Independent Markets Research · Est. 2022
Financial
Gurkha
Equity valuations, macro analysis, and market coverage — researched, written, and filed from Wall Street, New York.
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Featured Analysis
09/04/2026 · Kanchan
The State of US Energy: Crude Production, Petroleum refining, the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, and Why Nobody Will Build a Refinery
A full read of the US crude complex as of the week ending August 28, 2026. Domestic production is at 13.86 million b/d, refiners are running at 98% of a capacity base that shrank again last year, Cushing is scraping tank bottoms, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen to its lowest level since 1983, and the diesel crack just printed above $100 a barrel. Compiled from EIA weekly data, Bloomberg terminal research, and reporting on why the record margins are not buying a single new refinery.
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The Ledger
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08/30/2026
US National Accounts, Gross Domestic Income Components, Fiscal Deficits, and Housing: Insights from Bloomberg Terminal Research
A comprehensive macroeconomic study of US Gross Domestic Income breakdown, 70-year wage share trends, housing inventory anomalies, mortgage rates, budget balances, and global superpower comparisons.
08/12/2026
July 2026 CPI: Headline Inflation Says 3.4%. The Last Three Months Say 0.8%.
Consumer prices rose 0.1% in July and 3.4% over the year, with core at 2.5%. But annualise the last three months and headline inflation is running at 0.8% and core at 1.6% — below target. The 3.4% is a March energy shock that has not yet rolled out of the base. We go through the energy component in detail, show why the shelter number is quieter than it looks, and cross-reference the EIA outlook to ask whether record US oil and gas output is producing healthy or unhealthy emissions growth.
08/06/2026
Sandisk reports $9.8 billion in Q426 revenue
Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) reported fiscal 2026 revenue of $20.2 billion, up 175%, and swung from a $1.6 billion loss to $11.4 billion of net income. Datacenter revenue grew 437%. Cost of revenue actually fell year over year while sales rose 372%. Eighteen months after being spun out of Western Digital and written down for impairment, the company that invented flash storage is printing a 77% net margin. Here is what the filing says — and why memory investors should read the cycle warning carefully.
08/04/2026
Caterpillar's First $20 Billion Quarter: A Record $72 Billion Backlog, Raised Guidance, and the AI Boom in Yellow Iron
CAT posted $20.5 billion in sales and revenues in Q2 2026 — the first $20 billion quarter in company history — raised full-year guidance to mid-to-high teens growth, and disclosed a record $72 billion backlog with Power & Energy customers ordering as far out as 2030. Power generation sales grew 29% on data center demand. Here is the full breakdown, from the release and the call.
07/31/2026
Microsoft FY26 Earnings: $331 Billion in Revenue, $133 Billion in Profit, and the $115 Billion AI Bet That Just Paid Off
MSFT is up 25% in two trading days after a blowout fiscal 2026: revenue grew 18% to $331.8 billion, net income jumped 31% to $133.7 billion, and Azure is guided to grow ~45% into FY27. We went through the 10-K line by line — the income statement, the balance sheet, the cash flows, and the tax table — to show you exactly where the money is coming from and where it is going.
07/29/2026
Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Steady
The Federal Open Market Committee left the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent. The headline says "Fed holds." The headline is the least interesting sentence in the document.
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Financial Gurkha operates from New York City. Most articles are researched and written from Wall Street and the surrounding Financial District — on the ground, at least twice a week.
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Financial Gurkha · New York City · Est. 2022