hocus-focus Microsoft-owned ( MSFT ) LinkedIn plans to reduce its staff in the latest round of tech sector layoffs this year. "As part of our regular business planning, we've implemented organizational changes to best position ourselves for future success," said a LinkedIn spokesperson to Seeking Alpha in an email. This follows last month's revelation that Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to 7%...
hocus-focus Microsoft-owned ( MSFT ) LinkedIn plans to reduce its staff in the latest round of tech sector layoffs this year. "As part of our regular business planning, we've implemented organizational changes to best position ourselves for future success," said a LinkedIn spokesperson to Seeking Alpha in an email. This follows last month's revelation that Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to 7% of its U.S. workforce. Those eligible for the buyouts include workers at the senior director level and below and employees whose years of employment at Microsoft and age add up to 70 or more. In Microsoft's most recent quarterly results, LinkedIn revenue had increased 12%, or 9% in constant currency, year over year. The business is considered the world's largest professional networking platform and has more than 1.2B users. LinkedIn, which has about 17,500 employees, plans to reduce its staff by approximately 5%, according to Reuters , which cited people familiar with the plan. The layoffs are not connected to AI replacing positions. The tech sector as a whole has laid off 103,571 employees so far in 2026, according to the tracker Layoffs.fyi . More on Microsoft Microsoft: Death Of SaaS Has Been Overly Exaggerated - Reiterate Strong Buy Wall Street Lunch: Does AT&T's History Help Ease AI Capex Fears? Microsoft: Look Out For More Upside Ahead, Just Respect Risks Microsoft's new revenue-sharing plan with OpenAI pulls cash forward: Wedbush OpenAI CEO says startup got 'morale boost' after Musk left board
hocus-focus Microsoft-owned ( MSFT ) LinkedIn plans to reduce its staff in the latest round of tech sector layoffs this year. "As part of our regular business planning, we've implemented organizational changes to best position ourselves for future success," said a LinkedIn spokesperson to Seeking Alpha in an email. This follows last month's revelation that Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to 7%...
hocus-focus Microsoft-owned ( MSFT ) LinkedIn plans to reduce its staff in the latest round of tech sector layoffs this year. "As part of our regular business planning, we've implemented organizational changes to best position ourselves for future success," said a LinkedIn spokesperson to Seeking Alpha in an email. This follows last month's revelation that Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to 7% of its U.S. workforce. Those eligible for the buyouts include workers at the senior director level and below and employees whose years of employment at Microsoft and age add up to 70 or more. In Microsoft's most recent quarterly results, LinkedIn revenue had increased 12%, or 9% in constant currency, year over year. The business is considered the world's largest professional networking platform and has more than 1.2B users. LinkedIn, which has about 17,500 employees, plans to reduce its staff by approximately 5%, according to Reuters , which cited people familiar with the plan. The layoffs are not connected to AI replacing positions. The tech sector as a whole has laid off 103,571 employees so far in 2026, according to the tracker Layoffs.fyi . More on Microsoft Microsoft: Death Of SaaS Has Been Overly Exaggerated - Reiterate Strong Buy Wall Street Lunch: Does AT&T's History Help Ease AI Capex Fears? Microsoft: Look Out For More Upside Ahead, Just Respect Risks Microsoft's new revenue-sharing plan with OpenAI pulls cash forward: Wedbush OpenAI CEO says startup got 'morale boost' after Musk left board
Shares of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) are up roughly 7% in Wednesday morning trading, climbing to about $12.82 from a prior close of $11.99. The move is the stock’s sharpest single-day gain in weeks, and it stands out against a generally quiet automotive tape. By comparison, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is up 3% to around $446.70, ... Ford Is Up 7% Today: Is It Outperforming Other Car Stocks Like Gen...
Shares of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) are up roughly 7% in Wednesday morning trading, climbing to about $12.82 from a prior close of $11.99. The move is the stock’s sharpest single-day gain in weeks, and it stands out against a generally quiet automotive tape. By comparison, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is up 3% to around $446.70, ... Ford Is Up 7% Today: Is It Outperforming Other Car Stocks Like General Motors and Tesla?
A Chinese-owned supertanker hauling Iraqi crude through the Persian Gulf is set to test the US blockade over the next 24 hours as it attempts to exit the largely shuttered Strait of Hormuz. The transit would coincide with President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing. The Yuan Hua Hu passed Iran’s Larak Island in the early hours of Wednesday morning and is now crossing the Gulf of Oman. It loaded abou...
