Category Archives: Daily Top Ten

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 – Mar 06, 2024

1. EU Apple Fine Followed by China IPhone Sales -24%

Apple’s iPhone Woes in China Deepen With a 24% Sales Plunge-Bloomberg By Vlad Savov

Apple Inc.’s iPhone sales in China fell by a surprising 24% over the first six weeks of this year, according to independent research that may stoke fears about worsening demand for the marquee but aging device.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-05/apple-iphone-sales-in-china-plummet-24-as-vivo-not-huawei-becomes-best-seller?sref=GGda9y2L


2. AAPL Chart

Watch for 50day to go thru 200day to downside…Approaching November 2023 Lows….RSI 23 short-term oversold.


3. AAPL vs. Mag 7

Zerohedge

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/gloom-doom-apples-iphone-sales-china-plunge-24

 


4. Nasdaq has gone more than 300 days without a major pullback

Marketwatch Joseph Adinolfi

The tech-heavy Nasdaq has gone 303 trading days without a major pullback.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 has gone 303 trading sessions without a pullback of 2.5% or more, the third-longest stretch since 1990, according to Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean the artificial-intelligence-driven boom in U.S. stocks is ripe for a selloff, Krinsky thinks the market is overdue for a bout of volatility.

“Some sort of shakeout is likely coming, in our view,” Krinsky said.

The Invesco QQQ Trust Series ETF QQQ, which tracks the Nasdaq-100 and is one of the most popular U.S.-traded ETFs, has marched to 14 straight record highs in 2024. It’s most recent record arrived on Friday, when the ETF rose 1.5% to finish at $445.61.

According to FactSet data, the most recent pullback of 2.5% or more occurred on Dec. 15, 2022, when QQQ fell 3.4%.

Notably, the Nasdaq-100 has been achieving these records without the help of Apple Inc., AAPL, -2.54% once considered an indispensable constituent of the index. While Apple was down 9.1% so far this year, the Nasdaq-100 was up 8.3%, according to FactSet.  Divergence in the performance of a popular group of megacap technology stocks has been growing since the beginning of 2024, while all of the so-called Magnificent Seven tech stocks helped drive gains for the S&P 500 in 2023.

Take Monday’s session for example: Nvidia Corp. NVDA, +3.60% is up 3.6% on Monday, while Tesla Inc. TSLA, -7.16% was down 7.2%. Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, -2.76% was down 2.8%. And Apple AAPL, -2.54% was down 2.5%.

“… [T]he dispersion under the surface shouldn’t be ignored. Yes, it’s encouraging to see some broadening beyond the ‘AI’ trade, but the continued one-way move in many momentum names is ultimately going to have some ramifications, even if only short-term in nature,” Krinsky said.

The weakness in several megacap names weighed on the Nasdaq on Monday.

Both the Nasdaq-100 NDX, which includes the 100 largest nonfinancial stocks trading on the Nasdaq, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, which includes more than 3,000 stocks listed on the exchange, finished 0.4% lower. The S&P 500 SPX also eked out a loss after briefly turning positive. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA finished lower as well.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nasdaq-has-gone-more-than-300-days-without-a-major-pullback-does-that-mean-a-shakeout-is-overdue-a8afb112?mod=home-page


5. Sometimes Chart Tells the Entire Story….NYCB -70%


6. KRE-Regional Bank ETF…

Failed twice at 200-day


7. Microstrategy Going Up with Bitcoin…Breaks Above 5-Year Highs

50week thru 200week to the upside on long-term chart


8. Top 10 Showed Gold Breakout Yesterday….Gold Miners Large Lag

The Daily Shot Brief-Commodities: Gold is diverging from gold miners.

Source: @TheTerminal, Bloomberg Finance L.P.


9. Bitcoin ETF AUM Update

https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-price-crypto-etf-wall-street-big-banks-c6547db0?mod=past_editions


10. Why You’re Scared of Investing (and how to overcome it)-

My heart is racing. My hands are so wet from my sweat that I can’t even get a good grip on the computer mouse.

After hearing many stories from people who lost money, I feared investing. But I still to get in on the game. I wanted to get rich badly.

But my stomach felt like it was inside out. I collected all the courage inside me. Then, I finally did it. Boom! I bought my first stocks.

This was in 2007, and I STILL remember how I felt. That’s how scary investing is. Over the years, I started to control my emotions to a degree that I don’t even feel the slightest itch when I invest my money.

