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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy checked out the cockpit of a Gripen fighter jet in Sweden on a visit to buy 150 of the aircraft. Ukraine’s military hopes to start using some already manufactured jets next year.

I love to collect dividend income. It provides me with more cash to invest each month and a growing level of financial freedom. My goal is to eventually generate enough passive income from dividends and other sources to cover my basic living expenses.

To support my income strategy, I focus on buying high-yielding dividend stocks. Two companies in particular, Brookfield Infrastructure (BIPC -2.38%) (BIP -1.62%) and W.P. Carey (WPC), have consistently stood out. Here’s why I can’t stop buying these income stocks.

Image source: Getty Images.

A high-octane dividend growth stock

Brookfield Infrastructure currently yields nearly 4%, more than triple the S&P 500’s dividend yield (1.2%). The global infrastructure operator supports its high-yielding payout with very stable cash flows. Long-term contracts and government-regulated rate structures account for around 85% of its annual funds from operations (FFO). Most of those frameworks have no volume or price exposure (75%), while another large portion of its cash flow (20%) comes from rate-regulated structures that only have volume exposure tied to changes in the global economy. The bulk of these arrangements also either index its FFO to inflation (70%) or protect it from the impact of inflation (15%).

The company pays out 60% to 70% of its very resilient cash flow in dividends. That gives it a comfortable cushion while allowing it to retain a meaningful amount of cash to invest in expansion projects. Brookfield also has a strong investment-grade balance sheet. Additionally, the company routinely recycles capital by selling mature assets to invest in higher-returning opportunities.

Brookfield has grown its FFO per share at a 14% annual rate since its inception in 2008, supporting a 9% compound annual dividend growth rate. While its growth has slowed in recent years due to headwinds from interest rates and foreign exchange fluctuations, a reacceleration appears to be ahead. The company believes that a combination of organic growth driven by inflationary rate increases, volume growth as the economy expands, and expansion projects will drive robust FFO per share growth in the coming years. Additionally, it expects to get a boost from its value-enhancing capital recycling strategy. These catalysts should combine to drive more than 10% annual FFO per share growth.

The company’s strong financial profile and robust growth prospects easily support its plan to increase its high-yielding payout at a 5% to 9% annual rate. Brookfield has increased its payout in all 16 years since it went public.

Rebuilt on an even stronger foundation

W.P. Carey has a 5.4% dividend yield. The real estate investment trust (REIT) owns a well-diversified portfolio of operationally critical real estate across North America and Europe. It focuses on investing in single-tenant industrial, warehouse, retail, and other properties secured by long-term net leases featuring built-in rental escalation clauses. Those leases provide it with very stable and steadily rising rental income.

The REIT has spent the past few years reshaping its portfolio. It accelerated its exit from the office sector in late 2023 by spinning off and selling its remaining properties. W.P. Carey has also been selling off some of its self-storage properties, particularly those not secured by net leases. It has been recycling that capital into properties with better long-term demand drivers, such as industrial real estate.

W.P. Carey’s strategy should enable it to grow its adjusted FFO at a higher rate in the future. Its portfolio is delivering healthy same-store rent growth (2.3% year-over-year in the second quarter). Meanwhile, its investments to expand its portfolio are driving incremental FFO per share growth. W.P. Carey is on track to grow its adjusted FFO per share by 4.5% at the mid-point of its guidance range this year.

That growing income is allowing the REIT to increase its dividend. It has raised its payment every quarter since resetting the payout level in late 2023 when it exited the office sector, including a 4% increase over the past 12 months. With a strong portfolio and balance sheet, W.P. Carey has the financial flexibility to continue growing its portfolio, FFO, and dividend in the coming years.

High-quality, high-yielding dividend stocks

Brookfield Infrastructure and W.P. Carey stand out for their stable and growing cash flows, as well as high-yield dividends. Brookfield offers inflation-protected cash flows that minimize risk, while W.P. Carey generates reliable rental income from long-term leases. With lots of income and growth ahead, I just can’t stop buying these high-quality, high-yielding dividend stocks.

Some of the biggest winners in the stock market over the last three years have been companies riding the rising wave of generative artificial intelligence.

Palantir (PLTR -5.39%), with its artificial intelligence platform, has seen its stock rise by over 2,000% in three years. Nvidia (NVDA -4.84%), the poster child for AI chipmakers, is up by more than 1,300% in the same period. And neo-cloud providers like Nebius Group (NBIS -2.37%) and CoreWeave (CRWV -3.32%) have soared by triple-digit percentages since their IPOs.

If you had invested $10,000 in any one of these big winners ahead of their surges, you’d be well on the way to having a million-dollar holding in the long term, even if they produce merely average returns from here on out. But identifying which companies will be a new technology’s big winners ahead of time is difficult. If it were easy, everyone would be rich.

If you’d like to profit from the ongoing growth of AI, you could put a little bit of money into a lot of different AI stocks, or you could buy an ETF that specializes in finding generative AI opportunities. That’s what the Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF (CHAT -5.03%) does. Investors who are still trying to strike it rich with generative AI stocks may find it a compelling alternative to attempting to pick individual AI stocks themselves.

Image source: Getty Images.

Looking under the hood

The Roundhill team is focused on building a portfolio of companies that are actively involved in the advancement of generative AI. Its holdings include companies developing their own large language models and generative AI tools, companies providing key infrastructure for training and inference, and software companies commercializing generative AI applications.

Since it’s an ETF, investors can see exactly what the fund holds. Here are the largest holdings in the portfolio as of this writing.

