peepo/E+ via Getty Images Dear Partners, Protean Small Cap declined by 3.0% in February. The benchmark index was up by 2.8%. Since launching in June 2023, the fund has gained 56.9%. The Carnegie Nordic Small Cap Index is up 26.1% in the same period. All figures are net of fees. The hedge fund Protean Select returned -1.6% in February. Protean Aktiesparfond Norden returned 3.8%. The benchmark incre...
peepo/E+ via Getty Images Dear Partners, Protean Small Cap declined by 3.0% in February. The benchmark index was up by 2.8%. Since launching in June 2023, the fund has gained 56.9%. The Carnegie Nordic Small Cap Index is up 26.1% in the same period. All figures are net of fees. The hedge fund Protean Select returned -1.6% in February. Protean Aktiesparfond Norden returned 3.8%. The benchmark increased by 1.9%. Since inception, ten months ago, the fund is up 21.7%, and in the same period the VINX Nordic Cap index is up 15.8%. The fund now manages 1.7bn SEK. This month's letter elaborates on conflicting narratives, ham-fisted trading in small caps by various funds, geopolitical risk, and the decision to go ahead with a Global Aktiesparfond. Plus, as always, commentary on the month's various winners and losers (the losers outnumbered the winners this month, annoyingly). Thank you for being an investor! // Team Protean Conflicting narratives BY PONTUS DACKMO Rarely have the markets been more characterized by shifting and conflicting narratives. Stocks that weeks ago were considered obvious beneficiaries of AI are now casualties. The marginal buyers and sellers that set prices move quickly between sectors and regions, exacerbated by the prolific basket constructions that indiscriminately trade individual stocks as merely constituents of a strategists' make-believe index. Not that it needs repeating, but underneath the index surface there is a lot of movement. Earnings in our part of the world have generally held up, but the reaction function appears changed: bets are not rewarded the way they were, and misses are punished harder. Obviously, AI sits at the centre of much of this repricing. The discussion has moved on from abstract productivity gains to, what is perceived as, substitution risks. In software and services, the market is clearly reassessing durability. With falling switching costs and data portability improvements, competitive advantages come under pressure. ...
年初，Mac Mini 一度缺货，等待时间甚至长达一个半月。 Mac mini 是个好产品，这件事大家一直很清楚。国内渠道价格诚意高，M 芯片性能又好，入门配置不到三千人民币就可拿下，很适合作为创作新手的主力机。 然而最近这次 Mac mini 爆红，跟创作或日常使用没什么关系。 关注科技新闻的朋友们应该知道怎么回事：OpenClaw（前身叫 Clawdbot）突然火了。 OpenClaw 有多种...
年初，Mac Mini 一度缺货，等待时间甚至长达一个半月。 Mac mini 是个好产品，这件事大家一直很清楚。国内渠道价格诚意高，M 芯片性能又好，入门配置不到三千人民币就可拿下，很适合作为创作新手的主力机。 然而最近这次 Mac mini 爆红，跟创作或日常使用没什么关系。 关注科技新闻的朋友们应该知道怎么回事：OpenClaw（前身叫 Clawdbot）突然火了。 OpenClaw 有多种部署方式：你可以装到自己的电脑上，也可以单给它配一台电脑；把它部署在云端的虚拟机/沙箱环境里也没问题；后来，一些主流 AI 服务也推出了云端一键部署的替代方案，显著降低小白玩家的门槛。 但在刚开始的那段时间，最主流的部署方案就是单买一台 Mac mini。 理由肯定不是因为它便宜，更主要在于：要让 OpenClaw 有意义，需要给它一个「肉身」，让它访问文件、操作软件。 云服务器能运行 OpenClaw，但那仍然不是你的电脑，没有你的文件、软件、浏览器上登录的各种账号，没有所谓的「上下文」。Mac mini 放在桌上，7 × 24 小时不用关机，甚至通过聊天机器人远程操控的话都不用单配一台显示器。 给 OpenClaw 一台自己的电脑工作，唯一可观成本是后端接入的大模型 API 的 token 费用，很多早期玩家都在这上面吃过亏。但如果你买一台配置够高的 Mac mini，下载一个尺寸足够大的模型到本地来运行，可以说除了电费和网费之外，简直就像获得了一个 免费的劳动力…… MacBook 也行，但是…… 据 Tom's Hardware 和 TechRadar 等媒体报道，OpenClaw 走红后，Mac mini 24GB 和 32GB 配置的等待期延至 6 天到 6 周不等；更强大的 Mac Studio，交货时间也从两周涨到了近两个月。 这些等待时间，是 OpenClaw 的早期玩家们，用真实购买投出来的票。 （注：部分机型的缺货也和苹果近期推出新款 Mac 台式机电脑有关系，以往每次推出临近新机发布时，老机型都会进入售罄状态。OpenClaw 的爆红并非唯一原因。） 冥冥之中，Mac 成为了 2026 年首选的「AI PC」；反倒是鼓吹了「AI PC」好几年的 Windows PC 行业，一点热乎的都没吃上。 英特尔、AMD、高通等芯片商，以及主流 PC 品牌们，从...
