The Motley Fool's "2026 Best Places to Retire" report is a deep dive into where to live and why. It examines multiple factors, from quality of life to affordability. Most retirees have to balance those two factors, since high costs can make living in certain areas a stretch. But there's a sweet spot to be found by living near a high-cost area that's culturally rich but far enough away that the cos...
The Motley Fool's "2026 Best Places to Retire" report is a deep dive into where to live and why. It examines multiple factors, from quality of life to affordability. Most retirees have to balance those two factors, since high costs can make living in certain areas a stretch. But there's a sweet spot to be found by living near a high-cost area that's culturally rich but far enough away that the cost of living is more reasonable. This is why you might want to look at Paterson, New Jersey and Allentown, Pennsylvania. Paterson is within driving distance of New York City, which means you have access to all of the benefits of city living without having to actually live in the city. Plus, as The Motley Fool's "2026 Best Places to Retire in the Northeast" report highlights, Paterson has lower living costs than other areas in the region. Continue reading
As Ryan Murphy’s new mini-series focuses on their explosive relationship, aides and experts explain the real-life couple behind the myth He only met John F Kennedy Jr for five minutes but, three decades later, the memory lingers on. “Oh my God, he had it all,” says Larry Sabato , a political scientist, recalling their encounter at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington. “...
As Ryan Murphy’s new mini-series focuses on their explosive relationship, aides and experts explain the real-life couple behind the myth He only met John F Kennedy Jr for five minutes but, three decades later, the memory lingers on. “Oh my God, he had it all,” says Larry Sabato , a political scientist, recalling their encounter at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington. “He had his mother’s poise and his father’s charisma; it was a perfect combination of the two. If there was anybody destined to be president, it was him.” In the US, the Kennedys occupy territory somewhere between the British royal family and Greek tragedy, a tale of impossible glamour pierced by spectacles of public mourning. More than a quarter of a century after the single-engine plane piloted by John Kennedy Jr plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing him; his wife, Carolyn Bessette; and her sister, Lauren Bessette, Camelot is being mined for content once more. Continue reading...
India and Brazil agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after talks in New Delhi with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. “The agreement on critical minerals and rare earths is a major step towards building resilient supply chains,” Modi said. Brazil has the world’s second-largest reserves of critical minerals, whi...
India and Brazil agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after talks in New Delhi with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. “The agreement on critical minerals and rare earths is a major step towards building resilient supply chains,” Modi said. Brazil has the world’s second-largest reserves of critical minerals, which are used in everything from electric vehicles, solar panels and smartphones to jet engines and...
Feb. 26 could be a huge day for the stock market. Depending on how large the news is, one company may steer the market one direction or another based on what it says. The company I'm talking about is none other than Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) , the world's largest company by market cap by a wide margin. Nvidia makes up a healthy chunk of some of the most important indexes in the market, and a good (or ...
Feb. 26 could be a huge day for the stock market. Depending on how large the news is, one company may steer the market one direction or another based on what it says. The company I'm talking about is none other than Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) , the world's largest company by market cap by a wide margin. Nvidia makes up a healthy chunk of some of the most important indexes in the market, and a good (or bad) quarter could cause a significant move in the stock market on Feb. 26, the day after Nvidia reports earnings. I'm bullish on Nvidia's outlook and stock, but the market has been fairly neutral to Nvidia's stock over the past six months. I think that changes on Feb. 26, and investors need to be ready for what's bound to happen following an expected strong earnings announcement. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
ediebloom/iStock via Getty Images GRAIL, Inc. ( GRAL ) reported the extensive NHS-Galleri trial’s results alongside the company’s Q4 results. The trial results weren’t as good as was hoped; the stock has reacted very strongly due to the lack of statistically significant findings of clinical utility, being down by -50% following the study results as of writing. The trial came with major importance,...
