Benzinga – Markets (Page 5)

President Donald Trump will travel to Beijing on May 14–15 for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping after Washington postponed the trip in March amid combat operations with Iran. Xi is also expected to make a reciprocal visit to the U.S. later this year.

The visit includes a welcome ceremony, bilateral meeting, tour of China’s historic Temple of Heaven, and a state banquet, reported CNBC. Several U.S. business leaders are expected to join the trip, including Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, and Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) CEO Kelly Ortberg.

Here’s what could be on the table:

US To Push Energy Deal With China

U.S. LNG and crude oil exports to China took a hit when Beijing and Washington got entangled in a trade war in 2024. By 2025, the rhetoric escalated with Trump back in office, and the U.S.’s LNG exports to China fell to negligible levels, and crude oil shipments had stopped altogether.

China made up for the shortfall in U.S. oil supply by increasing imports from other countries, such as Canada and Brazil. Chinese companies also redirected U.S. LNG cargoes contracted for domestic use to Europe.

A deal for Beijing to boost U.S. energy purchases may be on the table, Reuters reported, citing U.S. officials.

Farm Trade Deal In Focus

China and the U.S. could announce a farm trade agreement during the summit that boosts Chinese purchases of U.S. grains and meat, though analysts do not expect significant new soybean …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) rejected GameStop Corp.‘s (NYSE:GME) massive $56 billion buyout bid on Tuesday, dismissing the video game retailer’s aggressive takeover attempt as “neither credible nor attractive” in a decisive letter to CEO Ryan Cohen.

Following days of social media drama and market speculation, in a direct letter to Cohen, eBay Chairman Paul S. Pressler outlined the board’s thorough review with financial and legal advisors, ultimately determining the merger would not serve the e-commerce platform’s shareholders.

“The Board, with the support of its independent advisors, has thoroughly reviewed your proposal and has determined to reject it,” the letter read. “We have concluded that your proposal is neither credible nor attractive.”

The rejection cited multiple red flags regarding the feasibility of the massive buyout. The board specifically pointed to the “uncertainty regarding your financing proposal,” as well as the “leverage, operational risks, and leadership structure of a combined entity.”

GameStop did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.

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U.S. stock futures fell on Tuesday after Monday’s higher close. This followed President Donald Trump‘s sharp criticism of Iran’s latest response to a U.S. proposal aimed at ending the conflict, saying the ceasefire is now “on life support.”

“I would call it the weakest right now,” Trump said, adding he viewed Tehran’s demands as unacceptable.

On the economic front, investors will be looking out for the crucial consumer price index scheduled to be released before the opening bell. According to FactSet, the median estimate for April CPI is 3.7% year-over-year.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.43%, and the two-year bond was at 3.97%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 97.6% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged during June’s meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were lower in premarket on Tuesday. The SPY was down 0.42% at $736.20, while the QQQ declined 0.79% to $707.69.

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Bumble Kills The Swipe To Help ‘Exhausted’ And ‘Fatigued’ Singles, CEO Confirms

The S&P 500 closed at another record high on Monday, but Polymarket traders are positioning for a weaker start on Tuesday as investors await a key inflation reading and monitor renewed tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The benchmark index rose 0.19% to finish at 7,412.84, marking another all-time closing high. However, the May 12 Polymarket contract implied only a 20% probability that the S&P 500 would open higher on Tuesday morning.

Why That Number Matters

Investor attention is firmly on April’s consumer price index report due Tuesday morning. The Cleveland Fed’s inflation nowcasting model projects the April Consumer Price Index print at 0.45% month-over-month for headline and 0.21% for core, lifting the annual headline rate to 3.56% from 3.30% in March.

That would represent the highest print since September 2023. The consensus on Wall Street …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose slightly in April as housing inventory improved, though affordability pressures continued limiting broader market activity.

Existing-home sales increased 0.2% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units in April, according to data released on Monday by the National Association of Realtors. Sales were unchanged compared to the same month last year.

The median existing-home sales price rose 0.9% year-over-year to $417,700, marking the 34th consecutive month of annual price increases and the highest median home price ever recorded for April.

Total housing inventory climbed 5.8% from March to 1.47 million units. Unsold inventory represented a 4.4-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 4.2 months in March.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) on Tuesday announced a partnership with Hengrui Pharma to develop a portfolio of 13 early-stage programs spanning oncology, hematology and immunology.

The deal follows the company’s earlier success with Sotyktu, an oral drug, which received FDA approval for treating adults with active psoriatic arthritis after demonstrating superior disease control compared to placebo in Phase 3 trials.

Terms and Conditions

Under the terms of the agreement, Bristol Myers Squibb will pay Hengrui up to $950 million, including a $600 million upfront payment, a $175 million payment after the first anniversary of the deal and another contingent $175 million anniversary payment in 2028.

The total potential value of the collaboration could reach approximately $15.2 billion, contingent on option exercises for joint-discovery programs and the achievement of development, regulatory and commercial milestones across all 13 programs.

The deal, pending regulatory clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.

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In today’s rapidly changing and highly competitive business world, it is vital for investors and industry enthusiasts to carefully assess companies. In this article, we will perform a comprehensive industry comparison, evaluating Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) against its key competitors in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry. By analyzing important financial metrics, market position, and growth prospects, we aim to provide valuable insights for investors and shed light on company’s performance within the industry.

Micron Technology Background

Micron is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world, specializing in memory and storage chips. Its primary revenue stream comes from dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, and it also has minority exposure to not-and or NAND, flash chips. Micron serves a global customer base, selling chips into data centers, mobile phones, consumer electronics, and industrial and automotive applications. The firm is vertically integrated.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

In the fast-paced and cutthroat world of business, conducting thorough company analysis is essential for investors and industry experts. In this article, we will undertake a comprehensive industry comparison, evaluating Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) in comparison to its major competitors within the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry. By analyzing crucial financial metrics, market position, and growth potential, our objective is to provide valuable insights for investors and offer a deeper understanding of company’s performance in the industry.

Advanced Micro Devices Background

Advanced Micro Devices designs a variety of digital semiconductors for markets such as PCs, gaming consoles, data centers (including artificial intelligence), industrial, and automotive applications. AMD’s traditional strength was in central processing units and graphics processing units used in PCs and data centers. However, AMD is emerging as a prominent player in AI GPUs and related hardware. Additionally, the firm supplies the chips found in prominent game consoles such as the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

In the dynamic and fiercely competitive business environment, conducting a thorough analysis of companies is crucial for investors and industry enthusiasts. In this article, we will perform an extensive industry comparison, evaluating IREN (NASDAQ:IREN) in relation to its major competitors in the Software industry. By closely examining crucial financial metrics, market position, and growth prospects, we aim to offer valuable insights for investors and shed light on company’s performance within the industry.

IREN Background

IREN owns data centers powered by renewable energy in Canada and the US for bitcoin mining and AI cloud infrastructure. The company is in the process of converting its existing bitcoin capacity for AI purposes and securing new power and land supply to expand its data center operation. IREN works closely with industry leaders in AI, such as Microsoft, to support their cloud infrastructure ambitions.

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Shares of Harmonic Inc (NASDAQ:HLIT) rose sharply in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and issued second-quarter guidance above estimates. Also, the company raised its FY26 EPS guidance above estimates.

Harmonic reported quarterly earnings of 17 cents per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 12 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $121.695 million which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $102.213 million.

Harmonic shares jumped 13% to $14.50 in pre-market trading.

Here are some other stocks moving in pre-market trading.

Gainers

• Buzzfeed Inc (NASDAQ:BZFD) gained 94.6% to $1.42 in pre-market trading after the company announced a proposed majority stake investment from Byron Allen’s family office alongside a major leadership transition and AI-focused restructuring plan.
• Dreamland Ltd (NASDAQ:TDIC) gained 34.1% to $1.40 in pre-market trading. Dreamland’s subsidiary Trendic International Limited and LinkFung Innovation Limited entered into MoU to explore development, implementation, and deployment of a comprehensive AI-powered intelligent image library platform.
• High-Trend International Group (NASDAQ:HTCO) rose 28.4% to $9.05 in pre-market trading. High-Trend International Group Class A shareholders approved major corporate governance enhancements.
• Quantum Computing Inc (NASDAQ:QUBT) gained 25% to …

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On Tuesday, Coloplast (OTC:CLPBY) discussed second-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

Benzinga APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ to learn more.

View the webcast at https://getvisualtv.net/stream/register/?coloplast-evjwx4pp4s

Summary

Coloplast reported strong financial performance in Q2 2526, with organic growth in OstomyCare, Continence Care, and interventional urology showing robust figures.

The company revised its full-year guidance for organic revenue growth to 5-6% and anticipates continued momentum in the second half, despite challenges in the wound and tissue repair segments.

New CEO Gavin Wood emphasized a focus on innovation, leadership development, and commercial execution as key strategic priorities, aligning with the Impact 4 strategy to drive long-term growth.

Operational highlights included strong performance in the US market, particularly in men’s health and catheter products, while challenges persisted in China and the European wound care market.

Management expressed confidence in the company’s strategic direction but acknowledged the need for further assessment and adaptation to maintain competitiveness and address market challenges.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Coloplast Interim Financial Statement for H1 2025/26 conference call. I am Lorenzo, the Chorus Call Operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q and A session. You can register for question at any time by pressing STAR and 1 on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press STAR and 0. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast at this time. It’s my pleasure to hand over to Andres Lonning Skopgaard, Executive Vice President and CFO. Please go ahead sir.

Anders Launnings Gogo (CFO)

Our Q2 2025/26 conference call. I am Anders Lonning Skopgaard, CFO of Coloplast and I’m very happy to introduce our new President and CEO Gavin Wood, who joined the company on May 1st. Please turn to slide number three.

Gavin Wood (President and CEO)

Thank you Anders and good morning everyone. As Anders mentioned, I joined Coloplast on May 1st and this is my first opportunity to speak with many of you. So let me briefly introduce myself and share what excites me about joining Coloplast for this next chapter. I’ve spent more than two decades in global medtech, leading commercial organizations and multi billion dollar businesses across different regions and therapeutic areas. Most recently I served as Company Group Chair of Johnson and Johnson Med Tech EMEA with an organization of more than 7,000 employees and ownership across surgery, orthopedics and cardiovascular solutions. Prior to this, I was the Worldwide President of Ethicon’s Wound Closure and Healing business and before that the Executive Vice President of Global Commercial at Munlica. I started my med tech career as a sales rep at Ethicon Endosurgery, followed by a series of traditional roles across sales and sales management. It was there that I first saw the impact a medical device can have when it’s used by a physician on a patient or a customer, and that experience is what really attracted me to the medtech industry and has motivated me to stay A bit of context on me personally. I’m Canadian by birth, currently living in Switzerland and relocating to Denmark. My career has come across multiple geographies and is shaped by a global mindset and a strong appreciation for different cultures and ways of working. As I begin this new chapter, I want to put a few words to why Coloplast and why now? First, the deep sense of purpose. Coloplast was born because a nurse saw her sister suffering and refused to accept it, and an engineer committed to bringing her idea to life. It was about solving a human problem. Second, the people, the people behind the business. Every conversation I’ve had has confirmed that Coloplast is full of great talent, passion and commitment. And I can feel that. And as in any company, it’s the quality of the people that ultimately determines what’s possible. Third, the ambition. Coloplast wants to write its next chapter to become even more impactful towards users, customers and communities, helping 4 million people long term, about twice as many as we serve today. Our 2030 strategy, Impact 4 is designed to build that future by setting the standard of care at scale, anchored in deep customer centricity, and that resonates with me deeply. I’m a builder at heart and I see something meaningful that we can achieve together. The company has a strong legacy built over many years, and as I approach this role with curiosity and genuine respect for that history at this stage, for me it’s all about building a perspective, forming a clear view of where the future growth opportunities may lie and where the organization may need to challenge itself as we look ahead. At its core, this is about continuing what Coloplast has done well for many years, converting investment, focus and execution into strong and sustainable returns over time. The way I lead is grounded in a few simple beliefs. I believe value is created when ambition is translated into a number of clear priorities, when decisions are made as close to the customers as possible, and when teams are empowered with accountability for outcomes. That’s how consistency and momentum are built over time. And ultimately, I believe focus drives results. And this all starts with people. I place a strong emphasis on developing leaders and creating the environment where teams can perform at their best. Because the culture, people and strength of an organization ultimately determines what’s possible and what we can deliver together. As I start my new role, I will be spending time close to the business, engaging across the organization in our key markets, deepening my understanding of the Impact four and focusing on strong commercial execution from day one. This is about seeing how Coloplast operates in practice, how decisions are made, and how our teams deliver for impact for our customers each and every day. My focus is building best in class talent to drive performance and results and I’m looking forward to meeting many of you on the road in the coming months. Coloplast was built by listening closely to our users and our customers and I’m excited to keep learning, listening and building the next chapter of this company together with the people who make it possible. With that, I’ll hand back to Anders, who will take us through the financial results for the quarter. Please turn to slide number four.

Anders Launnings Gogo (CFO)

Thank you, thank you Gavin and once again a warm welcome to Coloplast. On April 23rd we revised our guidance for full year 2526 and pre announced our results for the first half of 2526. We delivered a very strong second quarter excluding wound and tissue repair with solid underlying performance across the majority of the group. Now let’s take a closer look at today’s results. Please turn to slide number five. In Ostomy Care, organic growth was 5% for the first six months and growth in Danish Kroner was 1%. In Q2 organic growth was 7% with growth in Danish Kroner of 3%. Following a soft start in Q1, we saw the anticipated pick up in momentum in Q2 and we expect this good momentum and continued market share gains to continue into the second half of the year. From a product perspective, our Sensu Emiyu portfolio continues to be the main growth driver followed by the Brawa supporting products. From a geographical perspective, growth in the quarter was broad based across regions with solid contribution from Europe led by the UK and Germany. I would also like to call out the US which delivered double digit growth and continues to deliver strong underlying momentum from Q1. Our US business is in a great shape in H1, both Vizient and Premier. The two largest GPOs in the US renewed Colopast’s national group purchasing agreements for Ostomy Care and we are seeing good uptake of our latest SenSura Mio launches, the Black Bags and the new two piece offering which has been well received in the market. Our main challenge in Ostomycare remains China which saw another quarter with subdued growth due to the continued weak consumer sentiment and competitive pressures from domestic players in the Community channel For the full year. We now expect sales in China to decline slightly year over year. Outside China, the rest of our emerging markets contributed nicely to growth. In Continence care, organic growth was 7% for the first six months and growth in Danish Kroner was 3%. In Q2, organic growth was 8% and growth in Danish Kroner was 4%. Growth in the quarter was driven by the Luja Catheter portfolio which performed strongly across key European markets and the us. The male catheter continued to perform well while the female catheter saw a strong uptake in in the quarter driven by Europe. Lugia is our most important innovation in Conscience Care in a decade and it’s encouraging to see how Lugia continues to pick up momentum becoming an increasingly larger share of our growth contribution within intermittent catheters. It’s a great example of how customer centric innovation backed by compelling clinical evidence is setting a new standard of care in the market. Our bowel care business also continued its good momentum and made a strong contribution to growth in the quarter driven by the Peristein portfolio. In Europe, voice and respiratory care posted 8% organic growth for the first six months with growth in Danish kroner of 5%. In Q2, organic growth was also 8% and growth in Danish corner was also 5%. Growth in laryngectomy in Q2 was high single digit and driven by an increase in the number of patients served in existing and new markets as well as increase in patient value driven by the Provox Live portfolio. Growth in tracheostomy in Q2 was mid single digit driven by continued solid underlying demand partly offset by phasing in distributor markets. For From a geographical perspective, all regions contributed to growth driven by Europe and the US in wound and tissue repair, organic growth was 1% for the first six months and growth in Danish kroner was minus 7 with 3 percentage points negative impact from the skin care divestment in December 24th. In Q2 organic growth was minus 2% and growth in Danish kroner WAS minus 6. Q2 revenue from biologics amounted to 283 million Danish krona for with 0% organic growth and 0% operating profit margin excluding the PPA amortization. As also mentioned on the extraordinary conference call three weeks ago, we continue to see a healthy inpatient business with growth that remains at a healthy double digit level despite a slight easing of momentum in Q2. On the other hand, our outpatient business is challenged with significant sales decline in line with the rest of the market. In advanced wound dressings, sales declined 2% in Q2 and 3% in the first half of the year. China detracted from growth due to the product return initiated in Q3 last year with a negative revenue impact of around 25 million in the quarter similar to the impact in Q1 outside China, Europe had a soft quarter across markets. In interventional urology, organic growth was 8% for the first six months and growth in Danish Corner was 3%. In Q2 organic growth was 8% and reported growth in Danish Corner was 2%. Growth in Q2 was mainly driven by continued strong momentum in the US men’s health business driven by the Titan Penile Implants. From a geographical perspective, the US continued to be the main contributor followed by Europe on 2-18-26. Culp has completed the acquisition of all shares and voting rights of Euromedica, a commercial stage medical technology company specializing in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence with a solution highly complementary to our existing men’s health business. The integration of Uramedica is progressing well and the acquisition has been well received by our existing men’s health customers. Before turning to the H1 financials, let me make one final remark on organic growth. While performance in the wound tissue repair franchise remains below our expectations, this reflects a set of external headwinds that we are actively addressing. Importantly, more than 80% of our business continues to perform well with solid growth and market share gains. Now with this, let’s look at our H1 financials. Please turn to Slide 6. Reported revenue for the first six months increased by 171 million Danish krona, or 1% compared to last year. Organic growth contributed 789 million Danish krona, or around 6% to reported revenue. Inorganic revenue, mostly related to the divestment of the skin care business in December 24 reduced reported revenue by 70 million Danish krona, or around 50 basis points. Foreign exchange rates had a negative impact of 548 million Danish krona or 4 percentage points on reported revenue, mainly related to the depreciation of the US Dollar, the British pound and a basket of emerging markets currencies against the Danish koner. Please turn to Slide 7. Gross profit for the first six months amounted to 9.5 billion Danish krona, corresponding to a gross margin of 67% compared to 68% last year. The gross margin was negatively impacted by Currencies of around 60 basis points, mostly related to the depreciation of the US dollar, the British sterling and the basket of emerging markets currencies against the Danish kroner and appreciation of the Hungarian forint against the Danish kroner. Ramp up costs in Costa Rica and Portugal also impacted the gross margin negatively. The negative impact was partly offset by lower inflation on freight compared to last year. Operating expenses for the first six months amounted to 5.8 billion Danish kronor, a 2% increase from last year. The distribution to sales ratio for the first six months was 33% on par with last year. The growth in distribution costs were flat year over year, reflecting one off logistics cost in the US last year and lower sales costs in China this year, partly offset by Keras one off cost this year. The development in distribution costs were also positively impacted by the depreciation of the US Dollar against the Danish krona. The admin to sales ratio for the first six months was 5% compared to 4% last year and includes around 15 million Danish krona in one off advisory costs incurred by Kiosis in Q1 in connection with the recent CMS regulatory changes in the US outpatient setting. The RD to sales ratio for the first six months was 4% of sales compared to 3% last year. The increase was driven by high activity levels in chronic care and biologics. Overall, this resulted in an operating profit before special items of 3.7 billion Danish kroner in the first six months or a 3% decrease compared to last year. The EBIT margin before special items in the period was 26% compared with 27% last year, reflecting around 70 basis points negative impact from currencies and around 40 basis points negative impact from chaos in constant currencies. EBIT grew 5% compared to last year. Coloplast incurred special Items expenses of 3.1 billion Danish krona in the first half of the year, of which 3 billion Danish kroner relates to the chaos’s impairment loss. Financial Items in the first six months were a net expense of 63 million Danish krona compared to a net expense of 385 million Danish krona last year, driven mostly by interest expenses related to the financing of the Atzos medical acquisition, which were largely offset by gains on exchange rate adjustments mostly related to the US Dollar, Hungarian for rent and the Costa Rican colon. The tax expense in the first six months was 121 million Danish corner compared to an ordinary tax expense of 717 million Danish krona last year. The tax rate was 22% on par with the ordinary tax rate last year. Net profit before special items in the first six months was 2.8 billion Danish krona or a 6% increase from last year when adjusted for the non recurring tax expenses last year. Adjusted diluted earnings per share before Special items increased by 5%. Please turn to slide number 8. Operating cash flow for the first six months was an inflow of 3.7 billion Danish krona compared to an inflow of 2.7 billion Danish krona last year. The positive development in cash flows from operating activities was mostly driven by favorable development in working capital. …

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After going on a blistering run in the second half of 2025, an equally impressive start of the year, and a volatile correction exacerbated by the Middle East conflict, silver has finally taken a breather in April.

