Indeed, even the most esteemed amongst us – a Mr. Buffett, for instance – are occasionally misled by their own judgment. A miscalculated venture, or a hasty divestment, serves as a humbling reminder that prudence, though laudable, is no guarantee against error.
According to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission – a body renowned for its fondness for paperwork – AIGH Capital relieved itself of every single share of MaxLinear during the last quarter of 2025. The value of their holdings, therefore, descended to the distinctly unromantic figure of zero. One pictures a clerk, pencil in hand, making a particularly emphatic stroke through the MaxLinear entry in the ledger. A touch dramatic, perhaps, but one must allow for a certain amount of theatrical flair in these financial affairs.
Initially, the visionaries at Plug Power imagined a world powered by hydrogen within the very walls of our homes. A charming notion, certainly, but one swiftly dashed against the rocks of practicality. Infrastructure costs, it transpired, were rather more substantial than anticipated, and the public, alas, displayed a distressing lack of enthusiasm for embracing a future they hadn’t requested. A pivot was necessary. They settled, quite sensibly, on selling fuel cells, electrolyzers, and storage systems – components, one might say, of a future that remains, stubbornly, just over the horizon.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I like Microsoft. It’s just… it’s there. It’s like beige. No one’s excited about beige, but it doesn’t offend anyone either. And in this market, offensive is everywhere. You’d think a company that makes operating systems could figure out how to make a decent update process. It’s always, “Do you want to update now? Maybe later? Never?” It’s a commitment, is what it is! And I don’t want a commitment from my computer.
Warsh, for those keeping score, was the baby-faced wonder on the Fed board back in ’06. He’s also done time with Stanley Druckenmiller – which, let’s be honest, is like getting a financial pedigree from royalty. The market likes that. It likes things with a history of…not collapsing. It’s a low bar, really.
Which brings me to Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM 0.13%). I’ve been looking at it. Trying to be rational. It’s not exactly sexy, precious metals investing, but it’s…solid. And frankly, after the cryptocurrency debacle (Units of Cryptocurrency Lost: 12. Hours Spent Watching Charts: 9. Number of Panicked Texts to Friends: 24.), I need solid. Here’s why it’s currently winning the ‘least likely to cause a full-blown anxiety attack’ award in my portfolio.
So, what does the coming year hold for these digital soothsayers? Let us, with the detached amusement of a seasoned observer, venture a few predictions. Not of the future, mind you, but of the future of prediction.
Here’s a prediction for 2026. It’s not a sunny one.
During the recent, and now receding, pandemic, demand for UPS’s package delivery services experienced a rather enthusiastic surge. It was, for a brief, shining moment, as if everyone had collectively decided to take up online shopping as a full-time hobby. Then, quite logically, people began to venture back into actual shops, preferring the tactile experience of purchasing things rather than waiting for a cardboard box to arrive. E-commerce didn’t vanish, of course, but the abrupt return to normalcy (a concept that remains, to many, deeply unsettling) did rather alter UPS’s demand landscape. Management, in a display of commendable forward thinking (or perhaps just a desperate attempt to avoid being swept away by the tide), decided a business overhaul was in order.
Okay, so here’s the deal. This ETF, it doesn’t invent anything. It doesn’t overthrow governments. It simply follows an index – the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index. Think of it as a very obedient puppy. Now, that index… that’s where the magic (or, you know, moderately sensible financial engineering) happens. It starts by sniffing out companies that have been reliably handing out dividends for at least ten years. Ten years! That’s longer than some marriages! We’re looking for consistency, people! And they throw out the REITs. Apparently, real estate is too… complicated. Who knew?