The conversation turns to the greater AI trade and what it means for job productivity, and networking demand. The conversation closes out with thoughts on the US-Iran war and April quarter retailer comp sales.

The Strategies Behind Our AI & Data Center Ecosystem Models

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Power Pain Point – Companies benefiting from the global push to build out new electricity generation, transmission and storage infrastructure, as well as update existing generations old infrastructure.

The Strategies Behind Our Core Exposure Models

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• International Core Holdings – This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from ex-US developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

• Global Core Holdings - This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from US, and other developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

The Strategies Behind Our Targeted Exposure Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at mabssy@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

Share

We’re back with a fresh set of ripped from the headlines confirmation points and signals for not only our targeted exposure and thematic strategies, but also our Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity model and the AI & Data Center Model Suite.

Feast away!

Aging Population

This year, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Longevity Ready Maryland Act and created the Aging Resilience Fund, both of which will work in tandem to improve the state’s support system for older adults. The Longevity Ready Maryland Plan is a 10-year, multisector strategy to ensure that state agencies are coordinating over how to address Maryland’s growing population of elders. State estimates say one in four Marylanders will be 60 years or older by 2030… Read more here

The university-senior living trend is still picking up speed in 2026, even as new development remains tough to notch. Construction lending and costs are keeping the level of new development low in senior living. The number of units under construction in the first quarter of 2026 amounted to just 0.4% of total inventory, according to NIC MAP data. Read more here

Preventive screenings are always an important part of taking care of yourself, but they become even more essential to your well-being later in life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Why? Older adults are at a greater risk of conditions that develop slowly and don’t always cause noticeable symptoms, such as high blood pressure and colon cancer. Read more here

Artificial Intelligence

The global adoption of artificial intelligence continued to rise in the first quarter of 2026. During the quarter, AI usage increased by 1.5 percentage points from 16.3% to 17.8% of the world’s working age population. Intensity of use among economies with the highest rates of AI diffusion also increased, with 26 economies now exceeding 30% of the working age population using AI. Read more here

OpenAI and Anthropic are expanding their reach into professional services through joint ventures and acquisition talks, moving model providers closer to implementation roles traditionally held by systems integrators. Joint ventures tied to the two AI companies have held talks to acquire services companies that help businesses deploy AI, with OpenAI’s venture in advanced stages on three deals… The companies are reportedly looking to add engineers and consultants as enterprise customers try to move generative AI from experiments into production. For CIOs, the issue is whether AI vendors are starting to take over more of the work traditionally handled by consulting firms, systems integrators, and managed service providers. The developments suggest model providers want a stronger hand in enterprise AI implementation, even as systems integrators remain central to large-scale rollouts. Read more here

Cash-Strapped Consumer

Papa John’s International said budget-conscious customers have traded down to smaller pizzas and passed on sides and desserts in the first quarter, weighing on sales and profit. Read more here

Among the shoppers who said they are pivoting to lower-priced retailers, over half said they plan to buy the same brands, while the rest said they are also swapping to cheaper brands… these findings are indicative of “a meaningful disruption in how consumers are approaching grocery shopping,” stating that customers are “actively seeking value” in the food aisles by trading down on retailers. Read more here

Consumers face the threat of higher prices spreading beyond the petrol pump without a swift end to the Middle East war, executives and analysts have warned, as companies lay bare the hit from spiraling energy costs… References to “pricing action” and “passing on costs” during first-quarter US earnings calls have climbed to the highest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine sparked the last global inflation shock in 2022, according to an FT analysis. Read more here

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

The San Diego Community College District said Tuesday it is continuing to battle a major cyberattack that began on Saturday and led the system to take some internet, email, websites and registration platforms offline while it is in the midst of enrolling students for summer classes. Read more here

CISA’s new “CI Fortify” initiative notably pushes water utilities, the transportation sector and other critical infrastructure organizations to plan for a “geopolitical crisis” involving cyber attacks that could sever their connections to internet, telecommunications and other technology services. Read more here

Fresno State officials say the university has been impacted by a nationwide cybersecurity incident involving the Canvas learning management system. According to the university, the parent company Instructure confirmed that unauthorized access to some data occurred, and that the information may include certain personal data tied to the Canvas platform. Read more here

Criminal extortion group ShinyHunters claimed Sunday that it had breached Instructure — the parent company of the online learning platform Canvas — and stolen data from 9,000 schools, including Duke. Read more here

