Dealmakers’ post-election optimism has fizzled amid Trump-induced economic uncertainty. Are deals dead or just delayed? Inthe days after Donald Trump sealed his return to the presidency last November, Wall Street celebrated the prospect of lower taxes, looser regulation and less fervent antitrust enforcement—all setting the stage for a quick resurgence of merger and acquisition deals. Certainly conditions seemed ripe for an M&A boom. The number of deals had been declining since 2021, partly because of the perceived anti-merger views of President Joe Biden’s regulators, but even more so because of the Federal Reserve’s campaign, beginning in March 2022, to quash…

Gold is no longer the “barbarous relic” that legendary economist John Maynard Keynes once dubbed it. In fact, gold is a solid asset class, whose price has escalated through the years, and especially in times of unease. You can buy gold bars or coins or funds that hold the metal, such as SPDR Gold Shares. Don’t look for market-beating returns over time, though, just solid ones. The S&P 500 has gained 12.8% annually over the past 10 years, Morningstar data indicate. Meanwhile, over the same span, the gold exchange-traded fund gained 9.4% yearly. When things are rocky in the world,…

I originally made Skechers USA, Inc. (SKX) a Long Idea in May 2018 and have reiterated my bullish view on the stock many times. Since my last update, SKX has outperformed as a Long Idea, but most recently, shares plummeted after reporting 4Q24 earnings. This drop begs the question, does Skechers still provide quality risk/reward? As I’ll show below, the answer is yes. SKX offers favorable Risk/Reward based on the company’s: consistent revenue and profit growth, domestic and international sales growth, rising market share, high customer satisfaction, and cheap stock valuation. What’s Working Quality Fundamentals Skechers has grown revenue by…

What’s better than a set-it-and-forget-it retirement savings strategy? Since 2006, 401(k) plan sponsors have been able to effortlessly encourage their employees to save. Moreover, the preferred savings vehicle—the target-date fund—clearly explains what it does and for whom it’s intended. By attaching a projected retirement date to its name (the target date), it’s immediately apparent to the retirement saver why that fund makes sense. The beauty of a TDF is that it automatically adjusts the portion of your retirement savings from riskier assets, such as stocks, to safer assets, like bonds, as you age. You don’t have to do anything. Once…

Concentrix has been named as a Top 25 dividend stock, according the most recent Dividend Channel ‘’DividendRank” report. The report noted that among the coverage universe, CNXC shares displayed both attractive valuation metrics and strong profitability metrics. The report also cited the strong quarterly dividend history at Concentrix , and favorable long-term multi-year growth rates in key fundamental data points.The Top 25 DividendRank’ed Stocks » The report stated, ”Dividend investors approaching investing from a value standpoint are generally most interested in researching the strongest most profitable companies, that also happen to be trading at an attractive valuation. That’s what we…

The average S&P 500 drawdown during a recession since 1990 is 40%. Recent economic data show that we are now careening towards a slowdown. Check out the bearish trends from Atlanta’s GDPNow forecast: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is standing watch as DOGE shifts resources and money away from the public sector. The Secretary needs lower long-term interest rates so that he can sell bonds without breaking Uncle Sam’s bank! How does this work? Last month alone, DOGE chopped 63,000 jobs. Bessent welcomes this softening of the labor market—increasing the available labor supply—because he has $9 trillion in federal debt to…

Key News Asian equities had a relatively strong day, led by Malaysia and Japan despite the news of a 25% U.S. tariff on imported cars. However, South Korea and Taiwan saw declines of more than 1%. Hong Kong and Mainland China opened lower but managed to grind higher before fading in the afternoon. President Trump’s comments that a TikTok sale in exchange for lower tariffs might have helped. Vice Premier and lead trade negotiator He Lifeng also had a “candid” conversation with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on trade and fentanyl. You’ll see headlines on how badly January and February…

FTSE 100 retailer Next took off on Thursday after releasing strong full-year financials and upgrading sales and profit guidance for the current period. At £106.20 per share, Next’s share price was last 6.3% higher on the day and the blue-chip index’s biggest riser. Total sales at Next rose 8.2% during the 12 months to January, to £6.32 billion, propelled by a 5.8% improvement in full-price sales. As a consequence, pre-tax profit soared through the £1 billion marker for the first time last year. At £1.01 billion, this represented a 10.1% year on year increase. Next raised the full-year dividend to…

CoreWeave (CRWV) is expected to start trading Friday, March 28. At the midpoint of its IPO price range, $51 a share, CoreWeave earns an unattractive stock rating. While CoreWeave’s expected $27 billion valuation is lower than the previously reported $35 billion target, it remains much too high. CoreWeave leases GPUs, CPU’s, and equipment within data centers to customers. Its solutions, connected via “proprietary software and cloud services”, allow customers to deploy and develop artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. With booming revenue growth, CoreWeave and its bankers are looking to capitalize on the AI hype – the same market narrative that’s driven…

Key News Asian equities rebounded except for Mainland China and India as President Donald Trump appeared to soften his tariff talk, though folks might be getting tariff PTSD or started to ignore it. Here is some big news that you likely will only read here: Vice Premier Zhang Quoqing visited unnamed “platform enterprises,” i.e., internet companies in “food delivery, online retail, live streaming E-Commerce, and transportation services.” It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to guess the companies he met with (Meituan, Alibaba/JD/PDD, Bytedance, and Didi). The Vice Premier “has urged intensified efforts to promote the healthy development of the platform economy.”…