26 Signals Across 9 Portfolio Themes
Let’s scan through the headlines for the stories of the week that speak to our Pro Portfolio holdings.
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Another week, another barrage of real world signals for the Pro Portfolio’s thematic strategies and line-up of holdings. From Microsoft (MSFT) now calling for a tripling in data center capacity to Germany getting a big approval to expand its grid capacity, and luxury spending starting to perk back up, these are just a fraction of the learnings you’ll read below.
If you’ve come across a signal we should know about, be sure to drop a link in the Comments section below.
Aging Population
The share of the world’s population aged 65 and older is projected to nearly double, from 10.5 percent to 19.6 percent, between 2025 and 2060, according to a new report released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report, titled “An Aging World: 2025,” finds that the global population is aging faster than ever before. Between 2020 and 2025, the proportion of the population aged 65 and older exceeded the population age 5 and younger for the first time in recorded history. Read more here
The worldwide population of older adults has eclipsed that of younger children, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a new report. The percentage of the global population that is people aged 65 and older by 2025 climbed above the percentage of people aged zero to 5, Census Bureau and Australian National University demographers said in the report, released on Aug. 31. Read more here
This demographic transition continues to create a multitrillion-dollar healthcare opportunity. Fortune Business Insights estimates that the global geriatric care services market will grow from $1.24 trillion in 2025 to $2.16 trillion by 2034, reflecting a 6.4% CAGR. The company cites the growing elderly population, rising prevalence of chronic diseases and increasing demand for specialized and home-based care services as key factors driving market growth. The aging population is significantly altering healthcare consumption patterns and creating growth opportunities across pharmaceuticals, diabetes care, robotic surgery, cardiovascular devices, obesity treatment, sleep health and digital monitoring technologies. Read more here
Position: State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), Welltower (WELL)
Artificial Intelligence
Oracle is benefiting from strong demand for its cloud computing services from surging enterprise spending on AI. Its efforts to expand its data center footprint are helping the company secure more enterprise contracts. In the first fiscal quarter, Oracle booked more than $30 billion of additional AI cloud contracts, boosting its revenue backlog to $664 billion. Read more here
Nearly one in four Chinese users of artificial intelligence now turn to the technology for purchase decisions, making AI an emerging gateway for brands, according to a report released by market research company CTR. Read more here
Law firm Latham & Watkins has bought its own Nvidia GPU servers and started customising AI models, an expensive and technically demanding set-up that shows how much the technology is changing Big Law’s business model. Read more here
The federal government under President Donald Trump reached an agreement with OpenAI on a landmark deal to equip government employees with the most cutting-edge artificial intelligence models at a major discount, Fox News Digital has learned. Read more here
Position: Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Axon (AXON), Meta (META), Microsoft $(MSFT), Neostellar Capital (NSLR), Palantir (PLTR)
Cash-Strapped Consumer
The war with Iran is now more than half a year old with no signs of ending, and there’s precious little talk lately from President Donald Trump and his administration that a negotiated conclusion is imminent. What’s left is a price tag that keeps climbing and the promise that the war’s costs will drop precipitously once America wins a war it can’t seem to end… Though the price of gasoline is eminently visible to the average taxpayer, it might be the smallest line on the bill that’s coming due. The war’s cost to the average American household’s pocketbook is about $1,650 as of last week, a combination of energy, interest rates and the costs of the war, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytic. It’s a number he said grows by the day. Read more here
World food prices climbed in August 2026 to their highest level since November 2022, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported Friday, September 4, as extreme weather, Black Sea disruptions and geopolitical tensions tightened expectations for agricultural supplies. Read more here
The U.S. national average price of diesel on Thursday surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time ever, according to price tracker GasBuddy, as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s refineries have squeezed supply. Diesel fuels trucks, trains, ships and heavy equipment that keep global supply chains moving. It is also crucial to running farm equipment… “Every truck, every delivery, every package, every grocery run just got more expensive,” Read more here
Position: Amazon, Costco (COST), TJX Companies (TJX)
Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity
A threat actor, likely Russian-speaking, used hundreds of AI agents to develop and launch a global exploitation campaign targeting vulnerable PaperCut NG/MF servers… The attacker harvested credentials from 280 victims, obtained operating system or domain secrets from 147, and obtained administrator privileges at 12 organizations. Most of the victims were in the education sector, accounting for roughly half of all breaches. The United States was the most targeted country, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Canada. Read more here
Identity verification company IDScan has confirmed that hackers accessed customer data stored in its cloud platform, days after reports linked the company to a massive database containing more than 153 million driver’s license scans. Read more here
The cybersecurity attack affecting Anne Arundel Medical Center and Luminis Health Care remains unsolved almost a week after it was first reported the hospital system was under a Code Black. The health system said it is still trying to determine which systems and how many patients are affected across its entire organization. Read more here
Thousands of students had their classes canceled this week in Springfield, Massachusetts, after the school board’s computer systems were hit with a cyberattack, officials said. Classes were closed until Monday as federal, state and local law enforcement investigate the “Level 4” cybersecurity incident that “blocked the district’s ability to access certain online programs,” Springfield Public Schools said. Read more here
