He said: "We need to have more British AI companies that can do those kinds of things, which is why I've taken equity stakes in British AI firms and British tech firms, so that we can scale them up much, much faster."
He said: "We need to have more British AI companies that can do those kinds of things, which is why I've taken equity stakes in British AI firms and British tech firms, so that we can scale them up much, much faster."
William_Potter/iStock via Getty Images There are four data sets on these two long-term charts, but only one is a measure of economic activity. The odd data set out is IndPro (Industrial Production). The other three are market sentiment-driven. That is, they reflect investor perceptions of future returns. There are correlations between the market sentiment measures themselves that are fairly close....
William_Potter/iStock via Getty Images There are four data sets on these two long-term charts, but only one is a measure of economic activity. The odd data set out is IndPro (Industrial Production). The other three are market sentiment-driven. That is, they reflect investor perceptions of future returns. There are correlations between the market sentiment measures themselves that are fairly close. They only agree with economic activity over the broad period of an economic cycle. There is an unmistakable correlation between the Manufacturing PMI and the 10yr minus 3-month Treasury (called the Yield Curve). Both peaked late 2021, then in the next 12 months declined into negative territory and stayed there for nearly 3 years till December 2025. It is no coincidence that both the yield curve and manufacturing began giving economically positive signals in December 2025 and have been positive since. The market has been rising on a select few issues believed to be “inflation- and recession-proof”. However, I view us as in a significant transition towards industrial, transport, retail and other issues that perform well under generally positive economic conditions. Original Post Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.
LINK (LINK +1.37%), the native token of the Chainlink network, reached its record high of $52.88 just over five years ago. At the time, its market cap nearly reached $22 billion. But today, LINK trades at less than $10 with a market cap of $7 billion. Let's see why it pulled back, and why it could nearly triple in value to $20 billion within the next five years. Why is LINK different from other cr...
LINK (LINK +1.37%), the native token of the Chainlink network, reached its record high of $52.88 just over five years ago. At the time, its market cap nearly reached $22 billion. But today, LINK trades at less than $10 with a market cap of $7 billion. Let's see why it pulled back, and why it could nearly triple in value to $20 billion within the next five years. Why is LINK different from other cryptocurrencies? Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that delivers live, real-world data -- including weather reports, stock tickers, sports scores, and shipping information -- to blockchains. Chainlink's independent node operators fetch and deliver that data in exchange for LINK tokens, which they can stake (lock up) as collateral to earn interest-like rewards. But if they ever feed false data into the network, those holdings can be confiscated, while their reputation scores -- which are essential for receiving new requests -- will be reduced. Many developer-oriented blockchains, including Ethereum (ETH 0.21%), use Chainlink's data to power their decentralized applications. As of last October, it's secured more than $100 billion in total value across those decentralized applications. That expansion could make LINK more valuable as it drives its node operators to aggregate more data. Expand CRYPTO : LINK Chainlink Today's Change ( 1.37 %) $ 0.13 Current Price $ 9.77 Key Data Points Market Cap $7.1B Day's Range $ 9.61 - $ 10.00 52wk Range $ 7.40 - $ 27.70 Volume 313.1M Why could LINK triple in value over the next five years? LINK was launched in 2017 with a fixed maximum supply of 1 billion tokens, but not all of those tokens were initially circulated. Instead, its tokens were gradually unlocked to enable Chainlink to fund its own operations, pay node operators, and pay staking rewards. When it hit its all-time high in 2021, it had a circulating supply of about 410 million tokens. That figure has risen to 727 million as of this writing, so it could reach its supply li...
Key Points You can withdraw your Social Security application if it's been less than 12 months since you applied. Those who cannot withdraw their application can pause benefits at their full retirement age (FRA). Both strategies require you to go without Social Security checks for a while to increase your future benefits. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › Signing...
