lyash01/iStock via Getty Images Even as the world's largest liquefied natural gas producer, the U.S. has little spare capacity to quickly raise LNG output to offset lost supply after Qatar stopped shipments, Reuters reported Wednesday. The U.S. exports nearly 19B cf/day of natural gas that is converted into LNG, nearly double the 10B cf/day Qatar removed from the market after the wave of attacks o...
lyash01/iStock via Getty Images Even as the world's largest liquefied natural gas producer, the U.S. has little spare capacity to quickly raise LNG output to offset lost supply after Qatar stopped shipments, Reuters reported Wednesday. The U.S. exports nearly 19B cf/day of natural gas that is converted into LNG, nearly double the 10B cf/day Qatar removed from the market after the wave of attacks on Iran, but domestic export plants are running nearly full tilt with most cargoes locked into long‑term contracts. Top U.S. exporter Cheniere Energy ( LNG ) sold 46M metric tons of LNG last year and on Tuesday was drawing more than 7B cf/day of feed gas for its two Gulf Coast terminals; the company recently began production from Train 5 of its Stage 3 expansion at Corpus Christi, the unit - with capacity to produce a relatively small 1.5M tons/year - is expected to take about a month to reach full output, most of which has been contracted out. Second-ranked U.S. producer Venture Global ( VG ) has the most flexibility to help in the short term because it is selling as much as 4B cf/day of commissioning volumes from its Plaquemines plant in Louisiana on the spot market, which allows the company more room to redirect cargoes, CEO Mike Sabel said this week on an earnings conference call ; Plaquemines will be capable of producing 35M tons/year when fully online. The Golden Pass LNG project, a joint venture between QatarEnergy and Exxon Mobil ( XOM ), is expected to begin initial production this month, with demand for gas to be converted into LNG expected to reach ~800M cf/day for the first 6M tons/year plant. "With the U.S. already exporting LNG at effectively maximum capacity, the war cannot materially increase physical demand for U.S. gas in the short‑ to medium‑term," EBW Analytics said in a note. More on Cheniere Energy and Venture Global Cheniere Energy Can Benefit From The Current Geopolitical Turmoil Cheniere Energy: Strong Cash Flow, Long-Term Contracts, And AI Tailw...
Some might say that Arthur Miller’s 1994 play is less often staged for good reason. Broken Glass is about the unhappy marriage of a Jewish American couple in Brooklyn and also about America’s inaction in the face of rising Nazi terror. You see the play straining to tie those two parts together – and yet this production becomes hypnotic and horrifyingly resonant. It is 1938 and Sylvia Gellburg (Pea...
Some might say that Arthur Miller’s 1994 play is less often staged for good reason. Broken Glass is about the unhappy marriage of a Jewish American couple in Brooklyn and also about America’s inaction in the face of rising Nazi terror. You see the play straining to tie those two parts together – and yet this production becomes hypnotic and horrifyingly resonant. It is 1938 and Sylvia Gellburg (Pearl Chanda) is a housewife whose legs suddenly, mysteriously, stop working after she reads about Kristallnacht in the newspapers. She is deemed a hysteric by her husband, Phillip (Eli Gelb) – a typical Miller man, outwardly able but nursing secret wounds and impotence – and a doctor (Alex Waldmann) labels her condition psychosomatic. Miller seems to be playing Dr Freud (or Dr Charcot) in his psychological exploration of Sylvia’s paralysis, yet he is intent on giving it bigger political symbolism too. The domestic tyranny in Sylvia’s marriage is likened to a larger oppression. View image in fullscreen Depth of pain … Eli Gelb and Nigel Whitmey in Broken Glass. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian The interweaving of the personal, political, social and sexual seems inchoate, but there is so much emotive power in Jordan Fein’s production, such extraordinary performances by Gelb and Chanda, and so many chilling parallels to current political indifference to the horrors around the world, that the play’s lack of internal coherence becomes irrelevant. Fein leans into the play’s messiness by employing a flamboyant kind of non-naturalism, from the glass screen behind which some characters glower at the drama on stage, to a central bed strewn with newspapers from 1938 and now. This part of the set, designed by Rosanna Vize to suggest a bedroom, waiting room and parliamentary chamber, is reminiscent of Cornelia Parker’s Left Right & Centre. Sylvia’s paralysis is a metaphor for a world numb to the horror of fascism and her protest against it. Jewish Brooklynites around her ask each ...