However, its latest price action points to a potential bullish continuation.

Silver monthly chart (Source: TradingView)

After a December close above $70, despite repeated tests, that level has held, establishing a strong support. Meanwhile, the highest month close was in February at $93.75 – the level that needs to be overcome to solidify the next leg higher. However, nearly halfway through the month, May shows a bullish impulse – the price has failed to reach a previous month’s low and instead turned around to clear the previous month’s high. As long as it doesn’t close inside the previous month’s range or break support, the structure remains bullish.

The most oversold stocks in the real estate sector presents an opportunity to buy into undervalued companies.

The RSI is a momentum indicator, which compares a stock’s strength on days when prices go up to its strength on days when prices go down. When compared to a stock’s price action, it can give traders a better sense of how a stock may perform in the short term. An asset is typically considered oversold when the RSI is below 30, according to Benzinga Pro.

Here’s the latest list of major oversold players in this sector, having an RSI near or below 30.

Gladstone Land Corp (NASDAQ:LAND)

• On May 11, Gladstone Land posted upbeat quarterly results. David Gladstone, President and CEO of Gladstone Land said, “We had a successful 2025 harvest on the farms where we oversee the growing operations, although the full financial impact has not yet been reflected in our results, as a significant portion of the revenue from the 2025 pistachio harvest is expected to be recognized later …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed some improvement in the overall market sentiment, while the index remained in the “Greed” zone on Monday.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Monday, with the S&P 500 closing above the key 7,400 level.

All three major indices recorded gains last week, with the Nasdaq jumping 4.5% and the S&P 500 adding 2.3%. The Dow also recorded a weekly gain of 0.2%.

President Donald Trump set the tone late Sunday, posting on Truth Social that he had just read the response from Iran and dismissed it as “totally unacceptable,” effectively rejecting Tehran’s counter-proposal to end the 10-week conflict.

In earnings, Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter fiscal 2026 results and reaffirmed its full-year earnings outlook. Mosaic Co

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The Trump administration announced that it would loan 53.3 million barrels of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to energy companies to counteract high crude oil prices amid the Iran war.

The loan is part of a global agreement aimed at stabilizing the oil markets disrupted by the ongoing war. Among the recipients of this loan are nine companies, including Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Trafigura, and Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:MPC).

Against this loan, the Department of Energy (DOE) will receive an approximately 28% return premium, representing 15.1 million barrels.

The DOE had previously offered to loan out 92.5 million barrels from the SPR. However, the companies only borrowed about 58% of the offered amount.

Kyle Haustveit, DOE Assistant Secretary of the Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office, said, “These actions continue to move oil swiftly into the market, address near-term supply needs, and ensure that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve remains strong through …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is facing renewed scrutiny after a new report alleged Facebook allowed scam advertisers targeting seniors with fake Medicare-related offers to repeatedly run ads across its platforms.

The report, released Tuesday by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, found that 30 major scam advertiser accounts generated an estimated 215 million ad impressions over the past year. Roughly 73% of those impressions reportedly came from users over the age of 65.

Researchers said many of the ads used fake celebrity endorsements and AI-generated videos featuring figures including President Donald Trump, former President Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Harvey and Brad Pitt to convince seniors to click links or call phone numbers. Some ads falsely promised grocery cards, rent assistance or thousands of dollars in free government benefits through Medicare.

The report alleged Meta repeatedly allowed nearly identical scam ads to reappear even after some versions were removed for violating company policies.

Meta Responds To Scam Ad Allegations

Meta said scammers continue using increasingly sophisticated tactics to avoid detection across internet platforms. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the company removed more than 159 million scam ads last year, with 92% taken down before users reported them, and added that Meta continues working with law enforcement agencies and industry partners …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday emphasized the push for a U.S. semiconductor manufacturing boom that would expand domestic chip production and reduce U.S. reliance on foreign supply chains.

Semiconductor Boom On The Way

In a post on X, Lutnick said, “We’re bringing back semiconductor manufacturing.”

The PHLX Semiconductor Index recently reached its highest level since March 2000, driven by significant investments in AI infrastructure and data centers. On May 6, the index soared 50% over the previous 25 trading days.

The surge has led to record levels of dominance within the technology sector, with the S&P 500 semiconductor industry now accounting for 41.9% of the total market cap of the information technology sector, up from less than 10% in 2013.

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A well-timed stock purchase by Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-CA) is drawing public attention after Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) shares have surged nearly 80% since his purchase ahead of the massive first-quarter earnings beat.

Highly Profitable Bet

On April 14, 2026, Rep. Cisneros executed a purchase of between $15,001 and $50,000 of AMD stock, when the stock closed at $255.07 apiece.

The semiconductor giant subsequently released its second-quarter earnings on May 5, revealing that AMD’s data center revenue jumped 57% and it blew past estimates.

The stock has advanced 29.14% since the earnings day when it closed at $355.26 apiece, contributing to an overall 79.87% climb since Cisneros’s mid-April investment. This remarkable run has transformed the California lawmaker’s position into a highly scrutinized windfall.

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Economist Peter Schiff, who is also the co-founder of Echelon Wealth Partners, cautioned against eliminating the Federal gas tax on Monday, as it could weaken the dollar and lead to higher oil prices.

Higher Oil Prices

In a post on X, Schiff weighed in on surging oil and gas prices, saying that Trump was considering eliminating gasoline taxes to “give consumers relief” as the war drags on.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) expressed concerns on Monday over increased credit card spending, saying Americans are paying higher interest rates under the President Donald Trump administration.

Warren Targets Trump Over Credit Card Interest Rates

In an X post, Warren said Trump’s advisors are celebrating a surge in credit card spending, but Americans are feeling the pain of higher borrowing costs. She wrote, “Americans have paid over $150 billion extra because Trump failed to keep his promise to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.”

She pointed out that families are being charged an extra $368 million in interest …

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Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) has unveiled a new, wholly owned subsidiary, Ford Energy, aimed at manufacturing Energy Storage systems at its Kentucky facility, targeting the manufacturing of deployments worth 20GWh annually.

Ford Energy To Commence Deliveries In 2027

The company will begin deliveries in late 2027, according to an official statement released by the automaker on Monday. Ford shared that the company’s DC Block will be a 20-foot-long containerized storage system with 512 Ah LFP prismatic cells and is touted to be its flagship.

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OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) have reportedly agreed to cap their total revenue-sharing payments at $38 billion.

This cap could potentially strengthen OpenAI’s long-term appeal to investors as it gears up for a public offering, which might occur as early as the end of this year, reported The Information on Monday.

OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comments.

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Bumble Inc. (NASDAQ:BMBL) is officially ditching its iconic swiping mechanism in an upcoming app reset, aiming to combat digital dating burnout and foster deeper, more intentional real-world connections.

Saying Goodbye To The Swipe

After years of the swipe dominating digital romance, Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd is leading a dramatic overhaul of the platform’s core mechanics. Acknowledging a massive cultural shift in consumer behavior, Wolfe Herd told Axios that the initial novelty of mobile dating has severely worn off for modern users.

“Now, people are feeling exhausted. They’re feeling fatigued,” Wolfe Herd stated. “They feel like the swipe has degraded their love lives.”

To directly address this burnout, Bumble is rolling out a brand-new interaction model. Slated to launch in select markets in the fourth quarter, the update will transition the dating app away from its traditional binary left-or-right mechanic.

“We are going to be saying goodbye to the swipe and hello to something that I believe is revolutionary for the category,” she confirmed.

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Bumble Stock …

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) cautioned against Chinese investment in the U.S. on Monday ahead of a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

‘Disaster’ For American Manufacturing

In a post on the social media platform X, Khanna raised concerns over the meeting, where Trump and Xi could discuss a potential $1 trillion investment from Chinese enterprises into the U.S., according to a post he quoted by news presenter Laura Ingraham.

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With U.S. stock futures trading lower this morning on Tuesday, some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are as follows:

• Wall Street expects Under Armour Inc. (NYSE:UAA) to report quarterly earnings at 1 cent per share on revenue of $1.16 billion before the opening bell, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Under Armour shares gained 0.7% to $6.10 in after-hours trading.
• GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRO) reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales results and also announced the launch of a strategic review exploring the potential sale or …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Tuesday, May 12.

Analysts expect the company to report quarterly earnings of 50 cents per share, on revenue of $45.57 billion, according to Benzinga Pro.

On April 10, JD.com announced completion of CNY10 billion offering of CNY-denominated senior notes.

Shares of JD.com rose 1.3% to close at $30.53 on Monday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort by stock ticker, company name, analyst firm, rating change or other variables.

Let’s have a look at how Benzinga’s most-accurate analysts have rated the company in the recent period.

• Barclays analyst Jiong Shao maintained an Overweight rating and raised the …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Holding AG (NYSE:ONON) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Tuesday, May 12.

Analysts expect the Zurich, Switzerland-based company to report quarterly earnings of 27 cents per share, up from 21 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for On Holding’s quarterly revenue is $821.52 million (it reported $726.6 million last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On March 25, On Holding named co-founders David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti as co-CEOs and promoted Scott Maguire to president and COO.

Shares of On Holding fell 3.4% to close at $34.04 on Monday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort by stock ticker, company name, analyst firm, rating change or other variables.

Let’s have a look at …

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Investor Ross Gerber of the investment firm Gerber Kawasaki on Monday laid out a bullish valuation case for Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) using a “simple” math price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple calculation.

Micron’s Huge Potential Growth

In a post on X, Gerber said that strong earnings growth could push MU shares sharply higher over the next two years.

He explained this in a simple math calculation by saying that “Expectations are for $57 in eps for 2026 and over $100 in eps for 2027. Apply market multiple to $57, let’s say 20 times. You get… $1140 per share. “

Gerber’s calculation of $1140 per share is based on the P/E multiple of 20 times multiplied by the projected 2026 EPS of $57. This price represents a substantial 43% potential upside to the price of $795.33 on May 11.

AI …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

BuzzFeed, Inc. (NASDAQ:BZFD) shares skyrocketed more than 135% in after-hours trading on Monday after the company announced a proposed majority stake investment from Byron Allen’s family office alongside a major leadership transition and AI-focused restructuring plan.

Inside The $120 Million Investment Deal

BuzzFeed entered into an agreement with Allen Family Digital, LLC, an affiliate of Byron Allen’s family office. Allen is the founder of Allen Media Group, which owns multiple television networks, streaming platforms, and local broadcast stations across the U.S. Under the agreement, the firm will acquire 40 million shares of BuzzFeed at $3.00 per share for a total transaction value of $120 million.

Upon closing, Allen Family Digital is expected to own approximately 52% of BuzzFeed’s outstanding shares, effectively giving Byron Allen control of the company.

The transaction includes a $20 million cash payment at closing along with a $100 million promissory note carrying a 5% annual interest rate and due over five years. The deal is …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan on Monday said that ordinary Americans had spent over $28 billion extra at the gas stations as President Donald Trump mulls rescinding the federal gas tax.

Iran War Premium

In a post on X, De Haan shared that the possible elimination of the “18.4¢ federal gas tax” could do little to provide relief to people, as the “Iran war premium” added approximately “$1.35 per gallon” at the pump, costing over $28 billion since the war began.

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A new market trend may be emerging as oil prices, bond yields and precious metals have moved higher simultaneously, according to economist Peter Schiff.

Oil, Bond Yields And Gold Climb Together                                           

In a Monday post on X, Schiff said oil and bond yields rose alongside a rise in precious metals, reversing the “negative correlation that’s dominated trading since the war broke out.”

The 10-year Treasury yield has risen 6.8% to $4.42 since the start of the year, while the gold price climbed 9.2%. The S&P 500 is up 8.3% at the time of writing.

The ETFs tracking the …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

A lot of wealthy people announce success with oceanfront homes, gated driveways, and luxury SUVs. Others apparently announce it by quietly pulling up in a used Subaru and never mentioning the size of the inheritance sitting behind it.

In a post on Reddit’s r/fatFIRE forum, which focuses on high-net-worth individuals pursuing financial independence and early retirement, one millionaire said he grew up believing his family was completely middle class until a surprise revelation at 18 changed the entire picture.

“I inherited my money, but we grew up with a very standard middle class lifestyle,” the poster said. “We had an unassuming house and dad drove a used Subaru — I had no idea we/I had money until I was 18.”

The money itself was not the part that bothered him years later. The real issue was figuring out how to exist socially around middle-class friends without sounding out of touch, secretive, awkward, or accidentally insensitive every time money entered the conversation.

“Any ‘millionaire next door’ types here?” he asked. “How do you navigate that with middle class friends?”

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A Casual Dinner Conversation Suddenly Turns Financial

The poster said most of his friends are professionals with stable careers and good incomes, but they do not have the same level of wealth or financial freedom sitting quietly in the background.

At the same time, he said he has little interest in stereotypical luxury spending.

“I’m not interested in a lot of ‘rich people things’ cars, luxury trips, boats, big houses, watches, etc.,” he said.

That leaves him in a strange middle ground. He lives similarly to his friends, socializes similarly to his friends, and relates to their lifestyles, but knows certain conversations carry completely different stakes for him financially.

Travel discussions can become awkward. Retirement conversations can become awkward. Career risks can become awkward.

“How I walked away from one career without any sort of employment parachute to start a new career in a new field,” he wrote, describing one example where inherited wealth quietly changed the reality behind the decision.

The poster admitted he often wonders whether mentioning “the inheritance” changes how people see him, even if nobody says it directly.

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The Millionaire Next Door Usually Does Not Look Like A Millionaire

The thread quickly filled with responses from other high-net-worth Reddit users who said the experience sounded painfully familiar.

Several commenters said they intentionally avoid discussing money around friends altogether, especially when conversations turn toward salaries, debt, or retirement stress.

“All of our middle class friends openly discuss their salaries, finances, debt,” one commenter said. “We never say a word about that stuff.”

Others said the key is learning how to answer honestly without turning every conversation into an accidental net-worth reveal. A few users shared vague but socially safe responses they rely on regularly, including lines like “I’ve been saving for a long time” or “I keep my expenses pretty low.”

One commenter argued the discomfort may actually exist more in the poster’s own head than in the friendships themselves.

“It sounds like it’s completely self-imposed awkwardness/discomfort,” the commenter said. “Any need to ‘confess’ your wealth is completely self-imposed.”

The conversation tapped into a growing reality around so-called stealth wealth, where affluent people intentionally avoid outward displays of money and quietly blend into middle-class lifestyles. In many cases, the people with the largest investment accounts are …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

He Trusted His Brother-In-Law With His Investments Instead Of An Advisor. Now He Feels Blindsided By The Huge Fee. ‘This Is Highway Robbery’

What started as a small family investment arrangement turned uncomfortable after one man realized his brother-in-law expected a massive share of the profits for managing his money.

During a recent episode of “The Ramsey Show,” Dan told hosts Rachel Cruze and George Kamel that he had handed over $10,000 about two and a half years ago to a brother-in-law who managed investments on the side. While the account had grown to roughly $15,000, Dan said the two had never fully agreed on compensation until recently.

A Hedge Fund Style Fee On A Small Family Investment

Dan told the hosts the proposed arrangement sounded similar to a “two and 20” hedge fund structure.

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“We get the first 10% and then anything above that like he would get 20%,” Dan explained. He later added that another figure being discussed was 25%.

“This is highway robbery,” Kamel immediately pushed back.

The hosts explained that most licensed financial advisers charge around 1% annually for assets under management, sometimes slightly higher, but nowhere near 20% to 25% of profits.

Things became even more concerning when Dan revealed the brother-in-law was not a licensed financial adviser and did not work for an investment firm.

“He’s just a family member who talked to some finance people and worked out some investment thing,” Dan said.

Cruze and Kamel repeatedly questioned why Dan was paying such steep fees for what appeared to be a do-it-yourself investing strategy.

The investments were reportedly tied mostly to the S&P 500, although Dan later admitted there were also covered-call options strategies involved.

“You’d be better off just doing this with an actual professional,” Kamel said.

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Family And Money Often Don’t Mix

The conversation quickly shifted beyond fees and toward the risks of mixing family relationships with money.

Kamel warned Dan that many situations like this end badly.

“Usually this call ends with, ‘All the money’s gone and I can’t get in touch with him,’” he joked.

“I don’t know exactly what it is,” Dan admitted to not fully understanding the strategy his brother-in-law was using.

That prompted one of the strongest warnings of the segment.

“Never put your money in something you don’t understand,” Cruze said.

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The hosts urged Dan to untangle the arrangement while things were still relatively positive. Cruze suggested framing it diplomatically by saying he and his wife were reorganizing their finances and wanted to move the money elsewhere.

Kamel also added that if the brother-in-law became angry about Dan pulling out, it would likely confirm that the arrangement was a bad idea from the beginning.

Despite the concerns, the hosts acknowledged the investment had at least produced gains during a strong market period. Still, both argued that simple index fund investing through a licensed adviser or traditional

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Private markets helped accelerate the artificial intelligence (AI) boom by pouring capital into generative AI companies such as OpenAI, xAI, Grammarly and Character.ai under the assumption that scale, speed and product adoption would be the dominant risks. 

But that view is starting to shift. 

A growing wave of lawsuits tied to copyright claims, training data practices, misinformation and user safety is creating a new layer of uncertainty for investors backing the AI sector. What was once viewed as a manageable legal overhang is increasingly becoming a material financial risk that could ripple through private markets.

The growing legal risks come as investors are already struggling to assess how quickly AI is reshaping the broader technology landscape.

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Rent’s due, groceries cost a small fortune, and somewhere in America, a 25-year-old just got grounded over live action role play. Not for slaying dragons, mind you. For owing $350 in back rent. Family budgeting talks are awkward enough without adding “you’re banned from seeing friends” to the agenda.

In a post on Reddit, a 45-year-old mother asked whether she was wrong for stopping her adult child from attending an expensive larping event while still planning to attend the same gathering herself. The mother said her oldest child, “Po,” lives at home alongside two siblings and pays $100 per week toward rent, food, utilities and gas. 

According to the post, Po fell roughly $350 behind after a stretch of unemployment when the parents temporarily stopped charging rent.

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The tension exploded over an upcoming larping event, which the mother described as expensive. “However, larping can get expensive well over $100,” she said. Po planned to ride to the event with their parents before the mother stepped in with restrictions that quickly became the focus of the entire thread.

“I have told them that they can’t go and that I will put restrictions on them like not allowing them out of the house, even to see their friends, except for work and medical appointments,” the mother said. “I’ve already banned them from using the car for anything other than those.”

Dragons, Debt and a Grounding Notice

Commenters largely agreed that expecting repayment from an adult child was reasonable. What many could not understand was the decision to treat a 25-year-old like a teenager under house rules more fitting for sophomore year than adulthood.

One commenter said, “You cannot ‘ground’ a 25-year-old, and it’s ridiculous that you even think this is an option.”

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Another commenter compared the situation to a landlord trying to control a tenant’s social life.

“If you want your kid to start acting more like an adult, you need to also start treating them like one,” the Redditor said.

Others questioned the back-rent issue itself. Several commenters argued the debt felt retroactive because the parents had initially stopped charging rent during unemployment. Many also pointed out the irony that the mother participates in the same hobby and still planned to attend the exact event she was forbidding her child from attending.

One commenter summed up the reaction bluntly. “You can’t keep them locked up in your house though,” they wrote.

Foam Armor Meets Family Finances

The situation highlights a growing challenge for families navigating multigenerational living arrangements as housing costs continue climbing. Financial expectations inside shared households can quickly become messy when boundaries and repayment plans are not clearly established.

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Many financial professionals recommend creating written agreements covering rent, repayment schedules and household responsibilities instead of relying on restrictions tied to hobbies or social activities. Clear expectations often prevent financial disagreements from becoming personal power struggles.

