Alex Wong/Getty Images News The Trump administration is weighing a plan to relocate U.S. troops away from NATO countries that opposed the Iran war effort, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing adminis tration officials. The proposal would move U.S. forces fr om nations deemed unhelpful and station them in more supportive allied countries. While falling short of Trump’s recent threats ...
Alex Wong/Getty Images News The Trump administration is weighing a plan to relocate U.S. troops away from NATO countries that opposed the Iran war effort, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing adminis tration officials. The proposal would move U.S. forces fr om nations deemed unhelpful and station them in more supportive allied countries. While falling short of Trump’s recent threats to fully withdraw from NATO—something he cannot do without Congressional approval—the plan signals deepening tensions between Washington and European allies. “It’s quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the last six weeks when it’s the American people who have been funding their defense,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. Several allies have drawn administration ire. Spain blocked U.S. planes from its airspace, Italy briefly denied access to an air base in Sicily and German officials criticized the war publicly. The plan could include closing bases in Spain or Germany. Eastern European nations viewed as supportive—including Poland, Romania, Lithuania, and Greece—could receive additional troops , the WSJ reported . These countries maintain some of the highest defense spending rates in the alliance and quickly approved U.S. requests for base access. The White House didn't immediately respond to Seeking Alpha's request for comnent. Dear readers : We recognize that politics often intersects with the financial news of the day, so we invite you to click here to join the separate political discussion. More on the Markets U.S. Defense Stock Underperformance: What The Market Is Telling Us Dow Jones And U.S. Stock Market Outlook - Bulls Are Back In Vengeance After The U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Short Selling Points To Higher Prices SA analyst: Stocks surge on ceasefire, but risks still loom beneath rally Hedge funds rush to cover shorts as ceasefire sparks rally - report
Torsten Asmus/iStock via Getty Images Treasury Bond Trading Surges Treasury bond trading has surged over the past six weeks as the ramifications of the conflict in the Middle East come into focus. Average daily volume of trading Treasury securities exceeded $1 trillion each and every day in March, an all-time high. This is up from 86% of the days in February and 81% of the days in January. Bloombe...
Torsten Asmus/iStock via Getty Images Treasury Bond Trading Surges Treasury bond trading has surged over the past six weeks as the ramifications of the conflict in the Middle East come into focus. Average daily volume of trading Treasury securities exceeded $1 trillion each and every day in March, an all-time high. This is up from 86% of the days in February and 81% of the days in January. Bloomberg The average daily volume of Treasury trades was $1.4 trillion for March, a new monthly record. It is 20% higher than February and 7% above the previous monthly high of $1.3 trillion, set last April, when Liberation Day introduced the imposition of new tariffs on our trading partners. Primary Dealers Are Increasing Their Positions Primary Dealers are at the center of all trading activity in Treasury Bonds. They are the market makers, and profit from each trade that is executed. The Primary Dealers have also become more significant players in positioning Treasury Securities for their own account, as well. Primary Dealer Treasury holdings have risen to an all-time high of $510 billion as of the most recent reporting period put out by the New York Fed. New York Fed This is up 13% YTD, and up 51% since the Debt Ceiling was lifted last July. While the overall Treasury market has grown significantly since then, rising by $3 trillion to $39.1 trillion, Primary Dealer Treasury positions have increased at a faster rate. Primary Dealers now own 1.6% of the Publicly Held Treasury Bonds Outstanding, up from 1.1% when the Debt Ceiling was raised last summer. U.S. Treasury and NY Fed Primary Dealer Treasury holdings have also quadrupled since 2022, when the Fed began reducing their Treasury exposure through Quantitative Tightening. New Supplementary Leverage Ratio Standards Have Enabled Balance Sheet Expansion One of the constraints restricting Primary Dealers has been the Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR), which is a measure of a bank’s Tier 1 Capital relative to its total leverage. ...
No Real People Were Polled: AI Is Now Fabricating What "The Public Thinks" The other day Axios ran a piece that cited "findings" that a majority of people trusted their doctors and nurses. Turns out, those "findings" were completely fabricated by a company called Aaru - using AI (causing Axios to issue an editor's note and 'clarification')Aaru uses something they call " silicon sampling ," where l...
