The Federal Bureau of Investigation has started buying location data on Americans, Kash Patel, FBI director, said under oath at the Senate intelligence committee worldwide threats hearing on Wednesday. Patel’s admission came in response to a question from the senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who is a longtime opponent of the warrantless surveillance of Americans. Wyden told Patel that his pre...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has started buying location data on Americans, Kash Patel, FBI director, said under oath at the Senate intelligence committee worldwide threats hearing on Wednesday. Patel’s admission came in response to a question from the senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who is a longtime opponent of the warrantless surveillance of Americans. Wyden told Patel that his predecessor, Christopher Wray, testified in 2023 that the FBI did not at that time purchase location data derived from internet advertising, although he acknowledged that it had done so in the past. “Is that the case still?” Wyden asked. “And if so, can you commit this morning to not buying Americans’ location data?” “We do purchase commercially available information that’s consistent with the constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us,” Patel responded. “So you’re saying that the agency will buy Americans’ location data,” Wyden said. “I believe that that’s what you’ve said in kind of intelligence lingo. And I just want to say as we start this debate, doing that without a warrant is an outrageous end run around the fourth amendment. It’s particularly dangerous given the use of artificial intelligence to comb through massive amounts of private information. “This is exhibit A for why Congress needs to pass our bipartisan, bicameral bill, the Government Surveillance Reform act,” Wyden said, referring to legislation he is working to pass to rein in surveillance. While law enforcement must get a judge-authorized search warrant to obtain location data directly from telecom companies, government agencies have instead been able to buy such information from private data brokers. Wyden’s questioning of Patel on this issue was amplified on social media by Warren Davidson, a House Republican who introduced a bill mirroring Wyden’s Senate measure with the Democratic representative Zoe Lofgren. “This is a cl...
Key Points RWR charges nearly double the expense ratio of VNQ, but it's outperformed over the past five years. Both ETFs hold similar top REITs, though VNQ offers broader diversification with more holdings. Risk profiles are closely matched, with similar betas and max drawdowns. 10 stocks we like better than SPDR Series Trust - State Street SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF › The Vanguard Real Estate ETF (N...
Key Points RWR charges nearly double the expense ratio of VNQ, but it's outperformed over the past five years. Both ETFs hold similar top REITs, though VNQ offers broader diversification with more holdings. Risk profiles are closely matched, with similar betas and max drawdowns. 10 stocks we like better than SPDR Series Trust - State Street SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF › The Vanguard Real Estate ETF (NYSEMKT:VNQ) and the State Street SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF (NYSEMKT:RWR) are both designed to give investors access to the U.S. real estate sector via publicly traded REITs. While their mandates are similar, this comparison highlights differences in expenses, size, diversification, and recent performance that may appeal to different types of real estate-focused investors. Snapshot (cost & size) Metric VNQ RWR Issuer Vanguard SPDR Expense ratio 0.13% 0.25% 1-yr return (as of March 18, 2026) 5.80% 9.57% Dividend yield 3.63% 3.44% Beta (5Y monthly) 1.15 1.12 AUM $69.6 billion $1.8 billion VNQ is more affordable on fees, charging a lower expense ratio than RWR. It also delivers a slightly higher dividend yield, which may appeal to those focused on building long-term income. Performance & risk comparison Metric VNQ RWR Max drawdown (5 y) -34.50% -32.56% Growth of $1,000 over 5 years $992 $1,076 RWR has posted a stronger total return over five years while also experiencing a slightly milder maximum drawdown. Both ETFs show similar risk levels based on beta, suggesting comparable volatility profiles. What's inside RWR seeks to mirror the Dow Jones U.S. Select REIT Capped Index and currently holds 98 U.S.-listed REITs, with a portfolio dominated by Prologis, Welltower, and Equinix. The fund is heavily concentrated in real estate and does not employ leverage, currency hedging, or ESG screens. Launched nearly 25 years ago, it offers investors a strong track record in real estate. VNQ tracks a broader real estate index, spreading its assets across 146 holdings. It offers similar top exp...
The company is making excellent progress ramping its industry-leading 1g DRAM and G9 NAND technology nodes. The 1g node is noted as the fastest ramp to mature yields in the company's history and is ramping volumes faster than all prior nodes. It is on track to become a majority of the company's DRAM bit mix by mid-calendar 2026. The company plans to increase EUV adoption at the next-generation 1d ...
