TOPLEY’S TOP 10 July 17, 2026

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1. History of Consecutive Trading Days Within 5% of All Time Highs

SPX vs. ATHs. “Feels like the market ‘s gone nowhere lately? You’re not wrong. Only the 4th time this bull market $SPX has sat within 5% of its ATH without a new high. Excluding 2024, every prior case saw a real pullback.”

@bluekurtic

2. Market Breadth Comments

The Kobeissi Letter

3. The First Half of 2026 was a Record for Energy IPOs-FT

Financial Times

4. Blue Owl is Poster Child of Private Lending Worries But Holding Lows Right Now

StockCharts

5. ORCL $330 to $126….Right Back to March 2025 Blowout Earnings that Skyrocketed Stock

StockCharts

6. URA -35% from Highs…50day thru 200day to Downside

StockCharts

7. Kalshi Coming for Wall Street?

Kalshi bets on Wall Street

Jul 16, 2026, 12:38pm EDT

Courtesy of Kalshi

Kalshi continues its push onto Wall Street. The prediction market platform on Thursday launched 13 contracts that let users bet on the outcome of clinical drug trials, distilling the biggest milestones for biotech stocks into a simple yes or no. In recent days, it has also expanded its contracts that track the cost of AI compute — a useful tool for hyperscalers, neoclouds, and companies whose token budgets are exploding — and it launched its own version of the Bloomberg terminal.

I’ve long argued that prediction markets can evolve past their casino roots to become key players in financial markets and useful economic hedges. Home Depot could hedge its lumber costs; Vail Resorts could hedge its snow risk (though it isn’t, yet, CEO Rob Katz told us recently); a mediocre soccer team could protect itself against relegation. They can replace some market activity — biotech IPOs will be a tougher sell if investors can get the same binary exposure on Kalshi — but also grow the pie: Insurers will offer more policies on better terms if they can offload some of that risk to prediction markets. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has made a similar argument to justify elbowing the states out of regulatory oversight of these platforms.

Kalshi’s recent moves, which also include a crackdown on insider trading (the latest nab is President Donald Trump’s teleprompter operator), show it wants to bolt on institutional financial markets to its legally questionable sports trading. These companies are “worth far more as the platform where companies like Meta hedge their future AI compute-pricing risk than as an OTB window for US black-op nighttime raids,” I wrote last month. Self-interest will rule the day.

— Liz Hoffman Semafor

https://www.semafor.com/article/07/16/2026/kalshi-bets-on-wall-street

8. The UAE Increased Its Oil Production by 80% Since Leaving OPEC

Google

9. How Many New Pipeline Projects in Middle East Since Iran War?  Countries are Planning Future Around Strait of Hormuz

Perplexity

10. Can Reading Really Help You Live Longer? Here’s What Experts Say

Time to get bookish By Sian Ferguson 

Key Takeaways

  • People who regularly read books may live longer than those who don’t, research suggests.
  • Frequent reading may lower the risk of cognitive decline, depression, and loneliness as people age.
  • Reading can reduce stress, encourage mindfulness, and provide a screen-free way to support emotional well-being.

Reading isn’t just fun—research suggests books can actually extend your life. “Reading is more than a pastime, it’s a powerful tool for cognitive health,” says Kathleen Jordan, MD and Chief Medical Officer of Midi Health, a longevity program designed specifically for women. “Mentally stimulating activities like reading, learning new skills, or doing puzzles help keep the brain active, reduce stress, and build resilience over time.”  

What Does the Science Say?

In a widely cited 2016 study, researchers from Yale followed 3,635 adults over the age of 50 for 12 years. They found that participants who read books for 30 minutes or more daily lived an average of 23 months longer than non-readers—even after adjusting for variables like age, gender, education, and health.1

Interestingly, this life-extending benefit wasn’t as strong among those who read only newspapers or magazines. Books seemed to offer something uniquely protective, Jordan says.  

“When you sit down with a book, it often requires deeper concentration, more sustained focus, and more active engagement than flipping through shorter articles,” she explains. 

While it’s not completely clear why reading might improve your lifespan, there is plenty of other research connecting reading to overall health benefits—particularly for your brain and mental health.

How Does Reading Support Brain Function?

