☕ My ears perked up when I heard this

Howdy! 👋 

Aaaaaannnnnndddddd, we’re off. 

All three US indices – the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq – are firmly in the green as I type in the early going. 

I’ll take it and trust you will too. 

There are some big earnings reports later this week so be on guard for related volatility even as the indices power higher. I would not be surprised by another big dump later this week if the go-fast traders decide to engineer another “rug pull.” 

And remember. 

Short-term volatility always makes longer term opportunity cheaper! 

Here’s my playbook. 

1 – My fave choice in the quantum space 

Once again, I was honored to join the venerable Stuart Varney this morning ahead of today’s opening bell for a chat about the Nvidia situation and the real risk nobody seems to want to talk about. Plus, my take on CoreWeave, D-Wave & Rigetti… and why I prefer what I believe is a far better choice in the quantum space. (Watch) 

2 – Will Jensen be CEO by the end of the week? 🤷‍♂️  

Like millions of folks, I was stunned by news this weekend regarding Nvidia. 

On Sunday, Jensen Huang admitted in a memo to staff that he’d been unfaithful to his wife. “There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry,” he wrote. (Read) 

It’s a terribly unfortunate situation no matter how you cut it. 

Personally and professionally. 

From an investing perspective, the bigger issue is whether he knew or should have known that the woman with whom he apparently cheated was/is a Chinese intelligence operative.  

Worse, did he knowingly allow billions of dollars in otherwise restricted chip sales to Chinese “ghost companies” – meaning companies that look real on paper but which are nothing more than shells operating on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army or other Chinese intelligence services – because he was personally compromised. 

If so, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that Jensen Huang himself is a national security risk. 

I’ll have more in today’s One Bar Ahead® update later today along with a few thoughts on how to handle what’s happening… and possibly, even turn a buck along the way, too. 

3  –  Amazon wants a robot in your living room. Again. 🤦‍ 

Back in 2017, Jeff Bezos told his device team to build a home robot. 

What they came up with was Astro… effectively an Alexa tablet on wheels that could map your house, recognize faces and roam around as a security monitor.  

Price tag?  

$1,450. 

A few thousand shipped. One owner told CNBC she’s “just stuck with it” – it’s now a party trick and a “trip hazard” that she mostly sends back to its charging dock. She expects to let it run around until it dies, then “send it to the trash heap.” 

Now Amazon’s back for round 2. 

It’s built a new Personal Robotics Group, bought humanoid maker Fauna Robotics in March and is hiring for what job posts call a “new-to-world robot product.” (Read) 

Another “me too” in a long line of ‘em. 

Thanks, but no thanks. 

Robotics is getting to be a super-crowded field at the moment. 

Choose carefully. 

Keith’s Investing Tip: Buy the best, ignore the rest!® 

4  –  My ears perked up when I heard this 

PNC Bank is teaming up with Coinbase to let its corporate and institutional clients receive payments in USDC, which is a digital stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the US dollar.  

Issued by Circle, every coin is backed by cash and short-term Treasuries held in reserve, so one USDC is always worth one dollar. When PNC clients receive it, it’s automatically converted back to plain old dollars. (Read) 

Last year, PNC partnered with Coinbase for crypto trading. Now it’s wiring stablecoins directly into its treasury business… aka the real money-moving machinery.  

My ears perked up. 

Here’s why. 

A cross-border wire transfer can take days, whereas a stablecoin payment settles nearly instantly, 24/7.  

JPMorgan, which has been right on more of these calls than just about anybody I’m familiar with, got there first and actually began working on digital clearing nearly a decade ago. I thought it would be a game-changer and told investors as much at the time and have – fortunately – been spot on the money (pun absolutely intended). 

JPM has returned ~150.39% since then versus ~79.10% from the SPY, a popular choice for passive investors. A ~1.9 to 1 performance advantage. 

CEO Jamie Dimon has never been a fan of crypto speculation, but when it comes to the plumbing, the bank’s been all in. 

Hooyah! 

Keith’s Investing Tip: People constantly hunt for shiny new toys, particularly small cap stocks, but what they fail to realize is that the biggest winners are increasingly from the biggest and best run companies.💡 

And on a personal note, if you can’t understand the difference between companies making “n+1” choices – meaning a better mousetrap – and those developing “zero to one” products to borrow both terms from billionaire investor Peter Thiel’s book of the same name, you might wanna revisit your investing process. Or, consider One Bar Ahead® where that’s how we roll. 😀 

5  –  Wanna get in on AI power? 

Loads of folks have convinced themselves that the AI power play is nukes – as in nuclear power. 

That may be true. 

Someday. 

Meanwhile, I submit the better and more immediate path to profits is via natural gas and alternative fuels and have recommended several companies operating in that space to the One Bar Ahead® Family. 

Or you could simply buy a jet engine for a cool $1-$2 million per. Each one can be deployed in a matter of days rather than waiting years for grid hookups. 

Coupla companies come to mind including ProEnergy and Crusoe Energy Systems. Both are still private but ECP apparently owns 60% of the former while the latter is reportedly in discussions with JPM and/or Morgan Stanley for an IPO. 

I’ve also heard that there are a few players who are exploring secondary markets to adapt jet engines for electricity but no names seem to stand out at present. 

I’ll be watching. 

Meanwhile and the next choice? 

Probably companies that make hearing protection or noise dampening solutions! 🙄 

Bottom Line  

Sometimes what you don’t buy is every bit as important as what you do. 

As always, let’s MAKE it a great day — you got this!  

Keith 😀