While I wouldn't exactly call the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI +0.68%) the only investment you'll need to buy, it's pretty close. As the name suggests, it aims to track the performance of the entire U.S. stock market. The ETF owns more than 3,500 stocks ranging from the largest mega-cap tech giants to small-cap stocks that you've probably never heard of. So, it's literally like buying thou...
While I wouldn't exactly call the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI +0.68%) the only investment you'll need to buy, it's pretty close. As the name suggests, it aims to track the performance of the entire U.S. stock market. The ETF owns more than 3,500 stocks ranging from the largest mega-cap tech giants to small-cap stocks that you've probably never heard of. So, it's literally like buying thousands of stocks with a single click of a button. Another reason to buy the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF is that it's a cheap way to invest. It has an expense ratio of just 0.03%, which means that if you have $10,000 invested, your annual investment fees and expenses will be just $3. (To be clear, this isn't a fee you have to pay -- it is simply reflected in the ETF's performance over time.) Over the long run, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF can be an excellent wealth creator. Since the ETF's inception in 2001, it has averaged a 9.2% annual total return. For context, this means that investing $10,000 in the ETF when it was formed would be worth more than $90,000 today. Drawbacks of the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF To be clear, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF could be an excellent core investment for any portfolio. But there are a couple of big drawbacks to mention. First is the concentration risk. Although the ETF owns more than 3,500 stocks, it is weighted by market capitalization, meaning that larger companies make up a larger share of the fund's assets. In fact, 35% of the fund's performance is dependent on just the 10 largest companies. In other words, if Nvidia (NVDA +1.33%) or the mega-cap tech space as a whole slumps, this ETF would likely perform poorly. Second, this is a U.S. stock market ETF. Many financial advisors suggest that you should have at least some exposure to international stocks to create a well-diversified portfolio. This is what I meant earlier when I said that this may not be the only investment you'll need to buy. It also doesn't have ...
Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, offered few details and was evasive when asked about the deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran, saying only that the US was “investigating” the incident. Iranian officials say the attack, which happened on Saturday, killed at least 165 students. “All I can say is we’re investigating that,” Hegseth said when asked about the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh...
Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, offered few details and was evasive when asked about the deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran, saying only that the US was “investigating” the incident. Iranian officials say the attack, which happened on Saturday, killed at least 165 students. “All I can say is we’re investigating that,” Hegseth said when asked about the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab. “We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.” The school was struck on the first day of US and Israeli attacks on Iran. In addition to the many killed, Iranian state media also reported that 96 others were injured, many of them students attending classes at the Shajarah Tayyebeh school in the town. On Tuesday, the United Nations human rights office called on what it described as “the forces behind a deadly attack on a girls’ school in Iran” to conduct an investigation and provide information about the incident, though it did not identify who it believed was responsible. Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, had previously raised the matter with Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief, in a letter dated 1 March, describing the attack as “unjustifiable” and “criminal”. The UN committee on the rights of the child said in a statement that “the Committee is alarmed by reports of strikes on civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, which have injured and traumatised children, and claimed many young lives”. Children must be protected from war, the committee added. The UN committee on the rights of the child is composed of 18 independent experts responsible for monitoring how countries implement the convention on the rights of the child, an agreement designed to protect children’s rights to education and shield them from violence. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said on Monday that US forces “would not deliberately target a school”. On Tuesday, thousands of mourners gath...
The MacBook Neo is Apple’s newest, most affordable laptop. Although the MacBook Air has been known to occasionally drop by a couple of hundred dollars — rendering it more on par with a host of midrange Windows laptops — the Neo will take things a step further when it launches at a competitive $599 on Wednesday, March 11th. At first glance, the Neo is not that different from Apple’s other laptops, ...
