Koreans Turn to Ralph Lauren; AI for the Elderly & More Investing News
Let's scan through the headlines for the stories of the week that speak to our Pro Portfolio holdings.
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Koreans are turning from high-cost luxury items to once-shunned U.S. preppy brands, mobile artificial intelligence is taking the reins as PC usage falls, and Amazon AMZN gets hip with its Lens shopping tool. These are a few of the many reports we've clipped here that speak to our Pro Portfolio. We've also included some news videos in the mix this time as we scanned the week's headlines.
Other topics we cover include comments from folks at Meta META and Nvidia NVDA that point to a long runway for digital infrastructure spending and how some municipalities are raising costs for heavy energy users.
If you’ve come across a signal we should know about, be sure to drop a link in the Comment section below.
And if you haven’t watched this week’s TheStreet Stocks & Markets podcast, here’s a helpful link so you can.
Aging Population
Position: Labcorp LH; Bullpen: Welltower WELL
Artificial Intelligence
Comscore said that in the past three months, mobile reach for AI tools, including both mobile web and native app usage, grew 5.3% to 73.4 million users, while PC usage fell 11.1%. Read more here
Amazon is adding enhanced camera-shopping capabilities to its app with the release of “Lens Live,” a new feature that builds on its Amazon Lens experience. Using a mobile device camera while in the Amazon app, shoppers can tap an item in the camera view to focus in on a specific product. The technology instantly finds real-time matches and or suggestions for similar items on Amazon. The feature also includes product information and answers to common questions generated by Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant. Read more here
In the skilled hands of oncologist Dr Raj Jena, artificial intelligence is saving not just time, but lives. Last year the specialist, who works at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in the east of England, was appointed as the UK’s first clinical professor of AI in radiation oncology at the University of Cambridge. Read more here
Position: Alphabet GOOGL, Amazon AMZN, Elastic ESTC, Meta META, Microsoft MSFT, ServiceNow NOW, SuRo Capital SSSS
Cash-Strapped Consumer
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said Wednesday (Sept. 10) that low-income consumers are “living on the edge.” Scharf said the bank’s data shows that these consumers are spending the money they have and that their balances are below pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, high-income consumers are thriving, per Wells Fargo data, and companies are in “really great shape,”…“There is this big dichotomy between higher-income and lower-income consumers which continues and is a real issue,” Read more here
US health insurers, reeling from slumping share prices, are raising insurance premiums by the most in 15 years, adding to fears that American consumers are struggling under the weight of high costs…The cost of companies’ health insurance plans for employees is expected to jump by an average of 6.5 per cent in 2026, the biggest increase in 15 years, according to a report by Mercer. For people who buy health insurance on government exchanges, the median increase for 2026 is 18 per cent — more than double last year’s 7 per cent rise, according to KFF, a non-profit health policy research group. Read more here
Position: Amazon, Costco COST, TJX Companies TJX
Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity
One of the UK's largest rail operators, LNER, is the latest organization to spill user data via a third-party data breach. It confirmed the incident on Wednesday, saying customer contact details and "some information about previous journeys" was accessed at a third-party supplier. Read more here
Runtime application security firm Oligo earlier this year revealed that its researchers had discovered potentially serious vulnerabilities in Apple’s AirPlay wireless communication protocol and the accompanying SDK, warning that they could allow hackers to remotely take over devices. Read more here
According to notification letters sent out to the affected individuals, Cornwell Quality Tools discovered unusual activity on its network on December 20, 2024. An investigation completed recently showed that hackers had gained access to its systems and files a week earlier. The company is telling impacted people that information such as their name, Social Security number, medical information, and financial account number may have been compromised. The Maine Attorney General’s Office has been informed that the incident impacts 103,782 individuals. Read more here
Position: Alphabet Elastic, First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF, Microsoft
Digital Infrastructure
Construction spending on U.S. data centers rose to a record amount of $40B in June, according to a new report from the Bank of America Institute. The increase is due to the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies, which require immense computing power. The adoption of AI technology has prompted major technology companies to ramp up investments in digital infrastructure. The figure marks a 30% increase from the same period last year, which experienced a 50% surge. Read more here
