S&P 59

  • The S&P 500’s total concentration, which we can measure using a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (or HHI), is equivalent today to that of an equal-weighted, 59-stock portfolio. Ten years ago, the index was more than twice as diversified. We have never seen – over any 10-year period – a decline (or increase) in diversification of the magnitude we have just witnessed.
  • Source: GMO.

Why is the VIX so low?

  • Latest BIS quarterly thinks it is not because of the rise of 0DTE options (those that expire the same day). This week these hit a new record volume share at 57%.
  • Rather the rise of yield-enhancing ETFs that sell options (in various forms) is the real culprit – see lhs of chart. JPM has some further analysis via FT.
  • While on the topic of 0DTE the rhs chart shows their truly lottery-like payoff structure.
  • “Investing in 0DTE options loses money on average, with annualised returns of -32,000%, but on rare occasions generates extremely high returns of up to 79,000%. These returns are much more volatile than the returns on one-month options, which have an average return of -550% annualised and a maximum of 2,500%.”

AI = Insane Energy Demand

  • “Boston Consulting Group believes that AI and regular data center demand will grow to 7% of total electricity demand by 2030. To put this in context, this is the equivalent of the electricity used for lighting in every home business and factory across the United States. It’s a huge amount of energy. Most traditional data centers that were built 10 years ago were 10 megawatts or less. Today, it’s not uncommon to see 100-megawatt data centers. And with our clients, we’re talking about data centers that approach 1,000 megawatts. And they require 24/7 power. This is something that doesn’t get talked about enough in my opinion.”
  • That is from Constellation Energy’s CEO Joseph Dominguez (Source: The Transcript) – who of course is talking his own book but still.
  • Others confirm this, like the IEA – which thinks AI energy demand will double by 2026 – “that’s equivalent to adding a new heavily industrialized country like Germany to the planet”.
  • There are other huge environmental impacts – e.g. water.

US Navy vs. PLAN

  • People’s Liberation Army Navy, when it comes to quantity, is on track to overtake the US.
  • Their shipbuilding capacity is wildly more dominant – controlling 40% of the world’s commercial shipbuilding market compared to just 0.5% for the US.
  • This article argues that the US Navy still has quality – but that might erode and “quantity eventually improves quality”.

Dominating Google

  • These 16 companies dominate Google search results. Odds are you haven’t heard of any of them.
  • Across 10,000 terms where affiliates are ranking, which cover products in every niche you can think of (home, beauty, tech, automotive, cooking, travel, sports, education and many more), these 16 companies ranked on the first page of 8,574 (or 85%) of them.
  • Detailed write-up here.

1900 vs. 2024

  • Let this sink in – “Of the US firms listed in 1900, some 80% of their value was in industries that are small or extinct today; the UK figure is 65%
  • Many of these industries have simply moved to lower-cost countries.
  • Yet similarities between 1900 and 2024 are also apparent. The banking and insurance industries continue to be important. Similarly, such industries as food, beverages (including alcohol), tobacco, and utilities were present in 1900 and continue to be represented today. In the UK, quoted mining companies were important in 1900 just as they are in London today
  • Source: UBS.

Altman’s $7 Trillion

  • Back-of-the-envelope analysis of why Altman wants this sum to build semiconductor capacity and why it isn’t such a crazy number.
  • It’s a useful reminder of what it will take for AI to scale in the coming years.
  • The article also links some more serious analysis of the trend in the cost of training AI (like this).
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