Hello and welcome to the newsletter, a grab bag of daily content from the Odd Lots universe. Sometimes it’s us, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, bringing you our thoughts on the most recent developments in markets, finance and the economy. And sometimes it’s contributions from our network of expert guests and sources. Whatever it is, we promise it will always be interesting. If you like chatting ...
Hello and welcome to the newsletter, a grab bag of daily content from the Odd Lots universe. Sometimes it’s us, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, bringing you our thoughts on the most recent developments in markets, finance and the economy. And sometimes it’s contributions from our network of expert guests and sources. Whatever it is, we promise it will always be interesting. If you like chatting with us, check out the Odd Lots Discord , where you can hang out and talk with us and with other listeners 24/7. Here’s what Tracy’s thinking about Joe and I are at SXSW in Austin, Texas today, where we recorded a live episode on the politics of AI and the (possibly) impending white-collar job wipeout. To discuss, we tapped Byrne Hobart, founder of The Diff and someone who’s been expertly writing about tech and finance for years now, as well as David Shor, a well-known pollster who’s now head of data science at Blue Rose Research. It’s a fascinating discussion, not least because Byrne and David don’t necessarily agree on just how extreme AI-related job losses will be. But one thing that stood out to me is the degree to which people are already worried about this possibility, as some of David’s latest polling data shows. Concerns over AI have basically zoomed up the list of Americans’ collective worries. According to Blue Rose data, AI is currently ranked 29th out of 39 issues. But it’s absolutely stormed the rankings, rising in importance more than anything else out there. At this rate, AI could well be the defining issue in upcoming campaigns, but we haven’t yet actually heard that many politicians talking about it (beyond occasionally grumbling about data centers). The real money charts to me, however, have to do with what people seem to want politicians to do about the perceived AI threat. Some 55% of voters agreed that tech companies should not be able to make unlimited profits from AI and should be held responsible for job losses. That’s pretty anathema to what many pe...
美国核能初创企业Deep Fission公司在堪萨斯州帕森斯大平原工业园区破土动工，启动其尖端能源项目。这家创新的初创公司试图通过将核反应堆深埋地下，彻底改变传统的核能生产方式，并在此过程中将核能运营成本降低高达80%。 Deep Fission正在试点一个具有开创性的“重力反应堆”模型，该模型将一个15兆瓦的压水反应堆放置在一英里深的钻孔底部。通过将核反应堆深埋地下——以首个试点模型为例，深度约...
美国核能初创企业Deep Fission公司在堪萨斯州帕森斯大平原工业园区破土动工，启动其尖端能源项目。这家创新的初创公司试图通过将核反应堆深埋地下，彻底改变传统的核能生产方式，并在此过程中将核能运营成本降低高达80%。 Deep Fission正在试点一个具有开创性的“重力反应堆”模型，该模型将一个15兆瓦的压水反应堆放置在一英里深的钻孔底部。通过将核反应堆深埋地下——以首个试点模型为例，深度约为6000英尺——该公司声称重力将免费完成一系列昂贵机械的工作。 寻找更经济的方式来建造、维护和运营核电站，已成为公共和私营部门日益优先考虑的事项，因为这种曾备受诟病的电力生产方式正重新在全球范围内获得青睐。随着气候承诺最后期限临近和全球能源安全危机加剧，全球能源三难困境——即同时提供可负担、可靠和可持续能源的挑战——变得更加严峻，核能已作为关键解决方案的一部分重新纳入世界各国的能源战略。 但传统的核聚变是一项极其昂贵的事业，建造新反应堆面临巨大的前期成本和重重审批障碍。然而，下一代核能有望实现更快、更经济的安装和运营。Deep Fission表示，由于其模型的模块化特性以及周围基岩将为深埋反应堆提供的保护，其设计将大幅节省成本并提高安全性。 Deep Fission只是众多竞相解锁下一代核裂变关键的初创公司之一。核能创新的最大焦点之一是小型模块化反应堆的开发，它将使核能更具可扩展性和精简性，降低前期开发成本和审批时间。 责任编辑：张俊 SF065
Cuba’s national electric grid has collapsed, the country’s grid operator has said, leaving approximately 10 million people without power amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled the island’s already obsolete generation system. The grid operator, UNE, said on social media on Monday that it was investigating the causes of the blackout, the latest in a series of widespread outages that last f...
