usdaed

Now, Nvidia. The name itself sounds like something out of a particularly gloomy Eastern European fairytale. They make the… well, the bits that make the thinking happen. Graphics Processing Units, they call them. Fancy rocks that do sums very quickly. Meta is one of their biggest customers, naturally. It’s a bit like a dragon ordering a particularly large quantity of fire polish. But Meta isn’t entirely loyal. They dabble with Advanced Micro Devices – the AMD, as they’re known – and even attempt to forge their own magical components. A bit ambitious, perhaps. Like a goblin trying to build a cathedral.

The exposure of established financial institutions to these pure-play quantum enterprises is, upon closer inspection, remarkably limited. It is a peculiar phenomenon, this illusion of widespread institutional investment. One observes a surge in capital directed towards the sector, only to discover that the vast majority originates not from discerning hedge fund managers actively assessing long-term viability, but from the passive mechanisms of exchange-traded funds and index trackers. Thus, when one notes BlackRock’s reported ownership of a substantial shareholding in IonQ, it is a mistake to infer a considered endorsement. The transaction is merely a consequence of IonQ’s inclusion within the Russell 2000 index, a mechanical consequence of its size, not a judgment upon its prospects.

By the bell’s final clang, the stock price had risen, a paper blossom in the concrete garden of the market. But let us not mistake a temporary lift for genuine growth. The question isn’t merely whether the numbers climb, but who benefits from this ascent.

I find myself unable to participate in this collective delusion, to add my coin to the pile. Not because the company is failing – far from it. But because the price, the very valuation, demands a perfection that no earthly enterprise can sustain. It is a precarious perch, this expectation of flawless execution, and one I suspect will ultimately prove unsustainable.

Novanta, you see, is in the business of makin’ the things that make things. Photonics and precision motion, they call it. Fancy words for makin’ light dance and gears turn, mostly for medical contraptions and industrial machinery. They don’t build the whole shebang, just the bits that need a touch of cleverness.

Over the last decade, the stock has climbed a respectable, but not exactly thrilling, 82%. It’s not going to make you a yacht owner overnight. But, and this is the key, Coca-Cola is really, really good at giving money back. Like a slightly embarrassing, but reliable, uncle.

Booking Holdings, the company that handles your hotel reservations and such, just announced they’re gonna split each share of their stock into twenty-five pieces. A right proper split, that is. They’re doin’ it after a good many years of the stock price climbin’ higher than a Mississippi steamboat chimney. Twenty-seven thousand percent higher, if you believe the reckonin’s. That’s enough to make a man dizzy, even without the benefit of strong drink.

Let us examine the numbers, shall we? A mere 27.01% of his direct holdings were disposed of. A significant portion, certainly, but leaving a comforting 8,105 shares still clinging to his portfolio. One suspects a man preparing for winter, not abandoning ship. This, it is claimed, is his only such transaction in the past two years. A period, one notes, marked by a general air of… well, let’s call it ‘optimistic delusion’ in the technology sector. No indirect dealings, no derivative chicanery. Just a straightforward sale. How… unusual.