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Dominion supplies electricity to a good many homes and businesses in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. And goodness, are things booming in northern Virginia and North Carolina! It seems everyone is building these enormous “data centers” – great, humming boxes filled with blinking lights and secrets. They gobble up electricity like greedy little monsters. Dominion is happily supplying the juice, and they’ve been rather clever about it, building solar farms, wind contraptions, and even harnessing the power of rushing water. They’ve got enough renewable power to light up a truly astonishing number of homes – over 625,000, in fact. They also possess a rather large nuclear plant, Millstone, which produces carbon-free electricity. It’s a bit like a giant, silent teapot, brewing power for the whole of New England.

The question, naturally, is not merely if such devices shall become commonplace, but when. Research from Morgan Stanley suggests that a tenth of households might, by the year 2050, possess a humanoid servant, though at a price which, for many, would represent a most substantial outlay. It is, however, a curious observation that the initial demand may not lie within the domestic sphere, but rather in the more regulated environments of manufacturing.

Starbucks reported a 4% increase in same-store sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2026, ending December 28. This was accompanied by a 3% year-over-year increase in foot traffic, reversing a two-year decline. While ostensibly positive, this recovery must be viewed in the context of broader macroeconomic trends and consumer spending patterns. The observation that both Rewards members and non-Rewards customers contributed to the increase suggests a broad-based, if potentially unsustainable, uptick in demand. The company anticipates continued growth, projecting same-store sales increases of at least 3% for fiscal 2026. Such projections, however, should be approached with appropriate skepticism.

Microsoft, a titan forged in the fires of the personal computing revolution, finds itself, paradoxically, undervalued. The stock price, a fickle barometer of public sentiment, lags behind the company’s true potential, a discrepancy that, for the patient investor, presents a compelling opportunity. To speak of a ‘forward P/E ratio’ of 25, or even 22.5, is to reduce a complex entity to a sterile statistic. It is to ignore the immense weight of infrastructure, the decades of accumulated knowledge, and the sheer force of habit that keeps billions tethered to its ecosystem. But beyond mere accounting, lies a deeper truth: Microsoft has, with a calculated audacity, positioned itself at the very heart of the AI revolution.

They’ve got a pipeline of power, three and a half gigawatts worth. Most of it’s just… waiting. Like a lot of us. They’re hoping tech companies will rent it. It’s a good plan, if the tech companies keep needing power. And if the sun doesn’t explode.

The question before us is this: where will Rigetti’s stock be in three years’ time? A bit of a crystal ball exercise, naturally, but let’s have a go, shall we?

Canopy Growth Corp. (CGC +2.78%) once stood as a monument to this aspiration, briefly achieving a market capitalization that now appears a phantom limb of a bygone era. The peak valuation, nearly $18 billion, now feels less like a rational assessment of potential and more like a collective miscalculation, a shared hallucination fueled by the promise of easy returns. The results, predictably, have been…disappointing. The continued, and indeed increasing, consumption of cannabis has even begun to exert pressure on the established alcohol industry, a curious side effect, yet one that does little to alleviate the predicament of those invested in Canopy Growth.

The company is enjoying a bit of a moment. A surge, even. Up 11.1% in January, 12.9% year-to-date, and over 100% in the last twelve months. It’s a remarkable turnaround, considering they were once the problematic bits of the old General Electric. Back then, everyone worried about solar and wind. A clean future, they called it. But somebody still had to keep the lights on, didn’t they?

Chevron (CVX +0.91%) is in the oil and gas business. I know, groundbreaking. It’s a sector that’s basically a rollercoaster powered by global instability. But Chevron, bless their corporate hearts, has a strategy. It’s called “being an integrated oil and gas company.” Which basically means they do everything from pulling the stuff out of the ground to turning it into gasoline, so they can, you know, profit no matter which way the price swings. It’s like having a hedge fund built into an energy company. Very efficient.

Both funds dabble in the long end of the bond market – a realm where duration, and thus sensitivity to interest rate fluctuations, becomes rather pronounced. The appeal, ostensibly, lies in anticipating a shift in the yield curve. Though one suspects many investors simply seek a place to park capital whilst awaiting the inevitable, and usually disappointing, returns of more adventurous ventures. The differences, as we shall see, are subtle, yet potentially significant, for those who deign to notice.