matejmo/iStock via Getty Images Dear Investors, I want to first apoloize for the delayed publication of this letter. The investment world, specifically related to AI releases from Anthropic, Gemini, and OpenAI, has been digesting seemingly daily changes at a rapid pace, and causing stock price declines for quality businesses at a frequency and magnitude that has not happened in a long time.Looking...
matejmo/iStock via Getty Images Dear Investors, I want to first apoloize for the delayed publication of this letter. The investment world, specifically related to AI releases from Anthropic, Gemini, and OpenAI, has been digesting seemingly daily changes at a rapid pace, and causing stock price declines for quality businesses at a frequency and magnitude that has not happened in a long time.Looking back on 2025, the market was defined by developments in artificial intelligence ( AI ). Perceived AI winners gained significantly, even as some of the luster on AI came off during the second half of the year. Perceived AI losers were and continue to be discarded with impunity and without much discretion; there are likely some babies thrown out with the bathwater there. Companies perceived as minimally affected by AI positively or negatively largely treaded water as well. Many of my investment choices fall in this 3rd category of minimal affect from AI, and my largest winners this year reflect that. With all that said, 2026 is off to a chaotic start. There seemingly are no longer any stocks without any impact from AI. Recent AI releases continue to show true use cases for white collar work as varied as finance, law, software development, and insurance/real estate brokerage. Several software companies in particular have experienced significant declines, as the market works to re-assess the impacts of AI. Right now, virtually everything software is being discarded until either enough time passes or other catalysts arise that disprove the current belief that essentially all software will be impacted. This period reminds me of several years ago when Amazon ( AMZN )'s retail dominance seemingly knew no limits. Seemingy all retailers from grocery to hardware to electronics were going to be dominated by Amazon imminently. While Amazon continues to make progress and push into more verticals, those fears are now 10+ years old.Returning to software, there appears to be at least a few...
Key Points The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF's (SCHD) strategy is built on targeting financially healthy, durable, dividend-paying, high-yield stocks. It's always had one of the best dividend strategies in the ETF marketplace, but that strategy was badly out of favor from 2023 to 2025. Now that the market has rotated away from tech, this ETF has turned into an elite performer once again. 10 stoc...
Key Points The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF's (SCHD) strategy is built on targeting financially healthy, durable, dividend-paying, high-yield stocks. It's always had one of the best dividend strategies in the ETF marketplace, but that strategy was badly out of favor from 2023 to 2025. Now that the market has rotated away from tech, this ETF has turned into an elite performer once again. 10 stocks we like better than Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF › Any investors in the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (NYSEMKT: SCHD) who were able to ride out the rough years from 2023 to 2025 are finally being rewarded. This ETF has grown to become the second largest dividend exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the world with assets of more than $85 billion. It got to that point on the heels of eight consecutive years of performing in the top one-third of Morningstar's Large Value category. It even managed to keep pace with the S&P 500, a rarity for dividend ETFs in a tech-driven market. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Over the past few years, however, it all fell apart. Megacap tech and artificial intelligence (AI) stocks drove the major indexes higher, but the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF underperformed badly even within its peer group. Overweights to lagging sectors, especially energy and consumer staples, led to three straight years of bottom-quartile performance, including performing in the bottom 2% in 2025. In 2026, however, it made a huge comeback. This year, it's in the top 1% of its Morningstar category and is the top-performing U.S. dividend ETF in the entire marketplace. How has the fund done it? Let's break down the portfolio to see what's driving performance. Nearly 40% of the fund is in energy, consumer staples If you look at the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF's positioning in 2026,...
Semiconductor display manufacturer Everdisplay Optronics (Shanghai) and robotics firm Zhejiang Galaxis Technology Group have received approval to list in Hong Kong, marking steady progress in the city’s nearly 500-strong listings pipeline. The two mainland Chinese companies published their post-hearing information packs on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Sunday, as the initial public offering (IPO...
Semiconductor display manufacturer Everdisplay Optronics (Shanghai) and robotics firm Zhejiang Galaxis Technology Group have received approval to list in Hong Kong, marking steady progress in the city’s nearly 500-strong listings pipeline. The two mainland Chinese companies published their post-hearing information packs on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Sunday, as the initial public offering (IPO) market in the city gathers pace once again after the Chinese New Year holiday. Neither firm disclosed their fundraising size or listing timetable. Everdisplay Optronics, a leading advanced OLED screen maker listed in Shanghai, plans to use the new-share sale proceeds to upgrade manufacturing technology, fund research and development and repay debt. Advertisement Galaxis Technology, which focuses on advanced robotics systems for industrial and logistics applications, intends to channel the IPO proceeds into upgrading its robotics products, developing core technologies including the use of artificial intelligence, expanding production capacity and pursuing overseas expansion. HKEX CEO Bonnie Chan Yiting said the exchange aimed to roll out a broad package of market reforms to attract more international listings. Photo: Karma Lo In 2025, Hong Kong’s capital markets saw one of their strongest years in recent memory, buoyed by robust secondary-market trading and a resurgence in new listings. The exchange topped the global ranking for IPO fundraising last year, with 119 firms raising a total of HK$285.8 billion (US$37 billion), helped by listings from mainland technology and innovation companies.
The United States began a large military exercise with South Korea involving thousands of troops Monday while also waging an escalating war in the Middle East. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff has said about 18,000 Korean troops would take part in Freedom Shield, which runs through March 19. US Forces Korea has not confirmed the number of American troops participating in the training in South K...
