Broadcom Inc. AVGO surged over 5% on Friday, marking its strongest one-day rally in three months and significantly outperforming the broader semiconductor sector as the iShares Semiconductor ETF SOXX posted a modest gain of 0.6%. The semiconductor giant announced on Thursday its cutting-edge 3.5D eXtreme Dimension System in Package (XDSiP) platform technology. This breakthrough positions Broadcom as a leader in enabling next-generation custom accelerators (XPUs) for artificial intelligence applications. By integrating over 6,000 mm2 of silicon and up to 12 high-bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks into a single device, the 3.5D XDSiP achieves high-efficiency, low-power computing designed to meet the demands of large-scale AI systems. The technology also marks the industry debut of Face-to-Face (F2F) 3.5D XPU, a significant milestone in semiconductor packaging. “3.5D integration, which combines 3D silicon stacking with 2.5D packaging, is poised to become the technology of choice for next-generation XPUs in the coming decade,” the company stated. Yet, other than investor enthusiasm driven by both technological innovation, Broadcom's sharp rally also stands out as a sign of favorable seasonal trends. Beyond the innovation buzz, historical data suggests Broadcom could be gearing up for a strong finish to the year. Over the past 15 years, the period between Dec. 6 and Dec. 31 has proven highly favorable for the stock. Broadcom delivered positive returns in 12 of those 15 years, with an average gain of 8.4% during this stretch, as data from Seasonax platform shows. The most remarkable performance occurred in 2020 when the stock skyrocketed 20.7% in the same timeframe. Only three times — 2011, 2012, and 2015 — did Broadcom post losses in this period. Investors appear to be eyeing a repeat of Broadcom's historical outperformance, particularly as AI-driven innovation and seasonal tailwinds build a compelling narrative for further gains. With December already off to a strong start, momentum could carry Broadcom higher as the year-end rally takes shape. Read Next: TikTok Loses Court Appeal Against Ban, Meta, Reddit Stocks Hit All-Time High Photo: Shutterstock © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.Ruben Amorim issues storm warning after smooth start with Manchester United
The man who ended Nadal's career helps the Netherlands beat Germany to reach the Davis Cup finalIran said on Sunday that it would hold nuclear talks in the coming days with the three European countries that initiated a censure resolution against it adopted by the UN's atomic watchdog. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom would take place on Friday, without specifying a venue. "A range of regional and international issues and topics, including the issues of Palestine and Lebanon, as well as the nuclear issue, will be discussed," the spokesman said in a foreign ministry statement. Baghaei described the upcoming meeting as a continuation of talks held with the countries in September on the sidelines of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. On Thursday, the 35-nation board of governors of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution denouncing Iran for what it called a lack of cooperation. The move came as tensions ran high over Iran's atomic programme, which critics fear is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon -- something Tehran has repeatedly denied. In response to the resolution, Iran announced it was launching a "series of new and advanced centrifuges". Centrifuges enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235). "We will substantially increase the enrichment capacity with the utilisation of different types of advanced machines," Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran's atomic energy organisation spokesman, told state TV. The country, however, also said it planned to continue its "technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA". During a recent visit to Tehran by IAEA head Rafael Grossi, Iran agreed to the agency's demand to cap its sensitive stock of near weapons-grade uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in power since July and a supporter of dialogue with Western countries, has said he wants to remove "doubts and ambiguities" about his country's nuclear programme. In 2015, Iran and world powers reached an agreement that saw the easing of international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme. But the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed biting economic sanctions, which prompted Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments. On Sunday afternoon, the United Kingdom confirmed the upcoming meeting between Iran and the three European countries. "We remain committed to taking every diplomatic step to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, including through snapback if necessary," London's Foreign Office said. The 2015 deal contains a "snapback" mechanism that can be triggered in case of "significant non-performance" of commitments by Iran, allowing many sanctions to be reimposed. Ali Vaez, an Iran expert with the International Crisis Group think tank, told AFP that Friday's meeting was set to happen earlier, but "those plans were derailed as a result of Iran-Israel tensions" over the Gaza war. Though the parties will be meeting "without knowing what the incoming Trump administration wants to do", Vaez said that "after a lose-lose cycle of mutual escalation, now both sides are back to realising that engagement might be the least costly option." Tehran has since 2021 decreased its cooperation with the IAEA by deactivating surveillance devices monitoring the nuclear programme and barring UN inspectors. At the same time, it has increased its stockpiles of enriched uranium and the level of enrichment to 60 percent. That level is close, according to the IAEA, to the 90 percent-plus threshold required for a nuclear warhead, and substantially higher than the 3.67 percent limit it agreed to in 2015. pdm/smw/ami
