BREAKING NEWS US economy adds just 12,000 jobs in October as hurricanes, strikes weigh NYSEArca - Delayed Quote ? USD Vanguard S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value Index Fund ETF Shares (IVOV) Follow 95.74 -1.41 (-1.45%) At close: October 31 at 4:00 PM EDT 95.74 0.00 (0.00%) Pre-Market: 9:12 AM EDT Related ETF News Active ETF Launch Options Varied, Panelists Say Asset managers weigh options for entering the active ETF market as adoption grows. etf.com ? yesterday JEPI DYNF FBND Utilities are a 'backdoor play' into AI trade: Strategist As the so-called "Magnificent Seven" tech companies report their latest earnings, investors are keenly focused on understanding how their heavy investments in artificial intelligence (AI) will impact their financial results. To provide insights on this topic, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management president and chief investment officer Kevin Mahn joined Catalysts. Mahn notes that in the Big Tech earnings reports, "the focus is on AI." He explains that the need for AI-supporting infrastructure, like data centers, is driving increased demand for energy — a trend that could benefit the utilities sector (XLU). He identifies three fundamental tailwinds that could support utilities and drive growth: utilities are more defensive in nature, the sector is known for paying dividends, and utilities have become a "backdoor play into the AI revolution." Mahn advises investors to consider three specific utility names: DTE Energy Company (DTE), Duke Energy Corporation (DUK), and The Southern Company (SO). "There's more growth ahead. So look for those utilities such as the three I mentioned that do have a stake in the ground as it relates to nuclear, but also have a strong customer base, strong balance sheet, and pay good dividends," Mahn tells Yahoo Finance. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. This post was written by Angel Smith Yahoo Finance Video ? yesterday SO ^IXIC ^GSPC Oklo CEO wants to make clean nuclear energy more accessible Energy and power grid constraints look to be the biggest hurdles for Big Tech to overcome in the industry's wider buildout of AI data center infrastructure. Tech players have begun investing in nuclear energy developers to find the clean energy output needed to power these expansions. Oklo Inc. (OKLO) is one of these names benefitting from the trend, its stock having jumped nearly 200% over the past month. The nuclear startup is backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is also Oklo's chairman. Oklo Co-Founder and CEO Jake DeWitte joins Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton on Market Domination to talk about the long-term investments in small modular reactors (SMR) and the intricacies of these systems; Oklo doesn't expect to finish building its first SMR and producing power from it until 2027. "When you split an atom, you get almost 50 million-times more energy than when you combust like a molecule of natural gas or so. It's incredible," DeWitte tells Yahoo Finance. "What that means, then, is there's a lot of energy in nuclear fuel. And actually in almost all reactors, you only use about 5% of the fuel in one pass through the reactor. And there's reasons why long story short, is you could put more fuel in, it could run for longer. But that comes at increased cost for the added systems you would need to manage all that." US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told Yahoo Finance that her department's focus will be on ensuring these AI data centers are powered by clean energy, while understanding the challenge in widespread SMR adoption: "Nobody wants to be the one to buy the first one." Oklo has already inked energy partnerships with date center providersw Equinix (EQIX) and Wyoming Hyperscale. DeWitte describes the regular business model for nuclear systems as "clunky." "One of the things that we set out to do in the beginning was, was make it easier to buy what people really want from nuclear systems, in other words, make it easier to buy nuclear power because the clean, reliable, affordable power, that's the stuff people really want," DeWitte explains. "We're unique because we actually make that easy — we design, we own, we operate the plants, we contract someone to build them, and then we just sell the power out to the customers through off-take agreements. That makes it easy for them to buy what they want." For more coverage on Big Tech's adoption of nuclear energy, catch Yahoo Finance's respective interviews with X-energy CEO Clay Sell about Amazon's (AMZN) investment into the nuclear reactor designer and Kairos Power Co-Founder and CEO Mike Laufer's input on the nuclear startup's partnership with Alphabet's Google (GOOG, GOOGL). To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan. Yahoo Finance Video ? 2 days ago AMZN GOOG SMR Nuclear stocks gain on AI optimism: Oklo, NuScale, Centrus Stocks related to nuclear energy, like Oklo Inc. (OKLO), NuScale Power Corp (SMR), and Centrus Energy (LEU), are on the rise as Big Tech companies turn to nuclear energy to power artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Josh Lipton and Josh Schafer break down what investors need to know. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan. Yahoo Finance Video ? 3 days ago NNE LEU OKLO NYSE Arca Plans 22-Hour Trading Day for ETFs Top ETF exchange extends trading hours as global demand grows. etf.com ? 