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Articles by Robert Chen
Iran Puts Economic and Civilian Targets in U.S. Warning
Iran’s threat to widen strikes to economic and civilian targets if the United States attacks puts the potential consequences beyond a confrontation confined to military sites. Washington, meanwhile, is trying to move more servicemembers and diplomatic staff out of harm’s way. Tehran retains missile and drone stockpiles, according to WSJ US Business.
PC Shipments Fall 21% as RAM Costs Test Buyer Budgets
Global PC shipments fell 21% year-over-year in Q3 2026, according to Counterpoint Research, exposing the limits of buyers’ willingness to absorb higher hardware prices. After months of increases linked to RAM costs, the industry faces a difficult trade-off: protect the money earned on each machine or make computers affordable enough to keep replacement purchases moving. The decline is consistent with earlier reports from IDC and Omdia.
DFAC’s $154.6 Million Buying Round Spans Energy and Autos
U.S. Core Equity 2 (DFAC; exchange not supplied) added Ovintiv and Carvana during a $154.6 million stock-buying round on Monday, Oct. 19. For investors in the $88.17 billion fund, the more useful signal is the balance between purchases and sales: the fund added $62.6 million net while selling positions in 27 holdings. Those figures describe a portfolio adjustment, not enough evidence of a sweeping change in direction.
TerrAscend Sets Up Earnings Review After Stock Retreat
TerrAscend Corp. (TSX: TSND; OTCQX: TSNDF) has announced a conference call to discuss its third-quarter 2026 earnings, setting up an opportunity for investors to assess operating performance after a decline in its OTCQX shares. The North American cannabis operator announced the planned call on Oct. 19, 2026. The announcement establishes an upcoming earnings discussion, not an earnings outcome: the information available does not include revenue, profit, cash flow or management guidance.
A $4 Pay Gap Makes Free Flights a Retirement Job Benefit
A 65-year-old retiree will take a part-time job at the Southwest ticket counter rather than another job paying $4 more an hour. The deciding benefit is free flights, which can have value to her household without appearing as wages on a pay stub. Her choice turns a familiar job comparison around. Instead of asking only which employer pays more, she is asking which job leaves her better able to afford the life she wants.
ASSA ABLOY Agrees to Sell HID’s PKI Business to Vista
ASSA ABLOY AB (ASAZF; exchange not identified in the supplied market data) has agreed to sell HID’s Public Key Infrastructure business unit to Vista Equity Partners. The transaction would remove a specialized digital-security operation from the Swedish door-opening and access-products provider, but the available announcement details do not establish its financial impact. The central distinction is between a change in ownership and a demonstrated improvement in shareholder value.
Chemical Dividend Cuts Put Income Durability in Focus
Dow (DOW) and LyondellBasell (LYB) have cut their dividends while Air Products (APD) has continued raising its payout. For investors who depend on those payments, the split is a reminder that companies grouped under the same sector label can offer very different kinds of income risk. The central issue is not simply which stock offers the largest dividend yield.
Costco Sets $1.47 Dividend With November Payment Date
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.47 per share, giving shareholders a defined cash payment to weigh separately from changes in the stock’s price. The dividend is payable November 13, 2026, to shareholders of record on October 30, 2026. The declaration establishes the amount and schedule of this distribution.
Big Tech's $750 Billion Buildout Starts With Land and Power
The cost of a data center begins before a chip arrives and continues after the building opens. Land, electrical infrastructure, cooling equipment and computing hardware all have to work together before a facility can turn an investment into usable computing capacity. That physical chain is the backdrop to roughly $750 billion in capital expenditures expected this year from Meta Platforms Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google owner Alphabet Inc.
Airbus and Kratos Fly U740-Valkyrie, Clearing Early Hurdle
Airbus SE (EADSY) and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (KTOS) have completed the first flight of the U740-Valkyrie, clearing an early engineering hurdle while leaving the program’s commercial prospects to be demonstrated. The companies announced the successful flight Monday at a test facility in Northern Europe. The immediate significance is concrete but limited: the aircraft has flown. That is a different kind of evidence from a design proposal or development ambition.