• Nvidia
• Alphabet
• Oracle
• Microsoft
• Meta Platforms
• Broadcom
• Tencent Holdings
• Alibaba Group Holdings
• ARM Holdings
• Amazon

There aren’t a lot of surprises in the list. Perhaps the biggest standout is Arm, which is relatively small compared to the other tech giants with large weightings in the portfolio. Still, its market cap comes in at a healthy $165 billion.

In total, the ETF holds 40 stocks and several currency hedges for foreign-issued shares as of this writing. That diversification gives it a good chance of holding a few companies that will be big winners from here, which may be all it takes to produce market-beating returns. Indeed, the portfolio includes some of the best-performing stocks of 2025, including Palantir.

Since its inception in 2023, the Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF has returned an impressive 148% compared to a 66% total return from the S&P 500. And that’s factoring in the drag of the ETF’s 0.75% expense ratio.

Could $10,000 invested make you a millionaire?

In order to turn $10,000 into $1 million, the ETF would have to increase in value 100-fold. That may be difficult, considering the current sizes of its top holdings.

Nearly one-third of the portfolio is invested in companies with market caps exceeding $1 trillion, and the larger a company becomes, the more raw growth it takes to move the needle on its size on a percentage basis. For Nvidia to grow by even 25% now would be the equivalent of creating a whole new trillion-dollar business. And while such growth is certainly possible for some of those megacap companies, there’s still a finite amount of money in the global economy.

Meanwhile, there are only a handful of relatively small businesses in the ETF’s portfolio that could reasonably be expected to multiply in size significantly.

Additionally, many stocks in the portfolio have high valuations. Palantir shares trade for a forward P/E ratio of 280. Nebius trades for 54 times expected sales. Even CoreWeave’s sales multiple of 12.5 looks expensive, given its reliance on debt to continue growing. That said, some of the best performers of the last few years also looked expensive a few years ago (including Palantir and Nvidia). Still, the expected return of stocks with such high valuations isn’t going to be as high as those offering more compelling values.

As such, it seems unlikely the Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF will produce returns strong enough to turn $10,000 into $1 million over a reasonable time frame. That doesn’t mean that it’s not worth owning. For investors looking to gain exposure to the generative AI trend without going all in on one or two stocks, buying the Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF is a simple way to do that.

It’s a little hard to imagine now, but not so long ago, Target (TGT -0.54%) was a much-loved stock. The ubiquitous retailer seemed to be making all the right moves, with improving fundamentals reflecting a successful strategy.

That was then, this is now. Target’s share price has cratered by 34% so far this year while other retail favorites — Walmart and Costco Wholesale, to name two — have retained their luster. Target is the very definition of the beaten-down stock these days, but I don’t think it’s going to stay that way for long.

A perfect storm of negativity

Target’s woes are the result of several negative factors converging to hurt the fundamentals.

The current administration’s trade policy has seen tariffs come and go, at times unpredictably; this isn’t good for a retailer like Target that imports regularly. The supply chain issues that were a feature, not a bug, of the early 2020s weren’t managed all that well by the company; meanwhile, it had to contend with persistent inflation that kept many consumer wallets shut.

Image source: Getty Images.

Target’s recent performance has been disappointing, at least on the surface. In its second quarter, the results of which were published near the end of August, the company’s net sales slumped by nearly 1% year over year to just over $25 billion. That was on the back of a nearly 2% drop in comparable-store sales.

Net income as measured by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) fell more precipitously, diving by 22% to $935 million. This wasn’t the only recent quarter to feature top- or bottom-line declines.

Retail is a tough industry, though, stuffed as it is with much competition and low margins. Prior to its current doldrums, Target was an outperformer, if anything, and that memory is making the recent slides look more dire than they might otherwise appear.

Besides, there are numerous reasons to be positive about the company’s future if you know where to look. One is its well-managed same-day delivery service, where it has effectively copied a page from the Amazon playbook. Its take from same-day delivery increased a robust 25% in the second quarter, contributing to a more than 4% increase in overall digital sales.

And new-ish premium programs such as the Roundel advertising service and third-party sellers marketplace Target Plus have been posting double-digit gains of late.

A turnaround is in the works. Yes, analysts tracking the stock are collectively modeling slides over full-year 2025 for both revenue (projected to fall 1.4% against the 2024 figure) and per-share profitability (by 17%). However, they’re anticipating a comeback in 2026, with the annual top line inching up by nearly 2%, and a rise in headline earnings per share by a relief-inducing 9%.

A generous member of dividend royalty

What makes Target even more appealing as a turnaround-to-be story is that its quarterly dividend, generous during the good times, is especially rich now. It yields more than 5% on the current sunken share price, putting it firmly in high-yield dividend territory. It also beats the pants off the average dividend yield of S&P 500 component stocks, which sits at less than 1.2%.

What’s more, unlike other beaten-down companies, the payout looks sustainable. In its most recently reported quarter, free cash flow (FCF) approached $4.5 billion, far more than enough to fund the slightly over $2 billion in dividends it doled out during the period. It even had sufficient monies for activities like share buybacks and debt retirement.

Target’s shareholder payout is clearly important to the company, so much so that it has declared dividend raises annually for 54 years running, making it a Dividend King. That’s one of the longest dividend-raise streaks going for any company of any size, and it’s beaten by only a handful of publicly traded businesses.

So ultimately what we have here is a stock that feels extremely oversold and is cheap not only in price, but in key fundamentals (its forward P/E, for example, is less than 12). It’s also a monster of an income generator these days, with that 5%-plus yield. Target continues to be a bargain, in my view, and is absolutely tempting as a buy.

