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.”…

CoreWeave (CRWV) is expected to start trading Friday March 28. At the midpoint of its IPO price range, $51/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 many other…

Let me start with a prediction: Interest rates are going to fall this year—and by more than most people think. When that happens, bonds—including one discounted 8.7%-paying bond fund we’ll get into shortly—are poised to head skyward. Rates down, bonds up. That’s the law of Bond-land. It’s a simple fact that a lot of people, hopelessly caught up in the “tariffs cause inflation” storyline, are missing. Bessent (and Trump) Go Over Jay Powell’s Head Forget about the Fed standing pat on rates last week. Forget about Jay Powell saying he’s waiting for more clarity on the Trump administration’s policies before…

The last postings described the market conditions for the magnificent seven stocks plus one. Two stocks now stand out: Tesla and Amazon. The weekly cycles of the S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite, and the 1-4-10 year cycle combination for the Dow Jones have all bottomed, so the market is due to rally through April. Tesla’s monthly cycle has bottomed and price has turned up. The stock is oversold both daily and weekly. And, if bearish sentiment is a price propellant through the application of contrary opinion, this stock has this additional booster. April, May, and June have been the strongest months…

Did you know corporate bankruptcies hit a 14-year high in 2024? Almost 700 companies filed for bankruptcy, and among them were big name companies like Red Lobster, Spirit Airlines, Big Lots, Party City and more. As Trump shakes up the global economic landscape, many business models look increasingly wobbly. I’m not surprised to see many stocks plummet even if the company beat earnings expectations. For example, AI chipmaker Marvell Technology (MRVL) beat both revenue and EPS estimates, but its stock fell more than 18% on the day of earnings. Even beats aren’t sending shares soaring anymore, as investors look past…

Kuaishou Q4 Earnings Review Online video platform and social media company Kuaishou Technology (1024 HK) reported Q4 and 2024 financial results after the Hong Kong market closed overnight. The company’s full-year 2024 results were strong as revenue rose by +12% year-over-year (YoY), adjusted net income rose by +72%, and adjusted EPS rose by +74%, though Q4 numbers were a touch light. The press release and conference call were all about AI integration, as “users can now generate premium videos with a simple prompt or picture” using the company’s Kling AI 1.6 model. In the Q&A portion of the call, an…

Broadcom’s explosive AI-driven growth, strong free cash flow, and key partnerships position it for massive long-term upside By Nabeel Bukhari Broadcom Inc is a semiconductor giant, making the chips and infrastructure that power the most advanced computing systems in the world. Broadcom’s technology is everywhere, whether it’s the hyperscalers such as Amazon and Alphabet training large AI models or enterprises integrating AI-driven applications. But the more interesting thing is that the company just delivered another blowout quarter, with revenue exploding and AI-related sales skyrocketing. It’s also very profitable, with a very high expected adjusted EBITDA margin, which is rare in…

The Federal Open Market Committee is still broadly expected to cut interest rates in 2025 despite holding rates steady for the first two meetings of 2025. The next cut might come in June. Lower short-term interest rates could help move mortgage rates a little lower in 2025 according to most expectations. Currently the average 30-year mortgage rate stands at 6.7% according to FRED Economic data. Long-term mortgage rates have broadly remained in a 6% to 7% range since late 2022 with no obvious trend. FOMC Interest Rate Cuts Expected In 2025 The FOMC is expected to cut interest rates in…