Key Points You can withdraw your Social Security application if it's been less than 12 months since you applied. Those who cannot withdraw their application can pause benefits at their full retirement age (FRA). Both strategies require you to go without Social Security checks for a while to increase your future benefits. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › Signing up for Social Security as soon as possible seemed like a good idea at the time, but when you saw how much it shrank your checks, you began to question your decision. Many seniors have found themselves in this position and think they have no choice but to settle for a smaller lifetime benefit. But that's not always true. The government gives you two options to increase your benefit after you've applied. However, they come with strings attached. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Withdraw your application within the first 12 months after applying You can withdraw your Social Security application if you've signed up within the last year. This is a one-time offer, and the Social Security Administration treats it as a do-over. When you apply again later, your future checks will be larger. The catch is, for it to be a true do-over, you must pay back all the money you've received from Social Security thus far. This includes any money that family members have claimed on your work record, as well as Medicare premiums and any Medicare Part A-covered medical expenses paid since you applied. For many people, this could amount to tens of thousands of dollars. If you don't want to pay this or are unable to do so, withdrawing your Social Security application isn't the right thing for you. But if you'd like to give it a shot, you'll need to fill out a Request for Withdrawal of Application form and submit it...
Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) unit Google's new AI ad tools should help reduce concerns about competition f Upgrade to read this MT Newswires article and get so much more. A Silver or Gold subscription plan is required to access premium news articles.
Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) unit Google's new AI ad tools should help reduce concerns about competition f Upgrade to read this MT Newswires article and get so much more. A Silver or Gold subscription plan is required to access premium news articles.
Spotify was a music app at one time. Then it added podcasts. Then audiobooks. Now the company is piling AI features into its app at a pace that can feel overwhelming. The latest wave, announced at its investor day, skews heavily toward using AI to generate content rather than using AI to help users find content they actually want. Until now, Spotify has been largely a platform for human-created co...
Spotify was a music app at one time. Then it added podcasts. Then audiobooks. Now the company is piling AI features into its app at a pace that can feel overwhelming. The latest wave, announced at its investor day, skews heavily toward using AI to generate content rather than using AI to help users find content they actually want. Until now, Spotify has been largely a platform for human-created content — music, podcasts, and audiobooks. As it adds AI-powered tools to generate all of those formats, the app is poised to look very different. That shift is also creating friction; AI can now produce music faster than Spotify can manage it. Last year, the company was criticized for not properly labeling AI music. Following that backlash, the company changed its policy and adopted the DDEX industry standard — a widely used labeling system for identifying AI-generated tracks — for its catalog. Now, Spotify has signed a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) that allows fans to create AI covers and remixes of existing songs. While this agreement ensures artists are compensated, it will bring more AI music to the platform, and could make it harder for listeners to discover emerging human artists. Spotify is also partnering with the AI voice company ElevenLabs to release a tool that lets authors narrate audiobooks using AI voices. While this speeds up audiobook production, AI narration can still sound unnatural at times. Stranger still is the company’s productivity push: the personal podcasts feature lets users generate AI-made podcasts about anything, including summaries of their calendars and emails. Earlier this month, the company introduced a tool for developers using AI coding assistants like Codex and Claude Code, allowing them to create podcasts and save them to their Spotify library. With the latest release, all users will be able to build personal podcasts through prompts directly in the app. Image Credits: Spotify Image Credits:Spotify The company is also releasing an...
Allstate ( ALL ) declares $1.08/share quarterly dividend , in line with previous. Forward yield 2.0% Payable July 1; for shareholders of record June 1; ex-div June 1. See ALL Dividend Scorecard, Yield Chart, & Dividend Growth. More on Allstate Allstate: Market Fears Of An Auto Crash Are Unfounded Allstate: The Turnaround Is Real, But The Story May Not Be Fully Priced In Know When To Hold 'Em And W...
Allstate ( ALL ) declares $1.08/share quarterly dividend , in line with previous. Forward yield 2.0% Payable July 1; for shareholders of record June 1; ex-div June 1. See ALL Dividend Scorecard, Yield Chart, & Dividend Growth. More on Allstate Allstate: Market Fears Of An Auto Crash Are Unfounded Allstate: The Turnaround Is Real, But The Story May Not Be Fully Priced In Know When To Hold 'Em And When To Fold 'Em Allstate estimates M/M fall in April catastrophe losses Allstate outlines $4B repurchase authorization as Q1 revenue reaches $16.9B
is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. On Thursday, Waymo customers opened up the app and noticed something unusual: no more freeway service. Trips that would normally take a fe...