“Activities that challenge the mind, like regular reading, are a valuable part of a brain-healthy routine,” says Dr. Jonathan Graff-Radford, a behavioral neurologist. “Large studies have found that people who read more often may have a lower risk of memory loss or cognitive decline as they age.”2

This is because reading can help you develop cognitive reserve, a mental “buffer” that allows the brain to better compensate for aging or injury. Cognitive reserve helps your brain function at a higher level, even if you experience age-related changes in brain health.  

Your Brain on Books

Plenty of research suggests that reading supports long-term brain health:

  • A 14-year longitudinal study of older adults found that those who read at least once weekly had a significantly lower risk of cognitive decline over time. This was true across 6-, 10-, and 14-year follow-ups.3
  • A 2021 study observed that elderly individuals who remained mentally active—through reading, writing letters, or playing games—developed Alzheimer’s disease about five years later than less cognitively active peers.4  
  • A 2023 review found that older people with mild cognitive impairment benefit from cognitive stimulation programs (which can include reading, among other activities).5

While interesting, these studies don’t tell us whether specific types of reading are better at promoting cognitive health. 

What Are the Emotional Benefits?

Stress can wreak havoc on your mental and physical health. Yet many of us struggle to find stress-reducing practices that are affordable, accessible, and effective. Reading books can be all three. 

“There is some evidence that reading can reduce stress, and lower stress translates into less inflammation, which we know helps our health globally too,” Jordan says.  Here’s how reading supports emotional well-being:

  • Encourages mindfulness: Reading slows you down and draws you into the present moment.
  • May foster empathy: Immersing yourself in a character’s life broadens emotional awareness, research suggests.6
  • Could facilitate connection: Reading is often a solitary activity, but it can be a point of connection—for example, through book clubs, forums, libraries, and book launch events. A 2023 study that analyzed data from 19,821 middle-aged and older adults across 15 countries found that reading and other mind-stimulating activities are associated with a lower risk of depression and loneliness.7
  • Provides a healthy escape: Fiction, in particular, offers a low-stakes way to mentally “get away” without engaging in avoidance behaviors.
  • Is a screen-free activity: If you’re struggling to cut down on doomscrolling or need to avoid screens before bed, a book is the perfect replacement.
  • Offers a sense of purpose and accomplishment: It can feel satisfying to finish a book or learn something new.

Tips To Make Reading a Daily Habit

In a world where our screens are always screaming for attention, it can be difficult to put down your phone and pick up a book. To make matters worse, many of us are overwhelmed by responsibilities, making it tricky to get into the habit of reading. 

However, just a few intentional minutes each day can support long-term brain and body health. Here are some ways to start:

  • Set a simple goal: “A few minutes a day is enough to build the habit,” says Jordan; 10–20 minutes a day is a great starting point. Use a timer or app if needed.
  • Try habit-stacking: Read while you drink your morning coffee, during your commute, or at bedtime to wind down. 
  • Always keep a book with you: This can help you sneak in a few pages while you wait in lines, eat your lunch, or take a break during your workday. 
  • Make it social: Join a book club (virtual or in-person) for accountability and connection. Apps like Goodreads or Storygraph can also inspire you to read more.
  • Take advantage of your local library: It’s the cheapest and most convenient way to read widely. 
  • Be consistent: As with all habits, consistency is key. “Small, regular doses of engagement add up over time to support brain health,” Jordan says.
  • Don’t stress about finding the “right” book: “There is no clear evidence on which types of reading best support brain health, so people should simply read what they enjoy,” Graff-Radford says. The best book is the one you’ll actually read. So if you’re struggling to get through “Middlemarch”or the latest romantasy novel TikTok is obsessing over, that’s fine! Just head to the library and pick up something you think you’ll actually like. 

https://www.verywellmind.com/can-reading-help-you-live-longer-11975116

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 July 16, 2026

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1. SPCX Following Standard History of Big IPO

Matt Cerminaro

2. Mag 7 +4% vs. Semiconductors SMH -3% 30 Days

YCharts

3. Even With The Big Q2 Rally in Semis and DRAM….Equal Weight S&P (RSP=less tech) +12.33% Outperforming Capweight (SPY)…Mag 7 Drag on Capweight

YCharts

4. 80% of Hyperscaler Free Cash Flow Going to AI Buildout

The Daily Spark

5. Micron -30% from Highs…Hits 50 Day

StockCharts

6. Goldman New Highs

StockCharts

7. Big Banks $100B in Profits

Bloomberg

8. U.S. IPO Proceeds 2026

Dave Lutz Jones Trading Brookfield-backed data center operator Csquare expects to raise up to $1.35 billion in its IPO July 15, per Renaissance Capital, which would put this year over the top.