No Real People Were Polled: AI Is Now Fabricating What "The Public Thinks" The other day Axios ran a piece that cited "findings" that a majority of people trusted their doctors and nurses. Turns out, those "findings" were completely fabricated by a company called Aaru - using AI (causing Axios to issue an editor's note and 'clarification')Aaru uses something they call " silicon sampling ," where large language models (the AI) can emulate humans at a fraction of the cost and time required for traditional polling, the NY Times reports. Silicon sampling isn’t polling . It is the outright fabrication of public opinion by machines - and major news outlets and research firms are now publishing those fabrications as legitimate findings. This is not an isolated slip. The technology is being embraced by some of the biggest names in media, polling, and corporate research. Gallup has partnered with the startup Simile to create thousands of AI-generated “digital twins” that stand in for real people. Ipsos is working with Stanford to pioneer synthetic data for public opinion studies. CVS, whose venture arm invested in Simile, is already using these fabricated insights to shape customer strategy. And outlets like Axios are treating the output as news. The entire point of polling has always been authenticity - capturing what actual humans actually think (after oversampling your preferred party to make it look like as if people like Hillary Clinton). That process is imperfect and messy. Let’s say a pollster wants to learn how many people in the United States are in favor of a certain policy measure, but the pollster ends up with a survey that includes 80 percent Republicans and only 20 percent Democrats. The pollster may think that in reality the country is closer to a 50-50 split, so the results are rebalanced to reflect that perceived reality. This means that the percentages you read as the results of polling are the output of the model, not numbers from the actual survey data. T...
周三，Meta发布了其宣称迄今最强大的 AI 模型，这是该公司全面推进 AI 转型布局的关键一环。 这款名为 Muse Spark 的模型，是 Meta Superintelligence Labs推出的首款产品，该实验室由 CEO 马克・扎克伯格于去年 6 月正式公布。 据报道，其成立的原因是首席执行官马克·扎克伯格 对 Meta 及其 Llama 模型的发展进度感到不满 ，认为它们落后于 Op...
周三，Meta发布了其宣称迄今最强大的 AI 模型，这是该公司全面推进 AI 转型布局的关键一环。 这款名为 Muse Spark 的模型，是 Meta Superintelligence Labs推出的首款产品，该实验室由 CEO 马克・扎克伯格于去年 6 月正式公布。 据报道，其成立的原因是首席执行官马克·扎克伯格 对 Meta 及其 Llama 模型的发展进度感到不满 ，认为它们落后于 OpenAI 的 ChatGPT 和 Anthropic 的 Claude。 随后扎克伯格招揽了一众 AI 领域顶尖人才，包括 Scale.AI 创始人Alexandr Wang，并正式组建 Meta Superintelligence Labs。 午间交易时段，Meta 股价涨幅超 9%。 Alexandr Wang在 X 平台发文称，Meta 目前已将 Muse Spark 应用于旗下 Meta AI 服务，且公司已着手研发更大规模的模型。 扎克伯格则在 Facebook 发文介绍了这款 AI 的全新能力，表示：“它是一款世界级智能助手，在个人超级智能相关领域表现尤为突出，比如视觉理解、健康、社交内容、购物、游戏等诸多方面。” Meta 表示，Muse Spark 可分派多个子智能体执行不同任务，以完成各类用户需求。举例而言，用户如今可通过 Meta AI 规划家庭旅行。该 AI 的多个子智能体将同步拟定行程、对比备选目的地、筛选可参与的活动。 这款 AI 还具备图像识别能力，可对识别内容提供分析解读。比如用户拍摄机场商店货架上的零食，Meta AI 会展示相关商品信息，并告知哪一款蛋白质或卡路里含量最高。 对 Meta 而言至关重要的是，Alexandr Wang在 X 平台写道，Muse Spark 的深度思考模式，“可与 Gemini Deep Think、GPT Pro 等其他顶级推理模型相抗衡”。 模型评估文件显示，Muse Spark 在部分评测维度超越 Anthropic 、谷歌、OpenAI、xAI 的 AI 模型，但在其他领域仍存在差距。 与此前 AI 模型不同，Meta 此次并未将 Muse Spark 开源，但表示未来版本计划开放源码。 与其他科技巨头一样，Meta 正斥资数十亿美元布局 AI 建设。最新季度财报显示，公司预计 2026 年 AI 相关...