Position: Alphabet, First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR), Microsoft
Digital Infrastructure
Microsoft Corp. plans to more than triple its data center capacity, an effort that could help the company overcome a computing shortage that has forced it to turn away some AI and cloud business. The company’s globe-spanning network of data centers will have more than 38 gigawatts of capacity in 2032, up from about 12 gigawatts now, according to people familiar with the plans. Read more here
Blue Origin has been awarded a contract by NASA to develop the agency’s Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN). Under the deal, Blue Origin will develop communications and navigation services through its Blue Ring space platform for the Mars missions of today and tomorrow. The contract has a maximum potential value of $700 million by the end of 2028. Read more here
Bain Capital-backed Hscale has secured a contract worth more than $1 billion with a hyperscale client for capacity at its Spanish data centers. It will run cloud and AI workloads for the unnamed client. The deal could be extended to include capacity at other Hscale data centers across the EMEA region. Read more here
Position: Applied Materials (AMAT), Arista Networks (ANET), Broadcom (AVGO), Eaton (ETN), Marvell (MRVL), Neostellar, Nvidia (NVDA), Robo Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF (ROBO)
Energy Pain Point
NextEra Energy has secured a $1.9 billion loan from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) to support the restart of the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant, which is tied to a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Google. The plant, located in Linn County, Iowa, is the only nuclear energy project in the state and first entered service in February 1975. Read more here
U.S. electric utilities expect to spend $1.4 trillion on power lines and other infrastructure-related costs over the next five years, raising concerns about rising power bills ahead for American homes and businesses, according to research released on Tuesday. Read more here
The European Commission said on Wednesday it has approved Germany’s electricity capacity mechanism, which could cost up to EUR 35.2 billion (USD 40.8bn) and will remunerate power generation, storage and demand-response capacity from 2031. The market-wide design will ensure Germany has sufficient capacity to meet electricity demand and will be open to existing and new generation, storage and demand-response technologies, as well as cross-border capacity, Brussels said. Read more here
Position: Eaton
Homebuilding & Materials
Today, mortgage rates rose above 7% for the first time this year. The positive storyline for the 2026 housing market was that mortgage spreads near normal would reduce mortgage rate volatility and keep rates below 7% all year long, which would be the first time in several years that happened. This is important because housing demand tends to get better when mortgage rates get below 6.64% and head toward 6%. However, demand fades when rates get above 6.64% and break above 7%. This has been fairly consistent for years and today we lost that critical 7% line. Read more here
Luxury Buying Boom
Global luxury is returning to growth, with the market expected to expand by approximately 4% in 2026 and strengthen towards 5–6% in 2027. Yet the recovery is unfolding very differently from previous cycles. Growth is becoming increasingly concentrated among affluent consumers, geographical performance is diverging more sharply, and value creation is shifting towards a smaller number of high-spending clients. Read more here
Virtuoso, the global luxury travel network, notes that well-heeled travelers are pushing major vacations into September and October to sidestep the peak-summer crush. Year over year, bookings for high-end travel and experiences this fall are up 59%, and sales climbed 69%. September has become a standout month with sales up 77%, while October and November notched gains of 54% and 71%. Virtuoso has a name for it: the “fallcation.” Read more here
Position: American Express (AXP)
Safety & Security
South Korea will spend more on its military in the year ahead than it ever has before. The country’s defense budget is set to rise 8.2%, after government leaders announced the increased expenditure on Sept. 3. The boosted defense spending of KRW 73.28 trillion – around $53.9 billion – comes amid deepening security concerns about North Korea, China and Russia. Read more here
As the repercussions of the war with Iran widen and the possibility of its spreading to new theatres grows, Turkey is moving to accelerate the development of a more independent defence capability, while also benefiting from rising demand for weapons across the region. Against this backdrop, Turkey has announced a 229 percent increase in defence spending over the 2027-2029 Medium-Term Programme, a sharp jump that highlights the priority Ankara now attaches to security, defence and military industries. Read more here
In recent weeks, however, Washington has become increasingly concerned about both the immediate and long-term implications of the conflict for U.S. munitions stockpiles. According to recent reporting, the United States expended virtually all its inventories of Army Tactical Missile Systems and Precision Strike Missiles available for the campaign by early August, while also running dangerously low on key defensive missile interceptors, including Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors. Read more here
Position: Axon, Palantir
The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models
Aging of the Population – Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings.
Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.
Cash-Strapped Consumer – Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.
Cybersecurity – Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.
Data Privacy & Digital Identity – Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.
Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity -The buildout and upgrading of our Networks, Data Storage Facilities, and Equipment.
Digital Lifestyle – The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.
Digital Payments – This model focuses on companies benefiting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).
Energy Pain Point – Companies poised to prosper from rising power demand.
EV Transition – Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.
Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.
Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.
Luxury Buying Boom – Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.
Rebuilding America – Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.
Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.