The MacBook Neo is Apple’s newest, most affordable laptop. Although the MacBook Air has been known to occasionally drop by a couple of hundred dollars — rendering it more on par with a host of midrange Windows laptops — the Neo will take things a step further when it launches at a competitive $599 on Wednesday, March 11th. At first glance, the Neo is not that different from Apple’s other laptops, even if its four colors are divisive. It features an aluminum design, a 13-inch (2408 x 1506) display, two USB-C ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, and side-firing speakers. You also get a 1080p camera, a multi-touch trackpad, and a color-matched Magic Keyboard (the 512GB model also includes a TouchID sensor). That said, it lacks Thunderbolt ports and MagSafe, which come standard on the MacBook Air In terms of performance, think of it as if the guts of the iPhone 16 got transplanted into a 13-inch laptop. It should be fast enough for streaming, browsing the web, and most everyday use cases thanks to Apple’s A18 Pro chip, but it won’t replace a more powerful macOS machine (especially with only 8GB of RAM). In short, it’s going to be an extremely popular graduation or back-to-school gift. MacBook Neo Where to Buy: $599 at Apple (256GB) $699 at Apple (512GB) We haven’t had a ton of time with the Neo (yet), but if you want to secure the laptop at launch, you can already preorder it via Apple in its silver, indigo, blush, and citrus hues ahead of next week. The 256GB model is available for $599, while the 512GB — which also includes a TouchID sensor — is available for $699. Students and other educators can preorder the 256GB and 512GB models for $499 and $599, respectively, which isn’t surprising, given its target audience.
You could be forgiven for thinking Friedrich Merz would rather be anywhere but Germany of late. But hopes that his stop in Washington this week would provide the chancellor even a brief respite from woes at home were dashed by Donald Trump’s risky Iran gamble. Only just back from high-stakes trade talks in China, the unpopular Merz boarded the Konrad Adenauer, the government’s jet, bound for the U...
You could be forgiven for thinking Friedrich Merz would rather be anywhere but Germany of late. But hopes that his stop in Washington this week would provide the chancellor even a brief respite from woes at home were dashed by Donald Trump’s risky Iran gamble. Only just back from high-stakes trade talks in China, the unpopular Merz boarded the Konrad Adenauer, the government’s jet, bound for the US after the weekend’s seismic events. The US-Israeli military attack on the Middle East has left European leaders looking once again like spectators in the unsettling new landscape of great power politics. But the fact is the war will have incalculable economic, political and security implications for Europe too. As the first European leader to be granted an audience in the gold-adorned Oval Office since the war started, Merz was under pressure to perform what observers called a “high-wire act” – of defending European interests without antagonising the increasingly erratic Trump. During his brief perch in the White House hot seat, Merz was at pains to identify common ground while impressing upon his often distracted interlocutor the stakes of his actions. It also kept him from stepping in – at least in public – when Trump went on the attack against allies Spain and the UK for purported failings. It also stopped him from mentioning international law. “We are on the same page in terms of getting this terrible regime in Tehran away. And we will talk about the day after,” Merz said in response to one of the many open questions of what comes next in Iran. But the chancellor did not mince words about the knock-on effects of Operation Epic Fury, which has sent stock markets reeling and energy prices soaring. “This is, of course, damaging our economies,” he said. “So that’s the reason why we all hope that this war will come to an end as soon as possible.” Although Trump was fixated on Iran, Merz repeatedly attempted to steer the conversation back toward Europe’s top concerns: the U...
Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 10 a.m. ET CALL PARTICIPANTS Chief Executive Officer — Daniel Neville Chief Financial Officer — Brandon Hetzel President and Chief Investment Officer — Robyn Tannenbaum TAKEAWAYS Portfolio Paydowns -- $117 million received from performing and underperforming credits between the start of 2025 and March 2026, reducing exposure to nonperformi...
Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 10 a.m. ET CALL PARTICIPANTS Chief Executive Officer — Daniel Neville Chief Financial Officer — Brandon Hetzel President and Chief Investment Officer — Robyn Tannenbaum TAKEAWAYS Portfolio Paydowns -- $117 million received from performing and underperforming credits between the start of 2025 and March 2026, reducing exposure to nonperforming assets. -- $117 million received from performing and underperforming credits between the start of 2025 and March 2026, reducing exposure to nonperforming assets. New Commitments -- $53 million originated during 2025 and $89.7 million closed in early 2026, signaling increased origination activity in the lower middle market. -- $53 million originated during 2025 and $89.7 million closed in early 2026, signaling increased origination activity in the lower middle market. BDC Conversion -- Conversion from a REIT to a BDC as of January 1, 2026 expands investment flexibility beyond real estate-backed loans. -- Conversion from a REIT to a BDC as of January 1, 2026 expands investment flexibility beyond real estate-backed loans. Distributable Earnings Per Share -- Negative $0.12 for Q4 and positive $0.39 for the full year, impacted by realized losses on two underperforming credits in 2025. -- Negative $0.12 for Q4 and positive $0.39 for the full year, impacted by realized losses on two underperforming credits in 2025. Dividend and Tax Treatment -- 2025 dividends classified as return of capital, creating tax-free distributions to shareholders; Q1 2026 dividend declared at $0.05 per share. -- 2025 dividends classified as return of capital, creating tax-free distributions to shareholders; Q1 2026 dividend declared at $0.05 per share. New Loans Closed Post-Conversion -- $60 million senior secured facility for Stat/Morsby combination in January 2026 and $30 million commitment (with $20 million funded) to a healthcare benefits platform in February 2026. -- $60 million senior secured fac...
Announced this week at Mobile World Congress (MWC) by the Linux Foundation was the establishing of the OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation for advancing open-source AI-RAN (Radio Access Network) innovations. OCUDU is building a reference platform and innovations around 5G and early 6G network solutions. With OCUDU being benchmark-friendly, I have been putting the early code through some performance tests o...
Announced this week at Mobile World Congress (MWC) by the Linux Foundation was the establishing of the OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation for advancing open-source AI-RAN (Radio Access Network) innovations. OCUDU is building a reference platform and innovations around 5G and early 6G network solutions. With OCUDU being benchmark-friendly, I have been putting the early code through some performance tests on current AMD EPYC and Intel Xeon server platforms. The OCUDU software is an evolution of the srsRAN Project by Software Radio Systems (SRS) that was focused on open-source 5G solutions. OCUDU is focused on an open-source stack for CU (Centralized Unit) and DU (Distributed Unit) as part of Open RAN. Development on the Open Centralized Unit Distributed Unit (OCUDU) radio access network software began last year with funding from the US Department of War National Spectrum Consortium (DoW NSC) by DeepSig and SRS. OCUDU premier members also include SoftBank, NVIDIA, AMD, Nokia, Ericsson, Nokia, AT&T, and Verizon. With this level of industry backing, OCUDU will likely play a big role in the 5G/6G space moving forward. At the general member level are also other backers like Cisco, Marvell, T-Mobile, and Red Hat. Those wanting to learn more about OCUDU and its new foundation as a Linux Foundation project can do so via OCUDU.org. For my purposes I'm interested in it as a benchmark given that the srsRAN predecessor has worked out well for CPU benchmarking too. For my testing I benchmarked the current state of the OCUDU codebase on a dual 128-core Intel Xeon 6980P server for that flagship Granite Rapids server up against dual 128-core AMD EPYC 9755 "Turin" Zen 5 server flagship plus the dual 192-core AMD EPYC 9965 "Turin" Zen 5C too. Due to only having the Xeon 6980P processors of Granite Rapids currently with no other Xeon 6P review samples from Intel, it's just a top-of-stack comparison for this initial OCUDU benchmarking. The AMD EPYC Turin and Intel Granite Rapids servers were run...
