Friday Charts: Ellison’s Back in the Game and Loving It

Another Friday, another crypto surge—Ellison's riding the wave like it's 2021 all over again.

Market Momentum

BNB smashes through resistance while BTC flirts with ATH territory. No fancy algorithms needed—just pure, unadulterated market frenzy.

Trading Volumes Spike

Volume spikes 40% in 24 hours. Retail piling in, whales accumulating—classic FOMO meets institutional greed.

Regulatory Side-Eye

FSA watches from the sidelines, probably drafting another 'warning' memo between coffee breaks. Because nothing says 'progress' like paperwork.

Closing Thought: When the charts bleed green, even the skeptics start checking their portfolios. Funny how that works.

The US hyperscalers, Oracle included, have doubled capex in just two years. If tech is going to continue to lead markets, they’ll have to prove that earnings will grow faster than their data centers depreciate.

Sustainable?

Corporate profitability has decoupled from its usual tight relationship with GDP growth, but profit margins may be inflated by hyperscalers depreciating their capex over too many years. How long will all the Nvidia chips Oracle is buying be useful to them?

Hyper-outperformance:

The outperformance of US tech is now well in excess of the dotcom peak. If it turns out to be a bubble again this time, it will likely be because companies like Oracle built too many data centers.

Warning sign?

Corporate use of AI might be leveling off. If so, OpenAI might struggle to come up with the $300 billion it’s promised Oracle and Oracle might struggle to keep its data centers busy. 

AI is saving global trade:

Brad Setser notes that despite tariffs, US imports will increase this year, with rising imports of tariff-exempt semiconductors offsetting a fall in vehicle imports.

Someone’s paying the import tax:

The US collected a record $31.4 billion in tariffs in August — but total revenue still fell $345 billion short of spending. The US is on track to run a budget deficit of over $2 trillion this year.

The coffee tax:

BLS data shows coffee prices up more than 20% on the year, thanks in part to the 50% tariff on goods from Brazil. So, how long does it take to grow a coffee tree (plant? bush?), and do they grow in North Carolina?

It’s never too late to make a few billion:

Ellison made 95% of his $363 billion net worth after the age of 72, and 40% after age 80. 

The Core of Ellison’s business philosophy, according to his biographer, “is that you can’t get rich by doing the same thing as everyone else.”

I wouldn’t say betting on AI meets that criteria — but betting bigger than almost anyone else might.

Have a great weekend, world’s-richest readers.

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