Consumers Are Spent, France Hack, U.S. of Old and More Investing News
Let's scan through the headlines for the stories of the week that speak to our Pro Portfolio holdings.
You're reading 0 of 1 free page.
Register to read more or Unlock Pro — 50% Off Ends Soon
More consumers are reporting trouble keeping their lifestyle within budget. France's postal service appears to have been hacked. And America is quickly graying. These are a few of the stories we've uncovered this past week that speak to our Pro Portfolio investments.
Digging deeper, as you'll see below, we've found reports that reinforce the Portfolio’s investment themes, such as the aging population's accelerating demand for healthcare services and senior housing. Meanwhile, consumers are dealing with persistent inflation, higher borrowing costs, and growing job uncertainty. Below you'll find even more "signals" that speak to our investments and that can help you evaluate your own holdings.
If you’ve come across a signal we should know about, be sure to drop a link in the Comment section below.
Aging Population
“The defining issue for the aging sector in 2026 is the widening gap between the rapidly growing older adult population and the limited supply of senior housing and care options,” said Brian G. Lawrence, president and CEO of New Jersey-based life plan operator FellowshipLIFE. The need for senior living is increasing, he said, noting the growing older adult population, low construction activity and a declining number of family caregivers, among other factors. Read more here
By 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older, and by 2034 older adults will outnumber children for the first time, according to the Census Bureau. This year, the oldest baby boomers turn 80. That demographic shift is reshaping a vast share of the U.S. economy, from participation in the labor force to retirement savings, Social Security and Medicare outlays, health care spending, housing and financial services. Retirement is one of the largest — and fastest-growing — forces in the economy. Read more here
Position: Labcorp (LH) ; Welltower (WELL)
Artificial Intelligence
Health systems are turning to artificial intelligence as rising complexity and labor pressures demand faster, more reliable decisions. They use AI to predict hospital operations, scale intelligence across networks and personalize cancer care. Digital twins, cloud platforms and multimodal models make that shift possible. PYMNTS looks at three ways AI is changing healthcare. Read more here
At a challenging time for the restaurant industry, major chains like Chipotle and Cava are putting money behind automated makelines from startup Hyphen. Read more here
Hospitality platform Toast is introducing “retail specific” capabilities for its Toast IQ artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. It’s part of a wider range of updates the company plans to showcase next week at the National Retail Federation show in New York City… Read more here
Payments/financial services technology provider Fiserv has launched an AI-focused partnership with Microsoft. This new collaboration is designed to further embed artificial intelligence (AI) into Fiserv’s development platforms, while giving its workers greater access to the technology… Read more here
“Retailers face a landscape where AI is no longer optional,” Balaji Balasubramanian, SAP’s chief product officer for customer experience and consumer industries, said in the release. “SAP provides one closed-loop, AI-enhanced retail operating system that ties planning, execution and engagement together. We put data and AI at the heart of retail, delivering speed, personalization and growth across every channel and segment.” Read more here
Artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to reshape commercial real estate—not through futuristic smart buildings, but by automating the manual back-office work that underpins valuations, underwriting, leasing and property operations. Morgan Stanley estimates that AI could automate about 37% of tasks across the sector, unlocking as much as $34 billion in efficiency gains by 2030. As rising financing costs, tighter margins and slower deal activity push property owners, lenders and operators to find structural cost savings, the technology is increasingly being deployed to compress timelines, reduce human error and standardize decision-making across the real estate life cycle. Read more here
Position: Alphabet (GOOGL) , Amazon (AMZN) , Arista Networks (ANET) , Axon (AXON) , Meta (META) , Microsoft (MSFT) , ServiceNow (NOW) , SuRo Capital (SSSS)
Cash-Strapped Consumer
No generation is insulated from rising costs, the report revealed. Roughly 1 in 2 consumers in every age cohort reported difficulty covering basic expenses. Yet the nature of these difficulties varies. Many older Americans on fixed incomes are more likely to be squeezed by the rising cost of essentials such as groceries and utilities, while younger adults are juggling unstable income, transportation costs and mounting credit card balances. The differences are shaping spending behavior, saving habits and reliance on informal support networks. Read more here
The price of new cars and trucks in the U.S. has increased 33% since 2020, and consumers are piling on interest as they stretch out loan terms to eight, nine and nearly 10 years… Fast forward to November of this year and the average monthly payment for a new car was estimated to be $760, according to J.D. Power, an industry-research firm. The hefty cumulative inflation is starting to weigh on consumers, and now some Americans are falling behind on their car payments. Read more here
