ipopba/iStock via Getty Images AppLovin ( APP ) was added as a new short idea at Hedgeye with the potential for 30% downside. "AppLovin's competitive moat is not primarily AXON, its machine learning model," Hedgeye analyst Andrew Freedman wrote in a note on Friday. "It is MAX, the mediation platform that controls over 60% of mobile gaming impressions globally and provides the proprietary auction d...
ipopba/iStock via Getty Images AppLovin ( APP ) was added as a new short idea at Hedgeye with the potential for 30% downside. "AppLovin's competitive moat is not primarily AXON, its machine learning model," Hedgeye analyst Andrew Freedman wrote in a note on Friday. "It is MAX, the mediation platform that controls over 60% of mobile gaming impressions globally and provides the proprietary auction data that makes AXON's predictions possible. Without MAX, AXON's performance is materially worse. Outside of gaming, where MAX does not control mediation, the same model delivers inconsistent results." Freedman added that the market treats AppLovin ( APP ) as an AI, though Hedgeye sees it as an " infrastructure monopoly story, and the monopoly is both under attack and overearning on the current spread." AppLovin ( APP ) has short interest of 4.5%. Shares of AppLovin fell 1% on Friday and have risen 48% over the past year. More on AppLovin AppLovin: A Bit Of Greed Needed (Upgrade) AppLovin (APP) Stock Analysis: Why The Quant System Says "Buy" | 2-Minute Analysis AppLovin: A Superstar Today, But I Envision Future Turmoil For The Business (Downgrade) Semiconductor and AI software stocks see red amid tech stock selloff Enterprise software joins Monday's rally, with Palantir and AppLovin leading
Big Tech’s $140B AI Debt Surge Has Wall Street On Edge - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Benzinga
Big Tech’s $140B AI Debt Surge Has Wall Street On Edge - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Benzinga
_ultraforma_/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Citigroup ( C ) is eyeing a regional bank acquisition to ramp up deposits, with senior leaders having held preliminary discussions in recent months, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News . Some of Citi's top executives discussed a possible takeover before regulators this year, according to the people who asked not to be identified descr...
_ultraforma_/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Citigroup ( C ) is eyeing a regional bank acquisition to ramp up deposits, with senior leaders having held preliminary discussions in recent months, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News . Some of Citi's top executives discussed a possible takeover before regulators this year, according to the people who asked not to be identified describing private deliberations. Authorities have signaled an openness to a concrete proposal, according to the report released on Friday. Citi could be interested in U.S. banks with ~$500B in assets, according to some sources. Executives have also discussed pursuing a brokerage. Meanwhile, the New York-based lender is said to have denied planning to buy a regional bank, wealth brokerage, or any other financial services firm in a statement to Bloomberg, calling the move a baseless speculation. More on Citigroup Citigroup Inc. (C) Presents at RBC Capital Markets Global Financial Institutions Conference 2026 Transcript C.PR.R: A 6.25% Preferred Stock IPO From Citigroup Citigroup Inc. (C) Presents at Bank of America Financial Services Conference 2026 Transcript Delinquencies hold steady, charge-offs rise: February Credit Pulse Not all financials are equal in a credit cycle - BofA
Here are some of the stocks making headlines in midday trading. Entergy — The utility stock popped more than 8% after the firm announced a deal with Meta to support the hyperscale data center in Northeast Louisiana. The agreement is expected to deliver approximately $2 billion in customer savings to Entergy Louisiana customers over 20 years. Carnival — The cruise operator trimmed guidance for its ...
