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The source of this particular disquiet lies in the announcement of direct U.S. government investment – a considerable sum, nearly $1.6 billion – in USA Rare Earth. This is not merely a financial transaction; it is a statement. A declaration of intent. The nation, it seems, seeks to secure its supply of these critical resources, to disentangle itself from the complex web of global dependencies. And in doing so, it casts a long shadow over those companies – TMC among them – that have relied on the promise of similar patronage. The air, one suspects, is thick with the scent of disappointed expectations.

This begs the question, naturally: is this a rational valuation, or merely the result of a collective enchantment? The Guild of Alchemists and Venture Capitalists, you see, are particularly susceptible to shiny objects, and Palantir, for the moment, is exceedingly shiny.

CVR, in a move that can only be described as bracingly direct (or perhaps just impatient), released these figures well before the market opened. The numbers suggest a net loss attributable to shareholders of somewhere between $105 million and $125 million for the fourth quarter of 2025. This is, naturally, a figure. A rather large one, admittedly, but still fundamentally a statement of numerical value. The throughput, the amount of oil being processed, clocked in at between 210,000 and 220,000 barrels per day (bpd). It’s worth pondering, briefly, that each of those barrels once contained something alive. (Don’t dwell on it.)

This isn’t about elegant projections or quarterly earnings. This is about a vision of urban skies buzzing with electric craft, a promise of respite from the choked arteries of our cities. A beautiful dream, certainly, but one built on a foundation of complex engineering, regulatory hurdles, and the ever-present specter of unprofitability. And it is that precariousness which makes this transaction interesting.

By the day’s close, CoreWeave’s shares had ascended by more than 5%, having earlier flirted with a gain of 17%. A spectacle, truly, though one wonders if the applause is for genuine innovation, or merely for the illusion thereof.

The problem, as near as I can tell after consuming approximately 700 cups of coffee and staring into the digital void, is Uncle Sam playing favorites. A 10% stake in USA Rare Earth? That’s a shot across the bow for any mining outfit banking on a federal bailout. CRML, poor delusional CRML, had its hopes pinned on a similar infusion of cash, fueled by whispers of a Greenland grab. President Trump, bless his chaotic heart, and his obsession with that icy wasteland. A land grab waiting to happen. It was a beautiful, feverish delusion. Now? Just a cold, hard reality check.

So, The Wall Street Journal decided to drop a bombshell on Sunday: Merck’s apparently lost interest in acquiring Revolution. Lost interest. As if corporate courtship is a perfectly reasonable thing to track. Honestly, the market acted like they’d cancelled their favourite show. The rumor mill, of course, had been working overtime, whispering about a deal worth… well, a lot. Billions, darling. Billions. It’s always billions, isn’t it?

Monday brought a chill to the market, a 9% drop that settled like dust. There was a rally afterward, a flicker of hope, but the underlying worry remains. CleanSpark is trying to become a provider of computing power, selling excess capacity in a world suddenly starved for it. It’s a sound idea, but ideas, like seeds, need fertile ground to take root.

The question, naturally, isn’t whether Costco is a fundamentally sound business – it is, in its own way. The more pertinent inquiry is whether the current valuation reflects anything resembling reality. Or, to put it less delicately, have the latecomers missed the boat? One rather suspects they have. But let’s dissect the matter with a modicum of composure, shall we?

An analyst, one William Power of Baird, ventured a calculation, a delicate exercise in speculative accounting. He posited that Zoom’s foray into Anthropic – a privately held entity purveying the Claude AI platform, a name that evokes both ancient myth and the chill of silicon – amounted to some $51 million. A sum, admittedly, that feels rather…unremarkable in the grand calculus of venture capital. But consider: if Anthropic’s rumored valuation of $350 billion holds even a scintilla of truth, Zoom’s stake could, theoretically, blossom into a holding worth between two and four billion dollars. A phantom fortune, perhaps, but one that clearly tickled the fancy of Monday’s traders.