Google just crossed a line that scientists spent decades arguing was theoretically possible but practically out of reach. On February 9, 2026, Google’s quantum team demonstrated below-threshold quantum error correction, meaning that adding more qubits to their system actually reduced errors instead of multiplying them. That sounds like an internal engineering ...
Google just crossed a line that scientists spent decades arguing was theoretically possible but practically out of reach. On February 9, 2026, Google’s quantum team demonstrated below-threshold quantum error correction, meaning that adding more qubits to their system actually reduced errors instead of multiplying them. That sounds like an internal engineering ...
e-crow/iStock via Getty Images By Mike Larson What will oil stocks do if crude oil really goes vertical? As in, toward its all-time high... or even (gulp) $200 a barrel? Surprisingly, one example from the not-too-distant past suggests energy stock investors might be a little disappointed. Take a look at the MoneyShow Chart of the Day. It shows the incredible run in WTI crude oil futures during the...
e-crow/iStock via Getty Images By Mike Larson What will oil stocks do if crude oil really goes vertical? As in, toward its all-time high... or even (gulp) $200 a barrel? Surprisingly, one example from the not-too-distant past suggests energy stock investors might be a little disappointed. Take a look at the MoneyShow Chart of the Day. It shows the incredible run in WTI crude oil futures during the infamous 2007-2008 bull market - and compares it to the move in two leading energy ETFs, the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLE ) in black and the State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF ( XOP ) in blue. WTI Crude Oil Futures, XLE, and XOP (August 2007-July 2008, % Change) (Source: TradingView) You can see that WTI went bonkers - up roughly 100% between August 2007 and July 2008. But XOP rose just 46.2%, while XLE gained only 18.7%. Sure, those gains aren’t bad. But they don’t represent a “double,” either. How does the 2007-2008 experience compare with what we’ve seen (so far) in 2026? Take a look... WTI Crude Oil Futures, XLE, and XOP (YTD % Change) (Source: TradingView) WTI was up 64% year-to-date as of yesterday afternoon. But once again, XOP was up just 43.9% and XLE was up only 34.9%. That sure beats the 5.2% loss for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust ( SPY ). But it shows that when oil prices go ballistic, you won’t necessarily capture it all as an investor in energy stocks. And it makes sense, when you think about it. If prices really surge in the shorter term, it crushes longer-term demand by kneecapping economic growth. The economy and markets collapsed in 2008 - and even though that was predominantly because of the mortgage and housing market crisis, $150-a-barrel oil didn’t help. That fear of demand destruction down the road is why energy stock investors won’t pay through the nose upfront. In this case, sector investors are also worried about damage to Persian Gulf infrastructure and other facilities owned in part by large energy sec...
Blue Owl Capital Inc. is boosting its team dedicated to bringing the ultra-wealthy into private markets, betting investors will look past recent jitters to expand in an area where they’ve traditionally had limited exposure. The firm, grappling to shore up confidence in its retail-focused funds, is seeking to partner with family offices across opportunities ranging from large scale co-investments t...
Blue Owl Capital Inc. is boosting its team dedicated to bringing the ultra-wealthy into private markets, betting investors will look past recent jitters to expand in an area where they’ve traditionally had limited exposure. The firm, grappling to shore up confidence in its retail-focused funds, is seeking to partner with family offices across opportunities ranging from large scale co-investments to pooled vehicles. It hired Blake Shorthouse from KKR & Co Inc. to lead the push a year ago, and has expanded the team to about eight people. Investment firms for the wealthy represented just $9 billion of the firm’s $307 billion under management at the end of last year, according to a person familiar with the matter, underscoring what the New York-based Blue Owl sees as the growth potential of the initiative. A JPMorgan Chase & Co. survey of 333 family offices globally published last month found almost 60% have no allocation to private credit and about 30% planned to increase exposure over the next 12 to 18 months. Blue Owl’s push into family capital predates the current turmoil in the $1.8 trillion private credit sector, where concern about valuations, concentration risk and liquidity are swirling. Industry executives are attempting to downplay risks and show how underlying portfolio companies are still performing but the negative sentiment is likely to hamper fundraising. Read more: Apollo, Blue Owl Lament Private Credit’s Liquidity Confusion Get the Going Private newsletter for coverage of private markets and the forces moving capital away from the public eye. Delivered Wednesdays and Fridays. Still, two-and-a-half times as many family offices planned to increase their exposure to private assets as opposed to reducing it, according to the JPMorgan survey. And, compared with retail investors, the ultra-wealthy are seen as potentially more comfortable parking cash in less liquid funds. “We’re approaching them as long-term partners,” said Shorthouse , Blue Owl’s head of fa...