At the time of this writing, the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.34%) is less than 1% off its all-time high and up 73% since the start of 2023. Artificial intelligence (AI) and investor appetite for risk have contributed to the torrid gains, making the market relatively expensive.

You may have seen headlines saying that the S&P 500 is overvalued compared to its historical averages. Or that red-hot growth stocks have run up too fast. But that doesn’t tell the full story.

Three simple valuation metrics — earnings, trailing price-to-earnings ratio, and forward price-to-earnings ratio — explain what’s going on with the market’s valuation. Here’s why they matter, why the S&P 500 isn’t as expensive as it seems, and what that means for your investment portfolio.

Image source: Getty Images.

This growth-driven market commands a premium price

The S&P 500 is an index featuring the 500 largest companies in the U.S. by market cap. The more valuable a company, the greater its influence on the index through its stock price. So a $4.5 trillion-plus company like Nvidia has more than 10 times the influence as a $400 billion company like Home Depot. But that also means Nvidia has 10 times the impact on S&P 500 earnings.

Just like individual companies, the S&P 500 has an earnings per share (EPS) metric. This is just an average of the earnings of each company adjusted for weight in the index. So again, Nvidia’s earnings will have 10-plus times the impact as Home Depot’s.

Ten particularly influential growth stocks, known as the “Ten Titans,” now make up 39% of the S&P 500. But many of these companies are being valued for where they will be several years from now rather than where they are today. Meaning that their price-to-earnings ratios (P/E) and forward P/E ratios are elevated, thereby bloating the valuation of the S&P 500.

According to data from FactSet, the forward P/E of the S&P 500 is 22.5, compared to a five-year average of 19.9 and a 10-year average of 18.6. Based on forward earnings projections for the next year, which tend to favor growth stocks, the S&P 500 is 13.1% pricier than its five-year average and 21% more expensive than its 10-year average. Even if companies live up to expectations, their stock prices may not go up in the near term simply because these results may already be priced in.

Valuation matters less for investors with a long-term time horizon. If the S&P 500 goes nowhere for a year or two but earnings keep growing, the narrative will flip, and the index will look cheap. So the five- or 10-year return could still be solid, reinforcing the importance of approaching the stock market with a long-term time horizon rather than trying to make a quick buck.

S&P 500 gains can be misleading

Using P/E ratios and forward P/E ratios compared to historical averages only tells part of the story. Those two metrics alone may suggest that all stocks are expensive, but that’s not the case.

Data by YCharts.

As mentioned before, the S&P 500 is up 73% since the start of 2023, but the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index has returned just 33.3% — a nearly 40 percentage point difference. Instead of weighting by market cap, the S&P 500 equal-weight gives all S&P 500 components the same influence on the index. Nvidia moves the S&P 500 equal-weight index the same as any other company does.

When the S&P 500 outperforms its 500 equal-weighted index, it means that megacap companies are doing better than companies with smaller market caps. When the equal-weighted index outperforms, it means the megacap names are dragging down the index.

Since the start of 2023, megacap companies have drastically outperformed smaller S&P 500 names. Over the last decade, the S&P 500 rose 253.1% while the equal-weight jumped 161.6%. It would have been especially difficult for an individual investor to keep pace or outperform the S&P 500 during this period without significant exposure to megacap growth stocks.

Buying the S&P 500 for the right reasons

The biggest takeaway from these metrics is that the S&P 500 is expensive because a handful of growth stocks are driving its returns. But that doesn’t mean that all S&P 500 stocks are pricey. In fact, that’s hardly the case.

Many consumer discretionary and consumer staples companies have dirt cheap valuations due to pullbacks in spending. Even pockets of the tech sector are beaten down, namely in the application software industry, due to concerns of AI disruption for software-as-a-service business models.

Investors looking for stocks at a better value may not want to buy the S&P 500 at an all-time high. Or at least have it make up a smaller percentage of their portfolios. Whereas folks who believe that the Ten Titans will keep driving market gains may argue that the S&P 500 can grow into its lofty valuation because these companies are extremely well run, have tons of growth potential, high margins, and exceptional balance sheets.

In sum, the S&P 500 is no longer a balanced index, but rather a growth index. And that means investors should only consider buying it if its composition and valuation suit their risk tolerance.

LIFE is better together – and that goes for your bank balance, too.

Buddying up can mean all sorts of savings, from everyday bills to days out.

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Here’s how to get a cash boost by sharing the love . . . 

REFERRALS: If you’ve had great service from a company, why not let your pals know?

Many firms will reward you if you refer someone as a new customer.

This is true for most utility providers, as well as credit card firms.

Even just referring a mate to cashback site TopCashback will net you £20.

So next time you’re telling someone about a great offer, check if you can get something for the recommendation.

Just make sure you get sign-ups through your own unique links or codes to get the reward.

BULK BUYS: If you’re buying tickets for an event, always try to buy with friends and then split the total between you.

This means that if there are booking fees you’ll only pay one between you.

Plus, many venues offer multi-ticket savings that are worth looking for.

For example, you can pay £24.50 to visit the Minecraft Experience in London, but this reduces to £18.50 each if there are seven or more tickets bought through a group bundle.

FRIEND FOR THE ROAD: Travelling can be expensive but you can ease the pressure with others in tow.

Ride app Uber easily allows you to add extra pick-ups on the way to a destination and divide the bill with contacts who also have an account.

If you have a pal who you frequently travel with, the Two Together railcard is £35 a year but gives you a third off off-peak fares when you travel together.

Or with GroupSave, groups of three or more adults can get a third off off-peak train fares when travelling together.

