Statistically speaking, outsize stock market returns and President Donald Trump in the White House have gone hand in hand. During the president's first, non-consecutive term, he oversaw gains in the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) , broad-based S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) , and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) of 57%, 70%, and 142% . Although volatility has been prevalent ...
Statistically speaking, outsize stock market returns and President Donald Trump in the White House have gone hand in hand. During the president's first, non-consecutive term, he oversaw gains in the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) , broad-based S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) , and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) of 57%, 70%, and 142% . Although volatility has been prevalent in Trump's second term, we've witnessed an encore performance from equities. Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq have rallied 13%, 20%, and 28%, respectively, through the closing bell on May 4, 2026. President Trump delivering a speech. Image source: Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok. Continue reading
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is preparing an overhaul of how local consumers shop online, betting that the next trend will feel more like chatting with an artificial intelligence chatbot rather than typing keywords into a search bar. Users of the company’s flagship AI assistant Qwen – one of the most popular in China – would soon be able to use natural language to “talk” with the...
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is preparing an overhaul of how local consumers shop online, betting that the next trend will feel more like chatting with an artificial intelligence chatbot rather than typing keywords into a search bar. Users of the company’s flagship AI assistant Qwen – one of the most popular in China – would soon be able to use natural language to “talk” with the chatbot app to find and buy items listed on Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall shopping platforms,...
The Return Of History: Deutsche On Gold, The Dollar, & The Monetary Future Authored by Mallika Sachdeva and Michael Hsueh via Deutsche Bank Research Institute, In 1989, Francis Fukuyama argued that humanity had reached “the end of history”. In the years that followed, the US became the uncontested hegemon, global trade exploded in a US-defined liberal order, developed market central banks sold gol...
The Return Of History: Deutsche On Gold, The Dollar, & The Monetary Future Authored by Mallika Sachdeva and Michael Hsueh via Deutsche Bank Research Institute, In 1989, Francis Fukuyama argued that humanity had reached “the end of history”. In the years that followed, the US became the uncontested hegemon, global trade exploded in a US-defined liberal order, developed market central banks sold gold, while emerging markets accumulated vast amounts of US dollar FX reserves. We argue that the end of history has come to an end. The world is back in a superpower struggle; the US is retreating from free trade, alliances, and security provision; the Great Economic Moderation is behind us; and the dollar banking system has been weaponized. The “return of history” has big implications for gold and the dollar. Contrary to conventional thinking, we argue that the share of gold in central bank reserves is not driven by the global monetary system, but by the global geopolitical environment. Gold’s decline as a share of reserves did not happen with the fall of Bretton Woods in the 1970s, but the fall of the Berlin Wall and the assertion of US hegemony in the 1990s. As tectonic geopolitical plates shift again, the share of US dollars in central bank reserves is once more in decline. It has fallen from over 60% to just 40%, while gold’s share has tripled from its lows to 30% today. We create a framework for the share of gold in central bank reserves as a function of: (1) the volume of gold held by central banks; (2) the price of gold; and (3) the amount of global FX reserves. We see all three pillars on the move, driven by EM. EM central banks have been actively buying gold and driving upward pressure on prices; crucially - their FX reserves may also now begin to structurally decline. A “return of history" would be consistent with gold getting to at least a 40% share of global reserves. There is significant scope for EM to add towards this. We find that EM countries with closer non...
Lowry, Salford The tale of a Burnley businessman who gives his town a financial leg-up overeggs the north-south cultural divide, but Pippa Cleary’s bright musical numbers propel the positivity Was ever a musical so eager to be liked, so anxious not to exclude? It is not just the patronising pre-show introduction, which assumes we have never been in a theatre and insists we all hate bankers. It is ...
Lowry, Salford The tale of a Burnley businessman who gives his town a financial leg-up overeggs the north-south cultural divide, but Pippa Cleary’s bright musical numbers propel the positivity Was ever a musical so eager to be liked, so anxious not to exclude? It is not just the patronising pre-show introduction, which assumes we have never been in a theatre and insists we all hate bankers. It is also the pathological number of pop-culture references in Rob Madge’s book. “We’re on your side,” it seems to say, “because we too have heard of Coronation Street, EastEnders, Cher, The Legend of Zelda , Jeremy Beadle, Mamma Mia!, Dirty Dancing, Wonderwall …” The list goes on. The level of insecurity is strange because Bank of Dave: The Musical is a tremendously likable show. The source material is the feelgood true-life story of Dave Fishwick (Sam Lupton), the Burnley businessman whose egalitarian conscience led him to step in where others had failed. Seeing his fellow townsfolk being held back for want of money, he determined to set up a non-profit bank that would treat them with trust and respect. Continue reading...
imaginima/iStock via Getty Images Memory product maker Sandisk ( SNDK ), which was spun off from Western Digital in early 2025, has seen a stunning business turnaround in the last year, transforming from a legacy storage brand into a high-growth AI infrastructure play. An investment in Sandisk, started a year ago, generated a phenomenal stock return of more than 4,000%, and the company's recent ea...
imaginima/iStock via Getty Images Memory product maker Sandisk ( SNDK ), which was spun off from Western Digital in early 2025, has seen a stunning business turnaround in the last year, transforming from a legacy storage brand into a high-growth AI infrastructure play. An investment in Sandisk, started a year ago, generated a phenomenal stock return of more than 4,000%, and the company's recent earnings report for the third fiscal quarter crushed analysts' estimates . While fundamentals in the memory market are strong, Sandisk is now very highly priced, trading at 11.9X this year's revenues. I would caution against buying into the memory maker at this point, as this FOMO-driven rally could yield a sharp pullback for shares of Sandisk in the near future. Data by YCharts Sandisk is Enjoying Massive Margin Expansion on SSD Demand Sandisk has transformed itself into a memory play for investors that benefits from red-hot demand for AI-optimized processors run in Data Centers. Sandisk has pivoted its product mix toward high-value enterprise SSDs in the high-margin Data Center end market, for which the enterprise offers high-density memory products required for the handling of massive AI datasets. As the potency of generative AI models grows, Data Centers need to move massive amounts of data from storage to memory, which requires Sandisk's enterprise SSDs. Since AI-related CapEx is booming right now, Sandisk has successfully positioned itself as a high-leverage beneficiary of the current infrastructure buildout. According to the IDC, server-related AI spending will ramp up massively in the years ahead, providing a longer-term tailwind for Sandisk. IDC In the third fiscal quarter, Sandisk reported revenues totaling $5.95B, showing 251% year-over-year growth and a head-spinning 97% acceleration compared to the previous quarter. Due to extreme demand for NAND products and rising average selling prices for memory products like SSDs, Sandisk reported triple-digit growth for all...
Spanish passengers taken off MV Hondius by medical teams in hazmat suits after being screened for the infection Cruise ship hantavirus outbreak – latest updates An evacuation has begun of passengers onboard a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly outbreak of hantavirus. Spanish passengers wearing blue plastic ponchos and hair coverings were taken off the vessel by medical teams in hazmat suits on ...
Spanish passengers taken off MV Hondius by medical teams in hazmat suits after being screened for the infection Cruise ship hantavirus outbreak – latest updates An evacuation has begun of passengers onboard a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly outbreak of hantavirus. Spanish passengers wearing blue plastic ponchos and hair coverings were taken off the vessel by medical teams in hazmat suits on Sunday morning after being screened for the infection. Continue reading...