“The thesis of AI is very big. It’s probably one of the largest events in at least my lifetime,” says Monroe President Zia Uddin, discussing the creditor concerns about how AI may affect borrowers. “But what ends up happening is everyone kind of throws the baby out with the bathwater.” Uddin joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert on the latest episode of Credit Crunch to talk about why not all...
“The thesis of AI is very big. It’s probably one of the largest events in at least my lifetime,” says Monroe President Zia Uddin, discussing the creditor concerns about how AI may affect borrowers. “But what ends up happening is everyone kind of throws the baby out with the bathwater.” Uddin joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert on the latest episode of Credit Crunch to talk about why not all software is created equal when it comes to AI exposure, as well as the benefits of originating deal
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) just announced a new GPU. It's not for gaming, and it's not destined for data centers. Instead, the Intel Arc Pro B70 is tailor-made for running AI workloads on workstations locally. Priced at $949, the Arc Pro B70 is drastically less expensive than the $1,800 RTX Pro 4000 from Nvidia and the $1,299 Radeon AI Pro R9700 from AMD . While Nvidia retains an important advantage wit...
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) just announced a new GPU. It's not for gaming, and it's not destined for data centers. Instead, the Intel Arc Pro B70 is tailor-made for running AI workloads on workstations locally. Priced at $949, the Arc Pro B70 is drastically less expensive than the $1,800 RTX Pro 4000 from Nvidia and the $1,299 Radeon AI Pro R9700 from AMD . While Nvidia retains an important advantage with CUDA, its proprietary software platform that protects its massive market share, Intel's claimed performance advantage could be enough for the company to make some inroads in this market. Image source: Intel. Continue reading
UK Pushes Ahead With Temporary Ban On Political Crypto Donations Authored by Stephen Katte via CoinTelegraph.com, The UK government is advancing plans for a moratorium on political donations made through cryptocurrencies, following an independent review and pressure from multiple high-ranking politicians. Cointelegraph reported on Wednesday that the Rycroft Review, an independent inquiry into fore...
UK Pushes Ahead With Temporary Ban On Political Crypto Donations Authored by Stephen Katte via CoinTelegraph.com, The UK government is advancing plans for a moratorium on political donations made through cryptocurrencies, following an independent review and pressure from multiple high-ranking politicians. Cointelegraph reported on Wednesday that the Rycroft Review, an independent inquiry into foreign financial interference in the UK’s political and electoral systems, recommended a moratorium on crypto donations to political parties. New statements from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday have confirmed that the government will pursue the temporary ban. “I can tell the House we will act decisively to protect our democracy. That will include a moratorium on all political donations made through cryptocurrencies,” said Starmer during Prime Minister's Question Time on Wednesday. Several members of parliament, including the chair of the security committee , have been pushing for a full ban this year , warning that foreign states could exploit crypto payments to influence UK politics. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged a moratorium on all crypto political donations. Source: YouTube Under the new measure, crypto will be prohibited for political donations until robust regulations are in place to prevent untraceable funds and foreign interference in UK elections, according to a separate government statement on Wednesday. Bill still has to pass and become law The ban would require amending the Representation of the People Bill, and the government said the changes would take “retrospective effect” from March 25. The legislation is at the committee stage in the House of Commons. It needs to pass through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, then receive royal assent from King Charles III to become law. The legislation is still at the committee stage in the House of Commons. Source: UK Parliament “Once the legislation comes into force, political parties an...