For regular journeys, such as to the office, why not ask work friends if they fancy lift sharing and you can take it in turns to drive.

You’ll save on petrol and get a little added company too.

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• All prices on page correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability. 

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United Parcel Service (UPS -1.01%) is best known for the brown trucks that dash about most population centers in the United States. The trucks are so common that they are a fairly ubiquitous part of life, showing the importance of what UPS, as it is more commonly called, does as a business. In some ways the company’s stock could set you up for life, but there are risks to consider before you buy it.

What does UPS do?

For most people, the quick summary of UPS’ business would start and stop with the words “package delivery.” However, the background behind those two words is very important. What this industrial giant really excels at is logistics, a fact helped along by UPS’ vast scale as a business.

Image source: Getty Images.

Essentially, UPS allows customers to easily move a package from one place to another. That effort includes package pickup, package routing, and package delivery. Each step is a huge effort in its own right. Pickup, for example, can happen at a customer’s business (as other packages are being delivered), in a local drop-off box, or in one of the company’s many stores. Routing is the magic moment, as UPS uses its trucks, airplanes, and sorting facilities to make sure each item gets to where it needs to go quickly, efficiently, and cost effectively. And delivery, the part that most people are seeing when they watch those brown trucks around town, is the end of the process (and sometimes the start of a new process, if packages are being picked up).

UPS’ business is simple in some regards, but massively complex in others. In fact, it would be hard to replicate what UPS does. Even Amazon (AMZN 0.23%), after years of capital investments in its own package delivery service, still uses UPS. That shows the value of the network that UPS has developed over the decades. And it is important to keep in mind that packages will need to be delivered for as long as people live in different locations. This is not a fly-by-night business, which suggests that buying it could help set you up for life as an investor.

UPS data by YCharts

What’s wrong with UPS?

That said, UPS’ stock has fallen 60% from the highs it reached in 2022. The price is now below where it was prior to the coronavirus pandemic. These are both important facts to consider before buying UPS.

The steep drop is partly related to a massive price spike during the pandemic. Wall Street extrapolated the short-term demand boost for package delivery during the pandemic far into the future. When the world learned to live with COVID and package delivery demand cooled, so did UPS’ stock price.

The company isn’t sitting around and hoping for the best, however, it is actively working to upgrade its business. That includes spending on technology, closing older distribution centers, and shifting its customer focus to its most profitable business. For example, it recently announced that it would be materially reducing its relationship with e-commerce giant Amazon because the deliveries it makes for the company are low-margin.

The results of the company’s efforts to upgrade its business have included lower revenue and rising costs. It was unavoidable and financial results got hit not just by the receding of the pandemic, but also by management’s strategic plans for the future. Investors are worried even though the company’s attempts to upgrade its operations appear appropriate from a business perspective. If you think in decades, the downbeat view of UPS’ shares today could be a buying opportunity.

The problem comes in when you consider the dividend, noting that the dividend yield is a very enticing 7.7%. That’s high enough that it suggests dividend investors are worried about a dividend cut. That’s not an unfounded concern, despite the fact that UPS has increased its dividend annually for 16 years.

UPS Payout Ratio (TTM) data by YCharts

The dividend payout ratio is currently closing in on 100%. To be fair, it has long been in the 70% to 80% range, so the payout ratio was never low. But given the overhaul of the business, there is a very real possibility that the dividend also gets a reset. However, even if the dividend were cut by 50%, the yield would still be fairly attractive relative to the tiny 1.2% yield of the S&P 500 index (^GSPC 0.49%).

Could UPS set you up for life?

If you are looking for a reliable business that is likely to be a long-term survivor, UPS is a solid option. And once it works through its current modernization effort the business is likely to be a more profitable operation. But if you are looking for a safe dividend you might want to tread with caution. The overhaul that is in the works has pushed the payout ratio to a worrying level and a dividend reset could be in the cards. If that doesn’t bother you, noting that it seems unlikely that the dividend will be eliminated, UPS could be an attractive turnaround story to add to your portfolio.

There’s one very big reason some income-focused investors might want to buy mortgage real estate investment trust (mREIT) AGNC Investment (AGNC 0.79%). That would be its astonishingly high 14% dividend yield. But a yield that high is highly unusual, given that the S&P 500 index (^GSPC -0.10%) yields only 1.2%, and the average REIT yields only 3.8%. If you’re looking for an investment that will set you up for a lifetime of reliable dividends, you’ll need to tread with caution here.

AGNC Investment is a decent mREIT

A double-digit dividend yield isn’t particularly abnormal in the mortgage niche of the broader REIT sector. For the most part, AGNC Investment is a fairly well-run mREIT. Notably, the stock’s total return since its initial public offering (IPO) is very compelling, as the chart below highlights. In fact, the total return is very close to that of the S&P 500 index. However, the return doesn’t track along with the S&P 500, so AGNC Investment looks like an attractive diversification tool.

AGNC Total Return Price data by YCharts.

If you’re looking for a total return type of investment, however, AGNC Investment could be attractive for your portfolio. There’s just one small problem. Total return requires the reinvestment of dividends. That makes sense, given the nature of the mortgage-backed securities that AGNC Investment buys.

When you make a mortgage payment, part of the payment goes to the principal and part goes to the interest. That doesn’t change just because AGNC Investment owns mortgages that have been pooled into bond-like securities. Thus, every time AGNC Investment collects a payment on a security it owns, part is interest and part is principal. The huge dividends the mREIT pays are, similarly, made up partly of interest and partly of principal. That principal is effectively a return of investor capital.

Image source: Getty Images.

