Joe_Potato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of Phillips 66 ( PSX ) have been an excellent performer over the past year, gaining about 57%. The company has benefited from investments that improved its operational performance and enhanced its midstream operation. Beyond this, the Iran War has led to a booming environment for the refining industry, creating a meaningful 2026 windfall for the ...
Joe_Potato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of Phillips 66 ( PSX ) have been an excellent performer over the past year, gaining about 57%. The company has benefited from investments that improved its operational performance and enhanced its midstream operation. Beyond this, the Iran War has led to a booming environment for the refining industry, creating a meaningful 2026 windfall for the company even with a Q1 mark-to-market loss. I last covered shares in February , rating the stock a “buy,” and even as the company should benefit meaningfully from the conflicts, shares have only performed in-line with the market, gaining 8%, which I view as a bit disappointing. With updated financials, now is a good time to revisit shares. Seeking Alpha In the company’s first quarter , Phillips 66 earned $0.49, which blew past estimates by $0.88. While underlying results were strong, there was accounting noise during the quarter. Namely, PSX reported an $839 million mark-to-market loss on derivatives it uses to hedge its physical oil position as prices surged during Q1. While this was a financial loss, there is no truly significant economic impact. This financial loss offsets the increased value of its physical inventory, but that is not marked-to-market like derivatives, creating the accounting dislocation. I would look through this loss as unimpactful to PSX’s true intrinsic value. Its refining unit earned $208 million, a dramatic improvement from last year’s $937 million loss. Last year, the environment for refiners was extremely difficult as bloated inventories were compressing crack spreads. We are in the exact opposite moment today. As a result, its margin surged from $6.81/barrel to $10.11. Thanks to less turnaround work, utilization was also a solid 95%. As you can see below, the crack spread environment has absolutely transformed over the past 10 weeks. Energy Stock Channel As a reminder, I view a $25 crack spread as the norm (recognizing they move significantly ye...
4 Key Points From New White House Counter-Terror Strategy Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump’s administration rolled out its new counterterrorism strategy overview on May 6, articulating recent policy shifts and new pledges going forward. The 16-page strategy guide seeks to articulate an “America First” approach to dealing with militants, extremists, and criminal e...
4 Key Points From New White House Counter-Terror Strategy Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump’s administration rolled out its new counterterrorism strategy overview on May 6, articulating recent policy shifts and new pledges going forward. The 16-page strategy guide seeks to articulate an “America First” approach to dealing with militants, extremists, and criminal enterprises. “For the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, America has returned to a common sense and reality-based Counterterrorism Strategy,” the document states. “President Trump has [effected] a complete revision of how we defeat threats to America predicated on national sovereignty and civilizational confidence and the objective of destroying the groups who would kill Americans or hurt our interests as a free nation.” Here are four key points in the new strategy rollout. Violent Left-Wing Groups Fall Under Expanded Counterterror Scope The new strategy document articulates a widened aperture for U.S. counterterrorism efforts. “We face new categories and combinations of violent actors that make the established ways of doing counterterrorism insufficient or obsolete,” the document reads. Although U.S. counterterror efforts have long focused on threats posed by radical Islamist groups, the new strategy document also lists “violent left-wing extremists” and “narcoterrorists and transnational gangs” among the top three major categories of terror groups. The Trump administration has already taken steps to apply counterterrorism authorities to violent left-wing groups and ideological movements that oppose the American way of life as outlined in the founding documents. In November 2025, the U.S. State Department designated four violent transnational left-wing groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Trump previously issued an executive order declaring Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, although U.S. law currently provides no domestic equivalent to a foreign terr...
