Credit rating firm Egan-Jones Rating Co. wants to regain its ability to grade government debt and asset-backed securities after a ban more than a decade ago, but Wall Street’s top regulator isn’t so sure. The Securities and Exchange Commission Monday expressed doubts about the small firm’s ability to rate these products, saying Egan-Jones’ application and other non-public information available to the SEC “raises questions about the adequacy of EJR’s financial and managerial resources to consistently produce credit ratings with integrity.” The SEC said in a filing it will hold a hearing on the matter and decide by Aug. 12 whether to grant or deny the application. Egan-Jones agreed in January 2013 to be temporarily barred from rating government debt and asset-backed securities as part of a settlement with the SEC, which accused the firm of making material misstatements about its history in the industry. The firm agreed to pay a $30,000 civil penalty without admitting or denying the regulator’s allegations. The SEC at the time said Egan-Jones could reapply for its registration after 18 months. The firm re-applied in October 2025, the SEC said. In recent years, Egan-Jones has carved a niche grading off-the-beaten-track transactions despite being much smaller than better-known credit ratings firms like Standard & Poor’s or Moody’s Ratings. In 2025, the firm said it rated more than 3,000 private credit deals, all with about 20 analysts. Read More: A New Ratings Game: 3,000 Deals, 20 Analysts, Lots of Questions Sean Egan, chief executive officer of Egan-Jones, said in a statement after the Monday filing that the firm “has made great strides in our internal and compliance processes” and they are “confident that our progress will be evident to the Commission.” The SEC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the matter. Egan-Jones said that the markets continue to be dominated by the same “legacy” firms which were “criticized widely during the Credit Crisis ...

(RTTNews) - Shares of Dollarama Inc. (DOL.TO) are moving down about 7 percent on Tuesday morning trading despite reporting higher earnings and revenue in the fourth quarter.

alexsl/iStock via Getty Images Listen below or on the go on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Heavy oil futures trades appear before Trump post , raising timing questions (0:15) BofA reinstates bullish ratings on Oracle , Microsoft and more. (1:33) The strongest buyer’s housing market on record. (2:32) This is an abridged transcript of the podcast: Our top story so far, trading this week has underscored just how sensitive markets are to any hint of an endgame in the Iran conflict — verified or not. Large, rapid moves on heavy volume following social media posts are raising a new question: are traders positioning even before the rumor hits? The Financial Times reported that roughly 6,200 Brent and WTI futures contracts ( CL1:COM ) ( CO1:COM ), with a notional value of about $580M, traded between 6:49 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. ET on Monday — around 15 minutes before President Donald Trump posted about productive negotiations. There is no indication whether the trades were placed by a single entity or multiple participants, and no evidence of insider knowledge. The White House called any suggestion of involvement by officials “baseless.” However, the FT noted that several hedge funds see the activity as part of a broader pattern of large trades preceding government announcements. Trading on rumor is nothing new. But UBS Chief Economist Paul Donovan said the scarcity of reliable information is making objective interpretation more difficult. “Investors may start looking for leading indicators of the next narrative, whether fake or real,” he said, warning that outsized positioning itself can become a signal of perceived policy shifts. “Investors want to believe stories that the war is ending — a mix of loss aversion and confirmation bias,” Donovan added. Among active stocks, BofA analyst Tal Liani reinstated bullish coverage on four major AI-linked names. Oracle ( ORCL ) was rated Buy with a $200 price target. Liani sees significant revenue potential but said the company must prove it ...

OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said that the ongoing memory chip shortage and constraints on US energy supplies are potential bottlenecks to expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure. “Right now, it’s memory,” Lightcap said on-stage at the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington on Tuesday. “It’s been power in the past.” A growing number of tech industry leaders have warned about the impact that the memory chip shortage could have on pricing and product plans. OpenAI and other firms have been gobbling up an increasing share of memory chip production — by buying millions of Nvidia Corp. AI accelerators that come with huge allotments of memory — to run their chatbots and other applications. OpenAI’s team has been moving aggressively to broaden the mix of suppliers it relies on, as well as the geographic regions where it has a data center footprint, to ensure it can move as quickly as possible in its ambitious infrastructure expansion. The ChatGPT maker previously said it has committed to spend $1.4 trillion in the coming years on data centers and chips to build more advanced AI systems and support wider adoption of its technology. The push by OpenAI and other tech firms to expand their data center footprints has strained global power grids . To meet its energy demands, OpenAI is considering tapping a range of power sources, including nuclear. OpenAI is in talks to work with Helion Energy, a nuclear fusion startup backed by OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman . On Monday, Altman announced that he’s stepping down from Helion’s board and will recuse himself from negotiations between the two firms. Lightcap said government investment in energy supplies will also be “critical” to the industry’s success. Lightcap also heaped praise on the Trump administration’s push to accelerate AI infrastructure development and increase government use of the technology. “The administration that’s here currently is setting a great example of how to think about this c...

