Gold has become a safe haven for many investors amid global turmoil, including the recent Middle East war. At the same time, volatile US policy has tarnished the appeal of the US Federal Reserve as a secure place for central banks to store reserves, creating a golden opportunity for China and especially Hong Kong. The biggest sign of shifting confidence came from the Bank of France. Radio France I...
Gold has become a safe haven for many investors amid global turmoil, including the recent Middle East war. At the same time, volatile US policy has tarnished the appeal of the US Federal Reserve as a secure place for central banks to store reserves, creating a golden opportunity for China and especially Hong Kong. The biggest sign of shifting confidence came from the Bank of France. Radio France Internationale reported on April 4 that the central bank had replaced its remaining gold reserves...
Ukrainian ground robots and drones have demonstrated how to overcome a Russian military position by themselves while forcing the surrender of Russian soldiers, claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. If true, that would represent a significant robotic milestone during the ongoing war that has already been significantly reshaped by drones—and it could offer lessons for how militaries world...
Ukrainian ground robots and drones have demonstrated how to overcome a Russian military position by themselves while forcing the surrender of Russian soldiers, claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. If true, that would represent a significant robotic milestone during the ongoing war that has already been significantly reshaped by drones—and it could offer lessons for how militaries worldwide may use robots and drones to do the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in future conflicts. The claim by Zelenskyy has not been independently verified but was accompanied by a promotional video in which he described Ukraine’s military robots as having completed over 22,000 missions in the last three months. Ukraine’s defense ministry also recently described a threefold increase in the Ukrainian military’s uncrewed ground vehicle missions over the last five months, with more than 9,000 robotic missions conducted in March, according to Scripps News . The growing robotic ground presence represents a new trend in a war that has become synonymous with drones. Zelenskyy’s statement may refer to an event that occurred in the Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine last year, according to The Independent . It referenced a statement by the Ukrainian 3rd Separate Assault Brigade detailing how the unit had used flying drones and “kamikaze” ground robots to attack fortified Russian frontline positions at that time. The brigade’s statement also described Russian soldiers as surrendering to one of the unit’s robots after abandoning the battered fortifications. There are previous examples of individual or small groups of Russian soldiers surrendering to Ukrainian drones and even a robot while being recorded on video, so the idea of a group of Russian soldiers surrendering their position and themselves to a robot is not necessarily far-fetched. The battlefield exploits of such robots were also featured in a recent video by the Ukrainian government-run platform United24, which described a...
Adam Peaty puts on an "astonishing" performance in the men's 100m breaststroke final, with a time of 58.97 seconds at the Acquatics Great British Swimming Championships.
Adam Peaty puts on an "astonishing" performance in the men's 100m breaststroke final, with a time of 58.97 seconds at the Acquatics Great British Swimming Championships.
Alones Creative/iStock via Getty Images The Iran ceasefire is technically still in place, but barely. The first round of peace talks ended without agreement , the White House has threatened a naval blockade of Iranian shipping ( and tolled ) traffic, and President Trump said Iranian ships impeding US warships would be eliminated. The ceasefire has not collapsed, but it is hard to find a silver lin...
Alones Creative/iStock via Getty Images The Iran ceasefire is technically still in place, but barely. The first round of peace talks ended without agreement , the White House has threatened a naval blockade of Iranian shipping ( and tolled ) traffic, and President Trump said Iranian ships impeding US warships would be eliminated. The ceasefire has not collapsed, but it is hard to find a silver lining as things currently stand. We started writing this piece last week, positioning for a low-probability breakdown hedge that the market was ignoring. The probability is no longer low. The ceasefire is fragile enough that a single headline can swing oil six percent in either direction, and the market is struggling to price a wide distribution of outcomes. We decided to put together a menu of hedge trades, five longs and five shorts, for a potential ceasefire breakdown. Traditional wisdom during previous Middle East flare-ups has been to go long defense, and short airlines. In our view, there is limited alpha in these trades. We are looking for derivative positions that the market has not fully priced-in. Where Things Stand The ceasefire, which took effect on April 8th, is still nominally holding, but the diplomatic route has been erratic. US-Iran talks over the weekend ended without agreement, and both sides are back in their respective corners. The White House has openly threatened a Hormuz blockade while minesweeping activities were conducted, and the US military has said it can blockade Iranian ports if ordered. When the market first digested the threat, WTI spiked above $100. It has since pulled back to the high $80s on the White House floating renewed peace talks . The structural case does not change on a single headline. Despite this, the ceasefire terms themselves were always narrow. They address direct state-on-state strikes and leave gaps for proxy activity in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon. There is nothing enforceable on Iran’s nuclear timeline. Stars and Strip...
