MattGush/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of ConocoPhillips ( COP ) have been a solid performer over the past year, gaining about 25%. After languishing for much of 2025, the oil sector has come roaring back in 2026 as investors digest the windfall from higher crude prices given the war in Iran. Partially offsetting this, natural gas prices are stubbornly weak, but 2026 is still shaping up...
MattGush/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Shares of ConocoPhillips ( COP ) have been a solid performer over the past year, gaining about 25%. After languishing for much of 2025, the oil sector has come roaring back in 2026 as investors digest the windfall from higher crude prices given the war in Iran. Partially offsetting this, natural gas prices are stubbornly weak, but 2026 is still shaping up to be an excellent year for the sector, and COP is a clear beneficiary of macro developments. I last covered ConocoPhillips in January , rating the stock a " B uy, " and since then it has surged over 20%. With updated financials and a much different macro environment, now is a good time to revisit COP. Seeking Alpha Obviously, a lot has changed since I last covered COP, as I never anticipated a war with Iran or closure of the Strait of Hormuz when I covered it in January. As you can see, oil prices have surged over $100, whereas they were closer to $65 when I last covered shares. As I have written elsewhere (and has been well covered), there are significant supply disruptions, likely of 12-15 million barrels a day, due to impaired flows in the Middle East. This has swung the market from one of excess supply to one significantly short of oil. While large government SPR releases are helping to bridge the gap, this cannot go on forever. Seeking Alpha I estimate at least 650 million barrels have been lost, and each day, this number grows. The U nited States is the major market with the least impact thus far, but now, we are seeing inventories (especially of refined product) fall as exports surge to markets where there was a quicker impact. I expect this crisis to continue for some time. While there is much uncertainty, I do not expect the Strait to return to normal imminently. EIA Even after it opens, it will take several weeks for flows to return to normal. There will be time for tankers to reposition, and there may be some caution before doing so for fear of hostilities rest...
As she takes on the icon in musical drama End of the Rainbow, Monsoon recalls a childhood spent watching Wizard of Oz on repeat – and explains why audiences are ready for trans performers in non-trans roles If these are strange times in America, they are particularly strange for Jinkx Monsoon, the 38-year-old actor, singer and drag artist who, since winning RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2013 and Drag Race...
As she takes on the icon in musical drama End of the Rainbow, Monsoon recalls a childhood spent watching Wizard of Oz on repeat – and explains why audiences are ready for trans performers in non-trans roles If these are strange times in America, they are particularly strange for Jinkx Monsoon, the 38-year-old actor, singer and drag artist who, since winning RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2013 and Drag Race All Stars in 2022, has become a huge breakout star. Monsoon, who has the white-lead-and-vinegar glamour of a 1930s movie star, has appeared on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall and in countless viral clips from Drag Race – and in other words is widely well known. And yet, she says, when she walks down the street in certain American cities, it is in a state of “not knowing if someone’s going to recognise me and be excited to see me, or recognise something about me and be hostile. It’s a really interesting dichotomy.” She lets out a huge laugh. “But it also keeps me humble, I gotta say.” We are backstage at the Soho Theatre in London’s Walthamstow, where Monsoon is shortly to appear in End of the Rainbow, Peter Quilter’s musical drama about Judy Garland, set in 1969 in the last months of the icon’s life. It’s a great role for Monsoon, whose impersonation of Garland on Drag Race was so spot-on the clips are still doing the rounds (although for my money, her Little Edie Beale was even better and funnier). But the show isn’t being played for laughs. Monsoon, who had a stellar run as Mama Morton in the Broadway production of Chicago three years ago, is increasingly leaning towards dramatic roles and, like Garland herself, is comfortable with the tragi-comic. “She’s a pillar, and an institution,” she says of Garland, in whom she became interested after watching the Wizard of Oz on repeat as a child. And because, she laughs, “my ex was obsessed with her”. Continue reading...
