Invesco Variable Rate Preferred ETF ( VRP ) invests its assets primarily in floating and variable rate investment grade and below investment grade U.S. dollar-denominated preferred stock and hybrid debt securities issued by corporations in the U.S. domestic market. VRP has proven to be a fairly good allocation in rising interest rate environments. When other long-duration funds were suffering significant capital losses, VRP provided investors not just with relative capital protection but also with increasing income. Fund Facts (Public Info and Authors Compiled) Recent Performance Over the last five years, VRP has provided a total return CAGR of ~4.45% for investors. At present, the SEC yield stands at ~5.39% . While the above ~4.45% return CAGR might not look very strong on an absolute basis when the general stock market saw a tremendous run, the assessment is correct. However, when we moved to the fixed income trajectory, the situation was different. On a relative basis, the current return of ~4.45% exceeded the return of virtually every long-duration fixed income category with a high duration having an identical credit profile. Data by YCharts Interest rates saw a significant upcycle from the lower levels of late 2020 and have remained elevated since. The trajectory, however, has changed now in terms of forward expectations. The U.S. 10-year Treasury is hovering a little over ~4% for quite some time, and at the same time, expectations for potential rate cuts have been building. US10Y treasury rates ( Seeking Alpha ) In case of potential rate cuts, there would be a two-way disadvantage for an investor allocated to the Invesco Variable Rate Preferred ETF. Firstly, the rates in many of the fund’s underlying holdings would tend to be adjusted downward, which would impact the distributions for the unitholders. Secondly, the fund, by virtue of its low duration and variable rate features, would not be able to participate in any capital appreciation, unli...

AMD may bring back the Ryzen 7 5800X3D to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the AM4 platform. GameGPU

The United States market has shown robust performance, rising 3.4% over the last week and an impressive 35% over the past year, with earnings expected to grow by 16% annually. In such a thriving environment, growth companies with high insider ownership can be particularly appealing as they often indicate strong confidence from those closest to the business.

Why Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Stock Popped on Thursday The Motley Fool

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a mixed note on Thursday with investors mostly making cautious moves, digesting corporate earnings updates and regional economic data, while continuing to focus on geopolitical news.

由于内存芯片成本上涨，Meta Platforms提高了其虚拟现实（VR）头戴式设备的价格，加入了消费电子行业近期的涨价浪潮。Meta宣布，公司将把入门级Quest 3S头显的起售价上调50美元，高端的Quest 3型号上调100美元。调整后，128GB版本的Quest 3S售价为350美元，256GB版本为450美元；Quest 3的最新售价为600美元。与其他科技公司类似，Meta也面临人工智能热潮带来的内存成本上升和供应链短缺问题。苹果和微软均已提高部分笔记本电脑价格，三星也上调了一些手机的售价。与此同时，其他头显厂商也纷纷提价或推迟产品上市。（财联社）

Key PointsSleep Number’s debt-funded $1.56 billion buybacks now sit against a market cap of roughly $47 million.

Broadcom (AVGO) Stock Surges 28% After Sealing Deals With Google and Anthropic CoinCentral

May arabica coffee (KCK26 ) today is down -7.30 (-2.40%), and May ICE robusta coffee (RMK26 ) is down -38 (-1.08%). Coffee prices are under pressure today from a stronger dollar. The dollar index ($DXY ) recovered from a 6-week low today and moved higher, sparking long liquidation in coffee...

MicroStockHub/iStock via Getty Images In 2016, I made a life-changing decision: I took a sabbatical, put my family in a small RV, and we drove all the way to Costa Rica. Upon my return in 2017, I officially quit my job as a private banker at National Bank and started working full-time on my baby: Dividend Stocks Rock. I also decided to manage my pension account held at the National Bank. I’ve built and managed this portfolio publicly since 2017 to create and track a real-life case study. In August 2017, I received $108,760.02 in a locked retirement account. Locked means I can’t add capital to the account, and growth is only generated through capital gains and dividends. I don’t report this portfolio’s results to brag about my returns or to suggest you follow my lead. My purpose has been solely to share with our members how I manage my portfolio with all the good and the bad that inevitably takes place each month. I hope you have learned and will continue to learn from my experiences managing this portfolio. Q1 2026 In Review I’ve been fully invested in stocks since 2003, and the market never ceases to amaze me. When you ask me what I think will happen “this year” or what will be the best sector to invest in, I always answer the same way: Your guess is as good as mine You know why? Because we never know what will happen next! Once again, the stock market confirms that I am right. There is no point in trying to figure out what will happen over the next 12 months. But first, the results! Performance in Review Let’s start with the numbers as of April 6 th , 2026 (before the bell): Original amount invested in September 2017 (no additional capital added): $108,760.02. Current portfolio value: $321,406.88 Dividends paid: $5,329.86 (TTM) Average yield: 1.66% 2025 performance: +7.34% VFV.TO= +12.18%, XIU.TO = +28.88% Dividend growth: +1.5% Total return since inception (Sep 2017- November 2025): +195.52% Annualized return (101 months): 13.74% Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF ( VFV:...

AMD, Onsemi and Semtech on Thursday broke out of proper bases, following a host of chip stocks that have staged breakouts recently.

Glyn Razzell is approved for parole despite never revealing the location of his wife's body.

Built on tar swamps and two tortuous decades in the making, LACMA’s latest addition used twice as much metal as the Eiffel Tower. How did America supersize revered architect Peter Zumthor? Driving down the palm-lined strip of Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, a striking new crossing heaves into view. A ribbon of glass leaps over the road, sandwiched between two gigantic planes of concrete. As you get closer, the bridge swells out in sinuous arcs, swooping back on itself to inscribe an amoebic, shape-shifting blob, spreading out like an inkblot. From some angles it has a retro-futuristic air, recalling a Jetsons airport terminal, or one of California’s “Googie” style gas stations . From others, the curving roof looks like a great big tongue, flaring out to give the neighbours a raspy lick. This concrete colossus is home to the new David Geffen Galleries of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma), a $724m mothership designed by the fabled Swiss architect Peter Zumthor . It is less a museum than a mighty piece of infrastructure, a 110,000 sq ft warehouse-cum-bridge, jacked up nine metres in the air and looming above the street with a brooding, muscular heft. Two decades in the making, and subject to tortuous years of delays, controversies and cost escalations – building on a tar swamp in a seismic zone is not straightforward – it finally opens this weekend. The Fitzcarraldian feat is the brainchild of Michael Govan, who became Lacma’s director in 2006 with an ambition to build a museum like no other, using the promise of a dazzling structure to lure donations of artworks and dollars ($125m came from LA county, the rest was fundraised). Govan cut his teeth at the Guggenheim, and on Frank Gehry’s Bilbao outpost, where he clearly got a taste for the transformative fairy dust of signature architecture. He later moved to Dia:Beacon, in New York’s Hudson Valley, where he commissioned Zumthor for a project that was ultimately unrealised . At Lacma, he was determined to ...

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire starting on Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced, in a move that could ease some of the tension straining Washington’s temporary truce with Tehran. Trump said the ceasefire, which comes into effect at 5pm EST, followed what he described as “excellent conversations” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. “These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries,...

From PayPal to Palantir: What Peter Thiel's Track Record Means for Patient Shareholders Today AOL.com