is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. On Thursday, Waymo customers opened up the app and noticed something unusual: no more freeway service. Trips that would normally take a few minutes on the freeway were suddenly projected to last much longer via local roads. The company later confirmed that it had suspended freeway driving across all of its US markets over concerns about construction zones. It had also paused service in Atlanta, Ga., and San Antonio, Tx., over lingering issues regarding flooded roads. The news comes after several of the company’s robotaxis were spotted driving through flooded roads at elevated speeds in Texas, forcing Waymo to issue a software recall for its entire fleet. The suspensions come as the Alphabet-owned company has sped aggressively into new markets with the goal of reaching 1 million paid rides a week. (It’s currently doing about 500,000 rides a week.) Waymo is also on the cusp of deploying a brand new vehicle, the Zeekr-built Ojai electric van, that will debut the company’s sixth-generation autonomous driving software. The decision to suspend freeway driving was made over concerns about construction zones, a Waymo spokesperson told Reuters, adding that local road driving remains unaffected. The spokesperson didn’t clarify what kinds of problems Waymo’s vehicles were having with construction zones. (I’ve reached out for our own comment and will update this piece when I hear back.) Highway trips are important because they help reduce trip times and open up financially important routes, like to and from airports. Waymo has framed highway driving as a crucial ability as it seeks to scale its business and compete more aggressively with human-powered rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. At present, Waymo’s freeway tri...
The biggest initial public offering of all time will deliver massive windfalls for Elon Musk, other SpaceX employee, and investors. In fact, shares aren’t even public yet, but Musk may have already become the world’s first trillionaire. Based on how SpaceX has traded recently on private markets, Barron’s calculated the CEO’s 6.4 billion shares are worth $830 billion. Add his $290 billon in Tesla s...
The biggest initial public offering of all time will deliver massive windfalls for Elon Musk, other SpaceX employee, and investors. In fact, shares aren’t even public yet, but Musk may have already become the world’s first trillionaire. Based on how SpaceX has traded recently on private markets, Barron’s calculated the CEO’s 6.4 billion shares are worth $830 billion. Add his $290 billon in Tesla stock, and he’s now sitting on $1.1 trillion. For now, however, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index puts Musk’s net worth at $722 billion, still plenty to make him with world’s richest person. SpaceX filed publicly for the IPO on Wednesday. A roadshow will likely kick off on June 4. Pricing would follow a week after that, with a trading debut on the Nasdaq coming on June 12 under the ticker SPCX. The rocket, satellite, and AI company is seeking to raise up to $80 billion at a valuation that could near $2 trillion. If the company surpasses $1.7 trillion after going public, it would confirm Musk’s $1 trillion net worth. The riches don’t stop there. SpaceX stock holdings owned by Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell as well as Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen will be worth more than $1 billion each, according to the Financial Times. SpaceX director and head of Valor Equity Partners, Antonio Gracias, owns 503 million shares that could top $70 billion in value. Another director, Luke Nosek, has a stake worth about $5 billion. Meanwhile, big investors will be rewarded for their prescient bets on SpaceX, which was started in 2002 to challenge the dominance of Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the space-launch market . Hedge fund Darsana Capital Partners first invested in SpaceX in 2019 and is such a staunch backer that 60% of its assets under management are tied up in Musk’s company, sources told the Wall Street Journal. The IPO could result in Darsana seeing paper gains on its investment above $10 billion. Similarly, hedge fund D1 Capital Partners can already tally paper gains of ...
In Brief Earlier this week, Google rolled out a completely new Search experience, foregrounding AI summaries and kicking the traditional “ten blue links” far down the page. But the sheer scale of Google Search means there are lots of edge cases that the company doesn’t seem to have considered. For instance, this is what you’ll now get if you type the word “disregard” into Google Search. Screenshot...
