Interested in Ally Financial Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better.
Ally Financial reaffirmed its full-year net interest margin guidance of 3.6% to 3.7%, supported by balance-sheet growth in higher-yielding retail auto and Corporate Finance loans. However, about $20 million in third-quarter lease losses tied to recalled Stellantis vehicles is expected to keep sequential margin growth roughly flat.
Stellantis-related lease pressure is expected to persist through 2026 but ease in 2027 as Ally's lease portfolio becomes more diversified and protected leases begin to mature. Ally also reaffirmed its 2026 retail auto net charge-off guidance of 1.8% to 2%.
Ally reported growth across its core businesses, including a 7% year-over-year increase in deposit customers and roughly 25% loan growth in Corporate Finance since launching Focus Forward. The company maintained guidance for 3% to 5% average earning-asset growth and approximately 1% operating-expense growth while continuing capital returns.
OneMain's Yield Comes With a Catch

#year #stellantis

Coinbase (COIN) dropped sharply when the CLARITY Act failed its Senate vote as Bitcoin barely moved, proving the bill served exchanges, not the coin.
Circle (CRCL) sold off alongside COIN while Polymarket prices Bitcoin reaching $95,000 by December at just 26%, well below Wall Street's bullish targets.
Grok flags October's Fed hike as Bitcoin's real gate, arguing that if it proves to be the last, returning ETF inflows could bring $100,000 within reach as a stretch target.
Read More: Avoid these 13 retirement mistakes before they derail your future (sponsor)
Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Circle (NYSE:CRCL) both fell sharply after the September 15 Senate cloture vote failed to advance the CLARITY Act, while Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) barely moved.

#Coinbase #circle

The financial unraveling of Jon Venetos' Lurin Capital is now the subject of a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe.
An email sent to an investor from the FBI's Dallas Division shared with The Real Deal revealed that the agency has opened an investigation into Venetos, Lurin Capital and **** ociated entities. The note provided an email address through which victims can provide comments and ask questions: LurinVictimsfbi.gov.
The Real Deal also obtained a public link to an FBI form **** led "Lurin Investigation Questionnaire" seeking information from "possible victim" investors. The form asks for details about investors' contributions and any distributions received.
The company's downfall has been punctuated by claims of fraudulent dealings from lenders and former Lurin employees. Keybank accused Venetos of transferring $25,000 from his accounts with the bank to a personal account. Vista Bank accused him of falsifying account statements from the lender in an attempt to take out loans elsewhere.
In addition, a former employee who worked in property management and asked to remain anonymous claimed Lurin lied on reimbursement requests to lenders by inflating costs of repairs and submitting invoices for work that wasn't done.

#email

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is betting $1 billion that leather armchairs, rugs, and bookshelves can turn a recovering coffee business into a more profitable one. The company plans to upgrade as many as 9,000 North American stores into warmer, more comfortable **** es designed to bring back customers who stopped treating Starbucks as a place to sit and stay. The strategy arrives as CEO Brian Niccol's turnaround gains traction, but investors still need to see whether higher traffic can translate into stronger margins.
Pixabay/Public Domain
The store upgrades are part of Niccol's broader "Back to Starbucks" strategy, which has already helped reverse a prolonged sales slump. Global comparable-store sales increased 7.9% in the latest quarter, with transactions up 4.2% and average ticket up 3.5%. U.S. comparable sales also rose 7.9%, indicating that the recovery is being driven by more than higher prices.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is spending roughly $150,000 per store on the new uplifts, far below the cost of previous renovations, and the work can generally be completed overnight without closing stores. The company expects about 1,500 upgrades to be finished by the end of September and ultimately wants to reach 8,000 to 9,000 company-operated North American locations.
That matters because Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) has gradually become optimized for transactions rather than lingering. Mobile orders now account for roughly one-third of U.S. transactions, more than twice their share in 2019. The new design is therefore an attempt to restore the "third place" concept without abandoning the convenience that has become central to the business.