The United States began a large military exercise with South Korea involving thousands of troops Monday while also waging an escalating war in the Middle East. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff has said about 18,000 Korean troops would take part in Freedom Shield, which runs through March 19. US Forces Korea has not confirmed the number of American troops participating in the training in South Korea. The allies’ combined exercise comes amid South Korean media speculation that Washington is relocating some assets from South Korea to support fighting against Iran. Advertisement US Forces Korea said last week it would not comment on specific movements of military assets for security reasons. South Korean officials also declined to comment on the reports that some US Patriot anti-missile systems and other equipment were being moved to the Middle East, but they said there would be no meaningful impact on the allies’ combined defence posture. Advertisement Freedom Shield may trigger an irritated response from North Korea, which has long described the allies ’ joint exercises as invasion rehearsals and used them as a pretext to ramp up its own military demonstrations and weapons tests. The allies say the drills are defensive in nature.
Nikada/iStock via Getty Images Dear Partners, We compounded capital at a reasonably healthy rate—advancing +13% in 2025. On a relative basis, this placed the fund between most benchmarks—trailing the international markets which delivered an exceptionally strong rebound year based on weakness in USD, behind US large-cap indexes and slightly ahead of US small-cap and fund composites. Numbers never s...
Nikada/iStock via Getty Images Dear Partners, We compounded capital at a reasonably healthy rate—advancing +13% in 2025. On a relative basis, this placed the fund between most benchmarks—trailing the international markets which delivered an exceptionally strong rebound year based on weakness in USD, behind US large-cap indexes and slightly ahead of US small-cap and fund composites. Numbers never seem to paint the full picture, though, as we arrived at those results in a very different way. From our perspective, it was a fairly steady year with relatively minimal volatility. Long positions generally moved higher, while hedged/short exposure remained a frustratingly persistent friction. Markets meanwhile seemed to bounce around on geopolitical news, macro flows and changing narratives, but ultimately arrived at new highs driven by a narrow leadership set. There are a lot of different directions I want to take it from here... which is the primary reason I have been struggling to deliver this letter. But in the interest of time and respect for your human (!!!) attention span... I will try to keep it brief and merge the Outlook section into a single consolidated segment. AI would never... Over the years I have come up with a lot of references and analogies to talk about economic concepts. I then use these letters as a way to tie them together to form a relevant long-term framework, which helps provide a clearer snapshot for how we think about the world and investing landscape. By Month: Bumber S&P 1 Russell 2 FTSE 3 Barclay 4 Jan-2025 1.97% 2.70% 2.58% 6.13% 1.71% Feb-2025 -3.89% -1.42% -5.45% 1.57% -0.16% Mar-2025 -0.85% -5.75% -6.99% -2.58% -1.55% Apr-2025 2.06% -0.76% -2.38% -1.02% -0.13% May-2025 4.63% 6.15% 5.20% 3.27% 2.80% Jun-2025 1.84% 4.96% 5.26% -0.13% 2.38% Jul-2025 0.77% 2.17% 1.68% 4.24% 0.93% Aug-2025 0.95% 1.91% 7.00% 0.60% 1.95% Sep-2025 2.62% 3.53% 2.96% 1.78% 2.25% Oct-2025 2.31% 2.27% 1.76% 3.92% 0.98% Nov-2025 -0.73% 0.13% 0.85% 0.03% 0.26% Dec-2025 ...
Vietnam will remove import tariffs on fuel and make it easier for state giant PetroVietnam to buy and sell crude and oil products, as an expanding war in the Middle East heightens energy-security worries. Disruptions in the Persian Gulf, home to some of the world’s largest oil and gas producers, have been a major headache for import-dependent Asia — especially for more price-sensitive emerging eco...
Vietnam will remove import tariffs on fuel and make it easier for state giant PetroVietnam to buy and sell crude and oil products, as an expanding war in the Middle East heightens energy-security worries. Disruptions in the Persian Gulf, home to some of the world’s largest oil and gas producers, have been a major headache for import-dependent Asia — especially for more price-sensitive emerging economies which immediately feel the pain from higher costs and have less flexibility to pay up for emergency supplies. Vietnam ’s government said on Friday that domestic supply remains “basically secured’ for now, but warned that if the conflict continues into April, the “market may face more difficulties.” It has also sought to prioritize crude for local refineries to meet domestic demand, and has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to take proactive measures to ensure adequate supplies. The apparent loosening of some controls and of the import quota system around PetroVietnam — formally, Vietnam National Industry–Energy Group — will allow the company more flexibility to balance supply and demand, according to Pham Luu Hung , chief economist at SSI Securities Corp . Read More: Oil Jumps Most Since 2020 on War; Asian Stocks Tumble: TOPLive Vietnam’s crude oil production currently averages about 180,000 barrels per day, a fraction of the country’s consumption. Most of this output is supplied to Dung Quat Refinery, which the government said late last week is operating stably at around 118% of capacity, maintaining that level at least until the end of April. Meanwhile, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC is also running steadily, ensuring supply for major distributors under contracts that run through the end of March. Retail fuel prices have risen sharply after Vietnam hiked gasoline prices twice in three days. RON-95 gasoline, the most commonly used, climbed to 27,040 dong ($1.06) per liter from 20,151 dong at the end of February, while kerosene and diesel rose to more...