Last October witnessed a brief, almost absurd, surge in the stock’s value, fuelled by the predictable mechanics of a short-squeeze. Prices rose by an order of magnitude in a matter of days. This, however, proved to be a phantom prosperity, a momentary delusion quickly dispelled. One is reminded of a bubble, inflated by hope and punctured by reality.
This Ethereum, you see, was the first to build these clever little contraptions called ‘smart contracts’. Tiny digital workers that whiz and whir, doing the bidding of anyone who can poke them with the right code. A lot of these digital doodads run on Ethereum’s network. Partly because it’s been around a while, like a particularly stubborn old oak tree, and partly because it’s rather good at keeping things secure, which is more than can be said for some of the newer, flashier networks. They promise speed and cheapness, but often end up looking like a house of cards in a hurricane.
They expect another jump next year. Thirty-two percent. More money, more machines, more things to distract us from the inevitable heat death of the universe. It’s a good time, they say, to look at a couple of stocks. I suspect it’s always a good time to look at stocks. Or a bad time. It rarely makes much difference in the long run.
Now, Dogecoin isn’t your typical asset. It’s less about fundamental value and more about…enthusiasm. Celebrity tweets? CEO pronouncements? Those carry more weight than, say, actual earnings reports. It’s like building a house of cards on a trampoline. Volatile? You betcha. It’s hit astronomical highs (around $21 billion at last check), and it’s prone to dips like this one. Consider it a sentiment gauge, a barometer of pure, unadulterated speculative fever. And in a speculative market? That’s saying something.
For over a century, GE was… everything. Power, healthcare, aviation. They tried to be all things to all people. Which, looking back, feels a bit greedy, doesn’t it? It inevitably led to a spectacular unraveling. A slow-motion car crash, as some people so eloquently put it. I prefer to think of it as a cautionary tale. A reminder that even giants can fall, and diversification isn’t always your friend. The share price took a proper hammering, naturally. But here we are. A phoenix, of sorts. Or maybe just a slightly less flammable version of the old GE.
If you asked the average American to name a company digging up these little bits of the planet, MP Materials (MP +1.77%) would probably come to mind. They’ve got the publicity. A $400 million deal with the Department of Defense tends to do that for you. Perfectly reasonable. But there’s another one, USA Rare Earth (USAR +9.07%), and they’re aiming for a slightly different niche. A niche, you understand, is just a comfortable place to be ignored.
I plan to add to my position in 2026. Not because there’s anything wrong with it now, but because, let’s be real, everything feels a little… precarious. I want something boringly solid. Something that won’t suddenly decide to pivot to NFTs. This is my “never sell” stock, and here’s why I’m treating it like a vintage wine – acquire and let it age.
MGK, they say, is about growth. The kind that comes with a hefty price tag and a whole lot of faith in the tech sector. IWM, on the other hand, is a scattergun approach, spreading bets across a thousand small caps. It’s the difference between backing a sure thing and playing the lottery. Neither’s a guarantee, but one feels…cleaner.
For those with a slightly more… grounded perspective, for those who prefer to observe rather than participate in this manic spectacle, there remain opportunities. Opportunities that don’t require a pact with a dubious algorithm. Two such shadows have caught my eye: Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM +1.26%) and Remitly Global (RELY 0.77%). They are, shall we say, islands of relative sanity in a sea of algorithmic frenzy.
It’s not that I dislike money, of course. It’s just… diversifying feels like a responsible adult activity, and responsible adult activities are often profoundly dull. But then I started noticing something. All this AI, all this processing power… it requires electricity. An obscene amount of it. Like, enough to make my electric bill blush. And where does that electricity often come from? Natural gas. Which brings us to Kinder Morgan (KMI 0.40%).