#corporation #NASDAQ #sales #transactions

Investment manager Jim Chanos is the founder of Kynikos ***** ociates, a New York City-registered investment advisor focused on short selling.
He is best known for predicting the fall of the major energy company Enron before its bankruptcy in 2001, with Kynikos profiting from its massive short position.
The trade turned Chanos into a legendary figure at Wall Street. The investor just now sent a harsh warning on artificial intelligence (AI) trends.
Related: HIVE chair dismisses Anthropic researcher's AI extinction warning
IREN Limited (Nasdaq: IREN) is a data infrastructure company that began as a Bitcoin miner. But it began focusing on building AI capacities, though mining is still a major business area.

#iren #company #began #associates

An auction of the retail empire formerly owned by the Barclay family is set to be shelved after bidders failed to meet the £2bn asking price.
Very Group, the online retailer that also owns the Littlewoods brand, was bought by US private equity firm Carlyle for a nominal £1 sum last year and subsequently put up for sale.
But plans to sell the company now appear to be in jeopardy after none of the potential suitors, which included Chinese online giant JD.com, came up with offers large enough to meet Carlyle's demands, Sky News reported.
Carlyle, which had been Very's main creditor, seized control of Very in November following the collapse of the Barclay empire amid a dispute with Lloyds Banking Group about unpaid debts.
In addition to JD.com, possible bidders are said to have included investment firm Elliott, which owns Waterstones, and plus-size online retailer N Brown, which owns the Jacamo and Simply Be brands.

#owns #group #bidders #meet

Our ******* ysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here.
Performance was driven by strong demand across core end markets, achieving 7.1% net sales growth despite the quarter being one week shorter than the prior year.
The company is executing a three-pillar strategy focused on organic growth, operational excellence, and disciplined capital deployment to expand profitability.
Operational efficiency is being bolstered by a new global procurement leader and the use of AI to ******* yze spend cubes for direct and indirect cost optimization.
Manufacturing footprint optimization is underway, including the ramp-up of the Mexico plant for narrow pixel pitch products and a potential exit from the highly customized international transportation business in Ireland.

#operational #Potential #optimization

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) has faced at least two significant issues over the past year that have weighed on its stock. First, many investors aren't convinced that its massive artificial intelligence (AI)-related spending will yield the kind of return the company is hoping for. And since these investments are shrinking margins and earnings, skeptics have been running for the hills.
Second, Meta Platforms has faced lawsuits over its social media websites and apps. Plaintiffs allege that they have harmed users, especially younger users. The good news for Meta is that the company has made significant progress in overcoming one of these headwinds while keeping its core business mostly intact.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Image source: The Motley Fool.
A coalition of U.S. states and territories was suing Meta Platforms in lawsuits over social media addiction. On Aug. 26, they agreed to a settlement worth up to $17.1 billion that Meta will pay. The tech giant will also be required to install stronger guardrails to protect young users across its apps. These will include daily usage limits, the ability to opt out of personalized algorithms, and stricter parental controls.

#platforms #NVIDIA #company #users

Interested in Dollar General Corporation? Here are five stocks we like better.
Many retailers beat earnings estimates last week, but one-time tariff refunds inflated results and masked underlying weakness in some cases.
Dollar General and Best Buy delivered high-quality beats, with strong comp sales growth that held up even after stripping out minimal tariff-refund contributions.
Williams-Sonoma outperformed a weak home furnishings sector with accelerating comp sales and raised margin guidance that excluded any ****** umed tariff refunds.
The retail sector was one of the biggest winners in earnings season, which was especially evident in some of the reports that rolled in last week. Eight major retailers reported earnings within 48 hours, and nearly all beat on headline numbers. But headline numbers rarely tell the story, and this quarter was especially deceiving. Tariff refunds have done to earnings what steroids did to baseball players in the 1990s, and these juiced results can mask underlying weakness.

#retailers #last #results

Shares in Jubilee Metals Group PLC (AIM:JLP, JSE:JBL, OTC:JUBPF), the integrated copper producer and resource developer in Zambia, rose 6% to 2.65 pence on Wednesday.
The company has selected a preferred purchaser for its Large Waste Project, which has offered total acquisition consideration of $35 million.
The sale follows the receipt of two binding offers for the project, announced on 10 August.
The transaction will proceed through a two-stage due diligence process, with the first stage expected to conclude within approximately ten days.
Subject to satisfactory due diligence and definitive transaction documentation, the balance of the $35 million consideration will be settled over an agreed three-year instalment period.

