Shares in FTAI Aviation (NASDAQ: FTAI) rose by 37.4% in the first half of 2026, according to the data from S&P Global Market Intelligence . It's an excellent performance, but it was anything but linear. Instead, FTAI has had a volatile year, with many of the year's topical issues: AI-linked investment, the conflict in Iran, and energy prices. Given that these factors remain highly dynamic, volatil...
Shares in FTAI Aviation (NASDAQ: FTAI) rose by 37.4% in the first half of 2026, according to the data from S&P Global Market Intelligence . It's an excellent performance, but it was anything but linear. Instead, FTAI has had a volatile year, with many of the year's topical issues: AI-linked investment, the conflict in Iran, and energy prices. Given that these factors remain highly dynamic, volatility is likely to continue. The company operates three businesses that are highly related but distinct. The core business is providing engine maintenance for airlines and airplane owners. The second is aviation leasing, where it takes assets (airplanes) on its books, raises third-party capital, and then owns and leases the airplanes to airlines, while ensuring the engines are maintained. The third, nascent, business is FTAI Power, which was launched at the end of 2025, and converts CFM56 engines (which power the legacy Airbus A320 family of planes as well as the legacy Boeing 737) into power turbines to provide energy to data centers globally. All three were impacted by events in 2026. Continue reading
Crude oil prices jumped and stock prices fell after President Trump declared an end to the cease fire with Iran, adding fresh uncertainty to an already shaky outlook for the global economy. (Image credit: Michael M. Santiago)
Crude oil prices jumped and stock prices fell after President Trump declared an end to the cease fire with Iran, adding fresh uncertainty to an already shaky outlook for the global economy. (Image credit: Michael M. Santiago)
The best defense is a good offense. That old sports adage seems to capture what Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes to accomplish by standing up a cloud business. Shares of the Facebook and Instagram parent company soared nearly 9% last Wednesday, the day the company confirmed to Jim Cramer that a long-talked-about cloud service was in the works. According to Bloomberg, which was first to rep...
The best defense is a good offense. That old sports adage seems to capture what Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes to accomplish by standing up a cloud business. Shares of the Facebook and Instagram parent company soared nearly 9% last Wednesday, the day the company confirmed to Jim Cramer that a long-talked-about cloud service was in the works. According to Bloomberg, which was first to report the news, Meta is debating whether to offer access to AI models hosted on its infrastructure or to sell access to raw computing power. A week later, there are few details on exactly what Meta is planning, and the stock is a few dollars per share lower than where it closed the day the news came out. The bull case for a Meta cloud business is that by going on the offensive and creating a new revenue stream, it also provides the defense needed to hedge against overbuilding on AI infrastructure. Those spending concerns were evident on the evening of April 29 when Meta's outstanding fiscal 2026 first quarter was met with heavy selling. The Street graded Meta's capital expenditure intentions more harshly relative to its hyperscaler peers ( Amazon , Microsoft , and Alphabet ), as monetization of that spend would depend almost entirely on internal demand for compute. The three biggest public clouds use only the compute they need and rent out any excess capacity. The bear case questions whether a Meta cloud signals excess compute because the company overshot what it needs. Let's explore each argument and where we come down. The bear case The bear case centers on whether Meta will see enough of a return on invested capital (ROIC) for its massive amounts of AI spending it has already made and the plan for between $125 billion and $145 billion of capital expenditures in fiscal 2026. That's a capex increase from the prior range of between $115 billion and $135 billion, and above the $122.64 billion expected, even on the low end, according to FactSet. Laura Martin, the longtime Needh...
zhaojiankang/iStock via Getty Images 60% Up, And Plenty More To Come Still Upstream has proven to be a great area to invest in this year as the margin spread has exploded for companies like Par Pacific Holdings ( PARR ). I’ve been invested since January this year, and I’ve now banked a 60% return while the SPY has only moved 7.73% higher. First Coverage (Seeking Alpha) The company is gaining tract...
zhaojiankang/iStock via Getty Images 60% Up, And Plenty More To Come Still Upstream has proven to be a great area to invest in this year as the margin spread has exploded for companies like Par Pacific Holdings ( PARR ). I’ve been invested since January this year, and I’ve now banked a 60% return while the SPY has only moved 7.73% higher. First Coverage (Seeking Alpha) The company is gaining traction, and for good reason; it’s a great energy play right now. Performance across the business is solid, and I expect higher volumes in the next three quarters with a record $700 million in EBIT for the year if the product spreads keep trending higher, or even just consolidate where they are now. This means PARR will remain a Strong Buy for me. Expectations Are Sky-High, But It Can Go Higher Earnings Report (Seeking Alpha) We’re a little less than a month now off until the next earnings report, but the sentiment is clear. PARR should post a massive QoQ increase in EPS. Much of this year's profits will and should be reported in the next two quarters, with full-year estimates sitting at $14.58. That still seems a little low to me if we look at the current market trajectory. Shares are now also trading lower than when the Q1 report came out, which seems like a disconnect from what actually happened and an unjustified punishment. The EPS missed, as seen in the image above, but that ignores the top line. It might’ve just beat it by 4%, but to me the story is about the record refining throughput of 184,000 bpd. That was a solid 4.7% increase YoY in volumes. That’s not something you ignore. Instead of WCS being cheaper as a feedstock, the actual end price is rising, which is widening the crack spread (PARR sells based on WTI, not WCS). I covered this market aspect last time, and it seems that the bullish outlook I had then was the right call. The 3-2-1 crack spread sits at $53 per barrel. This is nearing the highs we saw in June 2022. EPS Beat (Seeking Alpha) Going back to that qua...