The company is making excellent progress ramping its industry-leading 1g DRAM and G9 NAND technology nodes. The 1g node is noted as the fastest ramp to mature yields in the company's history and is ramping volumes faster than all prior nodes. It is on track to become a majority of the company's DRAM bit mix by mid-calendar 2026. The company plans to increase EUV adoption at the next-generation 1d DRAM node, utilizing the latest-generation EUV tools to optimize cleanroom space efficiency and patterning. In NAND, the G9 node also remains on track to constitute a majority of bits by mid-calendar 2026. The company also achieved a record mix of QLC bits in the quarter. Micron continues to work with customers on strategic customer agreements that differ from prior long-term agreements, providing multiyear commitments for improved visibility and stability. The company has signed its first five-year strategic customer agreement. The improved results and outlook are attributed to an increase in memory demand driven by AI, structural supply constraints, and the company's strong execution. The firm's memory and storage solutions are described as being at the heart of the AI revolution, with memory enabling longer context windows, deeper reasoning chains, and multi-agent orchestration. As AI evolves, compute architectures are expected to become more memory intensive, fundamentally recasting memory as a strategic asset. The company's revenue guidance for the fiscal third quarter exceeds the full-year revenue for every year in its history through fiscal 2024. For that upcoming quarter, Micron anticipates exceptional growth across revenue, gross margin, earnings per share, and free cash flow. Reflecting confidence in the sustained strength of the business, the Board approved a 30% increase in the quarterly dividend. According to a transcript from The Motley Fool, Micron Technology delivered an exceptional fiscal second quarter, with stellar records in revenue, gross margin, earnin...
"This legislation strengthens safeguards and restores clear limits on eligibility to protect vulnerable Albertans facing mental illness or living with disabilities," she said. "Those struggling with severe mental health challenges need treatment, compassion and support, not a path to end their life at what may be their lowest moment."
"This legislation strengthens safeguards and restores clear limits on eligibility to protect vulnerable Albertans facing mental illness or living with disabilities," she said. "Those struggling with severe mental health challenges need treatment, compassion and support, not a path to end their life at what may be their lowest moment."
Earnings Call Insights: Sera Prognostics (SERA) Q4 2025 Management View President and CEO Evguenia Lindgardt highlighted 2025 as a pivotal year, emphasizing, "2025 was a critical year for Sera, finalizing our PRIME publication to advance our evidence portfolio, setting up for commercial push in 2026, building our organization, ensuring we have capital to deploy in our commercialization efforts and...
Earnings Call Insights: Sera Prognostics (SERA) Q4 2025 Management View President and CEO Evguenia Lindgardt highlighted 2025 as a pivotal year, emphasizing, "2025 was a critical year for Sera, finalizing our PRIME publication to advance our evidence portfolio, setting up for commercial push in 2026, building our organization, ensuring we have capital to deploy in our commercialization efforts and laying groundwork for potential international expansion. Our goal was simple: to build the evidence, access and commercial infrastructure required to drive PreTRM adoption at scale." The company strengthened its leadership with the addition of Lee Anderson as Chief Commercial Officer and Dr. Tiffany Inglis as Chief Medical Officer. Lindgardt noted, "We exceeded our state engagement goals in 2025, expanding discussions to 13 states and met our goal of engaging in now 2 live partner programs." Anderson described a "region-first approach, pairing payer engagement with OB/GYN and maternal fetal medicine education, health system outreach and patient awareness to build local market density," with plans to expand active state discussions to 15–17 states and double payer engagements in 2026. The company also welcomed Adrienne Lugo as Head of Sales and Strategic Accounts. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tiffany Inglis said, "Our medical affairs work in 2026 is focused on ensuring PRIME acts as a catalyst for consistent evidence-based practice," with priorities on risk identification, standardized pathways, and improved neonatal outcomes. Chief Financial Officer Austin Aerts reported, "Revenue for the quarter was $10,000 compared to $24,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024... Operating expenses for the quarter were $9 million, down from $9.4 million for the prior year period." He added, "We ended December 31, 2025, with $95.8 million in cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities... we believe this capital will fund the company across significant adoption and commercial mileston...
Weibo NASDAQ: WB executives used the company’s fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 earnings call to outline progress on a major product shift toward an interest-based homepage feed, discuss how AI features are being integrated across the platform, and provide a view of advertising demand by industry as the company heads into 2026. Get Weibo alerts: Sign Up Fourth quarter and full-year financial re...