NEAR’s 121% Rally Leaves Altcoin Season Unconfirmed
NEAR Protocol (CRYPTO: NEAR) surged 121% over 30 days, providing a striking example of cryptocurrencies outside Bitcoin pulling ahead. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) gained 6.4% during the same period. Eight altcoins delivered returns at least three times Bitcoin’s, raising the question of whether a broader shift in crypto leadership is underway. The evidence supports a narrower conclusion for now: a group of altcoins has substantially outperformed a rising Bitcoin market.
DistroKid Song Removals Leave Artists Seeking Answers
DistroKid’s response to a lawsuit from UMG is reaching artists through the removal of their songs, turning a dispute over artificial intelligence into an immediate question of access and accountability. Artists are complaining on social media that their work disappeared without notice. DistroKid has confirmed that the takedowns are a direct response to UMG’s claims.
Farm Water Rights Complicate Early Social Security Income
A farmer collecting Social Security early can receive half a million dollars from selling land without triggering the earnings test, yet see a benefit check reduced by a much smaller crop profit. The difference is not the size of the deposit. It is whether the money represents earnings from work or proceeds from an asset. That distinction becomes more complicated when the farm also holds water rights.
FYX Directs $10.1 Million to Mattel and Comstock Resources
First Tr Small Cap (FYX) shifted its portfolio toward Mattel (MAT) and Comstock Resources (CRK) on Oct. 7, buying $5.4 million and $4.7 million, respectively, while selling out of PBF Energy (PBF) and CBIZ (CBZ). The purchases represent a calculated $10.1 million commitment across the added holdings, but the available figures do not establish whether the fund increased its overall investment exposure. The distinction matters for fund holders.
Live Nation Prices $1.4 Billion Debt to Replace 2027 Notes
Live Nation (LYV) has priced a $1.4 billion senior notes offering designed to replace higher-cost debt coming due in 2027 with new borrowing due in 2032. The transaction targets a less expensive borrowing mix and a later repayment deadline, rather than announcing a reduction in debt. The offering includes $730 million in U.S. dollar notes and €600 million in euro notes.
Ellison Family Finances Warner Buyout With $17 Billion
David Ellison and his family invested approximately $17 billion to complete Paramount Skydance Corp.’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., placing a substantial amount of family capital behind the media combination. The figure establishes the scale of the Ellisons’ financial commitment, but it does not by itself establish the acquisition’s total cost, the family’s ownership percentage or the amount of cash now available to the combined business.
IBM’s Sarawak Quantum Plan Has No Disclosed Commercial Terms
IBM (ticker: IBM) has a potential software opportunity attached to a planned quantum center in Sarawak, but the disclosed details do not yet establish a commercial commitment. The center may encourage adoption of Guardium. IBM has disclosed no funding, customers or launch timetable, leaving investors without the information needed to translate that possibility into an earnings expectation.
CFTC Seeks Registration for Leveraged Crypto Exchanges
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is pursuing registration for crypto exchanges that offer leveraged trading, opening a regulatory path under its existing authority after crypto market structure legislation was blocked last month. The proposal, unveiled Monday, concerns digital asset transactions and markets. Its significance lies in the distinction between regulating a transaction under powers the agency already holds and establishing a broader framework through new legislation.
Constellation's Google Power Deals Put Delivery in Focus
Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG) has a substantial power commitment to put before investors: agreements with Google to supply around 3,600 megawatts onto the PJM Interconnection grid. The immediate market response was strong, but the investment question now shifts from the size of the announcement to the economics and delivery obligations behind it. Constellation shares were up 12.58% as of the last trade at 13:47:04 GMT on October 6, 2026. Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc.
AI Control Risks Put Tech Companies Before NYC Council
The New York City Council will hear Monday from former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who has warned that artificial intelligence could become too powerful for humans to control, alongside representatives of major AI companies. Google, OpenAI and Meta are named as facing the council. The hearing brings a consequential business question into a public forum: how can companies demonstrate that increasingly capable AI systems remain subject to meaningful human control?
Inherited IRA Withdrawals Can Begin Before You Need Cash
Leaving an inherited retirement account untouched may look like prudent saving. But for an heir whose parent had already begun required minimum distributions, taking nothing can create a compliance problem rather than preserve flexibility. The scenario is straightforward: someone inherits a parent’s $200,000 traditional individual retirement account, or IRA, at age 62 and makes no withdrawal in the first year.