OpenAI today confirmed that it has signed an agreement to purchase computing infrastructure worth $300 billion from Oracle Corp. over a period of roughly five years, as part of its previously announced Project Stargate data center building initiative. The deal represents one of the biggest cloud contracts in history. It’s a massive commitment that far outstrips OpenAI’s current revenue, reflecting the frenzied rate of spending on artificial intelligence data centers by Silicon Valley companies. Read more here
Artificial intelligence innovation is moving at warp speed, but major tech industry players are sounding alarm bells that infrastructure is failing to keep pace with advancements in the field. “AI is kicking our butts and teaching us that we know nothing about infrastructure,” Yee Jiun Song (pictured below), vice president of engineering at Meta Platforms Inc., said Tuesday at the AI Infra Summit in Santa Clara, California. Zeroing in on the fundamental disconnect, Dion Harris, senior director of AI and HPC Infrastructure Solutions at Nvidia Corp., also noted at the conference that though new AI models are being introduced every week, the time frame for building out the infrastructure to support AI is currently measured in years. Read more here
Positions: Marvell MRVL, Nvidia NVDA, Qualcomm QCOM
Energy Pain Point
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is giving American Electric Power the green light to start charging data centers differently. The decision is another acknowledgement of the strain large energy consumers are placing on the grid. Read more here
Data centers in Delaware will soon have to pay more for electricity than other industrial businesses as a result of steps that state regulators say will slow rising energy prices. The Delaware Public Service Commission, the state body charged with regulating utility services, voted Wednesday to stop “large-load consumers,” such as energy-hungry data centers, from connecting to the electric grid until the commission can create a new “tariff,” or electricity rate, for them. Read more here
Position: Eaton
EV Transition
US EV sales set yet another record in August, with 146,332 EVs sold, according to the latest numbers from Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book. That gave EV sales in August a 9.9% share of total new car sales, up from 9.1% in July and the highest yet. With the federal EV tax credit set to expire on September 30, analysts say Q3 2025 is shaping up to be the strongest quarter for EV sales in US history. The current record holder is Q4 2024, when 365,824 EVs were sold. Read more here
General Motors announced this week that it will scale back production of both the Cadillac Lyriq and Vistiq in addition to the upcoming Chevrolet Bolt EV. The brand expects EV sales to slow significantly once the $7,500 Federal EV Tax Credit expires at the end of this month. Read more here
Rivian has laid off about 200 employees as the electric vehicle maker prepares for a U.S. economy with fewer incentives to go green. The electric truck and sport-utility vehicle manufacturer is preparing for a challenging year in which it plans to launch a more affordable model even as it gets more expensive to buy an EV. Read more here
Homebuilding & Materials
Skyrocketing housing values and a shortage of homes on the market gave homeowners the upper hand for years when it came time to sell. That’s no longer a given. Across the country, it’s getting tougher for sellers to drive a hard bargain. A dearth of home shoppers who can afford to buy and uncertainty about the outlook for the economy, jobs and mortgage rates is putting pressure on sellers to give ground at the negotiating table. Read more here
The US housing market will be a big driver of headline disinflation, according to Rosenberg Research, which foresees a major drop in home prices that could drag the pace of inflation close to 1% — well below the Fed's 2% price growth target. Read more here
Lumber prices have dropped 25% since early August, as uncertainty over tariffs, oversupply, and a slowdown in U.S. homebuilding continue to weigh on demand. In response, major North American producers are scaling back output. Read more here
Luxury Buying Boom
For years, South Korea was one of the most reliable markets for European luxury houses, where names like Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton seemed immune to economic downturns. But Korean shoppers, weary of relentless price hikes, are now indulging their taste for luxury with American labels such as Ralph Lauren and Coach— once dismissed as passé — echoing a trend already underway worldwide. Read more here
Safety & Security
As the U.K. is boosting military spending, the government is allocating additional funds to the local industry along with plans to bring foreign contractors to Britain, according to Luke Pollard, the nation’s recently appointed minister for defense procurement and industry. “We have an extra 5 billion pounds [$6.77 billion] in our defense budget. It’s the largest uplifting of our budget since the Cold War,” Pollard said in a keynote speech at the 2025 DSEI UK show in London. Read more here
In his nine years at the Fort Collins, Colorado, police department, Officer Scott Brittingham says he has taken a lot of pride in the process of writing reports after each call for service. But when the department decided to test a tool to speed things up, he was intrigued. Now, a report that might have previously taken him 45 minutes to write takes just 10 minutes. Read more here
Position: Axon Enterprise AXON, Palantir PLTR
The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models
Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.
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 benefitting 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.