Cybersecurity firm Dragos has released a threat intelligence report detailing an intrusion into a municipal water and drainage utility in Monterrey, Mexico, in which an unidentified threat actor made extensive use of AI tools to assist its operation. The hacker attack on the water utility took place in January 2026, but was part of a broader campaign targeting multiple Mexican government organizations between December 2025 and February 2026… What distinguished this intrusion from typical cyberattacks was the central role of Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT models, which together served as an AI-assisted operational engine. Read more here

Digital Infrastructure

As demand for high-performance AI chips rises, competition for 3nm and below fabrication capacity, along with advanced packaging technologies such as 2.5D and 3D integration, is becoming increasingly intense. One of the most persistent bottlenecks has been in advanced packaging, especially chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology. Shortages have extended beyond fabrication itself, affecting upstream equipment and downstream supply chains, including substrates, printed circuit boards, and high-bandwidth memory. Read more here

A Broadcom (AVGO) executive said its manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) is reaching capacity limits and the industry is facing broader supply chain constraints amid surging demand for AI chips… Ramachandran noted that there is a supply constraint in the laser space even though there are multiple suppliers, and printed circuit boards also emerged ​as an “unexpected” bottleneck, resulting in longer lead times. Many customers are entering long-term agreements with ​suppliers to ⁠secure capacity commitments for as long as 3-4 years, he said. Read more here

Analysts report unprecedented demand for AI chips, with Broadcom, TSMC, and ASML expanding aggressively to meet orders from hyperscalers. The surge is shifting bottlenecks from chip design to manufacturing and packaging, straining foundries and equipment makers. Read more here

Energy Pain Point

PowerLines released Utility Spending is Rising: A Review of Utility Capital Expenditure Plans, a comprehensive review of 51 investor-owned utility earnings calls in recent months. PowerLines found that investor-owned utilities are planning to spend at least $1.4 trillion over the next five years through 2030 on capital expenditures (CapEx)—a more than 21 percent increase over the $1.1 trillion over a five-year period outlined last year. Read more here

Homebuilding & Materials

Home prices rose across the majority of metro markets in the first quarter, strengthening homeowner equity while affordability remained an ongoing challenge for buyers. Seventy-one percent of 235 metro markets tracked saw home prices rise during the first quarter of this year, while slightly more than a dozen of the markets even recorded double-digit price gains… Read more here

A new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows that 65% of U.S. households are priced out of newly built homes, based on current prices and mortgage rates. In some parts of the country, the situation is even more extreme. Read more here

Luxury Buying Boom

LVMH is exploring sales of fashion houses, beauty labels and alcoholic drinks brands in one of the most significant retrenchments of its near 40-year history, as the luxury industry leader slims down in response to a period of lower demand. Read more here

Luxury demand is taking a hit as geopolitical tensions rise, with LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault warning of a “pretty serious crisis in the Middle East.” Read more here

Safety & Security

The United States defense strategy is undergoing a major transformation the government prepares to allocate approximately $ 1.51 trillion for the fiscal year 2027, reflecting a historic surge in military expenditure. This follows a significant rise to over $ 1 trillion in 2026, highlighting a sharp escalation in defense priorities driven by the global conflicts, strategic competition and rapid technological evolution. Read more here

European sovereignty in defense and security is within reach and would require investing around €50 billion (US$59 billion) a year for the next decade, according to a paper by five prominent German defense investors, experts and industry executives. The paper identified ten key areas where Europe faces strategic capability gaps, including command and control, autonomous systems and deep strike. Reaching defense autonomy would cost an estimated €150 billion to €200 billion by 2030… Read more here

As the EU faces the encroaching threat of outside countries, one nation is taking matters into its own hands. Germany is heavily investing in its military budget, spending more money on defense in 2025 than in the prior 36 years, according to recent reports. Read more here

AI is increasingly used to relieve administrative burden and staffing pressures. A 2025 U.S. Public Safety Trends Report found that 76% of officers spend more than half of their shifts on paperwork, with 70% relying on overtime to complete administrative tasks. It’s no surprise that there is widespread support for AI adoption. Read more here

The Strategies Behind Our AI & Data Center Ecosystem Models

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Power Pain Point – Companies benefiting from the global push to build out new electricity generation, transmission and storage infrastructure, as well as update existing generations old infrastructure.