In the latest look at the underlying components of the S&P 500 ordered by largest market capitalization, Raymond James Financial Inc (Symbol: RJF) has taken over the #325 spot from Citizens Financial Group Inc (Symbol: CFG), according to The Online Investor. Market capit
In the latest look at the underlying components of the S&P 500 ordered by largest market capitalization, Raymond James Financial Inc (Symbol: RJF) has taken over the #325 spot from Citizens Financial Group Inc (Symbol: CFG), according to The Online Investor. Market capit
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is among the best performing cybersecurity stocks in 2025. On March 27, Barclays named Google parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) among its best compute stocks. The firm sees Alphabet as well positioned to benefit from AI infrastructure buildout. It’s projected that AI infrastructure spending by large cloud service providers and AI labs could […]
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is among the best performing cybersecurity stocks in 2025. On March 27, Barclays named Google parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) among its best compute stocks. The firm sees Alphabet as well positioned to benefit from AI infrastructure buildout. It’s projected that AI infrastructure spending by large cloud service providers and AI labs could […]
Brookdale's ( BKD ) occupancy improved in March , the operator of senior living communities said on Wednesday. Month-end occupancy rose to 83.3% in March, up a tick from 83.2% in February and 80.9% in March 2025. Same-community weighted average occupancy was 82.5% in March, compared with 82.7% in February and 81.2% in March 2025. For Q1 2026, weighted average occupancy grew 280 basis points year-o...
Brookdale's ( BKD ) occupancy improved in March , the operator of senior living communities said on Wednesday. Month-end occupancy rose to 83.3% in March, up a tick from 83.2% in February and 80.9% in March 2025. Same-community weighted average occupancy was 82.5% in March, compared with 82.7% in February and 81.2% in March 2025. For Q1 2026, weighted average occupancy grew 280 basis points year-over-year to 82.1%, but slipped 40 bps from Q4 2025. Historically, Brookdale's ( BKD ) Q1 occupancy has declined by an average of 60 bps from the prior quarter, reflecting such factors as winter weather, illnesses, rate changes, and holidays. The company historically has its strongest occupancy growth period of the year from May through September. Brookdale ( BKD ) stock ticked down 0.1% in after-hours trading. More on Brookdale Senior Living Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (BKD) Presents at Barclays 28th Annual Global Healthcare Conference Transcript Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (BKD) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Brookdale Senior Living Inc. 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Boomer economy: The wealthiest generation and when that could change Brookdale outlines 8%–9% RevPAR growth target for 2026 with focus on portfolio optimization and operational excellence
General Dynamics Land Systems ( GD ) on Tuesday said it secured a $450 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to advance development of its proposed Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle, moving the program into its pre-production phase. Design validation and testing The agreement covers the pre-production development phase of the competition, which will center on validating the vehicle’s final des...
General Dynamics Land Systems ( GD ) on Tuesday said it secured a $450 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to advance development of its proposed Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle, moving the program into its pre-production phase. Design validation and testing The agreement covers the pre-production development phase of the competition, which will center on validating the vehicle’s final design and producing several units. These vehicles will represent a portion of the broader family of reconnaissance variants the Marine Corps is expected to field. Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (General Dynamics) Once built, the vehicles will undergo a series of government-led test and evaluation activities to assess performance and readiness. Program builds on earlier prototype work The company said its prototype vehicle has already been tested during earlier stages of the competition. Keith Barclay, general manager of U.S. Operations at General Dynamics Land Systems, said in a statement that the firm believes the design is capable of meeting the Marine Corps’ operational requirements based on results so far. The executive added that the company plans to continue working closely with the service as the program advances, with the goal of delivering a new reconnaissance capability if selected for full production. More on General Dynamics General Dynamics: Poised To Benefit From High Volume Of Government Contracts General Dynamics: Inexpensive Defense Leader General Dynamics Looks Undervalued As Submarines And Business Jets Ramp Wars cut output and force hard fiscal trade-offs, IMF says SA Sentiment: Defense spending seen rising over the next decade
Clothing retailer Aritzia Inc. ’s shares rallied the most in nearly a year and led the Canadian equity benchmark higher on Wednesday, as data showed sales got a big boost from the latest spring collection and prospects for an end to the Iran war broadly spurred risk sentiment. The Vancouver-based company’s stock climbed 9.5% to C$124.99, making it not only the top performer but also the only retai...
