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Mason on finance and markets · June 19th
storyflo · finance and markets
Jun 19, 2026 · 17 min listen
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Mason on finance and markets · June 19th
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4,000 shares of the Free Markets ETF, FMKT, were traded on its first day, about a year ago. The ETF was designed to invest in companies that would benefit from deregulation and free-market dynamics. Michael Gayed, the portfolio manager, believed that deregulation would increase margins, benefit earnings, and increase competition. He worked with other firms to launch the ETF, which focuses on sectors like industrials, financials, and cannabis.
The fund had strong performance initially, outperforming the S&P by a thousand basis points at one point. However, it experienced a drawdown as investors started chasing its performance. Gayed believes that the deregulation theme is here to stay, even if there's a change in presidency. He uses AI and screening processes to identify companies that would benefit the most from deregulation.
Gayed's portfolio includes companies like Tilray, Robinhood, and those in the nuclear industry. He also allocates a small portion of the portfolio to Bitcoin and Ethereum, as they represent a free marketplace with minimal regulation. The ETF's mandate requires at least 80% of assets to be invested in companies expected to benefit from regulatory shifts, with the remaining 20% allowing for more flexibility.
For listeners who want low-fee crypto exposure, our markets partner Kraken supports Bitcoin and Ethereum — link in show notes.
One of the nation’s largest trucking companies is partnering with a fast-growing driver training provider to expand commercial driver’s license education in Alabama. FleetForce Truck Driver Training announced Tuesday that it has partnered with Swift Transportation to offer CDL training and certification at Swift’s terminal in Mobile, Alabama. The program is designed to help address driver shortages across the Southeast while creating a direct pipeline from training to employment. The partnership marks FleetForce’s first training location in Alabama and expands the company’s footprint beyond its existing operations in Florida, North Carolina and Texas. FleetForce said the Mobile program will train new drivers while also creating career advancement opportunities for current Swift employees. “Alabama operates heavily on the trucking industry, and right now, it needs more qualified drivers to keep up,” FleetForce President and CEO Tra Williams said in a news release. “Our partnership with Swift is a direct response to that demand by bringing professional CDL training to Mobile, a critical point for the state’s freight network.” The launch comes as freight activity continues to grow around Mobile, home to Alabama’s only seaport and the nation’s 11th-largest deep-water port. According to FleetForce, trucking moves about 75% of all freight entering, leaving or moving through Alabama. “As demand grows for qualified, safe, and productive drivers, Swift is committed to helping build the next generation of transportation professionals,” said Kort Chase, vice president of recruiting at Swift Transportation. According to the Alabama Trucking Association, workers in the state’s trucking sector earn more than $56,000 annually and account for nearly 8% of Alabama’s workforce. The industry generated more than $7.6 billion in wages and supported 37,370 jobs in 2023. The Alabama Trucking Association noted that load-to-truck ratios have climbed sharply nationwide, including a 189% year-over-year increase in the flatbed segment, making workforce development programs increasingly important for carriers seeking qualified drivers. The post Swift, FleetForce launch CDL training hub at Mobile terminal appeared first on FreightWaves.
RBW Logistics expanded its national footprint with the acquisition of World Group’s warehousing business. The strategic carve-out included the acquisition of World Distribution Services and Pacific Cascade Distribution. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “This is about building a stronger foundation for the future,” said RBW Logistics CEO Frank Anderson. … “Expanding our network allows us to better support our customers as they scale, while creating new paths for our team members to take on larger roles and lead in new markets.” Augusta, Georgia-based RBW Logistics is a 3PL specializing in warehousing, distribution, omnichannel fulfillment and other logistics services. The deal expands RBW’s national presence to include locations in Sumner, Washington, Norfolk, Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio. It also gives the company added capacity at its Savannah, Georgia campus. RBW is a portfolio company of LongueVue Capital, a New Orleans-based lower middle market private equity firm. “This is an important step forward for RBW and for the customers we serve,” said RBW President David Sadler. “Expanding into these pivotal markets allows us to offer stronger network connectivity and greater flexibility. It creates a platform that is built to adapt to real-world supply chain dynamics.” More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden: - Truckload market’s upswing ushers in driver pay hikes - Cass sees freight volume recovery in second half of year - Routing guides are crumbling: ‘It is different this time’ The post RBW Logistics acquires warehousing unit from World Group appeared first on FreightWaves.