Consulting a financial advisor may also help families create practical repayment plans while reducing tension inside …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

KKR & Co. (NYSE:KKR) is committing $300 million of its own capital to a private credit fund it co-manages with Future Standard, as the strategy faces pressure from rising loan defaults that contributed to a $560 million loss in the first quarter. 

KKR Alternative Assets will buy up to $150 million of FS KKR Capital shares at $11 each through a tender offer and also invest $150 million in newly issued preferred stock, Bloomberg reported.

At the end of Monday’s market close KKR’s stock price was down 3.2%.

The BDC’s board of directors approved a $300 million share repurchase program, which is understood to be running for approximately one year. The program will expire on June 1, 2027. It can be extended or end sooner, depending on when the $300 million is reached. KKR agreed to waive its incentive fees for four quarters. 

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I got an early copy of Ben Carlson’s new book, “Risk & Reward.” It’s terrific. (And it goes on sale May 12!)

Carlson, of Ritholtz Wealth Management, has a gift for being both entertaining and informative. His accessible writing makes for a casual read, and yet with each page you turn, you get a little smarter about investing.

His book is loaded with helpful charts and graphics. Chapter 14 has one of my favorite visualizations of stock market performance: It’s a plot of the S&P 500’s annual returns since 1928. It’s pretty chaotic.

Some investors may find this scatterplot surprising, especially after hearing the near-constant refrain that the stock market typically returns 8% to 10%. And those figures are true if you average the years out. But almost none of the yearly returns line up in that range.

“Investing in the stock market would be far easier if you could simply bank on 10% each and every year,” Carlson wrote. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. … You could have periods of …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Every generation of investors finds a stock that is easy to buy and hard to sell. Decades ago, portfolio managers said that nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. Nowadays, no stock is as close to that position as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM).

According to Copley Fund Research’s data, TSM is present in over 90% of emerging-market and Asia ex-Japan active portfolios. Roughly two-thirds of global active managers own the stock.

Even US-focused portfolios — despite having domestic semiconductor champions of their own — continue treating TSM as a core holding rather than a regional allocation.

The Global Cornerstone

The reasons behind this investor interest are straightforward. Nearly every chip designer depends on TSM’s cutting-edge manufacturing nodes. According to TrendForce, the company controlled around 70% of the global foundry market by revenue in 2025.

This dominance is what creates the career-risk trade. Buying TSM no longer requires conviction. Avoiding it does.

Still, crowded trades rarely break because investors suddenly stop believing the long-term story. They break because a small crack appears in the narrative, and positioning does the rest.

The most obvious catalyst is …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

President Donald Trump lands in Beijing Thursday for his first state visit to China since 2017, with Polymarket traders pricing a low-drama summit despite his promise of a “big, fat hug” from Xi Jinping.

The two-day meeting covers trade, tariffs, rare earths, the Iran war, Taiwan and AI chip export controls.

Who Holds The Cards?

The Financial Times’s Gideon Rachman wrote today that Trump arrives in Beijing diplomatically weakened, with leverage on rare earths largely gone and the Strait of Hormuz still shut.

Rachman’s call is that Beijing throws Trump a face-saver in the form of “Boeings and beans”: large-ticket purchases of US aircraft and soybeans designed to look like a win without conceding ground on tariffs, Taiwan or technology export controls.

Brookings analyst Patricia Kim has said Beijing believes its leverage over Washington will only grow heading into the November midterm elections.

The smaller delegation reflects the changed dynamic. Nvidia

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Fidelity National Information Servcs Inc (NYSE:FIS) reported upbeat earnings for the first quarter on Friday.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $1.36 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.29 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $3.295 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $3.277 billion.

Fidelity National Info said it sees second-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.45-$1.49 and sales of $3.375 billion-$3.395 billion.

“We delivered a strong start to 2026, with disciplined execution driving margin expansion and robust cash flow generation,” said FIS CEO and President Stephanie Ferris. “The market is strong, banks are investing, and the innovation that is redefining financial services runs through FIS. As …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Peter Schiff on Monday called on the SEC to investigate Michael Saylor for marketing STRC preferred stock to retirees, arguing the 11.5% dividend is unsustainable and labeling it “a classic centralized Ponzi.”

Schiff Says Saylor Violated SEC Antifraud Rules

Schiff wrote on X, asking how the SEC can let Saylor get away with public comments that STRC is suitable for retirees whose primary investment objectives are low-risk wealth preservation and income.

“This is a violation of SEC antifraud and marketing rules,” Schiff wrote.

In a follow-up post, Schiff wrote that Saylor admitted STRC is being bought by retirees seeking low-risk wealth preservation. “But STRC is actually high-risk,” Schiff wrote. “Saylor’s comments will help retirees who lose money win lawsuits against $MSTR.”

The dispute intensified after Saylor acknowledged during Strategy Inc.’s (NASDAQ:MSTR) Q1 earnings call that the company may sell Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) to fund STRC dividend payments. `

Saylor …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

PPL Corp (NYSE:PPL) on Friday reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.

The company posted quarterly earnings of 63 cents per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 62 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $2.774 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.668 billion.

PPL affirmed FY2026 adjusted EPS guidance of $1.90-$1.98.

“Our first-quarter results reflect strong financial and operational results and keep us on track to achieve our 2026 earnings guidance range,” said Vincent Sorgi, PPL president and chief executive officer. “We’re on pace to complete $5.1 billion in 2026 infrastructure investments to strengthen and …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 0.2% on Monday.

The Dow traded up 0.11% to 49,663.67 while the NASDAQ gained 0.23% to 26,308.71. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.26% to 7,417.97.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 1.8% on Monday.

In trading on Monday, communication services stocks fell by 1.5%.

Top Headline

Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter fiscal 2026 results and reaffirmed its full-year earnings outlook.

The U.S. power company reported revenue of $11.122 billion, topping Wall Street estimates of $8.721 billion. Adjusted earnings rose to $2.74 per share from $2.14 a year earlier and exceeded analyst expectations of $2.57 per share.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Functional Brands Inc (NASDAQ:MEHA) shares shot up 79% to $0.17 after the company announced …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

SpaceX leased its full Colossus 1 supercomputer to Anthropic last week, and Chamath Palihapitiya called the move a “valuation reinforcement” for Elon Musk’s SpaceX ahead of its $2 trillion IPO.

Altimeter Capital’s Brad Gerstner pegged the rocket maker at 40 to 50 times revenue on $40 to $50 billion in next-year sales on Friday’s All-In episode, with the hosts dubbing the new cloud business “Elon Web Services.”

The deal covers 220,000 Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPUs and over 300 megawatts of power, putting SpaceX in direct competition with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) for AI cloud spend.

What Musk Kept For Himself

Colossus 1 runs older H100 chips while xAI keeps its …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Steve Eisman said eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) will “of course” reject GameStop Corp.‘s (NYSE:GME) $56 billion takeover offer.

The take echoes Michael Burry, who sold his entire GameStop stake last week and posted “never confuse debt for creativity” to his Substack.

eBay is roughly four times larger than GameStop by market cap, which makes Ryan Cohen‘s half-cash, half-stock pitch at $125 per share a stretch even with TD Securities‘ $20 billion “highly confident letter” backing the financing.

The Math Does Not Work

“The odd thing about this potential deal is that eBay is four times larger than GameStop,” Eisman said on the Real Eisman Playbook.

eBay’s board has questioned Cohen’s ability to deliver a binding, actionable proposal. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian put the odds of success at “relatively low” …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) on Friday reported first-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations and reaffirmed its full-year outlook.

The company reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 12 cents, beating the analyst consensus estimate of 10 cents. Quarterly sales of $540.637 million (+3.3% year over year) outpaced the Street view of $517.965 million. Adjusted revenues gained 2.2% to $432.3 million.

Wendy’s affirmed fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS guidance of 56 cents to 60 cents, versus the 57-cent analyst estimate. The company continues to expect approximately flat global systemwide sales growth during 2026. It reaffirmed adjusted EBITDA guidance of $460 million to $480 million for the year.

“We are taking decisive action to strengthen the Wendy’s system and improve performance,” said Ken Cook, Interim …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

E.l.f. Beauty Inc. (NYSE:ELF) shares are sliding Monday, falling nearly 8% and hitting a new 52-week low of $55.35 as analysts turn more cautious on the stock.

The broader market remained positive, with the NASDAQ Composite up 0.45% and the S&P 500 gaining 0.34%.

The sell-off follows a downgrade from Morgan Stanley on May 1, when the firm cut ELF to equal weight from overweight and lowered its price target to $67 from $80.

Investors are now focused on the company’s Q4 earnings report due May …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Circle Internet Group, Inc (NYSE:CRCL) stock may suddenly be giving traders and crypto investors something they have not seen in months: a technical breakout setup backed by accelerating network activity.

Chart created using Benzinga Pro

CRCL stock has surged more than 36% over the past year and are now approaching a closely watched Golden Cross formation, where the 50-day moving average rises above the 200-day moving average — a signal many technical traders view as bullish momentum confirmation.

The setup is particularly notable because the stock still remains well below its 52-week high near $299 despite staging a sharp rebound from earlier lows.

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Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) on Friday reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Oshkosh reported quarterly earnings of 85 cents per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.17 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $2.317 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.322 billion.

“We delivered first quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.85 reflecting lower results in our Access and Vocational segments compared with last year,” said John Pfeifer, president and chief executive officer of Oshkosh Corporation. “While fire truck production improved year-over-year, deliveries were below our expectations, driven in part by weather- and travel-related disruptions.

Oshkosh …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) are leading new financing for Isomorphic Labs, an AI-powered drug discovery company.

The London-based company, spun out of Google DeepMind, plans to raise $2 billion to expand its business globally, Bloomberg reported.

Isomorphic, founded in 2021 by DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, functions as a “digital biology” lab aimed at revolutionizing the pharmaceutical industry by designing novel medicines using machine learning.

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Panic selling in the current market will cost investors money, warned personal finance expert Suze Orman.

“The biggest mistake you will ever make and you probably are making it or have made it is when you stop investing. You sell, you get out, you let fear dictate the moves you make,” Orman said during her “Women & Money” podcast released Sunday. “If you do that you are never, ever going to build wealth.”

What Goes Down Comes Back Up 

Orman pointed to the S&P 500 as an example of why individuals should stay invested in the stock market during downturns.

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Over the past 40 years the S&P 500 has had 33 up years and seven down years, according to Orman. In each of the seven down years, the index has “roared back,” she said. If you sell stocks or stay on the sidelines during those down years, you would have missed the subsequent upswings, she said.

Take the bear market of 2022 as one example. Stocks tumbled amid record inflation, the war in Ukraine and aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Since then, the S&P 500 has doubled.

“If you are afraid you will sell at the wrong time, you will buy at the wrong time, you have got to control your emotions,” said Orman. “The biggest emotion that is dictating failure in finance is you are afraid.” 

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Keep On Investing 

Orman said that now is not the time to stop investing in their 401(k)s, or to sell “great” stocks or ETFs. Instead she said to continue to invest “month in and month out,” especially when stocks go down. 

“When the markets go down of course this is the time you should be buying things that are good. It’s not the time for you to be selling,” Orman said. 

Orman, who prefers consistent monthly dollar-cost averaging, which occurs when you invest a fixed dollar amount on a regular schedule regardless of the share price, cautioned listeners to only invest if they have five years or longer until they need the money. 

“If you can just do those things and know what you are investing in,” she said. “I’m telling you over the long run you will make money.” 

As experts continue to emphasize the importance of staying invested through market downturns, many investors turn to financial advisors for help building structured retirement strategies, managing risk, and maintaining discipline during periods of volatility.

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Archer Aviation Inc. (NYSE:ACHR) shares are gaining momentum Monday. The stock is up roughly 14% over the past week. Investors are positioning themselves ahead of the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings report.

The Nasdaq is up 0.23% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.28%.

Archer Aviation Earnings Anticipation Builds

Archer will release its quarterly results after the market close on Monday. Wall Street analysts estimate a loss per share of 27 cents. They expect quarterly revenue to hit $1.69 million.

UAE Regulatory Breakthrough

Recent gains follow news from the UAE General Civil …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Intuitive Machines Inc (NASDAQ:LUNR) shares are surging on Monday. The stock reached a new 52-week high of $32.46 during the session as several positive catalysts are fueling this momentum.

Intuitive Machines is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on Thursday. Analysts estimate a loss per share of 6 cents and quarterly revenue of $204.63 million.

The Nasdaq is up 0.31% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.36%.

Space Sector Momentum Gains Steam

Investor interest in the space industry is heating up. Rocket Lab USA Inc (NASDAQ:RKLB) recently reported revenue topping $200 million. This has lifted …

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Rigetti Computing Inc (NASDAQ:RGTI) shares are trading higher on Monday. Investors are positioning themselves ahead of the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings report. The results will cross the wire after the market closes today.

Peers like IonQ Inc (NYSE:IONQ) and D-Wave Quantum Inc (NYSE:QBTS) also saw significant gains on Monday.

Earnings Expectations and Financial Targets

Wall Street analysts expect Rigetti to report a loss of 4 cents per share. Revenue estimates sit at $1.47 million for the quarter. The stock has …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Wall Street veteran Ed Yardeni has dubbed the current market the “Buzz Lightyear” rally, arguing AI compute demand will scale “to infinity and beyond.”

Polymarket traders mostly agree.

Yardeni’s framework, cited by hosts on Sunday’s episode of WSJ’s “Take On The Week” podcast, says runaway AI capex will pull S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) earnings higher with it. The thesis runs through Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and the wider chip complex, which has anchored the year’s gains.

Why Yardeni’s Math Matters

Long-term analyst expectations for S&P 500 earnings growth have climbed above 20%, according to Yardeni.

That figure may sit higher than the level reached at the 2000 dot-com peak.

Past readings at those levels have historically preceded sharp drawdowns, though bulls argue this cycle is anchored on real hyperscaler capex rather than profitless tech narratives.

The rally is not as narrow as it looks. Morgan Stanley analysts said the median S&P 500 company beat first-quarter earnings estimates by 6%, the strongest …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

OpenAI is acquiring a consulting firm to support a new private equity-backed joint venture aimed at helping companies deploy artificial intelligence at scale.

The venture, majority-owned and supported by more than $4 billion in capital, will launch alongside the acquisition of AI consultancy Tomoro, according to Reuters, as OpenAI expands its enterprise services and internal delivery capabilities.

Tomoro’s acquisition is expected to add roughly 150 AI engineers and “deployment specialists” at launch, giving the unit immediate capacity. Tomoro was created in 2023 in partnership with OpenAI, and its website lists clients including Mattel, Red Bull, Tesco, and Virgin Atlantic.

The initiative is designed to accelerate adoption of AI within large organizations following strong early traction among consumer users. 

…

Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) executives are in discussions for a potential sale of its $3 billion MidCap Financial Investment (MFIC) fund. 

MFIC is a publicly listed business development company (BDC) focused on private credit. Apollo purchased MidCap in 2013 to boost its direct lending platform. The fund is expected to attract interest from rival BDCs, with a potential deal structure involving the acquirer offering shares of its own fund as consideration, according to a report seen by the Wall Street Journal.

The fund’s default rate climbed to 5.3% in the first quarter, up from 3.9% at the end of December, while management has spent part of the year buying back shares as they traded well below net asset value.

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Brookfield …

Top Wall Street analysts changed their outlook on these top names. For a complete view of all analyst rating changes, including upgrades and downgrades, please see our analyst ratings page.

• RBC Capital raised the price target for Chemours Co (NYSE:CC) from $26 to $29. RBC Capital analyst Arun Viswanathan maintained an Outperform rating. Chemours shares traded at $24.64 on Monday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• DA Davidson lowered MSA Safety Inc (NYSE:MSA) price target from $235 to $206. DA Davidson analyst Michael Shlisky maintained a Buy rating. MSA Safety shares traded at $170.34 on Monday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Oppenheimer cut price target for Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CRNX) from $87 to $84. Oppenheimer analyst Leland Gershell maintained an Outperform rating. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals shares traded at $36.77 on Monday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Macquarie raised the price target for IREN …

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Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER) is exploring a plan to turn its millions of drivers into a distributed sensor network for autonomous vehicle developers, the company’s technology chief said last week.  

“First we need to get the understanding of the sensor kits and how they all work,” Chief Technology Officer Praveen Neppalli Naga reportedly said at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in San Francisco on April 30. “There are some regulations — we have to make sure every state has clarity on what sensors mean, and what sharing it means.”

From Ride-Hailing To Data Infrastructure

Uber is currently piloting this approach through its AV Labs program. The initiative uses a modest fleet of company-operated, sensor-equipped vehicles that operate independently of Uber’s main driver platform, TechCrunch reported.

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The long-term ambition is far larger. Naga outlined plans at the TechCrunch event to eventually equip its millions of drivers’ vehicles with sensors, which could create one of the largest real-world data collection platforms for autonomous vehicle companies.

Data Emerges As The Key Constraint

“The bottleneck is data,” he said.

Naga said at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event that the challenge in autonomous driving has shifted toward data availability, with companies needing highly specific, real-world scenarios to train their systems.

“You may be able to say, ‘At this school intersection, I want some data at this time of day so I can train my models,'” he said. “The problem for all these companies is access to that data, because they don’t have the capital to deploy the cars and go collect all this information.”

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Uber’s Second Act In Autonomy

After selling its self-driving unit in 2020, Uber has shifted from building autonomous vehicles to supporting the companies that do, TechCrunch reported, adding that co-founder Travis Kalanick has called the exit a mistake.  

Uber now works with more than 25 AV partners, including London-based Wayve, and is building what it calls an “AV cloud,” a platform that provides labeled sensor data for model training.

Partners can also run algorithms in “shadow mode” during live Uber trips, allowing them to test performance without deploying vehicles.

Platform Power And Investment Strategy

Uber is also planning to increase direct investments in select AV partners, combining its role as marketplace operator with that of a data provider as the company expands partnerships across the autonomous vehicle ecosystem, the Financial Times reported in April.

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Many AV developers already rely on Uber’s platform for rider demand, giving the company leverage as it steps back from building vehicles itself. Recent partnerships, including additions to its fleet such as Amazon’s Zoox, highlight that growing role.

Naga said scaling a sensor network across independent drivers will require navigating a patchwork of state-level regulations and that regulatory clarity will be essential before broader deployment.

Uber As A Core Data Layer

If successful, Uber could evolve into a core data layer for the autonomous industry, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Fluor Corp (NYSE:FLR) on Friday reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Fluor reported quarterly earnings of 14 cents per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of 62 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $3.663 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $3.894 billion.

Fluor Corporation narrowed its 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $525–$560 million from $525–$585 million prior.

“I am encouraged by the significant number of new awards we secured in recent months across diverse markets, including gas-fueled and nuclear power, refining, data centers, mining, and uranium enrichment. Our pipeline of work is expanding, and we see compelling opportunities across each of our core markets,” said Jim Breuer, Fluor’s Chief Executive Officer. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

CG Oncology (NASDAQ:CGON) reported mixed results for the first quarter on Friday.

The company posted quarterly losses of 71 cents per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of 57 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.083 million which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $493.182 thousand.

“We have successfully completed non-clinical and clinical modules for our first BLA submission. The remaining CMC module is progressing as planned, and we are on track to finalize our submission in the fourth quarter 2026. We are pleased to provide this additional guidance on expected BLA completion following focused filing discussions with FDA. Manufacturing inspection …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Some workers on online marketplace TaskRabbit are earning more than $200,000 a year by specializing in high-demand services and maximizing efficiency, according to CEO Ania Smith. 

Smith said TaskRabbit, which connects freelancers with consumers for tasks like furniture assembly, cleaning and moving, is focused on expanding into new markets and categories while continuing to grow its existing marketplace.

“One [Tasker]… made well over $200,000 on the platform, even in his first year,” Smith said in an interview with Entrepreneur magazine published on April 28. She said the New York City-based worker focused on mounting TVs, grouped jobs in close proximity and sometimes completed multiple tasks per hour to increase earnings.

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How Top Taskers Maximize Earnings

Earnings vary by location, but U.S. Taskers make close to $50 per hour on average, with rates in cities like New York approaching $55 per hour, Smith said.

