To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: The US says it has sent Iran a plan to end the conflict ; It’s also deploying 2,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne to the Gulf; Gold has dropped 27% from peak to trough — some shelter ; The gilt market has the UK’s Labour government Trussed up ; AND: Some more wonderful musical Canadiennes . Golden Stum...
To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: The US says it has sent Iran a plan to end the conflict ; It’s also deploying 2,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne to the Gulf; Gold has dropped 27% from peak to trough — some shelter ; The gilt market has the UK’s Labour government Trussed up ; AND: Some more wonderful musical Canadiennes . Golden Stumble The war in the Middle East has revealed that gold isn’t much of a haven. It’s almost exactly the opposite. The metal has lost about a fifth of its value since it surged to an all-time high in late January. At that point it was buoyed by the belief that the US administration was “debasing” its currency, which peaked when President Donald Trump said he was content to see the dollar move “like a yoyo.” It also provided a haven from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This war has been very different. Gold is roughly where it started the year, but only after an epic roller-coaster ride: The selloff from its January intraday peak to the trough earlier this week was an epic 27%, while the week leading up to Trump’s post threatening to attack Iranian energy installations was its worst five-day decline since 2013. That discouraging precedent was the start of a lengthy bear market: For gold investors, the question is whether this conflict marks a tectonic shift in the underlying assumptions that have driven its rise (like the bear market of 2013, which came as investors grew to accept that the monetary easing that followed the Global Financial Crisis was not going to cause inflation), or a simple reaction to idiosyncratic factors tied to the war. Gold’s trajectory in the last year looks startingly similar to the Nasdaq Composite in the lead-up to the bursting of the dot-com bubble, which offers little comfort: By coincidence, both the Nasdaq and gold topped shortly after hitting the 5,000 landmark, and the two are shown on the same scale above. If we appease the statistical purists by...
Chinese mainland investors’ fund flows into Hong Kong stocks have sharply fluctuated in recent weeks, underscoring a lack of conviction to build long-term positions. Onshore investors sold HK$27.4 billion ($3.5 billion) worth of stocks in Hong Kong on Tuesday via a trading link after buying HK$29.7 billion in the previous session. Their quick turnaround this week reflects a similar pattern earlier...
Chinese mainland investors’ fund flows into Hong Kong stocks have sharply fluctuated in recent weeks, underscoring a lack of conviction to build long-term positions. Onshore investors sold HK$27.4 billion ($3.5 billion) worth of stocks in Hong Kong on Tuesday via a trading link after buying HK$29.7 billion in the previous session. Their quick turnaround this week reflects a similar pattern earlier in the month, when traders dumped shares after a record daily purchase on March 9. The rapid swings suggest investors are still waiting for clearer signs that Hong Kong stocks have bottomed, even as the Hang Seng Index has fallen about 10% from a peak in January. Rather than build positions in favorites like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. , mainland investors appear to be taking a short-term trading approach via exchange-traded funds. “Southbound institutions have been moving in and out of three ETFs quickly in recent days and running swing trades with very quick in-and-out positioning,” said May Zhao, investment director at Star River Securities Ltd. “It’s largely about hedging and liquidity, though some are also using ETFs to bottom‑fish in beaten‑down sectors like tech and healthcare.” The trading activity is mainly concentrated in some of the largest ETFs including the Tracker fund of Hong Kong , coinciding with sharp swings in Hong Kong’s benchmarks. The Hang Seng gauge rose 2.8% on Tuesday, rebounding from a 3.5% drop the previous day. Southbound flows remained modest on Wednesday while the index was little changed. “The gap between index futures and the cash market has been wide enough to make arbitrage worthwhile,” according to CSOP Asset Management Limited in a written response to Bloomberg. “If you are trading through southbound, you really need the most liquid index ETFs as the core of the strategy.”
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This is the forum for daily political discussion on Seeking Alpha. A new version is published every market day. Please don't leave political comments on other articles or posts on the site. The comments below are not regulated with the same rigor as the rest of the site, and this is an 'enter at your own risk' area as discussion can get very heated. If you can't stand the heat... you know what they say... More on Today's Markets: Moderation Guidelines: We remove comments under the following categories: Personal attacks on another user account Anti-Vaxxer or covid related misinformation Stereotyping, prejudiced or racist language about individuals or the topic under discussion. Inciting violence messages, encouraging hate groups and political violence. Regardless of which side of the political divide you find yourself, please be courteous and don't direct abuse at other users. For any issue with regards to comments please email us at : moderation@seekingalpha.com. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
If you're looking for tech stocks that could go parabolic, you're going to want to find stocks in emerging fields, that also have big potential growth. Let's look at two stocks that aren't household names that fit that bill. Quantum computing has the potential to be the next big technological breakthrough after artificial intelligence (AI), and one company that is positioning itself to be a leader...