A Chinese-owned supertanker hauling Iraqi crude through the Persian Gulf is set to test the US blockade over the next 24 hours as it attempts to exit the largely shuttered Strait of Hormuz. The transit would coincide with President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing. The Yuan Hua Hu passed Iran’s Larak Island in the early hours of Wednesday morning and is now crossing the Gulf of Oman. It loaded about 2 million barrels of crude at Iraq’s Basra Oil Terminal in early March, tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. Another tanker that exited the Persian Gulf on Sunday with a similar cargo of Iraqi crude was halted by the US Navy the following day as it tried to leave the Gulf of Oman. The Agios Fanourios I , remains off the coast of Oman after the US Central Command said it was turned around to enforce the blockade against Iran. A third supertanker, the Kiara M , which made the outbound voyage on Saturday, remains anchored off Sohar in Oman. Its automated tracking signals indicate it is still full, but satellite images from Tuesday and Wednesday suggest it is alongside another very large crude carrier, perhaps transferring its cargo, which was also loaded in Iraq. Almost all the other ships crossing Hormuz out of the Persian Gulf on Tuesday and Wednesday have links to Iran. At least two have been sanctioned by the US, while others have called at Iranian ports. Most are shuttling between Iranian ports along the waterway and further east in the Gulf of Oman, or are anchoring off ports in Oman itself. Hopes for a swift reopening of the strait have faded with talks between Washington and Tehran at an impasse . Meanwhile, loading jetties at Iran’s biggest oil terminal remained idle on Tuesday, satellite images collected by Bloomberg show. It was the fourth successive image showing empty jetties since Friday, a first since the war began. Read More: Kharg Island Oil Jetties Empty in Possible Sign of Iran Strain Hormuz Transits Apart from the Chinese supertanker, the most...
The University of Michigan recently became one of the most unlikely winners of the AI boom. The school’s endowment invested $20 million in OpenAI during a very early fundraising round, well before Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ:MSFT) $1 billion investment in 2019 and before most people had heard of the AI lab. That stake is now expected to be worth ... University of Michigan’s $20M OpenAI Bet Is Now Worth $2...
The University of Michigan recently became one of the most unlikely winners of the AI boom. The school’s endowment invested $20 million in OpenAI during a very early fundraising round, well before Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ:MSFT) $1 billion investment in 2019 and before most people had heard of the AI lab. That stake is now expected to be worth ... University of Michigan’s $20M OpenAI Bet Is Now Worth $2 Billion
Caramel vape with your latte? ‘Banana ice’ with your curry? The perfect pairing is out there – and vapeologists are keen to help you find it Name: Vape sommelier. Age: Emerging. Continue reading...
Caramel vape with your latte? ‘Banana ice’ with your curry? The perfect pairing is out there – and vapeologists are keen to help you find it Name: Vape sommelier. Age: Emerging. Continue reading...
Robert Way/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Under Armour, Inc. ( UA ) announced a fiscal Q4 report from the January-March period that clearly disappointed the market. The brand has failed to reestablish its value in North America, continuing to weaken revenues going into FY2027. The gross margin stayed weak in Q4 due to tariffs and increased promotions. FY2027 is guided to show some gross margin ...
Robert Way/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Under Armour, Inc. ( UA ) announced a fiscal Q4 report from the January-March period that clearly disappointed the market. The brand has failed to reestablish its value in North America, continuing to weaken revenues going into FY2027. The gross margin stayed weak in Q4 due to tariffs and increased promotions. FY2027 is guided to show some gross margin progress, ultimately offset by other weaknesses. The turnaround seems distant; Under Armour is running out of breath. I downgraded my rating to Sell in my previous January article on the stock, titled “ Under Armour: The Turnaround Is Increasingly Distant. ” The stock has since lost -10% of its value. The S&P 500 has gained 7% in the same period. My Rating History on UA & UAA (Seeking Alpha) Under Armour’s Q4 Was Still Weak Under Armour didn’t show much strength in the fiscal Q4 financials . Revenues came in at $1.17 billion, reflecting a significant -4.2% decline in constant currency. Adjusted operating income did improve to $3 million from a -$36 million loss a year ago, but only due to a shift in the timing of marketing spend. The underlying earnings performance was once again concerning; Under Armour’s turnaround hasn’t shown enough progress. The quarter’s revenues beat Wall Street’s consensus by $3.6 million, but the -$0.03 adjusted EPS missed by a cent. Author's Illustration Using TIKR Data There was noteworthy variance in Under Armour’s sales performance by market. North America remained the weakest market at a sharp -7.5% revenue decline; the brand has so far failed to reestablish itself in the market. After nearly one and a half years from the turnaround strategy’s announcement , streamlined product assortments and elevated brand storytelling have a lot more to accomplish. Stabilization in North America remains critical to Under Armour at $641 million, or slightly more than half of total revenues. International markets held more stable. Revenues declined by -1.3% i...
