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🔔 The Opening Bell |
Good morning. Today, the market opens slightly down and many investors are taking a wait-and-see approach as all eyes are on the Israel-Iran conflict… |
There will be many market impacts from this conflict and how it plays out including oil, currencies & their alternatives, defense company stocks and more. |
But, in the meantime, as you consider how to approach your longterm investing strategy in this geopolitical climate, we will continue to share alternative investment options to help you diversify and derisk. |
Today, after our sponsor message, we will dig into a breakdown on one of the highest return alternative investment options, private credit. We will share a few of the top options in that category and explain why they’re worth considering as part of your portfolio. |
Today’s sponsor is innovating in a very hot and future-proof category, virtual reality. Private company investment opportunities like this can come with risk and lack short term liquidity, but can produced outsized returns when you pick the right ones. Learn more about what Virtuix is doing below… |
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The VR Treadmill Backed by Shark Tank Stars |
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The numbers speak for themselves: |
✅ $18M+ in product sales
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Over $2.7M has already been raised in this round — and the campaign closes June 20. |
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This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. |
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📰 Market Headlines |
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Markets wavered Wednesday as the Fed held interest rates steady while officials diverged over the path of interest rates this year. |
The Dow Jones fell 0.1%, the S&P 500 slipped below flat, and the Nasdaq rose about 0.1%. |
Fed split widens, but two cuts still expected. The Federal Reserve's dot plot revealed a more divided central bank, with seven officials now seeing no change in rates this year (up from four in March). The median forecast still shows two 25-basis-point cuts by year-end. |
Trump’s Iran threats rattle markets. President Trump's Iran stance kept markets on edge as he claimed to have given Tehran an "ultimatum." When asked about potential US strikes, he stated, "I may do it, I may not do it. Nobody knows what I'm going to do." Iran's Supreme Leader warned that US military involvement would bring "irreparable damage" and "100% backfire." |
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🔍 Private Credit - Key Insights |
Private Credit is also known as direct lending and it allows investors to provide capital that is then packaged into secured loans. The annual target returns for investors can be very attractive with many funds returning 8-14%. which would beat the S&P in many years and is among the highest-yielding risk-adjusted income alternatives, particularly in today's high-rate environment. |
Though many of these opportunities are limited to accredited investors, there are some publicly traded private credit companies including $BXSL ( ▲ 0.58% ) , $ORCC, $FSK ( ▲ 1.43% ) , $ARCC ( ▲ 0.89% ) who can be invested in by just about anyone. Keep in mind that public investments in this category do carry public market price risk and the private options have less short term liquidity, but for many, the options below may be worth consideration as a part of a diversified portfolio. More on those options below: |
1. Dividend Yield vs Price Movement |
All four pay attractive yields (9–14%), which stabilizes total return even when share prices dip. BXSL and FSK offer higher income but come with greater volatility. |
2. 1-Year & YTD Performance |
BXSL: Strong 1‑year return (~10%), but slight YTD dip due to price drag and yield resetting. ORCC & ARCC: Solid double-digit, 12‑month returns, modest positive YTD. FSK: Leading LTM return (~19%), boosted by high yield and possibly more credit risk exposure. |
3. Long-Term Compounding |
BXSL: ~14.6% annualized since late‑2021. ARCC: ~15.5% over 3 years; ~18% over 5 years. FSK & ORCC likely in similar mid-teens with reinvested dividends and capital gains. |
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😱 Fear and Greed Index |
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🧠 Make yourself heard |
Are You Invested In Future-Focused Industries like AI, VR, Robotics? |
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🤖 AI/Future/Tech News |
Google enabled back-and-forth chats in AI Mode, letting users speak follow-up questions and hear audio replies. Multiplier secured $27.5 million to acquire small tax firms and scale them with AI. |
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🪙 Crypto | Iran’s largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, was hit by a Predatory Sparrow hack that burned $90 million in crypto as a political protest. Prenetics bought $20 million in Bitcoin and added a Trump crypto adviser to its board. The Czech government survived a scandal after a Bitcoin donation from a convicted drug dealer triggered a no-confidence vote. |
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⚔️ Trade wars |
US housing construction slumped to a five-year low, with tariffs on materials weighing heavily on the sector. Dealmakers fear a government ‘golden share’ in the US Steel deal could chill investment under President Trump’s protectionist policies. |
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💡 Ideas, trends, and analysis |
The Social Security retirement trust fund faces depletion by 2033, with only 77% of benefits payable at that point. Global wealth climbed 4.6% last year, and UBS expects over 5 million new millionaires by 2030. |
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🌍 International Markets | | South African retail sales rose 5.1% year-on-year in April, a sharp acceleration from the revised 1.2% growth recorded in March. UK inflation stayed at 3.4% in May, but chocolate prices jumped a record 17.7% as poor cocoa harvests in West Africa squeezed supply. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar launched a series of diplomatic calls, flagging the risk of spillover from the Iran-Israel conflict. Israel launches global airlift. Israel scrambled an airlift operation to bring home an estimated 50,000 citizens stranded overseas after airspace closures across the Middle East. The first rescue flight by El Al touched down in Tel Aviv Wednesday morning. |
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🎤 What you said last time |
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“Most private business investments I have seen are like the investing punchline ‘It’s like Netflix, but for horses!’” |
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🚚 Market movers |
Nippon Steel sealed its $14.9 billion takeover of US Steel, granting President Trump a golden share with veto power over plant closures and job cuts. Waymo filed for a permit to begin manual autonomous vehicle testing in New York City. Zoox opened a 220,000-square-foot robotaxi factory in Hayward, California. Base44, a six-month-old AI startup, was snapped up by Wix for $80 million. |
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📊 Earnings this week |
Aurora Cannabis reported that international sales declined, offsetting gains in Canadian medical cannabis, with shares plunging more than 20%. Smith & Wesson Brands missed earnings estimates; shares advanced 3.7%. |
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📢 We want to hear from you |
We love hearing from you, and we deeply appreciate your feedback. |
⭐️ What did you think of today's edition? |
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📺 What to watch today |
| Usain Bolt Reacts To Alternative 100m World Records - Guinness World Records |
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That’s all for today. Did I miss anything? Smash the reply button to let me know. | Cheers,
Brandon with Stefan & Wyatt |
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