The Strategies Behind Our Core Exposure Models

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• International Core Holdings – This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from ex-US developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

• Global Core Holdings - This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from US, and other developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

The Strategies Behind Our Targeted Exposure Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at mabssy@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

Share

Download All Model Factsheets

The Strategies Behind Our AI & Data Center Ecosystem Models

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Power Pain Point – Companies benefiting from the global push to build out new electricity generation, transmission and storage infrastructure, as well as update existing generations old infrastructure.

The Strategies Behind Our Core Exposure Models

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• International Core Holdings – This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from ex-US developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

• Global Core Holdings - This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from US, and other developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

The Strategies Behind Our Targeted Exposure Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at mabssy@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

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We’re back with a fresh set of ripped-from-the-headlines confirmation points and signals for not only our targeted exposure and thematic strategies, but also our Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity model and the AI & Data Center Model Suite.

Feast away!

Aging Population

Aging population and longer life expectancies in the U.S. are fueling demand for independent living, assisted living and memory care housing to manage complex and acute health care needs, per JLL’s Spring 2026 Seniors Housing and Care Investor Survey and Trends Outlook. Read more here

National Healthcare Properties is moving closer to the public markets after filing for a U.S. initial public offering. The senior housing-focused real estate investment trust is aiming to capitalize on favorable demographic trends, particularly the growing elderly population in the United States. Read more here

Artificial Intelligence

The “Global AI Adoption in 2025” report found that 16.3 percent of the world’s population used generative artificial intelligence tools in the second half of the year, up from 15.1 percent earlier, underscoring rapid growth for a technology still in its early stages. Read more here

Canary Technologies, the global leader in hotel guest engagement technology, today released Navigating AI: Hospitality Shifts From Exploration to Execution, a global research study examining how hoteliers view AI’s impact and adoption across the industry. Based on insights from hospitality IT decision-makers, the report shows a clear shift: hotels are moving beyond exploring AI solutions and into implementation. Read more here

Artificial intelligence company Ambience Healthcare has launched Chart Chat for Nursing through a pilot partnership with Cleveland Clinic. Chart Chat for Nursing is an AI tool developed specifically for nurses and designed to integrate with electronic health records. The tool allows nurses to ask questions about a patients’ current status, pulling from documentation, labs, hospital policy and physician progress notes to populate responses. The tool also offers citations so nurses know the specific source of the information. Read more here

Fliggy has introduced flyai, a travel-focused AI skill designed to extend artificial intelligence applications beyond traditional productivity tools and into end-to-end travel planning and booking. The launch reflects a broader shift in how AI is being integrated into consumer-facing travel services, positioning travel as a key vertical within evolving AI ecosystems. Read more here

Using artificial intelligence to do your taxes, answer your questions and eliminate all varieties of tedium from your life has its appeal. However, the benefits to consumers might seem more uncertain when it’s AI that is deciding what insurance will pay for your home repairs or whether your surgery will get covered. At this stage, AI’s role in insurance is already spawning lawsuits and battles over its regulation, as well as a lot of anxiety about its role in the future. Read more here

Cash-Strapped Consumer

For the second month in a row, food commodity prices have increased largely due to higher energy prices, according to the United Nations. Overall food prices increased 2.4 percent in March compared to February; those same items are up 1% year over year. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) attributes the increases to the higher price of fuel, specifically oil. Read more here

The U.S., Israel, and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday, but the sticker shock you’ve been feeling every time you go to the grocery store will get worse if the war continues. One of the first places you’ll feel it will be the produce aisle… Read more here

About a third of the world’s fertilizer supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and its effective closure is causing shortages and price spikes for fertilizer during the crucial spring planting season. That has led to fears of elevated food prices and lower crop yields. Read more here

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

The hospital Signature Healthcare in Brockton, Massachusetts, diverted ambulances and canceled some services after a cyberattack disrupted operations. Pharmacies couldn’t fill prescriptions, though urgent care and walk-in services remained open. Read more here

CERT-EU attributed a European Commission cloud breach to the TeamPCP threat group, revealing that data from at least 30 EU entities was exposed. The incident was publicly disclosed on March 27 after inquiries confirmed that the Commission’s Amazon cloud environment had been compromised. Read more here

Cybercriminals have allegedly stolen a large amount of sensitive internal documents from the Los Angeles Police Department and leaked the data online. The stolen data included police officer personnel files, internal affairs investigations, and discovery documents that can include unredacted criminal complaints and personal information, such as witness names and medical data, according to the Los Angeles Times. Read more here