Trailer builder Wabash National, whose stock went from about $30 per share in March 2024 to less than $7 last month, has seen a surge of investor interest on the back of a bullish analyst report. Wabash (NYSE: WNC) is not a company that draws a great deal of interest from sell-side analysts. But on Wednesday, the team of Michael Shlisky and Linda Umwali from DA Davidson, after a meeting with Wabash management and investors, upgraded its rating on Wabash stock to buy from neutral. The reaction was immediate and huge. Wabash stock already had been trending higher, with a recent bottom of about $7.15 per share on June 5. It closed Tuesday at $9.28. But on Wednesday, after the Davidson report circulated through the market, Wabash stock rose 16.38%, a gain of $1.52 to $10.80. The trend continued Thursday. At approximately 12:30 PM EDT, Wabash stock was up 43 cts, 4.03%, to $11.24. Wednesday’s gain, and the smaller ones in the days leading up to Thursday, has combined to result in Wabash stock being up just over 5% in the last 52 weeks after months of being down by double digits percentage. As of the close of trade Wednesday, Wabash stock was up approximately 56.7% in the last month and 34.7% in the last three months. DA Davidson set its price target on the company at $20. “Wabash expressed increasing confidence that trailer demand can return to replacement levels in 2027, following recent conversations with customers and the exit of some capacity from the freight market,” Davidson wrote. A second boost to its outlook It’s the second piece of significant good news for Wabash in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the Commerce Department announced a determination that China had “unfairly” subsidized their trailer industries. It recommended countervailing duties to be applied to Chinese imports ranging from 82.3% to 128.7%. Smaller duties were also to be levied against Mexican imports. And while some of the increase in Wabash’s stock price prior to the DA Davidson report might have been related to the Commerce Department finding, it paled compared to what happened Wednesday. Coincidentally, on the same day as the DA Davidson report, ACT Research reported preliminary net trailer orders for May of 20,700 units. That was up from April’s 19,400 units. But the more staggering number is that preliminary net trailers orders for May were up 237% from the corresponding months a year earlier. The DA Davidson report said Wabash management said in their meeting that the trade decision “could become a meaningful tailwind.” “Management noted that recent rulings came in better than expected,” DA Davidson wrote. The size of the market to be affected by the Chinese duties would be about 5% to 10% of the U.S. dry van market, the research firm wrote. If Wabash were to capture 5% to 10% of that market, according to DA Davidson, that could be a $20 million positive impact to its EBITDA, added to a current estimate for the year of $185 million in EBITDA. Market is strengthening Broader macro trends are also a key reason for company optimism, according to DA Davidson. Management’s confidence in the market “returning to replacement-level demand” has risen, the report said. “This is largely due to stronger freight trends: spot rates are up, capacity has exited the market and dealer inventories are down,” according to DA Davidson. It added that Wabash management said replacement demand is about 120,000 to 140,000 dry vans per year, but the current level is near 100,000. Exiting capacity is likely to be retired, Wabash management believes. “Wabash noted that most of the assets exiting the market are simply the oldest and least-likely to compete with new units,” DA Davidson wrote. “”Wabash’s extensive network of used-trailer outlets has not seen any type of surge of supply.” “That said, we got the sense that management is not calling for a sudden market boom,” the report said.
