"I am pleased to report that the United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East... I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions."
In business, when you do anything for appearances, you can write that down under the dumb column. We don't do stuff for... we do things that give return on investment in business, and trying to appear to be something is never a return on investment. Just be the thing.
Oil futures touched $100 per barrel this week as Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, the waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas transits. The International Energy Agency called the conflict the biggest-ever disruption to oil supply, and Iran's security chief has stated the war won't end soon.
For the 25 major episodes going back to 1950, we typically see a decline in the S&P of around 4%. Now, usually after a month, the S&P tends to recover that entire decline. Then he immediately walked it back. The playbook, he said, does not apply here.
The firm's five strategies that feed into its flagship Wellington fund - fundamental equity, quant, commodities, fixed income and macro, and credit and convertibles - were all up last month, a person close to the Miami-based manager told Business Insider. The fund was up 1.9% on the month, bringing its 2026 gains to 2.9%.
I am honored by our board's decision to appoint me CEO of Berkshire and humbled to succeed Warren as I write my first annual letter to you. Warren is obviously a very hard act to follow. Abel said as he laid out his background and approach.
The key to selling underperforming holdings at a loss and using those losses to cancel out capital gains on a dollar-for-dollar basis is to bring one's capital gains level down as close as possible to zero. Additionally, it's possible to use $3,000 of capital losses per year to offset other ordinary income, so there's the potential here with such a strategy to actually lower one's overall tax burden by selling the right securities at the correct time.
Right after Facebook went public, there was a concern about this mobile transition, and their stock went from $42 to like $18. That was fear of a technology disruption. I've never seen a disruption that had this much anxiety and go across so many companies.
Pershing Square generally holds a small number of stocks, so it's easy to track what's happening. The fund exited its longtime position in Chipotle Mexican Grill last year, which was its top holding for a long time, as well as some newer positions, and it initiated a position in Amazon. It also just revealed that it has taken a position in Meta Platforms , which now accounts for 10% of its capital.
It may have been a wilder ride for the semiconductor stocks and the broader AI trade in 2025. But for the many brave investors who stayed the course, it's been a rewarding year, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF ( NASDAQ:SMH), my favorite "thermometer" to gauge the heat of the semiconductor stocks, gaining close to 50% on the year. Undoubtedly, with Dr. Michael Burry of The Big Short fame, likely sticking with his bearish bets (and views) of AI for the new year,
Considering Paris Hilton is worth an estimated $300 million to $400 million, it might seem odd that she reportedly took out a mortgage on her recent home purchase. Hilton, whose vast wealth comes from 19 product lines, real estate, media and entertainment, brand partnerships, and her reality show, The Simple Life, bought actor Mark Wahlberg's former estate in Beverly Hills earlier this year for a whopping $63 million.
Many Americans have visions of $2,000 stimulus checks dancing in the heads thanks to the president's promises. The Trump administration seems resolute in delivering a welcome boost to middle-class taxpayers, a cool $2,000 per person, funded by the influx of tariff revenues from trade partners. But the Treasury has yet to sign on the dotted line, and there's no 100 percent guarantee that the stimulus package will see the light of day.