Cuba’s national electric grid has collapsed, the country’s grid operator has said, leaving approximately 10 million people without power amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled the island’s already obsolete generation system. The grid operator, UNE, said on social media on Monday that it was investigating the causes of the blackout, the latest in a series of widespread outages that last for hours or days and that last weekend sparked a rare violent protest in the communist-run country. The US has ratcheted up pressure this year on its longtime foe Cuba since capturing the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro – Cuba’s most important foreign benefactor – in January. The US president, Donald Trump, cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened to put tariffs on any country that sold oil to Cuba, strangling the Caribbean island’s already antiquated grid. Cuba said on Friday that it was in talks with the US with the hope of defusing the crisis. Trump has said in recent weeks that Cuba is on the verge of collapse and is eager to make a deal with the US. Cuba has received only two small vessels carrying oil imports this year, according to LSEG ship-tracking data seen by Reuters on Monday. The first tanker discharged fuel at the Havana port in January, coming from Mexico, which was a regular supplier to the island until then. The second vessel, from Jamaica, discharged liquefied petroleum gas – known as cooking gas – in February. Venezuela, once Cuba’s main oil supplier, has sent no fuel to the island this year. Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, last month loaded gasoline in a tanker that it had previously used to transport fuel to Cuba, but the vessel has not left Venezuelan waters, PDVSA documents and tanker monitoring data showed. No large imports have entered this year through Cuba’s main hubs of Matanzas or Moa, which typically handle crude for refining and fuel oil for power generation, according to satellite images analysed by TankerTrackers.com...
President Trump and the Federal Communications Commission chairman are demanding more positive media coverage of the Iran war. On Saturday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued yet another threat to revoke licenses from news broadcasters, claiming without evidence that they are running "hoaxes and news distortions" related to the war in Iran. In an X post , Carr shared a complaint about an Iran war he...
President Trump and the Federal Communications Commission chairman are demanding more positive media coverage of the Iran war. On Saturday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued yet another threat to revoke licenses from news broadcasters, claiming without evidence that they are running "hoaxes and news distortions" related to the war in Iran. In an X post , Carr shared a complaint about an Iran war headline that Trump had made on Truth Social and added his own commentary. "Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions—also known as the fake news—have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up," Carr wrote. "The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not." Carr making vague threats about enforcing rules against hoaxes and news distortion is nothing new . Given how difficult it is to actually revoke a broadcast license , and the fact that no TV station licenses are up for renewal until 2028 , the threats so far have been attempts to intimidate news organizations without any concrete punishment. Read full article Comments
Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images I’m not quite sure what to make of Rezolve AI ( RZLV ). It is either one of the most undervalued AI commerce platforms on the market right now, or it is a story stock that is riding on very bullish revenue estimates and an acquisition strategy that is giving it a very solid appearance of scale. I have spent a lot of time looking at its filings and its financial histo...
Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images I’m not quite sure what to make of Rezolve AI ( RZLV ). It is either one of the most undervalued AI commerce platforms on the market right now, or it is a story stock that is riding on very bullish revenue estimates and an acquisition strategy that is giving it a very solid appearance of scale. I have spent a lot of time looking at its filings and its financial history, and the one thing I can take away is that there just isn’t enough audited evidence to confidently call it either. I can also confidently say that at a market cap of roughly $1.1 billion on 399 million shares outstanding, RZLV is priced like it will hit every single target it has set out for the next few years. The company's last stated revenue figure is $6.3 million for the first half of 2025 , and its FY2026 guidance is $350 million. In my view, that is a big faith proposition, and we haven’t yet seen strong evidence that it can deliver on that front. I know that if the company can deliver audited numbers in the current fiscal year and confirm what we’ve been hearing from management, the stock can comfortably rerate to 2x its current price, but I’m unwilling to stick my neck out on a promise. Consequently, I’m taking a neutral position on the stock at this time. What Rezolve Has In Its Portfolio Rezolve is competing in a crowded space, commerce AI, but I think its product architecture is unique enough to warrant the attention it is getting. The main product in the company’s portfolio is Brain Suite, a platform that it describes as the world's first enterprise AI stack that is built specifically for what it calls agentic commerce. In simpler terms, it means that the transactions are initiated, personalized, and completed by AI agents that are acting on behalf of consumers in real time. They’re not just facilitating human-driven purchase decisions, which is what potential competitors like Adobe Commerce and Salesforce Commerce Cloud do. The platform has three components:...
winhorse/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images We've seen significant amounts of upheaval in the energy market. Upheaval, to me, means a potential opportunity if you know how to play it right. For one, I've taken advantage of the crisis and enjoyed the upside from energy investments. Many of them are now rotated. It's because I refuse to be party to investments that are, by their very nature at the t...
winhorse/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images We've seen significant amounts of upheaval in the energy market. Upheaval, to me, means a potential opportunity if you know how to play it right. For one, I've taken advantage of the crisis and enjoyed the upside from energy investments. Many of them are now rotated. It's because I refuse to be party to investments that are, by their very nature at the time, speculative to such a degree. At this time, we do not know if the companies are likely to drop 5% or 15% tomorrow because the visibility for the crises that seem to "steer" the current development is something I consider to be very low. That doesn't prevent us, however, from looking at companies in ancillary or related fields and determining their potential upsides or qualities. One of those companies that I would consider here is TORM PLC ( TRMD ). This is a company where I tend to be very careful about investing. Not because my expertise in shipping is something I still need to work on compared to my expertise in other areas, like finance or consumer staples (depending on the staple), but because the sector itself is also quite volatile and prone to high correlation to certain end markets. As such, very careful consideration is required. In this article, I will look at what TORM does, what the impact of the current oil crisis may be, and where the company may go from here in a scenario either of quick recovery or a scenario of prolonged volatility. It's been a few years since I thoroughly covered a Scandinavian shipper like this, if we exclude giants like Maersk - but they are interesting companies to cover. Especially, as in this case, the company is traded on NASDAQ with a very liquid symbol. Let's therefore see what we have here. TORM PLC - Upside From Shipping But Only At The Right Price Recent trends in viewership, requests, and geopolitics have implied to me an increased interest in companies that, like TORM PLC, work with shipping. TORM is not just any shippin...
2026 has been a poor year for Magnificent 7 stocks so far. At the close of Friday, only two Magnificent 7 stocks are up so far in February with Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) being down more than 5% month-to-date. Stocks in the Magnificent 7 aren’t alone in struggling so far in ... NVIDIA Leads Magnificent 7 Stocks in March while Apple and Tesla Slide
2026 has been a poor year for Magnificent 7 stocks so far. At the close of Friday, only two Magnificent 7 stocks are up so far in February with Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) being down more than 5% month-to-date. Stocks in the Magnificent 7 aren’t alone in struggling so far in ... NVIDIA Leads Magnificent 7 Stocks in March while Apple and Tesla Slide
Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz ( KSPI ) makes some sense in the current oil crisis. The Kazakhstan Tenge, or KZT, is up around 10% against the USD ( KZT:USD ) since October, and the price of the USD-denominated issue is down 5%. Since the war, the KZT is up 4% or so against a couple of points of decline in the KSPI stock. It's a petro-currency to a petro-economy after all, so an oil crisis isn't suc...
Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz ( KSPI ) makes some sense in the current oil crisis. The Kazakhstan Tenge, or KZT, is up around 10% against the USD ( KZT:USD ) since October, and the price of the USD-denominated issue is down 5%. Since the war, the KZT is up 4% or so against a couple of points of decline in the KSPI stock. It's a petro-currency to a petro-economy after all, so an oil crisis isn't such a bad thing for the KZT flows in this business. Regardless of the tactical element, the performance of the company is pretty good. Not too much deceleration in the latest results, though some of the effects of higher sales taxes and bank taxes are still to be felt in Q1 and therefore have not yet hit the results. This is what we covered previously and was a concern for us. However, there is at least some offsetting improvement in the smartphone sales situation, which should accelerate smartphone adoption and drive the marketplace in particular in 2026. Also, Hepsi should be doable at EBITDA breakeven levels in 2026. In general, the Kazakh economy is developing, and the more typical taxes and structure aren't coming too much at the expense of Kaspi's growth, which should be less harangued on a go-forward basis. Hepsi is also becoming EBITDA neutral even with reinvestment to increase the business' economics. We are going to see some pressure in Q1 from some of the taxes we mentioned in our previous coverage, and also there is no relief from lower rates in Kazakhstan. But the economy is developing well, Kaspi is doing fine, and the dividend is also back. We don't expect much drag from Hepsi now either, with the clear target to keep that business from dragging on group EBITDA. Kaspi is still cheap at just a little over 6x trailing PE given the growth. Results The first thing is the 850 KZT dividend is back on a 35k KZT price, which should forward at more than a 10% dividend yield since this should be quarterly. so we've declared KZT 850 per share for the final quarter of last...
The EU is hoping to urgently reboot talks on the “reset” of relations with the UK as negotiations are in danger of foundering before a planned July summit. At a public meeting of the EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly in Brussels, the European Commission vice-president and trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, said both sides had to “change gears” now to ensure the deal got over the line. Dead...
The EU is hoping to urgently reboot talks on the “reset” of relations with the UK as negotiations are in danger of foundering before a planned July summit. At a public meeting of the EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly in Brussels, the European Commission vice-president and trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, said both sides had to “change gears” now to ensure the deal got over the line. Deadlock over the tuition fees EU citizens would pay in a proposed youth mobility scheme is a major challenge, he said, while the UK’s trade minister, Chris Bryant, said that talks on a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement was tricky because of the amount of legislation needed in the British parliament. Šefčovič told the MPs and MEPs on Monday that finding agreement before the next summit – pencilled in for early July – was “very ambitious”. But he added: “We need to change gears and work through complexities.” He repeatedly called for a compromise on tuition fees, the first time he has spoken publicly on the issue since a so-called “common understanding” or formal agenda for a reset between the EU and UK was signed off last May in Lancaster House. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, has put agreeing a new deal with Brussels at the centre of his economic and foreign policy, and is hoping to announce a number of agreements at the summit this summer. While talks on SPS and on emissions trading rules are well advanced, the two sides are deadlocked over whether EU students should be charged the same fees as British ones rather than the higher international ones, which they currently have to pay. “To come to an agreement on the youth experience scheme, we will need a solution of tuition fees,” said Šefčovič. The disagreement threatens to scupper not only the planned summit but also the broader plans to realign with the EU, which the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will highlight in a speech on Tuesday as central to her growth agenda. Officials have told the Guardian that Nick Thomas-...
Key Points VCIT is significantly cheaper to own and has outperformed FIGB over the past year. FIGB carries a lower beta and slightly smaller drawdown, but its total return has lagged. Both funds invest in investment-grade bonds, but VCIT holds more securities and has far greater assets under management. 10 stocks we like better than Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust - Fidelity Investment Grade Bond ...