M. Scott Welch, Director of Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) , executed three open-market purchases of LKFN common stock between Feb. 27, 2026, and March 12, 2026, as disclosed in SEC Form 4 filings . Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 reported prices. * 1-year price change calculated using March 23, 2026, as the reference date. Continue reading

Source: Bloomberg, 2:45

piranka/E+ via Getty Images Data Centers & Digital Infrastructure AI Boom Drives Another Round of Massive Investments in Hyperscale Data Centers Meta ( META ) announced plans to build a new 1-gigawatt data center campus in Indiana, one of its largest infrastructure projects to date. The facility is designed to support the company’s growing AI workloads and core digital platforms while creating thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of long-term operational roles. 1 Nvidia ( NVDA ) announced a $2 billion investment in AI cloud company Nebius ( NBIS ), which plans to develop large-scale AI data center capacity to support demand for training and inference workloads. Nebius aims to deploy substantial computing infrastructure over the coming years as specialized AI cloud services continue to scale. 2 Investments like these highlight the vast physical infrastructure required to power AI’s future growth, driving hyperscalers and specialized cloud providers to allocate significant capital to data centers, advanced networking, and power infrastructure to support the next generation of AI computing. Defense Tech Pentagon Accelerates $152 Billion Defense Spending Push The U.S. Department of Defense plans to obligate the full $152 billion in reconciliation funding in fiscal year (FY) 2026, a significant increase from the previously expected $113 billion. This move accelerates defense procurement and pushes total U.S. defense spending toward $1 trillion years ahead of prior Congressional Budget Office estimates. Rather than phasing funds over multiple years, the Pentagon will deploy the capital in FY2026 to create a near-term industrial ramp-up across munitions production, missile defense, air systems, nuclear modernization, and shipbuilding. Major allocations include roughly $25 billion for conventional munitions and supply chain expansion, $24 billion for the Golden Dome missile defense initiative, $20 billion for air superiority programs, $11 billion for nuclear moderniz...

The Swiss franc bond market set records in both new issuances and number of issuers last year, according to a senior central bank official. Both domestic and international issuers drove the growth, Swiss National Bank board member Petra Tschudin said on Tuesday. Gross issuances of new bonds denominated in Swiss currency reached almost 100 billion francs ($127 billion) in 2025, according to slides she showed with her presentation at an event for finance professionals in Zurich. The number of issuers surpassed 500, she said. Tschudin touted Alphabet Inc. ’s issuance of a franc bond last year as the biggest ever on the market. Investors met this with “large interest,” she said. Read more: Swiss Bond Market Eyes Blowout Sales Boosted by Alphabet’s Debut

Both Oracle and Netflix have faced rather harsh sentiment over the better part of the last year, but each's performance over the past month could be a sign of things finally turning around.

It's Not 'Racism', It's Statistics... Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, A viral video has revealed that CVS is locking up darker makeup shades behind security devices while lighter ones sit open — because stores secure what thieves steal most, and the data backs it up. A shopper at CVS captured the scene with lighter skin-tone foundations and concealers displayed freely, no locks and no tags, yet the darker shades were all secured behind anti-theft devices. This isn’t “racism.” It’s basic loss prevention. Retailers don’t waste money locking up products that don’t walk out the door. They follow the numbers. American is shopping for makeup at CVS when she notices something strange She films the makeup isle and shows there are no security devices on the lighter skin shades, but if you go into the darker makeup shades they all have security locks Stores lockup items stolen the most pic.twitter.com/GWxHzbUpL8 — Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 23, 2026 The wider retail theft crisis makes it crystal clear why. The National Retail Federation’s 2025 Impact of Retail Theft and Violence report shows shoplifting incidents jumped another 19 percent from 2023 to 2024 — on top of a staggering 93 percent surge since 2019. Retailers reported double-digit increases in both shoplifting and merchandise theft heading into 2026, with aggressive thieves becoming the norm. Losses are projected near $48 billion this year alone. Stores aren’t profiling customers. They’re protecting their shelves from repeat patterns of theft. And those patterns line up with hard crime statistics. Nationwide arrest data from 2019 — the most comprehensive recent breakdown available — reveals Black Americans accounted for 26.6 percent of shoplifting arrests while making up just 13 percent of the U.S. population. In major cities the disparity is even sharper. Vera Institute analysis of Los Angeles jail bookings from 2020-2023 found Black individuals dramatically overrepresented in retail thef...

