All the News That's Fit for the Portfolio
Here are the latest headlines -- including AI, cyber security, and ramping energy demand -- that speak to our strategies for investing.
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Artificial intelligence. The ageing of America. Identify thieves. The news just doesn't stop.
As an investor, you need to keep up on the headlines, but with so many coming from so many places, it can be nearly impossible. That's why we're going through the news stories, reports and other information for you. We've collected the key excerpts here on news from the week that speaks to our Pro Portfolio holdings and reasoning behind our positions.
(If you’ve spotted an article, you think we should review, post a link in the Comments section below.)
Ageing of the Population
“America is getting older, fast. By 2034, adults age 65 and over will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history. The fastest-growing segment of the population is those over 85. This demographic shift, driven by increased life expectancy and declining birthrates, is not just reshaping our communities, workplaces, and policies. It is placing unprecedented demand on healthcare systems and the supply chains that support them. IV bags, dialysis equipment, oxygen tanks, medications — these are not luxuries, they are life-sustaining products that millions of older adults and their families rely on daily.” Read more here
Position: Labcorp LH
Artificial Intelligence
“Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming pharmaceutical research, compressing timelines and potentially slashing drug prices in an industry defined by decade-long development cycles and billion-dollar price tags. This technological upheaval is exemplified by projects like the AI-driven RNA Foundry (AIRFoundry), part of a $75 million investment by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in five biofoundries. The initiative aims to leverage AI to streamline RNA research and drug development, representing a broader trend of integrating advanced technologies into pharmaceutical processes.” Read more here
“There's a new ingredient in Heineken's secret formula, and it's got more buzz than hops: generative AI. The Dutch brewing company, known for its iconic green bottles and over 300 global beer and cider brands, is tapping into the power of AI to transform its operations and stay ahead in the competitive beverage market.” Read more here
Position: Elastic ESTC, ServiceNow NOW
Artificial Intelligence, Digital Lifestyle
“Motorola wants to make it so that you can ask your phone to do almost anything with a simple request. That's the vision the smartphone-maker laid out at parent company Lenovo's Tech World '24 conference on Tuesday, introducing a new proof of concept that involves using AI to carry out real-world tasks. Imagine, for example, ordering a cup of coffee with a simple command without having to specify the details by manually swiping and tapping through an app.” Read more here
“Google is doing for shopping what it did for search, adding a series of updates enabled by generative artificial intelligence. Google Shopping searches will now include AI-generated “briefs”, top product recommendations, a design-heavy personalised inspiration feed, and deal finding. The changes will be rolled out in the US starting today.” Read more here
“As Walmart and Amazon compete to provide the best online shopping experiences, both are increasing their use of generative AI (GenAI) to improve search offerings…“A standard search bar is no longer the fastest path to purchase — rather, we must use technology to adapt to customers’ individual preferences and needs,” Walmart’s global chief technology officer and chief development officer Suresh Kumar said in a statement… Amazon, for its part, shared Wednesday in a blog post that it is expanding its use of generative AI to enhance its eCommerce platform with the launch of AI Shopping Guides on its U.S. apps and mobile site.” Read more here
Position: Alphabet GOOGL, Amazon AMZN, Meta META, Microsoft MSFT
Cash-strapped Consumer
“Lower inflation and interest rates may give some relief to consumers who need it most, Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said Friday (Oct. 11)…“We continue to see more pronounced stress in certain customer segments with lower deposit and asset levels where inflation has partially offset strong employment and wage growth,” Scharf said during the call. “The benefits of inflation slowing and interest rates starting to ease should be helpful to all customers, but especially those on the lower end of the income scale.” Read more here
“Increasingly, for many Americans, the long-standing building blocks of middle-class life feel frustratingly unattainable. The standard 20% down payment on a median-priced home now costs 83% of a year’s income for the typical family ready to buy a home, up from 65% on the eve of the 2016 election, according to Bloomberg calculations. Buying a new car takes almost two extra weeks of work for the median household compared to eight years ago. Child care then cost the same family about a quarter of its weekly income. Now it swallows up more than a third.” Read more here
Position: Amazon, Costco COST
Cybersecurity, Data Privacy
