And so, we investors stand, blinking in the soft blue light of potential, trying to decide which horse to back in a race where the track hasn’t been built, the horses are made of superpositioned ions, and the finish line is somewhere around the year 2030, give or take a regulatory delay or quantum decoherence event. It’s not so much investing as it is placing bets on theology with VC money.
When the Fed, with measured grace, lowers its rates and swells the money supply, it is a signal to investors to take heart and purchase shares. Yet when it tightens its grip, raising rates and withdrawing liquidity, prudence is the order of the day. Though the market, that fickle creature, is rarely so simple as black or white. Hence the adage, ‘Do not fight the Fed,’ a maxim as enduring as it is wise.
Behold, two stocks that transformed a £100,000 starting investment into a million or more in a decade. A most commendable feat, though one would do well to observe them from a respectful distance, lest they vanish like a poorly timed toffee apple at a village fete.
Let’s get this out of the way: Eaton isn’t some fly-by-night tech startup with a killer app. No, my friend, it’s an industrial BEAST, over 100 years old, and-don’t quote me on this-it’s got more than $140 billion floating around in market cap. If you’re not already worried, you should be. It started out in the car world-making truck axles, a humble beginning. But now? It’s ALL about managing electricity, the lifeblood of the modern world. A long way from its roots, but you get the picture.
The market’s gaze lingers on the glint of Microsoft’s gleaming towers and Alphabet’s sprawling orchards, while Amazon’s shadow stretches long over its own fields. But the soil here is rich with labor-hours spent in the dark of warehouses, where robots hum like crickets, and AI whispers secrets to the earth. The company’s founders, like old hands guiding a mule, have pulled back the reins, yet the land still bears the weight of their departure.
The term “game-changer” has already begun to circulate, much like rumors of a hidden vault in a forgotten monastery. But let us not confuse a well-organized ledger with a paradigm shift. The S&P 500, that venerable oracle of market sentiment, has long been the gold standard. Now, its progeny seeks to extend its dominion into the wild, uncharted territories of digital assets.
While it’s true that some firms seem destined to remain on the up-and-up, there are a few that might still have a few more dips in store before they recover. I mean, if it weren’t for the dismal returns, the tech stock market might be downright entertaining.
The Fed’s two-day policy meeting reads like a scene from a bad spy movie. Its protagonists: sticky inflation (that 2.9% CPI number, which is suspiciously close to its target but still enough to make a grown economist shudder) and a rising unemployment rate (4.3%, a figure that sounds like a discount coupon but feels more like a tax audit). Meanwhile, the economy stumbles like a toddler on a tricycle, with job numbers revised downward by 258,000 in May and June alone. One wonders if the Bureau of Labor Statistics accidentally misplaced some of those jobs or simply forgot to file them.
Yet here lies a curious conundrum: at its current price, Upstart trades at a mere 19 times forward earnings, a bargain for a company whose ambitions stretch like a crooked grin. For the bold and the brave, this may be the moment to seize the reins.
Some dividend ETFs show promise. Others fizzle out like cheap bourbon in a smoky dive. If you’re after a solid pick to hold onto until the end of days, one ETF has the grit to stand out from the crowd.