#project #consideration #metals

This story was originally published on QSR. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily QSR AM Jolt.
Delaware North, one of the largest and most diversified hospitality and food service companies in the world, has partnered with TipHaus to streamline and automate tip management across its portfolio of venues.
For an operator of Delaware North's scale and diversity, spanning stadiums, arenas, resorts, destination restaurants, and entertainment venues, tip management has traditionally meant a patchwork of manual, location-by-location processes, each with its own rules and reconciliation headaches. Since bringing TipHaus on board in March 2025, Delaware North has replaced that fragmented approach with a single automated system that handles hundreds of distinct tip-pooling and distribution use cases across its operations. Today, TipHaus supports more than 40 locations for Delaware North.
"Partnering with TipHaus has helped Delaware North streamline and modernize our tip management process, reducing administrative effort while improving accuracy and transparency for our leaders," said Michele Seaver, Director of Payroll and Workforce Management at Delaware North. "What used to take a full day of coordination now takes just a couple of hours to pull a single enterprise-wide export. Given the diversity and complexity of our portfolio, the flexibility of the TipHaus platform, and the collaborative partnership we have built with the TipHaus team have been extremely valuable. Their willingness to adapt solutions and get creative to meet our unique operational needs has helped us drive greater consistency across our business while supporting a better experience for all involved," Seaver said.
TipHaus integrates directly with the systems Delaware North already runs, including Oracle Simphony, Toast, and UKG Dimensions, pulling sales, shift, and labor data automatically so that tip calculations run without manual data entry from each location. Rather than forcing a rigid, one-size-fits-all model, TipHaus configures to the specific rules of each property, allowing Delaware North to standardize oversight at the enterprise level while honoring the operational realities of each individual venue.

#Delaware #location

Things have been going pretty well on the stock market as the bull market approaches four years this October. That's why a lot of people are rightly nervous.
All good things come to an end, especially when a valuation gauge like the Shiller P/E ratio is at its highest level since the dot-com boom, which soon thereafter went bust.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
That's not to say a bear market is right around the corner or that a market collapse is imminent. All markets are different, and there are some key differences between this one and the nearly two-year bear market that followed the dot-com boom.
However, it is likely that markets will be volatile and, like Marvel villain Thanos, bear markets are inevitable. There have been 10 of them in the last 60 years.

#market

Pudgy Penguins token PENGU climbed 62.1% over the past week and now trades near $0.0095. Traders link a cryptic post from CEO Luca Netz to the company's stated ambition of a public listing.
The token added roughly 15% in the last 24 hours alone. Meanwhile, its market value sits close to $598 million, ranking PENGU 97th across all cryptocurrencies.
LBank, a centralized crypto exchange, opened a promotional campaign with Pudgy Penguins in August. The program combines trading competitions, giveaways, and yield products that lock user deposits for 30 days. Those locked products keep tokens away from exchange order books for a month at a time. Therefore, the campaign thins the supply available to sellers while it runs.
The brand keeps widening its offline footprint too. Plush toys and collectible figures now sell through Walmart and Target stores across North America. Netz pushed the Target rollout directly to his followers this weekend.
Retail distribution has become the core bull case here. In January, the project moved deeper into sports through its Manchester City NFT deal. That pivot matters more now, because the wider NFT market cap slide has hit blue-chip collections hard this year.

#netz #target #across #campaign

Software stocks have been climbing in recent weeks, and one BofA Securities ****** yst thinks more gains are ahead for the beaten down sector.
Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
U.S. manufacturing could be headed for an AI-fueled revival. Our roundtable pros size up the trend and offer 10 promising stocks.

#software #bofa #jones

By Niket Nishant and Rae Wee
Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. government bonds sold off following a brief reprieve on Thursday, pushing yields higher again and keeping stocks under pressure as investors questioned whether U.S. Treasury support ‌measures would provide lasting relief.
Yields on the 30-year U.S. government bond rose 4 basis points to 5.225% after ‌falling to 5.1765% earlier, a day after the Treasury's pledge to buy back more longer-dated debt. Yields move inversely to prices.
The moves were being closely watched to gauge markets' faith in the U.S. Treasury's ability to stem a rout that has sent shockwaves across multiple ***** et classes.
Stocks were mixed, with the MSCI index of global stocks up 0.3% after falling for four consecutive sessions, its longest losing streak since March, and U.S. major indexes lower in morning trading. The Nasdaq was down 0.7% and the S&P 500 was off 0.3%.