TravelSky Technology ( TSYHY ): FY GAAP EPS of ¥0.80. Revenue of ¥8.77M (-0.6% Y/Y). The net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of the group amounted to~¥2,341.6M, representing an increase of approximately 12.9% from ¥2,074.3M in 2024. More on TravelSky Technology Historical earnings data for TravelSky Technology Dividend scorecard for TravelSky Technology Financial informat...
TravelSky Technology ( TSYHY ): FY GAAP EPS of ¥0.80. Revenue of ¥8.77M (-0.6% Y/Y). The net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of the group amounted to~¥2,341.6M, representing an increase of approximately 12.9% from ¥2,074.3M in 2024. More on TravelSky Technology Historical earnings data for TravelSky Technology Dividend scorecard for TravelSky Technology Financial information for TravelSky Technology
Yuliia Kaveshnikova/iStock via Getty Images I had upgraded Astera Labs ( ALAB ) from a Sell to a Hold in December last year after a lot of valuation excess was removed. Since that upgrade, the stock has corrected another 20%, and valuations have compressed more meaningfully. EV to forward sales has moved from extreme levels toward ~14x, and forward PE has normalized into the 40-50x range. Some pos...
Yuliia Kaveshnikova/iStock via Getty Images I had upgraded Astera Labs ( ALAB ) from a Sell to a Hold in December last year after a lot of valuation excess was removed. Since that upgrade, the stock has corrected another 20%, and valuations have compressed more meaningfully. EV to forward sales has moved from extreme levels toward ~14x, and forward PE has normalized into the 40-50x range. Some positives have emerged too in terms of confirmation of execution credibility and revenue visibility. However, in the current environment of lower appetite for long-duration assumptions, the bar has shifted higher, which makes the valuation compression still unactionable. Especially given the positives still do not answer some of my earlier concerns of pricing in long-duration growth far too early, although near-term growth does seem to be on track for a strong 2026 expectation. The timing of Scorpio X and UALink monetization matters too. What Positives Have Emerged The first positive is more of a confirmation of the execution credibility we have seen over the past few quarters. Since my last review, we now have Q4 results to check for progress, and several key indicators are looking good. Gross margins are still strong, above 75%, as revenue scales, confirming pricing power is intact (no commoditizing risk has emerged). That matters for an early stage AI hardware story where growth is often accompanied by declining margins, indicative of mix changes through evolution or competition. Data by YCharts Astera has also reported ~70 bps gross margin decline in Q4, but that is not drastic for the mix evolution at play here. We already know (from my December thesis) that management targets around 70% gross margins in the long term as the mix shifts from higher margin products (like retimers) to hardware-heavy solutions (like fabrics and cable modules). Despite the margin headwind, the mix shift is seen as positive, as that enables Astera to move up the value chain to more complete and...
Yuliia Kaveshnikova/iStock via Getty Images I had upgraded Astera Labs ( ALAB ) from a Sell to a Hold in December last year after a lot of valuation excess was removed. Since that upgrade, the stock has corrected another 20%, and valuations have compressed more meaningfully. EV to forward sales has moved from extreme levels toward ~14x, and forward PE has normalized into the 40-50x range. Some pos...