Here are some of the stocks making headlines in midday trading. Entergy — The utility stock popped more than 8% after the firm announced a deal with Meta to support the hyperscale data center in Northeast Louisiana. The agreement is expected to deliver approximately $2 billion in customer savings to Entergy Louisiana customers over 20 years. Carnival — The cruise operator trimmed guidance for its full-year adjusted profit, calling for roughly $2.21 per share, down from its earlier forecast of about $2.48 per share. Carnival shares slid more than 3%. Peers Norwegian Cruise Line , Royal Caribbean and Viking tumbled more than 5%, 3% and 2% in sympathy. Meta Platforms — Shares of the social media giant tumbled more than 3%. Meta suffered a rocky week, losing two pivotal court cases and announcing a round of layoffs across Facebook, Reality Labs and other departments. The stock is down more than 11% on the week, heading for its worst weekly performance since October. Cybersecurity stocks — A slate of cybersecurity stocks sold off on a report that Anthropic is testing an advanced new artificial intelligence model that also may present possible security risks. Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike fell 5%, and Datadog dropped 7%. SentinelOne slid 6%. Brown-Forman — Shares added 6% after the Kentucky whiskey maker confirmed on Thursday that it was engaged in merger discussions with Pernod Ricard, a French wine and spirits company. Brown-Forman said that any resulting partnership would be "akin to a merger of equals" and draw from the talent and expertise of both companies. AstraZeneca — The pharma giant rose 3% after its experimental drug, tozorakimab, was found to meaningfully reduce flare-ups in cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The drug delivered the results in two late-stage trials, and the company said full results will be delivered at an upcoming medical meeting. Tripadvisor -- The travel booking website gained 3% following an upgrade to buy from neutral at...
Will QatarEnergy's LNG Fiasco Derail Goldman's Prewar View Of A Mega LNG Wave Global energy flows are being rewired across Eurasia as the Russia-Ukraine war and the latest U.S.-Iran conflict disrupt Gulf energy flows in what may be the worst energy shock on record. One major new development is that roughly 20% of global LNG flows remain shut in the Gulf region because of the Hormuz chokepoint, wit...
Will QatarEnergy's LNG Fiasco Derail Goldman's Prewar View Of A Mega LNG Wave Global energy flows are being rewired across Eurasia as the Russia-Ukraine war and the latest U.S.-Iran conflict disrupt Gulf energy flows in what may be the worst energy shock on record. One major new development is that roughly 20% of global LNG flows remain shut in the Gulf region because of the Hormuz chokepoint, with QatarEnergy warning last week that 17% of its LNG export capacity could be offline for three to five years. That brings us to Goldman commodities expert Samantha Dart's warning to clients about five months ago, in which she said the " largest-ever LNG supply wave " was set to hit, pushing prices lower. The question now is whether Dart's warning still holds, given that the Iranian attack on Qatar's Ras Laffan gas facility wiped out about 17% of the country's LNG export capacity, causing an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue and threatening supplies to Europe and Asia. Repairs are expected to take three to five years. Dart's pre-US-Iran war view was that natural gas prices would remain relatively stable through 2027 before peak glut materializes by the end of the decade, triggering U.S. LNG export cancellations. However, the Ras Laffan disruption may have derailed that oversupplied outlook, as LNG markets could remain tight for years. Another key development, with Qatari LNG flows hampered, is a recent note from Criterion Research President James Bevan, who wrote: " What had been framed as a two-horse race for global LNG market share now looks considerably more one-sided. The beneficiary is clear: U.S. Gulf Coast LNG." And just like that, with Qatari LNG flows hampered for years, the question now is whether Dart's bearish forecast of the "largest-ever LNG supply wave" will likely have to be revisited. We'll see what she says in the next update. Tyler Durden Fri, 03/27/2026 - 12:50
Volatility is pricey - so said a quote in a release I read this lunchtime on the increase in the cost of mortgages. And boy, they are right. In less than one month, the average two-year fix has risen from 4.83% at the start of March to 5.75% today - the highest since August 2024. It was Adam French, head of Consumer Finance at Moneyfacts, who said: “The reality is that a more volatile world is a m...
