Author: starbpo

If investors wish to protect their portfolios against tail-risk situations like tariff escalation, they should trust in reliable commodities like gold and oil. The strategists at Goldman Sachs, under the leadership of Samantha Dart, have reaffirmed their prediction that the price of gold will reach $3,000 per ounce in the second quarter of 2026. Late Thursday saw the note’s publication as gold futures (GC00) broke a previous record by pushing beyond $2,850 an ounce for the first time. On Friday, the price of gold was about $2,846 per ounce. The potential for an asset price to shift sharply due to…

The meeting between President Donald Trump and Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia Corp., took place at the White House on Friday afternoon. The chip giant has been under scrutiny since DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, made a major impact. Huang’s visit is another example of how Big Tech CEOs are reaching out to Trump. Last Monday, the president was sworn in by top executives from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) (GOOGL), and Meta Platforms Inc. (META). Prior to the start of Trump’s presidency, business executives also visited his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and organized…

Following the FDA’s approval of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s non-opioid pain reliever, the company’s stock jumped ahead of Friday’s market opening. Vertex stated in a press release late Thursday that it is the first new class of pain medication to be approved in over two decades. Shares of the pharmaceutical business (VRTX) increased 8.3% after closing the regular session down 0.7%. Adults experiencing moderate-to-severe acute pain will be offered Journavx, also known as suzetrigine, a twice-daily oral medication that costs $15.50 per 50 milligram pill. Conventional opioids stop pain signals from reaching the brain by binding to proteins on nerve cells.…

After DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence company, appeared to shock investors’ perceptions of winners and losers in the stock market’s AI obsession, the technology sector of the S&P 500 just finished its worst week since early September. Fears about DeepSeek abruptly surfaced in the U.S. equities market, dragging down damaged tech firms and causing the S&P 500 SPX and Nasdaq Composite COMP to conclude Friday with weekly losses. Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), a manufacturer of AI chips, saw a $552 billion decline in market value this week through Friday as its stock struggled to recover following a 17% drop on Monday.…

On Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump made further remarks regarding his threat to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. “We’ll be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a number of reasons,” he told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House during the final 30 minutes of U.S. stock trading. “The individuals who have put so much and so horribly into our country are number one. Fentanyl and all other narcotics that have entered the nation rank second. Thirdly, we are providing Canada and Mexico with enormous subsidies in the form of deficits. Later, Trump was…

If you were worried that Meta Platforms Inc. would change its extravagant spending habits after the DeepSeek scandal, you should reconsider. In addition to maintaining the $60 billion to $65 billion capital expenditures for this year that CEO Mark Zuckerberg initially announced on Facebook last week, Meta (META) management also committed to continuing to make significant investments in artificial intelligence in the years to come. Zuckerberg mentioned “the hundreds of billions of dollars” that Meta will eventually invest in AI infrastructure during the earnings call. Shares of Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), which were up 1% in Wednesday’s extended session, benefited from…

Are you selling your home? You may have to wait a long time. Throughout January, mortgage rates stayed high, which depleted the housing market’s vigor. Industry sources report that home sales have stagnated despite a 1 basis point decrease in the 30-year mortgage rate to 6.95% on January 30. Compared to a year ago, mortgage rates haven’t altered significantly. According to Freddie Mac data, the 30-year rate averaged 6.63%. However, the costly housing market is wearing on buyers. According to data from real estate firm Redfin (RDFN) and real estate website Realtor.com, homes on the market are selling at the…

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s stock fell almost 8% during Thursday’s extended trading session after the struggling specialty retailer suspended its quarterly payout. The pharmacy division of Walgreens (WBA) has seen lower prescription drug reimbursement rates, competition from online behemoths like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), and a decline in foot traffic at its locations due to a shift to online shopping. In light of its long-term recovery initiatives, the firm said Thursday that management is still working to “evaluate and refine” the chain’s capital allocation policy. According to the company, the dividend halt is intended to strengthen Walgreens’ balance sheet by lowering…

Despite continued revenue decreases in the most recent quarter, Intel Corp. surpassed its expectations on a carefully monitored margin statistic, suggesting that the company was beginning to recover financially as Chips Act funds started to flow. Nevertheless, the company’s first-quarter outlook for the top and bottom lines fell short of projections. Intel (INTC) forecasted quarterly revenue between $11.7 billion and $12.7 billion, which is less than the $12.9 billion that is currently anticipated. According to John Pitzer, corporate vice president of investor relations at Intel, the company anticipates a more severe sequential slowdown than it usually observes for the first…

Despite concerns that China’s DeepSeek platform would provide less expensive ways to use artificial intelligence, bond investors gave Oracle Corp. a $7.75 billion boost of confidence on Thursday to help refinance a massive mountain of old debt. The funding was announced approximately a week after Larry Ellison, the executive chair of Oracle (ORCL), Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of SoftBank Group Corp. (JP:9984) (SFTBY), and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, met at the White House to announce their new Stargate partnership. The partnership calls for an initial investment of $100 billion to develop data centers and energy infrastructure in…