Key News Asian equities, despite US involvement/escalation concerns in the Middle East, were mixed, led higher by Japan, Taiwan, and surging South Korea, while Hong Kong, Thailand, and Pakistan underperformed. The US dollar finally showed its reserve currency status outperforming most Asian currencies except for the Yen and Singapore dollar. It was an interesting divergence in the region as Hong Kong growth stocks underperformed for the second day in a row on light volumes, indicating investors’ limited risk appetite against the geopolitical backdrop. Fairly uneventful risk off night with little news, except for Mainland investors buying the Hong Kong dip…

According to NextEarningsDate.com, the Nike next earnings date is projected to be 6/26 after the close, with earnings estimates of $0.11/share on $10.70 Billion of revenue. Looking back, the recent Nike earnings history looks like this: The company has an impressive long-term earnings per share chart: And with equally impressive revenue growth: But earnings reports can often uniquely bring abrupt volatility to a stock, in either direction, as investors digest the fundamental details. And that volatility can be a stock options trader’s dream come true — so such traders will be interested to know that Nike has options available that…

Still wondering if AI will replace human workers? Well, you can stop. Because it’s already happening—and boosting corporate profits (and AI dividends!) as it does. That’s tough news for workers, of course. But there’s a silver lining for those of us investing for dividends. Because the “growth-without-hiring” trend AI has touched off is setting up one of the strongest income opportunities I’ve seen in years. (I’ll name three AI plays yielding up to 8.5% below.) Wait, AI is setting the stage for big dividends? I know. AI is known for a lot of things—many of which have been, er, less…

Tesco shares (LON:TSCO) have had a relatively upbeat reaction over the past week on the back of a solid Q1 trading update. As the stock closes in on its 5-year high of 397p, this begs the question of whether the shares are still worth buying. Sunny Update Britain’s biggest supermarket had quite a stellar quarter, as group sales increased 3.7% to £17.85 billion. More promisingly, the company saw positive sales growth across all its retail divisions – the first time in more than a year. This strong momentum was primarily driven by Tesco’s UK and ROI divisions, where their collective…

Researchers tracking prices at major retailers are seeing prices trend up after tariffs, but at a relatively modest rate. The paper titled ‘Tracking the Short-Run Price Impact of U.S. Tariffs’ from researchers at Harvard and the Universidad de San Andres, tracks over 300,000 products across 4 major U.S. retailers and shows imported goods rising in prices at a faster rate than domestic products. Specifically since early March, imported goods have seen approximately 3% price increase to June 12 when this iteration of the study concludes. That’s significantly smaller than the tariffs applied to many goods, especially since products from China…

There’s a 7.3%-paying AI fund out there that looks like the perfect buy—7.3% yield, growing payout and special dividends. Yet, if you hold this one, I urge you to sell yesterday. It’s a dilemma we’ve all faced: There’s a stock or fund we’re aching to buy—but there are just one or two things holding us back. That’s certainly the case here. In fact, at pretty well any other time, we’d fall all over ourselves to buy this dominating tech play. At my CEF Insider service, we’ve done just that in the past. But not today. Today we’re putting this one…

Key News Asian equities traded quietly overnight as investors remained cautious amid ongoing developments in the Middle East, with the US dollar strengthening against local currencies. Both Hong Kong and Mainland China opened higher but quickly faded on light volume, as value, dividend, and low-volatility factors outperformed growth stocks. Hong Kong internet stocks held up better than most, even as several growth subsectors, including biotech and EV/hybrid, saw profit-taking, with notable declines in highflyers like Pop Mart (-6.04%), Laopu Gold (-6.67%), and Mixue Group (-5.85%). Biotech stocks fell despite the National Medical Products Association’s proposal to fast-track drug clinical trial…

Some 95% of respondents to a World Gold Council (WGC) survey expect central banks’ gold reserves to increase over the next 12 months, according to an organisation report. Expectations have steadily risen in recent years, the council’s research shows. The figure stood at 81% last year, 71% in 2023 and 61% in 2022. The study also showed that 43% of a total of 72 respondents “also believe that their own gold reserves will also increase over the same period and none anticipate a decline in gold holdings.” This is up from 29% last year and represented an all-time high. The…

Rental equipment specialist Ashtead reversed on Tuesday, as tough market conditions forced profits lower despite record revenues. At £43.51 per share, the FTSE 100 company was last dealing 0.7% lower on the day. Lower equipment sales meant that headline revenue dropped 1% in the 12 months to March, to $10.8 billion. But record revenues across its core rental operations helped reduce the top-line reversal. Rental revenues at the Sunbelt Rentals owner increased 4% year on year, to $10 billion. Operating profit reversed 4% to $2.6 billion, while adjusted pre-tax profit dropped 5% to $2.1 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax,…

Many investors believe they’re playing it safe by holding a variety of U.S. stocks and mutual funds—but that surface-level mix may not offer the protection they think. We discuss the real meaning of diversification with Dave Ragan, president of Grunden Financial Advisory, based in Denton, Texas, and how a well-structured portfolio can help manage risk to build a resilient financial future. Light: A lot of investors think they’re diversified just because they own a mix of stocks and mutual funds. Is that sufficient? Ragan: Not quite. On the surface, holding a range of U.S. stocks, bonds or sector-specific funds can…