US markets continue to impress, and closed last night at another all-time high. The S&P 500 is already above every 2024 year-end price target from Wall Street strategists, and 12% above the average target (4 861). And there's still six and a half months to go!

We're not surprised. The market's default is to move higher, and we are sunny optimists. The outlook for economic growth and technological advancement is excellent. Why wouldn't share prices be going up?

The prospect of lower interest rates is making stocks look more attractive, as bond yields fall. We've argued for years that the spike in inflation caused (mostly) by Covid would prove to be transitory.

The rest of the 2020s is going to be epic. If you are reading this and aren't fully invested because you expect a crash, maybe you're just getting old and cranky?

In the daily Axios newsletter (I suggest you subscribe), Felix Salmon points out that US Supreme Court rulings in favour of business under the current Chief Justice John Roberts (pictured below) is the highest in history

In a study done from 2005, when Roberts took the helm, to 2020, the average win rate for business was 63%. Going back to 1921, the Supreme Court has only been in favour of business 41% of the time.

In 2020 alone, 83% of case rulings were pro-business. I mention this because we are investors in the US and naturally support a pro-business agenda. In fact, we believe that this bias is one of the core reasons the US is the best place to invest and why it has outperformed all other nations when it comes to economic prosperity.

If you look at some of the ridiculous policies being implemented around the world, most notably in China and Europe, I think it is safe to say we are very happy where our money is invested.

Bill Gates has been a champion of nuclear energy for years. He put his money where his mouth is, co-founding TerraPower in 2008. He believes that modern reactors are significantly better than older ones, and are the perfect source for large amounts of clean, reliable energy.

Last week, TerraPower broke ground on the construction of its first reactor. A key differentiator of this power plant is that it is designed to be flexible, quickly filling the gap when weather doesn't facilitate the production of renewable energy. It's expected to cost around $4 billion, but sceptics think it will cost much more. The US recently finished work on two reactors that cost $35 billion, including $11 billion in cost overruns.

Nuclear projects have notoriously long building times and usually cost more than planned. Gates has said that he will stand behind the company financially - there are very few people who have the firepower to provide this surety. An experimental project like this needs a champion to push it forward.

If successful, this venture could lay the groundwork for the US and other countries to further embrace advanced nuclear technology. It's great to see society experiment with the feasibility and practicality of this mega-project. We will watch its progress with interest.

Old folks can give us great life advice, but when it comes to the internet, they're not the experts. Online safety is a challenge for older users.

Back in my teens, I had to learn about web security through trial and error because schools didn't really cover it. Now, it's often the younger generation teaching the older ones about how to stay out of trouble online.

Hopefully, future generations will be better at navigating the internet thanks to parents, like me, who have experience. But right now, we're still figuring things out and hoping for the best.

This podcast covers online safety tips, like avoiding SIM swaps, being careful with your email, phone number, birthday, and address.

Here are some key points: don't share your screen online; don't reuse passwords across platforms; turn off geo-location; avoid linking accounts to foreign or common sites; don't use the same email everywhere; and avoid clicking on random links or files; use a secure 2-factor authenticator instead of SMS-based authentication.

Check out this podcast where Drew explains how we've been unsafe online and how to protect ourselves moving forward. The podcast is called Darknet Diaries - Dirty Coms. You can search for it on your favourite podcast player.

In some settings, higher minimum wages increase consumer spending. Elsewhere, higher input costs push up prices and chase customers away - California's minimum wage hike raised prices and sales fell.

Refrigeration is central to the global food chain. It dramatically reduces risks of food poisoning, but enhances some flavours and dulls others - How the fridge changed food's taste.

Asian markets are in the green this morning. Benchmarks rose in India, Hong Kong, Japan, mainland China, and South Korea. Asian chip stocks were among the biggest contributors to gains in the MSCI Asia Pacific index with HK Hynix up 3.1% rising to a 24-year high.

Locally, Vodacom dismissed 631 employees and contractors for fraud or irregularities in the past year after investigating over 8 652 cases. I suspect most of these involved SIM swapping, which has become rampant. Meanwhile, SARS has introduced a new 45% import duty and VAT on all Shein and Temu orders to protect our local textile industry. Even after a 45% increase, those imports will probably still be cheaper than the local options?

US equity futures are flat pre-market. The Rand is trading at around R18.27 to the US Dollar.

Ok, let's all get back to work.