Dividend stocks? They’re not exciting. They’re not flashy. But they’re reliable. Like your Uncle Bob’s advice: “Don’t spend more than you make.” Companies that pay dividends? They’re the ones who actually know what they’re doing. Profitable? Check. Survived a recession? Check. Can explain their future? Check. It’s basic, but apparently, people forget basics.
Yet, even as the figures ascend, a certain disquiet settles upon the observant investor. The air thrums with the anticipation of, and perhaps the fear of, a correction. The question, then, is not simply whether Palantir can ascend further, but whether its current altitude is sustainable. The experts, as is their wont, offer conflicting counsel, speaking of long runways and early days, while simultaneously acknowledging the dangers inherent in perceived excess. One finds oneself, as it were, at a crossroads, contemplating a wager on the future or a prudent retreat to more solid ground.
Over the recent period, XRP — the third largest digital currency by market cap — has claimed an impressive 800% rise from its lows. Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Ethereum, the supposed kings of the crypto realm, have advanced respectively by 421% and 136%. These figures, somehow, are presented as evidence of legitimacy; but data that so clearly showcases outliers and speculation says rather less. When a raw chart is the only proof, one wonders: what lies behind these jumps?
The second quarter bore fruit: premium income swelled by nearly 5%, net investment income rose by 3%. Yet the harvest felt meager, as if the soil had been sown with doubt. The top line, though slightly exceeding expectations, trembled like a leaf in a gust. Beneath, the core income—after-tax adjusted operating profit—slipped by 12%, a quiet tremor in the chest of investors.
GeneDx’s second-quarter results, while undeniably sprightly, were not merely a matter of numbers on a page. Revenue had taken a brisk turn for the better, and the bottom line, once a forlorn figure, had now donned a waistcoat and declared itself in the black. Yet it was the manner in which these figures surpassed the consensus forecasts that truly set the tone for the week. Management, in a moment of uncharacteristic exuberance, had also tweaked its guidance, as though adjusting the sails of a ship in a gale.
This week, the stock’s year-to-date ascent of 65% might be mistaken for a dance. But the music is faint, and the floorboards creak. Investors, like moths, cluster around its modest valuation, convinced the fireflies ahead will soon blaze into constellations. Yet earnings reports, those brittle parchment leaves, have seldom stirred the stock from its drowsy drift.
Throughout the year 2025, the eerie dance continued—Nebius, cloaked in ambition, became an unwilling accomplice in Nvidia’s latest alchemy: equipping data centers with the Blackwell GPU architecture. One might wonder if the company’s true purpose is to serve as a repository for silicon spirits, helping Nvidia’s GPUs breathe life into the data-hungry abyss. Yet, Nebius’ ambitions extend beyond simple hardware—its tentacles reach into the realms of software, autonomous vehicles, and artificial intelligence, each a siren song promising riches and ruin alike.
This quarter, Meta didn’t just beat the Street’s guesses; it delivered an uncommonly large wallop, like a blue whale dropping onto a trampoline. Revenues bounded upward by 22%, touching $47.5 billion, while profits per share twirled higher by 38%. It’s almost as if the whole digital planet was tethered to Meta’s advertising balloon, bobbing and floating with giddy abandon—3.48 billion people peering daily into Meta’s dazzling labyrinth, and advertisers flinging their shiny coins at screens with both hands at once. Even their ads, drab as porridge, found themselves 11% more bountiful and 9% pricier than before.
By 2:45 p.m. ET, the shares had climbed 9.7%, a sputtering ember compared to their earlier 12.7% blaze. Such volatility, one might muse, mirrors the capriciousness of the sun itself—now a beacon, now a phantom.
Analysts, those modern-day oracles with Bloomberg terminals strapped to their wrists, had predicted $1.26 per share. FTAI delivered $1.57, as if the CFO had scribbled the numbers on a napkin at Applebee’s. Sales ballooned to $676.2 million, which sounds impressive until you realize that’s still less than Taylor Swift’s lifetime earnings from “Shake It Off.”