Barings Bdc (NYSE:BBDC) held its 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders virtually on May 7, with shareholders voting to reelect three Class II directors to the company’s board. Thomas McDonnell, Chief Executive Officer of Barings BDC, called the meeting to order and said the virtua
Barings Bdc (NYSE:BBDC) held its 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders virtually on May 7, with shareholders voting to reelect three Class II directors to the company’s board. Thomas McDonnell, Chief Executive Officer of Barings BDC, called the meeting to order and said the virtua
Fairy Dust Works: Disney's Stock Price Rises as Business AcceleratesWalt Disney (NYSE:DIS) executives said the company outperformed its fiscal second-quarter guidance, citing stronger-than-expected revenue growth and continued progress in streaming, parks, sports and technology i
Fairy Dust Works: Disney's Stock Price Rises as Business AcceleratesWalt Disney (NYSE:DIS) executives said the company outperformed its fiscal second-quarter guidance, citing stronger-than-expected revenue growth and continued progress in streaming, parks, sports and technology i
Deckers’ Surprise Blowout Has Wall Street Repricing the StoryDiversified Energy (NYSE:DEC) reported record first-quarter adjusted EBITDA and detailed a $1.175 billion acquisition of assets from Camino Natural Resources, a transaction executives described as a significant expansio
Deckers’ Surprise Blowout Has Wall Street Repricing the StoryDiversified Energy (NYSE:DEC) reported record first-quarter adjusted EBITDA and detailed a $1.175 billion acquisition of assets from Camino Natural Resources, a transaction executives described as a significant expansio
Amid the crackle of vinyl records and the nostalgia of Cantonese golden oldies, Holy Lee Hau-yin, a Hong Kong mother of three young children, is spinning a new narrative as a professional disc jockey and turning a page on her troubled past. After suffering an abusive marriage and the exhaustion of a decade of childcare, Lee will spend Mother’s Day on Sunday with renewed hope. The 28-year-old is se...
Amid the crackle of vinyl records and the nostalgia of Cantonese golden oldies, Holy Lee Hau-yin, a Hong Kong mother of three young children, is spinning a new narrative as a professional disc jockey and turning a page on her troubled past. After suffering an abusive marriage and the exhaustion of a decade of childcare, Lee will spend Mother’s Day on Sunday with renewed hope. The 28-year-old is set to perform for a private event at The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel and ultimately hopes to make a...
Yasuyuki Watanabe has not seen his daughter in more than 15 years. But he is not celebrating the landmark custody reform that Japan has just implemented. Until last month, Japanese law required one parent to hold sole custody of children after a divorce, leaving the other party reliant on informal goodwill or court-encouraged visitation to maintain a relationship with their child. For Watanabe, 54...
Yasuyuki Watanabe has not seen his daughter in more than 15 years. But he is not celebrating the landmark custody reform that Japan has just implemented. Until last month, Japanese law required one parent to hold sole custody of children after a divorce, leaving the other party reliant on informal goodwill or court-encouraged visitation to maintain a relationship with their child. For Watanabe, 54, the result was a system seemingly designed to exclude him, where one parent could disappear from a...
Recent findings from Microsoft's 2025 Global AI Adoption Report show that personal AI usage worldwide has reached 16.3%, meaning approximately one in six people now incorporates AI tools into daily life or work. According to Yeahmobi, this shift signals more than growing technology adoption — it reflects a major change in consumer expectations, content behavior, and global advertising strategy.
Recent findings from Microsoft's 2025 Global AI Adoption Report show that personal AI usage worldwide has reached 16.3%, meaning approximately one in six people now incorporates AI tools into daily life or work. According to Yeahmobi, this shift signals more than growing technology adoption — it reflects a major change in consumer expectations, content behavior, and global advertising strategy.
A cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak is headed for Spain’s Canary Islands, where most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home after weeks at sea. The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is expected to reach waters off Tenerife at dawn on Sunday, where WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is due to help coordinate the ship’s evacuation. Three passengers from the ship ...
A cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak is headed for Spain’s Canary Islands, where most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home after weeks at sea. The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is expected to reach waters off Tenerife at dawn on Sunday, where WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is due to help coordinate the ship’s evacuation. Three passengers from the ship – a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman – have died, while others have fallen sick with the...