AGNC Investment’s big dividend problem

The issue for dividend investors is that AGNC Investment’s dividend hasn’t been stable over time. In the table below, the blue line is dividends, and it has been highly volatile. After the IPO, the dividend rose sharply. Then it started to fall, and it’s been heading lower for roughly a decade, as have the shares. Paying out principal, or returning capital to investors, means that the value of the portfolio inherently shrinks over time. That means that there’s less capital to earn interest.

AGNC data by YCharts.

If you spend the dividends AGNC Investment pays you, you are, effectively, spending some of your own capital. To be fair, AGNC Investment has paid out more in dividends than it has lost in value since its IPO. So dividend investors have made out OK with this arrangement. But you still can’t buy AGNC Investment and expect a reliable dividend to support your spending needs in retirement. That’s just not on the table here, and the company’s dividend history proves it. To be fair, the company itself highlights that its ultimate goal is total return, not dividend income.

AGNC is an acquired taste

AGNC Investment is not an easy REIT to wrap your head around. It’s not a bad investment, but it is highly complicated to understand. More specifically for dividend investors, the dividend is not, and probably never will be, reliable.

Most dividend investors are looking for a stock that pays a dividend that’s sustainable, if not growing, over time. If that’s what you want, this 14% yield is very likely to let you down, no matter how attractive it looks relative to other high-yield dividend stock options you have.

United States President Donald Trump has said he is ready to sanction Russia, but only if all NATO allies agree to completely halt buying oil from Moscow and impose their own sanctions on Russia to pressure it to end its more than three-year war in Ukraine.

“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, which he described as a letter to all NATO nations and the world.

Trump proposed that NATO, as a group, place 50-100 percent tariffs on China to weaken its economic grip over Russia.

Trump also wrote that NATO’s commitment “to WIN” the war “has been far less than 100%” and that it was “shocking” that some members of the alliance continued to buy Russian oil. As if speaking to them, he said, “It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.”

NATO member Turkiye has been the third-largest buyer of Russian oil, after China and India. Other members of the 32-state alliance involved in buying Russian oil include Hungary and Slovakia, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

If NATO “does as I say, the WAR will end quickly”, Trump wrote. “If not, you are just wasting my time.”

As he struggles to deliver on promises to end the war quickly, Trump has repeatedly threatened to increase pressure on Russia. Last month, he slapped a 50 percent tariff on India over its continued buying of Russian oil, though he has not yet taken similar actions against China.

Trump’s social media post comes days after Polish and NATO forces shot down drones violating Polish airspace during Russia’s biggest-ever aerial barrage against Ukraine.

Poland and Romania scramble aircraft

Polish airspace has been violated many times since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but never on this scale anywhere in NATO territory.

Wednesday’s incident was the first time a NATO member is known to have fired shots during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

On Saturday, Poland said it and its NATO allies had deployed helicopters and aircraft as Russian drones struck Ukraine, not far from its border.

Poland’s military command said on X that “ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have reached their highest level of alert”, adding that the actions were “preventative”.

Also on Saturday, Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said that the country’s airspace had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine.

The country scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to monitor the situation, tracking the drone until it disappeared from the radar” near the Romanian village of Chilia Veche, said the ministry in a statement.

Little sign of peace

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed the prospect of penalties on states still doing business with Moscow.

In an interview with the US media outlet ABC News last week, Zelenskyy said, “I’m very thankful to all the partners, but some of them, I mean, they continue [to] buy oil and Russian gas, and this is not fair… I think the idea to put tariffs on the countries that continue to make deals with Russia, I think this is the right idea.”

Last month, the US president hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss an end to the war, in their first face-to-face meeting since Trump’s return to the White House.

Shortly afterwards, he hosted Zelenskyy and European leaders in Washington, DC, for discussions on a settlement.

Despite the diplomatic blitz, there has been little progress towards a peace deal, with Moscow and Kyiv remaining far apart on key issues and Russia persisting in its bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

Russia claims advances

Russia on Saturday said it had captured a new village in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, which Moscow’s forces say they reached at the beginning of July.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said its troops had seized the village of Novomykolaivka near the border with the Donetsk region – the epicentre of fighting on the front. The AFP news agency was unable to confirm this claim.

DeepState, an online battlefield map run by Ukrainian military analysts, said the village was still under Kyiv’s control.

At the end of August, Ukraine had for the first time acknowledged that Russian soldiers had entered the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Moscow had claimed advances at the start of the month.

The Russian army currently controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.

The Kremlin is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from its eastern Donbas region, comprised of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as a condition for halting hostilities, something that Kyiv has rejected.

The Dnipropetrovsk region is not one of the five Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Crimea – that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.

On Friday, Zelenskyy said that Putin wanted to “occupy all of Ukraine” and would not stop until his goal was achieved, even if Kyiv agreed to cede territory.

US President Donald Trump has said he is ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia, but only if Nato countries meet certain conditions which include stopping buying Russian oil.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said he was “ready to do major sanctions on Russia” once Nato nations had “agreed, and started, to do the same thing”.

Trump has repeatedly threatened tougher measures against Moscow, but has so far failed to take any action when the Kremlin ignored his deadlines and threats of sanctions.

He described the purchases of Russian oil as “shocking” and also suggested that Nato place 50 to 100% tariffs on China, claiming it would weaken its “strong control” over Russia.

In what he called a letter to Nato nations, Trump said: “I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when?”

He added “the purchase of Russian oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia”.

Trump also claimed the halt on Russian energy purchases, combined with heavy tariffs on China “to be fully withdrawn” after the war, would be of “great help” in ending the conflict.

