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Investors, ever optimistic in their own quiet way, have summoned hope from the company’s clumsy efforts at reinvention. Cost-cutting, once a repository for accounting sleight of hand, now bears the earnest weight of 70,000 fewer workers. Productivity gains, a term as tired as a factory whistle at dusk, are cited as saviors. Yet one cannot ignore the ironic rhythm of change-corporate executives bound to old scripts, reciting new dialogues. It is a performance that mirrors the stock itself: hopeful, yet indifferent.

Its shares, having ascended 43% in 2025, now hover at a valuation that whispers of hubris. A market capitalization exceeding $4.6 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio nearing 30, these numbers are not mere figures but the weight of expectation, the yoke of a system that demands perpetual ascent. Yet in this towering edifice, cracks begin to show-a warning etched in the language of economics.

Once among the titans of 2005, Microsoft endures-a relic of an era, yet still a sovereign in its domain. Its name, etched into the annals of computing, remains a beacon for millions who navigate the digital realm through its operating systems and productivity tools. The company’s legacy is not merely one of technical prowess, but of quiet, unyielding persistence. Even as the world shifts toward the cloud, Microsoft’s Azure platform, fortified by alliances with pioneers like OpenAI, whispers of a future where its influence may yet expand. Yet, one cannot help but ponder: does the old giant, though still mighty, feel the weight of time’s passage?

Nvidia, that lovable slob who thinks silicon dust is confetti, has now grown so enormous he could likely strangle the moon with his stock price. Microsoft, with its milky white beard and suspiciously friendly smile, is churning out AI tools like it’s selling sand to the Sahara. And who could forget Apple, that gleamy-eyed sapphire-zapped magician, cackling behind its iPhone curtains, nudging its share price toward impossible heights. Meanwhile, Alphabet and Amazon are jostling like ogres in a teacup factory, all squabbles and sticky fingers.

Cue the soot-smeared stock-sorcerer Johnson Wan of Jefferies, who arrived Monday morning with a “buy” recommendation so shiny it blinded investors. He clapped a price target of $32.80 on Pony’s shares, a golden apple dangling from a stalk that looked suspiciously like wishful thinking-especially when the stock’s recent close read $22.19, a number far tamer than a startled goat.

So here, in solemn offering, are two chosen idols: a pair of companies raised high on the altar of artificial intelligence. Their graphs climb like prayers. Their promises are endless. Their impact on the lives of those who flip burgers, answer calls, or patch firewalls? Less clear.

Within the quarter’s closing act, the fund’s position in JNJ-once a modest whisper-became a resonant crescendo, amplified by 40,238 shares. The transaction, a ballet of averages and closes, yielded an estimated $6.89 million. The fund’s total holdings, a mosaic of 103,832 shares, now constitute 1.07% of its 13F-reportable assets under management, a figure as calculated as a chess master’s move.

The show began, as many modern financial farces do, not in a boardroom, but on a social media platform of questionable architecture. Over the weekend, former President Trump, that grand illusionist of American commerce, waved his rhetorical wand on Truth Social and declared: “Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!” A sentiment as soothing as warm milk, though historically about as reliable.

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On the eve of this curious rise, President Trump-ever the master of rhetoric, a man whose every word ripples through the fabric of economic affairs-spoke out on his favored platform, Truth Social. His message, though simple, echoed far beyond the bounds of his own nation: “Do not fear China, for all will be well.” In that moment, the trader, the investor, the anxious businessman, found a flicker of hope in those words, as if the heavens themselves were clearing, if only for an instant, of the storm clouds that have plagued the Sino-American relationship.