Amgen’s Cash Flow Sharpens the Biotech Buying Test
Amgen (AMGN) has a concrete starting point in the debate over whether it or Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) is the better biotech investment in 2026: a diversified portfolio of established therapies across oncology and inflammation, supported by robust cash flow. That combination gives investors a business to assess on current operations, rather than on the promise of future medicines alone. It does not, by itself, establish that Amgen is the better stock.
Hassett's AI Growth Bet Faces a 3% Deficit Test
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is making a growth argument about America's fiscal future: artificial intelligence may be delivering more economic value than official data capture, while a smaller federal workforce can reduce government spending. But his acknowledgment that bringing the federal deficit to 3% of gross domestic product requires more attention leaves a central question unresolved: how much of that promise will become measurable budget improvement?
Bond Income Gets Slok's Endorsement as Stocks Advance
Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok called current fixed-income yields “juicy,” offering an endorsement of bond income while the supplied equity-market snapshot showed broad stock benchmarks advancing. The important distinction for investors is between an attractive starting yield and an attractive investment after accounting for interest-rate exposure, credit risk and the time the money must remain invested.
AMD’s 35% Rally Puts AI Earnings Expectations on Trial
AMD’s 35% stock rally has shifted the investment question from whether artificial intelligence can support growth to how much growth shareholders are already paying for. The chipmaker has reached a fresh 52-week high, while analysts remain divided over whether its AI opportunity justifies its valuation. The latest trading snapshot shows that demand for the shares remains strong. AMD was up 2.38% on the day as of October 2, 2026, at 17:36:39 GMT, ahead of the supplied broad-market benchmark proxies.
G7 Diesel Release Sets a Four-Month Test for Fuel Markets
The G7's planned diesel-stock release puts the focus on how quickly stored fuel can reach buyers, rather than on the headline volume alone. The group's leaders said in a joint statement that they will deploy 100 million barrels of reserves over the next four months, while oil prices were mixed. The announcement establishes a supply commitment and a delivery window.
Nuveen Completes Schroders Deal With $2.6 Trillion Platform
Nuveen has completed its acquisition of Schroders, bringing together an asset-management business with $2.6 trillion in assets under management and operations in more than 40 markets. The next test is whether that reach can translate into better service for clients without disrupting the investment teams and relationships they already rely on. Completion shifts the focus from getting the transaction done to making the combined business work.
AEON Says FDA Meeting Clarified ABP-450 Botox Biosimilar Path
AEON Biopharma (AEON) told investors on Wednesday that feedback from a Type 2b meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has clarified the development pathway for ABP-450, the botulinum toxin candidate the company wants to bring to market as a biosimilar to BOTOX.
DOJ Charges Two With Smuggling Fake Ozempic From China
Federal prosecutors have charged two Indian nationals with smuggling counterfeit Ozempic from China into the United States, according to the Department of Justice. The criminal indictment was filed in Florida, and it lands at a moment when the legitimate market for the drug it imitates has never been larger. Ozempic is the semaglutide injection sold by Novo Nordisk, the Danish drugmaker whose American depositary shares trade under NVO.
Vishay Adds a Top-Side Cooled Power Resistor for Cars
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE: VSH) has added a new Automotive Grade power resistor to its Vishay Sfernice line, a thick film device in a compact TO-263 package — better known to circuit designers as the D²PAK — that moves heat out through its top surface rather than down into the board. The company announced the part from Malvern, Pennsylvania on Sept. 29, 2026, and positioned it squarely at automotive applications.
uniQure Shares Fall 38% Despite 48-Month AMT-130 Data
uniQure (QURE) told investors on Tuesday that AMT-130, its investigational one-time gene therapy for Huntington's disease, continued to slow measures of disease progression in patients who have now been followed for as long as 48 months. The market's reaction ran hard in the opposite direction. By 13:46 GMT on Tuesday, with U.S. equity markets open, QURE traded at 24.15, down 38.25% from Monday's close of 39.11.