After investors anxiously waited last week for artificial intelligence giant Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) to deliver its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter report, the company provided them with better-than-expected results and issued better-than-expected guidance for its current quarter. Furthermore, its gross margin guidance was solid. Yet the stock fell by nearly 5.5% on Feb. 26, the day after the report. Her...
After investors anxiously waited last week for artificial intelligence giant Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) to deliver its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter report, the company provided them with better-than-expected results and issued better-than-expected guidance for its current quarter. Furthermore, its gross margin guidance was solid. Yet the stock fell by nearly 5.5% on Feb. 26, the day after the report. Here's what Nvidia's blockbuster quarter and Wall Street's response to it tells us about the state of the stock market and artificial intelligence trade. Nvidia reported $1.62 adjusted earnings per share on $68.1 billion of revenue, handily beating the earnings of $1.53 per share on $66.2 billion in revenue that Wall Street analysts expected. Furthermore, management guided for revenue of roughly $78 billion in the current quarter. The consensus analyst estimates had only projected $72.6 billion. Moreover, that guidance figure does not factor in any assumptions of revenue from selling chips in China. Continue reading
Novo Nordisk Finally Catches Bid After FDA Warns Telehealth Companies Novo Nordisk shares in Copenhagen finally caught a bid after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued 30 warning letters to telehealth companies for making false and misleading claims regarding compounded GLP-1 products (otherwise known as copycat GLP-1s) offered on their websites. FDA has warned 30 telehealth companies abou...
Novo Nordisk Finally Catches Bid After FDA Warns Telehealth Companies Novo Nordisk shares in Copenhagen finally caught a bid after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued 30 warning letters to telehealth companies for making false and misleading claims regarding compounded GLP-1 products (otherwise known as copycat GLP-1s) offered on their websites. FDA has warned 30 telehealth companies about misleading drug ads. Consumers should not be fooled into thinking that unapproved, compounded GLP-1 drugs—marketed by telehealth companies—are generic versions or the same as FDA-approved products. — Dr. Marty Makary (@DrMakaryFDA) March 3, 2026 Citi analyst Geoff Meacham told clients that a quick scan of some of the warning letters "shows the agency is taking issue with telehealth companies calling their compounded products' generic Zepbound' or 'generic Mounjaro' when these products are not FDA-approved." "It's a new era. We are paying close attention to misleading claims being made by telehealth and pharma companies across all media platforms—and taking swift action," FDA Commissioner Marty Makary wrote in a statement. Makary noted, "Compounded drugs can be important for overcoming shortages or meeting unique patient needs—but compounders should not try to compound drugs in a way that circumvents FDA's approval process." Novo and the telehealth firm Hims & Hers have been locked in a GLP-1 battle over the firm's copycat GLP-1 drugs. Sagging demand, lower prices, and copycat GLP-1s have pressured Novo's outlook for the year. Hims & Hers Novo Wegovy Shares of Novo caught a bid in Copenhagen, rising about 5%, but the key question is: who is stepping in to catch this falling knife? The latest on Novo and the GLP-1 feud: "Big Miss": Wall Street Disappointed After Dismal Novo Nordisk GLP-1 Sales Outlook, Shares Plunge GLP-1 Feud: HIMS Fires Back At Novo Nordisk, Slams Lawsuit As "Blatant Attack" By Big Pharma "Worst-Case Scenario": Novo Nordisk Plunges After Next-Gen Obesity ...
Trickett conducted a search for the activist and politician Nathan Law on the Home Office's ATLAS database, the prosecution said, and Wai instructed him to do some surveillance of two other activists Finn Lau and Christopher Mung. Law, Lau and Mung were all the subjects of bounties of 1 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately £100,000). In November 2023 Trickett organised surveillance of Law when...