If Congress doesn’t extend the enhanced premium tax credits, the average out-of-pocket premium for people using Obamacare will more than double, according to KFF. Older adults who live in areas with fewer medical providers are likely to see out-of-pocket premiums skyrocket well above the average; younger adults are expected to experience more modest increases. Read more here
One-third of Gen Z and zillennial consumers report borrowing money from friends or family to manage rising costs, compared with much lower rates among older cohorts. While 7 in 10 baby boomers and seniors say they respond to financial pressure by cutting back spending, only about half of Gen Z does so. Read more here
As stress intensifies, consumers are recalibrating what financial stability looks like. For many living paycheck to paycheck, stability no longer means building savings or discretionary spending. Instead, it means simply covering everyday expenses without borrowing. Among consumers struggling to pay bills, 45% say that being able to cover regular expenses without taking on debt defines financial security. Yet nearly half of these consumers, 46%, believe that even this goal is out of reach. Read more here
Americans are less confident about finding a job than they’ve been in the 12 years the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been producing the Survey of Consumer Expectations… The survey also found that Americans believe it is more likely they could lose their job. The mean perceived probability of this happening in the next 12 months rose by 1.4 percentage points to 15.2%, per the release. Read more here
Position: Amazon, Costco (COST) , TJX Companies (TJX)
Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity
A suspected cyberattack disrupted services provided by French postal service La Poste on Monday, delaying package deliveries and online payment systems during the holiday season. The company said in a statement that a “major network incident” had disrupted its information systems, which included services operated by its online banking arm, La Banque Postale and the laposte.fr website, which displayed a message stating that it was currently unavailable. Read more here
The National Security Bureau in Taiwan says that China's attacks on the country's energy sector increased tenfold in 2025 compared to the previous year. A report from the agency highlights that attackers targeted critical infrastructure in nine key sectors, and the total number of cyber incidents linked to China grew by 6%. The emergency rescue and hospitals sectors saw an increase in cyberattacks of 54%, while communications and transmissions recorded 6.7% more incidents. Read more here
Claims administration and risk management company Sedgwick has confirmed that its federal contractor subsidiary, Sedgwick Government Solutions, was the victim of a security breach… The list of federal agencies using Sedgwick Government Solutions's services includes the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Department of Commerce, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the United States Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Labor, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the U.S. Coast Guard. Read more here
In its 2025 State of Ransomware in the US report, security firm Emsisoft says ransomware attacks continued to climb last year, with more victims appearing on extortion sites and more groups operating than ever before. The figures climbed even as police and prosecutors notched up a string of wins against ransomware groups, such as the global takedown of BlackSuit in August. Read more here
Position: Alphabet, First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF, Microsoft
Digital Lifestyle
Artificial intelligence has crossed a threshold that few digital behaviors reach. It is becoming the starting point for everyday life. Consumers are not merely “trying” AI—they are using it to plan, learn, shop, decide and move closer to transacting. As a result, the traditional consumer journey of search, browse, compare and purchase is giving way to a conversational AI-mediated journey where intent is expressed once and then refined in the resulting dialogue. Read more here
Major payment and tech companies are racing to build the infrastructure for what they see as the next evolution of global commerce: artificial intelligence agents that can perform searches, compare prices, and make purchases on behalf of consumers. The trend is referred to as “agentic commerce,” and reflects consumers’ growing reliance on chatbots for everyday tasks, including searching for products and deals online. Read more here
Consumers are increasingly comfortable completing purchases directly inside artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, signaling a potential shift in how digital commerce journeys are structured… The survey finds that 52% of AI users prefer to complete purchases directly within an AI interface, compared with 48% who would rather be sent to a merchant site to finish the transaction. That near-even split marks a notable departure from the dominant eCommerce model of the past decade, where both discovery and checkout typically occurred on merchant-owned platforms. Read more here
