Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool Elgar’s more-tea-vicar salon Victoriana sat primly beside Simpson’s cataclysmic celebration of occultism, while Sibelius’s climactic payoff needed a bigger buildup Elgar’s much-loved Serenade for Strings was given its unofficial 1892 premiere by the amateurs of the Worcester Ladies’ Orchestral Class. The perfect piece of salon Victoriana, it was an ideal more-tea-vicar...
Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool Elgar’s more-tea-vicar salon Victoriana sat primly beside Simpson’s cataclysmic celebration of occultism, while Sibelius’s climactic payoff needed a bigger buildup Elgar’s much-loved Serenade for Strings was given its unofficial 1892 premiere by the amateurs of the Worcester Ladies’ Orchestral Class. The perfect piece of salon Victoriana, it was an ideal more-tea-vicar, bone-china-and-bread-and-butter scene-setter for the cataclysmic eruptions of Mark Simpson’s The Immortal. Inspired by Victorian occultism, Simpson’s 2015 oratorio invites its audience to a Victorian seance. Texts collated by Melanie Challenger represent the scattered anxieties, pleas and nonsense of the automatic writing produced by mediums of the time. Against these are set the words of Frederic Myers: founder of the Society for Psychical Research, obsessed with the afterlife since the suicide of his childhood sweetheart. Continue reading...
DNY59/iStock via Getty Images Introduction What a wild couple of weeks the market has seen since the war in the Middle East reaccelerated, and it’s all happened after major fears over AI, jobs, and CapEx spending in 2026. As a result, the S&P 500 ( SPX ) has dropped about 7% YTD, while the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) is down almost 10%. My own risky portfolio, the one I usually discuss here on Seeking...
DNY59/iStock via Getty Images Introduction What a wild couple of weeks the market has seen since the war in the Middle East reaccelerated, and it’s all happened after major fears over AI, jobs, and CapEx spending in 2026. As a result, the S&P 500 ( SPX ) has dropped about 7% YTD, while the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) is down almost 10%. My own risky portfolio, the one I usually discuss here on Seeking Alpha, has dropped about 10% over this timeframe, which is not surprising given my heavy focus on the tech sector and AI. Data by YCharts I know how painful it can be for investors, and especially for those who are just getting started. I started this specific portfolio in April 2025, one year ago, adding money gradually, slowly at first, and investing most closely to the mid-end of 2025. Even though I've left about 20% of my cash untouched, it's hard to view this drop as a buying opportunity while my portfolio is in the red. At the same time, I am not in this position for the first time. As a Ukrainian living in Israel who began investing (never did it before) only one year before the war in Ukraine began and the market went into a 2022-2023 pullback, taking my newly created portfolio into 2 years of "losses", I can tell you with confidence - today I feel like a kid in a candy shop. In 2023, my portfolio was down by about 50% since its inception. I wasn't panicking, as I liked my "bets" nonetheless, and I had other things and problems to worry about. Long story short, later, in the span of one year, that exact portfolio multiplied by 4, without me touching it, and then, after I finally decided to come back and manage it actively, it shot up some more. Overall, with the drop in 2026, my old portfolio is up by 110%, while the S&P 500 is up by 63%. I am actually very surprised I was lucky enough to beat the S&P by a margin like this, and I say "lucky" because I was. Data by YCharts I just started investing a little over 5 years ago, and I had little clue what I was doing. If...
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said more households will benefit from energy aid this year after the government identified additional eligible recipients. Almost 700,000 extra households will receive checks for an average of €153 ($176), bringing the total number of beneficiaries to around 3.8 million at a cost of €600 million for the state. In a message posted on X, Lecornu said the mech...
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said more households will benefit from energy aid this year after the government identified additional eligible recipients. Almost 700,000 extra households will receive checks for an average of €153 ($176), bringing the total number of beneficiaries to around 3.8 million at a cost of €600 million for the state. In a message posted on X, Lecornu said the mechanism, which has existed since 2018, helps the poorest households “cope with energy expenses and pressure on purchasing power” by directly reducing electricity, gas, or heating oil bills. The French government is under pressure from opposition parties to do more to support businesses and households facing a sharp increase in fuel costs as oil prices surge on the conflict in Iran. But France has hesitated to follow other European governments with new measures after vast spending on energy support in 2022 contributed to a sharp widening of the budget deficit. On Friday, the finance ministry announced temporary fuel support for road freight, farmers and the fishing industry limited to €70 million. France Unveils Limited Aid to Offset Iran War Impact on Economy Germany to Consider Additional Fuel Measures, Minister Says Europe’s Economy Starts to Feel Pain From Trump’s Iran War
winhorse/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Summary I upgraded Meituan ( MPNGF )( MPNGY ) to a buy rating in my previous update, as I believed the revenue weakness was not as bad as it seemed. I also thought the other new initiatives were contributing nicely, and importantly, MPNGF continues to win share, and subsidies used have trended lower. Overall, I stay bullish on MPNGF because the business ...
winhorse/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Summary I upgraded Meituan ( MPNGF )( MPNGY ) to a buy rating in my previous update, as I believed the revenue weakness was not as bad as it seemed. I also thought the other new initiatives were contributing nicely, and importantly, MPNGF continues to win share, and subsidies used have trended lower. Overall, I stay bullish on MPNGF because the business looks better than the headline Q4 loss suggests. Core Local Commerce is still under pressure, but the main point here is that competition now looks more rational, food delivery economics are improving sequentially, and the moat should get stronger with more membership program adoption. Earnings results update In the latest quarter ( Q4 2025 ) reported last week, MPNGF grew revenue by 4.1% y/y, delivering total revenue of RMB92.1 billion. Within it, core local commerce revenue was RMB64.8 billion, down 1.1% y/y, while new initiatives revenue was RMB27.3 billion, up 18.9% y/y. For New Initiatives, Keeta and grocery retail were the main growth drivers, with Keeta expanding into four new markets, while Xiaoxiang Supermarket ramped up city expansion and warehouse build-out. While revenue growth was positive, gross profit fell to RMB24.1 billion (down from RMB33.4 billion in Q4 2024). Combined with selling and marketing expenses surging to 34.4% of revenue, from 19.6% last year, and other operating costs growing, as a result, MPNGF posted an operating loss of RMB16.1 billion in Q4 2025. On an adj. EBITDA basis, loss was RMB 14 billion. Membership Program Moat I urge readers to focus not on the reported revenue line but on the quality of the user base. To me, the most important aspect for MPNGF's business is whether its moat is strengthening, as that is what determines the long-term growth profile. The encouraging thing here is that management made it clear that MPNGF is still winning in terms of frequency, cross-category usage, and consumer mindshare. Looking across the entire FY...
Kerim Karakaya and Selcuk Gokoluk discuss how some emerging market funds are betting on interest rate cuts and a rebound in beaten-down debt securities as they believe central banks will be forced to insulate economies from the war-induced growth shock.
Kerim Karakaya and Selcuk Gokoluk discuss how some emerging market funds are betting on interest rate cuts and a rebound in beaten-down debt securities as they believe central banks will be forced to insulate economies from the war-induced growth shock.
Wachiwit/iStock via Getty Images Shares of technology behemoth Microsoft Corporation ( MSFT ) are down 36% from their all-time high set in late July 2025 as the oft-stated fears about ROI from its ever-expanding AI spend weigh. The stock is down just over 26% here in 2026 year-to-date. The worst start to a year for Mr. Softie since 2008, in front of the Great Financial Crisis, it should be noted. ...
Wachiwit/iStock via Getty Images Shares of technology behemoth Microsoft Corporation ( MSFT ) are down 36% from their all-time high set in late July 2025 as the oft-stated fears about ROI from its ever-expanding AI spend weigh. The stock is down just over 26% here in 2026 year-to-date. The worst start to a year for Mr. Softie since 2008, in front of the Great Financial Crisis, it should be noted. MSFT Stock Chart (Seeking Alpha) Despite an 11% increase in FY26 consensus earnings since June 2025, its stock is trading at the largest discount to its 200-day moving average since 2008, punctuating the negative sentiment. Trading at a forward PE of 21.3 with earnings expected to grow at a 17.6% CAGR FY25-FY30 and remaining performance obligations of $625 billion, the selloff in Microsoft merited a deeper dive. An analysis follows below. As most already know, Microsoft Corporation is a Redwood, Washington-based technology concern focused on home and office software, cloud computing services through Azure, gaming, consumer electronics, and business solutions that include enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and human resources management. The company has integrated AI across its product portfolio, with AI assistant Copilot a part of its Microsoft Office 365 and Azure offerings. Microsoft was founded in 1975 and went public in 1986, raising gross proceeds of $61 million at $0.07 per share, after giving effect to seven 2-for-1 and two 3-for-2 stock splits—the last one occurring in 2003. Its stock closed the March 27, 2026 trading session at $356.15 per share, translating to a market cap of just over $2.6 trillion. The company operates on a fiscal year (FY) ending June 30th. For the avoidance of doubt, the 12 months ending June 30, 2025 is FY25. Operating Segments Microsoft views its performance through three operating segments: Productivity and Business Processes (PBP); Intelligent Cloud; and More Personal Computing. PBP includes Microso...
Wachiwit/iStock via Getty Images Shares of technology behemoth Microsoft Corporation ( MSFT ) are down 36% from their all-time high set in late July 2025 as the oft-stated fears about ROI from its ever-expanding AI spend weigh. The stock is down just over 26% here in 2026 year-to-date. The worst start to a year for Mr. Softie since 2008, in front of the Great Financial Crisis, it should be noted. ...
Wachiwit/iStock via Getty Images Shares of technology behemoth Microsoft Corporation ( MSFT ) are down 36% from their all-time high set in late July 2025 as the oft-stated fears about ROI from its ever-expanding AI spend weigh. The stock is down just over 26% here in 2026 year-to-date. The worst start to a year for Mr. Softie since 2008, in front of the Great Financial Crisis, it should be noted. MSFT Stock Chart (Seeking Alpha) Despite an 11% increase in FY26 consensus earnings since June 2025, its stock is trading at the largest discount to its 200-day moving average since 2008, punctuating the negative sentiment. Trading at a forward PE of 21.3 with earnings expected to grow at a 17.6% CAGR FY25-FY30 and remaining performance obligations of $625 billion, the selloff in Microsoft merited a deeper dive. An analysis follows below. As most already know, Microsoft Corporation is a Redwood, Washington-based technology concern focused on home and office software, cloud computing services through Azure, gaming, consumer electronics, and business solutions that include enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and human resources management. The company has integrated AI across its product portfolio, with AI assistant Copilot a part of its Microsoft Office 365 and Azure offerings. Microsoft was founded in 1975 and went public in 1986, raising gross proceeds of $61 million at $0.07 per share, after giving effect to seven 2-for-1 and two 3-for-2 stock splits—the last one occurring in 2003. Its stock closed the March 27, 2026 trading session at $356.15 per share, translating to a market cap of just over $2.6 trillion. The company operates on a fiscal year (FY) ending June 30th. For the avoidance of doubt, the 12 months ending June 30, 2025 is FY25. Operating Segments Microsoft views its performance through three operating segments: Productivity and Business Processes (PBP); Intelligent Cloud; and More Personal Computing. PBP includes Microso...