Some Taskers have built steady income streams on the platform across age groups and experience levels. One standout example is 79-year-old retired mortgage manager Dan Weiss, who earns $3,000–$5,000 per month assembling furniture on TaskRabbit.

“There are many ways to think about maximizing earnings,” she said, pointing to strategies like specializing in one category, expanding into multiple services or adjusting pricing based on demand.

Top earners often combine efficiency, specialization and geographic focus, while maintaining flexibility in pricing and service mix to maximize earnings, Smith said. 

The high-earning Tasker she referenced grouped jobs in close proximity and used a scooter to move quickly between appointments, sometimes completing two or three tasks per hour. 

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AI’s Role In A Human-Centered Market

Despite advances in artificial intelligence, Smith said many gig economy roles remain inherently human. “In order to mount your TV or clean your house, you need a human,” she said.

TaskRabbit uses AI to improve matching between clients and workers, while the core services still rely on physical labor, Smith told Entrepreneur. The company is also applying AI across customer service, engineering and marketing, using machine learning and large language models to improve efficiency and decision-making.

“What surprises me most is how fast it’s changing,” Smith said of AI’s evolution.

Balancing Supply And Demand

Running a marketplace like TaskRabbit depends heavily on maintaining balance between available workers and customer demand, according to Smith. “If you don’t get that right, the entire marketplace falls apart,” she said.

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That balance often needs to be managed at a highly local level, sometimes down to individual neighborhoods, where demand for specific services can vary widely.

The company adjusts by encouraging existing Taskers to take on more work or recruiting new workers in underserved areas, she said.

Gig Work Moves Further Into The Mainstream

TaskRabbit completed more than 3 million tasks last year and is on track to approach 4 million, Smith said.

The platform has grown to more than 50,000 Taskers …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman laid out the NACHO trade—short for “Not A Chance Hormuz Opens”—last week, arguing the Strait of Hormuz will stay shut and the US is heading for “the greatest strategic defeat in American history.”

Events since have only proven his thesis.

President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s latest counter-proposal as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE” on Sunday night, sending Brent crude up 3.5% to $104.80 this morning.

Robert Kagan, a prominent neoconservative, made the same case over the weekend, calling a US defeat “not only possible but likely.” He wrote that Iran can now “demand tolls for passage” and “limit transit to those nations with which it has good relations,” a position that could push oil to $150 or $200 a barrel.

The pump-price proof is already showing. AAA’s national diesel average sat at $5.67 a gallon last week, up from $3.49 a year ago. California regular unleaded broke $6.15 …

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U.S. stocks were mostly higher, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 0.3% on Monday.

Shares of Liquidia Corp (NASDAQ:LQDA) rose sharply as the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Liquidia reported quarterly earnings of 52 cents per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 41 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $132.865 million which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $116.675 million.

Liquidia shares jumped 15.7% to $49.08 on Monday.

Here are some other big stocks recording gains in today’s session.

• Everspin Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:MRAM) shares jumped 42.2% to $38.40.
• GSI Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSIT) gained 36.3% to $11.52.
• Beazer Homes USA Inc (NYSE:BZH) gained 32.7% to $24.92 after Dream Finders Homes submitted a proposal to acquire all of the company’s outstanding shares.
• WhiteFiber Inc …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Hims & Hers Health Inc (NYSE:HIMS) shares are trading higher Monday. The move comes as the market prepares for the company’s first-quarter 2026 financial results.

The Nasdaq is up 0.04% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.14%.

• Hims & Hers Health stock is showing exceptional strength. What’s fueling HIMS momentum?

Earnings Expectations Hit The Tape

The company will report earnings after the closing bell today. Analysts project earnings per share of four cents. Revenue estimates sit at $586.01 million for the quarter. Investors are …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), DoorDash Inc. (NASDAQ:DASH) and other large tech companies will drive stablecoins to a $4 trillion market and bring millions into the cryptocurrency space, Bitwise investment chief Matt Hougan says.

Meta is testing stablecoin payments to creators in Colombia and the Philippines. DoorDash has partnered with Stripe to test Stablecoin payments for its 10 million Dashers in more than 40 countries.

Meta and DoorDash’s pilots confirm stablecoin applications beyond cryptocurrency trading and support by large tech companies, Hougan said in a post on Tuesday, adding that they also provide insight into why that support is likely to continue. 

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Meta and DoorDash are not adopting stablecoin payments solely because they are fast and cheap, but also because they simplify global payments, Hougan said. 

“One wallet address, no banking infrastructure, no currency conversions,” he said. “For a global business managing millions of micropayments, that type of simplicity is worth a lot. I suspect all global tech companies with distributed gig workers will follow DoorDash and Meta on this path.”

Hougan said the anticipated stablecoin growth would likely onboard millions of people to cryptocurrencies in a potential boon for the assets.

The stablecoin sector most recently boasted a market capitalization of $318 billion.

The growing adoption of stablecoins by large tech platforms has renewed investor interest in the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem, as digital payment rails continue moving toward faster, more global, and lower-cost settlement systems.

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Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, professional financial guidance, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn’t tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry.

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U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining around 0.1% on Monday.

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.11% to 49,661.54 while the NASDAQ gained 0.17% to 26,292.83. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.24% to 7,416.79.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 1.8% on Monday.

In trading on Monday, communication services stocks fell by 1.5%.

Top Headline

Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) shares fell around 2% on Monday after the company released earnings results for the first quarter.

The company posted adjusted EPS of 5 cents, missing market estimates of 24 cents per share. The company’s sales came in at $2.998 billion beating expectations of $2.897 billion.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Functional Brands Inc (NASDAQ:MEHA) shares shot up …

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Bank of Japan officials reiterated a strong warning to speculators of imminent currency intervention last week, leading to a 3% jump in the Japanese yen, the largest one-day gain in three years.

Japan’s Top FX Official Points To ‘Extremely Speculative’ FX Trading

Japan’s top FX diplomat Atsushi Mimura, reportedly said on April 30 that “extremely speculative” moves in the currency market were driving recent yen weakness.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama reportedly told reporters that the timing for taking “decisive action” was getting closer, a sign that Tokyo officials are unhappy with the yen’s recent devaluation.

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The U.S. dollar was most recently trading around ¥157 after the move, marking its highest level since May 1990. 

“This is our final evacuation warning to markets,” Mimura was quoted as saying.

Japan Follows Up The Threat With A $35B Yen Purchase

The BOJ showed it was following up the threats from its currency officials with a yen purchase that cost up to $35 billion, Reuters reported, citing central bank accounts.

“I would say the intervention was effective as it brought the yen down to around 155 per dollar,” Takahide Kiuchi, a former BOJ board member, told Bloomberg. “But I don’t think they are out of the woods yet.”

The intervention follows speculation that the BOJ was ready to intervene in January, ahead of the country’s snap election in February.

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Yen Carry Trade A ‘Ticking Time Bomb’

The yen has been a troubled currency at times over the last two decades due to what’s known as the carry trade.

Carry trade investments involve borrowing money in a lower-yielding currency and investing in a higher-yielding currency to take advantage of the interest rate differential. The U.S. yield was most recently set at 3.75%, versus Japan’s 0.75%, according to Trading Economics data.

The latest intervention was said to cost around ¥5.4 trillion, Bloomberg said citing analysis of BOJ accounts, while Japanese authorities spent an average of ¥3.8 trillion four times in 2024 in an attempt to flush out speculators.

Periods of sharp macro volatility like currency intervention, rate shocks and speculative positioning have increasingly drawn attention from active traders using tools such as leveraged ETFs from Direxion to express short-term market views during fast-moving events.

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CEOs saying AI will massively eliminate jobs and potentially annihilate the human race have a “god complex,” Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang says.

“These kind of comments are not helpful,” Huang said during a “Memos to the President” podcast episode released on April 30. “They’re made by people who are like me, CEOs, and somehow because they became CEOs, you adopt a god complex and before you know it, you know everything.”

Huang cited predictions that AI will wipe out 50% of entry-level jobs and that there is a 20% chance AI could pose an existential threat to humanity.

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While Huang did not mention any names, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told Axios a year ago that AI could wipe out half of the entry level jobs and raise unemployment to 20% in five years. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ) CEO Elon Musk said on an episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast  in early 2025 that there was a 20% chance AI could annihilate humans.

Huang said these predictions could discourage much-needed talent. He said AI has created over 500,000 jobs in the past few years and will create hundreds of thousands more by bringing back U.S. manufacturing jobs.

“The fact of the matter is companies that use AI have demonstrated the ability to grow faster,” he said on the “Memos to the President” podcast. “When they grow faster, they hire more people. Apparently, AI creates jobs.”

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What the doomsayers are missing is the difference between the purpose and the task of a job, Huang said. While tasks like coding can be automated, figuring out which problems to solve cannot, he added.

Huang’s remarks come despite a recent wave of layoffs attributed to AI in the tech industry. Nearly 100,000 tech employees have been laid off from 110 companies this year alone, according to Layoffs.fyi. The list most recently expanded to include PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL), which reportedly plans to cut nearly 5,000 employees.

PayPal CEO Enrique Lores said on the company’s Q1 earnings call on Tuesday that the company intends to improve efficiency and accelerate AI adoption across its operations.

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College funds are supposed to buy textbooks, dorm furniture and maybe a few late-night ramen noodles. In one family’s case, it turned into a six-figure real estate argument with enough tension to make group chats feel legally risky.

In a Reddit post, the father said he and his wife created college funds for both children years ago. Their daughter used hers for school and now works in brand and client relations. Their son took a different route. Despite strong SAT scores, he skipped college after a gap year and started building online businesses instead.

The father said the unused account stayed invested in stocks for years and “appreciated considerably.” By the time his son decided to buy a home, the account had grown enough for the parents to hand over roughly $130,000 toward the purchase.

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“He doesn’t need it by any means,” the father wrote. “He has plenty of his own but we feel that its the right thing especially considering the fact that we doubted him when he initially didn’t go to school.”

His daughter did not see it that way.

“She said that my son doesn’t need the money that she is struggling and that its messed up that it’s going to her brother,” the father wrote.

One Child Got Tuition While The Other Got Market Growth

The biggest disagreement online had little to do with college itself. Most commenters focused on the investment gains.

The father argued both children originally received the same amount of money. His daughter’s fund paid for tuition years earlier while his son’s remained invested long enough to grow substantially.

Commenters said that distinction matters.

One Redditor wrote: “If you gave each of them $50K then that’s equal. But you kept your son’s. YOU invested it, not him.”

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Another added: “Do not pretend you are giving equally when you are not.”

Several people argued the daughter never had the same opportunity to benefit from long-term growth because the money was framed as a college fund, not an investment account she could leave untouched for future gains.

Others questioned why the financially successful son needed additional help buying a home while the daughter openly admitted she was struggling.

A College Fund Quietly Turned Into A Wealth Gap

The post exposed how quickly timing can reshape family finances.

One account was spent immediately on education. The other sat in the market for years during a strong investing cycle. Even if both children started with identical balances, the outcomes ended up looking dramatically different.

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That distinction became the core issue for many commenters. The daughter was not simply comparing tuition bills against a house payment. She was comparing one sibling receiving years of compounded investment growth while the other never had access to it.

The debate also highlighted a common financial planning problem families rarely discuss upfront. Parents often intend to treat children equally, but investment growth, changing …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) shares are experiencing a minor pullback Monday. The move follows a rally where the stock recently hit all-time highs above $1,560. This retreat comes after the stock surged over 12% on Friday.

Profit-Taking Hits Record Highs

The current decline appears driven by investors pulling capital off the table. Despite the dip, the stock remains in a strong upward trend. SanDisk has dominated the AI storage narrative, gaining 4,086% since its February 2025 spin-off from Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC).

Short Interest and Burry’s Warning

Short interest recently increased from 8.06 million to 9.75 …

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Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE:BMNR) bought 26,659 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) last week, down 75% from its recent weekly average of 100,000 ETH as Chairman Tom Lee signals a slowdown.

Bitmine Now Holds 4.31% Of Ethereum Supply

The purchase brings Bitmine’s total holdings to over 5.2 million ETH, representing 4.31% of Ethereum’s circulating supply. That marks over 1 million ETH acquired since January alone.

Lee said the firm is moderating buys as it approaches its long-term goal of owning 5% of the token’s supply. 

“We have decided to slow down our pace of weekly accumulation from over 100,000 [ETH] per week,” Lee said in Monday’s statement. “Our previous pace of buys would have us reach 5% by mid-July,” he added.

The slowdown follows comments Lee made last week at Consensus 2026 in Miami, where …

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Top Wall Street analysts changed their outlook on these top names. For a complete view of all analyst rating changes, including upgrades, downgrades and initiations, please see our analyst ratings page.

• Baird analyst Timothy Wojs initiated coverage on Madison Air Solutions (NYSE:MAIR) with an Outperform rating and announced a price target of $48. Madison Air Solutions shares closed at $42.02 on Friday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Goldman Sachs analyst Noah Poponak initiated coverage on Arxis Inc (NASDAQ:ARXS) with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $53. Arxis shares closed at …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

As the U.S.-Iran war enters its 11th week with no clear end in sight, analysts warn that global markets will remain on high alert due to the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The lack of significant military action for over a month suggests a strong U.S. inclination towards a peaceful resolution, according to Jim Reid from Deutsche Bank. However, the continued Hormuz closure, a critical waterway for global oil shipments, keeps the markets in a state of high alert, reported Fortune.

“In simple terms though, as long as the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, markets remain on a knife-edge,” Reid said.

Last week’s optimism about a potential Middle East peace deal ahead of President Donald Trump‘s visit to China has also been shattered, as per Chris Turner at ING. He further added that unless China exerts substantial behind-the-scenes pressure to secure a deal, the market will continue to factor in a stalemate, leading to “higher oil prices and a wave of global inflation.”

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Top Wall Street analysts changed their outlook on these top names. For a complete view of all analyst rating changes, including upgrades, downgrades and initiations, please see our analyst ratings page.

• Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu downgraded Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (NASDAQ:GT) from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $9 to $7. Goodyear Tire shares closed at $6.51 on Friday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Raymond James analyst Ric Prentiss downgraded Telephone and Data Systems Inc (NYSE:TDS) from Outperform to Market Perform. Telephone and Data shares closed …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Spend 10 minutes reading personal finance Reddit threads or scrolling retirement discussions online and it starts sounding like everybody with a decent salary already has $1 million tucked away in a 401(k) by age 45.

A couple maxes out retirement contributions for a few years and suddenly the comment section acts like they are halfway to buying a vineyard in Napa, California.

Which is why the actual numbers tied to America’s richest households are a lot more interesting than people might expect.

According to an analysis based on the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, households in the richest 10% hold median retirement savings between roughly $900,000 and $959,000 across accounts like IRAs and 401(k) plans.

Close to the famous seven-figure benchmark? Absolutely.

Comfortably soaring past it? Not exactly.

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And the tier just below the top 10% drops much faster than many people probably assume. Households in roughly the 80th through 89.9th percentile — still solidly upper class by most standards — hold estimated retirement balances closer to roughly $269,000 to $400,000 depending on the methodology used.

That is still a significant amount of money. But it also means many high-income households are sitting much closer to the “successful professional” category than the “generational wealth unlocked” category people often imagine.

The Internet Has Quietly Distorted What ‘Rich’ Looks Like

Part of the disconnect is simple exposure.

People constantly see stories about 38-year-olds retiring early with $4 million portfolios, tech employees sitting on massive stock windfalls, or finance influencers casually talking about hitting seven figures before turning 40.

After a while, it starts sounding normal.

But the broader data paint a far less exaggerated picture.

Even among the richest households in America, many are still circling the million-dollar retirement mark rather than crushing it. And outside the top 10%, balances fall quickly.

Part of that comes down to age. These figures lump together younger high earners still building wealth with retirees who have had decades longer for investments to compound. A 42-year-old executive making $350,000 annually may technically sit in the top tier while still being years away from peak retirement savings.

And retirement accounts only capture one slice of upper-income wealth.

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Plenty Of Wealthy Households Keep Their Money Elsewhere

This is where the numbers start making a lot more sense.

Many affluent households hold substantial assets outside traditional retirement plans entirely:

• Brokerage accounts
• Private businesses
• Stock compensation
• Investment real estate
• Partnerships
• Trust assets

Someone with a large business stake or valuable real estate portfolio may technically be wealthy while holding less retirement-account money than people expect.

That is also why many upper-income households eventually start consulting a financial advisor once portfolios become larger and financial decisions start carrying more weight. At that point, the conversation is usually not just about “beating the market.” It becomes about protecting wealth, reducing unnecessary taxes, navigating market volatility, planning retirement income, and making smarter long-term decisions with money that may need to last decades.

And honestly, that matters whether someone is sitting on $90,000 in retirement savings or $900,000.

A strong financial advisor can help households create a clearer retirement strategy, avoid emotional investing mistakes during ugly market swings, build a more tax-efficient portfolio, and figure out whether goals like retiring earlier, buying a second home, traveling more, helping family members financially, or simply …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

American solar installers have stopped doing business with China-backed U.S. production centers due to uncertainties about their products’ eligibility for government subsidies

image credit: Bamboo Works

Key Takeaways:

• China-linked U.S. solar panel makers may be ineligible for U.S. subsidies aimed at supporting residential-based solar power, according to a Reuters report
• JinkoSolar is selling 75.1% of its U.S. plant in Florida to an American private equity company in an apparent attempt to keep its products eligible for subsidies

As Donald Trump prepares to visit China later this week to meet with President Xi Jinping, U.S. protectionist measures against Chinese products are likely to be one of the top items on the agenda. An important part of that discussion could focus on solar energy products, not only ones produced in China but also ones made at Chinese-invested plants in the U.S.

That issue was a central element in a Reuters report last Friday, which revealed that U.S. solar installers, as well as insurance companies and banks, have stopped doing business with China-invested U.S. solar module makers. That includes companies like leading residential solar installer Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN), which has stopped buying panels from U.S. plants with links to Chinese companies.

In what looks like a direct response to that challenge, leading Chinese panel maker JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) (688223.SH) has agreed to sell 75.1% of its U.S. plant in Florida to private equity company FH Capital, according to an announcement from FH Capital the same day as the Reuters report. JinkoSolar would retain the remaining 24.9% in the factory in the city of Jacksonville, which began operations in 2018.

The size of the stake sale is quite revealing, since legislation passed by the U.S. last year, with strong backing from the Trump administration, sharply cut subsidies for residential solar installations, and placed restrictions on subsidies that remained. One restriction prohibited subsidies for any installations using panels produced at factories that were more than 25% owned by Chinese companies.

“We believe this transaction provides the right ownership, management and strategic direction for this new venture to grow capacity and serve the growing demand for …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) investors might never see the 2025 bull market gains that saw the world’s leading blockchain actually beat Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) for once. Those days look to be over.  It’s having an identity crisis. Is it merely a Web3 infrastructure giant? Or is it dead money for investors? 

As we approach the middle of 2026, Ethereum is down over 22%. Investors have taken a lot of money off the table following last fall’s bull run. At the moment, Ethereum looks extremely “boring.”

Some crypto traders are predicting Ethereum falls another $1,000.  As of this writing, ETH was valued at $2,300.

Research from Glassnode wrote in their Strategy Watch report dated April 23 that institutional flows into ETH have been weak all year. Recent commentary from the crypto crowd stresses that ETH’s price today is only driven by investor mood for Bitcoin. Bigger investor trends are still buying the AI bubble on Wall Street, rather than chasing value in the cryptocurrency markets. 

“We can say the same about Bitcoin these days,” said Ivo Georgiev, CEO & Founder of Ambire, a self-custodial Web3 wallet. “Ethereum’s value is in actual real-world adoption. It’s the only chain where there’s actual DeFi with actual usage.” 

Stablecoins and DeFi Keep Ethereum Relevant

Bitcoin and Ethereum both saw net outflows all of …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Q1 earnings growth tracking +28%, the strongest since 2021. Berkshire’s first quarter without Buffett ended at $397B in cash. Apple-Intel chip deal capped a 232% Intel year.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was a $19 stock a year ago. Today it closed at $130, an all-time high, up 232% YTD and 433% over the past 12 months. The Friday catalyst: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) confirmed a preliminary deal for Intel to manufacture some of its chips.