Europe’s reliance on Russian energy has fallen dramatically since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In 2022, the EU got about 45% of its gas from Russia. That is expected to fall to about 13% this year, though Trump’s words suggest he feels that figure is not enough.

The US president’s message came during heightened tensions between Nato allies and Russia after more than a dozen Russian drones entered Polish airspace on Wednesday.

Warsaw said the incursion was deliberate, but Moscow downplayed the incident and said it had “no plans to target” facilities in Poland.

Denmark, France and Germany have joined a new Nato mission to bolster the alliance’s eastern flank, and will move military assets eastwards.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also made a demand to European nations over the purchase of Russian oil and gas.

In an interview with ABC News, he said: “We have to stop [buying] any kind of energy from Russia, and by the way, anything, any deals with Russia. We can’t have any deals if we want to stop them.”

Since 2022, European nations have spent around €210bn (£182bn) on Russian oil and gas, according to the think tank the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, much of which will have funded the invasion of Ukraine.

The EU has previously committed to phasing out the purchases by 2028. The US want that to happen faster – partly by buying supplies from them instead.

Trump’s message was to Nato, not the EU, therefore including nations such as Turkey, a major buyer of Russian oil and a country that has maintained closer relations with Moscow that any other member of the alliance.

Persuading Ankara to cut off Russian supplies may be a far harder task.

Trump’s most recent threat of tougher sanctions on Russia came earlier in September after the Kremlin’s heaviest bombardment on Ukraine since the war began.

Asked by reporters if he was prepared to move to the “second phase” of punishing Moscow, Trump replied: “Yeah, I am,” though gave no details.

The US previously placed tariffs of 50% on goods from India – which included a 25% penalty for transactions with Russia that are a key source of funds for the war in Ukraine.

OUR wardrobes are stuffed with 1.6billion unworn clothes.

So it is best for the planet — and your bank balance — to stop buying new and instead swap your old stuff for other people’s cast-offs.

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During Second Hand September, Oxfam is encouraging people to hunt down a bargain and find unique pieces that will make you stand out from the crowd.

TREASURE HUNT: Trawling high street charity shops is a great way to spot a gem.

Abi Owen, online shop merchandiser for Oxfam, says: “Charity shops are full of wonderful, unique finds, so it’s worth having an open mind to see what might catch your eye.

“As autumn begins, timeless items such as cable-knit jumpers and checked shirts are the perfect pre-loved find.”

WONDERS ON THE WEB: If you can’t get to a second-hand shop, or you have something specific in mind, look online.

Lose yourself on Vinted or eBay and, to support a good cause, search for charity shops on the internet. Many also have their own online shops.

SEPTEMBER SURPRISES: At Oxfam’s online store (onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk) you can narrow your search by price, size or designer.

We found Ralph Lauren sunglasses for under £9.99, a Tommy Hilfiger jumpsuit for £12.99 and a wedding dress for £30.

During Second Hand September, there is also a range of offers, including free delivery until Tuesday and ten per cent off when signing up for Oxfam’s newsletter.

BEST BUYS: Make the most of your money and bag a second-hand bargain that you will wear lots of times.

Denim will never go out of fashion and is stacked up in charity shops.

Abi says: “Whether it is a pair of jeans or a classic jacket, they are perfect for styling up or down.

“Plus, they’re better when they’ve been worn in.

“Accessories are a brilliant second-hand item to shop for, too. A good belt or some gorgeous earrings can complete a look.

“Keep your eyes peeled for details like a tartan scarf to pull an outfit together.”

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• All prices on page correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability

Deal of the day

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KIDS will go loopy for the Hot Wheels Track Creator Triple Loop Speed Kit, reduced from £40.98 to £30.98 at direct.asda.com.

SAVE: £10

Cheap treat

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ENJOY a cheeky nibble with Morrisons milk chocolate digestives, 300g, down from £1.25 to 89p.

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What’s new?

THRILL-SEEKING grannies and grandads can enjoy the rides at Drayton Manor for free this weekend.

The Staffordshire theme park is giving free entry to over-70s until Monday.

Top swap

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CHEESE Louise!

Snack on a six-pack of Quavers, £2.13 from Asda, working out at 36p for a 16g bag.

Or enjoy the store’s own Cheesy Curls six-pack, £1.25, or 21p for a 16g bag.

SAVE: 15p per bag

Little helper

COTE Brasserie is offering a different “icon” dish for £10 each week day when you say “I’m an Icon” to staff.

Save the most on Thursdays when the beef bourguignon, usually £21.95, is a tenner.

Shop & save

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There are over 2,900 people in the world with a net worth of over $1 billion, according to the World’s Billionaires List from Forbes. Some build wealth by running a business, and others just allow trust fund managers to build wealth for them. But many of the world’s billionaires continue to grow their wealth through investing in stocks.

Among them are Warren Buffett, Bill Ackman, and David Tepper. Let’s look at one stock each of these investors has bought recently.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett became CEO of Berkshire Hathaway through investing. And after taking over the company, he continued to invest in stocks with the company’s cash. That’s continued for decades now, allowing Buffett’s net worth to climb to over $150 billion today. And in recent months, Buffett’s Berkshire has been buying shares of Domino’s Pizza (DPZ -1.96%).

Buffett’s top rule for investing is: “Never lose money.” And I believe Domino’s Pizza stock will adhere to this rule over the long term. Here’s why.

Domino’s is the world’s largest pizza chain. But it mostly franchises its restaurants. The company operates a huge supply chain on behalf of its franchisees, which is a big reason they can run their restaurants profitably. And for its part, Domino’s makes high-margin revenue from franchise fees.