U.S. victims lost nearly $21 billion to cyber-enabled crimes last year, driven primarily by investment scams, business email compromise, tech support fraud, and data breaches, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says. The figure continues the year-over-year record trend as it is up 26% compared to 2024, when Americans lost $16.6 billion to cybercrime. Read more here

Digital Lifestyle

The living room has become a central battleground for YouTube, as more people turn to television screens… The push comes as YouTube rolls out new features aimed at the living room, including AI-powered voice search on TVs. It is also working on a second-screen “TV Companion” feature that lets viewers interact with videos from their phones, and has introduced “Stations,” 24/7 linear streams, as reported by The Verge. Last month, YouTube struck a partnership with FIFA around the FIFA World Cup 2026 to offer what it described as an “immersive” viewing experience across devices. The efforts come as the platform’s presence on TV continues to grow, with YouTube now accounting for 12.5% of all TV viewing. Read more here

Short-form video platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have transformed how audiences consume content. In an increasingly crowded video landscape, viewers can scroll through an endless stream of clips at any moment of the day… Among adults aged 16-24, short-form video consumption is widespread. Read more here

Meta announced on Tuesday that it’s launching two Ray-Ban smart glasses that are designed for prescription wearers. While many people already use Meta glasses with prescription lenses, the company says these new ones support nearly all prescriptions and are built to better serve people who rely on all-day eyewear. Read more here

Digital Infrastructure

TikTok will invest €1 billion ($1.16bn) in building a second data center location in Finland. Announced by TikTok on April 7, the plans come shortly after TikTok was reportedly scaling back its data center capacity in Ireland. The second data center project is set to be located in the Kiveriö district of Lahti, Finland, located northeast of Helsinki and west of Kouvola, where TikTok is already developing a data center. Read more here

Google is set to begin work on its $15bn data center projects in Andhra Pradesh later this month. As reported by the Economic Times Telecom, the land for the projects has been handed over to Google’s subsidiary Raiden Infotech India Private Limited, and groundbreaking is expected for April 28, 2026. Read more here

Microsoft has pledged a $10 billion investment in AI and cloud capabilities in Japan through the end of 2029. Revealed in a recent company blog post, this is one of several investment commitments the company has made in Asia of late, including $5.5bn in Singapore and $1bn in Thailand. The investment will span a four-year period, and according to Microsoft… Read more here

AI research lab Anthropic announced Monday that it signed a new agreement with Google and Broadcom for increased processing and compute capacity to power its Claude AI models. This reworking of its compute deals comes as demand for its AI models continues to soar. The deals would expand Anthropic’s use of Google Cloud’s tensor processing units, or TPUs, the company’s advanced AI chips, and is an expansion of the deal the companies struck in October 2025 for more than a gigawatt of compute capacity. Read more here

On Tuesday, Amazon announced that Uber was expanding its contract for AWS cloud services to run more of its ride-sharing features on Amazon’s chips. Uber will particularly expand its use of AWS’s Graviton (a low-power, ARM-based server CPU) and start a new trial testing Trainium3, AWS’s Nvidia competitor AI chip. Read more here

Homebuilding & Materials

The start of the spring homebuying season appears to have stalled as both buyers and sellers wait for positive signals… The latest batch of weekly housing market data suggests that while these shifts are not huge, demand does seem to be cooling. “This market is trying to grow, but there are a lot of affordability hurdles in the way,” Compass Chief Economist Mike Simonsen said in his weekly YouTube update. One of the hurdles that’s becoming increasingly harder to clear: mortgage rates. Read more here

Is the American dream of homeownership still realistic? Perhaps not, according to many Americans. In a recent survey of more than 2,000 consumers, The Harris Poll found that many believe the dream is slipping further away. Across generations, respondents said that homeownership was too hard to break into – and that once achieved, it was too challenging, expensive, or both, to maintain. Read more here

Twenty-five housing researchers warned in an open letter released Friday that a policy on build-to-rent homes included in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would “significantly decrease the nation’s housing stock.” Read more here

Safety & Security

Body-worn cameras are becoming a common retail tool to protect customers, associates and profits. Look no further than Walmart, Kroger, Target and other major national brands that have already tested or started to roll out the technology. Read more here

The Denver City Council approved a contract with Axon to replace the city’s controversial Flock license plate reader cameras on Tuesday, passing the measure by a single vote just hours after Flock finished removing its more than 100 cameras from city streets. Read more here

Fortunately, technology is evolving to help campuses adapt. AI-augmented video surveillance analytics platforms can now filter out false alarms, flag genuine concerns in real time and sharpen team focus. By reducing noise, these systems allow security teams to respond more efficiently while respecting campus values of openness and civil liberties. Read more here

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

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The Strategies Behind Our AI & Data Center Ecosystem Models

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Power Pain Point – Companies benefiting from the global push to build out new electricity generation, transmission and storage infrastructure, as well as update existing generations old infrastructure.