3 days ago FBT DIA JPST Fidelity Debuts Pair of Paris-Aligned Sustainable ETFs Fidelity expands with high-yield Euro and U.S. dollar corporate exposures. etf.com ? 3 days ago FENY FUTY FTEC Nasdaq, stocks up ahead of Mag 7 earnings, oil prices drop US stocks (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) are moving on up at Monday's session open, as five of the Magnificent Seven tech names report earnings this week: Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META), and Microsoft (MSFT). The Morning Brief's Brad Smith and Yahoo Finance markets and data editor Jared Blikre check out market and sector gains following the opening bell, noting crude oil (CL=F, BZ=F) price reactions to Israel's escalating conflict with Iran. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan. Yahoo Finance Video ? 3 days ago XLE ^GSPC Exactly how much energy will hyperscalers need to run data centers? Grid operators are seeing increased energy demand as the AI race heats up among hyperscalers. The Morning Brief's Madison Mills breaks down a chart from Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Sl?k showing how much energy some of the "Magnificent Seven" members — like Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) — need to run their data centers. Note: Apollo Global Management is Yahoo Finance's parent company To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Melanie Riehl Yahoo Finance Video ? 6 days ago GOOG XLE AMZN Tesla Energy could become company's biggest driver. Here's why. Tesla (TSLA) is in focus as shares surge by over 21% on Thursday after reporting mixed third quarter results this week. While the company’s main revenue driver is its electric vehicle (EV) business, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he expects the company's energy business to surpass its auto sector. William Blair Group head of the energy and sustainability research sector Jed Dorsheimer joins Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton on Market Domination to examine clean energy developer Tesla Energy and its role in the space. “The energy problem is much bigger than I think most people understand,” Dorsheimer tells Yahoo Finance, explaining that Tesla Energy’s Megapack, a large-scale stationary battery, not only helps store energy but can also help stabilize the power grid to prevent outages. “The grid stability globally is actually getting more and more fragile. And so there's going to be more deployments, particularly as we wind down thermal in terms of coal." “This is an opportunity for Megapack,” Dorsheimer says, adding, “We see an opportunity for this business to really scale and to add a level of profitability that most... clients don't have in their models. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan. Yahoo Finance Video ? 7 days ago TSLA XLE 2 'tactical' portfolio shifts to consider ahead of the election Kurt Reiman, UBS Global Wealth Management ElectionWatch co-lead, joins Catalysts to discuss how investors can best prepare for the election. Reiman expects heightened volatility around the election, and adds, "Some of the financial market outcomes that we're seeing are perfectly reasonable within the context of this elevated volatility that we're seeing." However, he notes that this will likely be a contested election: "We have a very narrowly divided country. The polls are telling us this. The prediction markets are not. And that's kind of an interesting sort of dichotomy with what's happening." It could take weeks to receive an official outcome, so Reiman encourages investors to avoid making large, strategic portfolio shifts during this time. Yet, there are investments that he says could be "helpful" over the next year. He points to gold (GC=F) as an example, arguing that it is not only a good asset to hold amid volatility but also when central banks are shifting their reserves. He also highlights the utilities sector (XLU), noting that it is a beneficiary of increased AI demand and is a "more stable dividend player." "The point is that making some tactical shifts in the portfolio to add a little bit of robustness to it going into what may be a contested election is not a bad idea. But what I would not recommend is large portfolio shifts because of concerns about the risk of a contested election," Reiman tells Yahoo Finance. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. This post was written by Melanie Riehl Yahoo Finance Video ? 8 days ago ^GSPC ^DJI GC=F Nuclear energy: Small modular reactors' role in fueling AI boom The growing energy appetite to power AI and data center technologies has led companies to search for clean and cost-efficient energy sources, most notably nuclear power. Tech companies like Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Alphabet's Google (GOOG, GOOGL) have been signing deals with developers to build out small modular reactors (SMRs) to meet their energy needs. Yahoo Finance special reporter Akiko Fujita dives into the details, highlighting Big Tech's rising interest in the future of nuclear energy. She notes the benefits these SMRs could pose for power grids while no commercial modular reactors have been completed in the US yet. X-energy CEO Clay Sell sat down with Catalysts earlier today to discuss Amazon's investment into the nuclear reactor designer's SMR plans. Watch Kairos Power CEO Mike Laufer interview with Yahoo Finance last week about the nuclear power startup's partnership with Google. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. This post was written by Angel Smith Yahoo Finance Video ? 