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This week alone, another 15.4% gone. According to those people at S&P Global Market Intelligence, which, frankly, always feels a little… presumptuous. Like they know something I don’t. And usually, they don’t.

Broadcom (AVGO 3.38%). Now, this is a company that understands the plumbing. The raw, brutal necessity of getting data from point A to point B before the whole system melts down. They’re building the freeways for the digital hordes, and frankly, the demand is INSANE. Data centers are sprouting like poisonous mushrooms, and Broadcom is supplying the concrete. But it’s the ASICs – those custom-built chips – that are the real juice. They’re quietly becoming the kingmakers.

A traditional REIT, you see, deals in bricks and mortar – actual buildings, leased to actual tenants. Understandable. Reliable. Like a dwarf crafting a particularly sturdy table. AGNC, however, operates in the somewhat more ethereal realm of mortgage-backed securities. It doesn’t own the houses; it owns the promises of houses. It buys and sells these bundles of mortgages, which is less like being a landlord and more like being a very sophisticated (and slightly unsettling) pawnbroker. It’s a business built on other people’s debts, and that, my friends, is always interesting.²

Looking back over the past three years, this particular company hasn’t managed to generate a truly stirring movement in its share price following an earnings announcement. A 4.3% uptick last May was the most dramatic event, and even that was hardly a spectacle. Modest earnings, predictable guidance – terribly reliable, really. One almost feels obligated to applaud the sheer lack of surprise.

Now, Datadog, bless their silicon hearts, are jumping on the AI bandwagon. Not driving, mind you, more like hanging onto the back with a determined grin. They’re helping companies deploy this artificial intelligence stuff without it all crashing and burning. And guess what? People are actually paying for this! They launched a few products, and demand is… let’s just say it’s not exactly languishing. The latest earnings report? Revenue growth accelerated! I haven’t seen acceleration like that since I tried to escape a tax audit.

It is tempting to view this preference as a straightforward calculation of return. Yet, to do so would be to miss the subtle geometry at play. For years, Apple occupied the apex of Berkshire’s pyramid of holdings. But the gradual diminution of that position – a shedding of shares like leaves in autumn – has revealed a new prominence for American Express. The conglomerate’s stake, now encompassing 16.5% of the portfolio, expands not through accretion, but through the elegant subtraction of shares by the company itself – a peculiar form of self-augmentation.

Recent observations – gleaned, it should be noted, not from the clamorous present, but from a careful reconstruction of the past twelve months – suggest a curious divergence. While the larger indices have traced predictable arcs, the Russell 2000 has exhibited a certain… restlessness. As of this writing, it has outperformed its more celebrated counterparts, a phenomenon that invites speculation. Is this a temporary anomaly, a statistical quirk? Or does it hint at a deeper shift in the underlying currents of the market?

Acuity Brands is a leading provider of lighting and building management solutions, with a global footprint and a strong presence in North America. They leverage a diverse brand portfolio and a dual-segment structure to address both traditional and intelligent building markets. A perfectly sensible strategy, one might argue, given the inevitable convergence of the two.