Tag Archives: Featured

Last week, chip maker Intel delivered its seventh consecutive quarterly earnings beat with revenue growing 25% year over year, its fastest growth since 2011. Its non-GAAP EPS of $0.42 doubled the $0.21 consensus. Data Center and AI revenue surged 59%, and 18A foundry output exceeded internal targets by roughly 25%. Intel shares initially jumped as much as 13% after hours, but despite the outstanding earnings report, the shares gave up much of their gains....

The democratization of urban planning, the politicization of the environmental movement, and the no-growth movement came together to erect enormous barriers to housing construction in California. [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

The up and down experience with free markets in Eastern Europe following the fall of the Iron Curtain shows that free markets, while undermining the state, do not operate apart from state interference. [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

There is one major driver in the capital markets today: A sharp drop in oil prices as the US and Iran have inexplicably not attacked for the past three nights. There is speculation in the press that the US decision was partly motivated by concerns over diminishing supplies of air defenses (e.g., Patriot interceptors) after the two-week assault, but the Trump administration played this down. Crude oil prices are off 7-8% and this encouraged further unwinding of the...

After defeating the British in the American Revolution, Americans had the opportunity to set the country on a long path of freedom. They chose to empower government, instead. [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

Every time interest rates rise, the "bond bears" flood the media with commentary suggesting US Treasuries are no longer a "safe asset." The 30-year Treasury bond closed last Thursday at 5.17%. Meanwhile, the 10-year touched 4.71%, its highest print since January 2025, while Brent crude pushed above $100 as the Iran conflict escalated. Add a Fed meeting this week, and right on schedule, the Treasury safe asset debate reopened. A careful new paper from Hanno...

Thursday's selloff, led by Alphabet down 7% and Tesla down nearly 15%, was a great example of a story that has been unfolding throughout most of the year. While the largest stocks led the market lower last Thursday, many other stocks, especially small caps, were flat to higher on the day. That divergence has been a defining feature of 2026. This year, the most followed gauge of small caps, the Russell 2000, has gained roughly 17% year to date, on pace for its best...

The foreign exchange market is quiet, and the US dollar is trading with a firmer bias. The widening Middle East war has lifted September WTI to $90 and October Brent to $93. Interest rates are firm and 10-year benchmark rates in a few European countries, and the United States are at new highs for the year. These developments overshadow today’s ECB meeting, for which there is practically no chance of a hike after last month’s move. Still, there is not reason to expect...

BancaStato has joined Sygnum‘s B2B banking network to launch regulated digital asset services for its clients. According to the company, the move makes BancaStato the first bank on Avaloq‘s Software-as-a-Service environment to enable clients to buy, hold, and sell crypto via API with Sygnum directly from within its e-banking platforms. Through the API integration, BancaStato clients can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Solana. Account holders can execute market...

Crony capitalism—where politics help decide success and failure in the markets—is a huge problem in our society. The solution is laissez-faire capitalism in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter