Free Republic

SpaceX successfully landed its Starship rocket in what Elon Musk calls one of the company's most important launches. SpaceFund founder Rick Tumlinson joins Josh Lipton on Asking for a Trend to talk about what the landing means for SpaceX and the space exploration industry. The venture capital fund focused on space exploration is invested in SpaceX. "What we're witnessing here [is the] combination of the railroads, the steamships, airplanes, all in one. Like 100 years from now, people are going to look back at this period of time as sort of when humanity breaks out into space, Tumlinson says, adding...

Appaloosa Management’s David Tepper said investors should believe the Federal Reserve when it says it will lower interest rates because the central bank has now to keep credibility. “You just read what these guys are saying,” Tepper said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday. “Powell told you something... He told you some kind of recalibration. He has to follow through somewhat. I’m not that smart. I just read what they say and do they have conviction. They usually do what they say, especially when they have this level of conviction.” The Fed last week sliced half a percentage point off benchmark...

Like the temperature throughout August, the stock buying activity of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, has stayed hot over the past few weeks. According to a recently submitted regulatory filing, Greene, who sits on the Oversight and Reform Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, added shares of six stocks to her portfolio. In this round of stock purchasing, Greene increased her exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, picking up shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Greene also scooped up shares of logistics leader FedEx (NYSE: FDX)...

Long touted as hands-down the world's "safe haven" securities, the behavior of U.S. Treasuries during and after the COVID-19 pandemic calls that label into question, suggesting they are little different from the debt issued by the likes of Germany, Britain, France, or even big corporations. That's the key finding of new research presented at the Kansas City Fed's annual research conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It examines a shift in investor behavior in that period that raises questions about the "exorbitant privilege" the U.S. government has long enjoyed to borrow broadly on the global market even as federal budget gaps...

A group of financial firms and investors is planning to launch a Texas-based private market stock exchange and offer traders an alternative to the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. The group, which includes BlackRock, Citadel Securities and about two dozen investors, raised approximately $120 million of capital to create the Texas Stock Exchange, which would be headquartered in Dallas. They are now seeking registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to operate as a national securities exchange later this year. “Texas and the other states in the southeast quadrant have become economic powerhouses. Combined with the demand we...

At a recent special event hosted by BlackRock, high-profile clients and industry participants were invited to discuss the future of Bitcoin. Bitcoin company Swan, one of the participants of the event, shared some important takeaways with its private customers. The event was significant as it marked BlackRock's attempt to promote its Bitcoin ETF among its top clients. The move aligns with the view that BlackRock is preparing to leverage its marketing and sales skills to promote Bitcoin and its ETF product. Senior officials at BlackRock have revealed that they have received calls from unexpected quarters expressing interest in purchasing Bitcoin....

One of the stranger political crusades of the past few years has been the Republican war on so-called woke capital, which has led GOP politicians across the country to adopt a kind of anti-corporate, pro-regulatory rhetoric that one normally associates with the left wing of the Democratic Party. And among the GOP’s favorite targets in this war has been ESG investing—investment funds that take “environmental, social, and governance” considerations into account. For Republicans, ESG funds are a Trojan horse, designed to smuggle progressive attitudes toward climate change, and diversity and inclusion, into executive suites and corporate boardrooms, all under the...

So the pullback in ESG firms continues, eh? John had a post in December about corporations and campuses who were beginning to get pushback on their DEI initiative. BlackRock was one of those named, doing some verbiage shuffling to avoid legal challenges, among other problems besetting the grievance and equity industry.…Investment manager BlackRock (BLK.N), which received a letter in April, removed language stating a scholarship was “designed for” members of specific underrepresented groups…At the end of the month word broke that the state of Tennessee was suing the firm for “misleading” ESG policies and harming the bottom line for investors.The...

Several establishment members of Congress were among the top lawmakers to successfully trade stocks in 2023, a report by Unusual Whales found Tuesday. The findings raise concerns that many members of Congress trade stocks based on information unavailable to the public. Some of the most notable establishment members to beat the market were: Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) — up 38.2 percent Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — up 65.5 percent Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — up 18.1 percent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) — up 52.8 percent Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) — up 25.3 percent

JERUSALEM, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Israeli authorities are investigating claims by U.S. researchers that some investors may have known in advance of a Hamas plan to attack Israel on Oct. 7 and used that information to profit from Israeli securities. Research by law professors Robert Jackson Jr from New York University and Joshua Mitts of Columbia University found significant short-selling of shares leading up to the attacks, which triggered a war nearly two months old. "Days before the attack, traders appeared to anticipate the events to come," they wrote, citing short interest in the MSCI Israel Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)...

Legendary investor and polymath Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway's vice chairman and Warren Buffett's right-hand man and friend of nearly six decades, died on Tuesday in California, the company announced. He was 99. Together, Buffett and Munger built Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) into one of the most successful and long-lasting business partnerships that enthralled millions worldwide. In a statement on Tuesday, Buffett said, "Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie's inspiration, wisdom and participation." Berkshire, originally a textile manufacturer, has grown into a multinational conglomerate that wholly owns popular brands like Dairy Queen and Fruit...

Oct 8 (Reuters) - Major stock markets in the Gulf tumbled on Sunday amid worries that rising conflict between Palestinian group Hamas and Israel threatens to spiral. Israel pounded Gaza on Sunday after suffering its bloodiest attack in decades when Hamas fighters rampaged through Israeli towns a day earlier, threatening a major new war in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI) slumped 1.6%, the sharpest decline in 10 months.

Harlem civil rights leader Al Sharpton on Saturday slammed one of the most powerful unions in New York for its failure to direct its assets into minority-run investment funds. During his weekly broadcast from his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem, Sharpton said he’s concerned that the influential 1199 Service Employees International Union Local is not investing in a way that reflects the diversity of its members, following an exclusive report by The Post about the union’s hypocritical investment strategy.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House have filed legislation to ban federal employee retirement money from being invested in funds requiring compliance with ESG and DEI policies. The Stop TSP ESG Act was filed in the Senate by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri. A coalition of Republicans in the House led by Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colorado, filed a companion bill on May 17. If the bills were to pass, it’s unlikely the president would sign them as his administration is advancing ESG and DEI policies, including a Department of Labor rule change over which 25...

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday will announce funding for a major infrastructure project connecting Virginia to Washington, D.C., as the White House wraps up a three-week travel blitz to highlight economic investments. Harris’s announcement will coincide with other administration officials fanning out around the country that day. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will be in Albany, N.Y., for an infrastructure announcement and White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu will be in Madison, Wis. Two Federal Highway Administration officials will also travel to South Carolina and California, respectively. The travel will close out the “Investing in America” tour, a three-week travel...

VIDEO Give Jim Cramer credit. His investment advice is almost infallible... You can't lose as long as you do the OPPOSITE of what he says.

There is a cohort of elected officials in the United States presently engaged in an anti-capitalist crusade against free-market principles. No, they are not socialists. They are congressional Republicans, and they are attempting to prevent financial institutions from allocating capital in accordance with investor preferences and risk management principles. This attempted crackdown is purely ideological in nature — it is an exercise in political pressure to force a gross government overreach into U.S. capital markets. This campaign, which should offend anyone with even a modicum of pro-market sensibilities, is being championed from within the Republican Party. Republican state lawmakers and...

At the end of every year, I ask other junior mining investors what they learned in the past year and what they are looking forward to in the new year. I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, however, I do believe that the turning of the page to a new year offers an opportunity for reflection and assessment. What could I possibly say about 2022 that hasn’t been said already? If anything, 2022 has wiped away many illusions that people had about a variety of topics including the value of various cryptocurrencies, covid vaccines, and various trading strategies that revolved...

John Couvillon is a DemoKKKrat analyst but pretty objective. He has already run primary analysis of other elections in New Jersey and elsewhere. With the exception of Kansas, most of them look like this: GOP turnout up, DemoKKKrat turnout down (or not up nearly as much as Republican turnout, as in AZ) Here is his posting for the combined Alaska/Wyoming primary (He says AL but I'm pretty sure he means AK).