Yuliia Kaveshnikova/iStock via Getty Images I had upgraded Astera Labs ( ALAB ) from a Sell to a Hold in December last year after a lot of valuation excess was removed. Since that upgrade, the stock has corrected another 20%, and valuations have compressed more meaningfully. EV to forward sales has moved from extreme levels toward ~14x, and forward PE has normalized into the 40-50x range. Some positives have emerged too in terms of confirmation of execution credibility and revenue visibility. However, in the current environment of lower appetite for long-duration assumptions, the bar has shifted higher, which makes the valuation compression still unactionable. Especially given the positives still do not answer some of my earlier concerns of pricing in long-duration growth far too early, although near-term growth does seem to be on track for a strong 2026 expectation. The timing of Scorpio X and UALink monetization matters too. What Positives Have Emerged The first positive is more of a confirmation of the execution credibility we have seen over the past few quarters. Since my last review, we now have Q4 results to check for progress, and several key indicators are looking good. Gross margins are still strong, above 75%, as revenue scales, confirming pricing power is intact (no commoditizing risk has emerged). That matters for an early stage AI hardware story where growth is often accompanied by declining margins, indicative of mix changes through evolution or competition. Data by YCharts Astera has also reported ~70 bps gross margin decline in Q4, but that is not drastic for the mix evolution at play here. We already know (from my December thesis) that management targets around 70% gross margins in the long term as the mix shifts from higher margin products (like retimers) to hardware-heavy solutions (like fabrics and cable modules). Despite the margin headwind, the mix shift is seen as positive, as that enables Astera to move up the value chain to more complete and...
vzphotos/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Micron Technology ( MU ) shares were little changed in early premarket trading on Friday, following a six-session slide that erased 23% from the stock, as markets weighed President Donald Trump’s “hottest company” remark. The stock has come under pressure in recent sessions as investors reassess the outlook for memory pricing and AI-driven demand, despite...
vzphotos/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Micron Technology ( MU ) shares were little changed in early premarket trading on Friday, following a six-session slide that erased 23% from the stock, as markets weighed President Donald Trump’s “hottest company” remark. The stock has come under pressure in recent sessions as investors reassess the outlook for memory pricing and AI-driven demand, despite Micron’s ( MU ) positioning as a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory used in artificial intelligence workloads. Shares of peers SanDisk ( SNDK ), Western Digital ( WDC ) and Seagate ( STX ) also showed modest moves. Micron ( MU ) shares had dropped nearly 7% on Thursday after Alphabet ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) unveiled its TurboQuant compression technology, which it said reduces memory usage and improves AI model efficiency. The development raised concerns about potential demand erosion for memory chips, weighing on the broader sector. Later in the day, Trump said in a Fox News interview that he had recently met with Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra and described the company as one of the “hottest” in the U.S. More on Micron Technology Micron Is Still One Of The Best Stocks In This Current Market Micron's Stock Epitomizes Overextrapolation Of Cyclical Gains Micron: Softness In DRAM Orders (Rating Downgrade) Top Quant rated undervalued large-cap stocks with high-growth grades SA analyst upgrades/downgrades: MU, CHWY, CEG, CNXC
vzphotos/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Micron Technology ( MU ) shares were little changed in early premarket trading on Friday, following a six-session slide that erased 23% from the stock, as markets weighed President Donald Trump’s “hottest company” remark. The stock has come under pressure in recent sessions as investors reassess the outlook for memory pricing and AI-driven demand, despite...
vzphotos/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Micron Technology ( MU ) shares were little changed in early premarket trading on Friday, following a six-session slide that erased 23% from the stock, as markets weighed President Donald Trump’s “hottest company” remark. The stock has come under pressure in recent sessions as investors reassess the outlook for memory pricing and AI-driven demand, despite Micron’s ( MU ) positioning as a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory used in artificial intelligence workloads. Shares of peers SanDisk ( SNDK ), Western Digital ( WDC ) and Seagate ( STX ) also showed modest moves. Micron ( MU ) shares had dropped nearly 7% on Thursday after Alphabet ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) unveiled its TurboQuant compression technology, which it said reduces memory usage and improves AI model efficiency. The development raised concerns about potential demand erosion for memory chips, weighing on the broader sector. Later in the day, Trump said in a Fox News interview that he had recently met with Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra and described the company as one of the “hottest” in the U.S. More on Micron Technology Micron Is Still One Of The Best Stocks In This Current Market Micron's Stock Epitomizes Overextrapolation Of Cyclical Gains Micron: Softness In DRAM Orders (Rating Downgrade) Top Quant rated undervalued large-cap stocks with high-growth grades SA analyst upgrades/downgrades: MU, CHWY, CEG, CNXC