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FinanceFord Motor CompanyFord earnings Q4 2025auto industry tariffs

Ford Posts Its Worst Quarterly Loss Since the Great Recession — But Wall Street Isn't Flinching

Ford Motor Company reported an $11.1 billion net loss in the fourth quarter of 2025, its worst quarterly result since the 2008 financial crisis. The staggering figure was driven by $15.5 billion in special charges related to a sweeping pullback from its all-electric vehicle strategy, compounded by $900 million in unexpected tariff costs that blindsided the company in the final weeks of the quarter. On a full-year basis, Ford posted a net loss of $8.2 billion — its deepest annual loss in nearly two decades. Yet in a market moment that reveals just how deeply investors have internalized the chaos of trade policy and EV transition economics, Ford's stock barely budged. Shares were up 0.7% on Wednesday, trading at $13.67, as Wall Street looked past the headline carnage and focused on what Ford says is coming next: adjusted EBIT of $8 billion to $10 billion in 2026, a meaningful jump from $6.8 billion last year. The disconnect between the reported loss and the market's muted reaction tells a story about what matters to auto investors right now — and what they've already priced in. The results, filed with the SEC on February 10 and detailed in Ford's earnings call, paint a picture of an automaker navigating a historically complex operating environment: tariffs that shifted under its feet, a supplier fire that cost $2 billion, and an EV business still hemorrhaging cash at a rate that would sink most companies. Understanding how Ford got here — and whether its 2026 optimism is justified — requires pulling apart each of these threads.

February 11, 2026Read Analysis
NewsEPA endangerment findingclimate regulationgreenhouse gas emissions

Trump Administration to Rescind EPA Endangerment Finding Thursday, Dismantling the Legal Foundation for All U.S. Climate Regulation

The Trump administration will formally rescind the Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 endangerment finding on Thursday, eliminating the scientific and legal cornerstone that has underpinned every major federal climate regulation for nearly two decades. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Tuesday that President Trump will be joined by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to "formalize the rescission," calling it "the largest deregulatory action in American history" and claiming it will save Americans $1.3 trillion in regulatory costs. The endangerment finding, issued during the Obama administration, determined that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane pose a risk to public health and welfare, thereby granting the EPA authority to regulate them under the Clean Air Act. Its removal would effectively strip the federal government of its primary legal mechanism for limiting emissions from vehicles, power plants, and the oil and gas industry — the three largest sources of greenhouse gas pollution in the United States. Environmental groups have already promised immediate legal challenges, while fossil fuel interests and conservative policy organizations have celebrated the move as a long-sought victory against what they characterize as regulatory overreach. The decision arrives against a backdrop of escalating climate impacts: the last three years have been the warmest ever recorded globally, devastating wildfires swept through Los Angeles in early 2025, and deadly flooding has struck communities from Texas to Alaska. It also comes as the global auto industry navigates an uncertain transition toward electric vehicles, with some manufacturers — including Elon Musk's Tesla — having urged the administration to preserve the finding.

February 11, 2026Read Analysis
FinanceGLP-1 drugsNovo NordiskHims and Hers

Novo Nordisk Sues Hims & Hers Over Wegovy Copycats — And the $49 Obesity Pill That Lasted Just Two Days

The most explosive battle in the $100 billion GLP-1 drug market erupted into open warfare this week. Novo Nordisk filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Hims & Hers Health on Monday, seeking to permanently ban the telehealth company from selling compounded versions of its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy. The lawsuit came just two days after Hims launched — and then abruptly pulled — a $49-per-month oral semaglutide pill that undercut Novo's FDA-approved Wegovy pill by roughly $100. The legal salvo, combined with a parallel FDA crackdown on compounded GLP-1 ingredients, has sent Hims & Hers stock into freefall. Shares plunged 16% on Monday and dropped another 5.4% on Tuesday to $18.29, bringing the total decline over the past month to approximately 40%. Hims now trades at $18.29 — a staggering 75% below its 52-week high of $72.98. Novo Nordisk, by contrast, rallied 3.6% on Monday and held steady Tuesday at $49.63, though the Danish giant has its own problems: its stock sits 47% below its own 52-week high of $93.80 amid fierce competition and disappointing 2026 guidance. This is no longer a skirmish over compounding pharmacies. It is a defining legal and regulatory showdown that will determine who controls access to the most lucrative class of drugs in a generation — and at what price 1.5 million Americans currently using compounded GLP-1s will pay for their treatment.