That’s because I found ways to overcome my fear of investing.

What follows is a list of 5 common reasons most people fear investing and a practical way of overcoming the fear.

1. Fear of losing money

The fear of losing money is a primal instinct, deeply ingrained in our psyche. It’s tied to our survival instincts. After all, for much of human history, losing resources could mean life or death.

This is reflected in the concept of loss aversion:1 The pain of losing is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining.

This means we’re more likely to avoid investing because we fear the potential losses more than we value the potential gains.

Overcoming it: The founder of modern-day investing, Benjamin Graham, famously said:

”The investor’s chief problem—and his worst enemy—is likely to be himself.”

To overcome this fear, we need to change our mindset. First, understand that investing isn’t gambling.

It’s about making calculated decisions based on research and analysis. Second, diversify your portfolio.

As the saying goes, don’t put all your eggs in one basket when you start. While many successful investors got rich by concentrating on their portfolios, I don’t think it’s wise to start picking individual stocks. This is also why many people get scared of investing.

You’re much better off buying a broad index like the S&P 500 when you start. You can concentrate on your individual investments later.

2. Lack of knowledge

Investing can seem intimidating if you don’t understand how it works. This fear stems from the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias where people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability.

This leads to a paradox: the less you know about investing, the more confident you might feel, leading to risky decisions.

But as you learn more, you realize how much you don’t know, which can lead to fear and hesitation.

Overcoming it: Knowledge is power. Start by educating yourself about the basics of investing.

Read books, listen to podcasts, take online courses. As legendary investor Warren Buffett said:

”Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”

The more you understand investing, the more confident you’ll become. Just remember you also don’t need to have a PhD in Finance to be a good investor. Basic knowledge is enough.

3. Fear of falling behind

The fear of falling behind, also known as FOMO (fear of missing out), often prevents people from building wealth in the stock market.

Humans seem to be naturally competitive. Social media makes this even more visible, as people feel unsatisfied when they watch other folks live a “better” life. We tend to define our worth based on how we stack up against others.

This behavior sometimes translates to our investing strategy. Which leads to risky behavior, such as jumping on an investment bandwagon without doing your research.

Overcoming it: Remember that investing is a long-term game, not a get-rich-quick scheme.

As Peter Lynch, one of the most successful investors of all time, said:

”The real key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.”

Focus on your financial goals and stick to your investment plan, regardless of what others are doing.

4. Reacting to market volatility

Market volatility can be scary. When the market takes a downturn, our natural instinct is to panic and sell.

This reaction is linked to the fight-or-flight response. I experienced that feeling when I lost around 60% of the money I first invested in the stock market.

Overcoming it: It’s crucial to stay calm and stick to your long-term investment plan during market volatility.

The economist Paul Samuelson said it well:

”Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.”

What do you do when you paint your walls? You leave it alone and simply get on with your life. Do the same with your investments.

5. Fear of commitment

Investing often means locking away your money for a significant period, which can feel daunting.

There is always the fear of uncertainty. What if the market suddenly crashes and you need to use that money after all? What if you suddenly need to take a one-month vacation, but don’t have the money for it? These fears keep many people scared of investing.

When you get down to it, there are two main goals that every investor aims for: Liquidity and growth. Liquidity is about how easily you can turn an investment into cash without losing its value.

It’s important because having liquid assets means you can quickly access funds for emergencies or unexpected expenses. On the flip side, growth is all about increasing value over time. This is crucial for building wealth and reaching financial goals like retirement or buying a house.

But when it comes to investing, you can’t have total liquidity and maximum growth simultaneously; there’s always a trade-off. The key is finding the right balance between the two.

Overcoming it: Maintain an emergency fund that covers 3-6 months of living expenses.

This will give you the peace of mind to invest your other funds without worrying about accessing them in an emergency.

Embrace the future: Conquer your fears today

Always remember this as you’re investing: The regret of not taking action today could be far greater than any fear you’re experiencing now. Think about that whenever you find yourself scared of investing.

Imagine yourself 10, 20, or even 30 years from now. You look back on your life and realize you let fear dictate your financial decisions.

You missed out on opportunities to grow your wealth, to secure your future, to provide for your loved ones. That regret can be a heavy burden to bear.

We’re more likely to regret the things we didn’t do than the things we did. And when it comes to investing, the cost of inaction can be high.