Bell Canada and Cisco Sign MoU on Sovereign AI for Canada
Bell Canada International Inc. (BCICF.PK) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) said on Tuesday they have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on a sovereign AI infrastructure offering for Canada, pairing a domestic carrier's facilities and network reach with an American vendor's compute and networking stack. A memorandum of understanding is a statement of intent, not a binding contract.
Samsung Puts $1 Billion Into KKR's Nvidia-Backed Helix
Samsung Electronics and five affiliated companies are committing a combined $1 billion to Helix, an artificial-intelligence infrastructure venture launched by private equity firm KKR and backed by Nvidia. The investment, reported by CNBC, is the clearest sign yet that the Korean conglomerate intends to own a piece of the AI build-out rather than simply supply parts into it. The structure matters as much as the sum. This is not a single corporate cheque from Samsung Electronics.
Nvidia's Board Adds $150 Billion to a $235 Billion Buyback
Nvidia (NVDA) has given itself the largest share-repurchase mandate any company has ever announced. The chip maker's board approved an additional $150 billion for buybacks, taking its total outstanding authorization to $235 billion, according to WSJ US Business. Read plainly, the arithmetic implies roughly $85 billion of prior authorization was still on the books before the board acted — an illustrative figure derived by subtracting the new tranche from the new total.
A Bridge Opens at Detroit-Windsor, With Only One Flag Raised
Infrastructure projects are usually the easy part of diplomacy. A bridge gets built, two governments claim credit, somebody cuts a ribbon, and the trucks start rolling. The Gordie Howe International Bridge, which opened in July between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, got the first three steps wrong in a way that will be studied for years: the ceremony marking the completion of one of North America's largest binational construction efforts was attended only by Canadian officials.
Bangladesh Lines Up Its First Dollar Bond, Up to $1 Billion
Bangladesh intends to sell its first foreign-currency sovereign bond within the next three months, targeting proceeds of between $500 million and $1 billion, according to a senior government official cited by Bloomberg Markets. It would be the country's maiden international bond, placing one of Asia's largest economies by population on a funding stage it has so far avoided. The size is modest by global standards, but the significance is structural rather than arithmetic.
XLE Adds $27.9 Million of Exxon in a One-Way Buying Day
The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) added $27.9 million of Exxon Mobil stock on Sept. 23, part of $118.5 million in total purchases for the session. The fund sold nothing. Every one of its 21 positions got bigger. That last detail is the one worth pausing on. A portfolio manager exercising judgment does not raise 21 positions at once and trim none of them. A passive index fund absorbing new money does exactly that, every single time, in fixed proportion. The Sept.
Trump Says Bessent Doesn't Want the AI Czar Job
President Donald Trump said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not take on the artificial intelligence portfolio the White House has been floating, telling listeners that Bessent does not want to be what the president is calling the "Super Intelligence czar." The remark, CNBC reported on Sept.
Third-Party Apps Slip Past the iPhone 18 Pro's Four F-Stops
Apple built a moving iris into the main camera of the iPhone 18 Pro, then handed users four positions to put it in. In the native iOS camera app's manual mode, the choices are f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4 — and the same four-stop ladder applies when the app is driving the aperture itself, without the user touching anything. For a hardware feature that took years of lens engineering to reach a phone, that is a narrow menu.
Greer Says U.S.-China Trade Details Land Monday
The United States and China have agreed on some trade matters after two days of talks involving President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and the specifics will not be public until the start of next week. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the White House's top trade official, said details on the negotiations are coming Monday.
Backlogs, Not Chips: FIX, EME and STRL Ride AI Build-Out
The scarce input in artificial intelligence is starting to look less like silicon and more like a licensed electrician with an open calendar. Three publicly traded contractors — Comfort Systems USA (NYSE: FIX), EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME) and Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ: STRL) — sit at the point where AI capital spending stops being a press release and becomes conduit, chillers, switchgear and graded dirt.
Henry Schein Lifts Revolver to $1.25 Billion, Pushes Maturity to 2031
Henry Schein (HSIC) has reworked its main bank credit line, amending and restating its revolving credit agreement to lift committed borrowing capacity to $1.25 billion and to push the facility's termination date out to 2031. The increase adds $250 million of capacity, and the new maturity extends the prior termination date by more than five years, according to details of the amendment reported by GuruFocus.