Volatility is pricey - so said a quote in a release I read this lunchtime on the increase in the cost of mortgages. And boy, they are right. In less than one month, the average two-year fix has risen from 4.83% at the start of March to 5.75% today - the highest since August 2024. It was Adam French, head of Consumer Finance at Moneyfacts, who said: “The reality is that a more volatile world is a more expensive world. Anyone looking to buy or remortgage this year needs to prepare for substantially higher costs than previously expected.” That was not the plan for 2026. We all already sense this - perhaps we still have the muscle memory of our responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Bloomberg’s Irina Anghel has the latest GfK survey showing that Britons are saving more and cutting back on big ticket items - smaller Easter eggs all round (and good luck to those trying to shift garden sofa sets that can cost as much as a bijoux car). Sentiment has plunged to the lowest since last April when we were pummelled by both US tariffs and household-bill increases. Indeed, retail sales in February were already lower, before the start of the Iran war - the rainy weather in January had already hit demand. GfK’s Neil Bellamy now talks about a “ripple of fear.” Respondents appear to be quite confident in the financial choices they are making, while also bracing for waves of chaos coming from the macro-economy. “People are probably thinking, my finances are OK for now, but I’m not sure the economy will be able to withstand this,” Bellamy says. “They don’t immediately go into panic mode, but if this keeps going on for another month, they might well do. This sentiment that people may not have money to spend also partially explains the messaging from key rate setters at the Bank of England. Three separate BOE members have made three separate speeches in recent days casting doubt over the threat of a price spiral from the Iran war. Even though the markets are now expecting three hik...
Sundry Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images STMicroelectronics ( STM ) appears to be seeing strength in demand from the industrial sector, as well as optical sales to data centers, investment firm Jefferies said on Friday. Regarding industrial, analyst Janardan Menon said a number of analog semiconductor companies have spoken about a “strengthening order pattern.” “Order trends have impro...
Sundry Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images STMicroelectronics ( STM ) appears to be seeing strength in demand from the industrial sector, as well as optical sales to data centers, investment firm Jefferies said on Friday. Regarding industrial, analyst Janardan Menon said a number of analog semiconductor companies have spoken about a “strengthening order pattern.” “Order trends have improved since Q4-25 results, strengthening the backlog and providing better visibility into H2-26. The improvement seems broad-based by application and geography,” Menon wrote in a note to clients. “The upside is being driven by end-demand improvement in some areas, low inventory levels in the supply chain, and concerns about strong AI-related demand causing supply tightness in some product categories. Many suppliers, including STM, are increasing prices. While auto-related demand has so far not shown the same kind of recovery due to weakness in Chinese car demand, it seems to have stabilized.” Menon, who has a Buy rating on STMicro, upped his price to €35 from €29 on the stock. Delving deeper, Menon said the most significant change for STMicro has been the “very strong upside” for its pluggable transceivers that are being used in artificial intelligence data centers, with strength likely to come in the second half of 2026, 2027, and beyond. “Following the qualification of its PIC100 silicon photonics manufacturing process late last year, very healthy orders seem to have come from customers led by AWS,” Menon added. “Optical-related revenue is expected to rise to well over $500m by 2027 and potentially to over $1bn by 2028, from almost zero in 2025. As a result, we expect Optical revenues alone to contribute 4-5% growth to STM overall in 2027 and 2028, with AI power potentially adding to this.” Menon also pointed to “resilient” iPhone sales, notable given that STMicro is more linked to the Apple ( AAPL ) device. However, he does not expect much impact from a foldable iPhone, wh...
MicroStockHub/iStock via Getty Images By Christopher Gannatti, CFA For much of the past decade, investing in U.S. equities felt almost synonymous with investing in growth. Technology giants and other high-growth companies dominated index returns, leaving traditional value sectors, such as financials, energy, and industrials, trailing behind. But markets rarely move in straight lines forever. Recen...
MicroStockHub/iStock via Getty Images By Christopher Gannatti, CFA For much of the past decade, investing in U.S. equities felt almost synonymous with investing in growth. Technology giants and other high-growth companies dominated index returns, leaving traditional value sectors, such as financials, energy, and industrials, trailing behind. But markets rarely move in straight lines forever. Recently, signs have emerged that the leadership dynamic may be shifting. Value-oriented stocks have begun to outperform growth after a prolonged stretch of underperformance, raising an important question for investors: are we witnessing a temporary rotation, or the early stages of a new market cycle? Very Long-Term Historical Context Markets have a way of reminding investors that leadership rarely lasts forever. Figure 1 shows the difference in rolling 10-year annualized returns between value and growth stocks. When the line sits above zero, the value style has outperformed over the prior decade. When it dips below zero, the growth style has been in the lead. 1 What stands out is how cyclical these leadership regimes have historically been, as well as how the value style was quite dominant until recently. From the late 1940s through the early 1980s, for example, value stocks delivered meaningfully higher returns than growth over rolling 10-year windows. But, as we know, the pattern began to shift in the past decade. The sustained dominance of large-cap technology and other growth-oriented companies pushed the metric decisively into negative territory, marking one of the most pronounced periods of growth outperformance on record. For many investors entering 2026, this is the backdrop: a long cycle of growth leadership that increasingly raises the question of whether the next style rotation could already be underway. Figure 1: Value vs. Growth Leadership Over Rolling 10-Year Periods Source: French, K. R. (n.d.). Detail for portfolios formed on book-to-market. Kenneth R. French Da...
Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern speak daily with leaders and decision makers from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. No other program better positions investors and executives for the trading day. (Source: Bloomberg)
Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern speak daily with leaders and decision makers from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. No other program better positions investors and executives for the trading day. (Source: Bloomberg)
da-kuk Scott Chronert, head of U.S. equity strategy at Citi Research, maintains that despite escalating global uncertainty surrounding the Iran conflict, the U.S. remains the “best house in a tricky neighborhood” for investors. However, the strategist acknowledged in an interview with CNBC that confidence is eroding as the situation drags on without a clear resolution in sight. “I think you’ve got...
da-kuk Scott Chronert, head of U.S. equity strategy at Citi Research, maintains that despite escalating global uncertainty surrounding the Iran conflict, the U.S. remains the “best house in a tricky neighborhood” for investors. However, the strategist acknowledged in an interview with CNBC that confidence is eroding as the situation drags on without a clear resolution in sight. “I think you’ve got a market right now that is probably more comfortable reducing risk than not, just because there’s no real clear line of sight to resolution right now,” Chronert said. Citi’s global strategists have responded to the prolonged uncertainty by moving toward a more neutralized equity exposure. While U.S. equities ( SP500 ), ( COMP:IND ), ( DJI ) remain relatively attractive compared to global alternatives, the firm is advising investors to seek safety in the rates market, particularly in the two-to-five-year part of the yield curve ( US2Y ), ( US5Y ). “The bias right now is to hunker down in the rates markets as a source of relative safety as things continue to proceed here,” Chronert explained. Persistent inflation concerns are adding pressure to an already challenging environment, particularly on the 10-year Treasury yield ( US10Y ). Chronert noted that rising rates present a significant headwind as inflation concerns remain in the background. “Certainly it’s had pressure on the 10-year ( US10Y ), which in turn is a problem for…the valuation setup for U.S. equities.” Despite these pressures, earnings data has shown surprising resilience. S&P 500 ( SP500 ) full-year earnings projections have climbed to $321, exceeding Citi’s previous high-end estimate of $320 from just a couple of months ago. Chronert attributed this strength largely to significant gains in the semiconductor sector ( SMH ), ( SOXX ), ( SOXL ), ( XSD ), even as the broader market remains at levels not seen in over six months. Looking ahead, Chronert expects an “increasing tailwind from the energy sector” ( XLE ...
Jerry Murrell seemingly alluded to healthcare CEO killing when he explained giving bonus to workers after bungled promotion Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Five Guys’ chief executive officer, Jerry Murrell, said he gave a $1.5m bonus to employees of his US-based burger restaurant chain because “I didn’t want anybody shooting me” after the company recen...
Jerry Murrell seemingly alluded to healthcare CEO killing when he explained giving bonus to workers after bungled promotion Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Five Guys’ chief executive officer, Jerry Murrell, said he gave a $1.5m bonus to employees of his US-based burger restaurant chain because “I didn’t want anybody shooting me” after the company recently “screwed … up” a buy-one-get-one-free promotion. Murrell did not elaborate on the comment, which he gave to Fortune in an interview published on Wednesday – but it came a little more than a year after the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead on a midtown Manhattan street in what was widely considered a murderous rebuke of the US health insurance industry’s profit-driven practices. Continue reading...
Isabel Schnabel, executive board member of the European Central Bank, during an interview at the ECB in Frankfurt, Germany, on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. Asked about views that it's time for a German to lead the ECB and whether she could be that person, Schnabel said "if I was asked, I would stand ready."
Isabel Schnabel, executive board member of the European Central Bank, during an interview at the ECB in Frankfurt, Germany, on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. Asked about views that it's time for a German to lead the ECB and whether she could be that person, Schnabel said "if I was asked, I would stand ready."