The Strategies Behind Our Core Exposure Models

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• International Core Holdings – This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from ex-US developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

• Global Core Holdings - This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from US, and other developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

The Strategies Behind Our Targeted Exposure Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

Share Tematica Signals

We’re back with a fresh set of ripped from the headlines confirmation points and signals for not only our targeted exposure and thematic strategies, but also our Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity model and the AI & Data Center Model Suite.

Feast away!

Aging Population

Scammers will, of course, try to scam anyone, regardless of age. But older adults are prime targets because they often have accumulated wealth and live alone, and are assumed to be vulnerable. More than 147,000 people 60 and older reported scams in 2024, with losses of $4.9 billion—both up more than 40% from the year earlier, according to the FBI. The majority of frauds aren’t reported because of shame and fear, making the actual numbers far higher. Read more here

Artificial Intelligence

Alibaba Group saw growth across both its cloud and eCommerce segments during the quarter ended Dec. 31, according to a Thursday (March 19) earnings release… The company’s Cloud Intelligence Group, which includes what it calls its “AI + Cloud” businesses, saw its revenue increase 36% year over year, according to a presentation released Thursday. This business unit’s revenue growth was driven primarily by its public cloud offering, which in turn was driven by the adoption of AI-related products. Alibaba has seen 10 consecutive quarters of triple-digit year-over-year growth in revenue related to AI products, per the presentation. Read more here

Chief Justice John Roberts said AI will put pressure on everyone, from prospective law students to judges. The legal profession will change as a result, Roberts said. His advice is that future lawyers will need to be “pretty nimble” in response to how AI alters the industry. He said he still hopes that “good people” continue to enter the field. Read more here

Robots are coming to hospitals, but they are not there to replace surgeons. Instead, they observe, coordinate and carry loads, tasks that consume large amounts of clinical staff time and require far less judgment than the work surgeons spend years training to perform. That distinction is central to Nvidia’s latest push into healthcare. The company this week released what it describes as the first open platform built specifically for healthcare robotics, a stack of datasets, simulation tools and vision-language-action models designed to train artificial intelligence systems on surgical environments and deploy them in real clinical workflows. Read more here

Cash-Strapped Consumer

At a Costco Wholesale Corp. gas station near San Antonio, wait times have stretched as much as 30 minutes and lines wrap around the block. Elsewhere, drivers are refreshing apps like GasBuddy and going out of their way for cheaper fuel and discounts as prices reach nearly $4 a gallon on average. Others say they are trimming spending on grocery, takeout and travel. How much Americans’ spending behavior changes, and what that means for the US economy’s main engine of growth, will depend on how high prices at the pump go, and for how long. Read more here

“Diesel is what moves the real economy. It hauls the food, the packages, the building supplies and the inventory sitting on store shelves,” said Paul Dietrich, chief investment strategist at Wedbush Securities. “If the Iran war keeps diesel prices elevated, this becomes a direct hit on consumer prices. Groceries get more expensive, delivery costs rise and household budgets are tightened,” Read more here

Payments and digital banking company Klarna says its Klarna Card now has 5 million customers. In announcing the milestone Thursday (March 19), the Swedish FinTech said this highlights rapid adoption by consumers seeking more control over their money. Read more here

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

Identity protection company Aura has confirmed that an unauthorized party gained access to nearly 900,000 records containing names and email addresses. The company states that the incident was caused by a voice phishing attack targeting an employee, which exposed the sensitive data of 20,000 current and 15,000 former customers. Read more here

The FBI appears to have seized the website of an Iran-linked hacker group that claimed responsibility for the only known significant cyberattack on a U.S. company since war between the countries started in February. Read more here