In Brief Earlier this week, Google rolled out a completely new Search experience, foregrounding AI summaries and kicking the traditional “ten blue links” far down the page. But the sheer scale of Google Search means there are lots of edge cases that the company doesn’t seem to have considered. For instance, this is what you’ll now get if you type the word “disregard” into Google Search. Screenshot Image Credits:Screenshot Google has been catching some flack on social media for this, and it’s easy to see why. As you’ll notice, the Merriam-Webster link is still in there, but you have to scroll past a huge block of empty space. For most users, that single reply is the only thing you’ll see. And crucially, the AI response serves no conceivable value to a user searching the word “disregard.” It’s just a broken tool. For context, here is the same search in Bing, which has been less aggressive about its AI summaries. It’s not perfect, but there is some useful information to be found here. Screenshot Image Credits:Screenshot I have been a professional tech journalist for nearly fifteen years, and before today, I cannot think of a single time when a Bing search result was more valuable than the Google equivalent. There really is a first time for everything!
Cuprina ( CUPR ) announced on Friday that it plans to implement a 1-for-8 share consolidation of its Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, effective on or around May 27, 2026. Beginning with the opening of trading on or around May 27, 2026, the company's Class A Ordinary Shares will begin trading on a post-share consolidation basis on Nasdaq under the same symbol "CUPR," but under a...
Cuprina ( CUPR ) announced on Friday that it plans to implement a 1-for-8 share consolidation of its Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, effective on or around May 27, 2026. Beginning with the opening of trading on or around May 27, 2026, the company's Class A Ordinary Shares will begin trading on a post-share consolidation basis on Nasdaq under the same symbol "CUPR," but under a new CUSIP number of G2592E110. Cuprina said the objective of the share consolidation is to enable the company to regain compliance with Nasdaq Marketplace Rule and maintain its listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Upon the effectiveness of the share consolidation, every eight issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares will automatically be converted into one issued and outstanding Class A ordinary share, par value $0.008 per share, and Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.008 per share, respectively. “This action is an important step toward maintaining our Nasdaq listing and enhancing the company's long-term financial flexibility,” said Cuprina Chief Executive Officer David Quek . More on Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Limited Financial information for Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Limited
Michael Parekh said in exclusive interview with Stocktwits that Nvidia’s stock reaction indicates investor rotation into upcoming AI IPOs rather than concerns about the company’s fundamentals. NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang speaks during the NVIDIA GTC Paris keynote held at the Dôme de Paris in the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 11, 2025. (Photo by Mustafa Yalcin/Anado...
Michael Parekh said in exclusive interview with Stocktwits that Nvidia’s stock reaction indicates investor rotation into upcoming AI IPOs rather than concerns about the company’s fundamentals. NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang speaks during the NVIDIA GTC Paris keynote held at the Dôme de Paris in the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 11, 2025. (Photo by Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images) Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... In an exclusive interview with Stocktwits, former Goldman Sachs executive Michael Parekh said investor focus is shifting toward upcoming AI IPOs including SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic. Parekh compared Nvidia’s muted stock reaction to the Apollo missions, stating that the market has already priced in the company’s strong growth narrative. He added that Nvidia’s valuation still looks attractive relative to its growth rate and highlighted the upcoming Vera Rubin chip rollout as a future catalyst. Nvidia (NVDA) shares extended loses in midday trade on Friday, slipping lower even as the stock market hit new record highs on Friday despite posting one of its strongest earnings report, with former Goldman Sachs partner Michael Parekh pointing to the upcoming initial public offerings (IPOs) of SpaceX (SPCX), OpenAI and Anthropic as the reason why the stock doesn’t have “oomph.” “There are three, not one, but three mega AI IPOs lined up. SpaceX just filed — June 12, they want to raise $80 billion. OpenAI just yesterday said they’ll go in September. Anthropic is October, probably,” Parekh, who is also the founder of the AI: Reset to Zero Substack, told Stocktwits in an exclusive interview with Michele Steele. “And one of the places to make room, because you’ve made money on Nvidia, is Nvidia.” Read Next Loading... Loading... That may be one driver as to why Nvidia doesn't have that much oomp...
Taiwan Arms Deal Put On Ice Amid China Pressure, But Pentagon Cites Iran War Stockpile Concerns Did the Pentagon just back down amid pressure from China? It appears so. As we reported Thursday, China has been actively holding up a proposed visit by Elbridge Colby , the Pentagon's under-secretary of defense for policy . The move is a transparent effort to pressure President Trump over a looming $14...