Weibo NASDAQ: WB executives used the company’s fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 earnings call to outline progress on a major product shift toward an interest-based homepage feed, discuss how AI features are being integrated across the platform, and provide a view of advertising demand by industry as the company heads into 2026. Get Weibo alerts: Sign Up Fourth quarter and full-year financial results CEO Gaofei Wang said Weibo’s fourth quarter total revenues rose 4% year-over-year to $473.3 million. Advertising revenue increased 5% to $403.8 million, while value-added services (VAS) revenue declined 2% to $69.5 million. Non-GAAP operating income was $100.4 million, representing a 21% operating margin. CFO Fei Cao reported GAAP operating income of $104 million for the quarter and net income attributable to Weibo of $66.4 million, with diluted EPS of $0.25. Cao said fourth quarter costs and expenses increased 16% to $372.8 million, driven mainly by higher ad production costs and increased marketing expenses, and that the operating margin fell to 21% from 30% in the prior-year period. For the full year 2025, management said total revenues were $1.76 billion, “relatively flat” year-over-year, including advertising revenue of $1.5 billion and VAS revenue of $255.6 million. Non-GAAP operating margin was 30%. Cao said full-year net income attributable to Weibo was $439.8 million, with diluted EPS of $1.65, and operating margin of 30% versus 33% in 2024. User metrics and homepage feed revamp Wang said Weibo’s monthly active users (MAUs) reached 567 million in December 2025 and average daily active users (DAUs) were 252 million. (Cao reiterated average DAUs of 252 million, but referenced MAUs as 767 million during his prepared remarks.) Wang attributed 2025 engagement initiatives to a structural upgrade completed in late July that rolled out a new homepage centered on an interest-based recommendation feed, aimed at reducing reliance on relationship-based distribution and i...
Chinese State Bankers Face Bonus Cuts Of At Least 30% Senior bankers at China’s state-backed financial institutions are preparing for bonus cuts of at least 30% as Beijing presses ahead with sweeping pay reforms across its $69 trillion financial sector, according to Bloomberg . At two major state-owned banks, senior managers — including department heads — saw their 2025 bonuses reduced by 30% to 5...
Chinese State Bankers Face Bonus Cuts Of At Least 30% Senior bankers at China’s state-backed financial institutions are preparing for bonus cuts of at least 30% as Beijing presses ahead with sweeping pay reforms across its $69 trillion financial sector, according to Bloomberg . At two major state-owned banks, senior managers — including department heads — saw their 2025 bonuses reduced by 30% to 50%, according to people familiar with the matter. At a mid-sized national lender, division chiefs experienced roughly a 40% drop in variable pay last year. The cuts are part of a broader campaign by Xi Jinping to promote “common prosperity” and curb what officials describe as the extravagant lifestyles of top bankers. Regulators are also trying to address a pay imbalance in the industry. In many Chinese financial firms, mid-level managers have historically earned more than top executives, whose compensation is capped due to their status as Communist Party officials. Bloomberg writes that late last year, the Ministry of Finance asked major state-backed institutions to submit plans to overhaul compensation structures. While many firms are still waiting for approval, some have already implemented retroactive pay cuts. Bonuses are the main target because variable pay typically makes up 50% to 70% of managers’ total compensation. Meanwhile, international banks with a large presence in Asia, such as HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered, increased their bonus pools by about 10%. The belt-tightening extends beyond banks. A major state-owned insurer also reduced 2024 bonuses for mid-level managers by at least 30%, according to a person familiar with the decision. Chinese banks posted combined profits of 2.38 trillion yuan ($346 billion) last year, up 2.3%, despite shrinking margins and non-performing loans remaining near record highs. The bonus cuts reflect tighter government control over a sector once known for generous pay. Alongside compensation reforms, authorities have stepped ...
Explore the exciting world of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities! *Stock prices used were the prices of Feb. 4, 2026. The video was published on March 18, 2026. Should you buy stock in Microsoft right now? Before you buy s...
Explore the exciting world of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities! *Stock prices used were the prices of Feb. 4, 2026. The video was published on March 18, 2026. Should you buy stock in Microsoft right now? Before you buy stock in Microsoft, consider this: 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 » The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Microsoft wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $508,877!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,115,328!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 936% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 189% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 18, 2026. Anand Chokkavelu has positions in Microsoft. Lou Whiteman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Travis Hoium has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.