alexey_ds/E+ via Getty Images Ferroglobe ( GSM ) finished down 3.2% on Monday after warning it may be forced to shut down all its South Africa operations within days, citing a prolonged and unprecedented escalation in electricity prices. The silicon metal and ferroalloy producer said it would have no alternative but to halt production across its facilities unless reduced electricity tariffs are ap...
alexey_ds/E+ via Getty Images Ferroglobe ( GSM ) finished down 3.2% on Monday after warning it may be forced to shut down all its South Africa operations within days, citing a prolonged and unprecedented escalation in electricity prices. The silicon metal and ferroalloy producer said it would have no alternative but to halt production across its facilities unless reduced electricity tariffs are approved before April 1, with dismissals of all remaining staff likely to take effect starting in June. Ferroglobe ( GSM ) said its electricity prices have increased by more than 900% since 2007 and now account for more than half of its total production cost, pushing production costs above selling prices and creating a severe disadvantage compared to international producers operating in regions where electricity prices are lower. The company said a new tariff increase of nearly 9% by Eskom, South Africa's state-owned, primary electricity public utility , would deepen already severe financial losses. Ferroglobe ( GSM ) has built a significant industrial footprint over nearly three decades in South Africa, with assets including the Polokwane silicon metal smelter and the eMalahleni ferrosilicon smelter that have already suffered cutbacks in recent years. More on Ferroglobe Ferroglobe Q4 2025 Earnings Call Presentation Ferroglobe: Regulatory Moat With Battery Upside Ferroglobe: A Bet On Protectionism In The U.S. And E.U.
A former top aide to President Donald Trump is initiating a $100 million campaign to promote the administration’s pro-artificial intelligence agenda during this year’s midterm elections. The launch of the Innovation Council adds new heft to the AI industry’s already extensive efforts to shape the 2026 races that will decide control of the US House and Senate. Another group backed by billionaires i...
A former top aide to President Donald Trump is initiating a $100 million campaign to promote the administration’s pro-artificial intelligence agenda during this year’s midterm elections. The launch of the Innovation Council adds new heft to the AI industry’s already extensive efforts to shape the 2026 races that will decide control of the US House and Senate. Another group backed by billionaires including the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and OpenAI President Greg Brockman has pledged to spend more than $100 million bolstering candidates friendly to the sector. The new group, led by former Trump White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, will concentrate on promoting Trump’s efforts to “unleash American innovation and American prosperity right here in the USA,” according to the the Innovation Council’s website . Budowich previously led the pro-Trump super political action committee MAGA Inc. and worked on the president’s 2024 campaign. Trump has spent his second term embracing the AI boom and seeking to advance it. He signed an executive order to help quash state-level AI safety laws, supported initiatives to speed up data center construction and pledged to ensure the US wins the AI race against China. Innovation Council has the backing of David Sacks , an AI adviser to the president. The group’s launch was earlier reported by Axios . Earlier: More Than Half of US Says AI Likely to Harm Them, Poll Finds “Innovation Council will play a critical role in advancing the innovation agenda championed by President Trump and this administration,” Sacks said in a statement. “We welcome its support at this important juncture.” The Innovation Council, which is structured as a so-called “dark money” group that does not have to disclose its donors, was incorporated in Utah last year. Budowich said he does not plan to reveal names of contributors. In order to assess which candidates Innovation Council will support or oppose, the group is compiling scorecards assessing...
An Aspirational Tech Right–Populist Right Alliance Authored by Nate Fischer via American Intelligence , The relationship between the tech right and the populist right is a central question of our day. After an initial alliance in the lead-up to the 2024 campaign, fissures quickly appeared. The first prominent one was the Christmas H-1B fight. Others followed, both in and out of the administration....
