About Yesterday’s Rally

October 29, 2025 • 1 minute, 18 second read

Yesterday, on landmark deal announcements with Nokia and the U.S. Department of Energy, Nokia scooted up 5% bringing the S&P 500 index with it.

Good if you already own the stock.

Yesterday, also notched a less obvious record – its worst “breadth” day since 1990.

Turn Your Images On

Despite “the market” closing higher, nearly 300 of the 500 S&P 500 stocks traded lower. (Source: Bespoke Investment Group)

A high concentration of capital in a few stocks at the top ranks high among the features we detailed in Anatomy of a Stock Market Bubble.

On days like yesterday, headlines urge investors to buy. However, they also underscore the fragility of this terrifying bull market: just a handful of names can make the difference between a big up day and a big down day.

~ Addison

P.S. The Nvidia deal with the U.S. Energy Department is another minor feature of the Trump administration’s new strategic economic initiatives.

Tomorrow on Grey Swan Live! we’ll explore the rise of Trump’s economic nationalism and what it means for U.S. military readiness in the years ahead. Joining us is John Robb — our go-to analyst on the geopolitics of Trump’s tariff strategy, the global networked intifada, and the evolution of drone warfare in Ukraine.

A former consultant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, John brings firsthand insight into how autonomous weapons and AI are reshaping modern strategy.

With markets rallying on optimism over a U.S.–China trade deal, he’ll pinpoint the next global flashpoints — and the investment opportunities emerging as technology transforms the defense industry.

Ripple Effect

About Yesterday’s Rally

Addison Wiggin

October 29, 2025 • 1 minute, 18 second read

Breadth

Yesterday, on landmark deal announcements with Nokia and the U.S. Department of Energy, Nokia scooted up 5% bringing the S&P 500 index with it.

Good if you already own the stock.

Yesterday, also notched a less obvious record – its worst “breadth” day since 1990.

Turn Your Images On

Despite “the market” closing higher, nearly 300 of the 500 S&P 500 stocks traded lower. (Source: Bespoke Investment Group)

A high concentration of capital in a few stocks at the top ranks high among the features we detailed in Anatomy of a Stock Market Bubble.

~ Addison

P.S. The Nvidia deal with the U.S. Energy Department is another minor feature of the Trump administration’s new strategic economic initiatives.

A former consultant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, John brings firsthand insight into how autonomous weapons and AI are reshaping modern strategy.

Powell Cools Talk of December Rate Cut

October 30, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

Yesterday’s Fed meeting offered something for everyone.

For bullish investors, the quarter-point rate cut provided a clear signal. And the Fed is just about done with its quantitative tightening.

But for the bears, Powell doused expectations that a December rate cut was 100% on the table.

Autonomous Weapons

October 29, 2025 • John Robb

In the past, weapon systems took decades to build and changed slowly. Autonomy changes this. For example, new capabilities developed by field tests or simulation (testing scenarios in full physics simulators depicting actual environments) could be downloaded to existing weapon systems, making it possible to upgrade a weapon system significantly without any meaningful hardware changes. A process of improvement that used to take many years would shrink to weeks and, in time, days.

The Great Repricing of Power

October 29, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

Markets heard what they wanted. NVIDIA’s stock surged premarket on news that Trump would discuss the company’s Blackwell AI chip with Xi, pushing it to an unprecedented $5 trillion valuation.

Meanwhile, China quietly bought its first cargoes of U.S. soybeans this season — a symbolic gesture that reminded traders that diplomacy still runs on trade.

“It’s not détente,” wrote Bloomberg’s Jennifer Welch this morning, “It is a dealmaking with a timer.” Wall Street is ambivalent on peace, but they do like profits.

In the background, China’s biotech sector continues its ethically murky sprint forward — this week, reports surfaced of Chinese scientists creating monkeys engineered to exhibit schizophrenia and autism.

American Autonomy

October 28, 2025 • John Robb

America’s role in the world isn’t that of the world’s policeman (a temporary post-World War II role foisted upon the U.S. due to the Cold War) or as the destination of immigrants (for most of the 20th century, when we saw the most significant increases in individual incomes and quality of life, the U.S. didn’t accept many immigrants). Instead, the role the U.S. has played throughout its existence is as the world’s leader in the production, adoption, and socioeconomic integration of new technologies. We figured out how to do it successfully first, and the world followed.