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The S&P 500, bless its heart, managed a 0.54% gain, finishing at 6,913. The Nasdaq Composite, ever the showoff, jumped 0.91% to 23,436. Regional banks, however, were having a bit of a moment. Fifth Third Bancorp dipped 3.73% (perhaps they also missed some estimates?), and KeyCorp slipped 0.58%. It’s like watching a school of fish – some dart forward, some lag behind, and you’re left wondering if there’s a shark nearby. Investors are reassessing growth plans and mergers, which is just a polite way of saying they’re looking for the next big thing. Or, you know, avoiding the next big flop.

Let us posit a modest stake – ten thousand dollars, a sum sufficient to pique interest, but not enough to induce palpitations. We shall distribute this amongst our chosen trio, a sort of speculative triptych, painted with algorithms and hopes. The horizon, as always, is 2026 and beyond – a conveniently vague promise that allows for both ambition and plausible deniability.

The fourth quarter of 2025, it seems, was perfectly adequate. Sales of $13.7 billion – a smidge above the anticipated $13.39 billion – and adjusted earnings per share of $0.15, exceeding the paltry $0.08 expectation. Quite. But the first quarter of 2026? A projected revenue range of $11.7 to $12.7 billion, and earnings…well, a rather stark zero. Analysts, naturally, were hoping for $12.55 billion and a measly five cents per share. One begins to suspect someone hasn’t been paying attention to the ledger.

The Wall Street cognoscenti speak of the S&P 500 as “the market,” a shorthand that obscures a fundamental truth: it is a curated selection, a committee’s judgment rendered in ticker symbols. It is not an organic growth, but a deliberate architecture. The intent, ostensibly, is to capture the broad contours of American economic activity. But the selection process, and the weighting of its constituents, introduces biases, vulnerabilities, and a concentration of power that demands closer scrutiny.

I underestimated a subtle, yet pervasive force, a contagion of belief. It is a phenomenon not entirely divorced from the fever dreams of humanity, and it demands consideration. The market, after all, is not a ledger of cold calculation, but a collective delirium.

The current expectation, and a reasonably assured one at that, is that TSMC will maintain its trajectory. The prevailing winds, if one may employ a meteorological analogy, are decidedly in its favor. These winds, of course, originate from the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence – a domain of immense potential, and one that demands ever-increasing computational power. It is a force, one suspects, that will not easily be contained.

It is not a romantic vision, this reliance on the atom. It is, however, a practical one. Nuclear plants, unlike their renewable counterparts, generate electricity consistently. They require less land, and produce fewer emissions than fossil fuels. That large corporations – Microsoft, Alphabet – are entering into agreements with energy providers to secure nuclear power is not a sign of environmental zealotry, but of calculated self-interest. The U.S. government’s stated ambition to triple nuclear output by 2050 is equally devoid of sentiment; it is a recognition of necessity.

This Meta, you see, is one of those “Magnificent Seven” stocks they chatter about. Though “magnificent” feels a bit strong. A year ago, it wasn’t exactly climbin’ the peaks. Flat as a pancake, it was, while others were doin’ a jig. Seems the market forgot it for a spell. But Wall Street has a short memory, like a goldfish with a trust fund.

This TRAN Capital, they bought a heap of SPS Commerce shares, some 147,591 of ’em, back when the market was feelin’ generous. Spent a cool $15.37 million, they did. Then, quicker than you can say “market correction,” they up and sold the whole kit and kaboodle. Just like that. A fella might wonder what brought on such a sudden change of heart, but these Wall Street types, they operate on a logic all their own.