A Vietnam-bound supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude, which idled for days in the Gulf of Oman after it was halted by US forces, has resumed its journey. The Agios Fanourios I was sailing away from waters off the Omani capital of Muscat late Saturday, after five days of waiting in the area, ship-tracking data show. By early Sunday, the fully laden very large crude carrier sailed p...
A Vietnam-bound supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude, which idled for days in the Gulf of Oman after it was halted by US forces, has resumed its journey. The Agios Fanourios I was sailing away from waters off the Omani capital of Muscat late Saturday, after five days of waiting in the area, ship-tracking data show. By early Sunday, the fully laden very large crude carrier sailed past a boundary line where the US is enforcing a naval blockade of Iranian shipping. The VLCC sailed out from the Persian Gulf a week ago, moving past the Strait of Hormuz that’s blockaded by Iran, and attempted to move into the Arabian Sea. As it approached the US naval blockade line, the tanker turned back into the Gulf of Oman, ship-tracking data show. The US Central Command said at the time the vessel was turned away to enforce the blockade against Iran. The cargo’s buyer, PetroVietnam Oil Corp., which is the trading arm of the Southeast Asian country’s national energy company, last week sent a letter of appeal to the US for the tanker’s release. “This cargo is of extreme importance to Nghi Son Refinery, to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and to the Vietnamese people,” according to the letter seen by Bloomberg News. “Any further delay risks halting refinery throughput, with cascading consequences for millions of Vietnamese consumers, businesses, public services and industries.” Read more: Vietnam Urges US Navy to Let Oil Tanker Through Its Blockade (2) The vessel’s transit comes after a two-day summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, where both agreed the strait should be open but made no apparent progress toward the goal. Traffic through the waterway remains far below pre-war levels despite a slight uptick in recent days, as several crude tankers exit the Persian Gulf.
Establishment Media Outraged By White House Sponsored Christian Prayer Event The mainstream media's outrage over religious expressions by government institutions and politicians is highly selective. At bottom, it the event is Christian, they attack. If it's any other religion, they applaud. Did the mainstream media publish indignant diatribes when leftist NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani held Muslim dinne...
Establishment Media Outraged By White House Sponsored Christian Prayer Event The mainstream media's outrage over religious expressions by government institutions and politicians is highly selective. At bottom, it the event is Christian, they attack. If it's any other religion, they applaud. Did the mainstream media publish indignant diatribes when leftist NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani held Muslim dinners at City Hall and Gracie Manor for Ramadan? The answer is no, of course they didn't. Because Islam is celebrated by modern liberal movements and Christianity is despised. And, it's important to take note of what leftists hate, because if they hate it, it's probably good. BREAKING - New video shows one of Zohran Mamdani’s Muslim guests at the mayor’s mansion flashing the one finger ISIS salute just days after one of the Muslims who attempted to carry out an attack against conservatives in NYC was seen flashing the same salute while being arrested. pic.twitter.com/fdcuhINTlg — Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) March 12, 2026 Progressive outlets are in an uproar this week over a White House sponsored Christian prayer event scheduled to take place on this Sunday at the National Mall. The Trump administration and the Freedom 250 nonprofit will host "Rededicate 250," which will feature Cabinet members and conservative religious leaders to mark the nation's 250th anniversary. According to event organizers, the program aims to reflect on the faith of America's founders and serve as a national moment of rededication. Participants include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Leftists journalists and Democrats are accusing the Trump Administration of violating the US Constitution and the "separation of church and state" by sponsoring the event. This is, of course, a blatant misinterpretation of the 1st Amendment, but it's also an opportunity to debunk many of the claims made by the left-wing when it comes to religio...
Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview With the business development sector continuing to face headwinds, it has been difficult to find an attractive opportunity. I believe that Chicago Atlantic BDC ( LIEN ) remains a compelling opportunity in terms of valuation, earnings, and NAV growth. Unfortunately, this smaller BDC continues to get dragged down alongside the rest...
Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview With the business development sector continuing to face headwinds, it has been difficult to find an attractive opportunity. I believe that Chicago Atlantic BDC ( LIEN ) remains a compelling opportunity in terms of valuation, earnings, and NAV growth. Unfortunately, this smaller BDC continues to get dragged down alongside the rest of the sector, and its quality is being masked by the macroenvironment. When I previously covered LIEN, I issued a buy rating due to the earnings growth. However, LIEN recently reported its Q1 earnings, so I wanted to reassess its overall value proposition going forward. Looking at the performance over the last twelve months, we can see that LIEN's share price has declined by a little more than 2.1%. When including all distributions that were paid out to shareholders, the total return jumps up to nearly 11.7% over the same time frame. LIEN now offers a starting dividend yield of 14% while issuing those payouts on a quarterly basis. Based on the latest net investment income levels, it is clear that LIEN is capable of supporting the payouts with ease. Therefore, I believe that LIEN continues to offer one of the safest distributions in the BDC sector. Data by YCharts Although LIEN is one of the smallest BDCs in the sector, it seems to have one of the strongest structures. For instance, its underlying NAV has increased for 4 consecutive quarters now, which is impressive during a time when many BDCs continue to see their NAV erode. Management continues to display capital efficiency by allocating capital towards new investments that can eventually materialize into higher earnings. Unfortunately, sentiment of the sector seems to be a large driver here, and the higher interest rate environment still creates some challenges for LIEN's growth. Q1 Earnings According to the latest portfolio overview , LIEN now has investments with a fair value of $364M that are spread across 40 differ...
