qfx

It’s frankly astonishing, when you think about it, how thoroughly Meta (formerly Facebook, a name that now feels like a relic from a bygone era) has insinuated itself into the daily lives of billions of people. We’re talking 3.58 billion daily active users. That’s more than the population of Europe, North and South America combined, all checking their feeds and sharing pictures of cats. And what do they do with all these people? They sell advertising, naturally. It’s a remarkably simple business model, really. Though the algorithms that power it are anything but.

And now, the F-150 Lightning, a promising shoot of electric ambition, faces a curious fate. To replace it, not with a continuation of that electric promise, but with an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV)…is this a shrewd maneuver, a pragmatic adaptation, or the sowing of seeds for a future harvest of regret?

The general disposition of the exchanges was, if not precisely melancholy, certainly subdued. The S&P 500 descended a modest 0.61% to 6,632, while the Nasdaq Composite followed suit, declining 0.93% to close at 22,105. Within the semiconductor realm, opinions were divided. Advanced Micro Devices experienced a slight reverse, closing at $193.39, a loss of 2.20%, while Intel, with a more fortunate turn, finished at $45.77, gaining 1.15%. It is ever thus, that fortunes ebb and flow, and that no two companies travel precisely the same road.

Investing, of course, isn’t a search for popularity. Though, heaven knows, some companies seem to believe it is. These household names, these purveyors of the mundane, offer a certain…stability. A predictable pulse in a world increasingly given to fits and convulsions. Favorable volatility, they call it. Dividend yields. Enviable track records. One suspects the envy is misplaced, but let us not dwell on the motivations of accountants.

Hartree Partners, it seems, trimmed their Teekay Tankers holdings during the last three months of the year. They shed those shares, worth a hefty $14.27 million, and the overall value of their Teekay stash shrunk by another $12.42 million – a combination of selling and the usual market jiggly-wigglies. It’s like watching a particularly plump pudding slowly deflate.