CEO / Founder, Crea8

Kim-Hwa Lim

CEO / Founder

Make an Impact

Crea8

Crea8 blends AI-driven precision, big data scalability, and rigorous quantitative frameworks with seasoned human insight. By extracting actionable intelligence from vast global datasets, we eliminate emotional bias and deliver optimal risk-adjusted returns. Our hybrid approach uncovers hidden market efficiencies and ensures your capital is dynamically positioned across markets.

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul><li>Dividend is a key component of overall returns.</li><li>The strategy seeks to invest in high dividend stocks globally.</li><li>By adopting a portfolio of stocks instead of individual stocks, the strategy is diversified across countries and industries; and optimised with respect to their expected risks and returns.</li></ul>

Dividend is a key component of overall returns.The strategy seeks to invest in high dividend stocks globally.By adopting a portfolio of stocks instead of individual stocks, the strategy is diversified across countries and industries; and optimised with respect to their expected risks and returns.

Oil and Gas, Mint Finance

Suhas Reddy

Oil and Gas

Deep Fundamental Analysis

Mint Finance

Mint Finance's investment research blends deep fundamental analysis with technical & quant insights. Investment strategies straddle across multiple asset classes with risk management embedded into every trade to deliver an outsized reward-to-risk ratio.

Mint Finance's research is centered around three key themes. First, energy transition and climate change. Second, artificial intelligence. Third, shifting world order with its impact across politics and monetary economics.

Commodities

<ul>
<li>WTI swung daily as shifting U.S.-Iran signals repeatedly changed the risk premium, while a record inventory build briefly pressured prices before renewed sanctions fears.</li>
<li>WTI options volatility fell while managed money added longs and cut shorts, pointing to improving bullish conviction despite continued demand for downside protection.</li>
<li>Energy ETFs attracted broad inflows, while VLO offered the cleanest exposure to a distillate-led refining rally despite a sharp valuation re-rating.</li>
</ul>


WTI swung daily as shifting U.S.-Iran signals repeatedly changed the risk premium, while a record inventory build briefly pressured prices before renewed sanctions fears.
WTI options volatility fell while managed money added longs and cut shorts, pointing to improving bullish conviction despite continued demand for downside protection.
Energy ETFs attracted broad inflows, while VLO offered the cleanest exposure to a distillate-led refining rally despite a sharp valuation re-rating.


Energy Weekly (W/E 14/Aug): Hormuz Drives Oil Volatility, Positioning Improves, Valero Extends Rally

Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Valero Energy Corporation reported strong financial results for the third quarter of 2025, reflecting its continuous operational and commercial excellence.</li><li>The company achieved a refinery throughput utilization of 97% with the Gulf Coast and North Atlantic regions hitting all-time highs.</li><li>These high throughput rates supported refining margins in a market characterized by robust global demand and low inventory levels.</li></ul>

Valero Energy Corporation reported strong financial results for the third quarter of 2025, reflecting its continuous operational and commercial excellence.The company achieved a refinery throughput utilization of 97% with the Gulf Coast and North Atlantic regions hitting all-time highs.These high throughput rates supported refining margins in a market characterized by robust global demand and low inventory levels.

Valero Energy: Could Its Diversified Crude Slate Shield It From Global Oil Shocks?

Research from Water Tower Research, Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research

Research from Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research is a leading equity research firm that provides research on micro, small and mid cap companies.

Water Tower Research was founded by Wall Street veterans after witnessing a fundamental shift in the investment research industry with the result being a declining knowledge base among investors, a lack of awareness and a shrinking pool of fundamental research being conducted on companies across the small-cap and micro-cap spectrum. The same issues are now increasingly occurring in the mid-cap space. This sea change within the investment community is impacting not only the companies themselves but also current shareholders and potential investors. With significantly less active sell-side sponsorship by Wall Street, a substantial information gap has developed between companies and various constituents in the financial community. The net result is fewer channels for insight and information to flow between companies and investors.

Equity Research Firm

<div><ul><li>Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is one of the world’s largest and most efficient producers of downstream oil products and low-carbon transport fuels. </li><li>Its diversified low-carbon fuels business offers multiple future pathways for growth and its low-cost oil refining operations lead the US refining industry on margins.</li><li>Valero’s 3Q25 results exceeded analyst expectations. Valero reported net income attributable to stockholders of $1.1 billion, or $3.53 per share.</li></ul></div>

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is one of the world’s largest and most efficient producers of downstream oil products and low-carbon transport fuels. Its diversified low-carbon fuels business offers multiple future pathways for growth and its low-cost oil refining operations lead the US refining industry on margins.Valero’s 3Q25 results exceeded analyst expectations. Valero reported net income attributable to stockholders of $1.1 billion, or $3.53 per share.

VLO: 3Q25 Results; All Business Segments Beat; Management Affirms Positive Outlook

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund / Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>We remain bullish (as of our 4/21/26 Compass) on the S&amp;P 500 (SPX), Nasdaq 100 (QQQ), and Russell 2000 (IWM).</li>
<li>50-Day MAs have held on SPX and QQQ, but we are concerned of a prolonged consolidation -- particularly as crude oil, gasoline (UGA), and Energy (XLE) appear to have bottomed.</li>
<li>QQQ/Technology remains our primary concern; we continue to believe a consolidation through mid-to-late-August is likely amid ongoing choppy price action for semiconductors (SOXX), memory (DRAM), and optical equipment/photonics (EUV) names</li>
</ul>


We remain bullish (as of our 4/21/26 Compass) on the S&amp;P 500 (SPX), Nasdaq 100 (QQQ), and Russell 2000 (IWM).
50-Day MAs have held on SPX and QQQ, but we are concerned of a prolonged consolidation -- particularly as crude oil, gasoline (UGA), and Energy (XLE) appear to have bottomed.
QQQ/Technology remains our primary concern; we continue to believe a consolidation through mid-to-late-August is likely amid ongoing choppy price action for semiconductors (SOXX), memory (DRAM), and optical equipment/photonics (EUV) names


Energy (XLE), Crude Oil, and Gasoline Prices Climbing; A Bull Market Until Proven Otherwise

United States

Valero Energy Corporation is an independent petroleum refining and marketing company that owns and operates refineries in the United States, Canada, and Aruba.  The Company produces conventional gasolines, distillates, jet fuel, asphalt, petrochemicals, lubricants, and other refined products as well as diesel fuel, low-sulfur and ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel, and oxygenates.

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Valero Energy (VLO US)

Global Income Portfolio (18 Aug 2026)

Dividend is a key component of overall returns. The strategy seeks to invest in high dividend stocks globally. By adopting a portfolio of stocks...

Crea8

Energy Weekly (W/E 14/Aug): Hormuz Drives Oil Volatility, Positioning Improves, Valero Extends Rally

WTI remains caught between a volatile geopolitical premium and improving speculative positioning, while strong distillate margins keep Valero’s...

Mint Finance

Valero Energy: Could Its Diversified Crude Slate Shield It From Global Oil Shocks?

Valero Energy Corporation reported strong financial results for the third quarter of 2025, reflecting its continuous operational and commercial...

Baptista Research

VLO: 3Q25 Results; All Business Segments Beat; Management Affirms Positive Outlook

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is one of the world’s largest and most efficient producers of downstream oil products and low-carbon...

Water Tower Research

Energy (XLE), Crude Oil, and Gasoline Prices Climbing; A Bull Market Until Proven Otherwise

Energy $XLE, Crude Oil, and Gasoline Prices Climbing; A Bull Market Until Proven Otherwise; Tech remains a concern, and we believe consolidation...

Vermilion Research

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