If you're looking for tech stocks that could go parabolic, you're going to want to find stocks in emerging fields, that also have big potential growth. Let's look at two stocks that aren't household names that fit that bill. Quantum computing has the potential to be the next big technological breakthrough after artificial intelligence (AI), and one company that is positioning itself to be a leader in this field is IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) . What differentiates IonQ from the competition is that its technology has proven to be one of the most accurate, with it achieving 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity (accuracy). Accuracy is one of the biggest hurdles in quantum computing, and its trapped ion technology, which uses more stable atoms as qubits, and electronic quantum core (EQC) technology, which uses microwave electronics integrated directly into its chips, have helped separate it from the pack. At the same time, the company is trying to control the entire quantum ecosystem. Over the years, it has made acquisitions to acquire technology and talent in the areas of quantum sensing, networking, and transmission. More recently, it agreed to acquire quantum foundry SkyWater Technology , which will allow it to more tightly integrate its designs into the manufacturing process, make prototypes more quickly, and be able to scale its chips more easily. Continue reading
EschCollection/DigitalVision via Getty Images About four months after the publication of my previous coverage , Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. ( MCB ) still delivered 9.0% returns despite my cautious outlook before. Somehow, I still understand the optimistic move of the market, driven by the policy easing cycle last quarter. However, this still doesn’t erase the fact that it’s overpriced for its ...
EschCollection/DigitalVision via Getty Images About four months after the publication of my previous coverage , Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. ( MCB ) still delivered 9.0% returns despite my cautious outlook before. Somehow, I still understand the optimistic move of the market, driven by the policy easing cycle last quarter. However, this still doesn’t erase the fact that it’s overpriced for its valuation. Macroeconomic turbulence must also be considered due to the potential impact on its performance. Technicals adhere to it as momentum weakens amid the recent selling pressures. MCB Q4 2025: Growth And Profitability Still In Tandem In the latter part of 2025, everyone saw mixed macroeconomic conditions amid stubborn inflation and new tariff woes, offset by the policy easing cycle. As a bank, Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. is susceptible to risks associated with volatility due to its highly cyclical nature. Even so, it continued to prove it could take advantage of the situation to sustain its growth potential. This was visible in its most recent performance. In Q4 2025, its interest income amounted to $137.5M , up by 14.6% YoY from $119.8M and 4.1% QoQ from $132.0M, which showed its sustained growth. This YoY increase was also stronger than in my previous coverage at 9.6%, which was impressive considering the rate cut cycle that could have also slashed the yields of its interest-earning assets. But MCB still took advantage of it through its disciplined and prudent investment diversification and lending policies. As you can see, its interest-earning assets increased a lot in just five quarters. For instance, loans increased by 13.3% YoY. But I like that it remains heavily focused on commercial rather than consumer loans. I will explain this more later. Meanwhile, its interest expense decreased because the reduction in interest rates lowered the cost of deposits and debts. As a result, its net interest income also rose noticeably. Meanwhile, its non-interest income a...
A large-scale job fair for university students in Heilongjiang province on March 24, 2026. Photo: VCG China’s recruitment market heated up after the Lunar New Year holiday, with demand surging in humanoid robotics and AI agents, according to weekly data from job platform Zhaopin. Zhaopin said in a spring hiring report released over four consecutive weeks that, one month after workers returned from...
A large-scale job fair for university students in Heilongjiang province on March 24, 2026. Photo: VCG China’s recruitment market heated up after the Lunar New Year holiday, with demand surging in humanoid robotics and AI agents, according to weekly data from job platform Zhaopin. Zhaopin said in a spring hiring report released over four consecutive weeks that, one month after workers returned from the holiday, the number of companies hiring rose 7.4% from a year earlier while the number of job seekers increased 4.1%. Among the 20 fastest-growing industries by year-over-year hiring, sectors tied to what China calls “new quality productive forces” dominated the list.
Chinese government bonds are emerging as a viable alternative reserve asset after holding up through recent geopolitical shocks including the Iran war, according to Gavekal Research. The report challenges a core assumption of global reserve management that US government bonds and the dollar act as “shelters in a storm.” Sovereign bonds in China have held firm amid the recent Middle East tensions, ...
Chinese government bonds are emerging as a viable alternative reserve asset after holding up through recent geopolitical shocks including the Iran war, according to Gavekal Research. The report challenges a core assumption of global reserve management that US government bonds and the dollar act as “shelters in a storm.” Sovereign bonds in China have held firm amid the recent Middle East tensions, analysts Charles Gave and Louis‑Vincent Gave wrote in a report on Tuesday. China’s long-tenor bonds rose in the year following Covid-19 pandemic and stayed relatively flat in the 12 months after the war in Ukraine. US Treasury performance after adjusting for currency moves and gold prices have been unimpressive in comparison during these periods, they wrote. Meanwhile, China’s sovereign debt is underpinned by its ability to produce more electricity at a lower cost than anyone else, according to the report, insulating its bond market from any oil-driven inflation shock. The strategists point out that since 2012, Chinese bonds have been among the few fixed-income markets that beat US inflation. The appeal of China’s sovereign debt as a global reserve asset is also supported by Beijing’s dominance as the world’s industrial and trading superpower, according to Gavekal. This industrial strength suggests that the era of undervalued currency may come to an end. “In an inflationary world, tariffs and the maintenance of a significantly undervalued currency would likely fall by the wayside,” the analysts wrote. “Instead of trade wars, we could see trade deals, more solar panels to the US, more freely flowing rare earths, a stronger renminbi.” “In such a world, the marginal bid would shift away from gold and US Treasuries and toward renminbi and other Asian-currency-denominated assets that offer a yield,” they wrote. Gavekal Has a Provocative Thought on Chinese Bonds: China Today