But the seasons shift, and a certain…restlessness has settled upon the markets. The year has progressed with a measured pace, the S&P 500 advancing with a modesty that feels, after the recent exuberance, almost…provincial. The Nasdaq Composite, once a whirlwind of activity, remains stubbornly still, as if contemplating the weight of its own past glories. A subtle disquiet, a premonition of change, hangs in the air.
The company finds itself in a familiar predicament: the inevitable erosion of revenue. Ibrance, Eliquis, Vyndaqel – names that once commanded attention, soon to be relegated to the annals of generic competition. It’s a cycle as predictable as the changing seasons, and one that leaves a lingering melancholy. And then there’s the weight loss race, where Pfizer, for a time, seemed content to watch from the sidelines. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly sprinted ahead, while Pfizer’s initial efforts… well, let’s just say they didn’t quite catch the wind. They were forced to acquire another company just to rejoin the fray, a rather undignified scramble, wouldn’t you agree?
But recently, a bit of a wobble appeared. Folks started muttering about whether this marvelous money-making machine could keep chugging along. The worry was simple: if companies suddenly decided they didn’t need quite so many thinking-boxes, Nvidia’s profits might shrink, and that, naturally, would make the investors rather cross. Experts predicted a trillion-dollar AI market by 2030, but some remained skeptical, peering through their spectacles and waiting for a proper sign.
After a brisk correction in the early months of 2026 that nudged Bitcoin beneath its pricetag, the bank calls the mischief a “self-correction”-a genteel bit of arithmetic that, with any luck, may lay a foundation for a sturdier, less harum-scarum price.
Experts chirp warnings, of course. They always do. As if the market, that capricious mistress, cares for their pronouncements. Geopolitical tremors, macroeconomic anxieties…these are merely the stage props. The true drama lies in the collective delusion, the unwavering belief that this time, it will be different. It never is. And so, one prepares. Not for the crash, precisely—that’s far too dramatic—but for the inevitable chill, the moment when the revelry subsides and the accounts are tallied.
This isn’t about chasing fortunes overnight. It’s about building something solid, something that withstands the inevitable storms. A little at a time, a consistent effort – that’s how a man plants a tree, or builds a life. And the same holds true for investing. It’s about letting time and compounding do the heavy lifting, smoothing out the rough patches. Exchange-traded funds, these bundled shares, can be a good tool for this work. They spread the risk, like a farmer planting several fields. Let’s look at two, offered by Vanguard, that might be worth considering for a long haul.
The real news, however, wasn’t emanating from MP Materials itself, but from a competitor, USA Rare Earth. They’ve secured a rather substantial infusion of capital – $3.1 billion, to be precise – courtesy of a combination of governmental largesse and private investment. A rather neat trick, wouldn’t you agree? It rather resembles a well-executed confidence scheme, only this time, the mark is… well, everyone. Derisking, they call it. One suspects it’s merely shifting the risk elsewhere, but who are we to judge a successful maneuver?
They speak of autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots, grand visions indeed. But visions, my friends, do not fill coffers. These are long-term gambles, and in the world of finance, as in life, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. To chase such phantoms with a trillion-dollar valuation seems… optimistic, shall we say? One might be better served looking elsewhere for a more immediate return.
Back then, in November of ’22, the company brought in six hundred and eighty million dollars in net income. A respectable sum, enough to keep the lights on and the gears turning. Now? Thirty-nine billion. A leap that outstrips even the rise in share price. But there’s more to it than that. The company has been buying back its own shares, a way of concentrating ownership, of squeezing more value from each remaining piece. It’s like a farmer taking land out of production, making the remaining fields more fruitful.
This, naturally, means money will be sloshing around. And where money sloshes, opportunity… well, it usually sloshes along with it. Semiconductor companies, being the chaps who actually make the things that make the AI happen (it’s all terribly complicated, involving silicon and electrons, and a lot of hoping for the best), are poised to benefit. And one company, Lumentum (LITE +1.55%), appears to be rather cleverly positioned to catch a significant portion of that slosh. (Don’t think of it literally, please. The image is unsettling.)