Ole_CNX/iStock via Getty Images When a stock like CoreWeave ( CRWV ) corrects like it has, it is often difficult to gather conviction for a Buy even though fundamentals look well-supported. Not too long ago CoreWeave was trading at $130-$140 levels. With much of the growth market coming under long duration growth assumption pressures, CoreWeave too has corrected significantly. The best way to unde...
Ole_CNX/iStock via Getty Images When a stock like CoreWeave ( CRWV ) corrects like it has, it is often difficult to gather conviction for a Buy even though fundamentals look well-supported. Not too long ago CoreWeave was trading at $130-$140 levels. With much of the growth market coming under long duration growth assumption pressures, CoreWeave too has corrected significantly. The best way to understand the opportunity here is to simply look at numbers and cut out the subjective risk narratives. In this thesis, I have tried to remain as objective as possible and see multiple positives, like robust revenues and contracted backlog, with an average contracted length of ~5 years. Nearly all 2026 capacity is already allocated under take-or-pay agreements, providing rare multi-year visibility. On the other side of the argument, we are in the most capital-intensive phase of the AI buildout, and capex is definitely a drag that should be acknowledged. But at roughly 5x forward sales and with management targeting over $30b+ revenue run rate exiting 2027, I see the risk-reward balance still favorable for a Buy. The skepticism around execution, leverage, and the AI cycle could keep the stock volatile. But at the same time, positives like the durable backlog, stable GPU pricing environment, and improving cost of capital will show up in the share prices when growth appetite returns. Revenue Growth - Long Duration Assumptions Going strictly by numbers, the revenue trajectory does not indicate any cause for worry at all. The actual sequential growth in Q4 2025 was ~15% - no sign of visible deceleration. Q1 2026 guidance implies a re-acceleration, in fact, with growth levels touching the mid-twenties. Management has also indicated an exit run rate of $17-19b for 2026 (full-year guidance at ~$12.5b at the midpoint) and above $30b in 2027. That translates to above 30% average sequential growth for the rest of 2026. Growth slows down to early teens again in 2027 as per management expec...
"Bloomberg: The Asia Trade" brings you everything you need to know to get ahead as the trading day begins in Asia. Bloomberg TV is live from Sydney and Singapore with Haidi Stroud-Watts and Avril Hong, getting insight and analysis from newsmakers and industry leaders on the biggest stories shaping global markets. (Source: Bloomberg)
"Bloomberg: The Asia Trade" brings you everything you need to know to get ahead as the trading day begins in Asia. Bloomberg TV is live from Sydney and Singapore with Haidi Stroud-Watts and Avril Hong, getting insight and analysis from newsmakers and industry leaders on the biggest stories shaping global markets. (Source: Bloomberg)
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma and the core leadership of Alibaba Group Holding and Ant Group spent over an hour with teachers in Hangzhou on Tuesday, discussing the profound challenges and opportunities brought about by artificial intelligence. Ma told the group that the impact of AI was “immense”, but so were the “opportunities” and that teenagers held the greatest hope and opportunity for adapting...