El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining“You see, it’s easy to give democracy lip service when it delivers the outcomes we want. It’s when we don’t get what we want that our commitment to democracy is tested,” Obama said as he keynoted the third annual Obama Foundation Democracy Forum at a South Loop hotel. “And at this moment in history, when core democratic principles seem to be continuously under attack, when too many people around the world have become cynical and disengaged, now is precisely the time to ask ourselves tough questions about how we can build our democracies and make them work in meaningful and practical ways for ordinary people,” he said. During his speech, Obama did not mention Trump by name, his Republican successor in the 2016 election who retook the White House by defeating Vice President Kamala Harris on Nov. 5. And Obama’s talk was a far cry from the partisan attacks he leveled against Trump at the Democratic National Convention, the last time Obama was in Chicago for a public speaking engagement. At the convention in August, Obama ridiculed Trump and warned that his returning to the White House would lead to “four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos.” But on Thursday, it was Obama the lecturer who spoke, echoing the forum’s theme of “pluralism” and calling for people to engage with others from differing viewpoints and backgrounds in order to help maintain democracy. During his speech, Obama acknowledged that in previewing to friends the forum’s planned subject matter he “got more than a few groans and eye rolls” since “as far as they were concerned, the election proved that democracy is pretty far down on people’s priorities.” “But as a citizen and part of a foundation that believes deeply in the promise of democracy — not only to recognize the dignity and the worth of every individual but to produce free and fair and more just societies — I cannot think of a better time to talk about it,” he said. “This idea that each of us has to show a level of forbearance toward those who don’t look or think or pray like us, that’s at the heart of democracy,” he said. “But it’s especially hard in big, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious countries like the United States.” Obama noted that in America in the decades after World War II “democracy seemed to run relatively smoothly with frequent cooperation across party lines and what felt like a broad consensus about how interests were shared (and) differences should be settled.” “The biggest reason that American pluralism seemed to be working so well may have to do with what was left out,” he said, noting that even in 2004 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate he was its only Black member. “It’s fair to say that when everyone in Washington looked the same and shared the same experiences ... cutting deals and getting along was a whole lot simpler.” But starting with the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, “historically marginalized Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, women, gays and lesbians, disabled Americans demanded a seat at the table,” Obama said. “Not only did they insist on a fair share of government direct resources, but they brought with them new issues, more than their unique experiences, that could not just be resolved by giving them a bigger slice of the pie.” “In other words,” he said, “politics was not just a fight about tax rates or roads anymore. It was about more fundamental issues that went to the core of our being — how we expected society to structure itself.” Those issues, however, also opened the door to “politicians and party leaders and interest groups (who) take a maximalist position on almost every issue,” Obama said. “Every election becomes an act of mortal combat, which political opponents are enemies to be vanquished. Compromise is viewed as betrayal and total victory is the only acceptable outcome,” he said. “But since total victory is impossible in a country politically split down the middle, the result is a doom loop — gridlock, greater polarization, wilder rhetoric and a deepening conviction among partisans that the other side is breaking the rules and has rigged the game to tip it in their favor.” Obama, a former senior lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago, has spoken frequently in his post-presidency of a need to restore civility and the need for compromise despite the nation’s political divisions. His comments Thursday took on an added dimension in the post-election climate given the history of Trump’s first term and the promises the president-elect made throughout the campaign. “I am convinced that if we want democracy, as we understand it, to survive, then we’re all going to have to work toward a renewed commitment to pluralist principles,” he said, adding that “it’s important to look for allies in unlikely places,” not “assume that people on the other side have monolithic views” and believe that they “may share our beliefs about sticking to the rules, observing norms.” The alternative is “an increasing willingness on the part of politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way, to use the power of the state to target critics and journalists and political rivals and to even resort to violence in order to gain and hold onto power,” he said. “In those circumstances, pluralism does not call for us to just stand back and save our breath,” Obama said. “In those circumstances, a line has been crossed and we have to stand firm and speak out and organize and mobilize as forcefully as we can.” But, in nodding to the fact that such change can’t happen quickly, he also called a restoration of “habits and practices that so often we’ve lost, learning to trust each other,” is “a generational project.”