Trickett conducted a search for the activist and politician Nathan Law on the Home Office's ATLAS database, the prosecution said, and Wai instructed him to do some surveillance of two other activists Finn Lau and Christopher Mung. Law, Lau and Mung were all the subjects of bounties of 1 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately £100,000). In November 2023 Trickett organised surveillance of Law when he was at the Oxford Union.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sweetened terms further on a downsized $1.25 billion of financing tied to chemical maker Arclin Inc. ’s acquisition of DuPont de Nemours Inc. ’s Aramids business amid ongoing struggles for leveraged loans. The term loan B is now being offered at a discounted price of 92 cents on the dollar, versus the reduced level of 93 cents to 94 cents disclosed Feb. 27, according to a ...
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sweetened terms further on a downsized $1.25 billion of financing tied to chemical maker Arclin Inc. ’s acquisition of DuPont de Nemours Inc. ’s Aramids business amid ongoing struggles for leveraged loans. The term loan B is now being offered at a discounted price of 92 cents on the dollar, versus the reduced level of 93 cents to 94 cents disclosed Feb. 27, according to a person familiar with the matter. Lender commitments had been due that day , but the deadline has been further extended to 3 p.m. in New York on Wednesday, said the person, who asked not to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak publicly. The TLB launched on Feb. 9 along with a euro-denominated loan that was subsequently dropped. But the leveraged-loan market weakened sharply last month amid an AI-driven selloff. Average secondary prices according to one gauge are at their lowest level since 2023 , while launches plunged in February to their lowest level in nearly a year. Bloomberg reported last month that the TLB’s syndication was impacted by investor concerns about demand swings in the specialty chemicals industry. The structure of the Arclin financing has also changed again. Last week’s revisions included the size of the TLB increasing to $1.39 billion and the same amount of secured debt helping finance the Aramids acquisition. But the TLB’s $140 million increase has been reversed while the financing package will include a $645 million TLA and $935 million of senior secured debt, the person said Wednesday. Price talk for the TLB’s margin remains 4.5 percentage points above the benchmark, the person added. Arclin agreed in August to acquire Aramids business for about $1.8 billion, with the deal expected to close this month. Aramids are high-strength fibers used to make protective gear such as body armor and fire-resistant clothing.
Torsten Asmus Current yields in high-quality fixed income look “very attractive on a risk-adjusted basis relative to other alternatives,” according to Mohit Mittal, PIMCO’s CIO of core strategies. In an interview with CNBC, Mittal said yields in the 5% to 6% range offer superior value compared to equities and riskier credit markets, with the added benefit of liquidity that makes fixed income a com...
Torsten Asmus Current yields in high-quality fixed income look “very attractive on a risk-adjusted basis relative to other alternatives,” according to Mohit Mittal, PIMCO’s CIO of core strategies. In an interview with CNBC, Mittal said yields in the 5% to 6% range offer superior value compared to equities and riskier credit markets, with the added benefit of liquidity that makes fixed income a compelling investment option. The comments come amid unusual market dynamics where Treasury yields ( US10Y ), ( US30Y ), ( US2Y ) have risen despite the escalating U.S.-Iran conflict. Typically, geopolitical tensions drive investors toward the safety of Treasuries, pushing prices up and yields down—but inflation concerns tied to rising energy prices have reversed that pattern. Mittal noted that despite rate cuts, fluctuating inflation data, and global conflict, the 10-year yield ( US10Y ) has remained range-bound between 4% and 4.20%. Mittal identified the Iran escalation as one of three key themes impacting markets, explaining that it creates dual pressures. “The near-term impact is on commodities, and then, potentially at least in the near term, on inflation,” he said, adding that “on a medium- to longer-term basis, it also has an impact on risk sentiment and could push yields lower.” On monetary policy, PIMCO anticipates two interest rate cuts this year, with the possibility of more if economic growth slows. Mittal emphasized that “the hurdle to hike would be very, very high in this environment,” suggesting limited upside for rates and presenting opportunities for investors even if yields remain stable. Beyond geopolitics, Mittal pointed to AI disruption and private credit markets as significant themes shaping the investment landscape. He warned that rising defaults and investor redemptions in private markets could tighten credit availability for leveraged borrowers, potentially forcing central banks to cut rates to ease financial conditions elsewhere. For investors navigat...