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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.

Mr. Hotchkiss, before the day’s business had properly commenced, declared his continued approval of Vertex, maintaining a price target of twenty-three dollars per share – a sum which, one cannot help but notice, represents a considerable advance upon the stock’s recent performance. Such optimism, whilst flattering to those already invested, ought to be regarded with a degree of circumspection. To suggest a potential increase of eighty percent is, at best, a bold assertion, and at worst, a demonstration of the very credulity one might hope for from a less discerning clientele.

They increased their stake during the fourth quarter. Which, in investor-speak, means they think it’s a good idea. Or, at least, a less-bad idea than, say, investing in a pigeon racing syndicate. The quarter-end value went up $17.96 million. Both from the share increase and… well, the market doing its mysterious, unpredictable thing. It’s like a particularly chaotic dating app – you never know what’s going to swipe right.

Central Bancompany, you see, isn’t some Silicon Valley disruptor promising to revolutionize finance with blockchain and avocado toast. It’s a perfectly respectable, if slightly unflashy, bank operating across a decent swathe of the Midwest and Southeast. They offer the usual things – checking accounts, loans, mortgages – and, crucially, a bit of wealth management and insurance thrown in for good measure. It’s the kind of bank your parents probably use, and that, in the current climate, is not necessarily a bad thing.