Clothing retailer Aritzia Inc. ’s shares rallied the most in nearly a year and led the Canadian equity benchmark higher on Wednesday, as data showed sales got a big boost from the latest spring collection and prospects for an end to the Iran war broadly spurred risk sentiment. The Vancouver-based company’s stock climbed 9.5% to C$124.99, making it not only the top performer but also the only retailer among the top 10 biggest percentage gainers on the S&P/TSX Composite, which closed up 1.2% in Toronto on Wednesday. “Aritzia probably has the highest growth prospects of, I think almost any retail name out there,” said Bloomberg Intelligence equity senior analyst Mary Ross Gilbert . “I don’t know of another retail name that is growing as fast as they are.” The company’s growth opportunities prompted National Bank Financial analyst Vishal Shreedhar to begin covering Aritzia with an outperform rating late Wednesday, saying its US expansion has been building momentum. Aritzia’s observable sales for the week ending March 29 more than doubled from a year ago, according to Bloomberg Second Measure’s data published Monday. Japanese holding company Fast Retailing was a distant second, with a 26.1% year-over-year increase for the same period. The data came from a sample of credit and debit card purchases made by US consumers. The US accounted for almost 60% Aritzia’s sales in the third quarter. An early read into Aritzia’s sales suggested the spring clothing collection is being well-received and that momentum should continue, according to TD Cowen analyst Brian Morrison . If the Middle East conflict gets resolved, he added he sees the potential for Aritzia to beat analyst estimates in its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results expected in a few weeks. Shares of the company had slipped 5.5% through Tuesday since the beginning of the Iran war in late February. The resulting spike in energy prices stoked concerns over accelerating inflation that could weigh down consumer spending. An e...
Legendary investor Warren Buffett advises to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. One way we can try to measure the level of fear in a given stock is through a technical analysis indicator called the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which me
Legendary investor Warren Buffett advises to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. One way we can try to measure the level of fear in a given stock is through a technical analysis indicator called the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which me
Assertio Holdings ( ASRT ) announced on Wednesday a definitive agreement to be acquired by Garda Therapeutics for $18 per share in cash, or a total cash consideration of $125.1M, plus a contingent value right related to potential future milestones for Sprix. In connection with the Garda Transaction, the company has signed and closed an agreement to sell all non-Rolvedon assets to Cosette Pharmaceu...
Assertio Holdings ( ASRT ) announced on Wednesday a definitive agreement to be acquired by Garda Therapeutics for $18 per share in cash, or a total cash consideration of $125.1M, plus a contingent value right related to potential future milestones for Sprix. In connection with the Garda Transaction, the company has signed and closed an agreement to sell all non-Rolvedon assets to Cosette Pharmaceuticals for an up-front payment of $35M plus earnouts related to certain product milestones. The Garda transaction represents a 34.6% premium to the company’s unaffected stock price on March 20, 2026. The closing of the Garda transaction is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2026. Following the completion of the tender offer, Assertio’s common stock will no longer be listed for trading on Nasdaq. ASRT -1.14% after hours to $18.2. Source: Press Release More on Assertio Holdings Assertio: Why I'm Selling The Rally (Rating Downgrade) Assertio outlines $110M–$125M 2026 revenue target with Rolvedon at the core while shifting business development approach Assertio regains Nasdaq compliance after bid price recovery Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Assertio Holdings
Investor Stephanie Link is trading in some of her gains in energy providers for technology stocks. Link, the chief investment strategist at Hightower Advisors, said on CNBC's " Power Lunch " Wednesday that she decided to sell her position in Chevron and exchange it for new names in the technology sector . For one thing, Link said that she wanted to realize her 35% gain in Chevron. She said she sti...