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma and the core leadership of Alibaba Group Holding and Ant Group spent over an hour with teachers in Hangzhou on Tuesday, discussing the profound challenges and opportunities brought about by artificial intelligence. Ma told the group that the impact of AI was “immense”, but so were the “opportunities” and that teenagers held the greatest hope and opportunity for adapting to and enabling transformation in the AI era, according to a statement issued by Hangzhou Yungu School, which hosted the visit. AI offered a chance for education to “return to its essence”, Ma said. Time spent memorising textbooks could be freed up to cultivate creativity and imagination, according to the founder of Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post. Advertisement The meeting involved dozens of teachers at the school in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province where Alibaba is based. The privately run school, which covers kindergarten to high school, was funded by Alibaba’s founders. Jack Ma and the core leadership of Alibaba discuss the challenges and opportunities brought about by AI with teachers in Hangzhou on Tuesday. Photo: qq.com Present at the meeting were Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai, CEO Eddie Wu Yongming, e-commerce business group CEO Jiang Fan, Ant chairman Eric Jing Xiandong and Ant CEO Cyril Han Xinyi. Ant is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba.
India’s rupee weakened to a record low and bonds fell on concern that rising crude prices, amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East, could stoke inflation and widen the nation’s trade deficit. The currency fell as much as 0.7% on Wednesday, the most since end-January, to 92.0875 per dollar, while the 10-year benchmark yield rose five basis points to 6.72%. Indian markets were closed Tuesday...
India’s rupee weakened to a record low and bonds fell on concern that rising crude prices, amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East, could stoke inflation and widen the nation’s trade deficit. The currency fell as much as 0.7% on Wednesday, the most since end-January, to 92.0875 per dollar, while the 10-year benchmark yield rose five basis points to 6.72%. Indian markets were closed Tuesday for a public holiday. “Higher crude is a direct risk to rupee — we expect slightly heavier RBI intervention but if oil prices remain high, we may have to tolerate a weaker rupee,” said Dhiraj Nim , forex strategist, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. He added that his year-end forecast of 93 for the rupee could materialize much sooner given the current risk-off sentiment. Costlier oil brings the focus back on India’s inflation — currently subdued — as the country imports nearly all its energy needs. It also adds pressure to the trade deficit, which has been widening , exerting strain on the currency. Brent rose above $82 a barrel after rallying about 12% over two days, the biggest gain since 2020. That’s well above the baseline projection of $70 that the central bank had assumed for the October-March period. Iran War Oil Shock Threatens to Unleash Wave of Global Inflation Oil Jumps Again as US Escort Plan for Hormuz Fails to Bring Calm
Buying a cryptocurrency and then holding it for seven years is less about picking the flashiest chain of today, and more about picking the investment thesis that can inspire your conviction over time, survive your own boredom when the market is slow, and perhaps most importantly, survive a couple of gut-check drawdowns. So with $3,000 to allocate today, is it smarter to load up on Bitcoin (BTC 1.2...
Buying a cryptocurrency and then holding it for seven years is less about picking the flashiest chain of today, and more about picking the investment thesis that can inspire your conviction over time, survive your own boredom when the market is slow, and perhaps most importantly, survive a couple of gut-check drawdowns. So with $3,000 to allocate today, is it smarter to load up on Bitcoin (BTC 1.24%) or XRP (XRP 1.20%) if you're (hopefully) going to be holding whatever you pick through 2033? Bitcoin's job is simple Bitcoin's pitch is that it's an asset with a fixed supply and enough of a social consensus about its worth that it functions as a store of value. The coin's supply cap is hard-coded at 21 million coins that can ever be mined. A lot of that supply, approximately 20 million Bitcoin, is already out in the world. And if you're building a well-balanced crypto portfolio, it's the scarcity of the remaining supply and the guarantee that it'll only get scarcer and more challenging to produce in the future that makes this coin a must-have holding. Expand CRYPTO : BTC Bitcoin Today's Change ( -1.24 %) $ -846.36 Current Price $ 67613.00 Key Data Points Market Cap $1.4T Day's Range $ 66337.00 - $ 68833.00 52wk Range $ 60255.56 - $ 126079.89 Volume 54B Nonetheless, the long-term risk that investors should not dismiss is the advent of quantum computing, which in theory could crack Bitcoin's encryption and enable the theft of coins at some point in the tail end of the next 10 years. There are some early steps taking place to update the coin to prevent that from being possible. Even so, the risk might not be fully addressed for years, or perhaps even too late to prevent a quantum attack which turns into a disaster for holders. But the odds are good that Bitcoin's developers will adapt to the threat in time. XRP needs to keep winning to outperform XRP is a bet that its chain, the XRP Ledger (XRPL), becomes important financial plumbing, and that demand for the coin rises al...
