Daily Brief United States: Gold, USD, Crude Oil, Toast , Enterprise Products Partners, Aethlon Medical , Base Oil, GRAIL and more

• Gold’s rally shows signs of overextension but the volatility footprint differs from prior rallies.
• We exam major bull markets over the past 50 years to assess how the current move stacks up.
• Fund flows and the sources of buying pressure are analyzed to gauge the rally’s sustainability.

• The longer the US government shutdown continues, the more headwinds accumulate against the dollar and investor conviction remains low.
• Despite near term uncertainty, a dollar bearish outlook is maintained, with a focus on outside the US pro-cyclical growth metrics.
• Developments in US regional banks and escalating US-China trade tensions are key factors affecting global markets, with potential impacts on FX, risk events, and Eurodollar performance.

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• Crude oil futures were again under pressure Friday after the latest selloff in the previous sessions sent prices tumbling to fresh five-month lows, coming amid proposed ceasefire talks in the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
• Front-month Dec25 ICE Brent  futures were trading at  $61.32/b (2055 BST) versus Thursday’s settle of $61.06/b, while Nov25 NYMEX WTI  was at  $57.22/b  against a previous close of $57.46/b.
• Prices had found some support in the previous session after US President Donald Trump said he had received a pledge from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to halt imports of Russian crude oil.

Key points (machine generated)

• Toast faces concerns over overestimated unit economics as it expands into new verticals, particularly with Enterprise customers like Applebee’s.
• Projections for fiscal year 2026 appear unrealistic given Toast’s high valuation of approximately 45x forward EBITDA, risking market re-evaluation.
• Despite challenges with some software modules, Toast has significantly increased its market share among U.S. restaurants from under 5% to over 15%.

This article is sourced from an online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. This article was originally published 3 months ago on Value Investors Club.

Key points (machine generated)

• Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) operates a comprehensive network for transporting and processing natural gas liquids, crude oil, and petrochemicals as a master limited partnership.
• EPD’s competitive edge comes from its vertically integrated system, enhancing market access and reliability for major industry customers, particularly in Texas and along the Houston Ship Channel.
• With a 7.0% yield and strong governance, EPD is well-positioned to benefit from U.S. petrochemical growth and maintains a stable distribution supported by robust cash flow.

This article is sourced from an online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. This article was originally published 3 months ago on Value Investors Club.

• Asia’s Group II base oils prices rise versus gasoil prices to highest in more than a month for heavy grades, highest since Q2 2025 for light grades.
• Rising base oils margins point to firm supply-demand fundamentals, incentivizing refiners to maintain or raise output.
• Incentive to raise output follows rise in base oils exports from Asia’s largest suppliers to thirteen-month high in Sept 2025.

• Levels of certain harmful particles typically returned to pre-treatment levels 1-3 weeks after treatment ended, suggesting a potential benefit to patients while being treated the study is designed to examine whether an increased number of Hemopurifier treatments can help extend positive patient responses.
• The company’s goal is to build its database supporting development of the Hemopurifier as an oncology treatment and this data appears to support that goal.
• It will be important to monitor whether these observations are reproducible as the study progresses, as it is early in the clinical trial to draw definitive conclusions and the data from Cohort 1 is not statistically significant.

• Crude oil futures opened the week softer as benchmarks continued to struggle in the face of global trade tensions and a looming supply glut.
• Front-month Dec25 ICE Brent futures were trading at $60.84/b (2012 BST) versus Thursday’s settle of $61.29/b, while Nov25 NYMEX WTI was at $56.86/b against a previous close of $57.54/b.
• Prices continued to bump around five-month lows amid concerns over a recent escalation in the trade conflict between the US and China.

• Global base oils margins rise in response to increasingly lower crude oil prices.
• Mostly-steady outright prices magnify impact of lower crude oil prices.
• Firmer margins and steady outright prices point to stronger-than-usual fundamentals for the time of year.

• GRAIL Inc., a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early when it can be cured, announced detailed results from its registrational PATHFINDER 2 study.
• Samsung C&T and Samsung Electronics also made a ~$110M equity investment in GRAIL at a price of $70.05 per share of common stock.
• I expect GRAIL shares to outperform the market as solid performance from its Galleri test continues and investors are confident that the first MCED test will receive FDA approval.