In my view, Domino’s size and supply chain are competitive advantages. The business likely won’t struggle with profitability, and management uses the profits to reward shareholders with stock buybacks and a dividend that routinely goes up.

Domino’s has underperformed the S&P 500 in recent years and could struggle to outperform in coming years. But it will likely increase in value over the long term, which is why it follows Buffett’s top rule.

Berkshire didn’t purchase many shares of Domino’s in the most recent quarter. But its stake did increase, and it now holds over 2.6 million shares of the pizza chain.

2. Bill Ackman

Before he was famous, Bill Ackman was studying Buffett’s investing philosophy to learn what he could. Considering Ackman’s net worth is over $9 billion today, I’d say it worked out pretty well. And in the second quarter, he made an investment in Amazon (AMZN 0.29%) that he believes can carry his net worth higher still.

It’s hard to argue against an investment in Amazon stock. Its relevance to consumers as the largest e-commerce company in the world is impossible to understate.

But it’s also majorly important to businesses as well. Third-party sellers reach customers with Amazon’s marketplace, advertisers can find new customers with its advertising slots, and corporations can get a tech upgrade by using the tools and products on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Specifically with AWS, Amazon has a cash cow that can reward shareholders for years to come. Over the last 12 months, this cloud-computing division has generated over $110 billion in net sales and has earned the company almost $43 billion in operating income. It’s a huge profit stream for the company that should only continue for the long term, especially with drivers such as artificial intelligence (AI) still ramping up.

Ackman’s hedge fund, Pershing Square, bought 5.8 million shares of Amazon in the second quarter of 2025. It makes the company worth 9% of the portfolio’s value, demonstrating Ackman’s conviction in this stock.

3. David Tepper

Lastly, David Tepper has a net worth of over $21 billion. And his hedge fund, Appaloosa Management, has been busy buying shares of Vistra (VST 2.86%). This used to be a more-sleepy stock. But it’s been a top performer in recent years due to surging demand for electricity.

Energy stocks such as Vistra didn’t see much action for a while because of the low growth in electricity consumption in the U.S. But there are trends that are now catalyzing growth better than anything in the last 20 years. For just a couple of examples of what’s driving growth, management on a recent conference call said, “Hyperscalers continue to invest in AI and data center infrastructure,” and these things are energy intensive.

The conversation regarding nuclear energy is heating up as investors wonder what will meet growing energy demand. But while many investors are focusing on nuclear start-ups, Vistra already produces nuclear power as well as generating electricity from a variety of other sources.

To be clear, Tepper’s Appaloosa hasn’t purchased any shares of Vistra since the fourth quarter of 2024. In fact, it was a seller in the two most recent quarters. That said, it was among the top 100 stocks that were being bought by hedge funds in the second quarter of 2025, according to the website HedgeFollow. And Tepper’s position is still substantial considering it’s valued at roughly $350 million.

Play your own game

Buffett, Ackman, and Tepper have made a lot of money by investing in stocks, and right now each could make even more money if shares of Domino’s Pizza, Amazon, and Vistra go up.

However, readers should remember that all investors have different financial needs, goals, and time horizons. Therefore, nobody should blindly copy another investor’s decisions, expecting things to work out fine. To the contrary, all investors should understand the companies they’re invested in and should make their own decisions.

Looking at what billionaires are buying is a good way to generate investment ideas — and Domino’s, Amazon, and Vistra are good ideas, in my view. But coming up with an idea is just the first step in a longer process of creating an investment thesis before buying shares.

The Trade Desk (TTD 0.81%) is one of the most closely watched companies in the advertising technology space. Its platform helps brands and agencies buy digital ads across various channels, including connected TV (CTV), audio, display, and mobile. The company has built a reputation as a disruptor, benefiting from the secular shift away from traditional linear TV and the move toward more automated, data-driven ad buying.

However, even great companies face risks, and investors should carefully weigh these before investing. In The Trade Desk’s case, two stand out: ongoing operational challenges that could slow growth, and a valuation that leaves little room for error.

Image source: Getty Images.

The Trade Desk faces risks that could impact its long-term growth

On the surface, The Trade Desk looks unstoppable. It continues to win share as advertisers reallocate budgets from traditional channels toward digital and CTV. However, beneath that momentum, the company is facing a few operational hurdles.

The biggest one involves its UID2 identity solution. With third-party cookies being phased out by Google in 2025, The Trade Desk has promoted UID2 as an industry standard to enable targeted advertising while preserving user privacy. Adoption has been broad and partners such as Walt Disney, Fox, Roku, and many publishers have integrated UID2. Still, it’s far from guaranteed that UID2 will emerge as the universal replacement. Google has its own Privacy Sandbox framework, and other walled gardens, such as Apple, are unlikely to adopt UID2.

This means The Trade Desk’s future growth in open-internet advertising depends heavily on how well UID2 gains traction versus rival identity solutions. If adoption slows or if regulators impose stricter privacy rules, the company’s targeting capabilities — and therefore its value proposition to advertisers — could weaken.

Another challenge is the competitive intensity in connected TV. While CTV is The Trade Desk’s fastest-growing segment, competition is intensifying as streamers like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney ramp up their advertising businesses. These platforms are building in-house tech and are under pressure to maximize revenue per user, which could limit the scale of inventory they make available through third-party demand-side platforms like The Trade Desk. In other words, if major streamers decide to keep more ad buying within their ecosystems, The Trade Desk’s CTV runway could narrow.