Yes, there will be risks. There is always risk in every part of life. But as long as you invest sustainably and consistently, you will grow your wealth in the long term.

As American entrepreneur and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, said:

“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.”

Choose wisely.

https://dariusforoux.com/scared-of-investing/

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 – Mar 05, 2024

1. Tech vs. Rest…S&P Ex-Tech +11% in 12 Months

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-04/jpmorgan-sees-froth-in-us-stocks-goldman-says-rally-justified?srnd=homepage-americas&sref=GGda9y2L


2. MegaCap Stocks Straight Up

MGC-MegaCap ETF

https://www.bespokepremium.com/interactive/posts/think-big-blog/the-best-and-worst-performing-stocks-of-february-2024


3. Tech Sector Price to Sales Ratio Breaks Out to New Highs

 


4. Some of the Rest Starting to Rally…New Highs in Equal Weight S&P 500

Equal weight lagged big last year due to technology stocks and Super


 

5. The Rest-New Highs in Gold ETF-GLD


6. The Rest-New Highs in Vanguard Small Cap Value


7. Bloomberg AGG-Bond Index Longest Drawdown in History Continues

While US equity markets have been hitting new highs since January, the US bond market remains in its longest drawdown in history: 43 months and counting.


8. Fixed Income Yield to Worst Near 20-Year Highs

Vanguard

Investopedia Definition Yield to Worst

https://www.investopedia.com/


9. Baby Boomers Retiring in Mass Due to Stock and Real Estate Rising Prices


10. 7 Brain foods experts actually recommend

 

Longevity Technology Blog Certain foods have gained attention for their potential benefits in the quest for optimal brain health.
Let’s look into some of these brain-boosting foods recommended by experts from Brainworks Neurotherapy [1]:

  1. Açaí berries: Famed for their antioxidant properties, açaí berries are believed to offer neuroprotective benefits. While ongoing research explores their cognitive effects, other dark berries like blueberries can provide similar advantages more affordably [2].
  2. Avocados: Rich in Vitamin E, avocados support brain health. However, they’re not the sole source of this nutrient. Incorporating a various nuts, seeds and green vegetables can provide similar benefits.
  3. Fatty fish: Rich in omega-3 fatty acids, fatty fish like salmon and cod are crucial for brain health and may help stave off conditions like Alzheimer’s.
  4. Green, leafy vegetables: Kale, spinach and broccoli are packed with brain-healthy nutrients like Vitamin K and beta carotene, which support cognitive function and may help slow decline.
  5. Greens powders: These powdered blends of vegetables, fruits and nutrients offer a convenient supplement. While they can fill nutritional gaps, they shouldn’t replace whole fruits and veggies [3]. The bioavailability of nutrients in powders may differ from whole foods, so it’s essential to maintain a balanced diet.
  6. Matcha: Known for its high concentration of L-theanine and caffeine, matcha has garnered popularity for its potential cognitive benefits [4]. However, traditional green tea provides similar advantages without the complexity of preparation associated with matcha.
  7. Tea and coffee: Besides providing a short-term concentration boost, caffeine enhances alertness and aids in memory formation. However, moderation is key to avoiding adverse effects.

Incorporating these foods into your diet can improve overall brain health and cognitive function. While individual preferences and dietary needs vary, focusing on a balanced intake of these nutrient-rich options can support mental wellbeing for the long haul.  7 Brain Foods Experts Actually Recommend (longevity.technology)

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 – Mar 04, 2024

1. U.S. Stock Market Less Concentrated than Every Market Ex-Japan


2. Worst Performing Stocks February-Bespoke

Bespoke Investment Group

https://www.bespokepremium.com/interactive/posts/think-big-blog/the-best-and-worst-performing-stocks-of-february-2024


3. Crypto Estimated Annualized Fund Flows

The Daily Shot Brief https://dailyshotbrief.com/


4. Healthcare Outperforming in 2024

Vanguard Healthcare ETF


5. Household Debt as % of GDP


6. Share of U.S. Consumer Spending by Income

Torsten Slok, Ph.D. Chief Economist, Partner-The Top 20% of incomes account for almost 40% of consumer spending, see chart below.

https://www.capitalgroup.com/advisor/insights/articles/friendshoring-brings-industrial-sized-investment-opportunity.html?sfid=1988901890&cid=81126181&et_cid=81126181&cgsrc=SFMC&alias=btn-LP-A1cta-advisor


