AI transparency: articles and reports are produced with the help of artificial intelligence and checked through a process that does not constitute specialist validation. They may contain errors: verify relevant information with independent sources. Read the full disclaimer.

Another war in the “Gulf”

A few days after the first wave of attacks, the war is no longer just a story of missiles over Tehran. It now stretches from southern Lebanon to the Strait of Hormuz, from Syrian and Iraqi corridors to the LNG hubs of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with oil and gas prices repricing risk in real time.

US Energy Corp ( $USEG )

With oil back in focus after U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran and renewed risk around the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Energy Corp. (USEG) offers a very different angle from the majors: a small, vertically integrated platform trying to combine legacy oil and gas production with a large industrial gas and carbon management project at Kevin Dome in Montana. This is a deep dive into what USEG really is, how Kevin Dome fits into the 2026 energy landscape, and which catalysts matter from here.

SKYX Platforms Corp ( $SKYX ) Smart Ceiling Plugs

SKYX Platforms is trying to turn a seemingly boring standard – the ceiling light socket – into a plug-and-play infrastructure layer for lighting and smart-home devices, backed by dozens of patents, distribution partnerships and collaborations with larger technology players. Revenue growth is strong and the product vision is ambitious, but the business is still loss-making and depends on external capital, disciplined execution and a long time horizon.

AI retail and Merlintrader

When people talk about artificial intelligence in trading and investing, I almost always see two opposite – and both wrong – reactions.

On one side you have those who demonise it by default: “it’s dangerous”, “it fills your head with nonsense”, “it’s useless, markets are moved by others anyway”. On the other side you have those who treat it like a modern oracle: “tell me what to buy”, “give me the next 10-baggers”, “build me the perfect watchlist”.

I work with AI every single day to build Merlintrader’s content, and I can tell you something very simple: the truth is neither here nor there. AI is not an enemy to fight, and it’s not a guru to worship. It is a tool. Extremely powerful if you use it well. Dangerous if you use it badly. Useless if you ignore it.

War Ai and the X Ecosystem

SpaceX launches satellites, Starlink keeps front lines online, X shapes the information space, and xAI’s Grok is being wired into military networks. A new Pentagon contest for voice-controlled autonomous drones shows how these pieces are starting to lock together into a single, highly political war-tech stack.

AI in Biotech 2026 $RXRX $TEM $EXAI

Recursion, Tempus AI and Exscientia are three “pure-play” examples of what it really means to put artificial intelligence at the centre of a biotech business model. Used properly, AI can compress timelines, surface non-obvious biology and make better use of messy data. Used badly, it can amplify errors, burn cash faster and create stories the clinic will never confirm.

Top 10 AI Mid & Small Cap Stocks for 2026

The logic of this basket is to follow the AI value chain from data to models to deployment, without touching the mega-cap hyperscalers. Each ticker is plugged into a different piece of that chain: some provide platforms, some sell services, some sell hardware that enables AI workloads.

Top 10 Space Mid & Small Caps 2026

A simple way to think about this basket is to imagine the space stack as layers: access to orbit, sensing, communications, infrastructure and exploration. Each of the ten names here owns a useful slice of that stack, often in niches that the mega-caps either do not want or cannot address efficiently.

Top 10 Us Defense Stocks With Real Growth Optionality

The big defense primes will always dominate the headlines, but the real optionality for capital gains usually sits one step below, in the names that own a niche. In this basket the niches are clear: tactical drones and loitering munitions (KTOS, AVAV), hypersonic testing and missile-defense space constellations (KTOS, RKLB), naval power and combat systems (DRS), training and simulation (CAE), advanced composites (HXL), electronic-warfare computers (MRCY), spectrum and cyber for national security (CACI, SAIC) and high-margin aerospace components (HEI).

Space Stocks in Free Fall

In the last 30 days the “space trade” has flipped from poster child of risk-on to textbook case of brutal risk-off. Launch, satcom and geospatial names are bleeding double-digit days, while some defense-linked players hold up. Under the surface, it is a story of funding, dilution anxiety, macro rates and a sector where AI and defense still pull in structural demand.

Jiade Ltd ($JDZG)

Jiade is a micro-cap education-support company listed on Nasdaq, best known for providing tutoring and training services for adult and vocational education in China. A strategic cooperation with a South Korea–based AI education brand adds an international angle, but the story still sits at the intersection of cross-border ambitions, regulatory risk and the harsh math of small-cap liquidity.

AI disruption 2026 – winners, losers and what it really means for people

The core idea is blunt but useful: markets are paying up for the “picks and shovels” of AI – chips, foundry, high-bandwidth memory, data centres, cybersecurity, observability – and they are putting a heavy discount on businesses whose main value proposition can be replicated by AI agents, plug-ins and low-cost automation. It is not just about which tickers are in fashion; it is about which roles and workflows are becoming cheaper to automate.

AI, drones and US defense after the Singapore Airshow 2026

The Singapore Airshow 2026 is not just a nice backdrop for air displays and static jets. It is a live x-ray of how fast the Indo-Pacific balance of power is shifting, and how quickly drones and AI-enabled systems have moved from the fringe to the centre of the defence conversation. While China shows off fighters and commercial jets to signal that it wants a bigger slice of the regional market, US and allied firms are quietly doing something just as important: locking in long-term positions across drones, autonomy and “AI-ready” hardware.

Trending now

Conceptual illustration of minerals, mining, electricity infrastructure and a data center at dusk.
Minerals, Megawatts and Money: The Race From Strategic Assets to Shareholder Returns — $BE, $OKLO, $LAC, $CRML
Merlintrader Biotech Radar, October 7, 2026: $ARWR, $ARVN, $LPCN, $MAIA and $RNXT; conceptual laboratory and molecular illustration.
Biotech Radar, October 7: regulatory progress, Parkinson’s data and oncology milestones
Illustration of the liver and metabolic research, with the original Merlintrader logo and ALT, VKTX, IVA and MDGL tickers.
MASH beyond weight loss: what $ALT, $VKTX, $IVA and $MDGL actually have to prove
Illustration of red blood cells and sickled cells, with the original Merlintrader logo and AGIO, CRSP, BEAM and NVO tickers.
Sickle cell: what progress means for $AGIO, $CRSP, $BEAM and $NVO