Internally, the company is undergoing one of the most significant adjustments with significant changes in the senior management team. For example, in the second quarter of 2025 alone , it saw the hiring of a new CFO and a new board member with expertise in data, AI, and advertising. Managing this transition while scaling the business is not an easy task.

Together, these operational challenges may derail The Trade Desk from its historically high growth trajectory.

The stock price isn’t a bargain despite the uncertainties ahead

The second red flag that investors need to consider is valuation. Even after a sharp pullback in recent months, The Trade Desk trades at approximately 63 times earnings and nearly 10 times sales. That’s an expensive price tag for a company operating in a cyclical industry where growth depends on macro ad spending trends.

To be fair, The Trade Desk has earned its premium multiple. It has consistently grown its revenue , maintained profitability, and adjusted its strategies as the industry has developed — introducing platforms such as Kokai AI, UID2, and others.

Additionally, it operates in an industry with a global total addressable market (TAM) of nearly $1 trillion . Within this industry, connected TV (CTV) is one of the fastest-growing segments — an area where the company has invested heavily over the years to capitalize on the tailwind.

But here’s the thing. Even if The Trade Desk continues to march ahead, sustaining its current valuation requires near-flawless execution. Any stumble — whether slower UID2 adoption, increased competition in CTV, or a cyclical ad slowdown — could trigger a sharp contraction in multiple.

That’s the risk of buying in at a premium: The business can do well, but the stock may not if expectations are too high.

What does it mean for investors?

The Trade Desk has undeniable strengths: It’s founder-led and well-positioned for the secular shift toward programmatic advertising.

However, it’s essential to balance the bullish case with the risks. Operational challenges around identity and CTV competition could complicate execution. And with the stock still trading at a steep valuation, investors aren’t getting much of a discount for taking on that uncertainty.

If you’re considering buying The Trade Desk stock today, the prudent move may be to wait for a better entry point or clearer signs of UID2’s industry dominance before committing your hard-earned capital.

If buying Tesla (TSLA 6.18%) is indeed going to set an investor up for life, then its robotaxi business will have to be successful, and CEO Elon Musk will have to achieve his aim of making unsupervised full self-driving (FSD) software publicly available. While it’s uncertain if those things will happen, there’s one trend in the electric vehicle (EV) industry that significantly strengthens the case for Tesla. But to understand it, it’s important to start by addressing one key issue.

What’s going wrong with Tesla’s electric vehicle sales?

Musk is a divisive figure, but he’s not the only CEO to attract controversy or take positions that some find disagreeable and others find enlightened. This isn’t the place to enter that debate, but it is the place to look at matters rationally. A standard narrative has it that Tesla’s declining electric vehicle sales in 2025 are a consequence of Musk’s political involvement. If this were the case, Tesla would, indeed, have a major structural issue that definitely wouldn’t make it a stock to buy in hopes of it putting you on easy street. 

My opinion is that the evidence for this argument is weak. Tesla doesn’t have a sales problem because of Musk. It has a Model Y problem, and it has an interest rate problem. Let’s put it this way: According to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book report, sales of Tesla’s Model Y (its best-selling sport utility vehicle, or SUV) were down more than 24% in 2025 year to date through mid-July compared to the same period in 2024. In contrast, sales of its second best-selling car, the Tesla Model 3 (a mid-size sedan), rose almost 38% on the same basis.

If anti-Musk sentiment were behind the sales drop, that would show up for both models. Something else is going on. 

Competition is coming for Tesla

More likely, it’s the fact that other automakers have developed SUVs at price points that are highly competitive to the Tesla Model Y, even though many of them continue to lose significant amounts of money on EVs. Examples of SUV EVs gaining market share in the U.S. are Chevrolet’s Blazer and Equinox, Nissan’s Ariya, Hyundai‘s Ionic 5, and Honda‘s Prologue.

Image source: Getty Images.

General Motors‘ (NYSE: GM) Chevrolet is a case in point. Earlier in the year, GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said, “We achieved variable profit positive on our EVs in the fourth quarter.” This is a good step, but it only means that revenue from its EVs covers the cost of labor and materials to build them. That’s fine if GM is going to make the same model in perpetuity. It’s not fine if GM is going to spend on research and development, factories, and other capital investments to develop a new car.

In reality, what’s happening to Tesla is a textbook example of new entrants driving down the sales and margins of an established industry leader by building loss-making vehicles with the intent to build the scale and market presence to turn profitable at some point.

As such, Tesla’s margins are being squeezed by a combination of competitors entering the SUV EV market and by ongoing relatively high interest rates — it’s not a coincidence that its well-performing Model 3 is its cheapest model.

Data source: Tesla.

It’s also not a coincidence that Tesla’s response to these conditions is to create a long-awaited, low-cost model, which is “just a Model Y” according to Musk.

What it means for Tesla investors

The key to Tesla’s future is the robotaxi and unsupervised FSD. Both are subject to debate, and Tesla remains a high-risk/high-reward stock that won’t suit most investors.

But here’s the thing. The profitability challenges inherent in EVs, combined with the difficulty of producing low-cost, affordable EV models at a profit for all automakers, strengthen the idea that robotaxis and ride-sharing have a big future as a solution to the problem.

EVs tend to have high upfront costs, but low operating and maintenance costs. Therefore, their most economically productive use could turn out to be as robotaxis, where they are heavily utilized to take advantage of their low running costs and justify their upfront price tags.

As such, if the future is EVs, whether by personally owned cars or robotaxis, then Tesla’s approach is the right one, and it has the potential to generate significant returns for investors if it gets robotaxis and unsupervised FSD right. Whether it will set investors up for life is an unknown — and planning on any one stock to do that would be foolish — but it’s got lots of promise.