July ICE NY cocoa (CCN26 ) today is up +528 (+12.63%), and July ICE London cocoa #7 (CAN26 ) is up +368 (+11.82%). Cocoa prices are soaring today and posted 3.5-month highs on concerns that the formation of an El Niño weather pattern could lead to warmer, drier conditions in...
July ICE NY cocoa (CCN26 ) today is up +528 (+12.63%), and July ICE London cocoa #7 (CAN26 ) is up +368 (+11.82%). Cocoa prices are soaring today and posted 3.5-month highs on concerns that the formation of an El Niño weather pattern could lead to warmer, drier conditions in...
OGULCAN AKSOY/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Lime Is Growing, but the IPO Will Be Used for Debt Reduction Neutron Holdings, which operates micro-mobility provider Lime ( LIME ) , has filed to raise capital via an IPO, according to an S-1 registration statement . The company provides a variety of electric personal mobility options in the U.S. and overseas. Lime is growing impressively from a str...
OGULCAN AKSOY/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Lime Is Growing, but the IPO Will Be Used for Debt Reduction Neutron Holdings, which operates micro-mobility provider Lime ( LIME ) , has filed to raise capital via an IPO, according to an S-1 registration statement . The company provides a variety of electric personal mobility options in the U.S. and overseas. Lime is growing impressively from a strong revenue base and producing operating profit, but the IPO’s proceeds will be used to pay down debt, likely leaving little IPO capital for its future growth aspirations. What Does Lime Do? Lime offers shared transportation services such as electric scooters and electric bicycles in primarily urban areas in the United States, the UK, France and elsewhere. Users can rent personal transportation devices via the company's mobile app, which is currently operating in around 230 cities in 29 countries. Typical trip lengths are short, under five miles, helping to reduce the burden on larger public systems or car-based modes. The firm chose to build a vertically integrated business, “to own and continuously improve our hardware and software…from vehicle design to firmware to rider app to backend logistics…” The pie charts below show breakdowns of revenue contribution by type and geographic region for 2025: SEC The company was founded by Chief Executive Officer Wayne Ting, who was previously Chief of Staff to the CEO of Uber ( UBER ) and was Senior Policy Advisor at the National Economic Council in the White House. Investors in the company have invested fair market value of $348 million and include Uber and leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. What is Lime’s Market? Lime operates in the global micromobility market. Grand View Research estimated that this market was $46.3 billion in 2025 and is forecast to exceed $126.5 billion by 2033. If accomplished, this would equate to a CAGR of 13.3% from 2026 to 2033, a fairly robust rate of growth for an already large market at ...
American Bankers Attempt Last Ditch Effort To Kill Crypto Market Structure Bill Regarding Stablecoins American Bankers Association (ABA) CEO Rob Nichols sent an emergency Sunday letter to every bank CEO in the country, urging “immediate engagement” against what he called a stablecoin yield loophole in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act , days before a Senate Banking Committee markup scheduled fo...
American Bankers Attempt Last Ditch Effort To Kill Crypto Market Structure Bill Regarding Stablecoins American Bankers Association (ABA) CEO Rob Nichols sent an emergency Sunday letter to every bank CEO in the country, urging “immediate engagement” against what he called a stablecoin yield loophole in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act , days before a Senate Banking Committee markup scheduled for Thursday. The letter, dated May 11 — Mother’s Day — and addressed to ABA member bank CEOs, asked bank leaders to contact their senators and mobilize their employees to do the same before the committee convenes for a scheduled May 14 executive session on the bill. “I am reaching out to make every bank leader in this country aware of an urgent advocacy fight that requires your immediate engagement,” Nichols wrote, according to the letter. He warned that, without further changes, “we believe the current proposal would unnecessarily incentivize the flight of bank deposits into payment stablecoins, putting both economic growth and financial stability at risk”. The timing of the letter drew sharp public pushback from Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, who posted on X that the ABA’s alarm bells were misplaced. “Maybe the CEO didn’t get the message from the people actually in the room at the WH in meeting after meeting,” Grewal wrote. “We’ve already had ‘immediate engagement.’ You got ‘idle yield’ killed. I know because I was there — you weren’t. Take yes for an answer. Move on. Stop wasting the time of the Senate and the American people.” Sen. Bernie Moreno, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, fired back at the ABA in a social media post , saying “the banking cartel in full panic mode” and accusing it of deceiving lawmakers by characterizing stablecoin yield as a “loophole” - a term he said was an insult to the bipartisan work already done during the GENIUS Act debate. As Micah Zimmerman reports for BitcoinMagazine.com, the ABA's emergency outreach came just hours a...
Not all measures of government debt are created equal and for investors trying to assess the true fiscal burden of the United States, choosing the right yardstick matters. In a recent note, Wells Fargo addressed the question directly, explaining why different debt metrics exist and which one is most relevant for market participants. The U.S. government's debt load can be measured in several ways: ...
Not all measures of government debt are created equal and for investors trying to assess the true fiscal burden of the United States, choosing the right yardstick matters. In a recent note, Wells Fargo addressed the question directly, explaining why different debt metrics exist and which one is most relevant for market participants. The U.S. government's debt load can be measured in several ways: total debt, debt held by the public, gross debt, net debt, and each of these expressed either in dollar terms or as a percentage of GDP. The distinctions are meaningful. Total debt, for example, includes money the government effectively owes to itself, such as debt held by Social Security and other federal trust accounts, which inflates the headline figure without necessarily reflecting the burden that financial markets must absorb. Wells Fargo's preferred measure is debt held by the public as a percentage of GDP. This metric captures obligations owned by U.S. investors, including the Federal Reserve, depository institutions, state and local governments, and private investors, as well as foreign official and private investors, while stripping out intragovernmental holdings like Social Security trust funds. The bank argues this is the most applicable measure for investors because it reflects the actual debt load competing for capital in the market. Expressing that figure as a share of GDP adds further context: a larger, faster-growing economy is generally better equipped to service a larger stock of debt, making the ratio a more meaningful signal of fiscal sustainability than the raw dollar amount alone. The takeaway for investors is straightforward, when headlines cite alarming debt figures, the metric behind the number matters as much as the number itself. More on markets AI-Powered Earnings Send S&P 500 To New Record Highs President Trump Is Fulfilling An Important Campaign Promise Trump-Xi Summit: Rare Earths, Oil And A Fragile Truce S&P 500 to 8,000 this year? Nearly 50...
HJBC/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of several consulting companies fell on Monday after OpenAI ( OPENAI ) announced it is launching an OpenAI Deployment Company. However, analysts at UBS remained positive for Accenture ( ACN ). Cognizant Technology ( CTSH ) tumbled about 5%, Infosys ( INFY ) fell around 4%, and Accenture declined nearly 3%. "While we acknowledge sector concern, recent M...
HJBC/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of several consulting companies fell on Monday after OpenAI ( OPENAI ) announced it is launching an OpenAI Deployment Company. However, analysts at UBS remained positive for Accenture ( ACN ). Cognizant Technology ( CTSH ) tumbled about 5%, Infosys ( INFY ) fell around 4%, and Accenture declined nearly 3%. "While we acknowledge sector concern, recent M&A activity shows how new entrants NEED incumbent skills + deployment capability to implement," said UBS analysts led by Kevin McVeigh. UBS kept its Buy rating and $320 price target on Accenture's stock. In connection with the launch, OpenAI is acquiring applied AI consulting and engineering firm Tomoro. The acquisition is expected to bring about 150 experienced forward-deployed engineers and deployment specialists to the platform. Brookfield Asset Management is set to invest $500M in The OpenAI Deployment Company, an AI deployment platform established in partnership with OpenAI and a group of 19 investors. The analysts noted that OpenAI is adding about 150 engineers with the Tomoro acquisition as opposed to Accenture's over 700,000 employees — 300K to 400K engineers and delivery personnel — suggesting OpenAI does not have the same scale. "OpenAI — despite its capital backing and strategic intent — likely doesn't offer the same delivery capacity, global footprint, or operational infrastructure required to execute complex multiyear AI programs independently," said McVeigh and his team. The analysts added that deployment ambition expands AI services' total addressable market, or TAM, faster than it can internalize delivery, leaving legacy system integrators with scale and enterprise execution capabilities positioned to capture incremental AI-driven integration and transformation work. In addition, the analysts said that Accenture is poised to grow alongside OpenAI as demand outpaces internal deployment capacity. Accenture is the partner of choice for its top 10 partners, acro...