#yields

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) just posted a first half of 2026 that most fertilizer companies would frame around one thing: the conflict with Iran. Instead, management spent the earnings call on August 6 arguing that something bigger is happening underneath the headlines. Adjusted EBITDA hit $2.2 billion for the first half, ammonia plants ran at nearly 98% of available capacity, and the company raised its own estimate of what it can earn in a normal year. Investors chasing the geopolitical story may be missing the real one.
Management's central argument is that global nitrogen capacity has gotten permanently more expensive to build, which raises the price required to justify new plants and therefore lifts what CF Industries can earn even in ordinary years. That case leans on Blue Point, where the company has now received every permit needed to start construction, ordered nearly all its long lead items, and expects module fabrication to begin later this year. Combined with the planned return of the Yazoo City Complex in the first half of 2027, those projects support management's target of roughly $3.3 billion in mid-cycle EBITDA by 2030, up from a new $2.9 billion baseline, and neither figure includes any ****** p from the current conflict.
The quarter's numbers back up the operational side of that story. Second quarter net earnings reached $727 million, or $4.73 per diluted share, while trailing 12-month free cash flow came in around $1.8 billion. CF Industries has funneled much of that into buybacks, repurchasing 10.6 million shares for $958 million over the past year, and the board raised the quarterly dividend 20% to $0.60 per share in July. Shares outstanding have fallen 29% since the start of 2021 while the dividend has doubled, a combination management says has lifted investor ownership of the underlying business by more than 40% since 2020.
Management spent real time on the call pushing back on the idea that CF Industries' growth is mostly a geopolitical trade, which suggests that's exactly how a lot of investors are currently pricing the stock. Demand data from the quarter gives that read some support. Customers in regions with second-half application seasons deferred purchases as prices rose, and North American buyers slowed down enough in June that channel inventories fell to a very low point.
That weakness only reversed once thin inventories forced a rush into July's UAN and ammonia fill programs. Meanwhile, capital spending is about to climb as Blue Point construction ramps up, with CF Industries' share of 2026 capex projected at $950 million out of a company total of $1.3 billion, a bill that has to be paid before any of the 2030 targets show up in earnings.

#million #first #year

Golden Rapture Mining has agreed to acquire complete interest in four mineral claim cells located about 500m south of the proposed Goliath Project open pit operated by NexGold Mining, approximately 20km east of Dryden, Ontario, Canada.
The agreement is signed with 1544230 Ontario and Gravel Ridge Resources.
Described as the South of Goliath ground, the claims are accessible via existing roads and are served by regional infrastructure.
The acquisition will expand its land holdings as a key gold exploration district in northwestern Ontario.
Under the terms of the agreement, Golden Rapture will pay C$600 ($430.23) in cash and issue 200,000 shares to the sellers in exchange for full ownership of the South of Goliath Property.

#golden #rapture #project #dryden

Bloomin' Brands raised its full-year earnings guidance Wednesday after higher menu prices pushed second-quarter profit above ***** yst expectations. The owner of Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar reported net income of $31.3 million, or 36 cents a share, for the quarter ended June 28, up from $25.4 million, or 30 cents a share, a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at 39 cents. ***** ysts had expected 29 cents, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Total revenue rose 1.3% to $1.02 billion. ***** ysts had projected $1.00 billion.
U.S. comparable restaurant sales grew 2.3% in the quarter. Bonefish Grill posted the strongest gain among the company's chains, with an 8.1% increase. Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill, and Fleming's each rose more than 1%. The company said revenue growth was driven by higher comparable restaurant sales, partially offset by net restaurant closures.
Higher menu prices lifted the per-guest tab, which the company said was the key driver of improved margins during the period. Spending on the Outback turnaround plan also declined during the period, contributing to lower general and administrative costs and a wider operating margin.

