sending the shares soaring. Meta Platforms Inc. will deploy data center gear based on processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in a deal worth “double-digit billions” of dollars per gigawatt. Meta will buy AMD chips and computers designed to run artificial intelligence models over a five-year stretch, beginning in the second half of 2026, and will receive warrants to buy 160 million AMD shares. The agreement is part of Meta's efforts to "aggressively front-load" computing capacity, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg making AI the company's top priority and pledging to devote hundreds of billions of dollars to the effort.

causing investors to dump shares in a broad range of sectors. The so-called AI scare trade has become a dominant theme for stocks, with selling spreading beyond software to hit insurance brokers, private credit, and even real estate services. The flight is one of several shifts beneath the surface of a US market that is little changed in 2026 after years of tech-led gains.

breaking $63,000 overnight. A new Golden Age of short selling has begun, with Strategy (MSTR) the most shorted stock in the world, with 12.31% of the float on loan for selling. The company’s strategy depended on an endless supply of unquestioning retail buyers, which has recently evaporated.

or so says the bond market. longer-term 20-year and 30-year Treasury yields show more modest declines, indicating growing concerns about future federal deficits, despite three Fed interest rate cuts last year. The 10y10y forward rate, now 5.62273%, has risen 0.535 percentage points, signaling increasing long-term fiscal risk and debt concerns. Avoid all government bonds (TLT).

In the year prior to July 1, 2025, the US Census reported this week that the population grew by only 0.5%, or 1.8 million people, its lowest growth since the pandemic. The main cause for the significant slowdown was a collapse in net migration to 1.3 million from a peak of 2.7 million in the year prior to July 2024. In that most recent period, there were 519,000 more births than deaths, according to the new Census figures. That surplus is shrinking, however. By 2030, it’s likely to disappear altogether, making the US entirely dependent on immigration for population growth. Mass deportation of immigrants are a major cause. So are the $25,000 a year child costs. Young couples can’t afford to have kids. No new kids now means no consumers or economic growth in 20 years.