February 10, 2026Read Analysis
NewsTaiwan semiconductorsTSMCchip manufacturing

Taiwan Tells Washington Its 40% Chip Relocation Goal Is 'Impossible' — And the Global Semiconductor Battle Is Just Getting Started

Taiwan's top trade negotiator has delivered a blunt message to Washington: the United States' ambition to relocate 40% of the island's semiconductor production capacity to American soil is simply not achievable. Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun, Taipei's lead tariff negotiator, told a local television audience on Sunday that she had made it clear to the U.S. that Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem, built over decades of sustained investment, could not be uprooted and transplanted across the Pacific. The pushback comes just weeks after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick laid out aggressive onshoring targets in a January interview, declaring he wanted 40% of Taiwan's entire chip supply chain moved to the U.S. within President Donald Trump's current term. Lutnick's comments followed the latest U.S.-Taiwan trade agreement, under which Taiwanese tech companies pledged $250 billion in direct investments and an additional $250 billion in credit to expand U.S. production capacity. In return, Washington lowered tariffs on most Taiwanese goods from 20% to 15% and offered higher quotas for tariff-free chip exports. The dispute spotlights a fundamental tension at the heart of American industrial policy: the desire to bring advanced chip manufacturing home versus the practical reality that the world's most sophisticated semiconductor supply chain cannot be duplicated overnight — if it can be duplicated at all.

February 10, 2026Read Analysis
NewsJimmy LaiHong Kongnational security law

Jimmy Lai Sentenced to 20 Years in Hong Kong's Harshest National Security Crackdown — Family Says He Will 'Die a Martyr Behind Bars'

Jimmy Lai, the 78-year-old British-Hong Kong media tycoon and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison — the longest punishment ever imposed under China's sweeping national security law. The sentence, handed down by three government-vetted judges at Hong Kong's High Court, was immediately condemned by human rights organizations, Western governments, and press freedom groups as what Human Rights Watch called "effectively a death sentence" for the aging publisher who has already spent more than five years behind bars. Lai was convicted in December 2025 on charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to publish seditious materials. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges. The maximum penalty was life imprisonment. His eight co-defendants — six former Apple Daily executives and two activists — received sentences ranging from six years and three months to 10 years after entering guilty pleas. The sentencing marks the culmination of a years-long prosecution that critics say represents the definitive end of Hong Kong's once-vibrant tradition of press freedom. The reaction was starkly divided. Lai's daughter Claire said the sentence was "heartbreakingly cruel" and that "if this sentence is carried out, he will die a martyr behind bars." Hong Kong's chief executive John Lee called the sentencing "deeply gratifying," describing Lai's crimes as "heinous and evil in the extreme." Beijing's foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian called the sentence "reasonable, legitimate, and legal," adding: "There is no room for argument."

February 9, 2026Read Analysis
FinanceStellantiselectric vehiclesEV writedown

Stellantis Takes a $26 Billion Hit on Its EV Retreat — And the Entire Auto Industry Should Be Paying Attention

Stellantis sent shockwaves through global automotive markets on Friday when it disclosed a staggering €22 billion ($26 billion) charge tied to a sweeping business overhaul — the largest such writedown in the company's brief history. Shares of the Jeep and Ram parent company cratered 23.6% on the New York Stock Exchange to $7.28, hitting a fresh 52-week low and erasing roughly $6.5 billion in market capitalization in a single session. Trading volume surged to 91.1 million shares, more than six times the daily average of 14.1 million. The charge, which CEO Antonio Filosa described as the cost of "over-estimating the pace of the energy transition," marks a decisive turning point not just for Stellantis but for the entire Western auto industry's approach to electrification. Coming on the heels of Ford's $19.5 billion and General Motors' $7.1 billion in EV-related writedowns, Stellantis's announcement brings the combined EV retreat bill for Detroit's Big Three to more than $52 billion. It's a sobering reckoning for an industry that bet heavily on an electric future that consumers have been slower to embrace than boardrooms anticipated — even as Chinese rivals like BYD surge ahead with the very technologies Western automakers are now abandoning.

