usdaed

The tariffs, those self-imposed wounds inflicted upon the body economic by the current administration, cast a long, ominous shadow. The pronouncements of strength, the claims of economic flourishing… they ring hollow to those who understand the subtle, insidious ways in which such policies unravel the very fabric of trade. To suggest that exporters shoulder the burden, that these tariffs are a boon rather than a blight, is to mistake a fever dream for reality. It is a dangerous delusion, a self-serving narrative spun to soothe a troubled conscience.

Costco Wholesale, that behemoth of bulk, that cathedral of consumerism, is rarely subjected to genuine scrutiny. It’s a blue chip, they say, a stalwart in a sea of volatile fortunes. Its shares, having delivered a return of 188% in five years – a statistic recited with the reverence usually reserved for ancient prophecies – are considered sacrosanct. But even the most imposing structures, those built on foundations of discounted rotisserie chickens and oversized detergent bottles, require a careful assessment. The question isn’t merely whether to buy, sell, or hold in 2026, but to understand the quiet forces shaping its destiny, the subtle shifts in the collective desire that fuel its relentless expansion.

A half-hearted rally, you say? Precisely. It’s enough to tempt the naive, to lure them into the belief that a rising tide lifts all yachts – even the leaky ones. And we, the seasoned observers of this grand charade, simply raise an eyebrow and prepare for the inevitable correction. The market, after all, is not a rational actor. It’s a fickle beast, prone to fits of mania and despair. It responds to whispers and rumors, to the slightest shift in sentiment. One could almost believe a sorcerer is at work, manipulating the numbers for his own amusement.

Enbridge (ENB +1.68%) is, if you will, a most dependable sort. Offering a forward dividend yield of 5.6%, the company has been steadily increasing its payout for a positively impressive 30 years – a feat that would make even the most seasoned club treasurer raise an eyebrow. And, crucially, it continues to generate free cash flow with the sort of cheerful regularity that suggests a well-oiled machine.

The recent “AI Acceleration Strategy,” a rather grand title for a simple reallocation of funds, proposes to imbue the military with an “AI-first” ethos. One detects a certain desperation in this phrasing, a frantic attempt to appear at the vanguard of progress. The document, predictably, emphasizes “rewarding AI-first reconceptions of legacy approaches,” which translates, in less diplomatic terms, to finding new ways to spend old money.

Inflation, that tireless bureaucrat, began to demand its due. Consumers, weary from the endless parade of price increases, developed a sort of listless fatigue. Chipotle, once a beacon of affordable indulgence, found itself…observed. Same-store sales, that sacred metric, began to slow. Margins, those delicate creatures, compressed. It was as if a mischievous imp had subtly altered the recipe, adding a pinch of discontent to every burrito.

Nvidia, despite the predictable proliferation of competitors, maintains its position as the primary facilitator of this computational undertaking. Its graphics processing units, or GPUs, are not merely powerful; they are the designated arbiters of parallel processing, the silent judges of algorithmic efficiency. The curious attachment to the CUDA software platform—a proprietary system, naturally—effectively restricts access, binding all foundational code to Nvidia’s architecture. One might inquire as to the rationale behind such a limitation; the answer, we suspect, lies not in technological superiority, but in the simple desire for control. The NVLink interconnect, facilitating rapid communication between chips, merely amplifies this effect, creating isolated clusters of immense power, each dependent on the central authority. The offer of “turnkey AI factory solutions” is, of course, a formalized acknowledgement of this dependency, a pre-packaged surrender to the inevitable. The organization that believes it can simply ‘keep up’ will soon discover the futility of its efforts.

The problem is, Bitcoin. Honestly, it’s exhausting. Down 20% over the last year, mostly in the last week. It’s enough to make one consider a life of quiet desperation, possibly involving knitting and a vow of silence. But, weirdly, BITQ itself is…flat year to date? And it tripled from its low last year. Which is…confusing. It’s like the fund is secretly powered by some sort of financial alchemy. Or maybe it’s not a crypto fund at all?