spawns/iStock via Getty Images ZEO:CA Overview The BMO Equal Weight Oil & Gas Index ETF ( ZEO:CA ) is a passively managed exchange-traded fund with an NAV of ~$343 million CAD that invests in stocks designed to provide exposure to a portfolio of Canadian energy stocks. BlackRock and most of the other big Canadian banks/fund managers have multiple ETF offerings that end up providing various investm...
spawns/iStock via Getty Images ZEO:CA Overview The BMO Equal Weight Oil & Gas Index ETF ( ZEO:CA ) is a passively managed exchange-traded fund with an NAV of ~$343 million CAD that invests in stocks designed to provide exposure to a portfolio of Canadian energy stocks. BlackRock and most of the other big Canadian banks/fund managers have multiple ETF offerings that end up providing various investment portfolios that track very similar metrics. ZEO:CA is not super liquid but has an easily verifiable portfolio and mandate. This article seeks to compare this offering with not only other options but also to review whether investors can simply buy the top few energy companies in Canada without paying expensive fees. ZEO:CA's benchmark target is the Solactive Equal Weight Canada Oil & Gas Index, and after further review, I like the concept, and I think it's a legit way to play Canadian oil in an ETF form. Canadian energy has stagnated recently, amidst the AI rally and with Trump constantly saying the war is over (even though it isn't). But I don't think the markets, and more specifically the mid-cap oil trade, have caught up yet. ZEO:CA has underperformed XEG:CA, but I wrote about XEG:CA recently, and it's simply an ETF with a few energy stocks charging 0.6% in fees, unlike ZEO:CA, which is market cap weighted and holds 12 stocks pretty evenly, including mid- and small-cap. If investors want to get exposure to higher dividend-paying Canadian energy stocks, they can easily buy and recreate the portfolio XEG:CA has, since the portfolio is mostly weighted in about five easily identifiable large-cap and liquid names on the TSX. Given the fact that the war is dragging on, I think ZEO:CA should outperform as smaller producers stand out with oil above $100 and rate it at a Buy. I think it will outperform XEG:CA the rest of the year. Fund Breakdown and War Outlook ZEO:CA was launched on October 20, 2009 , by BMO with a plan to create an easily tradable fund that replicates exposu...
Oat_Phawat/iStock via Getty Images Barrick Mining Corporation ( B ) reported strong Q1 results to kick off options-expiration week on Wall Street. The large gold miner also announced a large buyback, helping to send the stock up 2% in the premarket. With improved earnings since my November 2025 analysis, I reiterate a Buy rating. B has returned more than 35% since my previous assessment , sharply ...