9. Prof G Industrial Robots vs. Humanoid Robots

Prof G Media

10. Why Your Fear of AI Has Nothing to Do With AI

By Matthew Ferry

The anxiety gripping senior executives right now is not a technology problem.

It is an automatic behavioral pattern. A conditioned response your nervous system wrote long before ChatGPT existed. And until you name it precisely, studying more AI tools will not quiet it.

The Dataiku Global AI Confessions Report: CEO Edition, based on a Dataiku/Harris Poll survey of 900 CEOs worldwide, found that 80% of CEOs say their role is at risk if they fail to deliver results by the end of 2026. The pressure isn’t hypothetical: 65% say they worry more about over-investing in the wrong AI vendors than under-investing, and 70% identify themselves as the person with the greatest influence over their company’s AI strategy, meaning the decisions, and the consequences, land on the same desk.

I’ve worked with more than 1,000 high performers over 30 years. Founders, private equity partners, real estate executives, C-suite leaders. I’ve watched this same fear get blamed on a different thing every decade. The name on it changes. The program underneath doesn’t.

The Dip Is Real. The Panic Is Something Else.

If the fear of AI were about business performance, the numbers would tell you what to feel. They don’t.

Research from MIT Sloan Management Review on the productivity paradox of AI adoption shows that AI introduction frequently leads to a measurable but temporary decline in performance before stronger growth appears—a J-curve, with the dip most pronounced at older, more established firms. Which means a lot of companies adopting now are sitting in the trough. The technology is everywhere. The payoff is real, but it’s landed for some and not yet for others. And the executives are being judged on a timeline that doesn’t match the curve.

The executives aren’t panicking about the numbers though. The numbers say wait. They’re panicking because the thing they’ve built their worth on is what’s being automated.

Here is what the headline misses: most of these leaders aren’t losing sleep because they don’t understand AI. They’re losing sleep because their entire sense of self is wired to being the one with the answers. The person the board defers to. The irreplaceable node in the network. Now a piece of software can generate in seconds what took them decades to build. And their nervous system is treating that as a survival threat.

The Conditioned Response Running the Show

Here is the automatic behavioral pattern driving nearly every executive conversation I have about the fear of AI: performance validation seeking. It’s the compulsion to earn your worth through demonstrated expertise, as if you are not enough without it.

Underneath it is a deeper survival driver. Not arrogance. Something more fundamental. It is the fear that you will not be the priority, that you are not enough, so you compensate by making yourself right, superior or indispensable. This driver built your career. It drove you to out-prepare, out-think, out-execute. It made you the person in the room everyone deferred to. For decades, it looked like excellence. It was, and it was also a survival program.

Now that loop is running on full power, pointed at AI.

You hear “AI does what you do, faster” and the fear fires: I’m not enough. I’m falling behind. My board is watching every AI decision I make. Which activates the performance validation pattern: work harder, announce a strategy, perform fluency, be seen as AI-forward. Or the opposite: hold back, call it strategic caution, position yourself as the wise skeptic in a market moving too fast.

Both responses, the frantic over-adoption and the freeze dressed up as prudence, are the same survival driver wearing different coats. One performs urgency. The other performs wisdom. Neither comes from actual clarity.

What you accept will transform. What you resist will persist. The resistance isn’t to AI. It’s to the news AI is delivering, that being the smartest one in the room was always a rented position. Accept that, and the tool becomes a tool again.

The Leaders Navigating This Well Are Not AI Experts

The executives handling this era with the most composure are not the ones studying AI the hardest. They’re the ones who’ve stopped tying their identity to being indispensable.

Think of it like this: a master carpenter picks up a nail gun and asks one question: where does this fit in the job? They don’t ask what the nail gun says about their worth. There is no survival threat in the tool, because their worth was never stored in the hammer.

When your self-worth isn’t on the line, your thinking clears. You can evaluate AI with the same calm rigor you’d bring to any strategic decision. The executive terrified of AI isn’t seeing AI clearly. They’re seeing a mirror showing them how much of their self-worth was borrowed from being the bottleneck.

That is not a technology crisis. It’s a consciousness one.