8. Reasons for Trade Barriers

https://fastercapital.com/content/Trade-barriers–Breaking-Down-Trade-Barriers.html


9. Summary of Marijuana in the U.S.-Chartr

https://www.chartr.com/


10. Expect Disorder

FS–Farnam Street Blog

“Entropy applies to every part of our lives. It is inescapable, and even if we try to ignore it, the result is a collapse of some sort. Understanding entropy leads to a radical change in the way we see the world. Ignorance of it is responsible for many of our biggest mistakes and failures. We cannot expect anything to stay the way we leave it. To maintain our health, relationships, careers, skills, knowledge, societies, and possessions requires never-ending effort and vigilance. Disorder is not a mistake; it is our default. Order is always artificial and temporary.”

Entropy

The Daily Stoic Marcus Aurelius opens Meditations reflecting upon what he has learned from various influential individuals in his life. It’s titled “Debts and Lessons,” and the 17 entries spanning nine pages and more than 2,000 words make up nearly 10% of the entire book! Marcus writes with the humility of someone in the final act of their life taking stock of how lucky they are to be where they are.

It’s beautiful. And it totally dispenses with the notion of the “self-made man,” the idea that someone got somewhere all on their own. Marcus knew he was a product of so many mentors, influencers, advisors and teachers. Debt is the operative word in that title—he owed them so much.

When we talked to Arnold Schwarzenegger on a recent episode of the Daily Stoic podcast, he talked about this very idea (in fact, he references how inspired he was by Meditations in the final chapter of his fantastic new book Be Useful). Because on the surface Arnold Schwarzenegger’s remarkable life story is a classic example of that idea of the “self-made man.” Born and raised in a small village in Austria, seemingly on his own sheer will and determination, Arnold achieved extraordinary success in the worlds of bodybuilding, acting, business and politics, ultimately becoming a global icon.

But he didn’t do it on his own, Arnold told us. “I have been a creation of hundreds of people,” he said in our episode. “Thousands of people. I had Kurt Marnul, Mr. Austria, say to me when I was a scrawny 15-year-old kid, ‘You can become Mr Austria in a few years from now. Go to the gym with me, and I will show you how to exercise.’” For the next two minutes, Arnold went on talking about just of the people who helped him throughout his life. “It’s unbelievable the amount of people that helped me and pushed me,” he said.

Ultimately, each of us is the sum of our surroundings. We are products of our influences, our environments, our family and friends. Success is a collaborative effort. The myth of the self-made man is just that, a myth. Embrace the idea that we are all interconnected, and our achievements are a collective effort. We are, in the end, a reflection of the support and guidance we receive from the countless people who shape our lives.

https://dailystoic.com/

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 – Mar 01, 2024

1. A 5% February: What Worked and What Didn’t-Bespoke

The S&P 500 finished February with a gain of more than 5% for just the 11th time in the index’s history since 1928. Below is a look at prior 5%+ gains in February along with the S&P 500’s performance in March and for the remainder of each year. The last time we had a 5% February was 2015. That March, the S&P fell 1.74%, and the index fell 2.88% from the end of February through year-end. Let’s hope we don’t see that type of action for the remainder of 2024, although a repeat of 2015 would be a lot better than what investors experienced in 1931 when the S&P rallied 11.37% in February only to fall 54.96% for the rest of the year!

https://www.bespokepremium.com/interactive/posts/think-big-blog/a-5-february-what-worked-and-what-didnt


2. Small Cap Russell 2000 Breaks Above 2022 Levels


3. Bitcoin Flows vs. Gold Since ETF Launch

Zerohedge

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/bank-americ-wells-fargo-offer-spot-bitcoin-etfs-clients

 


4. Wall Street Banks Now Lending to Private Equity Lenders

Semafor Blog Wall Street banks have lost out on billions of dollars in fees to private lenders. A few have figured out how to get some of that money back. As private lenders muscle in on banks’ bread-and-butter business of corporate lending, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and others have built sizable businesses lending to these upstart competitors, which are eager to juice their own returns with that favorite of Wall Street tools: leverage. This lending casts these two camps more as frenemies than existential rivals in a game that is “less zero-sum than it seems,” said Dee Dee Sklar, who ran this business at Wells Fargo until retiring in 2019. Liz Hoffman

https://www.semafor.com/article/02/29/2024/frenemies-in-the-corporate-loan-market