Oat_Phawat/iStock via Getty Images Barrick Mining Corporation ( B ) reported strong Q1 results to kick off options-expiration week on Wall Street. The large gold miner also announced a large buyback, helping to send the stock up 2% in the premarket. With improved earnings since my November 2025 analysis, I reiterate a Buy rating. B has returned more than 35% since my previous assessment , sharply outperforming the S&P 500 ( SP500 ). With a still-modest valuation and potentially bullish-turning technical situation, I see both fundamental upside and constructive developments on the chart. Barrick: Strong Alpha to Gold Miners ETF & SPY YoY Stockcharts.com In May, Barrick reported a healthy set of quarterly results. Q1 non-GAAP EPS of $0.98 topped the Wall Street consensus forecast of $0.81, while revenue of $5.2 billion, up 67% from the same period a year earlier, was a material $380 million beat. The Ontario, Canada-based Materials-sector company announced a $0.175 per share quarterly dividend and a new $3.0 billion share buyback program . Shares rallied just shy of 2% by later in the morning. If that gain holds to the close of trading, it would mark the narrowest post-earnings change since October 2024. The options market had priced in a moderate 5.5% earnings-related stock price swing based on the at-the-money straddle expiring this week. I expect implied volatility to dip from the pre-earnings 46% level on the $72 billion market cap equity. Looking back on the quarter that was, Barrick posted strong operational and financial numbers, topping its guidance for gold production and costs. The company produced 719,000 ounces of gold ( +72% YoY ), beating its guidance of 640,000–680,000 ounces, and 49,000 tons of copper. Impressive execution, coupled with higher realized gold prices ( XAUUSD:CUR), led to a 67% YoY rise in the top line, and while that growth is simply not sustainable, it’s a firm foundation on which to build. Further down on the income statement , Barrick...
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) holds a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 5, 2026 in Washington, DC. Joe Raedle | Getty Images House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries , D-N.Y., on Monday promised a "massive Democratic redistricting counteroffensive" and said House Democrats would huddle Thursday on the ongoing partisan gerrymandering wars ahead of the 2026 midterm electio...
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) holds a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 5, 2026 in Washington, DC. Joe Raedle | Getty Images House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries , D-N.Y., on Monday promised a "massive Democratic redistricting counteroffensive" and said House Democrats would huddle Thursday on the ongoing partisan gerrymandering wars ahead of the 2026 midterm elections . Jeffries, in a letter to the House Democratic caucus, called the meeting after a series of blows to the party in the last two weeks on the redistricting front. On Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a referendum that would have allowed new congressional maps in the state that could have netted Democrats as many as four additional seats. A week earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court weakened a section of the Voting Rights Act , paving the way for GOP-led states across the South to redraw their congressional maps and eliminate Democrat-controlled, majority-minority districts. Democrats had been widely favored to regain the U.S. House this November, but taken together, the decisions have bolstered Republican hopes of maintaining their majority. Jeffries' letter is the latest proclamation from Democrats that they intend to fight back, either in the courts, via legislation, or by pursuing their own aggressive redistricting agenda Read more CNBC politics coverage Boeing, Citigroup CEOs set to join Trump on China visit next week Marco Rubio heads to the Vatican as 2028 presidential buzz ramps up Epstein files: Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick questioned by House Oversight panel "Even after being aided and abetted by blatantly undemocratic court decisions, the failed GOP majority will not be able to gerrymander themselves back into power," Jeffries wrote. "Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives in November." Rep. Joe Morelle , the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which has jurisdiction over federal elections, will help lead the caucus-wi...
Meta Platforms Inc. was sued by Santa Clara County, California, over allegations that the company “knowingly facilitates and profits from billions of scam advertisements” on its social networks, including Facebook and Instagram. The complaint accuses the social networking giant of defrauding seniors and families with scam ads, which the company allegedly tracks. Meta makes approximately $7 billion...
Meta Platforms Inc. was sued by Santa Clara County, California, over allegations that the company “knowingly facilitates and profits from billions of scam advertisements” on its social networks, including Facebook and Instagram. The complaint accuses the social networking giant of defrauding seniors and families with scam ads, which the company allegedly tracks. Meta makes approximately $7 billion in revenue each year from these kinds of ads, according to a statement from Tony LoPresti , the Santa Clara County counsel, who is bringing the lawsuit. LoPresti is seeking injunctive relief, civil penalties and restitution for money lost as a result of Meta’s actions. A spokesperson for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Santa Clara County houses much of Silicon Valley, and many of Meta’s employees live there, including Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg . Meta’s headquarters are in neighboring San Mateo County. Meta makes the vast majority of its revenue from advertisements, and brought in over $200 billion in sales in 2025. LoPresti claims certain ads promote a series of scams, including “fraudulent financial products, cryptocurrency schemes, purported cures for incurable diseases, ineffective nutritional supplements, and impersonations of celebrities asking for monetary contributions.”
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