10 days ago GOOG XLU AMZN Why this portfolio manager prefers value over growth stocks Brian Mulberry, Zacks Investment Management client portfolio manager, joins Wealth! to discuss why he prefers value stocks over growth stocks. Mulberry explains that the valuations of the "Magnificent Seven" are getting "a little bit top-heavy." He tells Yahoo Finance, "The S&P 500 (^GSPC) right now is trading the broader market at about a 22 times forward valuation when you're looking at earnings there. If we concentrate that down into the Magnificent Seven, it's still in the mid-to-high 30s. When you can look at the earnings growth that's expected in a place like utilities (XLU) and their forward P/E (price-to-earnings ratio) is only about 9 or 10, there's a much stronger valuation conversation to be had looking at those particular sectors." He notes that in those sectors, there are better-performing individual stocks that will see "durable earnings growth," offering a better investment opportunity. "So we really feel like you can do better at the current valuation levels if you're rotating back to some of those more traditional value sectors, right now," Mulberry adds, pointing to banks as an example. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. This post was written by Melanie Riehl Yahoo Finance Video ? 10 days ago ^GSPC XLU Tesla, Boeing, UPS highlight earnings rush: What to know this week Investors can expect key earnings from Tesla and Boeing as well as consumer sentiment data in the week ahead. Yahoo Finance ? 12 days ago AMZN XLU BA SCHD: Split or Not, This Is a Strong Dividend ETF The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) is one of the most popular dividend ETFs in the market today with a massive $63.7 billion in assets under management (AUM). The fund recently made some waves by executing a 3-for-1 split which went into effect on October 10th. We’ll discuss the rationale and details regarding the share split in this article. But more importantly, we’ll evaluate the merits of holding SCHD in an investment portfolio. I’m bullish on this well-known dividend ETF based on th TipRanks ? 12 days ago SPY SCHD VFFSX ERCOT stepping in to help Texas grid prep for energy demand spike Texas is among the states seeing the fastest-growing energy demands, with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) working to expand grid operations and meet customers' electricity needs. ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas comes on Market Domination Overtime to talk about how the council is planning to satisfy grid demands "Now we're starting to see some of these larger loads coming in faster, like the data centers," Vegas says about AI data centers' expected strain on power grids. "And what we've been doing is we've been planning for this eventuality over the last several years. We are seeing tremendous growth in renewables on the electric grid." He explains one aspect of the regulatory process that allows the Texas grid to get ahead of power consumption strains: "One of the things we do is a process that we call 'connect and manage,' where when a generator wants to come onto the grid, we do not require if there's the potential for any transmission level constraints for that generator, we don't require the whole transmission system to be upgraded before that generator can come online. A lot of other parts of the US do require that, and that's what can take so many years in other parts of the US to develop new power supply." Pablo advises other states' operators to "be nimble" on their regulatory processes and try to find "balance" in growing power supplies, maintaining reliability on said sources. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination Overtime here. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan. Yahoo Finance Video ? 13 days ago XLU XLE Utilities outperform the broader markets amid enthusiasm over AI electricity demand The Utilities sector is on fire this year. Here's what's driving the demand. Yahoo Finance ? 13 days ago VST CEG MSFT Don't fight the Fed, but curb growth expectations: Portfolio mgr. Market indexes (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) are rolling strong, continuing to hit all-time highs in the fourth quarter as the Federal Reserve considers future interest rate cuts. "That should provide a little bit of a tailwind going forward. And that's really what's been boosting equities... day after day it seems like," NFJ Investment Group managing director and senior portfolio manager Burns McKinney tells Yahoo Finance. McKinney sits down with Brad Smith to talk more about the "Goldilocks-type environment" for stocks, explaining the utilities sector's (XLU) turnaround from 2023's underperformance. "As I noted, you don't want to fight the Fed. But that said, given the fact that you're looking at S&P with a price-to-earnings ratio of 23 times earnings, which over the last several decades, it's only been higher during a brief span in 2020 as well as during the Dot Com Bubble," McKinney says, adding: "And so there are a lot of aggressive assumptions baked in there. So in many ways that is priced for perfection. So what we're arguing is that, you know because the Fed does provide a tailwind. We do expect positive returns going forward, but it's really going to be you're not looking at... long bombs down the field." To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan. Yahoo Finance Video ? 