5. Oprah Leaves Weight Watchers Board….WW -63% Year to Date


6. Obesity Greater Risk than Hunger 2024

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/other/obesity-now-greater-risk-to-global-health-than-hunger-study-finds/ar-BB1j8mn5


7. The Cost of Reinsuring Properties-FT


8. Urban, Suburban, Rural Home Updates


9. OpenAI Bot-Morningbrew

https://www.morningbrew.com/daily


10. Intelligent Failure

Psychology Today Andy Lopata Edmondson challenges the perceived wisdom that all failure is, by its very nature, bad for us. She talks about “intelligent failure”, an outcome that results from experimentation. “An intelligent failure is an undesired outcome; it’s not the outcome we had hoped for, maybe even expected, but it takes place in new territory where we lacked available knowledge about how to get that result that we wanted.

“An intelligent failure happens in pursuit of a goal. We’re not just messing around with resources; it’s thoughtful. We’ve done our homework. “These are the kinds of failures that we really must train ourselves to welcome because they are the source of discovery.”

In The Right Kind of Wrong, Edmondson talks about how failures in early attempts at open-heart surgery laid the pathway for the successes we have witnessed in this field ever since. She explains how we take for granted that “surgeons today can crack open the breastbone and operate on the heart of a living person and repair it and give you more years of life.

“And yet there was a point in history where no one had ever done that before. It was initially considered more or less impossible because you couldn’t operate on a beating heart.”

To get from that point to the daily miracles we witness in the current era, doctors had to fail and patients died. But the key, according to Edmondson, is that they never operated on a patient who had a better option. “If the choice was between operating and possibly making them better or not operating and they would still be OK, they wouldn’t operate.”

Intelligent failure is all about the failure being “no bigger than it has to be to get the new knowledge that it brings.” By only operating on patients who had no other alternatives and would have died without an attempt to save them, the risk of failure was mitigated.

Culture Blocks The challenge is that too few modern organisations operate within a culture that encourages intelligent failure. Short-term pressures can often make failure something to hide under a rock rather than shine a spotlight on to learn from and progress.

Edmondson argues that organisations need to think beyond short-term reporting and, if necessary, take a hit. After all, if everyone just focused on quarterly profits, nobody would ever take a risk or try something new at all. “I don’t think you have to be a visionary, but you have to be reasonably thoughtful. And you do need to get people on board with that.

It’s important to recognise longer-term thinking as a cost of being in business five years from now and making that a cost you are willing to pay.”

Perfectionism also, somewhat naturally, creates a barrier to learning from failure. Edmondson argues that “perfection equals disconnection”, explaining that leaders who strive for perfection may impose the same unrealistic standards on their team members, creating a culture of fear. “There’s no such thing as perfect”, Dr. Edmondson explains, “and so they end up blaming and shaming if they make a mistake.”

Rather than striving for perfection and creating a climate of fear, Edmondson wants to see leaders who are focused on developing trusted relationships across their team and encouraging honest and vulnerable conversations that lead to growth and innovation. “High-quality relationships, are ones where we’re willing to tell each other the truth and we can roll up our sleeves and get hard things done because we have that honesty, because we’re not posturing and we’re not putting on a show for each other. We’re authentically digging into the challenges on our mutual plates. “That’s how I think of high-quality relationships, not people who I know really well, but ones where I believe I can be truthful.”

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/connected-leadership/202402/learning-from-failure

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 – Feb 29, 2024

1. History of Median P/E Ratios

From Irrelevant Investor Blog

Animal Spirits: Now Show Japan


2. 2-Year Treasury …4 to 4.70 in 2024

Not sure how much moving averages matter in bonds…but 2-year about to close over 200day

 


3. Home Depot Big Decline in Income

Stock making run at all-time highs above $400


4. U.S. Mag 7 Concentrated Rally…We Showed Europe Top 25 Concentrated Rally…..Japan Also Concentrated Rally

Torsten Slok, Ph.D.-Chief Economist, Partner


5. Beyond Meats Hit a High of $250 in 2019

BYND +40% yesterday but….