Guido Mieth/DigitalVision via Getty Images Back in early November of last year, I made the decision to upgrade Cathay General Bancorp ( CATY ) from a "Hold" to a "Buy." This was based on improved valuation for the company, on top of solid financial performance that management had achieved. There were some concerns, leading me to classify this as a cautious upgrade. High uninsured deposit exposure ...
Guido Mieth/DigitalVision via Getty Images Back in early November of last year, I made the decision to upgrade Cathay General Bancorp ( CATY ) from a "Hold" to a "Buy." This was based on improved valuation for the company, on top of solid financial performance that management had achieved. There were some concerns, leading me to classify this as a cautious upgrade. High uninsured deposit exposure was one such example. However, that call has proven to be successful so far. Since the time that article was published, the S&P 500 is down 2.4%. By comparison, Cathay General Bancorp is up a solid 13.6%. This comes off the back of strong financial performance for the most recent quarter, and it stands as evidence that the market is finally attributing value to just how high quality the assets of the institution happen to be. Upside is more limited now that the stock has risen as much as it has. But I still believe it's worthy of a soft "Buy" rating. Checking In On Cathay General Bancorp As of this writing, the newest data that investors have regarding Cathay General Bancorp covers the final quarter of the company's 2026 fiscal year. During that time, the deposits of the institution expanded to $20.89 billion. That's actually up from the $20.52 billion that the company had in the third quarter, and it translates to a nice rise over the $19.69 billion it ended 2024 with. It is worth noting that about $1.59 billion, or 7.6%, of its deposits are high-cost broker deposits. That's not terribly high, but obviously the lower this is, the better, in my view. The bigger issue is the fact that about $10.19 billion, or 48.8%, of the firm’s deposits are classified as uninsured. This is quite a bit higher than I typically would like it to be. My maximum threshold is usually around 30%. Author - SEC EDGAR Data As deposits increased, the value of loans grew. The firm ended 2024 with $19.20 billion of loans on its books. By 2025, that number had increased to $19.94 billion. Over half of th...
The US Securities and Exchange Commission gave the go-ahead for sweeping changes to a restriction on day-trading activity by small investors on Tuesday in a move cheered by retail brokers. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority , Wall Street’s self-regulatory watchdog, had proposed reworking the pattern day trading rule, which bans a trader from making more than four day-trades in a five-day ...
The US Securities and Exchange Commission gave the go-ahead for sweeping changes to a restriction on day-trading activity by small investors on Tuesday in a move cheered by retail brokers. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority , Wall Street’s self-regulatory watchdog, had proposed reworking the pattern day trading rule, which bans a trader from making more than four day-trades in a five-day period if their margin account has less than $25,000 in assets. The new margin standards, which require customers to have enough equity in their account to cover the risks they run at that moment, will apply to all investors rather than just small ones. Public feedback “overwhelmingly supported” the plan, which includes the “elimination of the $25,000 minimum equity requirements and definition of pattern day trader,” SEC Assistant Secretary Sherry Haywood wrote in an order . Steve Quirk, chief brokerage officer of Robinhood Markets Inc. , said in an email that FINRA’s updates were a “significant step forward in empowering retail investors.” “By eliminating antiquated barriers, this change better reflects the modern trading landscape and ensures everyone has the freedom to invest and participate in the markets on their own terms,” Quirk said. Reforms to pattern day trading restrictions are “long overdue,” said Anthony Denier , group president of Webull Corp.
Cook is Nike’s lead independent director and has been on the company board since 2005. Cook bought $3 million worth of shares in Nike at the end of December. After the purchase, Cook holds 130,480 Nike shares, worth about $5.7 million based on Tuesday’s closing price.
Cook is Nike’s lead independent director and has been on the company board since 2005. Cook bought $3 million worth of shares in Nike at the end of December. After the purchase, Cook holds 130,480 Nike shares, worth about $5.7 million based on Tuesday’s closing price.
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) , which provides enterprise software and cloud computing services, closed Tuesday at $163.00, up 4.74%. The stock moved higher following yesterday’s announcement of a major data center power deal with Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) . Trading volume reached 58.2 million shares, coming in about 107% above its three-month average of 28.1 million shares. Oracle IPO'd in 1986 and has grown 2...
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) , which provides enterprise software and cloud computing services, closed Tuesday at $163.00, up 4.74%. The stock moved higher following yesterday’s announcement of a major data center power deal with Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) . Trading volume reached 58.2 million shares, coming in about 107% above its three-month average of 28.1 million shares. Oracle IPO'd in 1986 and has grown 257,517% since going public. Continue reading