S&P 500 closed at a record 7,398.93 (+0.8%), Nasdaq at 26,247.08 (+1.7%). Both posted a sixth straight weekly gain, the longest streak since 2024. Dow up 12 points. WTI fell 6.7% on the week to $95.42 despite the Strait of Hormuz still closed. Gas $4.55 at the pump.

THE RUNDOWN

INTEL › THE 232% YEAR › Apple’s preliminary chip-manufacturing agreement with Intel landed Friday. INTC hit a $130.57 all-time high, up 232% YTD and 433% over the past 12 months. Intel just posted its best month in 55 years on the Nasdaq. The US government’s 10% stake from August 2025 is now worth more than $50B.

AI INFRA › $1.12 TRILLION IN 2027 › Morgan Stanley raised its Mag 5 capex projection to $1.12T for next year. AMD beat earnings with data center revenue +57% YoY to $5.8B. Anthropic signed a $1.8B compute deal with Akamai (Akamai +27% Friday on its print). Anthropic also committed $200B to Google over five years for cloud and chips. NVIDIA announced a …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:GTM) will release earnings for its first quarter after the closing bell on Monday, May 11.

Analysts expect the Vancouver, Washington-based company to report quarterly earnings of 26 cents per share, up from 23 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for ZoomInfo’s quarterly revenue is $307.95 million (it reported $305.7 million last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On Feb. 9, ZoomInfo Technologies reported quarterly earnings of 32 cents per share, which beat the Street estimate of 28 cents.

ZoomInfo Technologies shares fell 3.8% to close at $6.38 on Friday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

A couple in their early 30s with a net worth of more than $1.5 million admitted they still struggle to spend money on even the smallest comforts, including replacing workout leggings with holes in them.

During a recent episode of the “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” podcast, Michaela and Dave told personal finance personality Ramit Sethi that despite earning between $278,000 and $340,000 a year and holding more than $1 million in investments, fear about the future keeps them trapped in what they described as a scarcity mindset.

Still Living Like They Have Nothing

Michaela shocked Sethi when she revealed she was still wearing four-year-old leggings with holes in the knees because she couldn’t justify buying new ones.

“I couldn’t do it until there was a sale,” she said, adding that she’d wait for a discount before replacing them.

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Dave admitted he behaves similarly. Even though he works from home daily, he has refused to replace an uncomfortable office chair that hurts his back.

“I have to make the value stretch,” he said.

The couple acknowledged that their behavior doesn’t match their financial reality.

“We have money, but both of us have a hard time with just spending,” Michaela said.

According to the numbers reviewed on the show, the couple has roughly $545,000 in assets, more than $1 million invested, over $100,000 in savings and only mortgage debt. Their retirement projections stunned them even more. Sethi estimated they could end up with around $18 million by retirement if they continue investing aggressively.

Dave’s reaction was immediate.

“Embarrassment,” he said. “It’s an embarrassment of how little we’ve given to ourselves and those around us.”

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Health Scares Changed Everything

The couple’s anxiety around money intensified after a series of major life events.

Dave was hospitalized in his early 30s with heart-related health issues, while Michaela’s mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer while Michaela was pregnant.

“We’ve kind of been frozen,” Dave admitted.

Michaela also opened up about growing up in financial instability after her parents divorced. She started working at 14 years old and described constantly feeling responsible for herself and others.

“If I want something, I have to do it myself,” she said.

Her family history also included devastating losses. Her brother died when she was 19, and her father later passed away as well.

Those experiences heavily shaped how she views money and life.

“Life can be short, and it can end instantly,” she said.

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The couple realized they had become so focused on preparing for worst-case scenarios that they stopped allowing themselves to actually enjoy the wealth they had built.

“I’m scared that blink of an eye, we’re 65, 70, we never did anything with some money,” Michaela said.

Throughout the conversation, Sethi encouraged the couple to stop treating every purchase as a threat and begin intentionally building what he calls a “rich life” centered around experiences, travel, rest and quality time together.

By the end of the episode, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Top Wall Street analysts changed their outlook on these top names. For a complete view of all analyst rating changes, including upgrades, downgrades and initiations, please see our analyst ratings page.

• Baird analyst Vikram Kesavabhotla upgraded Starz Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:STRZ) from Neutral to Outperform and raised the price target from $12 to $30. Starz Entertainment shares closed at $19.79 on Friday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Mizuho analyst Maheep Mandloi upgraded Primoris Services Corp (NYSE:PRIM) from Neutral to Outperform and lowered the price target from $175 to $135. Primoris Services shares closed …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Ed Yardeni, President of Yardeni Research, has revised his year-end forecast for the S&P 500, setting a new target of 8,250, an 11.5% increase from last Friday’s close.

The updated forecast, a jump from the previous 7,700, positions Yardeni as the most optimistic among top Wall Street predictors. This adjustment comes on the heels of recent earnings that have triggered a stock market “meltup,” reported Fortune, citing Yardeni’s note to investors.

“The speed at which consensus earnings expectations for the current and coming years have risen in recent months is unprecedented,” Yardeni noted. He now expects large-cap companies’ earnings per share to hit $330 this year, up from his previous estimate of $310. His 2027 EPS forecast has also been revised upwards from $350 to $375.

Yardeni has also increased his S&P 500 revenue per share predictions for 2026 and 2027 by $100 to $2,200 and $2,300, respectively. He continues to believe in the resilience of the economy and earnings, a stance he’s maintained since the onset of the Roaring 2020s.

Despite acknowledging the risks of renewed conflict and potential stagflation, Yardeni remains steadfast …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has a habit of making headlines for everything from rockets to robotaxis, but as the richest man in the world, there’s one question people constantly throw his way: what’s the smartest way to invest money without losing sleep every time the market gets shaky?

Musk’s answer is refreshingly uncomplicated in a financial world that often sounds like it requires a decoder ring and three monitors full of stock charts.

“Since I’ve been asked a lot: Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that you believe in,” Musk wrote in a post on X in 2022. “Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does,” he said. “This will serve you well in the long-term.”

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The Market Loves Chaos

Part of the reason Musk’s advice still feels relevant today is because markets have become emotional roller coasters dressed up in business attire.

One day investors are celebrating cooling inflation data. The next, they’re worried the economy is slowing too fast. A comment from a Federal Reserve official sends stocks bouncing around, analysts rush onto television with urgent predictions and suddenly everyone starts checking retirement accounts like they’re waiting for medical test results.

Musk’s philosophy pushes against that panic-first mindset.

Instead of reacting to every headline or rough trading session, his approach centers on the actual quality of the business. Are the company’s products improving? Do customers still believe in what it sells? Is the long-term outlook intact?

If the answer is yes, Musk’s argument is that short-term volatility shouldn’t automatically send investors running for the exits.

That idea may sound simple, but in practice, patience can feel surprisingly rare on Wall Street. Investors often panic during downturns, sell quality companies at the worst possible moment and later watch those same stocks recover without them.

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Musk’s Fortune Follows His Philosophy

Musk’s comments also carry extra weight because he personally invests the way he describes.

“My ‘net worth’ is almost entirely due to my ownership stakes in Tesla and SpaceX,” Musk wrote in a post on X in February. “I have 0.1% that is cash.”

That’s a striking approach for someone whose wealth moves by billions of dollars depending on market swings.

Rather than spreading most of his fortune into safer or more traditional holdings, Musk remains heavily tied to the companies he believes will shape the future. His wealth rises and falls alongside Tesla’s electric vehicle business and SpaceX’s ambitions in space technology.

It’s a founder-style strategy built around conviction, not comfort.

Buffett Takes A Different Route

Berkshire Hathaway Chair Warren Buffett shares some common ground with Musk, particularly the idea that investors should understand the businesses they own. Buffett has long warned people against investing in companies they cannot reasonably evaluate.

Still, Buffett generally favors a more conservative path for everyday investors. Rather than betting heavily on a small number of companies, he has repeatedly promoted low-cost S&P 500 index funds as a practical long-term strategy.

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“I don’t think most people are in a position to pick single stocks,” Buffett said at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On CNBC’s “Halftime Report Final Trades,” Rob Sechan, CEO of NewEdge Wealth, named NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) as his final trade.

According to recent news, Nvidia named Suzanne Nora Johnson to its board of directors on Friday.

Jason Snipe, founder and chief investment officer of Odyssey Capital Advisors, picked CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS).

Lending support to his choice, CVS Health, on May 6, reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its FY26 guidance. The health solutions company reported adjusted earnings of $2.57 per share, surpassing analyst estimates of …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Innodata Inc. (NASDAQ:INOD) shares are trading lower Monday. The move follows a 86% rally on Friday. Investors are now digesting a blowout first-quarter earnings report.

Market Digests Massive Gains

The pullback reflects a standard cooling period. On Friday, the AI data engineering firm exceeded Wall Street estimates. Revenue hit $90.096 million, up 54% year-over-year. Analysts expected only $76.469 million. Adjusted earnings reached 42 cents per share, doubling the 17-cent consensus.

Rising Short Interest in Innodata

Short interest in Innodata increased during the

As of May 11, 2026, two stocks in the communication services sector could be flashing a real warning to investors who value momentum as a key criteria in their trading decisions.

The RSI is a momentum indicator, which compares a stock’s strength on days when prices go up to its strength on days when prices go down. When compared to a stock’s price action, it can give traders a better sense of how a stock may perform in the short term. An asset is typically considered overbought when the RSI is above 70, according to Benzinga Pr.  

Here’s the latest list of major overbought players in this sector.

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

• On April 29, Alphabet reported first-quarter results, beating analyst estimates on the top and bottom lines. “This was our …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their strongest monthly inflows of 2026 in April, signaling a sharp institutional comeback after a weak start to the year, continuing the momentum in May in tandem with Bitcoin prices, which surged further to $81,000.

Several other major issuers also saw meaningful activity. Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (BATS:FBTC) posted mixed flows amid late-April volatility, as it continued seeing intermittent institutional demand.

According to SoSoValue data, spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $1.97 billion in net inflows in April, topping March’s $1.37 billion haul and fully reversing the heavy redemptions seen in January and February. The rebound lifted cumulative net inflows since the products launched in early 2024 to more than $58 billion.

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The U.S. Senate is expected to confirm Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve this week, according to The Guardian. Warsh would replace outgoing Fed Chair Jerome Powell at a time when President Donald Trump has continued criticizing the central bank for keeping interest rates elevated.

Democrats have criticized Warsh as too closely aligned with Trump after the nominee publicly backed the president’s view that rates are too high. In Senate testimony, Warsh said he would act independently, though Powell recently warned that political pressure on the Fed was “battering the institution.”

Trump’s conflict with Powell escalated in recent months after the administration backed a criminal investigation into renovation costs at the Fed’s headquarters. Trump also joked last month that he would “cut the Oval [Office] in half” to give Warsh workspace inside the White House.

OpenAI has agreed to provide the European Union (EU) with access to its latest cyber model. However, Anthropic reportedly remains reluctant to release its Mythos to the EU.

The Sam Altman-led company has decided to grant access to its GPT-5.5-Cyber model to EU partners, including businesses, governments, and EU institutions, reported CNBC on Monday. The model is currently in a limited preview phase for vetted cybersecurity teams, it said.

Head of OpenAI for Countries, George Osborne, emphasized the need for collaboration in cybersecurity, saying advanced AI-powered cyber defense tools should be accessible to Europe’s broader community of defenders, not just a select few.

EU Commission Spokesperson Thomas Regnier appreciated OpenAI’s transparency and confirmed further discussions around access to the model this week. “This will allow us to follow deployment of the model very closely, and address security concerns,” he told CNBC.

Anthropic, however, has not yet agreed to provide the EU with access to its Mythos model, which was launched a month ago and has raised concerns about potential cyberattacks on critical software, the report said.

Regnier confirmed ongoing discussions with Anthropic, but noted they are at a “different stage” than those …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

During times of turbulence and uncertainty in the markets, many investors turn to dividend-yielding stocks. These are often companies that have high free cash flows and reward shareholders with a high dividend payout.

Benzinga readers can review the latest analyst takes on their favorite stocks by visiting Analyst Stock Ratings page. Traders can sort through Benzinga’s extensive database of analyst ratings, including by analyst accuracy.

Below are the ratings of the most accurate analysts for three high-yielding stocks in the consumer discretionary sector.

Wendy’s Co (NASDAQ:WEN)

• Dividend Yield: 7.67%
• Citigroup analyst Jon Tower maintained a Neutral rating and cut the price target from $8 to $7.25 on April 24, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 67%
• UBS analyst Dennis Geiger maintained a Neutral rating and cut the price target from $8.5 to $7.5 on Feb. 17, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 54%.
• Recent News: On May 8, Wendy’s posted upbeat quarterly …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Investor Anthony Scaramucci says schools prepare students for tests, but often fail to prepare them for the emotional and practical realities of adult life.

“They taught you grammar and history in school, but they didn’t teach you resilience, entrepreneurship, how to navigate the politics of the real world,” the SkyBridge Capital founder said in his recent online course, “40 Years of Wall Street Wisdom in 1hr 54mins.” 

“They didn’t teach you how to build a real powerful network from scratch, and definitely didn’t teach you how to handle failure,” he added.

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Building An Unbreakable Mindset

Scaramucci repeatedly stressed that success has less to do with raw intelligence and more to do with resilience, optimism and persistence.

“The joy is in the process. It’s actually not in the destination,” he said.

The former White House communications director opened up about his own setbacks, including failing the New York bar exam twice and getting fired from the White House in 2017 after just 11 days.

Instead of hiding from failure, Scaramucci argued that people should own their mistakes publicly. “It’s OK to own your mistakes,” he said. “Do this. Yeah, it’s me. I own it. Here’s what I did right. Here’s what I did wrong. And then go forward.”

He also warned against developing a victim mentality when life gets difficult.

“Optimists don’t play the victim,” Scaramucci said. “Something bad happens, they say, ‘Okay, that’s fine.’”

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Throughout the course, he encouraged people to stop obsessing over what other people think. “Nobody cares about you. Nobody’s focused on you,” he said. “You know what they’re worried about? They’re worried about themselves.”

Scaramucci also stressed the importance of finding work that genuinely excites you instead of chasing status or security.

“If you pick something that you love, you’re never going to work a day in your life,” he said.

Relationships, Reputation And Persistence

One of the course’s biggest themes was the long-term value of relationships and reputation.

Scaramucci described integrity as one of the most valuable assets a person can have in business.

“There will be no limit to your opportunities in your life as long as you have a reputation for integrity,” he said.

Scaramucci also pushed back against arrogance and ego, warning that insecurity often disguises itself as overconfidence. “The most confident people in the world are the ones that are willing to listen,” he said.

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Another recurring lesson involved persistence. Scaramucci argued that most people give up too early after hearing the word “no.”

“The more nos you hear, you’re eventually statistically getting to a yes,” he said.

He encouraged young professionals to embrace discomfort and rejection instead of fearing it.

“You got to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” he said.

By the end of the course, Scaramucci returned to the same core idea several times: …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stock futures were slightly lower this morning, with the Dow futures falling around 0.1% on Monday.

Shares of Dole PLC (NYSE:DOLE) fell sharply in pre-market trading following downbeat first-quarter earnings.

Dole posted adjusted EPS of 33 cents, missing market estimates of 34 cents. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $2.342 billion versus estimates of $2.226 billion.

Dole shares dipped 5.9% to $14.00 in pre-market trading.

Here are some other stocks moving lower in pre-market trading.

• Enhanced Group (NASDAQ:ENHA) fell 15.4% to $8.21 in pre-market trading after …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On CNBC’s “Mad Money Lightning Round,” Jim Cramer said Digi Power X Inc. (NASDAQ:DGXX) has “just been straight up. I’m not there for that. The ones that are straight up, they’re not making money.”

As per the recent news, Digi Power X, on Friday, announced the upsizing of its at-the-market offering program.

Cramer recommended buying Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD), saying it is a “great” company.

Lending support to his choice, Steel Dynamics, on April 20, reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales results.

“This is the great problem right now, that stock’s been straight up ever since it had a great quarter,” Cramer said when asked about ASML

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Despite reporting a robust first-quarter earnings beat, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is grappling with significant technical weakness.

Momentum Score Drop

The tech giant’s Benzinga Edge momentum score has officially dropped to 8.88, down from 10.44 week-on-week, placing it squarely in the bottom 10% of the market.

Momentum measures a stock’s relative strength based on its price movement patterns and volatility across multiple timeframes, ranked as a percentile relative to other stocks.

This recent decline indicates that traders remain extremely cautious on the stock, resulting in downward price pressure even as broader market futures point higher.

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Despite a recent 12% drop on Friday and mixed earnings guidance, MarTech Strategist Lisa Martin believes cloud provider CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) represents a prime buying opportunity, citing massive customer commitments and an insatiable need for AI infrastructure.

CoreWeave A High-Growth ‘Buying Opportunity’

Martin emphasizes that the underlying fundamentals of the AI compute market remain undeniably robust.

“I think for investors that are aggressive, those that really kind of understand the volatility, it is a good opportunity for them to buy,” Martin told Schwab Network.

She pointed to the company’s vital role in delivering the specialized GPU-powered compute capacity required to run generative AI at scale.

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Michael Burry Says GameStop’s eBay Bid ‘Just Went Hostile’ After Ryan Cohen Claims Ban: All You Need To Know

PHILADELPHIA, May 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — abrdn Inc. (“Aberdeen”), the proposed investment adviser to the MFS Multimarket Income Trust (“MMT” or the “Fund”), which is expected to be renamed the “Aberdeen Multimarket Income Fund” upon completion of the proposed transaction, announced today that, subject to applicable approvals, it intends to propose a future policy amendment to Fund shareholders for consideration and approval. 

As previously announced by MFS on December 11, 2025, and as described in more detail in a joint prospectus/proxy statement mailed to shareholders of the Fund and the other participating funds and filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), it is proposed that, subject to shareholder approval, Aberdeen serve as investment adviser to MMT, together with the reorganization of certain other MFS closed‑end funds; MFS Charter Income (“MCR”) and MFS Intermediate High Income (“CIF”), with and into MMT (collectively, the “Reorganizations”).

In …

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Rackspace Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXT) shares are extending a massive rally this Monday.

The momentum follows Friday session where the stock surged 54% hitting a new 52-week high. Investors are reacting to a strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence and stronger-than-expected quarterly sales.

Rackspace Revenue Topples Street Estimates

Rackspace reported first-quarter sales of $678.100 million, representing a 2% year-over-year increase. This figure topped the Street estimate of $660.83 million. Growth was fueled by public cloud revenue, which climbed 7% to $443 million. Conversely, private cloud revenue fell 6% to $235 …

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Auto industry leaders and lawmakers urged President Donald Trump to block Chinese automakers’ entry into the American car market ahead of a key meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Chinese Manufacturers’ Entry Into The U.S.

Trump, during his appearance at this year’s Detroit Economic Club, said it would be “great” if Chinese automakers built U.S. plants, sparking concern from auto industry leaders and lawmakers, Reuters reported on Monday.

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Tesla Rivals Rivian, Lucid Say ‘Restrictive’ Dealership Laws Are Hurting EV Adoption In US

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) will release earnings for its second quarter before the opening bell on Tuesday, May 12.

Analysts expect the company to report quarterly earnings of 48 cents per share, up from 34 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Aramark’s quarterly revenue is $4.76 billion (it reported $4.28 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

Ahead of quarterly earnings, UBS analyst Joshua Chan, on April 8, maintained an Aramark Buy rating and raised the price target from $47 to $48.

With the recent buzz around Aramark, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company’s dividends, too. As of now, Aramark has an annual dividend yield of 1.06%, which is a quarterly dividend amount of 12 cents per share (48 cents a year).  

So, how can investors exploit its dividend yield to …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) shares face selling pressure this Monday.

The move follows a volatile period where a massive partnership-driven rally met the reality of a disappointing earnings report. While the stock surged 7.65% on Friday, the momentum stalled as traders digested a significant top-line miss on Thursday.

Nasdaq futures are down 0.15% while S&P 500 futures have shed 0.13%.