13 days ago ^DJI ^GSPC ^IXIC Nuclear reactors an 'emerging space' to meet rising energy needs Big Tech has been going nuclear over its AI data centers, turning to energy startups to build nuclear reactors to meet the energy demands of artificial intelligence. This ranges from Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Alphabet's Google (GOOG, GOOGL) recent agreements with providers. Canaccord Genuity Managing Director George Gianarikas joins Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton for a conversation about investing in nuclear energy adoption, starting with stocks like small modular reactor designer NuScale Power (SMR) and uranium materials company ASP Isotopes (ASPI). "There are the utilities (XLU) which are investing directly in the reactors and signing the power purchase agreements with some of the large hyperscalers. But those are more indirect ways to invest in the trend," Gianarikas tells Yahoo Finance, claiming that the US energy grid "isn't ready to deal with" surges in electricity consumption for AI. "For some of the private companies, they actually have to get something called NRC — US Nuclear Regulatory Commission — approval to actually build those reactor designs. The one company that we do cover, Nuscale ticker symbol SMR, actually has that very approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission," Gianarikas says. He goes on to explain the vitality of uranium enrichment to this process, which is where ASP Isotopes comes in: "They're taking that feedstock from the miners and then enriching it, isolating the isotope that's needed for a fission reaction and then selling that to the reactor company. So there's an entire food chain here that's really important to make all this stuff happen." Kairos Power Co-Founder and CEO Mike Laufer sat down with Yahoo Finance earlier this week to elaborate on the energy startup's agreement with Google to build out small modular reactors. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan. Yahoo Finance Video ? 14 days ago ASPI XLU SMR Two factors setting up utilities to outperform in 2025 The surge in artificial intelligence has sparked a growing appetite for energy and power, creating a bullish environment for utilities (XLU). This trend has propelled the sector to outshine the broader market, prompting Evercore ISI to upgrade the utilities sector from In Line to Outperform. Evercore ISI managing director Durgesh Chopra, who covers Power and Utilities, joins Morning Brief to shed light on why he foresees continued growth in the sector. Chopra points to two key factors driving the potential outperformance of regulated traditional utilities. First, their current valuations are attractive, trading at a 20% discount. Second, the sector benefits from improving fundamentals, including lower interest rates, easing inflation, and increasing electricity demand. These elements combine to create what Chopra describes as "a great setup for utilities" as markets approach 2025. Addressing the potential impact of the upcoming election on the utility sector, Chopra notes while utilities have historically thrived under Democratic leadership, the sector's current focus on reducing carbon emissions has shifted the dynamics. This transition is more closely tied to economic development rather than politics. "Whether it's Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, I think the policy backdrop is going to be very supportive," Chopra states. As of late, Big Tech has been leaning into and making deals with nuclear energy developers to power their AI data centers, including Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Alphabet's Google (GOOG, GOOGL). Kairos Power Co-Founder and CEO Mike Laufer sat down with Yahoo Finance earlier this week to elaborate on the energy startup's nuclear agreement with Google. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. This post was written by Angel Smith Yahoo Finance Video ? 14 days ago XLU DTE PPL Solar energy faces stiff competition from nuclear providers RBC Capital Markets downgraded solar energy company Enphase Energy (ENPH) to a Sector Perform rating as Big Tech inks more deals with nuclear energy developers to power their AI data centers. Most notably, Alphabet's Google (GOOG, GOOGL) signed an agreement with Kairos Power. Market Domination welcomes the analyst behind the call, RBC Capital Markets analyst Chris Dendrinos, to speak more about the solar energy landscape. Enphase seems to be finding heightened competition from Tesla (TSLA) "What they're [Tesla] doing is they're adopting one of their new batteries. It's the Powerwall 3, and that has an inverter and a battery included with it," Dendrinos tells Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton. "And then on the market adoption side, we're seeing a transition away from where a homeowner is going to outright own the solar system, and instead they're going to lease it through a company, or they're going to do what's called a power purchase agreement, a PPA. And Enphase is underweight that segment as well." Dendrinos also explains to Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton the high demand for renewable energy to power these AI data centers and this recent pivot toward nuclear power. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan. Yahoo Finance Video ? 15 days ago TAN XLU ENPH Performance Overview Trailing returns as of 10/31/2024. Category is Mid-Cap Value. Return IVOV Category YTD +9.82% +13.06% 1-Year +32.60% +25.80% 3-Year +6.70% +8.50%