Boston Scientific's pending trial results could help to drive sales growth for years to come after lower-than-expected sales forecasts.

Sentiment Shifts on These Beaten Down Stocks: NFLX, ORCL Yahoo Finance

Sentiment Shifts on These Beaten Down Stocks: NFLX, ORCL finance.yahoo.com

Sentiment Shifts on These Beaten Down Stocks: NFLX, ORCL TradingView

A shift is afoot in how US municipal borrowers structure their debt sales. Typically, state and local issuers favor longer maturities of 20 to 30 years, giving them more time to repay — akin to a homeowner with a 30-year mortgage. The University of Denver , for example, sold bonds this month maturing in 2056 to build laboratories and athletic facilities. Lately, however, borrowers are opting for shorter-dated debt to cater to investors that prefer those maturities. Municipal bonds issued with a maturity date of less than 15 years have totaled about $61.7 billion this year, up 24% from the same period in 2025, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Demand is growing for shorter-term debt along with the popularity of separately managed accounts, a corner of the muni market that has swelled to more than $1 trillion . These bespoke muni accounts tend to avoid the interest-rate risk of lengthier tenors, a particular concern lately as the Iran war boosts oil prices and stokes inflation concerns . The appetite from SMAs, as they’re known, has tamped down shorter-dated muni yields relative to longer securities, allowing localities to lower borrowing costs if they focus on that area. Issuers are taking note of the steep gap between short and long muni yields, said Julie Burger at Wells Fargo & Co. “Many issuer clients are more actively considering strategies to capitalize on the short-end of the yield curve, rather than locking in long-dated yields,” the bank’s co-head of public finance said in an email. The yield on the 30-year AAA muni benchmark was about 2.13 percentage points higher than on two-year debt as of March 23, around the biggest gap since September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That spread can add up for a municipality that’s borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s also a different dynamic than has been seen in Treasuries in recent weeks, underscoring the power of the demand from SMAs. In the US government-bond market , the spike in oil prices has...

INTC rides datacenter and AI momentum with strong Xeon demand and ASIC growth, but can this rebound continue amid rising competition?

INTC Rides on Strength in Datacenter and AI Group: Is it Sustainable? TradingView

Andrii Dodonov/iStock via Getty Images Hotter labor costs came at a bad time for the bond market Tuesday, with U.S. Treasury yields already climbing on renewed energy-price fears tied to the Iran war. Yields were higher across the curve. At the time of writing, the policy-sensitive 2-year tenor ( US2Y ) was up 5 basis points to 3.91%, and the 10-year Treasury yield ( US10Y ) was up 4 basis points to 4.39%. Adding to existing stagflation fears, fresh data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Q4 nonfarm labor productivity was revised down to a 1.8% annualized clip from 2.8% as hours worked declined again, while unit labor costs were revised markedly higher to 4.4% from 2.8%. What's more, S&P Global data showed that national business activity slowed to an 11-month low in March, reflecting slightly weaker new orders gains and a spike in prices after the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Markets had briefly found relief Monday after President Donald Trump touted productive discussions with Iran and delayed planned strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, though that optimism faded after Iran denied talks and crude ( CL1:COM ) ( CO1:COM ) rebounded. By Tuesday, the focus shifted back to the risk that a more persistent energy shock could keep the Federal Reserve cautious and borrowing costs under pressure. Treasury ETFs: ( TLT ), ( TLH ), ( IEF ), ( IEI ), ( SHY ), ( SGOV ), ( SCHO ), and ( BIL ). More on United States 2-Year Bond Yield, United States 10-Year Bond Yield, etc. Gold Loses Its Luster As Stagflation Risk Jumps On Iran War War And Bonds Calming Inflationary Fears Is Job Number One $14T debt wave looms, threatening higher rates and wider spreads, Apollo warns Geopolitical shocks driving inflation risk still underpriced, Nomura's Wang—CNBC interview