Key Points Bitcoin is a store of value, but it's facing a huge risk in the next 10 years or so. XRP has utility today, but it's facing an onslaught of competitors in the same time frame. One of these assets has a more straightforward path to its ongoing success. 10 stocks we like better than XRP › Buying a cryptocurrency and then holding it for seven years is less about picking the flashiest chain...
Key Points Bitcoin is a store of value, but it's facing a huge risk in the next 10 years or so. XRP has utility today, but it's facing an onslaught of competitors in the same time frame. One of these assets has a more straightforward path to its ongoing success. 10 stocks we like better than XRP › Buying a cryptocurrency and then holding it for seven years is less about picking the flashiest chain of today, and more about picking the investment thesis that can inspire your conviction over time, survive your own boredom when the market is slow, and perhaps most importantly, survive a couple of gut-check drawdowns. So with $3,000 to allocate today, is it smarter to load up on Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) or XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) if you're (hopefully) going to be holding whatever you pick through 2033? 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 » Bitcoin's job is simple Bitcoin's pitch is that it's an asset with a fixed supply and enough of a social consensus about its worth that it functions as a store of value. The coin's supply cap is hard-coded at 21 million coins that can ever be mined. A lot of that supply, approximately 20 million Bitcoin, is already out in the world. And if you're building a well-balanced crypto portfolio, it's the scarcity of the remaining supply and the guarantee that it'll only get scarcer and more challenging to produce in the future that makes this coin a must-have holding. Nonetheless, the long-term risk that investors should not dismiss is the advent of quantum computing, which in theory could crack Bitcoin's encryption and enable the theft of coins at some point in the tail end of the next 10 years. There are some early steps taking place to update the coin to prevent that from being possible. Even so, the risk might not be fully addressed for years, or perhaps even too late ...
Talks to rescue Raízen SA fell apart after co-owners Cosan SA and Shell Plc failed to agree to a plan to raise capital, according to people familiar with the matter, leaving the Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer with dwindling options to emerge from a debt crisis. Cosan concluded it wouldn’t be able to match the scale of financial support Shell had pledged to offer Raízen, while other proposals...
Talks to rescue Raízen SA fell apart after co-owners Cosan SA and Shell Plc failed to agree to a plan to raise capital, according to people familiar with the matter, leaving the Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer with dwindling options to emerge from a debt crisis. Cosan concluded it wouldn’t be able to match the scale of financial support Shell had pledged to offer Raízen, while other proposals presented by Cosan were rejected by Shell, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private talks. Private equity funds managed by Banco BTG Pactual SA , also involved in the talks, disagreed with several terms proposed by Shell and decided against injecting money into Raízen, another person said. London-based Shell publicly pledged 3.5 billion reais ($664 million) in fresh capital for Raízen on Tuesday and is expected to present its own plan for the company to banks as soon as Wednesday, one of the people said. Shell declined to comment. Raízen is seeking new capital after struggling under a combination of high interest rates, lackluster harvests and unsuccessful bets. Its bonds have plummeted and credit ratings have been slashed, even drawing the concern of Brazil’s president. Read more: Lula Summoned Raízen Owners Amid Effort to Avoid Bankruptcy The plan from Shell may be Raízen’s best hope to avoid a filing for protection from creditors. The proposal would still include a potential 500 million reais in capital from Rubens Ometto , Cosan’s founder, and would convert about 25 billion reais of debt into equity — improving the company’s balance sheet but diluting shareholders’ stakes. The proposal would also make Shell a majority owner and require the company to absorb Raízen’s debt into its own balance sheet and manage the company. Creditors have been pressuring Shell and Cosan to inject as much as 12 billion reais, arguing they are profitable companies with enough cash to contribute more than they’re offering, Bloomberg reported previously. Some cre...