Investor Stephanie Link is trading in some of her gains in energy providers for technology stocks. Link, the chief investment strategist at Hightower Advisors, said on CNBC's " Power Lunch " Wednesday that she decided to sell her position in Chevron and exchange it for new names in the technology sector . For one thing, Link said that she wanted to realize her 35% gain in Chevron. She said she still holds a "really big" position in oilfield services play SLB , formerly Schlumberger. "Nothing wrong with Chevron … I just made money, and I wanted to put it elsewhere," Link said on the show. "I did take that money and I bought a whole bunch of technology names, new names." Link didn't identify the tech stocks she added to her holdings. But the investor highlighted several stocks that she likes that are helping drive the data center revolution, including power infrastructure provider Quanta Services . "They are in so many parts of the whole food chain," she said, noting that Quanta is a beneficiary of trends in data centers, growing power demand and the need to upgrade the power grid. "So they're part of every different segment, which is why I like it so much," she added, saying it's a stock that an investor could buy and easily forget about for "a decade" or so. Shares of Quanta Services have surged 37% so far this year. Link named Vertiv and Eaton as two other attractive power stocks. "The easy way to play it is Nvidia or Broadcom , the technology side of things," Link said, when asked about potential stock compounders in energy. "I think less popular are all the" pock-and-shovel companies that are necessary to build out artificial intelligence. "So I own a boatload of these things." Shares of Vertiv and Eaton are trading 74% and 21% higher, respectively, in 2026.
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) on Wednesday closed up +2.51%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI ) (DIA ) closed up +2.85%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) closed up +2.90%. June E-mini S&P futures (ESM26 ) rose +2.52%, and June E-mini Nasdaq futures...
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) on Wednesday closed up +2.51%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI ) (DIA ) closed up +2.85%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) closed up +2.90%. June E-mini S&P futures (ESM26 ) rose +2.52%, and June E-mini Nasdaq futures...
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Bank of America Corp (Symbol: BAC) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $50.90, changing hands as high as $52.26 per share. Bank of America Corp shares are currently trading up about 3% on the day. The chart below shows the one year
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Bank of America Corp (Symbol: BAC) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $50.90, changing hands as high as $52.26 per share. Bank of America Corp shares are currently trading up about 3% on the day. The chart below shows the one year
In trading on Wednesday, shares of PPG Industries Inc (Symbol: PPG) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $108.31, changing hands as high as $111.01 per share. PPG Industries Inc shares are currently trading up about 7.8% on the day. The chart below shows the one year
In trading on Wednesday, shares of PPG Industries Inc (Symbol: PPG) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $108.31, changing hands as high as $111.01 per share. PPG Industries Inc shares are currently trading up about 7.8% on the day. The chart below shows the one year
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Wells Fargo & Co (Symbol: WFC) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $84.30, changing hands as high as $85.73 per share. Wells Fargo & Co shares are currently trading up about 3.5% on the day. The chart below shows the one yea
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Wells Fargo & Co (Symbol: WFC) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $84.30, changing hands as high as $85.73 per share. Wells Fargo & Co shares are currently trading up about 3.5% on the day. The chart below shows the one yea
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Radian Group, Inc. (Symbol: RDN) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $34.49, changing hands as high as $34.87 per share. Radian Group, Inc. shares are currently trading up about 1.1% on the day. The chart below shows the one year pe
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Radian Group, Inc. (Symbol: RDN) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $34.49, changing hands as high as $34.87 per share. Radian Group, Inc. shares are currently trading up about 1.1% on the day. The chart below shows the one year pe
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Stepan Co. (Symbol: SCL) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $50.50, changing hands as high as $51.69 per share. Stepan Co. shares are currently trading up about 3.8% on the day. The chart below shows the one year performance of SCL
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Stepan Co. (Symbol: SCL) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $50.50, changing hands as high as $51.69 per share. Stepan Co. shares are currently trading up about 3.8% on the day. The chart below shows the one year performance of SCL
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Insteel Industries, Inc. (Symbol: IIIN) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $34.95, changing hands as high as $35.53 per share. Insteel Industries, Inc. shares are currently trading up about 4.5% on the day. The chart below shows th
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Insteel Industries, Inc. (Symbol: IIIN) crossed above their 200 day moving average of $34.95, changing hands as high as $35.53 per share. Insteel Industries, Inc. shares are currently trading up about 4.5% on the day. The chart below shows th