Revenue Miss Shadows Growth Strategy

The company reported quarterly revenue of $144.8 million. This figure missed the analyst consensus estimate of $223.393 million by 35.18%. Revenue fell 21.6% year-over-year.

Management attributed the decline to lower Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) prices and the …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Dubai and New York, May 11, 2026: VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ:VEON), a global digital operator (“VEON” or the “Company”), today held its online Annual General Meeting (AGM). During the AGM, the Company’s shareholders re-elected the slate of VEON’s seven current directors to continue serving as the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”).

VEON welcomes back its founder Augie K Fabela II, Andrei Gusev, Rt. Hon. Sir Brandon Lewis CBE, Duncan Perry, 70th U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, Michiel Soeting and VEON Group CEO Kaan Terzioglu to the Board. Following the AGM, the new Board held its inaugural meeting, and re-elected VEON’s Founder Augie K Fabela II as the Chairman for a third term.

VEON’s Board of Directors. From left to right: 70th U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, Michiel Soeting, Augie K Fabela II, VEON Group CEO Kaan Terzioglu, Duncan Perry, Andrei Gusev, Rt. Hon. Sir Brandon Lewis CBE

The re-election reflects continued shareholder support for VEON’s strategy of digital services growth, operational discipline and shareholder …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is emerging as the largest player in the AI market, with a significant presence in nearly every aspect of the technology. The trend has intensified Alphabet’s competition with Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) for the title of the world’s most valuable company.

AI Fuels Alphabet Growth

Gary Black, on Sunday, posted on X that “AI Wins Have Alphabet Poised to Become World’s Biggest Company.”

He said Alphabet’s stock has surged 43% since October 31, significantly outperforming Nvidia’s 6.3% gain over the same period.

According to a Bloomberg report shared by Black, the gap between the two companies has narrowed considerably over the past six months. Alphabet closed Friday with a market capitalization of roughly $4.8 trillion, while Nvidia stood at about $5.2 trillion after a late-week rally, narrowing the valuation gap considerably.

Alphabet: A Broad AI Ecosystem Winner

“Alphabet holds a significant spot in almost every corner …

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Viant Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:DSP) will release earnings for its first quarter after the closing bell on Monday, May 11.

Analysts expect the Irvine, California-based company to report quarterly earnings of 7 cents per share, up from 3 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Viant Technology’s quarterly revenue is $84.81 million (it reported $70.64 million last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On May 5, Viant Technology announced the successful completion of the acquisition of TVision Insights.

Shares of Viant Technology rose 2.4% to close at $12.04 on Friday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort by stock ticker, company name, analyst firm, rating change or other variables.

Let’s have a look at how Benzinga’s most-accurate analysts have …

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ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood asserts that Wall Street’s stagflation fears are fundamentally misguided, predicting that structural economic forces will soon drive inflation unexpectedly low.

Breaking Consensus

While market consensus braces for sticky inflation and economic stagnation, Wood believes analysts are looking in the wrong direction.

In her latest macroeconomic update, Wood laid out a heavily contrarian framework, stating that consumer price inflation is poised to “surprise on the low side of expectations in the next six to nine months.”

Wood points to real-time economic indicators to validate her stance. Citing Truflation, a real-time measure tracking thousands of goods and services, she noted that the core inflation metric has already plummeted to just “1%.”

Furthermore, she pointed out that the yield curve is flattening, suggesting that the bond market is quietly beginning to price in underlying deflationary undercurrents.

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The most oversold stocks in the materials sector presents an opportunity to buy into undervalued companies.

The RSI is a momentum indicator, which compares a stock’s strength on days when prices go up to its strength on days when prices go down. When compared to a stock’s price action, it can give traders a better sense of how a stock may perform in the short term. An asset is typically considered oversold when the RSI is below 30, according to Benzinga Pro.

Here’s the latest list of major oversold players in this sector, having an RSI near or below 30.

Westlake Corp (NYSE:WLK)

• On May 5, Westlake reported worse-than-expected first-quarter sales results. “The first quarter of 2026 began to reflect our cost reduction initiatives announced in 2025. Late in the first quarter we began to see margin improvement in the PEM segment as a result of the Iranian conflict. Our HIP segment saw gains in Pipe and Fittings sales volumes driven by …

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Executives from EV makers Rivian Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) and Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID) say that the state franchise dealership laws are hindering EV adoption across the U.S.

Dealership Laws Posing Challenges

On Monday, Business Insider published an interview with executives from Rivian and Lucid, sharing views on the laws that could hinder EV adoption, as automakers can not control pricing and educate first-time EV buyers.

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China Is Investigating EV Makers As Owners Say Their Cars Lost Up To 125 Miles Of Range After Updates—And Tesla, BYD Are Being Dragged Into The Debate

In the fast-paced and cutthroat world of business, conducting thorough company analysis is essential for investors and industry experts. In this article, we will undertake a comprehensive industry comparison, evaluating NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) in comparison to its major competitors within the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry. By analyzing crucial financial metrics, market position, and growth potential, our objective is to provide valuable insights for investors and offer a deeper understanding of company’s performance in the industry.

NVIDIA Background

Nvidia is a leading developer of graphics processing units. Traditionally, GPUs were used to enhance the experience on computing platforms, most notably in gaming applications on PCs. GPU use cases have since emerged as important semiconductors used in artificial intelligence to run large language models. Nvidia not only offers AI GPUs, but also a software platform, Cuda, used for AI model development and training. Nvidia is also expanding its data center networking solutions, helping to tie GPUs together to handle complex workloads.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

In the ever-evolving and intensely competitive business landscape, conducting a thorough company analysis is of utmost importance for investors and industry followers. In this article, we will carry out an in-depth industry comparison, assessing Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) alongside its primary competitors in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry. By meticulously examining key financial metrics, market positioning, and growth prospects, we aim to offer valuable insights to investors and shed light on company’s performance within the industry.

Advanced Micro Devices Background

Advanced Micro Devices designs a variety of digital semiconductors for markets such as PCs, gaming consoles, data centers (including artificial intelligence), industrial, and automotive applications. AMD’s traditional strength was in central processing units and graphics processing units used in PCs and data centers. However, AMD is emerging as a prominent player in AI GPUs and related hardware. Additionally, the firm supplies the chips found in prominent game consoles such as the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

In today’s rapidly changing and highly competitive business world, it is imperative for investors and industry observers to carefully assess companies before making investment choices. In this article, we will undertake a comprehensive industry comparison, evaluating SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) vis-à-vis its key competitors in the Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals industry. Through a detailed analysis of important financial indicators, market standing, and growth potential, our goal is to provide valuable insights and highlight company’s performance in the industry.

SanDisk Background

Sandisk is one of the five largest suppliers of NAND flash memory semiconductors globally. Sandisk is vertically integrated, producing substantially all of its flash chips at manufacturing sites across Japan via a joint-venture framework with Kioxia. Sandisk then repackages most of its chips into SSDs for consumer electronics, external storage, or cloud storage. Sandisk was formerly a piece of Western Digital for nine years (after being acquired in 2016) and was spun off as an independent company in 2025.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Shares of Digi Power X Inc (NASDAQ:DGXX) rose sharply in pre-market trading after the company reported upsizing of at-the-market offering program.

Digi Power X shares jumped 19.6% to $7.93 in pre-market trading.

Here are some other stocks moving in pre-market trading.

Gainers

• EZGO Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ:EZGO) gained 79% to $0.072 in pre-market trading after dipping 42% on Friday.
• Helport AI Ltd (NASDAQ:HPAI) gained 51.1% to $1.49 in pre-market trading.
• Everspin Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:MRAM) gained 36.1% to $36.73 in pre-market trading after jumping 25% on Friday.
• NVE Corp (NASDAQ:NVEC) rose 17.7% to $106.21 in pre-market trading.
• WhiteFiber Inc (NASDAQ:WYFI) gained 16.1% to $24.67 in pre-market trading. WhiteFiber will host a conference call on May 14 to discuss its results for the first quarter.
• Rackspace Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXT) rose 14% to $6.27 in pre-market trading after jumping 56% on Friday.
• Innventure Inc (NASDAQ:INV) rose 13.3% to …

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The S&P 500 heads into Monday’s session facing a fresh wave of geopolitical pressure, with S&P 500 futures slipping 0.09% early on Monday. After digesting Friday’s jobs data and market action, investor confidence has been rattled by a total breakdown in weekend diplomatic talks.

The Polygon-based (CRYPTO: POL) Polymarket crowd is leaning decisively bearish for the Monday open. The “S&P 500 Opens Up or Down on May 11?” market currently reflects a 38% chance of an “Up” open, plunging 12% following the weekend’s diplomatic breakdown. Early trading volume for the Monday bet currently sits at $13,977.

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Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, praised Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) for its strategic investment approach, despite concerns about an AI bubble.

Newman took to X on Sunday to laud the tech giant for using its free cash flow to invest in the ecosystem that will enable it to grow larger and generate more cash flow.

He stated, “AI Bubble bears will call it circular financing. I call it prudent investing.”

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With U.S. stock futures trading slightly lower this morning on Monday, some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are as follows:

• Wall Street expects Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) to report quarterly earnings at 24 cents per share on revenue of $2.90 billion before the opening bell, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Mosaic shares gained 0.7% to $22.35 in after-hours trading.
• Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (NASDAQ:DJT) reported first-quarter losses of $1.47 per share, versus losses of 14 cents per share in the year-ago …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:APEI) will release earnings for its first quarter after the closing bell on Monday, May 11.

Analysts expect the Charles Town, West Virginia-based company to report quarterly earnings of 74 cents per share, up from 62 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for American Public Education’s quarterly revenue is $173.8 million (it reported $164.55 million last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On March 12, American Public Education reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued strong forecast for the first quarter.

Shares of American Public Education rose 2.9% to close at $56.30 on Friday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort by stock ticker, company name, analyst firm, rating change or other variables.

Let’s have a look at how …

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President Donald Trump‘s Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday declined to make predictions on gas prices falling below $3/gallon in the U.S. amid the Iran war.

Can’t Make Predictions

In an interview with NBC, Wright was asked when he thought gas prices could fall in the U.S. after he had made an earlier prediction on their movement, which was dismissed by Trump. “I can’t make predictions about that,” Wright said, adding that there could be a shift once there was a “free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.”

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Energy Secretary Chris Wright has indicated a willingness to suspend the federal gas tax, amid escalating fuel costs.

When questioned about the feasibility of suspending the federal gas tax, currently around 18 cents per gallon, on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Wright confirmed the administration is “open to all ideas,” adding that “Everything has trade-offs.”

“All measures that can be taken to lower the price at the pump and lower the prices for Americans, this administration is in support of,” said Wright.

Wright refrained from making any future gas price predictions, a topic that has become a significant political issue during the midterm election year. He avoided speculation on whether average gas prices could reach $5 per gallon, stating he was “just avoiding price predictions.”

In another interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Wright said the U.S. could restart “Project Freedom” within days if negotiations fail, adding that military action may again be used to reopen the strait …

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The global oil market is witnessing a shift in demand dynamics as Chinese crude oil imports fall sharply.

China Oil Imports Decline

According to an X post by The Kobeissi Letter on Sunday, China’s crude oil imports slid 20% month over month in April to 8.2 million barrels per day, the lowest level in at least two years. The decline represents a nearly 30% drop — or roughly 3.5 million barrels per day — from pre-war import levels of 11.7 million barrels per day.

The letter said that the decline in Chinese crude demand nearly matches Japan’s total daily oil consumption. “This is also 2 times larger than the volume supplied by the UAE pipeline that bypasses …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Futures market trader Peter L. Brandt commended technical analyst Aksel Kibar on Sunday, praising his bullish call on the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE:EEM), which has clearly outperformed the broad U.S. market Index.  

In a post on X, Brandt said, “Nice call Aksel. Headed much higher,” highlighting the chart setup for the EEM.

Kibar Highlights Technical Strength In EEM

The chart, shared by Kibar, signaled continued upside momentum for EEM, which is widely followed as a benchmark for emerging market stock performance.

In February, EEM achieved its longest winning streak since 2005, with nine consecutive weeks of gains. This performance marks a potential structural shift in investor sentiment, driven by a rotation out of U.S. tech stocks and into emerging markets.

Brandt’s post amplified attention around the trade setup among market participants and technical traders.

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Overseas capital is flooding American financial markets at an increasing pace, with foreign investors heavily favoring equities over other asset classes and breaking historical records in the process.

A Historic Pivot To Equities

International market participants are aggressively doubling down on the American economy, signaling immense confidence in domestic corporate growth.

According to recent data from The Kobeissi Letter, which tracks foreign holdings of U.S. financial assets, overseas investors now allocate a “record 63%” of their portfolios directly to U.S. equities.

This massive shift represents a profound and swift concentration of global capital. Because these investors are continually “piling into” the markets, foreign entities currently own an absolute record of $21.3 trillion in U.S. stocks and equity funds.

This valuation reflects a dramatic 170% increase in total equity ownership since the beginning of 2020. This rapid accumulation emphasizes how heavily reliant global portfolios have become on the performance of the American stock market.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Authorities in China have reportedly launched a probe into EV makers after owners claimed that EV range was reduced by approximately 200 km (125 miles) following a software update.

Battery Parameters Affected

On Saturday, CnEVPost cited a post by China Central Television (CCTV) on the Chinese social media platform Weibo in April that reported EV owners experiencing battery degradation and longer charging times after over-the-air (OTA) updates.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), on Sunday, argued that Americans are paying more this Mother’s Day under President Donald Trump, citing sharp increases in consumer prices across popular holiday purchases.

In a post on X, Warren said everything is “more expensive this Mother’s Day” under the Trump administration.

Coffee, Candy, Jewelry See Sharp Increases

The Massachusetts senator cited price increases across several Mother’s Day-related categories, with coffee and candy being the most inflated items. She stated coffee prices soared 18.7%, while candy and chewing gum rose 10.6%.

Warren also highlighted higher prices for jewelry, which saw an increase of 9.9%.

Cake And Fruits …

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) raised concerns about the advent of physical AI on Sunday, slamming companies like Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER), as well as Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos, for wanting to replace workers with AI.

‘We Are Not Ready’

In a post on the social media platform X, Sanders shared that driverless vehicle companies were “expanding rapidly,” which put jobs like “truckers, cab drivers, Uber drivers” at risk of being phased out. “Jeff Bezos is seeking $100 billion to put robots into factories,” he said, sharing that factory workers could be without a job, too. “We are not ready for what’s coming.”

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Jeff Bezos’s $500 Million Superyacht Reportedly For Sale As Seattle Seahawks Hit The Market

On Sunday, investor and market commentator Shay Boloor marked the 61st anniversary of Warren Buffett’s takeover of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK) (NYSE:BRK) by highlighting his remarkable career.

Buffett’s Berkshire Bet Is A Landmark

Boloor said that a $10,000 investment made on May 10, 1965, at roughly $15 per share is now worth an estimated $485 million.

This underscores the power of compounding returns and long-term investing.

Berkshire’s Transformation Underway

After serving Berkshire since 1965, Warren Buffett stepped down as CEO at the end of 2025. Greg Abel is the new CEO in 2026.

During the annual shareholder meeting in 2025, Buffett made clear that Abel’s value lies not in flashy leadership traits but in his ability to preserve the company’s …

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A debt-free retiree had steady income and no house payment, but friends pushing rentals left him torn between their advice and his wife’s warning.

Lee, calling from Omaha, Nebraska, told “The Ramsey Show” he had taken personal finance expert Dave Ramsey‘s advice years earlier when he was nearing retirement. He had wanted to set up an annuity inside his IRA to cover his house payment.

Ramsey instead told him to withdraw funds and pay off the house. Lee followed that advice against his friends’ views and was debt-free for five years.

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A Simple Answer That Overruled A Complicated Strategy

Those same friends later urged him to pull money from his IRA again, this time to buy rental properties as an inflation hedge. His wife saw the tradeoff differently, asking why he would want to become a landlord and deal with leaky toilets and late-night calls.

“Listen to your wife,” Ramsey said. He referenced a Bible verse about the value of a wise wife, saying, “Her worth is far above rubies,” while contrasting her wisdom with what he called “stupid friends.” 

Co-host George Kamel questioned the friends’ advice, keeping the focus on Lee’s situation. “It’s not a wise move for everyone,” he said. 

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What Counts As A Hedge — And What Doesn’t 

Ramsey said a hedge worked like a blocker against rising prices by investing in things that moved with inflation. Real estate could serve that role because property values and rents often rose with broader costs. Stocks tied to sectors such as energy could also move the same way.

Lee said part of his IRA was already in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities and Series I savings bonds, earning about 8% to 9% while he withdrew about 3%. That raised the question of whether he already had that protection.

“You’ve got to be participating as an owner, not a lender,” Ramsey said, telling Lee that TIPS and Series I bonds may adjust with inflation but remain debt instruments. They pay interest without giving Lee ownership in assets that may rise in value. 

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When ‘Mailbox Money’ Beats Chasing More 

Ramsey did not rule out real estate. He said Lee could pay cash for property, buy something smaller, such as commercial real estate, and hire someone to manage it.

Lee then put the decision in context. He said he was nearing 68, had a net worth of about $800,000 to $850,000 and did not like much risk in his investments. He also said he was doing OK with his passive income and IRA withdrawals.

Ramsey said if Lee had about $2 million, he might pull around $500,000 toward commercial real estate. At Lee’s level, Kamel advised against taking a huge chunk out to buy property.

Ramsey pointed to the certainty Lee already had. His current income was “mailbox money” he could count on, while …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The AI revolution and its impact on jobs and the economy could cement President Donald Trump’s place in history and define his legacy, according to “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary.

The AI-led wave of innovation and tech growth began during the Biden years but is now showing its impact on the economy, O’Leary said in a Fox Business interview he shared on X in February. He thinks AI could cut both ways for the Trump administration, potentially wiping out jobs and creating policy challenges, or boosting productivity and margins.

“You don’t know the outcome of AI yet,” he said. “That is the wild card because forever this administration and Trump will be the AI president. It all came on his watch.”

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AI is already showing its impact on the labor market. It was the leading reason for job cuts in March, accounting for 15,341 layoffs, or about 25% of total job losses in the month, according to workforce consulting firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.

AI Spending and Efficiency Drive Tech Layoffs

AI is squeezing tech talent from two sides. Big tech is cutting jobs to save costs to funnel more money into AI, while productivity gains are letting companies do more with fewer people. 

Block Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) CEO Jack Dorsey announced plans to cut 4,000 jobs in February, saying AI tools are reshaping how the company works. Since then, a wave of layoffs has followed across the sector, with Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and Snap (NYSE:SNAP) all rolling out job cuts.

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Markets Rising Due to AI

But so far, these job losses haven’t turned into the kind of political crisis O’Leary warned could emerge. Instead, markets continue grinding to new highs as tech companies ramp up AI spending. In April, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite posted their best monthly gains since 2020, rising 10% and 15%, respectively.

O’Leary thinks AI is behind the recent strength on Wall Street.

“AI has already put itself in all 11 sectors of our economy to be something very powerful as a tool to enhance the economy through productivity and margin enhancement,” O’Leary told Fox Business last week. “That’s why the markets are hitting new highs even while we have all this conflict around the world.”

As AI continues to reshape markets and contribute to both rapid gains and heightened volatility across sectors, some investors are exploring more active ways to engage with these shifts. Platforms like Plus500 allow users to practice and participate in futures trading using real-time market data and demo accounts before committing capital.

Read Next: 

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The US stock market closed last week at a record high, with the S&P 500 Index slowly approaching the key resistance level of 7,500. The Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones have also continued their uptrends. This article explores some of the top US stocks to watch this week, including Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), Nebius (NASDAQ:NBIS), and Circle Internet (NYSE:CRCL).

Circle Internet Financial

Circle Internet, the creator of the $80 billion USDC stablecoin, will be in the spotlight for two main reasons this week: earnings and CLARITY Act. The company will publish its results before the market opens on Monday. 

Analysts anticipate that its revenue growth continued as short-term bond yields held steady and the market capitalization of USDC jumped to $80 billion. The average estimate is that its revenue jumped to $714 million in Q1 from $516 million in the same period last year. 