DanielPrudek/iStock via Getty Images The AI trade has spread across sectors, as evidenced by upside participation among US small- and mid-cap stocks, along with many international country ETFs. Interestingly, there has been a cooling off in the power-generation trade over the past six months. Geopolitical tensions and volatile fuel prices at home and abroad have weighed. What’s more, rising intere...
DanielPrudek/iStock via Getty Images The AI trade has spread across sectors, as evidenced by upside participation among US small- and mid-cap stocks, along with many international country ETFs. Interestingly, there has been a cooling off in the power-generation trade over the past six months. Geopolitical tensions and volatile fuel prices at home and abroad have weighed. What’s more, rising interest rates is a clear macro headwind for many names in the Range Nuclear Renaissance ETF ( NUKZ ). I had a buy rating on the fund back in November , and shares are down 5.5% since then, lagging the S&P 500 by 13 percentage points. Almost all of that underperformance has come in just the past two weeks. Today, I reiterate a buy rating. The valuation remains compelling in light of NUKZ’s earnings growth rate, while the chart shows one spot where accumulating shares appears favorable. NUKZ Surged Last Year, But Momentum Has Cooled Stockcharts.com According to the issuer , NUKZ is designed to provide exposure to companies in the following segments: advanced reactors, utilities, construction & services, and fuel. It offers focused exposure to companies involved in the so-called nuclear renaissance. NUKZ is a small ETF, now with $885 million in assets under management. That’s up $820 million since my previous analysis. Interestingly, it has grown despite a negative total return since the middle of last year’s fourth quarter. Its annual expense ratio is high, however, at 85 basis points, while the trailing 12-month dividend yield is low at only 85 basis points. Share-price momentum has indeed cooled since last November, now earning a tepid C ETF Grade in that category by Seeking Alpha’s quantitative scoring system. As far as risk goes, the concentrated and niche-thematic fund features high historical volatility, so a somewhat small position size is prudent. I dug further and found that NUKZ’s current implied volatility is about twice that of the S&P 500 at 35%. Finally, liquidity re...
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged congratulatory messages marking the opening of the China-Russia Expo in the northeasten city of Harbin, highlighting deepening economic ties between the two countries. Xi pointed to the anniversaries of the bilateral strategic partnership and the 2001 friendship treaty, emphasizing expanded cooperation across sectors, Chin...
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged congratulatory messages marking the opening of the China-Russia Expo in the northeasten city of Harbin, highlighting deepening economic ties between the two countries. Xi pointed to the anniversaries of the bilateral strategic partnership and the 2001 friendship treaty, emphasizing expanded cooperation across sectors, China Central Television reported on Sunday. The Chinese president urged the two countries to leverage geographic proximity and to complement each other economically to boost development and improve living standards. Putin described the expo as the largest bilateral exhibition event for dialog and cooperation, expressing confidence it would yield positive results, CCTV reported.
Investing.com -- Artificial intelligence is beginning to account for a significantly larger share of corporate workforce reductions, according to a UBS Global Research report issued on May 13, 2026.
Investing.com -- Artificial intelligence is beginning to account for a significantly larger share of corporate workforce reductions, according to a UBS Global Research report issued on May 13, 2026.
Jamie Brown/iStock via Getty Images Continuing my research of value and value-ish ETF strategies, recently I have come across the AB US High Dividend ETF ( HIDV ), a vehicle that I believe fits nicely into a definition of an ETF I can rate a Buy. With a mandate centered on "high dividend," HIDV is seemingly all about the value style, but I would argue that its factor story is much deeper, more com...
Jamie Brown/iStock via Getty Images Continuing my research of value and value-ish ETF strategies, recently I have come across the AB US High Dividend ETF ( HIDV ), a vehicle that I believe fits nicely into a definition of an ETF I can rate a Buy. With a mandate centered on "high dividend," HIDV is seemingly all about the value style, but I would argue that its factor story is much deeper, more complex, and surprisingly different from the initial impression, but in a good way. In fact, my analysis shows that HIDV is nothing less than a growth-at-a-reasonable-price portfolio hiding under that value label. The weighted average PEG ratio of just 0.75 is a rare occurrence, as even the portfolio of the iShares MSCI USA Quality GARP ETF ( GARP ), which has the GARP premise at its very core, had that ratio at 0.94 as of March , as per my calculations, but HIDV managed to deliver it. I remain committed to the view that this is the GARP universe where investors should maintain significant footprint if they want to enjoy alpha this year (and likely in 2027), and this is the essential reason why I am bullish on HIDV. In other words, I expect it to outrace the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF ( IVV ). For clarity, the S&P 500 is now hovering very close to the 7,550 level, my price target for 2026 that I shared in December , but I still see potential for some tactical multiple expansion, so some modest upside is possible. Besides, we see other facets of HIDV's factor story looking appealing enough (like quality), plus performance data the ETF has delivered since its inception in March 2023 does contain something we can reinforce our thesis with (but it also has a few warnings on what can go wrong). HIDV Strategy And Portfolio As we know from the AllianceBernstein website , HIDV is managed actively, with the goal being "...to provide core US equity exposure with attractive dividend income and the potential for capital growth." It is explained that it "employs a systematic approach to iden...