“Cyber and terrorism are the two levers that I believe Iran will pull now that their navy is decimated,” retired US Army Lt. Gen. Ross Coffman told The Register. “What we saw against Stryker - it’s just the beginning.” Stryker is a medical technology outfit that was last week hit by a cyber crew with ties to Iran’s intelligence agency, causing a global network outage at the company. The attack represented the first destructive cyberattack to hit a US-based company during the Iran war. Read more here

Digital Infrastructure

When AI systems move from experimentation to production, data centers cease to be passive hosting environments. They become active execution environments. Models ingest live data, call external APIs, trigger workflows and increasingly feed directly into operational systems. At that point, expectations shift. The question is no longer just whether the lights stay on. It is whether the infrastructure can support autonomous, accountable AI at scale. Read more here

Construction spending for data centers has climbed steadily in recent years, while outlays for general office projects headed downward, US Census data show. The two crossed paths in December, with roughly $3.57 billion spent on data centers that month, compared with $3.49 billion for offices, according to preliminary estimates. The shift is likely to continue and “may perpetuate itself even further as AI is utilized for automating day-to-day jobs,” said Andy Cvengros, co-lead of US data center markets for the brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. “It’s going to directly impact the amount of office space people need.” Read more here

Doug Adams, the CEO of NTT Global Data Centers, has told Bloomberg that the company was working on doubling its capacity to 4GW in as little as two years. The company is currently working on 34 data center projects, and Adams added that the business would be able to offer “well over 5GW” of capacity in five years. Read more here

Japanese electrical equipment vendor Fujikura Ltd has announced it will push ahead with plans to ramp up production of optical fiber and cables to support the rising demand from AI data centers. A lot of this demand is coming from the US, noted the company, which said it will look to increase production capacity up to approximately three times the current level at every one of its manufacturing locations in Japan and the US. In total, Fujikura said it will invest a maximum of 300 billion yen ($1.9bn) to produce the fiber, while “closely monitoring market trends.” Read more here

Energy Pain Point

Giorgia Meloni has long pitched nuclear energy as a cure for Italy’s wilting economy. Now her government is plotting how to actually resurrect the banned technology. Almost 40 years after Italy shuttered its last nuclear reactor — and 15 years after a failed attempt to reverse that decision — the prime minister’s team is consulting experts and holding discussions on how to restart atomic energy production, according to people familiar with the planning. Read more here

Executives at major U.S. AI labs are telling investors to brace for progress that will “shock” them. The gains are already outpacing expectations: OpenAI’s recently released GPT-5.4 “Thinking” model scored 83.0% on the GDPVal benchmark, placing it at or above the level of human experts on economically valuable tasks. And Morgan Stanley says the curve only gets steeper from here. The intelligence explosion comes with a brutal infrastructure constraint. Morgan Stanley’s “Intelligence Factory” model projects a net U.S. power shortfall of 9 to 18 gigawatts through 2028—a 12% to 25% deficit in the power needed to run it all. Read more here

Homebuilding & Materials

Sales of newly built homes in January dropped 17.6% month over month to a seasonally adjusted, annualized pace of 587,000 units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That is the slowest pace since 2022. Housing analysts had been expecting a much smaller decline. Read more here

U.S. home prices will rise modestly this year and in 2027 as the market remains constrained by high mortgage rates and a shortage of affordable homes that will persist for years, according to housing analysts polled by Reuters. Housing will not provide a boost to ​the slowing U.S. economy and there will be no near-term progress in the Trump administration’s aims to revitalize the market through cheaper mortgages, the February 27-March ‌17 survey released on Tuesday suggested. Read more here

Luxury Buying Boom

Whatever the label, the effect is the same. China’s long-awaited consumer recovery has gotten stuck — not only in wallets, but in the psychology behind them. Start with the numbers. Chinese households are sitting on an enormous and growing pile of cash. By 2025, household deposits had surged to levels equivalent to roughly 118% of GDP, according to official statistics. Read more here

Safety & Security

The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, a sizable amount that is certain to be met with questions from Congress, which would need to approve any new money. Read more here

In 2025, global defence spending reached USD2.63 trillion – up from USD2.48trn in 2024. In real terms, year-on-year spending increased by 2.5%, which, though lower than the 7–8% growth seen in recent years, continued the upward trend from the previous year’s record spend… In contrast, European spending continued to grow at record levels, with the region allocating almost USD563 billion to defence in 2025, almost USD100bn more than the year before. In real terms, this represents a 12.6% year-on-year increase, on a par with the real-term uplift seen in 2024. Crystallised by NATO members’ pledge at The Hague Summit in June to increase defence and security spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, such levels defied expectations that spending growth would slow after an initial spike. As such, European defence spending now accounts for over 21% of the global total, up from 17% in 2022. Read more here

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

Share

We’re back with a fresh set of ripped-from-the-headlines confirmation points and signals for not only our targeted exposure and thematic strategies, but also our Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity model and the AI & Data Center Model Suite.