The Teamsters unanimously passed a resolution at its international convention in Las Vegas this week instructing leadership to challenge United Parcel Service for violating the 2023 collective bargaining agreement by outsourcing delivery work to nonunion subcontractors, marking the latest effort to constrain the employer’s freedom to cut costs and reorganize operations. The union represent about 330,000 UPS workers, including about 100,000 delivery van and truck drivers. The campaign to target UPS (NYSE: UPS) subsidiary Roadie is part of a broader effort to contest a series of alleged contract violations by UPS, the union said in a post on X. The union claims the 2023 contract prohibits UPS from funneling tasks that are the sole domain of union workers to companies that use gig workers. In November, the Teamsters publicly complained on social media that UPS was improperly diverting parcel deliveries to Roadie, which relies on lower-paid gig workers for final-mile delivery. Officials said Roadie uses UPS labels, tracking and equipment, proving Roadie is taking work from Teamster drivers. “Over the past four years, UPS has been scaling Roadie’s operations nationwide. Dozens of Roadie distribution centers and cross-dock facilities have popped up. UPS wants more individual users on the Roadie app because the package giant is desperate to weaken the leverage, power, and solidarity of its existing Teamsters workforce,” the Teamsters claimed in its “Just Cause” Substack column in January. In a March 4 column, the Teamsters said UPS is using Roadie “to help the company rid itself of current and future obligations to rank-and-file Teamsters.” The union has established a national Roadie Committee to coordinate grievances and compile evidence from rank-and-file members about UPS contract breaches, including mapping Roadie cross-dock facilities, ahead of action to force the company to comply with the national master contract. But, according to Roadie’s website and parcel industry professionals familiar with both companies, Roadie handles same-day, urgent shipments, including groceries, that never go through the Brown parcel sortation network and oversize items that don’t fit in a box. The crowdsourced delivery platform instead picks up orders for customers, such as Walmart, Tractor Supply, FilterBuy, Spirit Halloween, paint brand Benjamin Moore and Nothing Bundt Cakes, at local stores and warehouses for last-mile delivery to shoppers. UPS dismissed the Teamsters allegations in a November statement to FreightWaves. “Our contract with the Teamsters requires that UPS drivers handle all deliveries for our small package business unit directly and we remain in compliance with the terms of our agreement. We address any disputes through our long-established grievance process,” the Atlanta-based express logistics provider said. Meanwhile, Unite, the United Kingdom’s largest trade union, on Friday condemned UPS for plans to discard its employee model for delivery drivers and instead rely on self-employed, on-demand drivers that provide their own vehicles for last-mile delivery. Unite said UPS will stop using frontline employees to make deliveries as of June 2027. Unite said the UPS proposal would cut the company’s workforce to 4,000, about half the current number. Industry analyst Satish Jindel penned a commentary in November in which he argued UPS should leverage Roadie for B2C deliveries and use its in-house network for multi-stop B2B delivery. The Teamsters have had recent success pushing back on UPS initiatives that impact its members. The company is in the midst of downsizing its parcel network to align with slower demand and reduce costs. UPS this month reached a promised goal of retrofitting 2,000 package cars with air conditioning after the Teamsters filed grievances last summer that the company was slow in fulfilling its obligation to provide air conditioning in 28,000 vans in the hottest parts of the nation by the summer of 2027. Under pressure, UPS agreed to retrofit 2,000 delivery vans by June and another 3,000 vehicles by June 2027. UPS also agreed in early April to limit driver buyouts to 7,500 individuals after unilaterally implementing a voluntary separation program with an undefined target. The move angered the Teamsters, which argued the company couldn’t negotiate contract terms without union input and ultimately forced the company to cap the number of buyouts. The Teamsters have repeatedly argued that UPS also forces workers to work overtime against their will and makes paycheck errors.
Danielle Poli, managing director and co-portfolio manager, global credit at Oaktree Capital Management, joins Scarlet Fu on "Real Yield." An Oaktree Capital Management private credit fund saw redemption requests drop by nearly half in the second quarter, making it the first major firm to stem a growing exodus from the $1.8 trillion industry. (Source: Bloomberg)
Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of Strategy Inc., speaks during the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. The event will examine the future of money as Bitcoin enters a new era of institutional adoption and regulatory clarity.
Bloomberg's Erin Hudson joins Scarlet Fu on "Real Yield." Thousands of US public-school employees have received warnings saying they could lose their jobs as the nation’s education system grapples with mounting financial pressures. (Source: Bloomberg)
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, on screen in Times Square during the company's initial public offering (IPO) at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Friday, June 12, 2026. SpaceX has made history with the biggest-ever IPO, launching it into the top ranks of the largest public companies and putting founder Elon Musk on the verge of becoming the world's first trillionaire.
US Vice President JD Vance during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. President Donald Trump asserted that no one nation would control the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway, highlighting a key sticking point in resolving the war with Iran. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg
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