While the masses scramble for the next tech darling, I find myself drawn to Vertiv (VRT +0.76%). Not a glamorous name, I grant you. No sleek interfaces, no promises of disrupting entire industries. Just… cooling. And power. The unglamorous necessities that underpin the entire charade. It’s a bit like being a stagehand at a grand opera – nobody applauds, but without you, the prima donna would melt into a puddle of sequins and despair.
Rigetti, that ambitious purveyor of full-stack quantum marvels, proclaims itself a pioneer. A bold claim, to be sure. Yet, upon closer inspection, one discovers a business remarkably adept at generating expectations, and less so at generating substantial revenue. It reminds one of a player upon the boards, delivering a stirring monologue while conspicuously lacking in coin.
The stock’s had a run, of course. Up something like 260% in the last year. Which makes you nervous. It always does. It feels…unsustainable. But what I’m starting to suspect is that this isn’t just hype. It’s actual, fundamental demand. Micron specializes in something called High-Bandwidth Memory – HBM. Sounds like a particularly aggressive radio station. But it’s essential for AI. Think of it as the short-term memory for these digital brains. And apparently, they can’t get enough of it. They’re sold out through 2026. Which, in the tech world, is practically an eternity.
The stock jumped 1700% since the IPO. 1700%! That’s… a lot. It’s practically begging for a correction, isn’t it? You see that kind of run-up, you just know something’s going to give. And these analysts… they’re all talking about “multibagger growth.” Multibagger. It’s like they’re trying to invent new words just to justify the hype. I mean, can’t they just say “good growth” anymore? Is that too simple?
On one hand, you’ve got the “manipulation” crowd, clutching their pearls and shouting, “It’s a trap!” On the other, you’ve got the hype train, chugging along with investors thinking, “CZ’s backing? Cha-ching!” But let’s be real, folks-this is crypto. Nothing’s certain except taxes and the fact that someone’s always yelling “HODL!”
FBTC, in essence, is a fairly straightforward proposition: it holds actual Bitcoin. (Imagine the paperwork. The sheer logistical challenge of securing digital keys. It’s enough to make one long for the simplicity of bartering with seashells.) WGMI, on the other hand, invests in the companies that mine Bitcoin. (Which, let’s be honest, is just a fancy way of saying they solve very complicated math problems with electricity. A remarkably inefficient process, when you think about it.)
They speak of significant growth, driven by this Azure. A cloud, they call it. As if something ethereal can truly sustain a business. The revenue is certainly there, a respectable $77.7 billion last quarter. A substantial sum, to be sure. And a gross margin of 69%… it’s almost comical, this obsession with percentages. As if a few points here and there can truly alter the trajectory of things. They generate cash, of course. A steady stream, like a slow-moving river. But rivers, too, eventually reach the sea.
According to local reports, the prosecutors discovered the Bitcoin had gone walkabout during a routine check of their seized assets. Imagine rummaging through your sock drawer for that spare £20 note, only to find a black hole where your life savings used to be. That’s essentially what happened here, except the sock drawer is a USB drive, and the £20 note is enough Bitcoin to buy a small island. Or a really nice yacht. Or both, if you’re feeling fancy.
The company’s core endeavor – the maintenance and refurbishment of aircraft engines – possesses a certain unglamorous solidity. It is a world of grease and precision, of components worn by countless journeys. FTAI specializes in extending the life of engines like the V2500 and the CFM56, those workhorses of a generation of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. When the initial agreements with the manufacturers expire, it is to FTAI that many airlines turn, seeking a more economical path than outright replacement. The CFM56, a product of the joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran, is particularly noteworthy – a legacy engine, yes, but one with a considerable lifespan still remaining, and a demand that persists even as newer models emerge.
Both BND and AGG, as Finch meticulously notes, function as keys to a kingdom of investment-grade bonds. They are, in essence, composite portraits of the American debt landscape, each constructed with a similar palette of risk and return. The expense ratios – a negligible 0.03% for both – are akin to the cost of maintaining the illusion of perfect order within this financial cosmology. The one-year return, as of January 24, 2026 (a date that already feels distant, viewed from the vantage point of infinite time), registers at 3.11% for BND and 3.2% for AGG. A difference so slight, it might be dismissed as a phantom fluctuation, a trick of the light.