February 8, 2026Read Analysis
NewsJapan electionSanae TakaichiLDP landslide

Japan's Sanae Takaichi Wins Landslide Election Victory, Cementing Power as Country's First Female Prime Minister

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party stormed to a decisive victory in Sunday's snap election, exit polls projected, delivering Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi the commanding mandate she sought just four months after becoming the country's first female leader. The LDP and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, were projected to win between 300 and 366 of the 465 seats in the House of Representatives, according to projections from broadcaster NHK and major Japanese newspapers, far exceeding the 233-seat threshold for a simple majority. The result represents a stunning reversal of fortune for a party that appeared to be in terminal decline less than a year ago. Under Takaichi's predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, the LDP lost its parliamentary majority in both chambers amid public fury over a slush fund scandal and the rising cost of living. Now, buoyed by what Japanese commentators have dubbed 'Sana-mania,' Takaichi has transformed the party's prospects through a potent combination of nationalist rhetoric, populist spending promises, and a social media savvy that has captivated younger voters in particular. Yet the landslide also arrives freighted with enormous challenges. Japan faces a deteriorating relationship with China, persistent inflation that has eroded real wages for years, a weakening yen, and government debt exceeding twice its GDP — the heaviest burden of any advanced economy. How Takaichi wields her new supermajority will shape not only Japan's domestic trajectory but the broader geopolitical balance in the Indo-Pacific.

February 8, 2026Read Analysis
FinanceAmazon capexAI infrastructure investmenttechnology sector profitability

Amazon's $200B AI Wager: The Market Crashes Down on Big Tech's Profitability Math

Amazon's revelation of a $200 billion capital expenditure plan for 2026 sent shockwaves through Wall Street on February 5, triggering an 11% after-hours plunge and raising a uncomfortable question investors had been reluctant to ask: At what point does aggressive AI infrastructure spending destroy shareholder value? The announcement, coming just one day after Alphabet revealed its own $180 billion capex guidance, marks a critical inflection point in the technology sector's AI arms race—one where the winners are becoming increasingly unclear. With Amazon stock down more than 8% on the revelation and the broader tech sector roiling with doubt, the market is finally demanding answers about profitability timelines and return-on-investment metrics that Silicon Valley has largely avoided.

February 6, 2026Read Analysis
FinanceNVIDIAQ4 2025 earningsdata center revenue

NVIDIA Q4 2025: $39.3 Billion in Record Revenue Powered by Blackwell's Explosive Ramp and Data Center Dominance

NVIDIA delivered a blockbuster fourth quarter in fiscal 2025, reporting record revenue of $39.3 billion—up 78% year-over-year—and smashing analyst expectations on both the top and bottom lines. The results underscore the company's unassailable position at the center of the global AI infrastructure buildout, a multi-year supercycle that shows no signs of abating despite mounting concerns about valuation sustainability in the sector. What makes this quarter particularly significant is the unprecedented success of Nvidia's Blackwell architecture, which generated $11 billion in sales in its first quarter—the fastest product ramp in the company's history—signaling that the next generation of AI capabilities is commanding immediate and massive customer investment from cloud hyperscalers and enterprises worldwide. Fiscal 2025 as a whole proved transformative for the world's most valuable semiconductor company, with full-year revenue reaching $130.5 billion, a stunning 114% increase from the prior year. GAAP earnings per share doubled to $2.94, while non-GAAP EPS climbed 130% to $2.99, reflecting not just top-line growth but substantial operating leverage as the company scales production of AI accelerators. However, beneath the headline numbers lies a more nuanced story: gross margins compressed notably as Blackwell ramp-up costs and supply-chain inefficiencies pressure profitability, while forward guidance suggests the company expects sustained momentum into 2026—though at a slightly slower growth rate than 2025's torrid pace. Investors and analysts have overwhelmingly embraced the results, with 17 out of 18 analysts maintaining "buy" ratings and the stock rising 4% in extended trading following the announcement. Yet the quarter also exposes emerging challenges that will define NVIDIA's trajectory over the next 12-24 months: intensifying competition from AMD and custom silicon efforts by hyperscalers, margin compression from manufacturing scaling complexities, and the fundamental question of whether AI infrastructure spending can sustain the capital intensity that current consensus pricing assumes.

February 6, 2026Read Analysis