March WTI crude oil (CLH26 ) on Friday closed down -0.04 (-0.06%), and March RBOB gasoline (RBH26 ) closed down -0.0093 (-0.46%). Crude oil and gasoline prices settled lower on Friday amid concerns about energy demand after the US Q4 GDP grew at a slower-than-expected pace. However, losses in crude...
March WTI crude oil (CLH26 ) on Friday closed down -0.04 (-0.06%), and March RBOB gasoline (RBH26 ) closed down -0.0093 (-0.46%). Crude oil and gasoline prices settled lower on Friday amid concerns about energy demand after the US Q4 GDP grew at a slower-than-expected pace. However, losses in crude...
If cautious optimism is the prevailing sentiment in a troubled world, the city could not have wished for a more auspicious launch to the Year of the Horse than the race meeting at Sha Tin on the third day of the Lunar New Year. Amid a crowd of 92,612, the biggest since the Covid-19 pandemic, it was Hong Kong in exuberant and resilient form. Punters pressed against the rails in balmy weather and an...
If cautious optimism is the prevailing sentiment in a troubled world, the city could not have wished for a more auspicious launch to the Year of the Horse than the race meeting at Sha Tin on the third day of the Lunar New Year. Amid a crowd of 92,612, the biggest since the Covid-19 pandemic, it was Hong Kong in exuberant and resilient form. Punters pressed against the rails in balmy weather and an estimated 20,395 mainland visitors helped pack the stands. Thoroughbreds charging down the straight...
Digital Vision./DigitalVision via Getty Images Thesis Babcock and Wilcox ( BW ) has historically been a provider of coal fueled boiler technology. As one can imagine, this business has struggled in recent years. However, the company also offers services for converting older power plants from coal to a natural gas fuel supply. Further, the company offers new-build natural gas boiler technology at a...
Digital Vision./DigitalVision via Getty Images Thesis Babcock and Wilcox ( BW ) has historically been a provider of coal fueled boiler technology. As one can imagine, this business has struggled in recent years. However, the company also offers services for converting older power plants from coal to a natural gas fuel supply. Further, the company offers new-build natural gas boiler technology at a price point that is competitive with combined cycle natural gas power plants. The drawback is likely to be overall plant efficiency, but this solution provides speed to market in ways that no utility can offer. In November, BW announced it had been granted a limited notice to proceed on a 1.2 GW power plant project as part of an AI datacenter project for Applied Digital ( APLD ). BW expects this plant to be operational in 2028, providing a project solution that gives the customer a product that is on time and on budget. The contract for providing four natural gas fired boilers and associated steam turbines is valued at $1.5B. Based on historical EBITDA conversion rates, this project alone holds the potential to double BW’s EBITDA generation in 2027. Because this technology is proven and speed-to-market is a priority, I expect this solution to gain further traction in the data center realm. I rate BW as a STRONG BUY candidate due to strong growth prospects and a stable balance sheet. Exploring The Data Center Contract Boiler technology is not new. Traditional coal plants pulverize the rock and inject the coal dust into a boiler to create steam and eventually spin a turbine-generator set. Retrofitting these boilers to use natural gas instead of coal has been something that has occurred quite frequently since the shale revolution. In fact, over 100 plants were converted from 2011-2019. Now, as data center developers race for more power, the conversation turns to an all-of-the-above approach. Hyper-scalers need speed to market, and thus sticking to one standard approach doesn'...
monsitj/iStock via Getty Images Gold and silver futures closed higher Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of President Trump's tariffs, which was followed by the president's announcement of a 10% global tariff for 150 days to replace some of his emergency duties. Analysts said the uncertainty around next steps the Trump administration could take will support precious metals prices...