“Fidelity Investments, a Boston-based multinational financial services company, disclosed that the personal information of over 77,000 customers was exposed after its systems were breached in August… Fidelity added that the incident exposed the data of 77,099 customers but has yet to reveal what personal information was stolen in the data breach besides names and other personal identifiers (as shared with Maine's Attorney General).” Read more here
“An APT hacking group known as GoldenJackal has successfully breached air-gapped government systems in Europe using two custom toolsets to steal sensitive data, like emails, encryption keys, images, archives, and documents. According to an ESET report, this happened at least two times, one against the embassy of a South Asian country in Belarus in September 2019 and again in July 2021, and another against a European government organization between May 2022 and March 2024.” Read more here
“Comcast is warning that hackers stole the personal data of more than 230,000 customers during a ransomware attack on a third-party debt collector, according to a court filing. The bad actors targeted a Pennsylvania-based debt collection agency called Financial Business and Consumer Solutions (FBCS.)” Read more here
“Google has implemented increasingly sophisticated protections against those who would compromise your Gmail account—but hackers using AI-driven attacks are also evolving. According to Google’s own figures, there are currently more than 2.5 billion users of the Gmail service. No wonder, then, that it is such a target for hackers and scammers. Here’s what you need to know.” Read more here
“Nearly 900,000 miles of commercially owned cables now crisscross the world’s oceans. They, not satellites, provide the globe’s digital backbone, carrying 99% of transoceanic digital communications and enabling trillions of dollars in financial transactions daily. With the explosion in cloud computing and e-commerce, more data — and more sensitive data — now travels along this underwater network; bandwidth nearly doubled from 2020 to 2022. At the same time, vulnerabilities are also rising…” Read more here
Position: Alphabet, Elastic, First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF CIBR, Microsoft
Energy Pain Point
“Last month, banks from U.S. to Asia signed a joint declaration to increase support for nuclear power construction. Signatories included Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Ares Management, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Brookfield, Citi, Credit Agricole CIB, Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim Securities, Morgan Stanley, Rothschild & Co., Segra Capital Management and Societe Generale. The banks' pledge comes a year after twenty-two countries and 120 companies signed a joint statement at the COP28 conference in Dubai to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050 as part of the drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions.” Read more here
“Google will back the construction of seven small nuclear-power reactors in the U.S., a first-of-its-kind deal that aims to help feed the tech company’s growing appetite for electricity to power AI and jump-start a U.S. nuclear revival. Under the deal’s terms, Google committed to buying power generated by seven reactors to be built by nuclear-energy startup Kairos Power. The agreement targets adding 500 megawatts of nuclear power starting at the end of the decade…” Read more here
“The Biden administration is working on plans to bring additional decommissioned nuclear power reactors back online to help meet soaring demand for emissions-free electricity, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said on Monday. Two such projects are already underway, including the planned recommissioning of Holtec's Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan and the potential restart of a unit at Constellation Energy's (CEG.O), opens new tab Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, near the site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.” Read more here
Position: Eaton ETN
Luxury Buying Boom
“The luxury goods market is witnessing a notable trend toward strategic partnerships. Rather than retreating in the face of challenges, industry players are doubling down on collaboration to fortify their positions. This week, Mytheresa announced its acquisition of YNAP from Richemont, with the goal of creating a leading global digital luxury group… Simultaneously, the launch of the Authentic Luxury Group (ALG) by Authentic Brands Group and Saks Global represents another significant collaboration.” Read more here
Position: None
Safety & Security
“For decades, European NATO members curbed defense spending to fund other priorities. What remains, in the view of some US military experts, is a “Potemkin Army” that couldn’t stand up to an invader without American support.” Read more here
Position: Lockheed Martin LMT
The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models
- Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.
- 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.
- Energy Pain Point – Companies poised to prosper from rising power demand.
- Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.
- Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.
