For most of human history, food was very scarce. Advances in agriculture were painfully slow, so standards of living for the masses barely rose.

All that changed in the last four decades. A huge improvement in farming methods resulted in food abundance for middle-class families, especially in developed countries. Now we have the opposite problem, too many high-calorie, processed foodstuffs, always in reach.

Obesity is strongly linked to eating good-tasting, but shitty food. According to a report from AP, nearly three-quarters of America's food supply is made up of ultra-processed foods, including shockers like chips, sweets and fizzy drinks. These "foods" comprise 60% of the typical adult's diet and 66% of the typical child's diet.

Based on current trends, the overweight and obese population in the US will rise significantly in the next 25 years, to above 80% of both men and women, according to a recent article in the Lancet medical journal.

For most people, being told to switch to a healthier diet and get lots of exercise simply doesn't work. It's too hard.

This is why we are so bullish on the future sales of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. They are the only way that societies will be able to stem the tide. Obesity raises the risk of many dangerous, pervasive health outcomes, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The money will be found to pay for the drugs as needed, for everyone.

This is a good time to increase exposure to Eli Lilly in your US portfolio. Amgen also has exposure to this sector.

Nvidia has had a spectacular rise over the last few years, which is well documented. But did you know that the company has been listed for 25 years? That's a long time and it certainly hasn't been plain sailing throughout that period.

Eddy Elfenbein pointed out in a recent newsletter that if you'd bought $10 000 worth of Nvidia at the beginning of 2003, it would have been worth 10% less by the end of 2014. The share price did nothing for 12 years. Not many investors have the patience to hold a stock for 12 years with a negative return.

The company today is very different to what it was back then. But it's a good lesson that if you have owned a stock for a year or two, or even three, and it's not delivered good returns but the underlying business is still in good shape, be patient.

I've been writing about Bitcoin since it was at $800 a coin. My views haven't changed much over that time. No one can say what its intrinsic value is. If I don't know what something is worth, how can I buy it? If Bitcoin crashes from $100 000 to $50 000, is that a buying opportunity or do you hit the emergency exit button? I can't answer that question without having a view on an asset's intrinsic value.

Millions of people believe that Bitcoin will be worth more in the future, which is why its price keeps climbing. At the end of the day, the value of something is what someone else is willing to pay for it. That price might be based on emotion or research or anything else. I wouldn't pay $6 million for a banana duct taped to a wall, but someone else has, so that is its value.

Do I have FOMO about missing the massive surge in value? Not really. I made peace with the fact that crypto wasn't in my field of expertise long ago. At Vestact, we have stuck to what we are good at, picking shares of world-class companies. Keeping focused is one of the reasons we were able to identify a winner like Nvidia, and stay invested through all the volatility in its share price.

Amazon is doubling down on its partnership with Anthropic, the AI startup behind the Claude chatbot, with a fresh $4 billion investment, bringing its total funding to $8 billion. This deal strengthens ties between the two companies, with Amazon Web Services (AWS) becoming Anthropic's primary cloud and AI training partner.

Anthropic will now use AWS's Trainium and Inferentia chips to train and deploy its AI models. This partnership gives AWS customers early access to Anthropic's fine-tuning capabilities for Claude, allowing them to tailor the AI model using their data.

Anthropic recently unveiled a product called Computer Use, which enables its AI to complete multi-step tasks on computers, such as navigating websites or executing commands. Early testers include Asana, Canva, and Notion.

We're eager to see the impact of Amazon's biggest external investment to date.

Microsoft turns 50 next year. This giant has re-invented itself a few times - Still hellbent on domination.

Nicole Kidman has lasting starpower. Her recent career renaissance is based on rejecting industry norms - A pop culture folk hero.

Asian markets are up this morning, other than in Japan. Chinese firms are said to have cut their foreign-currency debt to $570 billion, the lowest level in 12 years. This reduction strengthens their position as the Yuan faces challenges in a possible US-China trade war.

In local company news, Pepkor Holdings posted a 7.8% rise in total group revenue, reaching R85.1 billion. They did well in general merchandise, appliances, and electronics, but battled with footwear. Elsewhere, Attacq has earmarked R20 billion to expand its flagship Waterfall City commercial and logistics hub in Midrand, in partnership with the Government Employees Pension Fund.

US equity futures are marginally lower in early pre-market trade. The Rand is at around R18.14 to the US Dollar. Not much to say about that.

Stay positive.