The Four-Beat Practice

Here’s what I walk clients through when this loop is running:

1. Catch it.

Notice when AI conversations trigger urgency, anxiety or excessive caution. That activation is data. Something is being threatened that matters to your sense of self.

2. Name it.

Say it plainly: “I’m running a performance validation pattern right now. Underneath it is a survival fear of not being enough.” Naming both the conditioned response and the driver starts to release the pattern’s grip.

3. Reframe it.

AI is not a verdict on your value. It is a shift in the environment. The same kind every exceptional leader you’ve admired navigated in their era. Your worth was never stored in the answers you gave.

4. One rep.

In your next AI-adjacent conversation, be a learner. Walk in without needing to be the expert. Ask questions. Let it be unfamiliar. One rep rewires more than a hundred resolutions.

The executives who make this shift report something consistent: the anxiety drops, the strategic thinking improves and the AI adoption decisions become cleaner. Not because they became AI experts. Because they stopped needing AI to confirm their worth.

Here’s the truth: The leaders who thrive in the AI era won’t be the most technically fluent. They’ll be the ones clear enough to use the tool without being threatened by it.

Featured image by PeopleImages/Shutterstock

https://www.success.com/why-your-fear-of-ai-has-nothing-to-do-with-ai

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 July 15, 2026

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1. Year Over Year S&P Earnings Growth Skewed by “Other Income”

@Charlie Bilello  In the first quarter, just 3 companies (Google, Nvidia, and Amazon) saw massive gains in the “other income” category from their private investments in companies like SpaceX and Anthropic.   The total of $69 billion in “other income” was roughly 10% of the S&P 500’s overall net income for the quarter. Absent this boost, S&P 500 YoY earnings growth would have been 15% in Q1, well below the reported figure (+28%).

2. Leverage Play in S.Korea Blowing Up…350k Accounts Liquidated by Brokers Due to Margin Calls

Global Markets Investor

3. Tech Sector Volatility at Records While VIX Sitting at 16

The Kobeissi Letter

4. Semis and DRAM Record Volatility….Overall VIX Trending Down

StockCharts

5. S&P Sector Changes in P/E Ratio….5 Sectors P/E Ratios Lower in 2026

NASDAQ DORSEY WRIGHT

6. USA Oil– Out Producing Russia and Saudis

Wolf Street.

Wolf Street

7. Retail Gas Prices—Now We Need the Next Drop to 2025 Levels

8. CPI Breakdown-CNBC

CNBC

9. 10-Year Small Down Tick Post CPI

CNBC

10. 3 Top Tier Emotionally Intelligent Tendencies

Psychology Today EI is the “it” factor and doing 3 things means you have it. Erin Leonard Ph.D.

 Key points

  • Emotional intelligence is the “it” factor.
  • There are three high level EI tendencies that signify you have it.
  • Although you may not enact these tendencies every time, you try very hard to make them your norm.
  • Respond instead of react, set boundaries in place of being passive aggressive, and embrace accountability.

Emotional intelligence is the “it” factor. EI people are secure enough to handle their own flaws and continually evolve as a result. They look in the mirror instead of outsourcing all blame, and they are not fixated on the ego-win in the moment, but rather on the deeper, meaningful, and long-term priorities. Although this description portrays them as saint-like, they are certainly not. They make mistakes like everyone else and occasionally lose their temper, but overall, they routinely do 3 things that set them apart from everyone else.

1) They respond… not react.

When confronted, they quickly reflect on what the person is saying instead of immediately lashing out defensively. Their ability to think about the other person’s perspective, while looking at themselves to evaluate the merit of the confrontation, allows them to respond rather than react. They are equipped with a greater understanding of the issue; they can decide fairly whether they are at fault or not and reply with a grounded, balanced, and wise rebuttal that is not disrespectful or destructive to the relationship.

Alternatively, someone who reacts refuses to think about their part in the issue and immediately lashes out and redirects the blame onto the person who is confronting them. They deflect any accountability and use their fervor to shut down the person who is bringing up a problem. Following the confrontation, typically a person with low emotional intelligence plays the victim and acts as though they have been bullied, or they become passive-aggressive towards the person who “dares” to bring up an issue with them. Either way, the problem is not remedied, and now there is a chasm in the relationship.

2) They are not passive-aggressive… they set a boundary.