An Aspirational Tech Right–Populist Right Alliance Authored by Nate Fischer via American Intelligence , The relationship between the tech right and the populist right is a central question of our day. After an initial alliance in the lead-up to the 2024 campaign, fissures quickly appeared. The first prominent one was the Christmas H-1B fight. Others followed, both in and out of the administration. In many ways, the divide has been growing -- with Bannon leading tech critiques, and Republican politicians like DeSantis staking out tech-skeptical stances. Trump has managed to keep things together, but the future is unclear. I believe an alliance is necessary both for America's success and for the right to have the power to dislodge the entrenched establishment left. The simplest approach would be a pragmatic alliance of necessity -- both factions push distinct priorities, and compromise where necessary to form a political coalition. But I think we should aim for more — for an alliance between the tech right and the populist (or cultural) right that gives each group a crucial, or even heroic, role in a shared vision for America. I believe such a vision can center on (1) an appreciation for the conditions — and the people — that ultimately drive tech-enabled prosperity, and (2) an appreciation for how disruptive technology can structurally favor right-aligned constituencies and address central priorities of the cultural right. Populists need tech: The populist right needs tech . It may not need specific tech elites, or even anywhere close to a majority of current Silicon Valley figures, but it needs a positive vision for technology and it needs people who can master technology. Two factors drive this: First, Americans have always been favorably inclined to technology . I believe if the parties split on technology, the pro-tech party will have a significant structural advantage with the electorate. This inclination is not new: In 1840, Tocqueville noted how Americans happ...
Earnings Call Insights: CVD Equipment Corporation (CVV) Q4 2025 Management View Emmanuel Lakios, President and CEO, stated that the company has "initiated a transformation strategy during the fourth quarter designed to significantly reduce fixed operating costs, create a more agile organization and better position the company to maximize shareholder value." Key actions include transitioning from a...
Earnings Call Insights: CVD Equipment Corporation (CVV) Q4 2025 Management View Emmanuel Lakios, President and CEO, stated that the company has "initiated a transformation strategy during the fourth quarter designed to significantly reduce fixed operating costs, create a more agile organization and better position the company to maximize shareholder value." Key actions include transitioning from a vertically integrated fabrication model to outsourcing, workforce reduction in the CVD Equipment division expected to save approximately $1.8 million in 2026, revising sales by leveraging distributors, and considering strategic alternatives such as asset sales. Lakios also announced, "on March 23, 2026, we announced that we had entered into a definitive agreement under which our SDC business will be sold to Atlas Copco Group. The purchase price is approximately $16.9 million in cash, subject to certain purchase price adjustments." Net cash proceeds after expenses and taxes are expected to be about $15 million, with $900,000 in escrow. Richard Catalano, Executive VP and CFO, commented, "Fourth quarter 2025 revenues were $5 million. This compares to $7.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. This year-over-year decline was primarily driven by lower CVD systems revenue." He also highlighted that the SDC segment reported $2.2 million in the quarter. Outlook The company expects the cost reductions and asset sale to strengthen the balance sheet and provide "additional financial flexibility as we continue to evaluate opportunities across the CVD Equipment business, its product lines and our facilities," according to Lakios. Catalano noted, "our return to consistent profitability will depend on improved equipment order flow, disciplined cost management, successful execution of our transformation plan and continued control of capital expenditures." The company plans to invest net cash proceeds from the SDC sale in U.S. treasury securities initially. Financial Results Fourth quarte...
Thanaphum Tachakanjanapong/iStock via Getty Images Like so many other private credit platforms, Carlyle Secured Lending Inc. ( CGBD ) has suffered a significant down-rating of its share price and a compression of its valuation factor amid surging concerns about SaaS loans and capital outflows from the business development company, or BDC, sector. This change in investor sentiment and the resulting...