Amazon Shuts Meta's Muse Agent Out of Its Storefront
Amazon.com has blocked Meta's shopping agent, Muse, from operating inside its store, according to GuruFocus. The block arrives only weeks after Amazon lost a court fight aimed at keeping Perplexity's shopping agent out — a sequence that says a great deal about how the largest storefront on the internet intends to handle software that shops on a customer's behalf. The market did not treat it as a crisis for either side.
Axon Closes a $1.15 Billion Zero-Coupon Convertible Deal
Axon Enterprise (AXON) has completed a $1.15 billion sale of convertible senior notes that carry a 0% coupon and mature in 2031, a financing that hands the Taser and body-camera maker a large block of cash without an interest bill attached. Alongside the deal, the company funded capped call transactions designed to limit the share dilution the notes could eventually cause, and amended its existing credit agreement. The stated purpose of the raise is to support future expansion.
Federal Judge Blocks New York's $75 Billion Climate Charge
New York's attempt to bill the oil and gas industry for the cost of extreme weather has run into the one obstacle its drafters always knew was coming. A federal judge has ruled that the state's climate superfund statute — signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in December 2024, and designed to collect up to $75 billion from companies that contributed heavily to fossil fuel pollution — conflicts with federal law and cannot take effect.
9/11實錄／那一天，兩座山在我面前崩塌 | 2218期 9/20出刊 | 周刊 | 世界新聞網
世貿原爆點的救援人員。(陳衛國／攝影) 「9/11那天，紐約在災難裡倒了下去，又自己站了起來。我看見了它倒下去的樣子，也看見了它站起來的樣子。從那天起，我跟這座城，算是過命的交情了。」 本文作者Robert Chen(陳衛國)，出生於中國廣東台山，少年即隨家人移民紐約，後在FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology)讀攝影，是最早成為專業商業攝影師的華人移民之一，在業界建立了一定的名氣。 他的攝影工作室開設在原世貿雙子塔附近。9/11當天，他爬上工作室的頂樓目睹了世貿大樓被飛機撞擊和倒下的過程，他一手拿相機，一手攝像，記錄了這一歷史性的時刻。 9/11事件改變了他的心態，他無法平復心情去重執舊業，覺得必須為自己的理想活一回，他關閉了攝影室，全身投入乒乓球館的經營和教練，後來他開過餐廳，現在全身心回到他一生的夢想：拍攝華埠的故事。他寫劇本並籌拍電影。 那天早上，紐約藍得不真實。...
Crusoe's $31 Billion Mark Meets a Data Center Backlash
Crusoe has raised close to $4 billion in new funding, lifting the private AI infrastructure company's valuation to almost $31 billion, chief executive Chase Lochmiller said in an interview with Ed Ludlow on Bloomberg Technology. The money is earmarked for a build-out that spans three layers at once: physical data centers, cloud computing capacity sold on top of them, and managed AI services sold on top of that. That is an unusually wide remit for a company that is still private.
Fortinet Slips to 168.91 With Its Buy Point Just Overhead
Fortinet (FTNT) spent Friday doing the thing chart watchers find most frustrating: it poked above the level that matters, then gave it back. The stock changed hands at 168.91 as of 19:28 GMT on Friday, down 2.13% from a previous close of 172.58, after trading as high as 172.94 and as low as 166.09 in the session.
Timber Checks and the Social Security Earnings Test at 63
A wave of sawmill closures across the South has knocked the floor out from under stumpage prices — the money a landowner receives for timber still standing in the woods. With fewer buyers competing for logs, owners face an unpleasant choice: sell into a weak market now, or hold and watch values drift lower while the nearest mill gate moves further away.
Bond Market Buys the Fed's Inflation Promise as Yields Slip
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates, and Treasury yields went down. That combination looks backwards on its face, and it is the single most informative thing that happened in markets on Thursday. A hike lifts the cost of overnight money. It does not, by itself, lift the yield on a bond that matures years from now. What determines that yield is a chain of expectations: how high the policy rate goes, how long it stays there, and — critically — what inflation does over the life of the bond.
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