#cents #Share #restaurant

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) has spent close to a year going nowhere while the broader market climbed steadily, and shares recently traded near a 52-week low even after the company posted higher revenue and earnings. That gap between decent headline numbers and a beaten-down stock price is the whole story right now. Investors are trying to figure out whether a business that looks strong overseas and stuck at home is worth paying up for, all while collecting one of the most dependable dividends around.
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Outside the United States, PepsiCo's business is humming. International beverage volume climbed 5% last quarter and revenue jumped 11%, or 9% once currency swings are stripped out, and none of that came from acquisitions since those deals were concentrated on U.S. brands. Snacks told a similar story abroad, with Asia Pacific revenue up 15% and Latin America up 12%. That geographic spread matters because it's cushioning a domestic business that isn't pulling its weight. On top of that, volume is finally moving in the right direction everywhere: PepsiCo posted its fastest volume sales growth since 2022, and global organic sales volume through the first half of fiscal 2026 was the highest in four years, a sign that recent price cuts aimed at cost-conscious shoppers are working rather than just squeezing margins.
The stock's price tag adds to the case. Shares trade around 16 times forward earnings, a discount to its five-year median near 22. Layer on a dividend that's been raised for 54 straight years, with the payout still covered by adjusted earnings. Management is "restaging" four core brands, Lay's, Tostitos, Gatorade, and Quaker, with new packaging, marketing, and ingredients, while rolling out products like protein chips and probiotic drinks. Activist investor Elliott Investment Management has also been in the mix, pushing the company to move faster on growth and cost cuts.
The trouble is that PepsiCo's biggest market is still shrinking in the ways that matter. North American food sales fell 2% last quarter, and beverage volume in that region dropped 4% even as reported beverage revenue ticked up. Management pointed to higher gas prices as one culprit, arguing that pricier fill-ups are cutting into convenience store traffic, a channel where impulse buys of chips and soda matter a lot. Strip out acquisitions, and organic growth in North American beverages was just 1%.

#beverage #Growth

Tesla stock has spent nearly a year going sideways. Wednesday's earnings could finally break the stalemate.
Stockholders can buy protection against a drop — though the cost of that insurance may be nearly as important as the protection itself.
That protection can come from a put option. A put gives its owner the right, but not the obligation, to sell a stock at a fixed price before a set date.
One way to build that protection is to buy one July 24 put with a $375 strike price against 100 Tesla shares already owned. The strike is the price at which the shares can be sold, while July 24 is the expiration date — the final day that right exists.
One standard stock-option contract generally covers 100 shares.

#nearly #option

The flying taxi company just unveiled a military drone, and investors are betting it's a much faster path to a paycheck.
If you blinked, you might have missed it. Archer Aviation (ACHR) stock jumped +19.6% on Monday, a sharp reversal after hitting its 52-week low of $4.44 just the session before. While peers like JOBY also saw a lift, Archer's move was in a different league. So what exactly put the charge back into this electric aircraft developer?
On Monday morning, the company pulled the curtain back on a new partnership with a defense technology company. They unveiled an autonomous aircraft platform called Thunder. This isn't another sleek pod designed to whisk you over city traffic. It's a craft built with military and commercial applications in mind, marking a significant new direction for the company.
Because it gives Archer a second, more tangible story to tell. Crucially, Archer remains essentially pre-revenue, with its entire valuation pinned on the future commercialization of urban air mobility. But as one report noted, the eVTOL industry is seeing "slower-than-expected progress." This pivot into defense is a "major expansion beyond its core urban air mobility business," offering a potential path to revenue that doesn't rely solely on a consumer market that doesn't exist yet. It's a strategic hedge while commercial passenger certification moves through lengthy regulatory timelines.
The company isn't abandoning its original mission. The CEO reaffirmed the goal of achieving certification for its passenger craft by 2028. But the more immediate catalyst is on the commercial front. Archer is expected to announce its "first commercial customers later this week," which could provide another jolt of validation. This pivot firmly plants a foot in the aerospace and defense sector, a move that clearly resonated with investors tired of waiting.

#Monday #investors

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Tariffs don't apply directly to car insurance, but they can still raise your insurance costs. That's because tariffs apply directly to items that affect the cost of car insurance claims, namely auto parts, steel, and aluminum.
Since the Trump administration's tariffs were enacted, those costs have been passed down to auto dealers and consumers, and the average suggested retail price of a car has increased 10.4%.
Here's how tariffs impact your insurance bill and ways to lower your costs.
Automotive tariffs have triggered a domino effect that could contribute to higher car insurance costs over time.

#insurance #apply #directly