‘Wheels within Wheels.’ The old phrase, and today it is the wiring diagram for AI’s biggest deals: a payments giant buying the tollbooth for AI tokens, Nvidia funding the data supplier feeding its own open models, and China’s hottest IPO riding a robot...

Markets Bear markets are the price of admission for investors. (awealthofcommonsense.com) Don’t let your stock picking become your identity. (investmenttalk.co) How to avoid blowing up your account. (novelinvestor.com) Finance More evidence that...

Books An excerpt from “Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War” by Sharon Weinberger. (wsj.com) A look at Danny Meyer’s new book, “What Could Possibly Go Right?” (mattrodbard.substack.com) Business How ESPN...

Two data points landed this week on China’s AI momentum in this AI Tech Wave, and they measure the same flywheel from opposite ends. One counts what the world’s developers are choosing to build on in terms of global AI models. It’s from founder Jack...

‘Strike a Pose.’ Madonna gave us the phrase, the song and dance, and today it fits AI’s leading companies: three of them, striking deliberate public poses this week, each for an audience that matters, plus Tesla holding its robotaxi poses in Austin....

Markets A look at the state of the bull market. (spilledcoffee.co) A look at return dispersion in the components of the S&P 500. (axios.com) AI Recent hacks show AI companies don’t have a great handle on things. (ft.com) Where small language...

Podcasts Christine Benz and Amy Arnott talk with Jeff Ptak about the power of simplicity in investing. (morningstar.com) Frazer Rice talks with Meb Faber, author of “Investing in America: The Rise of a 250-Year Bull Market.” (youtube.com)...

The market’s mental model of AI still comes from scifi books and movies: Exemplified by movies like the Terminator starring Skynet. One monolithic machine mind, waking up one day and running the world. While of course, ruining it utterly for humans....

Rates The rates environment has changed, forever. (mrzepczynski.blogspot.com) No matter where you look rates are rising. (allstarcharts.com) America’s annualized interest expense now exceeds defense spending. (axios.com) Markets We are in the midst of...

View the video of this post here. This week’s post is sponsored by YCharts. During uncertain markets, clients start questioning the benefits of staying invested. With YCharts, you can easily convey to clients why long-term investing is the best...