usdaed

Ten years ago, a thousand dollars placed with Costco would, if one had the patience to simply let it be, have grown to seven thousand, five hundred and ninety dollars. A comfortable sum, certainly. Not enough to alter the grand scheme of things, of course, but enough to perhaps purchase a slightly better winter coat, or a small indulgence. It is a quiet triumph, this consistent, incremental growth. The market, however, remains enamored with the fleeting brilliance of new technologies.

I’ve been following this whole “customer loyalty” thing, because, frankly, it’s fascinating. It’s like trying to figure out why some people stay with terrible boyfriends – some brands just get us, and others… well, they don’t. Brand Keys has this index, the CLEI, which is supposed to predict which brands will thrive. Apparently, it’s all about exceeding expectations. Which, let’s be honest, isn’t a high bar for most things these days.

One is tempted to dismiss them as mere opportunists, profiting from the misfortunes of others. But a closer examination reveals a degree of ingenuity, or at least, a clever adaptation to the prevailing winds. The question, naturally, is which, if either, offers a prospect worthy of investment. Let us, with a degree of detachment, explore the particulars.

The issue, as near as anyone can tell, is that this FSD thing relies entirely on cameras. No radar, no lidar, just eyeballs of glass. Which is fine, except when fog rolls in, or the sun glares, or the rain decides to fall with some gusto. Cameras, you see, aren’t so good with that. They’re supposed to have a system that warns the driver when things get blurry, but the NHTA folks found nine incidents where the system didn’t quite shout loud enough before a bump. One of those bumps involved a pedestrian, which is never a good look.

The crux of the matter, the dashedly clever bit of the puzzle, is IBM’s foray into quantum computing. Artificial intelligence is all the rage at the moment, naturally, but quantum is lurking in the wings, poised to steal the show. It’s a bit like a particularly gifted understudy waiting for the star to catch a cold. AI requires prodigious amounts of computing power, and quantum, my dear fellow, has the potential to simply explode the amount available. It’s a bit of a game-changer, wouldn’t you agree?

Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, remains optimistic. His recent statements suggest not a slowing of demand, but an acceleration. It is worth examining the basis for this confidence, and the potential vulnerabilities it obscures.

This year? A different story. Up a few points, they claim. The S&P is down. A minor shift. Enough to get the optimists buzzing, but I’ve seen enough cycles to know better. Picking stocks in places like Brazil, China, India… it’s like searching for a clean bill in a back alley. The local knowledge is thin on the ground, and the analysts back home are too busy chasing the familiar names.

The curious thing about these digital whatsits is their habit of indulging in a bit of dramatic swooning before pulling themselves together with an almost indecent haste. History, you see, is littered with instances of Bitcoin experiencing a bit of a lie-down, only to leap up with the energy of a particularly enthusiastic spring lamb. So, let’s consider the past, shall we, and see if we can glean a hint of what April – a month known for its generally cheerful disposition – might have in store.

Down, as it were, a considerable distance – seventy-four percent from its former, rather boastful peak of $91.45 – it now hovers, a pale ghost, in the vicinity of $23. Wall Street, it seems, regards this erstwhile darling of the digital realm as a payphone in a world drowning in smartphones. A curious judgment, wouldn’t you agree?