What we’re reading (4/4)
“This Small-Cap Stock Index Has Some Jumbo-Size Tenants” (Wall Street Journal). “Super Micro, a server maker known more commonly by its brand name Supermicro, is up 237% this year as demand surges for servers that power generative AI capabilities in data centers. MicroStrategy, meanwhile, has advanced 156% as the value of its cryptocurrency holdings has soared. Those returns have dwarfed hot stocks such as Nvidia, which has gained 73%. The ‘Micro’ stocks, which are now the two largest in the small-cap stock index, have a combined market value of $84 billion, including $57 billion added this year. Together, they accounted for more than a third of the Russell 2000’s 5.2% return in the first quarter, according to data from LSEG.”
“Did One Guy Just Stop A Huge Cyberattack?” (New York Times). “The internet, as anyone who works deep in its trenches will tell you, is not a smooth, well-oiled machine. It’s a messy patchwork that has been assembled over decades, and is held together with the digital equivalent of Scotch tape and bubble gum. Much of it relies on open-source software that is thanklessly maintained by a small army of volunteer programmers who fix the bugs, patch the holes and ensure the whole rickety contraption, which is responsible for trillions of dollars in global G.D.P., keeps chugging along. Last week, one of those programmers may have saved the internet from huge trouble. His name is Andres Freund. He’s a 38-year-old software engineer who lives in San Francisco and works at Microsoft.”
“A Million Simulations Predict A Dire Ending To America’s Debt Problem” (creditnews). “Bloomberg's research arm ran a million forecast simulations to determine just how fragile the U.S. debt outlook is in light of the federal government’s continued spending. The results are alarming, to say the least. In 88% of the forecast simulations, America’s debt-to-GDP ratio will increase over the next decade—putting the country on an unsustainable path.”
“Women’s Share Of Executive Jobs Falls For First Time In Years, Study Finds” (Washington Post). “Female executives lost roughly 60 ‘C-suite’ roles last year, a reversal after several years of slow but persistent growth, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Women now claim 11.8 percent of 15,000 chief executives, financial officers and other top roles at publicly traded U.S. companies, down from 12.2 percent the previous year, S&P said. It’s the first decline in that percentage since S&P started tracking this data in 2006.”
“The Costco Shoppers Putting $2,000 Gold Bars In Their Carts” (Wall Street Journal). “Americans can’t get enough gold. Costco, which started offering gold bars last year online and in a few stores, has been selling out within hours. Consumers rated gold as a better investment than stocks and mutual funds in 2023 for the first time in a decade, according to a Gallup poll. The price has been hitting record highs.”