6. As Bitcoin Makes Run at Highs….COINBASE +53% in One Month


7. $1B Paid to Hackers Last Year thru Crypto

The Daily Shot Brief Food for Thought: Total crypto payments to hackers:

Source: @axios


8. 10 Largest Cities Back to the Office…Austin #1 vs. Philly #10

Kastle Systems

Kastle Systems – Data Assisting in Return to Office Plans


9. The greenest car in America isn’t an EV

Story by Shannon Osaka Washington Post  If you try to imagine a “green” car, an EV is probably the first thing that comes to mind. A silent motor with tons of torque; no fumes, gasoline smells, or air pollution belching from an exhaust pipe. Last year, U.S. consumers had over 50 electric car models to choose from, up from about 30 the year before.

But a new report from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy suggests that the “greenest” car in America may not be fully electric. The nonprofit group, which has rated the pollution from vehicles for decades, says the winning car this year is the Toyota Prius Prime, a plug-in hybrid that can go 48 miles on electricity before switching to hybrid.

“It’s the shape of the body, the technology within it, and the overall weight,” said Peter Huether, senior research associate for transportation at ACEEE. “And all different types of Priuses are very efficient.”

It’s not the first time that a plug-in vehicle has topped the GreenerCars list; the Prius Prime also won out in 2020 and 2022. But with more and more electric vehicles on the market, the staying power of the plug-in hybrid is surprising.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/the-greenest-car-in-america-isn-t-an-ev/ar-BB1j2nwl

 


10. Peter Diamandis Predicts ‘Millions, Then Billions’ of Humanoid Robots Are Coming

INC BY CHLOE AIELLO, REPORTER@CHLOBO_ILO

Robot people aren’t just for science fiction movies anymore.

XPrize Foundation founder Peter Diamandis predicts that millions or even billions of robots that look and move like people could integrate into consumers’ homes and workplaces, thanks to technological breakthroughs including artificial intelligence and a looming labor shortage. The market for these robots could hit $150 billion by 2035 and as much as $3 trillion by 2050, according to figures cited by Diamandis.

“It’s only now, driven by major advances in sensors and actuators, battery technologies and artificial intelligence, that a new generation of useful and affordable robotic labor is within reach,” Diamandis wrote in a recent blog post.

Recent advancements in generative AI, the technology that enables applications like ChatGPT, have taken the world by storm. Generative AI “magnifies a robot’s adaptability,” Diamandis wrote, by using “reinforcement learning” combined with decision-making algorithms. Plus, robots have the potential to instantaneously share learned skills with others in their network–something humans cannot do.

The market for these robots could be huge. In a 2022 report, Goldman Sachs predicted the market value of humanoid robots in a “blue sky scenario” could hit as much as $154 billion by 2035. Cathie Wood, founder and CEO of investment management firm Ark Invest, sets the bar even higher, at $1 trillion by 2030. Financial services company Macquarie, meanwhile, anticipates a whopping $3 trillion market for humanoid robots by 2050.

Diamandis extolled the utility of a humanoid robot laborer who “operates 24/7, who doesn’t need drug testing, and doesn’t call in sick from a fight with their boyfriend or girlfriend,” in a recent conversation with Inc.

Lidar, or light detection and ranging sensors, is the technology that gives sight to autonomous vehicles–and could do the same for humanoid robots. It works by rapidly firing a laser off of surrounding objects, and then using a sensor to measure the length of time it takes for the light to travel out and bounce back, according to the National Ecological Observatory Network. These measurements, used for mapping out surroundings, help robots navigate, according to San Jose, California-based lidar company Velodyne Lidar. The size and cost of lidar units have shrunk 1,000 times and 100 times, respectively, Diamandis writes, making the technology more accessible.

Driving the demand for humanoid robots is a looming labor shortage as Baby Boomers head into retirement with fewer young workers to replace them, Diamandis notes. This could be an advantage to workers as robots replace less desirable jobs in industries like manufacturing and agriculture. But more than industry is behind Macquarie’s massive market predictions. Wendy Pan, an analyst for Macquarie Research in Japan, sees humanoid robots as the next logical step in a long line of technological advances.

“The car helped shorten people’s commute time. I see the purpose as similar for humanoid robots: to shorten people’s time spent on housework, making people’s lives easier and more convenient,” writes Pan.

Diamandis isn’t alone in his sentiments. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are among the big names bullish about humanoid robots.

Peter Diamandis Predicts ‘Millions, Then Billions’ of Humanoid Robots Are Coming | Inc.com