Consumers have spent over $3 billion in OpenAI’s ChatGPT mobile app in the roughly 31 months since the app was launched. Most of that total, $2.5 billion, was spent in 2025 alone, mobile analytics and intelligence platform Appfigures… Read more here
Visa is on track to offer artificial intelligence-enabled commerce to consumers within months and expects that millions of consumers will be using AI agents to complete purchases by the end of 2026. Read more here
Faraway road trips just got a lot easier, at least for the passengers. Sony Honda Mobility, the joint venture between the two Japanese conglomerates created to produce electric vehicles, announced that its Afeela EV will come with PS Remote Play. While playing video games in a car may be a niche feature, it means drivers will have something to do when parked, and passengers can chip away at their favorite RPGs during long drives. Read more here
Google is now signaling a shift in how it wants AI to be deployed. Alongside its cloud-based Gemini models, the company has been expanding its edge AI stack, including Google Edge tooling and a new compact model called FunctionGemma. Together, these efforts point to a strategy that treats local execution as a core layer of AI infrastructure rather than a niche optimization. Read more here
Position: Alphabet (GOOGL) , Amazon, Apple, Meta (META) , SuRo Capital (SSSS)
Energy Pain Point
Most Americans are paying more for electricity—and need to prepare their wallets for further pain ahead. Data centers are getting much of the blame lately for rising power costs, but they aren’t the only catalyst and don’t always cause increases. The reasons our bills are rising are complex and varied. Hurricanes, wildfires, state renewable-energy plans and the replacement of aging or damaged grid equipment are all playing a role. Discontent over rising power bills has become a hot political issue that is expected to spill into the 2026 midterm elections. Read more here
Position: Eaton (ETN)
EV Transition
Automakers across Europe have been rolling back their electric ambitions as demand has disappointed, with the EV transition becoming uneven across the globe. Last month, the European Union watered down its EV push, effectively scrapping a 2035 ban on the sale of new combustion-engine cars, while the US has U-turned on EVs under President Donald Trump. Read more here
Position: None
Homebuilding & Materials
There were an estimated 37.2% more home sellers than buyers in the U.S. housing market in November (or 529,770 more, in numerical terms)—the largest gap in records dating back to 2013 aside from this summer. That’s up from 35.6% a month earlier and 17% a year earlier. The gap has been hovering above 35% since April. Read more here
Position: None
Safety & Security
Pres. Donald Trump on Wednesday declared he would ask Congress for a $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027, a massive $500 billion increase from this year’s Pentagon budget. The huge boost likely reflects how expensive some of Trump’s military ambitions are, from the Golden Dome air defense effort to his call for a new battleship design. Neither of those programs could be fully funded under current spending levels. Read more here
Turkey will spend the equivalent of $27.34 billion on defense and security in 2026, marking a 30% increase compared with the previous year. The Turkish parliament approved the budget in late December, and it entered into force on Jan. 1. The Ministry of National Defence (MoND) is slate to get $19.08 billion, representing a 31.6% increase over its 2025 budget. Read more here
The latest technologies operating at our borders create a deluge of vital data at the edge. Data that might be person-centric, cargo customs linked or simply provide insight into immediate changes in trade between countries or businesses. There are thousands of data points that can be captured and processed at the edge for the benefit of multiple agencies in short order. The ability to merge, prioritize and clearly interpret edge data can drive new efficiencies, while at the same time improve public safety and confidence. To that end, AI done right is proving a significant asset, supporting predictive analytics, economic activity and national security. Read more here
Position: Axon, Palantir
The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models
Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings.
Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.
Cash-Strapped Consumer - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.
CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.
Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.
Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.
Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity -The buildout and upgrading of our Networks, Data Storage Facilities, and Equipment.
Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.
Digital Payments - This model focuses on companies benefiting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).
Energy Pain Point - Companies poised to prosper from rising power demand.
EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.
Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.
Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.
Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.
Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.
Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.
