Waiting for Godot was not Paul Revere's focus on that Boston night's run; at the same time the American Revolution kicked-off because of resistance to both high taxes, and especially 'taxation without representation'. At last, in the wake of hours of irrelevant marathon speaking; an hour after the Close of NYSE trading early on Thursday, the House finally passed the 'big bill'.

I suppose in the current climate of intellectual buffoonery, among many of the young; they don't even recognize the paramount roll that economic strength is providing to tame the uneducated (sort of where they survive well enough not to revolt, but not enough to thrive); and that if you seriously diminish stimulus to trigger enthusiasm among entrepreneurs (including those youngsters that do aspire to be part of the solutions, not the problems)... you fall into the traps that the so-called 'woke socialists' set; and of course it's a prescription to fail.

I'd talked about it before; but in Thursday's abbreviated session I mentioned it on my morning 'tweet' and was pleased that Sec'y of the Treasury Bessent was on-the-air later and reiterated the same key point that 'may' help the U.S. avoid a slump in this 2nd half of 2025; even if the Jobs number was strong, so there's less incentive for the Fed to be in any hurry to cut rates. Of course it's possible that the draining of the majority-minority (somewhat migrant) workers from the workforce (perhaps out of fear even if they're loyal taxpayers) had an effect on the Jobs data reported. Hard to tell. And yes they need a better plan.

As to 'aspiration' I'm Emersonian in a way; man's heart should strive for more; that's where ambition and reward come into play. (Or one is in the market, lol.)

Accelerated Depreciation is back in the new tax bill. That will allow pricing to improve for the mainstream; and notice how future politicians explain that (if at all). Sec'y Bessent sort of tried; and Trump certainty gets in.. this is right at the heart of why he says we'll have prosperity; as opponents disdain their own coming well-being; ahh... ya think anyone will explain my '70's example?

On grander scales, Airlines and others compelled to jump into infrastructure and pre-FIFA / World Cup / Olympic screening and security systems and write 100% off in year one is a big deal. This major incentive is largely ignored as a contributing reason why commercial AI can arrive fast, and should modernize everything in a hurry. Doing so is big for AI as well as Quantum Computing. Our favorites remain BigBear.ai and D-Wave Quantum and think about it; it's time to 'build and expense' not just data, but security systems widely. 

Regardless of the tension ahead of 'varying' versions of the future; wars or Oil prices and interest rates; what is clear is that skepticism helps our 'worry wall' to persist. We'll see how it goes.

Market X-ray: as you'll see Thursday wasn't the dull pre-holiday kind of day; and not only that, we bumped into a new 'tentative' light AI-pick that may be interesting. We'll see; at least it's near it's low not chasing highs like so many.

I'm honored to have navigated the saga of the S&P; importantly buying, not selling, the February panic; and buying, not selling, the Quantum purges. So now with BigBear and others 'in-gear again'; let's see if 'Mom's B'day' rally persists into the post-holiday week, which likely depends on that 'big bill'.

The 'AI revolution' is broadening more into the Quantum Computing era; as finally some analysts start to see the synergies in these sectors I've discussed since last year. Today Cantor-Fitzgerald 'initiated' coverage of a several that we follow; notably D-Wave Quantum, with a 20 target; but their analyst says the 'run is only getting started'. I don't know, but we still hold QBTS. Hooray.

D-Wave completed a $400 million at-the-market equity offering, bringing current cash balance to approximately $815 million. They believe that this is the strongest balance sheet of any independent Quantum computing company. QBTS intends using proceeds 'primarily' for strategic acquisitions and general corporate purposes including additional working capital (they've got quite a bit so interesting what they plan as far as capital expenditures). So at this point D-Wave is the leader in commercial quantum computing, with customers using their 'annealing' tech in production.

I am optimistic that the continued negativity from many prominent analysts will allow the 'worry wall' to continue fought. And besides, most specialized stocks we're in are not really related to whether Oil prices rise or interest rates; and if peace is maintained those issues won't be impediments anyway.

Now I'm tired.  I thought this week would see the rally early, didn't care about old-generation overpriced momentum stocks in a fade (have wanted that actually) and we did rally. And it's not over. Cheers!

So far it's the same variables: the 'big beautiful bill' passing, or not; the debt ceiling issues; the prospect of a Fed rate cut (or 2 if the economy does slip more than has been experienced thus far); and the geopolitical risks that we all know about, which includes more than the Middle East.

Analysts are either lined-up supporting our themes since last year; being AI in terms of 'data analytics and application software' (not hardware) primarily. And not the huge data centers or power generation; as excessive building-up of those sectors is possible, 'if' it's shown Quantum Computing ramps-up not only fast enough, but is sufficient to offset some of the 'imagined' needs in the 'hybrid' and classical realm (which itself admits the classical PC 'limits')..well that's a reason for some of our focus on the lower-energy approach (QBTS is likely the leader so far; most won't be known for awhile; as the sector's fluid).

I realize that's why I preferred (originally years ago) AMD to Nvidia; but also it is a reason we preferred (since last year cheap) D-Wave Quantum to Nvidia as well.. plus sold all of our IONQ and most (but not all) of our Rigetti and the more controversial Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT). New members might know it was IONQ we got in first; then threw a few bucks at QUBT and the others as a rank speculation. They all worked oddly enough; and are not bargains now .. or I should say hard to see it thusly when we made under 2 for all of them at the same time of course the ones that are 'the future' will still look attractive.

Of course how to define bargains. if we own (example) QBTS from under 2 or so; and the Warrants for pennies; and here we are around 14 for the common with the 'gap' on the upside breakaway on the Advantage 2 announcement, just filled; well it's likely time to go back up and check the previous record. So a conservative way to approach that would be with Options or even Warrants.

Given what we thought would be the focus; you see that in our primary as well as speculative picks; and certainly if you're involved in the tickers; keep that in mind. There is a politically-speculative element to most of our 2025 'themes'; I think you all realize that. These are not 'broad-spectrum' stocks; but require a modicum of commercial and/or Federal spending for their desired success.

Just briefly: BBAI is more attractive because they've successfully added the commercial Aviation security aspects to their 'portfolios' of verticals (actually Big-Bear.ai promises to serve more verticals than Palantir as this evolves); and their security and military (or even space and cyber) 'awards' might well be contingent on this 'big bill' passing; but we don't know that. They'll likely do fundamentally well either way; but the combination could be rather fantastic.

Hopefully not too fantastic; although people are starting to figure it out. We're in at such low prices that I'm not fretting every little tick nor getting neurotic on it; although I admit to checking price if I awake way too early at times.

Speaking of focus stocks: I should note that not only has QBTS filled the gap; but the timing is perfect to attempt to rebound toward its record highs. Today the CEO of Davidson is posting about the D-Wave Advantage 2 installation at the Huntsville HQ and how it fits objectives set-forth by Sec'y. of the Army Daniel Driscoll. Again the financials aren't mentioned but that may be less pertinent for now than whether or not this all relates to the Army and even the U.S. Space Force needs as addressed by the Huntsville Alabama set-up.

Bottom-line: continuation of our projected low from mid-June into what ought to become a nearly-traditional 'Mom's B'day Rally'. More of the same for now!

More By This Author:

Market Briefing For Monday, June 9th
Market Briefing For Monday, June 2
Market Briefing For Monday, May 19