Taiwan Arms Deal Put On Ice Amid China Pressure, But Pentagon Cites Iran War Stockpile Concerns Did the Pentagon just back down amid pressure from China? It appears so. As we reported Thursday, China has been actively holding up a proposed visit by Elbridge Colby , the Pentagon's under-secretary of defense for policy . The move is a transparent effort to pressure President Trump over a looming $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan . Sources familiar with the talks told the Financial Times that Beijing signaled it "cannot approve a visit until Trump decides how he will proceed with the arms package." Later the same day, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao revealed that the US is indeed pausing the $14BN arms sale in question, though he framed the move as due to the Trump administration's war with Iran . He said this was to make sure there's plenty of missile supply and interceptors to execute the war, especially in the scenario that a full aerial bombing operation is renewed. via AFP Addressing a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing, Cao sought to assure that the US still has "plenty” of missiles and interceptors, amid growing concerns from officials. "Right now we’re doing a pause in order to make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury - which we have plenty," Cao told Sen. Mitch McConnell. "We’re just making sure we have everything, but then the foreign military sales will continue when the administration deems necessary." McConnell pressed Cao further on the arms sale to Taiwanto which the acting Navy chief responded that it would be up to Pete Hegseth, to which the Republican Senator from Kentucky replied, "Yeah, that’s what’s really distressing . " While the administration is trying to frame all of this as more out of caution over Iran war supplies, The Hill points out that President Trump had already situated it within dealings with Xi and China : Cao's remarks appear to contradict President Trump’s stated reason for the pause; last week he ...
$QQQ stock has risen 0.9% today, according to our price data from Polygon. It has been bolstered by QCOM stock rising 12.0%. Here are some of the largest contributors to QQQ's gains: $AMD (3.1% of QQQ holdings) has risen 4.8% $AAPL (7.3%) has risen 1.6% $QCOM (1.0%) has risen 12.0% $TSLA (3.4%) has risen 2.7% $TXN (1.3%) has risen 4.8% $INTC (2.6%) has risen 2.1% $CSCO (2.1%) has risen 1.9% $KLAC ...
$QQQ stock has risen 0.9% today, according to our price data from Polygon. It has been bolstered by QCOM stock rising 12.0%. Here are some of the largest contributors to QQQ's gains: $AMD (3.1% of QQQ holdings) has risen 4.8% $AAPL (7.3%) has risen 1.6% $QCOM (1.0%) has risen 12.0% $TSLA (3.4%) has risen 2.7% $TXN (1.3%) has risen 4.8% $INTC (2.6%) has risen 2.1% $CSCO (2.1%) has risen 1.9% $KLAC (1.1%) has risen 3.1% $ADI (0.9%) has risen 3.3% $LRCX (1.6%) has risen 1.9% You can track more data on $QQQ on Quiver Quantitative's $QQQ data dashboard. EARLY ACCESS Receive QQQ Data Alerts Real-time alerts on filings, insider trades, and market signals — before everyone else. Get Alerts → $QCOM Insider Trading Activity $QCOM insiders have traded $QCOM stock on the open market 63 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 63 have been sales. Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $QCOM stock by insiders over the last 6 months: AKASH J. PALKHIWALA (EVP, CFO & COO) has made 0 purchases and 47 sales selling 26,704 shares for an estimated $4,420,564 . . CRISTIANO R AMON (President & CEO) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 20,000 shares for an estimated $3,650,000 . . ALEXANDER H ROGERS (EVP, Pres QTL & Global Affairs) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 15,917 shares for an estimated $2,833,330 . . ANN C CHAPLIN (EVP, GenCounsel&CorpSecretary) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 7,180 shares for an estimated $1,278,237 . . HEATHER S ACE (EVP, Chief HR Officer) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 6,400 shares for an estimated $1,007,424 . . PATRICIA Y GRECH (SVP, Chief Accounting Officer) has made 0 purchases and 6 sales selling 2,403 shares for an estimated $405,599. To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard. You can access data on insider stock transactions through the Quiver Quantitative API insider transaction endpoint. $QCOM Analyst Ratings Wall Street analysts have issued rep...
