Stocks opened the week with promise. They closed it in despair.
Big Tech reported earnings. AI spending fears came roaring back. Investors fled to defensive stocks, the financial equivalent of hiding in the pantry.
Defensive stocks. Utilities. Consumer staples. Toothpaste.
Last Monday you were a visionary. You said "the dip is a gift." You said it to your spouse, who was looking at the dog.
By Friday, you were googling "does Colgate pay a dividend." It does. Colgate has paid one for a very long time. Colgate never once asked you to believe in a data center.
Here is what my chart says. Price went up. Price went down. The line does not care why. It never read the earnings call. It never heard a CEO say "capital expenditures" with a straight face.
Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta spend tens of billions on AI chips and buildings. Investors hear the number and ask where the money comes back. The CEOs answer with a vision. Visions are not revenue, but they do have great slide decks.
The reversal is called "rotation." Rotation sounds like a plan. It is a stampede with a Bloomberg terminal.
Retail traders will call this a "healthy pullback." Nothing about you is healthy. You check your brokerage app during funerals.
Some of you bought Monday's strength. Some of you sold Friday's weakness. A few of you did both with leverage and a podcast's blessing.
I support you. Not financially.
The market had a big week. It changed its mind twice, and you changed your entire personality along with it.
Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash
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