Key Points VCIT is significantly cheaper to own and has outperformed FIGB over the past year. FIGB carries a lower beta and slightly smaller drawdown, but its total return has lagged. Both funds invest in investment-grade bonds, but VCIT holds more securities and has far greater assets under management. 10 stocks we like better than Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust - Fidelity Investment Grade Bond ETF › The Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF (NASDAQ:VCIT) and the Fidelity Investment Grade Bond ETF (NYSEMKT:FIGB) both focus on high-quality U.S. bonds, but VCIT features a much lower expense ratio, stronger recent returns, and far greater scale, while FIGB has experienced slightly less volatility in the last five years. Both VCIT and FIGB aim to provide investors with exposure to investment-grade U.S. bonds, targeting those seeking steady income and moderate risk. This comparison examines their costs, performance, risk, portfolio makeup, and trading characteristics to help determine which may better fit a diversified bond allocation. Snapshot (cost & size) Metric VCIT FIGB Issuer Vanguard Fidelity Expense ratio 0.03% 0.36% 1-yr return (as of 2026-03-11) 7.4% 4.9% Dividend yield 4.7% 4.1% Beta 1.06 1.01 AUM $68.5 billion $441.0 million Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. VCIT is much more affordable, with an expense ratio less than a tenth of FIGB. VCIT also delivers a higher yield, offering a 4.7% payout compared to FIGB’s 4.1%. Performance & risk comparison Metric VCIT FIGB Max drawdown (5 y) -20.6% -18.1% Growth of $1,000 over 5 years $1,076 $1,025 What's inside FIGB targets U.S. investment-grade bonds, covering a variety of sectors within the high-quality segment. The fund holds 685 securities as of Feb. 27, 2026, with 13.3% in cash, 47% in intermediate-term bonds, and 31% in long-term government bonds. At five years o...
A slide in oil prices lifted stocks and bonds on hopes that more tankers will be able to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, with signals that rich nations could release more stockpiles also helping sentiment. While traffic through Hormuz remains at a near-standstill amid the Iran war, US crude settled at $93.50 as a trickle of vessels started to find a way through the oil route. Racquel Oden, US Head ...
A slide in oil prices lifted stocks and bonds on hopes that more tankers will be able to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, with signals that rich nations could release more stockpiles also helping sentiment. While traffic through Hormuz remains at a near-standstill amid the Iran war, US crude settled at $93.50 as a trickle of vessels started to find a way through the oil route. Racquel Oden, US Head of Wealth and Private Banking at HSBC joins to discuss how the markets may react to headlines in the short term, but over time they follow earnings, and the earnings outlook remains strong. (Source: Bloomberg)
US equity indexes rose ahead of the close on Monday as Treasury yields declined and oil prices fell Upgrade to read this MT Newswires article and get so much more. A Silver or Gold subscription plan is required to access premium news articles.
US equity indexes rose ahead of the close on Monday as Treasury yields declined and oil prices fell Upgrade to read this MT Newswires article and get so much more. A Silver or Gold subscription plan is required to access premium news articles.
On February 17, 2026, Tabor Asset Management disclosed a buy of 186,218 shares of Floor & Decor Holdings (NYSE:FND) , an estimated $12.07 million trade based on quarterly average pricing. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated February 17, 2026, Tabor Asset Management boosted its holding in Floor & Decor Holdings by 186,218 shares during the fourth quarter. Th...
On February 17, 2026, Tabor Asset Management disclosed a buy of 186,218 shares of Floor & Decor Holdings (NYSE:FND) , an estimated $12.07 million trade based on quarterly average pricing. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated February 17, 2026, Tabor Asset Management boosted its holding in Floor & Decor Holdings by 186,218 shares during the fourth quarter. The estimated transaction value was $12.07 million based on the average closing price for the period. The quarter-end value of the position increased by $11.04 million, reflecting both the share purchase and price changes. Floor & Decor Holdings is a leading specialty retailer in the hard surface flooring sector, operating warehouse-format stores nationwide. Its strategy leverages a broad in-stock assortment, value pricing, and a multi-channel approach to capture both professional and consumer demand. The company's scale and focused product offering provide a competitive edge in the home improvement industry. Continue reading