The argument that a cryptocurrency is like having a "Swiss bank account in your pocket" has been kicking around crypto for more than a decade now, first as a pitch for Bitcoin, and more recently, as a pitch for Zcash (ZEC 4.84%). It's certainly a catchy phrase, alluding to the supposedly higher standards of privacy afforded to individuals who use notoriously tight-lipped Swiss banks for wealth man...
The argument that a cryptocurrency is like having a "Swiss bank account in your pocket" has been kicking around crypto for more than a decade now, first as a pitch for Bitcoin, and more recently, as a pitch for Zcash (ZEC 4.84%). It's certainly a catchy phrase, alluding to the supposedly higher standards of privacy afforded to individuals who use notoriously tight-lipped Swiss banks for wealth management. At its core, Zcash has much of the same supply policy as Bitcoin, and an additional set of optional privacy features. So does that mean it really could deliver on the concept of being a private bank at investors' fingertips? Privacy reinforces the scarcity thesis with this asset Actual Swiss banks haven't been fully anonymous for years, and the era of accounts with no paper trail is long gone. Plus, as Zcash is presently only accessible to most non-crypto native investors as an asset to purchase from a centralized crypto exchange, the utility of its privacy features is easy to overstate. If you buy $100 of Zcash on an exchange and then transfer it to an off-exchange wallet that keeps your transactions and balances private, there is still no hiding the fact that you initially bought the coin and transferred it. Nonetheless, if we let go of the Swiss banking narrative as being a poor fit to reality, there's an important wrinkle about the coin's supply policy here. Expand CRYPTO : ZEC Zcash Today's Change ( -4.84 %) $ -31.90 Current Price $ 627.35 Key Data Points Market Cap $10B Day's Range $ 626.67 - $ 682.56 52wk Range $ 34.50 - $ 734.96 Volume 571M Zcash's optional shielded (private) transactions hide the sender, receiver, and amounts while still letting the network verify legitimacy. As of mid-May 2026, about 31% of the circulating supply is held in shielded pools, up from 11% a year ago. Coins entering those pools tend to stay there. Presently, shielded ZEC has a lower turnover than unshielded ZEC. That tightens the asset's float well beyond what the circulating ...
It's time to consider just how much higher stocks can rise from here. JPMorgan Private Bank sees a pathway for the S & P 500 to reach 9,000 by the middle of next year, or about a 22% above current levels. While that's not the bank's base case, it's also a scenario that JPMorgan said is more plausible than investors currently believe. The key to unlocking those gains is higher productivity, or comp...
It's time to consider just how much higher stocks can rise from here. JPMorgan Private Bank sees a pathway for the S & P 500 to reach 9,000 by the middle of next year, or about a 22% above current levels. While that's not the bank's base case, it's also a scenario that JPMorgan said is more plausible than investors currently believe. The key to unlocking those gains is higher productivity, or companies generating more sales at a lower cost, than ever before with the help of artificial intelligence. There were positive signs in the latest earnings season that AI could unlock a productivity boom for companies as businesses find more uses for AI. "The path to 9,000 extends beyond the tech sector," read a note from J.P. Morgan Private Bank's Kriti Gupta, a global investment strategist, and Nick Roberts, a portfolio manager. "It relies on broader AI adoption across sectors that increases productivity and bolsters margins across the board." Earnings growth exceeded expectations in the latest reporting season, jumping 22.6% compared with the same period a year and up 15.3% just since the fourth quarter of 2025. The stock market has now scored six straight quarters of double-digit earnings growth, for the first time since the wake of the global financial crisis. Hard to imagine To be sure, it may be hard to imagine further gains. A consensus has formed on Wall Street that the stock market, after its rapid ascent off the March lows, is due for a period of consolidation as it digests the recent gains. Bond yields around the world are rising, a spooky development that could easily weigh on economic growth by stunting consumer spending and capital investment. Central banks are monitoring the energy shock from Iran, which is raising inflation and hurting consumers by lifting gasoline prices. But the fundamentals in the stock market are supportive of further gains. In the 1990s, the stock market boomed, delivering five straight years of 20%+ returns between 1995 and 2000. That ca...