Nuclear is the New AI
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers Energy has long been viewed as a key component of future technology growth, and it continues to generate significant interest in the market. On Sept 20, Microsoft (MSFT) signed a 20-year fixed-price power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy (CEG). As part of the deal, Constellation will […]
Risk of China Deflation: Traders eyeing China Inflation
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers Moving from questions of rates and inflation in developed markets, we decided to look at prices in China in search of clarity on the direction of the world’s second-largest economy by GDP. Whereas rising prices have been a big problem for Western central banks, investors follow […]
Future of Moore’s Law in Jeopardy
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers Intel is at a critical juncture, with its latest earnings report raising serious doubts about the company’s future trajectory – Intel’s Moore’s Law became the golden rule for the electronics industry in which computing power would dramatically increase while relative cost would decrease exponentially. In Q2 2024, […]
Price Controls – Just “Don’t” Do It
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers On August 15, 1971, when inflation was about 3% at an annual rate. To control inflation, President Nixon announced he was freezing wages and prices for ninety days, raising tariffs on certain imports, and ending the direct international convertibility of the dollar. The set of policies […]
There is more to AI than NVIDIA – What about IBM?
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers International Business Machines Corporation (Ticker: IBM) recently announced its financial results for the second quarter of the year, highlighting a solid performance that continues to attract positive attention from both investors and industry analysts. The company reported revenue of $15.8 billion, representing a 1.9% increase compared […]
The Big Mac Index or Yen Carry Trade
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers Tourism is booming in Japan, to the point that Japan is restricting certain locations from over-tourism. Part of the reason is the amazing fall in the yen, which has created an exchange rate for the dollar not seen in decades. Recently, one U.S. dollar could be […]
The VIX is Surging
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers Well-known fear gauge on the rise Throughout the first half of 2024, there’s been plenty of uncertainty around Fed policy, elections happening around the world, and geopolitical tensions in Europe and the Middle East—you name it. But what we haven’t seen nearly as much of is […]
Wisdom of the “Crowd” takes down the cloud…
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers On July 19, 2024, a sudden technological disaster swept the globe, causing millions of Windows computers to crash with blue screens, leaving users in turmoil. The impact of this incident was extensive, affecting a wide range of sectors from airports to banks, medical institutions to hotels, […]
Is Inflation Dead? Headline CPI actually drops in June.
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers The latest report on U.S. consumer prices from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was a high-stakes release, with many expecting a Q3 rate cut could hinge on whether June data confirmed the favorable trend established by cooling inflation in April and May. Those holding their […]
Can the Fed stick the “landing?” R-Star revisited
By Greg Lai and Alex Hsiao, Co-Chief Investment Officers If there was ever a moment that fits the old adage “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” this may be it when spending a lot of thought on when the FED’s first rate cut will be. Moreover, we aren’t even on the Titanic; we’re less […]
