AI: News or Noise?
AI: News or Noise?
Energy Trends, Inflation, 1970s P/B, S&P Correlations, Retirement & More
“The work of Wall Street often is to introduce people who should not borrow to people who should not lend.”
— Thomas Donlan
Research
Vanguard - How America Saves 2024 (114 pages)
Vanguard’s annual report analyzes retirement account trends across plan type, demographics, allocations and more.
The Energy Institute - 2024 Statistical Review of World Energy (76 pages)
This annual report covers the record year for energy in terms of both production and consumption, providing overviews of different energy sources - oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, electric & more.
Facts & Figures
There are ~7,000 zombie companies around the world, 2,000 of which are in the U.S. Link
Almost half of VC investments in Q2 were in AI-related startups. Link
a16z has secured thousands of AI chips to rent to portfolio companies, and hopes to get up to 20,000 chips. Link
20 years after the electric light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, just 3% of US households had electricity. Link
“A young man was seen doing push-ups on Park Avenue’s sidewalk Thursday (June 27, 2024), sweating through his dress clothes with the sun overhead. Asked what was happening, he said he was being punished by his boss for screwing up a pitch deck.” Link
Inflation by category since January 2000.
S&P 500 vs. S&P 500 equal weight since 1985.
The performance of high and low price-to-book stocks during the 1970’s.
“The S&P 500 has become more highly concentrated in technology and financial stocks … and more correlated with other indexes around the world.”
Podcasts
Odd Lots: James van Geelen on Thematic Investing Right Now: Van Geelen once again joins Odd Lots to talk about investing in macro themes like GLP-1, AI, water & the upcoming U.S. election. [7/12/2024 - 47 minutes] Apple | Spotify | YouTube
Hidden Forces: How to Remake the Electric Grid for AI | Brian Janous: Janous discusses the rapid buildout of AI data centers, the introduction of more intermittent sources of energy like wind and solar, and the challenges inherent in trying to update and expand such a complex system. [6/24/24- 50 minutes] Apple | Spotify | YouTube
Goldman Sachs Exchanges: A skeptical look at AI investment: This episode covers the recent Goldman Sachs paper, which says the hype around GenAI is overdone. [7/16/2024 - 28 minutes] Apple | Spotify | YouTube
What Else Is Happening
Did you miss last week’s email?
Meb Faber spoke with BlackRock's Kate Moore about the macro environment, state of the equity market, and the impact of AI.