Thanaphum Tachakanjanapong/iStock via Getty Images Like so many other private credit platforms, Carlyle Secured Lending Inc. ( CGBD ) has suffered a significant down-rating of its share price and a compression of its valuation factor amid surging concerns about SaaS loans and capital outflows from the business development company, or BDC, sector. This change in investor sentiment and the resulting repricing of private credit companies has made all BDCs more attractive from a price-to-value point of view, in my opinion. Carlyle Secured Lending is currently priced at a P/NAV ratio of 0.66X, revealing a potential mispricing that investors can exploit to their benefit. While Carlyle Secured Lending faces a risk of another dividend reset in 2026 amid challenges to NII coverage, I believe a speculative Buy position could be justified nonetheless, as the BDC's valuation implies a high safety margin. Data by YCharts First Lien-Focused BDC Play With Limited SaaS Exposure Carlyle Secured Lending is heavily oriented towards first liens... which represented approximately 84% of the private credit company’s investment portfolio as of the end of Q4 '25. In addition, the private credit pool made a small number of investments in second liens, equity investments, and investment funds that made up a combined 16% of portfolio assets. Carlyle Secured Lending Carlyle Secured Lending has been able to grow its portfolio by 37% in the last year to $2.5B, mainly due to robust demand for new debt capital as well as the 2024 merger with Carlyle Secured Lending III (CSL III). Most importantly, however, the BDC has suffered an increase in non-performing loans in its core middle market portfolio: the non-accrual ratio, based off of fair value, increased a massive 100% year-over-year to 1.2% in the fourth quarter. The non-accrual percentage is therefore about on the same level as the non-accrual ratios of Ares Capital ( ARCC ), 1.2%, and Blue Owl Capital ( OBDC ), 1.1%. Portfolio, Non-Accrual Tre...
Donald Trump’s reversals accelerated on Monday amid the widening war begun by the US and Israel a month ago. The 79-year-old president oscillated between threats of further destruction of Iran’s civilian infrastructure and unconfirmed claims of peace negotiations . All the while, the two attacking countries continued to bomb Iran and Lebanon, with thousands already killed and tens of thousands wou...
Donald Trump’s reversals accelerated on Monday amid the widening war begun by the US and Israel a month ago. The 79-year-old president oscillated between threats of further destruction of Iran’s civilian infrastructure and unconfirmed claims of peace negotiations . All the while, the two attacking countries continued to bomb Iran and Lebanon, with thousands already killed and tens of thousands wounded, according to local authorities and United Nations-afiliated groups. The Houthis in Yemen joined Hezbollah in attacking Israel over the weekend , further expanding a conflict that increasingly centers on the Strait of Hormuz and limited tanker traffic there, thanks to Iran’s stranglehold on the waterway . Meanwhile, Brent crude hovered around $114 a barrel. If the Houthis start attacking Red Sea shipping again, it could hit $140 . In the US, rising gasoline prices added to ongoing complaints of an affordability crisis. It was a prominent issue for the millions of protesting Americans seeking Trump’s removal from office. What You Need to Know Today Those “No Kings” protests this weekend, held in hundreds if not thousands of cities and towns, included more than 8 million people, organizers said . If true, that would mean close to 2.5% of Americans turned out. It would also mean, organizers said, that it was the biggest mass demonstration in the country’s 250-year history. Protests against Trump and his policies also were simultaneously held in cities in Europe . The focus of the US demonstrations was on the killings of three unarmed American citizens by immigration agents and the administration’s deportation campaign, as well as its war with Iran and a host of other issues Trump opponents associate with increasing authoritarianism. S&P 500 Nears Correction With No End to War in Sight US equities did an about-face Monday, deepening a selloff that spurred the longest weekly losing streak since 2022 amid fears of escalation. Read more When it comes to collateral damage from...
The latest power-bank restriction on air travellers comes less than a month after a major nighttime crash and rescue drill at Hong Kong airport in which an airliner’s take-off was aborted after smoke was reported coming from a passenger’s power bank. But that was a simulation, involving more than 1,000 personnel plus hundreds of volunteers, aimed at optimising airport emergency response. There was...
The latest power-bank restriction on air travellers comes less than a month after a major nighttime crash and rescue drill at Hong Kong airport in which an airliner’s take-off was aborted after smoke was reported coming from a passenger’s power bank. But that was a simulation, involving more than 1,000 personnel plus hundreds of volunteers, aimed at optimising airport emergency response. There was therefore no connection with the ban imposed without warning by the Airport Authority on Saturday...