monsitj/iStock via Getty Images Gold and silver futures closed higher Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of President Trump's tariffs, which was followed by the president's announcement of a 10% global tariff for 150 days to replace some of his emergency duties. Analysts said the uncertainty around next steps the Trump administration could take will support precious metals prices. "Given that the administration will pursue additional tariffs by other, seemingly more limited and less sweeping, authorizations... the chapter of trade and tariff-related uncertainty likely is not over, even if it is less sweeping and less immediately volatile," RBC Capital's Christopher Louney said in a note. "In the immediate aftermath of the headlines, the tariff ruling news, coupled with headlines that Russia sold 300K oz of gold, saw prices pare back, but only briefly, and price action thereafter was basically a wash in our view, supporting the idea that this was an expected outcome," according to Louney. "At this point, gold markets are already in the 'what's next' stage, and we would not write off further trade and tariff uncertainty, even if it is likely set to take different but potentially more diminished forms," the analyst wrote. Gold and silver were already showing strong gains early Friday following weaker‑than‑expected data on U.S. economic growth, with GDP slowing sharply to a 1.4% annualized rate in Q4, well below economists' forecast of 3%, as the government shutdown and softer consumer spending slowed activity. Meanwhile, the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure index - a key inflation metric watched closely by the Federal Reserve - rose 0.4% in December, above expectations for a 0.3% increase. The data shows "inflation is still present in the marketplace... but with GDP coming in lower, it suggests the economy is not close to a turning point," RJO Futures market strategist Bob Haberkorn said in a note. "There are still many unknowns and uncertainties...
Welcome back to Canada Daily, the newsletter on business, economics and politics from Vancouver to Montreal and beyond. If this was forwarded to you, sign up here . After months of suspense, the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, which first hit Canada a year ago. Far from victory for exporters, it means there are new and volatile risks in how the US will exer...
Welcome back to Canada Daily, the newsletter on business, economics and politics from Vancouver to Montreal and beyond. If this was forwarded to you, sign up here . After months of suspense, the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, which first hit Canada a year ago. Far from victory for exporters, it means there are new and volatile risks in how the US will exert negotiating leverage . As a reminder, until today, the US applied 35% tariffs on Canadian goods by claiming an emergency due to drugs and illegal migrants flowing over the border. But most goods ended up exempt under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The biggest levies on Canadian products — Section 232 taxes on autos, metals, lumber and a small number of other categories — are still in place. What’s more, at a defiant press conference, Trump said he would order a 10% global tariff using Section 122 of the Trade Act, and start new investigations using Section 301 , a law the US has used to tax Chinese goods. It’s not yet clear if Canada will enjoy the same USMCA carve-out with Trump’s new 10% global levy. If not, then Canada’s deal just got worse, not better. And besides import taxes, as lawyer and trade adviser Barry Appleton told me , Trump has already started to show he will reach for any leverage he can while avoiding Congressional approval . Like threatening to block a new bridge from opening, for example. Also in this newsletter: the biggest perceived threat to national security , Alberta’s referendum(s) and how Powell is standing up to Trump . The following was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation. Top stories More than half of Canadians view the US as the biggest threat to their national security, ahead of China at 15% and Russia at 14%. The poll was taken from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, shortly after US President Donald Trump made a series of threats against Greenland, publicly complained about NATO and said he would be prepared to increase tariffs further ...
Hughes and Eichel spark US rout of Slovakia MacKinnon scores late to send Canada through Border rivals to meet for men’s hockey gold The United States and Canada men’s ice hockey teams will play for the Olympic gold medal on Sunday’s final day of the Milano Cortina Games after both teams won their semi-final contests on Friday evening. Canada left things late in the first game, fighting back from ...
Hughes and Eichel spark US rout of Slovakia MacKinnon scores late to send Canada through Border rivals to meet for men’s hockey gold The United States and Canada men’s ice hockey teams will play for the Olympic gold medal on Sunday’s final day of the Milano Cortina Games after both teams won their semi-final contests on Friday evening. Canada left things late in the first game, fighting back from two goals down to win 3-2 over Finland on Nathan MacKinnon’s winner with 35.2 seconds remaining. The US took a more straightforward tack in the nightcap to set up the heavyweight final, roaring past Slovakia 6-2 after Jack Hughes and Jack Eichel scored in a 19-second span during the second period to blow things open, ensuring the Americans no worse than silver and their first men’s hockey medal in 16 years. Continue reading...