ediebloom/iStock via Getty Images GRAIL, Inc. ( GRAL ) reported the extensive NHS-Galleri trial’s results alongside the company’s Q4 results. The trial results weren’t as good as was hoped; the stock has reacted very strongly due to the lack of statistically significant findings of clinical utility, being down by -50% following the study results as of writing. The trial came with major importance, in my opinion making a strong stock reaction justified. I maintained a Hold rating in my previous December 2025 article on the stock, titled “ GRAIL: Making Strides In Cancer Detection. ” The stock has since lost --43% of its value. The S&P 500 has lost -1% in the same period. My Rating History on GRAL (Seeking Alpha) NHS-Galleri Results Were a Disappointment GRAIL announced topline results of the extensive three-year NHS-Galleri trial, which used a total of 142 thousand participants aged 50 to 77. The U.K. trial is the largest, and only randomized controlled trial of any MCED test, making its results very important. Unfortunately, the trial’s key findings didn’t meet expectations. After PATHFINDER 2 previously found good results for Galleri, as I wrote in my previous December article, NHS-Galleri now suggests weaker conclusions of current clinical utility for Galleri with a multiple times larger participant group and a highly valuable randomized controlled trial setting. The key headline is that the trial did not observe a statistically significant reduction in Stage III-IV cancers among participants. This key headline is critical regarding clinical utility—not finding statistically significant evidence is a substantial disappointment in such an extensive clinical trial, especially as Galleri’s PATHFINDER 2 study set quite good expectations for Galleri's predictive value. GRAIL’s stock’s previous run-up, and crash following the NHS-Galleri topline results, underline the market’s disappointment. GRAIL plans to extend the trial’s follow-up period by 6-12 months. A longer fo...
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA has approved a preliminary list of candidates for a new board of directors, according to people familiar with the matter. The lender’s board on Friday signed-off on a long list, the first step in selecting 20 nominees to be proposed by the outgoing board to shareholders at an April 15 meeting , the people said asking not to be identified as the matter is private...
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA has approved a preliminary list of candidates for a new board of directors, according to people familiar with the matter. The lender’s board on Friday signed-off on a long list, the first step in selecting 20 nominees to be proposed by the outgoing board to shareholders at an April 15 meeting , the people said asking not to be identified as the matter is private. The final short list is set to be approved in early March. The 30 person long list includes Chief Executive Officer Luigi Lovaglio as well as Chairman Nicola Maione , the people said. Former Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Corrado Passera , utility Acea SpA CEO Fabrizio Palermo and former UniCredit top executive Carlo Vivaldi have also made the list, they added. A representative for Monte Paschi declined to comment. After stunning Italian finance last year with the success of a once-unthinkable bid for Mediobanca , Monte Paschi on Wednesday approved a plan to fully merge the rival investment bank and delist it after several decades of trading. The Siena-based lender’s CEO Lovaglio is targeting €300 million ($354 million) in efficiencies while expanding in asset management, private banking, investment banking and insurance. Monte Paschi will present the combined group’s business plan on Feb. 27. Read more: Monte Paschi’s Board Approves Plan to Delist Mediobanca
Olivier Le Moal/iStock via Getty Images Note: The stocks shortlisted and highlighted in this article are not buy recommendations per se but rather candidates for further research. Before making any investments, please use due diligence, considering your personal goals and risk tolerance. Also, some sections in the article may be repetitive from month to month for the benefit of the new readers. Th...
Olivier Le Moal/iStock via Getty Images Note: The stocks shortlisted and highlighted in this article are not buy recommendations per se but rather candidates for further research. Before making any investments, please use due diligence, considering your personal goals and risk tolerance. Also, some sections in the article may be repetitive from month to month for the benefit of the new readers. The regular readers could skip them. However, we recommend that first-time readers refer to our BLOGPOST here to get a detailed explanation of our selection methodology/process and additional criteria for Dividend Growth Stocks. Introduction: Every month, we start with about 400 to 500 dividend-paying stocks and use our proprietary and unique filtering criteria to bring down the number of selections to a small subset of about 20 stocks. The emphasis here is on high growth rather than high yield. Generally, we end up with stocks that pay dividend yields in the range of 1% to 1.5%, which is in line with what the S&P 500 pays as well. These 20 stocks are from diverse sectors and industries, but they all have one aspect in common. They appear to be in their period of hypergrowth with great momentum. As a final step, we analyze each of the 20 stocks and use our judgment to come up with a final list of just 10 stocks. The majority of our selections (if not all) have a market cap of $10 billion or more. Who Should Follow This Series? The stocks highlighted in this series are for investors who are in their accumulation phase and are more interested in growing their capital at a rapid pace than in their current income. The focus of the selections is dividend growth and growth sustainability rather than high current yield. In that sense, the risk profile of these stocks is generally higher, and they are not suitable for conservative investors or investors who need high current incomes to sustain their lifestyle. Market Outlook Overall, the market appears to be somewhat tired and stalle...
wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images I'm not going to sugarcoat this with false modesty. I'm crushing it. Lady Luck has smiled upon my portfolio this year in a big way. Those of us who focus on moderate-yielding dividend growth stocks have enjoyed a phenomenal start to the year. Last year, I started to worry I might just be a plain old buffoon when I warned, week after week, that the circular financi...
wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images I'm not going to sugarcoat this with false modesty. I'm crushing it. Lady Luck has smiled upon my portfolio this year in a big way. Those of us who focus on moderate-yielding dividend growth stocks have enjoyed a phenomenal start to the year. Last year, I started to worry I might just be a plain old buffoon when I warned, week after week, that the circular financing in the AI ecosystem looked fishy and that it is possible the returns on all this infrastructure spending won't be that great. Amid these warnings, the AI ecosystem of stocks just kept going higher. I worried that I was wrong, that my bias as a dividend growth investor with very little tech exposure had too strongly colored my thinking. As things stand now in February 2026, I think I was right to worry, although it remains to be seen just how right and in what way. As of the last few weeks, my concern has shifted from the notion that the AI trade has gone too far to the opposite one: The anti-AI trade has gone too far, at least in certain areas like energy and staples. Only time will tell if my mental weather vane for risk is onto something or not. Here's the agenda for this week: An updated chart to illustrate that moderate-yielding dividend stocks continue to lead the way this year while hyperscalers and software stocks slump. A return to my argument that inflation is lower than the CPI makes it seem, and a powerful disinflationary trend remains in place — despite tariffs. Some comments about how the potential for military conflict in the Middle East is boosting oil prices, and why the rally in US oil giants might be overdone. I make the case that one particular niche of the technology sector continues to be an unmitigated beneficiary of AI and how to play it as a dividend investor. Some comments about my small but very exciting (at least to me) buy list. Onward! Dividend Payers Stay On Top My last two weekly articles have put the spotlight on how moderate-yielding divi...
There's a common myth that you need to invest a fortune to build a fortune from stocks. Even a small investment can go a long way if you know where to start. The question isn't whether you should buy stocks, but which stocks you should buy that could yield life-changing returns over time. Here are my two best, high-conviction stocks you could buy today with as little as $1,000 and hold to earn big...
There's a common myth that you need to invest a fortune to build a fortune from stocks. Even a small investment can go a long way if you know where to start. The question isn't whether you should buy stocks, but which stocks you should buy that could yield life-changing returns over time. Here are my two best, high-conviction stocks you could buy today with as little as $1,000 and hold to earn big returns. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images It has only been two months since my previous coverage of TFI International, Inc. ( TFII ), and yet, it has already risen by over 20%. But just like many players in the freight and logistics industry, we have seen some selling pressures recently. I understand the validity and logic of their reaction, as many businesses like TFII weakened YoY. Its funda...
Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images It has only been two months since my previous coverage of TFI International, Inc. ( TFII ), and yet, it has already risen by over 20%. But just like many players in the freight and logistics industry, we have seen some selling pressures recently. I understand the validity and logic of their reaction, as many businesses like TFII weakened YoY. Its fundamentals are still robust, but they may not be enough to justify further upside. Valuation is still quite reasonable but shows limited upside potential, while technicals show some downside risks. Q4 2025: Headwinds Visible, But Resilience Evident Macroeconomic volatility persists, driven by stubborn inflation and new tariffs. These continue to weaken spending and production. As a result, the demand for trucks needed to transport goods also remains softer than in the previous year. And even an established business like TFI International, Inc., is still having a hard time cushioning headwinds. Yet, its strategic operations ensured its efficiency and profitability. In Q4 2025, its operating revenue amounted to $1.91B , down by 7.8% YoY from $2.08B. This could be attributed to various factors. Lower oil prices led to lower fuel surcharges, which decreased by 6% YoY. Weaker demand in the whole freight and logistics sector also drove it. As you can see, revenue before fuel surcharges decreased by 8.0%. This was most evident in its LTL segment. In fact, it used to be its largest revenue component. But the $77M revenue decrease made it smaller than the truckload segment. On a lighter note, TFII maintained a stronger pricing power in the LTL segment. In fact, the LTL revenue per shipment in the US reached $401.83 versus $400.83. Meanwhile, the LTL revenue per shipment in Canada increased to $283.92 from $281.66 YoY. Also, the revenue decrease in Q4 2025 was much more manageable than in the previous quarters. In Q2 and Q3 2025, the YoY decreases were 10.2% and 9.8% , respectively. Som...
Golovkova_Elena/iStock via Getty Images Intro Our most recent commentary on West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. ( WFG ) was in May 2025, when we downgraded the stock due to poor earnings trends and growing uncertainty at the time. West Fraser is based out of Vancouver, where it operates as a diversified wood-product outfit, with its lumber and North American engineered wood products operating as key segme...
Golovkova_Elena/iStock via Getty Images Intro Our most recent commentary on West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. ( WFG ) was in May 2025, when we downgraded the stock due to poor earnings trends and growing uncertainty at the time. West Fraser is based out of Vancouver, where it operates as a diversified wood-product outfit, with its lumber and North American engineered wood products operating as key segments for the Canadian-based company. Although the stock is only down roughly 3% since our commentary 9 months ago, we fear more losses are on the cards with fiscal 2025 now behind the company. Irrespective of the reasons concerning the company's profitability woes, GAAP earnings growth remains the chief instigator of share-price appreciation in financial markets, and here is where WFG has been found wanting in recent times. Since our May commentary last year, when we outlined how free cash-flow and earnings trends were not pointing to future share-price growth, WFG has reported 3 disappointing quarters with reported GAAP tallies missing the consensus estimate by quite some margin. In Q2 , GAAP earnings came in at -$24 million, with the NA EWP segment in particular experiencing soft demand as a result of lower US home construction levels. The GAAP miss was then more pronounced in Q3 of fiscal 2025, coming in at -$204 million for the three months. In management's comments in this report, we got an insight into how the company knew it had to 'right-size its ship' with respect to aligning WFG's supply with the under-average demand prevalent in its markets. Increasing duty rates, high mortgage rates, and the fresh Section 232 tariffs on its lumber were reasons given for the depressed demand in the third quarter last year. Then, only last week (2/12/2026), WFG released its fourth quarter and full-year results for fiscal 2025, which the market did not welcome. Unfortunately, due to restructuring and impairment charges, the company reported a sizable GAAP loss of -$751 million, or -...
Dow Jones futures will open Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Nvidia earnings loom with investors also watching out for U.S.-Iran developments. The stock market rose last week with the Nasdaq leading.
Dow Jones futures will open Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Nvidia earnings loom with investors also watching out for U.S.-Iran developments. The stock market rose last week with the Nasdaq leading.
Updates from 2.10pm kickoff (GMT) at Twickenham Follow us over on Bluesky | And you can email Lee “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” were the parting words of John Lydon at the last ever Sex Pistols gig in 1977, before the lead singer moved on to his long fermentation into a middle England MAGA muppet. Fans of both these teams may be asking themselves some version of the same question. En...
Updates from 2.10pm kickoff (GMT) at Twickenham Follow us over on Bluesky | And you can email Lee “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” were the parting words of John Lydon at the last ever Sex Pistols gig in 1977, before the lead singer moved on to his long fermentation into a middle England MAGA muppet. Fans of both these teams may be asking themselves some version of the same question. England’s crowd must wonder what is the reality of their side. Are they the team of twelve undefeated matches and months and the growing confidence it brought, or that which looked so very second best at Murrayfield last week? Continue reading...