Reform UK leader records video with Essex pastor to support his battle against council banning order Nigel Farage has been criticised for giving his full support to a Christian church leader who preached that homosexuality was an “abomination” and would lead to eternity in hell. The Reform UK leader recorded a video with Stephen Clayden after Colchester council applied for a banning order to limit...
Reform UK leader records video with Essex pastor to support his battle against council banning order Nigel Farage has been criticised for giving his full support to a Christian church leader who preached that homosexuality was an “abomination” and would lead to eternity in hell. The Reform UK leader recorded a video with Stephen Clayden after Colchester council applied for a banning order to limit his street preaching. Continue reading...
Member of army squad sent with medics to assist suspected hantavirus patient recounts descent to remote island The hardest part of the parachute jump, according to Capt George Lacey, is falling backwards through the air. It is Saturday and Lacey, and his squad of six plus two medics, have just leapt out of an RAF transport, 2,500 metres over the south Atlantic. “The parachute can only go forward s...
Member of army squad sent with medics to assist suspected hantavirus patient recounts descent to remote island The hardest part of the parachute jump, according to Capt George Lacey, is falling backwards through the air. It is Saturday and Lacey, and his squad of six plus two medics, have just leapt out of an RAF transport, 2,500 metres over the south Atlantic. “The parachute can only go forward so quickly,” he says, meaning that it has to be pulled at precisely the right moment. “So you have to turn into the wind and basically fly backwards, which is a very weird sensation, as you can imagine.” Continue reading...
As Keir Starmer’s leadership totters, investors warn a Labour leadership contest ignoring public finances and market realpolitik could be disastrous A rise in borrowing costs and warnings to avoid a “Liz Truss moment”. As Keir Starmer faces a potential leadership challenge, the spectre of the bond market looms large. Amid febrile conditions in Westminster, the prospect of Britain switching prime m...
As Keir Starmer’s leadership totters, investors warn a Labour leadership contest ignoring public finances and market realpolitik could be disastrous A rise in borrowing costs and warnings to avoid a “Liz Truss moment”. As Keir Starmer faces a potential leadership challenge, the spectre of the bond market looms large. Amid febrile conditions in Westminster, the prospect of Britain switching prime ministers for a sixth time in seven years has fuelled a sharp sell-off in the market for UK government debt. Continue reading...
Ronan Corrigan levels up a thoroughly beta-tested narrative in this efficiently executed hacker-turned-thief split-screen thriller This debut feature from Irish web-and-zeitgeist-surfer Ronan Corrigan continues its producer Timur Bekmambetov’s interest in fashioning entire movies out of virtual space, collaging as it does the screens of phones, laptops and PCs. Narratively, it plays like a web 2.0...
Ronan Corrigan levels up a thoroughly beta-tested narrative in this efficiently executed hacker-turned-thief split-screen thriller This debut feature from Irish web-and-zeitgeist-surfer Ronan Corrigan continues its producer Timur Bekmambetov’s interest in fashioning entire movies out of virtual space, collaging as it does the screens of phones, laptops and PCs. Narratively, it plays like a web 2.0 update of Iain Softley’s 90s cult film Hackers: a quartet of heavily vaping, tech-savvy gamers decide to take their nightly shitposting to the next level by robbing an obnoxious crypto billionaire (Charlie Creed-Miles), whose motto is “I’m CEO, cunt”. Corrigan’s secret weapon is that his plot points have already been beta-tested offline, so what we’re watching is at source an old-school heist thriller with especially open coding. Corrigan does, however, commit far more forcefully than any of his predecessors to this accelerationist digital aesthetic. He casts newish faces with the air of habitual phonecheckers; he establishes their innate restlessness and distractibility in frantically scrolling between tabs; and he pumps the leads’ squabbling banter through the same headset-filter one might strap on to play Call of Duty. Though the script – co-written by the director with Hope Elliott Kemp – wisely renames a bluff podcaster as “Joe Brogan”, these frames-within-frames resemble the real thing: the film’s meme game is strong (if that’s any kind of commendation for a motion picture), and there are no Google substitutes called ridiculous things like Search Rhino or InfoBuzz. Continue reading...
It was the birthplace of the liberal tradition, but also the incubator for Nazism – what can this historic city tell us about democracy? ‘Weimar is Germany in a nutshell,” 1990s president Roman Herzog once quipped: “a town in which not only culture and thought were at home but also philistinism and barbarism.” The small city (population 65,000) sits at the heart of the nation and acts as a shrine ...
It was the birthplace of the liberal tradition, but also the incubator for Nazism – what can this historic city tell us about democracy? ‘Weimar is Germany in a nutshell,” 1990s president Roman Herzog once quipped: “a town in which not only culture and thought were at home but also philistinism and barbarism.” The small city (population 65,000) sits at the heart of the nation and acts as a shrine to its sons Goethe, Schiller and Nietzsche. In 1919 the country’s first democratic constitution was promulgated in its national theatre. It was chosen as the site of Germany’s rebirth precisely because its aura of refined culture contrasted so sharply with the “Prussian militarism” of Berlin. From 1919-1925 it hosted the Bauhaus School, led by Walter Gropius, placing it at the forefront of art and design. Yet, starting in the mid-1920s, Weimar, which is also the state capital of Thuringia, became pivotal in the rise of the Nazi party and its first, regional, experiments in government. After 1933 it competed with Bayreuth for recognition as the “spiritual home of Nazism”. Continue reading...
The Guardian’s David Levene braved two-headed worms, Pussy Riot protests and a tank of urine to bring you this photographic extravaganza from the celebrated arts festival Continue reading...
The Guardian’s David Levene braved two-headed worms, Pussy Riot protests and a tank of urine to bring you this photographic extravaganza from the celebrated arts festival Continue reading...
China’s first internationally certified female professional tree climber has turned a fear of heights into a career spent high in the canopy, pruning urban trees. Yu Yanling, a former track athlete from Xiamen in southeastern China’s Fujian province, was once afraid of heights. Now in her 30s, she has climbed trees as tall as 60 metres. She discovered the sport by chance at university, after seein...
China’s first internationally certified female professional tree climber has turned a fear of heights into a career spent high in the canopy, pruning urban trees. Yu Yanling, a former track athlete from Xiamen in southeastern China’s Fujian province, was once afraid of heights. Now in her 30s, she has climbed trees as tall as 60 metres. She discovered the sport by chance at university, after seeing students suspended from branches by ropes and witnessing the joy it brought them, according to the...
Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has dismissed allegations that citizenship was arbitrarily granted to Chinese nationals, calling the claims “malicious slander” and fake news intended to incite public sentiment. He said the accusations were irresponsible and should not be weaponised for political purposes, especially at a time when the government is focused on helping the people n...
Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has dismissed allegations that citizenship was arbitrarily granted to Chinese nationals, calling the claims “malicious slander” and fake news intended to incite public sentiment. He said the accusations were irresponsible and should not be weaponised for political purposes, especially at a time when the government is focused on helping the people navigate the global supply crisis. He said he had repeatedly clarified the matter in parliament and...
The UK's New Multinational Naval Initiative Aims To Contain Russia In The Arctic & Baltic Authored by Andrew Korybko, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, head of the British Royal Navy, announced that his counterparts from the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Taskforce comprised of the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands agreed to create “a family of al...
