A few weeks ago, I, someone who generally abstains from beef but is committed to understanding the modern power lunch, spent about six hours surrounded by hundreds of pounds of raw steak. I arrived at Delmonico's, a storied Wall Street steakhouse, at 7:10 am on a recent Wednesday, late by the restaurant's standards. The first employees had already been there for 10 minutes, vacuuming the many dining rooms and unboxing lettuce in the downstairs prep kitchen. In spending the day at the nearly 200-year-old res ...

Xiaomi Corp (OTC:XIACY) (OTC:XIACF) has shared that it deployed humanoid robots in its EV assembly plant as the auto industry looks towards incorporating robotics into production activities.3 Hours Of Autonomous OperationsThe Chinese tech giant shared that the humanoid robots it deployed successfully achieved 3 hours of autonomous operations, placing self-tapping nuts in the die-casting workshop, CnEVPost reported on Monday, citing a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo by Xiaomi.The robots achieved ...

Core Viewpoint - Renewed conflict in the Middle East is creating new challenges for Asia's central banks, as it revives inflation risks at a time when price pressures had begun to stabilize across the region [1] Group 1 - The conflict in the Middle East is impacting economic stability in Asia, particularly concerning inflation [1] - Central banks in Asia are facing renewed inflationary pressures due to the geopolitical situation [1] - Price stability in the region had shown signs of improvement before the resurgence of conflict [1]

Lumen Technologies, Inc. ( LUMN ) is a telecommunications company that is currently transforming itself to meet the needs of the Artificial Intelligence revolution. Back in January, I highlighted Lumen as a favorite stockOther writing on Substack: https://yieldstrategies.substack.com/I am currently focused on income investing through either common shares, preferred shares, or bonds. I will occasionally break away and write about the economy at large or a special situation involving a company I've been resea ...

Core Insights - Swiss Re reported a net income of $4.8 billion for 2025, a 47% increase from $3.2 billion in 2024, driven by strong underwriting results in property and casualty operations [1] - The return on equity rose to 19.6%, up from 15% in 2024, indicating improved profitability [1] - The company aims for a net income target of $4.5 billion for the upcoming year [4] Property and Casualty (P&C) Segment - Net income from the P&C reinsurance segment more than doubled to $2.8 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier, attributed to lower-than-expected natural catastrophe losses and stable investment returns [2] - Natural catastrophe claims totaled $813 million, primarily due to the Los Angeles wildfires and Hurricane Melissa, while man-made losses reached $345 million [2] - The P&C Re achieved a combined ratio of 79.4% for 2025, improving from 89.9% in the prior year [2] Corporate Solutions and Life & Health (L&H) Reinsurance - Corporate Solutions posted net income of $988 million for the year, a 19% increase from $829 million in 2024, with losses from major man-made events totaling $351 million [3] - The division's combined ratio improved to 86.5%, compared to 89.7% a year earlier [3] - L&H Reinsurance recorded net income of $1.3 billion in 2025, down from $1.5 billion in 2024 after a portfolio review, missing its target of around $1.6 billion [3] Strategic Moves - Swiss Re announced plans to sell its iptiQ Americas business and put its iptiQ EMEA L&H operations into run-off status, following earlier sales of other iptiQ businesses [4] - The board proposed a dividend of $8 per share for 2025, a 9% increase from the previous year's payout, and plans to buy back up to $1.5 billion worth of shares by the end of 2026 [5] Leadership Commentary - Swiss Re Group CEO Andreas Berger highlighted that the company delivered on key priorities in 2025, achieving the highest net income in its history due to disciplined underwriting and strong investment returns [6]

Core Viewpoint - Greg Abel has communicated to shareholders his intention to adhere to Warren Buffett's investment strategies as he embarks on his leadership at Berkshire Hathaway [1] Group 1 - Greg Abel is set to initiate his own era at Berkshire Hathaway, following the established principles of Warren Buffett [1]

Core Viewpoint - Myriad Uranium Corp. has completed preliminary interpretation of data from a high-resolution airborne magnetic and radiometric survey at the Copper Mountain Uranium Project, leading to the identification of new anomalies and the initiation of ground-truthing to validate these findings [1][2]. Survey Results - The airborne survey covered approximately 191.8 km², with 2,114 line-kilometers completed at 100 m line spacing, revealing over 100 prioritized anomaly points, predominantly located east of the north-south structural corridor [9][3]. - The combined magnetic and radiometric dataset suggests a large hydrothermal system that may host additional uranium mineralization beyond historically drilled areas [3][7]. Ground-Truthing Program - Myriad has commenced field work to validate selected radiometric anomaly points, with initial results aligning with airborne data, indicating elevated radiometric counts [4][8]. - The ground-truthing aims to confirm the presence and intensity of uranium mineralization, characterize geological settings, and refine priority drill targets [8][4]. Company Background - Myriad Uranium Corp. holds a 75% interest in the Copper Mountain Uranium Project, which has multiple historic uranium deposits and past-producing mines, with a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining 25% interest [13]. - The project has a history of extensive exploration, with Union Pacific investing approximately C$117 million (2024 dollars) in the late 1970s, resulting in significant historical resource estimates [13].

Market Overview - U.S. stock index futures fell over 1% as investors anticipated a prolonged conflict in the Middle East, which could disrupt global trade and increase inflationary pressures [1] - The Dow E-minis were down 572 points (1.17%), S&P 500 E-minis down 75.75 points (1.1%), and Nasdaq 100 E-minis down 364.5 points (1.46%) [6] Sector Performance - Airlines, particularly Delta and United Airlines, saw significant declines of over 5% each in premarket trading due to flight halts and rising crude prices, which increased by 8% [2][1] - Financial stocks, including major banks like Bank of America and Citigroup, dropped over 2% each amid a negative outlook for the global economy [2][1] - Defense stocks such as Lockheed Martin and RTX rose around 6% each, with Kratos and AeroVironment surging 9% and 10.3% respectively, reflecting increased demand for defense amid geopolitical tensions [3] Economic Context - The geopolitical situation is compounded by existing market uncertainties related to AI disruptions and concerns in the private credit space [6] - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq experienced their steepest monthly declines since March 2025, while the Dow managed to achieve gains for the tenth consecutive month, marking its longest winning streak since January 2018 [7]

The market response to the United States’ and Israel’s military strikes against Iran has been global and almost universally negative. Stocks began slumping as early as Friday in a “risk-off” response as word of impending action spread. By Monday, major indexes in Asia and Europe were off by nearly 1% or more, relative to Friday's close. Oil prices rose. The killing of the Middle Eastern nation’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, added extra uncertainty to the already volatile situation.Key questions remain, inc ...

Israel ordered a temporary shutdown of some natural gas fields after launching an attack on Iran in a joint operation with the US.The halt is a security measure, the Energy Ministry said in a statement, without specifying the fields affected. Energean Plc, the operator of the Karish deposit, said it had been instructed to suspend production.Also readThe move is a repeat of steps taken last year when Iran previously came under Israeli attack, and retaliated. Back in June, Israel shut its biggest gas field — ...