By one measure, some stocks are cheaper now than they were during the pandemic and, of those, Evercore ISI has published a list of beaten-down names that could be good opportunities. Before a social media post by President Trump gave relief to the markets Monday, investors had been positioned for grave outcomes, making many stocks unusually cheap. Now, the market has stabilized, at least temporarily, on hope that the situation in Iran isn't as dire as initially expected, according to Evercore ISI. Evercore ISI's head of equity, derivatives and quantitative strategy looked at stocks on the basis of their relative valuation. "The pain across stocks has … punished many stocks across sectors," Julian Emmanuel said in a report on Monday. "While credit markets don't even come close to reflecting the degree of stress that was evident in the Pandemic, 96 of 100 stocks in the S & P 500 are now trading below their Pandemic low valuation." Evercore highlighted several stocks that it called the "Dogs of War," saying that they "could be expected to outperform in the near term." All are in the S & P 500, sell below their pandemic trough valuations, are rated outperform by the investment bank and have short interest in the upper 90 percentile relative to their two-year history. Here are five such stocks: One of the biggest stocks on the list is Netflix . It's cheaper now than it was at its lowest point of the pandemic by about 39%. Software giant Adobe is another, with a 12-month forward P/E at a 63% discount to its pandemic low. Fintech company Block is close behind, trading 62% below its pandemic trough multiple. Semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices and financial technology provider Intuit are also on the list, trading at smaller discounts to their pandemic bottoms, but still 16% and 24%, respectively. —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting.

格隆汇3月24日｜一位伊朗消息人士称，美国近期通过中间人与德黑兰方面接触，但双方尚未正式展开谈判。伊朗愿意听取旨在结束冲突的“可持续”方案，而不仅仅是停火。

WDAY rides subscription revenue growth and AI-driven innovation, but slowing estimates and stock decline raise questions about sustainability.

United Airlines Holdings Inc . Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said ticket prices may have to go up by 20% if jet fuel prices remain elevated for longer. The airline expects some consumer pushback and fewer people to travel if ticket prices continue to rise, Kirby said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Tuesday. The airline has already reduced 5% of its capacity on routes that are not profitable and don’t cover higher fuel prices, Kirby said. Still, at the moment, demand remains very strong, Kirby said. United, the world’s largest airline by capacity, has previously said it expects oil prices to rise to as much as $175 a barrel in a worst-case scenario and trade at over $100 a barrel through 2027. Airlines globally are grappling with a painful spike in oil prices amid a supply crunch because of the war in Iran. Major US carriers like United are not hedged on fuel, leaving them without protection from volatile price jumps. The broader industry has already responded with fare increases and fuel surcharge to claw back some of the elevated costs.

OpenAI is trying to attract private equity firms, as this could strengthen its enterprise strategy and secure additional capital for growth. The company is offering significant incentives, including favorable investment terms and access to its latest artificial intelligence (AI) models, as part of its joint-venture discussions aimed at accelerating technology adoption. The move became necessary as competition became intense with industry rivals like Anthropic, which is also trying to expand its

FabrikaCr/iStock via Getty Images Global energy markets have been waiting for what one analyst calls a “TACO moment”—a point where President Donald Trump pulls back from the brink of escalating conflict with Iran due to mounting economic and political pressures. Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB, told CNBC that the combination of Brent crude ( CO1:COM ) hitting $112 per barrel, the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) falling below its 200-day moving average, and gasoline prices ( XB1:COM ), ( UGA ) exceeding $4 per gallon may have marked that critical threshold. “Was that the pain point of Donald Trump? That is the brink where he pulls back,” Schieldrop said. Despite what has been described as the biggest energy disruption in history, oil prices ( CL1:COM ), ( CO1:COM ) have remained relatively contained because markets are “living off the buffers,” according to Schieldrop. With approximately 12 to 15 million barrels per day lost from the Strait of Hormuz, the analyst explained that current pricing assumes “sufficient inventories to sustain this crisis until it’s solved.” However, he warned that once those inventories are drawn down to a critical level, prices could surge dramatically—two, three, or even five times normal levels. Schieldrop argued that Iran’s strategy is fundamentally about establishing deterrence after failing to respond forcefully to attacks last summer. By closing the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran aims to impose real economic and political consequences on the U.S. that would make future attacks “expensive and costly.” The analyst believes hardliners remain in control in Iran and need to demonstrate that their oil weapon is effective. Yet Schieldrop suggested that current prices are far from catastrophic for the U.S. administration. “Brent crude ( CO1:COM ) at $112 per barrel? Give him a break,” he said, comparing the current situation to the 2008 nominal peak of $148. He argued that if Iran cannot push oil prices above that historical high even while ...

Volkswagen recalls nearly 100,000 EVs over battery issues Reuters

Right now, Pokopia has everyone busy building houses and beautifying the world, but next month, we'll be making our pocket monster friends fight for sport in Pokémon Champions . Today, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced that Pokémon Champions is set to make its debut on the Nintendo Switch family of consoles on April 8th before the mobile phone version of the game releases some time later this year. People playing the game on the Nintendo Switch 2 will also receive a free update on April 8th that improves the game's graphical quality. In addition to the new launch date, Nintendo also dropped a new trailer that showcases new footage a … Read the full story at The Verge.