Circle stock will also react to the upcoming CLARITY Act markup, which will happen on May 14. This markup by the Senate Banking Committee will be the final stage before it is taken to the full Senate for voting. Polymarket

Full story available on Benzinga.com

A woman working remotely for the past six years says she feels exhausted trying to balance a demanding full-time job with nearly all of the household responsibilities, while also defending the legitimacy of her work to her husband.

The woman explained in a recent Reddit post that her husband believes she should naturally have more energy for chores because she works from home. “Whenever I ask for help he says he doesn’t think it’s fair that I work from home and expect him to share half,” she wrote.

Remote Work Doesn’t Mean Free Time

The woman said she works in a call center position with strict monitoring rules and limited breaks. According to her post, she gets two 15-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch, while also being required to stay at her computer throughout the day.

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“My job is very strict about your available time during the day,” she explained. “I am also not allowed to have any background noise as it is grounds for termination.”

Despite that, she said she still handles most of the cooking, dishes and laundry at home.

Many commenters argued that people who have never worked remotely often misunderstand what work-from-home jobs actually involve. Several pointed out that remote work eliminates a commute, but not the mental exhaustion that comes with a full day of customer service work.

“Working from home does not mean you are not working,” one commenter wrote. “You still have performance pressure, limited breaks, and you can’t even step away when you want to.”

Others described call center work as especially draining because employees are constantly monitored while dealing with repetitive conversations, rude customers and emotional stress.

The original poster later revealed that her job involves outbound calling, which often results in hangups and accusations that she is a scammer.

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Many Saw A Bigger Relationship Problem

While the discussion started around remote work, many commenters believed the deeper issue was the unequal division of labor at home.

“You are both still working 40 hours a week,” one person wrote. “So it would make absolutely no sense for you to be doing any more housework than him.”

Others argued that women are often expected to absorb unpaid labor at home regardless of whether they also work full-time.

One commenter encouraged the woman to rethink the way household responsibilities are discussed in her marriage.

“He’s not ‘helping’ by doing chores—he’s doing his part,” the commenter wrote.

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Some also criticized online stereotypes about remote work, saying social media has created the impression that people working from home spend their days relaxing or doing chores between meetings.

But many remote workers in the thread said that’s not how it works at all. Some said they actually work longer hours from home because it’s harder to …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Grant Cardone doesn’t think running a business from home is the smart financial move many people believe it is. In a 2019 video, the entrepreneur and real estate investor reflected on his own early years in business and said trying to keep everything small almost held him back.

“You’ve got to leave your house,” Cardone said. “A house is not a place to run a business. You don’t have employees, you don’t have a business. You got a prison.”

Thinking Small Can Cost You

Cardone said that during his 30s, he operated businesses with almost no staff while working from home because he thought it would save money. Looking back, he believes that mindset was completely wrong.

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“From about 31 till 45, I would run a business, two businesses, two and a half businesses with one and a half or two people,” he said. “It was stupid and I did it out of my house.”

According to Cardone, many entrepreneurs get trapped doing every job themselves. He described it as being “the warden and the jailor and the doctor,” meaning business owners become stuck handling every responsibility instead of building systems and hiring people.

Cardone argued that a real business should multiply both time and money. In his view, staying small to cut expenses usually results in slower growth.

“I’m gonna office out of my home so I can save 500 bucks. I’m gonna do all the work so I can save three grand,” he said, mocking the mindset he once had. “It’s a suicide right here. Financial suicide.”

His comments reflect a much bigger philosophy he often talks about: scaling aggressively instead of focusing only on saving money.

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Build Bigger Instead Of Staying Comfortable

Cardone also connected the issue to what he sees as a broader middle-class mentality centered around comfort and protection instead of expansion.

“Most of the middle class of America is operating their little house, their little gate, their little fence, their couple of cars,” he said, arguing that many families build lifestyles that can quickly fall apart when financial pressure hits.

He said business owners should think much bigger than simply creating a job for themselves. To Cardone, the goal is to build something that can continue operating without depending on one person doing everything.

“You need a real business,” he said. “A real business means what? I got time and money invested. I’m multiplying time and money.”

Cardone praised the idea of building an empire, saying people either build something large and scalable or stay trapped in a small endeavour.

The overall message from the video was to stop thinking so small. Cardone believes entrepreneurs often focus too heavily on avoiding expenses when they should be investing in growth, employees and infrastructure.

Cardone’s criticism of working from home also reflects a broader debate about how entrepreneurs structure their time and scale productivity. While some founders choose traditional office environments to …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The Roundhill Memory ETF (BATS:DRAM) has become one of the fastest launches in history, helped by the ongoing demand for companies in the memory chip industry. 

DRAM has already jumped by over 80% since its launch in April, with its Assets Under Management (AUM) hitting $6.25 billion. This is a big milestone for an ETF with an expense ratio of 0.68%.

DRAM ETF Gains Momentum Amid Sandisk, Micron, Seagate Boom

The Roundhill Memory ETF aims to give investors access to the biggest players in the memory chip industry. It is a highly concentrated fund with just 13 companies, with Micron (NASDAQ:MU) having the biggest share. 

The other top companies in the fund are South Korea’s SK Hynix, Sandisk, Kioxia, Seagate, and Western Digital. All these are some of the top gainers in the equities market in the past few months.

Sandisk stock has jumped by 540% this year and by 4,367% in the last 12 months. It has soared by 100% in the last one month. 

Similarly, Seagate Technology (STX) …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

A paid-off home and six-figure savings made the next step feel obvious. It wasn’t.

Bobby, from Fresno, California, told “The Ramsey Show” he and his wife paid off their home years ago and saved about $175,000. Now they were considering a $292,000 rental property, either with a large down payment or by splitting the money across multiple homes.

“Debt equals risk. More debt equals more risk,” personal finance expert Dave Ramsey said.

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The Math Behind “More Deals”

Spreading the money across multiple properties would add risk and lower cash flow, Ramsey said. Even with 50% down on one $292,000 house, he told Bobby, the income would be limited. 

Ramsey told Bobby to look beyond the gap between rent and the mortgage payment. A property can sit empty for months, a tenant may stop paying, and a major repair can wipe out income quickly. 

He said owners still deal with costs such as heating and air repairs, roof leaks, property taxes, insurance, vacancies and legal expenses during evictions, even when the property is paid off.

Ramsey called the rent-minus-payment formula “naive” and incomplete.

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When “Cash Flow” Doesn’t Show Up

Ramsey owns hundreds of millions in real estate, now mostly commercial, and still considers it a strong investment. He, however, called rental houses “a pain in the butt to deal with” and said that after repairs and vacancies, some properties hardly make money.

He told Bobby to set aside both options and wait.

“I wouldn’t even buy one right now until you have the money,” Ramsey said. “I’d pay cash for it or I wouldn’t do it.”

Co-host George Kamel said Bobby was about $120,000 short of being able to buy the house outright, a problem he called solvable.

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Slower Growth, Lower Risk

Ramsey said Bobby’s location could make a borrowed deal riskier, saying “one little California upheaval” could quickly turn into a serious problem. He said Bobby had “TikTok real estate fever” and told him to slow down, keep saving and build toward a stronger position.

Ramsey pointed to his early experience. By 26, he had built a portfolio worth about $4 million with $3 million in debt and a six-figure income for the time. It looked successful until it collapsed. “And that portfolio bankrupted me,” he said.

He connected that outcome to the approach Bobby was considering, saying spreading money across multiple properties with loans cuts cash flow, raises risk, and weakens returns.

“That’s how people go broke,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey’s warning wasn’t necessarily against real estate itself, but against taking on too much leverage and operational risk too quickly. That’s one reason some investors are exploring alternatives like Arrived, which offers access to …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

A Florida man who took a job selling solar panels says he quickly realized he wasn’t really selling clean energy systems. Instead, he told personal finance personality Dave Ramsey that the real focus seemed to be financing and loans.

During an episode of “The Ramsey Show,” caller Tom from Jacksonville explained that he originally took the job to sharpen his sales skills while building his own business on the side. But after just a few weeks, he started feeling uncomfortable with how the company approached customers.

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Feeling Out Of Alignment

“I’m not really selling solar panels as much as I’m selling the loans, the financing for them,” Tom told Ramsey and co-host Ken Coleman.

Tom explained that the company pitches solar financing by telling homeowners that the savings on their electric bills will offset the monthly payments on the loan. He said the experience made him start reevaluating whether he wanted to continue in the role.

Ramsey immediately acknowledged that this type of sales strategy is common in the industry.

“They basically sell it for the savings on the electric bill because having solar panels will pay your payments,” Ramsey said.

While Ramsey said he personally believes solar panels can make financial sense in certain situations, he also said he doesn’t support financing them.

“I would pay cash for them or I wouldn’t buy them,” Ramsey said, “but I say that about everything.”

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Coleman told Tom that he didn’t believe the caller was doing anything unethical or illegal, but said the bigger issue was whether the job matched his personal values.

“This isn’t an ethical thing,” Coleman said. “This is a values thing.” 

Coleman advised Tom not to make an emotional decision and quit immediately, especially because his side business isn’t yet producing enough income to cover his bills.

“Don’t make any crazy jumps,” Coleman said. “You’re a good person. You’re not doing anything illegal.”

Instead, Coleman suggested Tom look for another sales job that better matches his beliefs while continuing to work on his business.

Ramsey Says Financing Has Taken Over Retail

The conversation eventually expanded into a broader criticism of how many companies now make more money from financing and warranties than from the actual products they sell.

Ramsey pointed to retailers like Victoria’s Secret (NYSE:VSCO) and Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) as examples.

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He recalled hearing from a Victoria’s Secret employee who allegedly said workers faced pressure to get customers to apply for store credit cards.

“There was no quota on amount of underwear sold,” Ramsey joked. “Just whether or not you got the Victoria’s Secret card.”

Ramsey also criticized electronics retailers for aggressively pushing extended warranties and financing offers.

“They got sideways when they realized they could make more money on the issuing of credit than they could on the sale of televisions,” Ramsey said.

Even so, both Ramsey and Coleman …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

A surprise $4,000 check in the mailbox sounds like the financial version of finding fries at the bottom of the bag. The problem is homeowners know those happy little surprises sometimes come with a bill hiding around the corner.

In a Reddit post, a homeowner said he bought a new house last year and recently received an “escrow refund” check for roughly $4,000 from his mortgage company. While the extra cash looked tempting, he and his wife worried there might be a hidden catch before using the money to pay down debt.

“While I’m delighted to have extra money, my wife and I are anxious about spending it towards some debt, not going crazy partying, in case there’s some ‘gotcha’ that typically comes with something like this,” he said.

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The homeowner then gave an example of the kind of surprise he feared could show up later.

“Something like ‘Yes there was an overage in your escrow account, BUT most people don’t realize that also means your BLAH fees went up as well,'” he said.

He added that the bank told the couple the money was simply extra cash sitting in the escrow account, but he still wondered whether there was “anything else we should watch for before committing this money to some debt.”

A “Suspiciously-High” Refund

The homeowner said the mortgage was roughly $350,000 in Arkansas, and he questioned whether a $4,000 escrow overage was unusually large for a loan of that size.

“Maybe $4k would be a rounding error on a $5M mortgage, but suspiciously-high for escrow overage on $350k,” he said.

That concern resonated with many homeowners in the thread, particularly people who experienced dramatic escrow swings during their first few years of ownership.

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Some commenters explained there are legitimate reasons an escrow refund can happen. Mortgage companies sometimes overestimate property taxes or homeowners insurance costs during the first year of a loan. Lenders may also intentionally collect extra cushion money in escrow accounts until actual bills come due.

In those situations, the refund genuinely can be excess money that belongs to the homeowner.

Other Homeowners Warned About Future Escrow Shortfalls

While some commenters said the refund could simply reflect overcollection, many others warned the check might eventually be offset by higher future payments.

One Redditor urged the homeowner to “save half for next year when they come back and tell you about a escrow shortfall and your payments going up if you don’t pay it.”

Another commenter described receiving a $2,000 escrow refund shortly after buying a new-build home before later discovering the account had fallen into deficit.

“My escrow account now shows a $2k deficit and I’m just waiting for them to up my payment,” the Redditor said.

Several homeowners pointed to property tax reassessments as a major reason escrow shortages appear later. In some cases, newly built homes are initially taxed based largely on land value before counties later reassess the completed property.

One homeowner said that situation eventually resulted in an unexpected $11,000 tax bill.

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Consulting A Financial Advisor …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

President Donald Trump‘s visit to China this week is expected to be significant as both sides seek to repair their relationship. Wall Street investors will be closely monitoring the trip, given the potential for major deals. 

Trump has always loved big deals. During his last Middle East trip, he claimed to have signed deals worth $4 trillion. Some of the most notable ones were a $600 billion deal with Saudi Arabia and a $96 billion agreement with Qatar for up to 210 aircraft. The UAE also made aircraft and semiconductor orders. 

US stocks like Boeing (NYSE:BA), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), and GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) may therefore become the top beneficiaries of this trip.

Boeing Stock Could Benefit if China Makes a Big Order

Boeing, a top American exporter, stands to benefit if Chinese airlines place large orders in this trip.Trump has already invited CEO Kelly Ortberg to join the trip to Beijing. 

Rumors are that Chinese airlines are prepared to make an order …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Longtime Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chair Charlie Munger spent decades warning investors about the dangers of chasing easy money. Near the end of his life, the billionaire investor boiled that philosophy down to something far simpler than stock charts or balance sheets: don’t fall down trying to look cool.

“And so I got old myself,” Munger said during the Q&A portion of the Daily Journal Corporation annual shareholders meeting in 2023, shortly before his death later that year at 99. 

“And it got time to use something to avoid falling down. People tried to sell me on the cane,” he said. “But I noticed that my friends who use canes would fall down occasionally. So I never used the God damn cane. Instead, I bought one of these modern walkers.”

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Then came the part that sounded less like advice about aging and more like Munger explaining the philosophy behind Berkshire Hathaway.

“I did that for six and a half years,” Munger said. “I never fell down once in six and a half years just because I was more cautious. That is my advice to all people, just to be a little more cautious.”

Building a Fortune by Avoiding Unnecessary Mistakes

That “little more cautious” mindset shaped nearly every major business decision Munger made alongside Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffett, 

While investors chased market fads and fast profits for decades, Berkshire Hathaway built its empire slowly. Munger believed avoiding catastrophic mistakes mattered more than constantly chasing spectacular gains. He and Buffett stayed away from excessive leverage, ignored investments they did not fully understand, and kept large cash reserves when markets became overheated.

The strategy often looked old-fashioned during speculative booms. Then the bubbles burst.

Munger spent years warning that financial disasters usually begin when people convince themselves the normal rules no longer apply. During that same shareholder meeting, he pointed to denial as one of the biggest drivers of bad decisions.

“If I had to name one factor that dominates human bad decisions, it would be what I call denial,” Munger said. “If the truth is unpleasant enough, their mind plays tricks on them and they think it isn’t really happening.”

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Advance One Inch at a Time

Munger’s investing philosophy was rooted in patience and compounding rather than nonstop action.

He believed many investors destroy their own returns by constantly reacting to headlines, chasing trends, or trying to get rich too quickly. Berkshire Hathaway became one of the world’s most valuable companies largely because Munger and Buffett allowed strong investments to compound over very long periods of time.

That philosophy extended beyond investing. During the meeting, Munger described success as advancing steadily instead of chasing unrealistic leaps forward.

“You climb as hard as you can by just advancing one inch at a time,” Munger said.

It sounded simple, but that steady approach helped produce one of the greatest fortunes in modern business history.

Munger also viewed caution as practical rather than fearful. Building savings slowly, avoiding crushing debt, and staying diversified may not generate excitement, but those decisions often protect people when markets or life suddenly turn ugly.

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Full story available on Benzinga.com

Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER) is quickly emerging as a major player in the Robotaxi and autonomous vehicle industry, with investments in both fleet expansions and equity acquisitions in Robotaxi companies. Here’s a look at Uber’s approach to the AV sector.

Uber’s $10 Billion Bet

We kick off with Uber’s reported $10 billion commitment to bolster its Robotaxi exploits. Off the $10 billion figure, Uber plans to allocate $2.5 billion in investments to acquire equity in Robotaxi operators, while the other $7.5 billion is aimed at expanding its Robotaxi fleet.

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Toothpaste usually does not get mentioned in the same sentence as investment strategy unless somebody is trying to survive a warehouse-store checkout line. But billionaire Mark Cuban once argued that grabbing everyday essentials at steep discounts can deliver better returns than many traditional investments.

“It’s so hard to make a return on regular investments that you’re better off, when you see a sale,” Cuban said in a Vanity Fair video segment from 2017. “You’re better off buying two years worth of toothpaste when it’s on 50% discount. That’s an immediate return on your money.”

The Cost Plus Drugs co-founder mixed old-school budgeting habits with investing advice during the segment, urging consumers to think differently about savings, spending and everyday purchases.

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“When they’re on a huge sale on Amazon, buy them, because chances are, their prices are gonna go up, but that’s a real savings that you get to put in your pocket,” Cuban said.

The Bathroom Cabinet Inflation Effect

Cuban’s toothpaste strategy sounds less ridiculous once inflation enters the conversation. While the sharpest price spikes from 2022 and 2023 have cooled, personal-care products have continued climbing steadily.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, products in the “hair, dental, shaving, and miscellaneous personal care products” category rose 3.2% during the 12 months that ended March. Over roughly the past two years, cumulative increases in the category have generally landed between 4% and 7%.

That broader category includes products like toothpaste, toothbrushes and shaving cream. In some cities during 2023, toothpaste prices reportedly jumped from $2.71 per tube to $3.92 year over year.

Meanwhile, companies including Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) warned investors about tariff-related cost pressures and higher manufacturing expenses during 2025.

Consumers may not celebrate toothpaste inflation the way Wall Street reacts to stock gains, but household budgets definitely notice it.

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Living Like A Student Never Really Went Out Of Style

Cuban’s comments about toothpaste were part of a broader philosophy centered on avoiding lifestyle creep and building financial flexibility.

“The first thing you need to do is live like a student,” he told Vanity Fair.

He also warned against relying heavily on credit cards and stressed the importance of building emergency savings before chasing larger investment returns.

“You’re gonna need at least six months income,” Cuban said.

After establishing emergency savings, Cuban said he would place money into “the cheapest” S&P 500 mutual fund he could find. He also discussed speculative investing, saying people willing to “throw the hail Mary” could put 10% into Bitcoin or Ethereum while mentally preparing to lose the money entirely.

The larger point was not really about toothpaste. It was about creating guaranteed savings wherever possible before taking bigger financial swings elsewhere.

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Bulk Buying Meets Long-Term Strategy

Financial advisors often make a similar argument when discussing everyday spending habits with clients. Small …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

For many millennials, the 2008 financial crisis wasn’t just a rough economic period. It became a defining life event that permanently changed how they think about money, investing and financial security.

One millennial on Reddit recently admitted that the stock market still creates intense anxiety nearly two decades later.

“I have a deep rooted fear of ‘losing it all’ to investment stocks, that it gives me a ton of anxiety,” the poster wrote. “I can’t even talk about it with my partner.”

The poster explained that they were working one of their first “real” jobs as a bank teller when the bank collapsed during the financial crisis.

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The Lasting Psychological Impact Of 2008

The discussion quickly filled with comments from other millennials who said the recession hit during some of the most impressionable years of their lives.

“I’m afraid of life because of 2008,” one commenter wrote. They turned 18 in 2008 and their parents told them to move out. 

Many described graduating into a collapsing job market, struggling to find work, watching family members lose homes or jobs, or living through years of financial instability.

Several millennials said the experience still affects major financial decisions today. One person admitted they were afraid to buy a home for years because of what they saw during the housing crash. Another said they still cling to cash because they fear another economic collapse.

Others said their anxiety today isn’t even about investments themselves, but about employment.

“I am not worried about the market but I have the anxiety of losing my job and jobs disappearing,” one commenter wrote.

Still, despite the emotional scars left by 2008, the overwhelming majority of commenters encouraged long-term investing instead of avoiding the market.

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The Bigger Mistake

A recurring theme throughout the discussion was regret from people who pulled money out during crashes.