It is not fun to have your kindness taken advantage of or exploited. It is understandable to be angry in these situations, yet an emotionally intelligent person uses this as critical data. If a person repeatedly manipulates you for their own gain and does not care how it impacts you, they may be the type to react, not respond, when you tell them how you feel, which means it may be painful and useless. Instead, the emotionally intelligent person now sees this person realistically and, despite their disappointment, recognizes the importance of setting a boundary so they are not exploited again in the future. They know that this does not require them to be cold or rude. It simply means that they will be busy the next time this person needs help with something, or instead of going out to dinner with the friend who always forgets her debit card, they will propose going on a walk instead. Basically, they think creatively about how to casually implement a boundary that protects them from being used in the future.

A person who is angry because they perceive a friend took advantage of them or the friend doesn’t give them their way, may seek to covertly make this friend pay, passive-aggressively. Unfortunately, this person typically attempts to sabotage the friend’s success by doing something sneaky or they talk nasty about them to key mutual acquaintances. This is the, “you hurt me, and I’ll hurt you worse” mentality. Yet, they are nice to your face. This passive aggressive approach signals a sizable deficit in emotional intelligence.

3) They apologize when they are wrong… not when they get caught.

Typically, an emotionally intelligent individual is self-aware. They care about how their actions and words impact others, especially the people with whom they are close. So, they are cognizant of how they interact. They wish to understand the people that they care about, so they are careful to listen attentively and honor the person’s feelings rather than making it about them and what they want and feel.

This self-awareness and motivation to be a good person in their friendships and relationships also allows them to catch their mistakes. Maybe they had a selfish moment or were too tired and stressed to authentically listen and offer empathy. Whatever it may be, they search their soul because, although the moment is over, it nags at them. They do not feel quite right about how they handled it. Because they are secure enough to handle their own flaws, they apologize to the person that they impacted. Their accountability fosters trust and closeness with the people in their lives and sustains strong attachments with people who share these relational qualities.

A person with deficits in emotional intelligence usually defends against truly knowing their own character flaws. They may not be strong enough to handle them. So, they resist looking at themselves and instead feel more secure critiquing others. The last thing they want to do is show any “weakness” in a relationship, so they refuse to look at the possibility that they did something hurtful or selfish…. Until they get caught. When their back is against the wall, and they have no choice but to apologize because they risk losing the person, they will. However, it may come with excuses, justifications, and minimizations, which may signify insincerity. Often, insincere apologies are a sign that the person will repeat the same mistake.

Emotional intelligence is a gift when you use it wisely. Responding instead of reacting, setting healthy boundaries in place of being passive-aggressive, and embracing accountability in a relationship rather than evading it are top-tier emotional intelligence tendencies. You can find more on this important topic in my book, How to Outsmart a Narcissist: Use Emotional Intelligence to Regain Control at Home, at Work, and in Life.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/peaceful-parenting/202607/3-top-tier-emotionally-intelligent-tendencies

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 July 14, 2026

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1. Semiconductor Index Moved Up or Down 3% 15 Times in Last 30 Days

StockCharts

2. History of Semiconductor (SOX) Volatility

Loved by Analysts, Hated by Investors

The market got off to a bad start this week with the major indices in the red as oil and interest rates spiked sharply on renewed tensions with Iran. The semis fell nearly 5% as the SOX saw its ninth straight Monday with a gain or loss of at least 1%. The SOX has seen an average daily move of +/-3.36% over the last 50 trading days. As shown below, the only other times we’ve seen this much daily vol were in the lead-up to the Dot Com peak and then down the other side of the mountain, the Financial Crisis in late 2008, and in early 2020 during the COVID Crash.

Bespoke

3. Momentum (MTUM) Outperformance of Low Volatility Stocks (SPLV) is at Record Levels….10-Year Chart =the Big Outperformance is 2024-Now

YCharts

4. FLOWS-Active Managers Extremely Bullish

Dave Lutz Jones Trading Global investors buying stocks aggressively should consider reducing exposure, according to Bank of America Corp.’s fund manager survey.  Asset allocators have become extremely bullish, a typical warning sign for markets, with cash levels falling to an “uber-low” level of 3.6% of assets from 4.1% last month, strategists from the bank said. Positioning on US equities is now at its highest level since December 2024 at a net 24% overweight, the survey showed.

5. FLOWS-Individual Retail Investors Single Stock Buying Plummets

Retail activity. “Retail investors’ net single-stock buying has fallen to a new post-COVID low”.

