The Research Agent answers 13 new kinds of question, every figure sourced

The Research Agent now answers questions it used to turn away, from "how volatile has HSBC been?" to "does Tesla's 10-K mention tariffs?". There are 13 new or rebuilt kinds of answer, and they follow the same rule as the rest: every figure links to its primary source with a date, and a figure an AI model writes is checked against the data it was given. The numbers are worked out by code from stored prices, SEC filings and FRED data, not written by the model.

Update, 13 October 2026: this entry first said "nothing is answered from an AI model's memory". That said too much. Until 13 October the Research Agent page sent many questions that named a company to a bull, base and bear view, which an AI model wrote with no data. That view has been removed. The sentence above now says what our code checks: a sentence with a figure that is not in the data, or on a cited page, is removed. What a model says in words about those figures is not checked.

Performance and risk. Returns over the usual periods, volatility, worst drawdown with its recovery, and beta and correlation against a benchmark, for US, UK and European listings in their own currency. Returns include dividends reinvested (gross of withholding tax) over the stretch where we hold dividend history, and the answer says where it had to use prices only.

Correlation, event studies and seasonality. How closely two or more holdings moved together, from daily returns on the days both traded; how a symbol did after events defined from FRED data, such as the first Fed rate cut after a hiking cycle, with the event rule stated and every event listed; and average returns by calendar month, with how often each was up and a confidence interval.

Earnings history and price reaction. Report dates from SEC filings, revenue and diluted earnings per share as filed, and how the share price moved around each release. We have no source of analysts' consensus estimates, so the answer never says whether a company beat or missed, and says why.

Revenue breakdown, valuation and dividends. Revenue by segment as tagged in the latest 10-K; P/E, P/S and EV/EBITDA on a dated closing price, with the filing each one uses and its five-year range; and dividend history, cuts and trailing yield on a dated close, including UK and European payers.

What the 10-K says. Ask whether a company's latest annual report mentions something, or what it says about its risks, and you get passages quoted word for word from the filing, with the section named and linked. When an AI model summarises a section, every point must carry a quote that is found word for word in the filing, and a point with an invented quote or figure is removed and counted in the answer.

Insider and congress trades, news, and our own evidence. Company insiders' trades from their SEC Form 4 filings and members of Congress's disclosed trades for a ticker; recent news answered from a live web search with every article linked; and "does this kind of strategy work?" answered from our public evidence explorer, with the number of backtests behind the answer.

Explainers. "What is a Sharpe ratio?" is answered from our metric glossary and Education Centre, with the article linked. A term we have no entry for is declined rather than answered from memory.

Still not covered. Analyst ratings and price targets (no licensed source), consensus earnings estimates, and filings other than 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K and Form 4. UK and European companies' filings aren't covered either, so filing-based answers are for US companies. Questions we can't answer are declined and cost nothing.