Shortly after Discord announced that all users will soon be defaulted to teen experiences until their ages are verified, the messaging platform faced immediate backlash . One of the major complaints was that Discord planned to collect more government IDs as part of its global age verification process. It shocked many that Discord would be so bold so soon after a third-party breach of a former age ...
Shortly after Discord announced that all users will soon be defaulted to teen experiences until their ages are verified, the messaging platform faced immediate backlash . One of the major complaints was that Discord planned to collect more government IDs as part of its global age verification process. It shocked many that Discord would be so bold so soon after a third-party breach of a former age check partner's services recently exposed 70,000 Discord users' government IDs . Attempting to reassure users, Discord claimed that most users wouldn't have to show ID, instead relying on video selfies using AI to estimate ages, which raised separate privacy concerns. In the future, perhaps behavioral signals would override the need for age checks for most users, Discord suggested, seemingly downplaying the risk that sensitive data would be improperly stored. Read full article Comments
Virtually All Countries Support Voter Photo ID – So Why The Filibuster? Authored by John R. Lott Jr. via RealClearPolitics , “The bottom line is this: voter ID is not controversial in this country,” Harry Enten, the chief data analyst for CNN, recently reported . Nor is it controversial in virtually any other country in the world. Yet despite massive support among both Democrats (71%) and Republic...
Virtually All Countries Support Voter Photo ID – So Why The Filibuster? Authored by John R. Lott Jr. via RealClearPolitics , “The bottom line is this: voter ID is not controversial in this country,” Harry Enten, the chief data analyst for CNN, recently reported . Nor is it controversial in virtually any other country in the world. Yet despite massive support among both Democrats (71%) and Republicans (95%), only one Democratic member of the House and one in the Senate are supporting the SAVE Act. Unless seven more of the 47 Senate Democrats step forward, their filibuster will kill the bill. Democrats argue that requiring free voter photo IDs – even when the ID itself costs nothing – harms eligible voters by creating practical barriers to casting a ballot. They contend that blacks would be especially hard hit . Interestingly, every country in Africa requires government-issued identification to vote. They also argue that such requirements would disenfranchise Hispanic voters . Yet Mexico , all twelve South American countries , and Spain require government-issued photo IDs to vote. All of these countries have lower per-capita incomes than the United States. If citizens in those nations can obtain the necessary identification to vote, why would American Hispanics and blacks be unable to do the same? While 83% of American adults support requiring government-issued photo identification to vote, support is also strong among the very groups Democrats claim would be harmed: 82% of Hispanics and 76% of black Americans favor the requirement. Those figures suggest that most black and Hispanic Americans do not view obtaining a photo ID as the obstacle Democrats describe. Ten U.S. states have similarly strong photo ID requirements. Democrats claim that women are disproportionately disenfranchised by voter IDs, but women are also strongly supportive of IDs and have exactly the same level of support as men. Democrats argue that voter ID requirements disproportionately disenfranchis...
Microsoft-backed OpenAI expects more than $280 billion in total revenue by 2030, divided nearly equally across its consumer and enterprise units, according to CNBC, which had reported the development earlier. Altman had said last year that OpenAI is committed to spending $1.4 trillion to develop 30 gigawatts of computing resources — enough to power roughly 25 million U.S. homes.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI expects more than $280 billion in total revenue by 2030, divided nearly equally across its consumer and enterprise units, according to CNBC, which had reported the development earlier. Altman had said last year that OpenAI is committed to spending $1.4 trillion to develop 30 gigawatts of computing resources — enough to power roughly 25 million U.S. homes.