FINANCIAL GURKHA BLOGS
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
All About Monad (MON): Generate Value From Monad Blockchain
MON is the native-token of Monad Blockchain, an EVM comatible L1,the all-new superfast 10,000 TPS blockchain making waves. Learn all about Monad Blockchain, MON tokens, and how to gain value and make money from the Monad blockchain and its native MON tokens.
An Intrinsic Valuation of FIGMA (NYSE:FIG)
Figma just crossed the $1bn annual revenue mark and maintains a 40% growth rate. Let's dive deep into Figma's filings and estimate an intrinstic value of the leading collaborative design platform for building meaningful products
America's Net Investment Position with the World
How much of American assets does the world own? How much global stocks does America own? We expand the scope of Bureau of Economic Analysis to understand America's net investment position with the world.
Dollar Gold Crude Relations
Making sense of the relationship between the US Dollar, Gold, and Crude Petroleum.
Gold: A Primer on Commodities and Trading
Commodity traders believe we are in the midst of a commodities market supercycle - a period of more 6 years where commodities priced in USD are going to see significant rise in their prices. Gold and Silver are amongst the most traded precious metal commodities. In this article, we explore Gold, the most widely coveted precious metal.
Novo Nordisk DCF Valuation: Should you invest in the Ozempic and Wegovy Maker for exeptional returns?
Novo Nordisk briefly became Europe’s most valuable company by market cap before experiencing a sharp 60% pullback within six months. Despite the volatility, this century-old pharmaceutical leader continues to innovate across its core specialties in diabetes and blood-related disorders. The company is aggressively scaling its production capacity for high-demand treatments while investing heavily in research aimed at curing emerging diseases. Novo Nordisk’s international revenue segments and its growing online prescription platform are also delivering strong year-over-year growth. In this analysis, we break down Novo Nordisk’s fundamentals and present a full intrinsic valuation using DCF.
MP Materials Valuation: A Discounted Cash Flow Approach
MP Materials (NYSE:MP), a leading rare earth materials producer in the Western Hemisphere, has impressively grown their revenue since going public in 2020. The company recently began producing NdPr - core ingredients for manufacturing permanent magnets. In this article we approach MP Materials valuation through a discounted cash flow approach.