Set in a beautifully filmed provincial Japanese town, what could have been a soapy drama is told with poetic restraint and subtlety by Kôji Fukada Japanese film-maker Kôji Fukada has created a film of great lucidity and calm, a walking-pace drama set in the quiet town of Nagi in the south of the country; this is a provincial place of seclusion and restraint, notable for its military base but also ...
Set in a beautifully filmed provincial Japanese town, what could have been a soapy drama is told with poetic restraint and subtlety by Kôji Fukada Japanese film-maker Kôji Fukada has created a film of great lucidity and calm, a walking-pace drama set in the quiet town of Nagi in the south of the country; this is a provincial place of seclusion and restraint, notable for its military base but also an interesting contemporary art gallery. The movie is less overtly sensational and emotional than Fukada’s previous pictures such as Love Life or Goodbye Summer , though it has the same Rohmeresque gentleness, the same considerate and caring mien, the same palate-cleansing wash of cool daylight. These are factors which do not however preclude intensity, even passion and a feeling that a dreamlife of yearning is taking place underneath innocuous waking reality. At the centre of the film is an enigma: Yoriko (Takako Matsu) is a single woman who runs a dairy farm in Nagi, but her real passion is art. She draws and sculpts, but entirely for her own pleasure. None of her pieces get exhibited or sold. One warm spring day – the movie is elegantly interspersed with chapter-heading closeups in which different kinds of calendar get the days torn off – Yoriko is visited by her good friend Yuri (Shizuka Ishibashi), an architect who after some time in Tokyo, moved to Taiwan to start a practice there with her husband Masato but returned to Japan after her divorce. What makes their friendship interesting is that they are sisters-in-law, or perhaps ex-sisters-in-law. Masato is Yoriko’s brother. So how exactly has their friendship survived and thrived for so long? Continue reading...
Walter Cicchetti/iStock Editorial via Getty Images U.S. equities are in a vertical phase. The S&P 500 just broke 7,400 for the first time, up roughly 27% over the past twelve months and more than 15% in a six-week stretch. The Nasdaq-100 has gained close to 40% over the same year, and April 2026 alone delivered its strongest monthly performance in 23 years. But the rally is narrow. In one recent r...
Walter Cicchetti/iStock Editorial via Getty Images U.S. equities are in a vertical phase. The S&P 500 just broke 7,400 for the first time, up roughly 27% over the past twelve months and more than 15% in a six-week stretch. The Nasdaq-100 has gained close to 40% over the same year, and April 2026 alone delivered its strongest monthly performance in 23 years. But the rally is narrow. In one recent record-high session, just five mega-cap names contributed roughly three quarters of the S&P 500's gain. AI has become the market's entire center of gravity. That gravity has spread through the supply chain. Sandisk ( SNDK ) has gained more than 510% year-to-date and nearly 4,000% since its 2025 spinoff from Western Digital ( WDC ), while Western Digital itself is up roughly 190% year-to-date and Micron ( MU ) close to 170%. Multi-hundred to multi-thousand percent moves compressed into months exceed what structural growth can explain. Into this market, SpaceX ( SPACE ) is preparing to IPO, with market speculation pointing toward summer 2026 and valuation discussions already in trillion-dollar territory. The listing packages AI, space, Elon Musk and future infrastructure into a single deal. When the market begins treating an unlisted company as a "must own" global asset, risk appetite has already shifted from distributed to concentrated. An IPO of this scale will absorb enormous market liquidity, making it the most concentrated stress test this cycle has faced. What the Options Market Is Telling Us The current rally is not only driven by earnings or AI optimism. It is also being amplified by the structure of the options market itself. Cboe data shows that in single-stock equity options, call volume reached 3,695,561 while put volume was 1,954,735, with a put/call ratio of just 0.53. Bullish call volume is now nearly twice the bearish put volume. Speculative positioning in individual stocks is heavily skewed to the upside. This matters because options positioning can amplify th...