The UK's New Multinational Naval Initiative Aims To Contain Russia In The Arctic & Baltic Authored by Andrew Korybko, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, head of the British Royal Navy, announced that his counterparts from the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Taskforce comprised of the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands agreed to create “a family of allied fleets” . Officially known as the “Northern Navies Initiative” (NNI), it’s explicitly aimed at containing Russia in the Arctic and Baltic. This represents the evolution of the UK’s Arctic-Baltic policy that was elaborated on last summer here . Estonia, at the far end of the Baltic Sea in proximity to St. Petersburg, was identified as the eastern lynchpin of this strategy with Greenland now becoming its western one. The inclusion of (for now still Denmark’s) Greenland, Iceland, and of course the UK hypothetically enables this “family of allied fleets” to monitor the so-called GIUK gap, which is Russia’s Arctic gateway to the Atlantic. Denmark also controls the Baltic Straits so the NNI can indeed potentially blockade Russia to an extent. As was explained here last month, however, any blockade would be an act of war that could prompt Russia to consider resorting to kinetic action in self-defense if its warnings go unheeded. Nevertheless, just like the US has (reportedly imperfectly) blockaded Iran , so too is it preparing to blockade China at the Strait of Malacca one day through its new military partnership with Indonesia and might thus also approve of the UK-led NNI preparing to blockade Russia in the GIUK gap and Baltic Straits one day too. It’s impossible to predict what exactly might happen, let alone the precise sequence of events that could unfold, but three more points of insight can be shared about the NNI for observers’ benefit. The first is that Poland is still conspicuously absent from the Joint Expeditionary Taskforce, the basis upon which the NNI is being a...
The US-China summit is “extremely important” to arrest the downward spiral of relations between the two countries, according to Li Cheng, a leading Chinese academic. But a summit would not be enough to change the overall structure of ties, which had been fraught for years, Li said on Thursday as US President Donald Trump began the first full day of his state visit to Beijing – the first by an Amer...
The US-China summit is “extremely important” to arrest the downward spiral of relations between the two countries, according to Li Cheng, a leading Chinese academic. But a summit would not be enough to change the overall structure of ties, which had been fraught for years, Li said on Thursday as US President Donald Trump began the first full day of his state visit to Beijing – the first by an American leader since 2017. The two presidents began the day with two hours of talks at the Great Hall...
Editor's note: Seeking Alpha is proud to welcome Beta Sigma Quant as a new contributing analyst. You can become one too! Share your best investment idea by submitting your article for review to our editors. Get published, earn money, and unlock exclusive SA Premium access. Click here to find out more » JonnyJim/iStock via Getty Images Thesis I believe the current valuation of EyePoint ( EYPT ) ref...
Editor's note: Seeking Alpha is proud to welcome Beta Sigma Quant as a new contributing analyst. You can become one too! Share your best investment idea by submitting your article for review to our editors. Get published, earn money, and unlock exclusive SA Premium access. Click here to find out more » JonnyJim/iStock via Getty Images Thesis I believe the current valuation of EyePoint ( EYPT ) reflects either a higher perception of clinical and regulatory risk or a more cautious view on DURAVYU's commercial potential. In my central case, the stock offers roughly 2x upside. In my view, EYPT is a clear BUY driven by a meaningful durability advantage that should translate into reduced treatment burden. My valuation reflects a probability-weighted outcome. Positive results would likely drive a significant re-rating, whereas failure would lead to a very substantial decline in EYPT value. EyePoint EyePoint is a clinical-stage biotech company developing therapeutics for retinal diseases. The company's website indicates that its " lead product candidate, DURAVYU™ (vorolanib intravitreal insert), is presently in Phase 3 clinical trials for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME). " Despite annual revenues of approximately $30 million in 2025, the company's market capitalization stood at approximately $1.14 billion as of May 12, 2026; the current valuation is largely driven by expectations around DURAVYU. According to management , top-line Phase 3 data in wet AMD are expected beginning mid-2026. The main value driver is the potential entry of DURAVYU into the wet AMD market, an approximately $10 billion market. Some reports indicate an expected 6% - 9% annual growth rate fuelled by increased prices in treatments and an aging population. The DME indication - an approximately $4 billion market - may provide a significant incremental value. The Wet AMD Market Wet AMD primarily affects an elderly population. Most patients are in the...