FCA clashes with consumer group pushing for bigger compensation, alleging lack of transparency and conflict of interest The City regulator is trying to get the only consumer group arguing for higher motor finance scandal payouts thrown out of court, alleging that its co-founders have not been transparent about their funding and potential conflicts of interest. The accusations, laid out in legal fi...
FCA clashes with consumer group pushing for bigger compensation, alleging lack of transparency and conflict of interest The City regulator is trying to get the only consumer group arguing for higher motor finance scandal payouts thrown out of court, alleging that its co-founders have not been transparent about their funding and potential conflicts of interest. The accusations, laid out in legal filings on Wednesday, are the latest controversy in the long-running saga surrounding mis-sold car loans, with fears of large payouts having resulted in heavy lobbying by banks and a controversial intervention by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. Continue reading...
Shipowners painted a mixed picture of their willingness to continue transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the hours after President Donald Trump said the US ceasefire with Iran is “ over. ” Of five owners surveyed by Bloomberg, whose vessels have crossed the vital conduit for energy flows in recent weeks, three said they were assessing whether it’s still safe to transit, while while two said they had...
Shipowners painted a mixed picture of their willingness to continue transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the hours after President Donald Trump said the US ceasefire with Iran is “ over. ” Of five owners surveyed by Bloomberg, whose vessels have crossed the vital conduit for energy flows in recent weeks, three said they were assessing whether it’s still safe to transit, while while two said they hadn’t yet changed their policies. When it comes to oil flows, much will depend on the approach of Sinokor Group, the world’s largest owner of supertankers and a key player in Hormuz traffic since the conflict began. One of the company’s vessels was attacked on Tuesday and three shipbrokers who deal with the firm said they hadn’t been updated on its current position on transiting. The risk of a return to all-out war appeared to be rising on Wednesday, with Trump warning that the US would probably launch further strikes on Iran and could resume a blockade on the country’s ports. In these circumstances, how much crude continues flowing out of the waterway, and the resulting impact on global oil prices, may come down to the decisions of the narrow cadre of shipowners that have been willing to enter Hormuz. See also: Saudi Efforts to Revive Gulf Oil Loadings Run Into Buyer Caution Two owners that have previously sent ships into Hormuz showed some willingness to continue. Their vessels passed through the waterway under cover of darkness in the hours after the US resumed strikes on Iran, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Visible traffic on Wednesday was muted on the Omani side of Hormuz — a shipping corridor that has become the primary alternative to Iranian-controlled waters. Amid the heightened tensions, ships may be more likely to make the transit without broadcasting their locations. The tendency of some tankers to exit the Persian Gulf in convoy formations has also made daily totals volatile. Benchmark tanker earnings, which reflect the cost of entering t...
Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) now carries a market capitalization of a little more than $300 billion as of July 3, 2026, which has taken many investors on a nice ride, given the company’s the software-with-a-defense-flavor story. Palantir is now arguing for a seat inside the mega-cap conversation, alongside the AI infrastructure names its own CEO likes ... Palantir Just Hit $300 Billion. The...
Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) now carries a market capitalization of a little more than $300 billion as of July 3, 2026, which has taken many investors on a nice ride, given the company’s the software-with-a-defense-flavor story. Palantir is now arguing for a seat inside the mega-cap conversation, alongside the AI infrastructure names its own CEO likes ... Palantir Just Hit $300 Billion. The Numbers Say That’s Only the Start.
DNY59/E+ via Getty Images As the markets sell off, focus on the signal and not the noise There's clearly palpable fear right now in the market. As the Nasdaq ( COMP:IND ) began Wednesday's trading, it was actually looking feeble. Yet, as I pen this update midway through the morning session, we are down by just 0.6%. In pre-market trading, we were actually down as much as 1.5 or 1.6%. So, if you ju...
DNY59/E+ via Getty Images As the markets sell off, focus on the signal and not the noise There's clearly palpable fear right now in the market. As the Nasdaq ( COMP:IND ) began Wednesday's trading, it was actually looking feeble. Yet, as I pen this update midway through the morning session, we are down by just 0.6%. In pre-market trading, we were actually down as much as 1.5 or 1.6%. So, if you just woke up to a late morning, you probably wouldn't be too dissatisfied with how the market has been holding its line so strongly ever since late June. President Trump calls off the ceasefire with Iran (Bloomberg) And then we obviously know there is this new report of President Trump highlighting that the ceasefire with Iran is over , given the skirmishes over the past week. Let's put it this way: I think geopolitical volatility and uncertainty will continue to percolate for the rest of the year as this fragile truce meanders. But I've also learned from my previous experiences with the Iranian war (and others) that these conflicts should ultimately resolve in due course. And for the U.S.-Iranian situation, I actually believe there's little incentive for Trump to keep it going, knowing that the midterms are inching closer than ever before. So coming back to the market, we always focus on what matters, which is the price action. As I've always encouraged and emphasized to my subscribers in Ultimate Growth Investing , paying attention to the market helps us to decipher and differentiate signal from noise. AI is a bubble? I've heard it for the past three years+ Let's try and understand what the noise is that we have heard this week. "AI is a bubble." I'm hearing it over and over again. Alright, I shall emphasize that this is not just this week. We have been hearing it for the past three years or more. Yet, the market continues to make new highs. You know what I mean? The so-called AI bubble continues to grow, so the way I see it, we are always in a bubble. Just what stage of th...