“I had $50K in and lost about half and my parents convinced me to pull it all out,” one millennial wrote. “I should have just rode it out.”

Others said surviving 2008 taught them that market crashes eventually recover.

“You don’t lose because the market’s down — you lose if you sell when it’s down,” one commenter explained.

“If another 2008 happens. Buy, buy, buy,” another added.

Many repeatedly recommended diversified index funds and ETFs instead of trying to pick individual stocks. 

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Some commenters even argued that not investing carries its own risks because inflation slowly destroys purchasing power over time.

“You’re literally losing money by NOT investing,” one commenter wrote.

Still, even among people who now invest confidently, many admitted that 2008 permanently shaped their emotional relationship with money.

Financial experts often say it can help to start small, stick with diversified investments and talk to a financial advisor if investing feels too stressful or overwhelming. Avoiding conversations about money entirely can create even more stress over time.

For some millennials, rebuilding trust in investing may …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

TORONTO, May 9, 2026 /CNW/ – Montfort Capital Corp. (“Montfort” or the “Company”) (TSXV:MONT), announces, further to its press release dated March 30, 2026, a delay in the filing of its audited consolidated financial statements, its management’s discussion and analysis, and chief executive officer and chief financial officer certificates for the financial year ended December 31, 2025 (the “Required Filings“), which were due to be filed by April 30, 2026 under applicable Canadian securities law requirements.

The Company will file the Required Filings as soon as possible and will issue a news release announcing completion of such filings at such time. There are no disagreements between the Company and its auditor causing a delay in the Required Filings.

Issuance of Cease-Trade Order

As a result of the Company’s failure to file the Required Filings by April 30, 2026, the Ontario Securities Commission (the “OSC“) issued a failure-to-file cease trade order (the “FFCTO“) to the Company on May 6, 2026.

The FFCTO prohibits the trading by any person of any securities of the Company in each jurisdiction in Canada in which the Company is a reporting issuer, for as long as the FFCTO remains in effect, subject to the following exception.

The FFCTO …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has had an eventful week amid a Robotaxi ramp in Texas, as well as a new order for the company’s Semi truck. Let’s take a look back at some of the major stories that shaped the Elon Musk-led EV giant’s week.

Robotaxi Plans Take Shape

While Tesla’s Robotaxi is progressing more slowly than what Musk would’ve liked, the company ramped up its operations in Texas with over 20 unsupervised Robotaxis in Austin and three each in Houston and Dallas. However, the company still lags behind Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo.

Tesla Sales Pick Up In Europe

In what could provide Tesla with a major boost, the company’s sales in France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden showed strong growth. French sales grew 112%, while Sweden recorded a 111% surge in April. However, Tesla also …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Wall Street’s momentum trade went into overdrive last week as earnings beats and AI-fueled optimism ignited massive rallies across tech and infrastructure names.

From cloud computing to semiconductors and space technology, investors piled into growth stocks as bullish guidance and major partnerships fueled the market frenzy.

These ten large-cap stocks were top performers last week. Are they a part of your portfolio?

DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DOCN) gained 57.07% last week after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its FY26 guidance above estimates. Also, the company issued second-quarter sales guidance above estimates. Multiple analysts raised their price forecasts on the stock.

Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL) jumped 57.07% last week after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its FY26 guidance above estimates.

Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) increased 53.86% last week after the company reported …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Wall Street’s momentum trade turned brutal for several large-cap names last week as weak earnings, cautious guidance and analyst downgrades sparked heavy selling pressure.

From healthcare and enterprise software to networking and industrials, investors dumped stocks that failed to meet lofty market expectations.

These ten large-cap stocks were the worst performers last week. Are they a part of your portfolio?

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) decreased 27.12% last week after the company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results and cut its 2026 guidance. Also, multiple analysts lowered their price forecasts on the stock.

Insmed Incorporated (NASDAQ:INSM) fell 24.34% last week. Multiple analysts lowered their price forecasts on …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

This week delivered major twists and sharp turns across the business world, with major companies like Uber Technologies, Tesla Inc., Lucid Group, Spirit Airlines and Toyota Motor Corp making headlines.

From impressive quarterly results to massive recalls, the week was filled with significant developments that kept investors on their toes.

Uber’s Growth Continues Despite Missing Estimates

Uber reported a 14% YoY increase in its Q1 revenue, reaching $13.20 billion, slightly missing the estimated $13.29 billion. However, the company’s adjusted earnings surpassed the consensus estimate, coming in at 72 cents per share. The ride-hailing giant also reported a 20% YoY increase in trips and a 17% rise in Monthly Active Platform Consumers. Despite a significant headwind tied to equity investment revaluations, Uber’s GAAP net income fell 85% to $263 million.

Read the full article here.

Tesla Recalls Over 218,000 Vehicles

Tesla has issued a recall for over 218,000 vehicles in the US due to a delay in the rearview camera image when the vehicle is placed in reverse. The recall affects the 2017 and 2021-2023 Model …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi disclosed on Friday that his own passenger score on the Uber app sits at 4.83, below the company’s cited rider average of 4.89, and said he’s trying to push it higher.

Khosrowshahi’s Personal Target

In the interview on Molly O’Shea’s Sourcery, Khosrowshahi reported his rating as 4.83 and framed 4.9 as his personal target.

He also pointed to a prior 2025 appearance where he put his score at 4.81, indicating a modest uptick.

“My Uber rating is like 4.83. I gotta get to 4.9,” he said.

This is under the average rider rating of 4.89 on the Uber platform.

Why Khosrowshahi’s Rating Matters For Uber

The shared stake for riders and Uber is that the rating system can determine continued access to the platform, since users below an unspecified cutoff can be removed. Uber has described the two-way scoring as a tool meant to reinforce safety and accountability.

Khosrowshahi said he tries to avoid behaviors that frustrate drivers, such as making them wait at pickup. He also said he asks before taking phone calls …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Saturday, Box Inc. (NYSE:BOX) CEO Aaron Levie said AI agents will democratize complex work while still strengthening the advantage of experienced professionals, arguing that jobs will evolve rather than disappear.

AI Agents Boost Access, But Experts Stay Ahead

In a post on X, Levie said AI agents will “make it far easier for people to get into previously extremely complicated fields,” enabling more users to build software, conduct research and pursue creative work that once required deep training.

Still, he emphasized that expertise remains critical.

“People with experience in every one of those fields have a huge edge with the right judgment and historical context,” he wrote.

He added that experienced professionals are better equipped to spot errors, guide AI systems and apply real-world context that novices often lack.

Levie pointed to industries like law, engineering and design, saying AI will amplify performance but not erase the need for skilled judgment.

“You’ll trust a lawyer using an agent for legal advice over someone who’s never had to experience how well a contract holds up,” he said.

He concluded that “the …

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The United Kingdom is deploying HMS Dragon, a Type-45 guided-missile destroyer, to the Middle East as part of a UK-France-led multinational coalition planning naval escorts through the Strait of Hormuz once ceasefire conditions stabilize.

HMS Dragon Headed To Hormuz

“The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning,” the UK Ministry of Defence said, adding the ship will operate within a multinational framework “when conditions allow.”

Iran effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for roughly 20% of global oil and LNG shipments, following U.S. and Israeli strikes in late February. As the conflict escalated, Washington imposed a naval blockade after potential peace talks in …

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The U.S. Army’s outgoing chief information officer Leonel Garciga said that the main obstacle to military modernization is not the technology itself, but getting soldiers and civilians to adapt to new tools, as the Army continues accelerating its adoption of AI.

‘Let’s Break Some Glass’

Rather than relying on multi-year procurement cycles, Garciga advocated a simpler approach of broadly deploying tools and improving them quickly over time. “Let’s just make it ubiquitously available and see what happens,” he told Business Insider. The approach aligns with acquisition reforms advanced under both the Biden and Trump administrations.

He also pushed decisions lower, giving commanders direct authority. “Don’t turn it into a process that takes time and delays people getting the capability they need.”

AI Adoption Moves Fast

The Army’s AI adoption unfolded faster than initially expected, Garciga said, leaving workers struggling to keep pace. “Probably the biggest demand signal …

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Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital and former White House Communications Director, argued on Saturday that America’s political class is failing markets and citizens alike by governing on two- and four-year election cycles rather than the decade-long horizons that meaningful fiscal reform demands.

“Nothing transformative gets built in those windows,” Scaramucci posted on X. “Instead what we have are two-minute cable news plans where everyone bashes each other before the next commercial break.”

The Structural Problem

Scaramucci specifically called for a 15-year K-12 education equalization plan, aimed at reducing funding disparities between wealthy and low-income school districts, along with a multi-decade deficit reduction strategy that would require long-term political commitment beyond standard election cycles.

“We need a 15-year K-12 public education equalization plan. We need a deficit reduction plan built over 10 to 15 years.”

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Benzinga examined the prospects for many investors’ favorite stocks over the last week — here’s a look at some of our top stories.

U.S. stocks finished the week with mixed results as a powerful technology rally pushed major indexes toward fresh record highs even as consumer sentiment deteriorated sharply. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 continued climbing on strength in chipmakers and AI-linked stocks, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged amid broader concerns about the economy. Investors largely looked past weak consumer confidence data, focusing instead on resilient earnings and momentum in large-cap technology shares.

Semiconductor stocks remained at the center of the rally, extending a months-long surge fueled by enthusiasm around artificial intelligence infrastructure spending. Memory-chip and AI hardware companies led gains again this week, helping the Nasdaq post one of its strongest multiweek advances since the pandemic-era rally of 2020.

At the same time, underlying economic sentiment continued to worsen as consumers grappled with elevated gasoline prices and inflation concerns tied to the Iran conflict. Consumer confidence fell to another record low, underscoring growing anxiety about household finances despite a still-resilient labor market and stronger-than-expected April jobs growth.

Benzinga provides daily reports on the stocks most popular with investors. Here are a few of this past week’s most bullish and bearish posts that are worth another look.

The Bulls

“Rocket Lab Stock Rises On Q1 Earnings As Revenue Jumps 64%, Anduril Contract, Neutron Updates And More,” by Adam Eckert, reports that Rocket Lab USA Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB) shares climbed after the space company posted first-quarter revenue of $148.7 million, up 64% year over year and above analyst estimates, while investors also reacted positively to new defense-related business including a contract with Anduril Industries and updates on the company’s …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) agreed to pay $12.75 million in civil penalties on Friday to settle allegations that the automaker had illegally sold OnStar driver data to brokers without customer consent, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

From OnStar To Brokers

GM’s OnStar system tracked and recorded driving behavior, including rapid acceleration, hard braking, speeding and precise geolocation, and allegedly sold data from hundreds of thousands of Californians to brokers Verisk Analytics (NYSE:VRSK) and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, generating roughly $20 million, according …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) reportedly committed more than $40 billion to AI equity investments in early 2026, anchored by a $30 billion bet on OpenAI.

Chipmaker Doubles Down on Ecosystem Bets

Beyond OpenAI, NVDA announced seven multi-billion-dollar deals in publicly traded companies, including up to $3.2 billion in Corning Inc. (NYSE:GLW) and up to $2.1 billion in data center operator IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN), CNBC reported on Saturday.

According to FactSet data, the multinational technology company participated in roughly two dozen private startup investment rounds in 2026 alone.

Circular Capital Or Competitive Moat?

Critics have pointed out that Nvidia is …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Sitting on cash might sound safe, but for some investors right now, it feels anything but. One investor on Reddit recently described the experience as a “mental drag,” saying they have been holding about 30% of their portfolio in cash because they “fundamentally refuse to pay these premiums for mature businesses.”

The problem? The market keeps going up.

When Discipline Starts To Hurt

The investor said that “the psychological toll of holding cash right now is brutal,” as finding stocks with a true margin of safety has become nearly impossible, with many high-quality companies trading at “25-30x forward earnings” and appearing “priced to perfection.” While their cash is earning around 5% in short-term Treasurys, it still feels like underperforming as “the broader indices just blindly grind up every single week.”

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That disconnect is where the stress kicks in. Holding cash is supposed to give you options, but instead it just feels like watching gains slip by. After about 18 months of waiting, the investor said they’re starting to wonder if their patience is running out.

The situation highlights a core tension in value investing. Traditional advice encourages patience and discipline. It was summed up by one commenter as, “the market is a no-called-strike game and you just wait for your pitch.” But in a market that rarely offers obvious bargains, that patience can start to feel like paralysis.

Investors Push Back On The Strategy

Many other investors pushed back hard, arguing that the market has offered plenty of chances to buy. Some pointed to recent dips where major companies briefly traded at more reasonable valuations, saying “it was basically shooting fish in a barrel” during those periods.

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Others argued the problem is not the market, but expectations. Waiting for extremely low entry prices can result in missing solid long-term opportunities. “You cannot wait for the perfect price,” one investor in the thread said. Another added that anchoring to unrealistic targets can leave investors “sitting on the sidelines during a multi-year rally.”

A common suggestion was to take a more flexible approach. Instead of going all in or staying entirely in cash, investors recommended gradually deploying capital. “If the price isn’t quite there but getting close, take a small position to start,” one commenter said, suggesting a partial entry instead of waiting indefinitely.

Others took an even simpler view: stop trying to time the market altogether. “Just [dollar-cost average] into the market and forget,” one person wrote, pointing to index funds as an easier alternative for those struggling with stock picking.

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The Psychological Trade-Off

Still, not everyone thinks holding cash is a mistake. Some investors argued that the discomfort is actually part of the process. “The psychological toll you are describing is real and it is actually the feature, not the bug, of a disciplined value framework,” one commenter said.

From that perspective, the pressure to abandon discipline is exactly what leads to poor decisions later. Holding cash during expensive markets can feel wrong in the moment, but …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Real estate investor Grant Cardone is once again sparking debate with his take on personal finance, this time targeting one of the most common pieces of advice: building an emergency fund. 

“I don’t believe in saving for emergencies!” he said in a recent post on X. “Instead I invest all my cash and produce my way out of [emergencies].”

Cardone further said that instead of holding cash, he prefers putting money into assets that generate income or offer tax advantages. That includes “something that potentially can provide income” like ads, people or equipment, along with “investments that provide passive monthly cash flow as result of the investment” and deals that can “reduce taxes” through mechanisms like bonus depreciation.

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Why Critics Say Timing Matters

While some praised the mindset as bold and focused on growth, many in the thread pushed back on the practicality of the approach. A recurring theme was that Cardone’s strategy depends heavily on having strong, consistent income in the first place.

One response pointed out that the approach can fall apart quickly without that foundation, adding that “one slow month, one health event, one deal that falls through” can leave someone exposed if there is no financial buffer.

Others focused on the timing problem. As one commenter put it, “emergencies don’t always wait for investments to become liquid or income-producing.” That concern showed up repeatedly, with many emphasizing that investments, even good ones, aren’t always easy to access in a crisis.

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The Liquidity Debate

Some people agreed with Cardone and said emergency funds have their own problems. “An emergency fund sitting still is just inflation bait,” one reply said, meaning cash just sits there and loses value over time while investments keep growing.

Still, even some who agreed with the general idea stopped short of endorsing it fully. A more balanced take suggested that people should “have an emergency plan even if you don’t have an emergency fund,” highlighting the need for some kind of safety net, whether it is cash, credit or highly liquid assets.

Critics also warned about worst-case scenarios. “A liquid safety net prevents forced liquidation,” one person wrote, adding that without reserves, people may be forced to sell investments at the worst possible time. Others were more direct, saying that having “no reserves” while relying on leverage is “how people get wiped out when things go wrong.”

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Another point raised was relatability. Several responses questioned whether the advice applies to most people at all, with one asking, “Is the goal here to be unrelatable to 95% of the population?”

At the end of the day, the debate is really about choosing between trying to make more money and making sure you’re protected if something goes wrong. Cardone’s …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Soccer icon-turned-sports mogul David Beckham took advantage of a clause in his Major League Soccer contract to establish a $25 million sports franchise 13 years ago, which Forbes now values at a whopping $1.2 billion.

Beckham Was Going to Become ‘Half A Film Star’

Beckham shocked the sports world, and even his own mother, when he left Europe’s big soccer leagues to join the LA Galaxy in 2007. The MLS was only 13 years old at the time, and crowds were often sparse, while some questioned the real motive for the switch.

After leaving Real Madrid for the U.S., President Ramon Calderon publicly lashed out at Beckham. Beckham was going to Hollywood to become “half a film star,” Calderon reportedly said.

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But hidden in Beckham’s contract was the option to buy an expansion franchise for $25 million, which he exercised in 2014, establishing Inter Miami. A team of business partners joined him in the deal, including local businessman Jorge Mas, who had unsuccessfully tried to buy the Miami Marlins baseball team. Masayoshi Son, CEO of Japanese tech giant SoftBank, was also involved in the deal.

Beckham Has The Last Laugh With Savvy Business Moves 

Beckham has since resoundingly answered his critics as the $25 million deal looks like a steal. Billionaire Mohamed Mansour and his business partners had to pay a record-breaking fee of $500 million for the new San Diego FC expansion team, according to the New York Times.

As Beckham’s vision continues to be fulfilled with the club moving into a brand new stadium, one of his savviest moves was to tempt another of soccer’s superstars, Argentine Lionel Messi, to play for Inter Miami. 

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“Thirteen years ago, I announced Miami was my choice. We had no name. We had no fans. We had no stadium,” Beckham was quoted as saying by ESPN, as the stadium hosted its first match. “We are champions of the MLS. We have the best player in the history of the game playing in Miami. Dreams really can come true.”

The club has gone from strength to strength with Beckham’s guidance, and Forbes said that Inter Miami now has a revenue of $180 million, with $50 million of operating income, while it attracts major sponsors like Adidas.

However, it is still Beckham’s former club, Real Madrid, that tops the list of the most valuable teams in the sport with a valuation said to be $6.75 billion. Alongside the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, Real Madrid is one of only two sports teams to have crossed the $1 billion revenue barrier.

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If the future sounds like a sci-fi script, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is treating it like a production schedule. The difference is that instead of hiring more workers, he’s talking about replacing the idea of workers altogether.

“We’re at the very early stage of the intelligence Big Bang,” Musk said at Y Combinator’s AI Startup School last year. He added, “I hope civilization’s around in 100 years. If it is around, it’s going to look very different from civilization today.”

He then pushed the idea further. “I’d predict that there’s going to be at least five times as many humanoid robots as there are humans,” Musk said. “Maybe 10 times.”

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That prediction lands differently with the full context. Musk is not describing incremental automation. He is describing a world where labor scales independently of people.

A Future Where Machines Outnumber Humans And Redefine Labor

If robots outnumber humans by that margin, labor becomes a function of deployment, not population. That shifts the foundation of entire industries.

Sectors built on repetition, logistics, and physical effort would likely move first. But the impact would not stay contained there. Once output is tied to systems instead of people, growth no longer follows a steady line.

Tesla’s humanoid robot program reflects that direction. The focus is not novelty. It is scale.

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The Kardashev Scale Shows How Early This Still Is

Musk tied the future of robotics to energy, using what’s known as the Kardashev scale—a way scientists rank civilizations based on how much energy they can use—to show how early humanity still is.

“One way to look at the progress of civilization is percentage completion Kardashev,” Musk said at the event. He continued, “If you’re in a Kardashev scale 1, you’ve harnessed all the energy of a planet. In my opinion, we’ve only harnessed maybe 1% or 2% of Earth’s energy.”

He expanded on what comes next. “So we’ve got a long way to go to the Kardashev scale 1,” Musk said. “Then Kardashev 2, you’ve harnessed all the energy of a sun, which would be, I don’t know, a billion times more energy than Earth, maybe closer to a trillion. And then Kardashev 3 would be all the energy of a galaxy. We’re pretty far from that.”

That framing shifts the conversation. It is not just about robots. It is about capacity. More energy supports more machines, and more machines increase output.

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Financial Reality Starts Before the Future Fully Arrives

Most people are not planning for a century. They are thinking about the next 5, 10, or 20 years. That is where this starts to matter.

A financial advisor can help turn this kind of shift into something practical. That could mean building exposure to industries tied to artificial intelligence, robotics, and energy while keeping portfolios balanced.

It also means preparing for changes in …

Full story available on Benzinga.com