Vanda Research via @kevrgordon

6. FLOWS-ETFs Dominate…State Street Projects $2.3 Trillion in Flows to ETFs 2026

State Street Investment Management Chart Pack

7. DRAM ETF -30% from High of $80…-20% One Month

Google Finance

8. Russian and Chinese Bots Now Turning Americans Against Each Other on Data Centers

NYT-China, Russia and Others Seek to Inflame Debate Over A.I. Data Centers  State actors in China, Russia and Iran have sought to exploit the U.S. public debate over the effects of the technology.

NY Times

OpenAI released this cartoon as an example of one generated with ChatGPT by people in China who the company believed were affiliated with a regional government. It is not clear what word in the title was blurred out.By Steven Lee Myers and Dustin Volz

A state-owned newspaper in China recently published a satellite image of a data center in Gainesville, Va., writing in English that the development of artificial intelligence posed a threat to Americans’ physical and financial well-being.

A comic strip made to look as if it had been published by a Maryland news outlet — created with OpenAI’s ChatGPT by people in China, the tech company said — circulated on X this year, blaming data centers for soaring electricity bills. It showed a tycoon smoking a cigar and clutching bags of cash.

A video shared on X by a known covert Russian influence operation questioned the viability of a data center that an American company, Firebird, is constructing in Armenia, the small Caucasus nation that has been a focus of Kremlin pressure. “The country’s electrical grid instability may render it useless,” the video’s narrator says.

All are examples of a push by foreign adversaries to seize on what polls have shown is deep ambivalence — verging at times on hostility — about the spread of the data centers needed to power A.I. in the United States and elsewhere.

9. 2.6% of Americans Live in Subsidized Housing

The state of Section 8

The federal government has provided rental assistance to low-income Americans since the 1937 US Housing Act, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) now oversees eight different nationwide housing assistance programs. The latest data shows how many units the country has, who lives in them, and how long they must wait for one.

  • About 8.86 million people, or 2.6% of the US population, lived in subsidized housing in 2025. On average, residents had lived in their units for 10 years and three months.

USAFacts

10. Cities with Longest Time to Sell a Home

Market Watch

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 July 13, 2026

Daily Top Ten No Comments

1. South Korea EWY ETF -25% Correction After Today’s Sell Off

StockCharts

2. Earnings Growth Highs…So Korean Stocks Very Cheap on Forward P/E

3. Chinese Models Huge Summer Rally in Usage

Financial Times

4. It’s All About Earnings Season

Earnings are the most important driver of any bull market and they are now shifting into their highest gear in nearly five years.

S&P 500 earnings are tracking above 23% year-over-year growth for the second quarter, but historical patterns have led FactSet to project the final figure will come in above 29%.

That would mark the highest growth rate since the end of 2021, when the index reported a 32% jump in earnings.

The early signals suggest that even 29% could be a conservative guess:

  • Of the 18 companies that have reported so far, 89% have beat estimates
  • Those 18 names together exceeded forecasts by 14.5%, nearly double the 10-year average of 7.4%
  • The S&P 500 has surpassed end-of-quarter estimates in 37 of the last 40 quarters

Opening Bell Daily

5. Earnings Growth So High…Tech Stock Forward P/E Getting Cheaper

Ryan Detrick

6. Retail Investors Not as Active

7. AAPL Makes New Highs Just Before Lawsuit vs. Open AI

StockCharts

Interesting take from Semafor on AAPL vs. Open AI Lawsuit

Semafor

8. 54% of New ETFs Using Derivatives

Howie Lindzon Another topic related to the ‘degenerate economy’ is all the ‘leveraged’ ETF’s being issued – now 33 percent of all ETF’s and 54 percent of all theses ETF’s use derivatives. I don’t think most investors fully understand what they own.

Howie Town

9. Tech Stocks and Baseball Cards 2018-2026

Barron’s

10. The hedonic treadmill-Seths Blog

When we upgrade something in our lives, the thing we used to be satisfied with is no longer satisfying.

That’s the nature of an upgrade.

After a certain point, the only thing we’re buying is the way the upgrade makes us feel in the moment, not our satisfaction going forward.

Stereos, salt, art on the wall. It’s easy to get hooked on the climb, not the altitude.

Luxury goods are a special set of upgrades. These are purchases that aren’t actually an upgrade, they simply feel that way because of their cost (and the status that goes with it).

At some point, the best upgrade is the realization that we have enough.

July 13, 2026

https://seths.blog