Feast away!

Aging Population

Senior care technology platform Sage has raised $65 million in Series C funding, led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, bringing its total raise to $124 million. New York-based Sage offers a coordinated care platform for senior living communities and long-term care facilities. The platform connects residents and their caregivers with care teams. Read more here

Addressing the challenges of an aging population is a key priority on China’s development agenda. The country is building a nationwide eldercare network that combines policy reform, community services and digital healthcare. Read more here

An aging U.S. population will reshape the restaurant industry in the years ahead, experts say. A major demographic shift is on the horizon, with all Baby Boomers reaching retirement age by 2030. People aged 65 and older will comprise 25% of the total U.S. population by 2060, up from 18% in 2025. At the same time, people under 30 will make up 31% of the total U.S. population by 2060, down from 38% in 2025. Read more here

Artificial Intelligence

Ford now offers fleet managers a virtual assistant that can perform tasks such as reporting on the condition of company vehicles and scheduling service. The new Ford Pro AI is available at no additional cost to Ford Pro Telematics subscribers in the United States, the company said in a Tuesday (March 10) announcement. Ford Pro is the automaker’s business unit focused on commercial customers. Ford Pro AI provides fleet managers with data on everything from whether a vehicle’s seatbelt is being used to the status of each vehicle’s health, according to the announcement. Read more here

Meta has launched new artificial intelligence-powered anti-scam tools for its platforms WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger… “We’re continuing to detect and disrupt sophisticated scam operations, including by working with industry peers and law enforcement around the world,” Meta said in the release. “We do this because we know that criminal networks target people regardless of borders and across messaging, dating apps, social media, crypto and other apps.” Read more here

Predictive analytics boost AI tools and help patients and clinicians connect. However, HIMSS Chief Scientific Research Officer Anne Snowdon says that, globally, only about 30% of analytics capacity has been realized. Read more here

New AI adoption statistics from Gallup show AI use is rising in the public sector. In Q4 2025, 43% of public-sector employees report using AI at least a few times a year, including 21% who use it daily or multiple times per week. That figure is up from 17% in Q2 2023 and 28% in Q2 2024. A similar rate of 41% of private-sector employees report using AI in Q4 2025. Private-sector use is more concentrated among frequent users: 25% use AI frequently and 16% use it occasionally. In the public sector, occasional use is more common at 22%. Read more here

Indeed, we’re seeing in many cases that AI-adopting SMBs are working to grow output and revenue without growing headcount (or replacing people). In other cases, AI-native founders are gaining traction with enterprise customers using Claude code, a full stack of agents, and just two or three employees!... Successful integration of AI requires a structured approach. We’ve mapped four progressively more sophisticated stages to help leaders understand the value-creating roles AI can play. The goal is to locate where the business is today and consider how to move to the next level. Read more here

Cash-Strapped Consumer

Inflation in the United States appears contained for the moment, yet the latest reading suggests consumers may be navigating a calm that could prove temporary… Consumers have responded to those pressures with adjustments that extend beyond simply buying less. Research from PYMNTS Intelligence indicates that financial strain increasingly shapes how households shop and pay. Many consumers facing tighter budgets are shifting toward online retail and digital payment methods that offer greater visibility into spending or access to flexible financing. The findings suggest that financial pressure does not necessarily suppress spending outright. Instead, it changes how consumers structure purchases and manage payments. Read more here

The pandemic shortages are over. Dealer lots are stocked. Customers can find the colors and options they want. But prices have never been higher — and the auto loans bigger and longer than ever to make it pencil out. The average sticker price for a new car or truck now sits above $50,000 — about 30 percent more than in 2019. Even with incentives and specials, the out-the-door price reached above $50,000 for the first time in September and stood at $49,191 in January — a record for the typically sluggish sales month, according to Cox Automotive. Read more here

McDonald’s is reportedly planning to lower the cost of its value meals even further. Beginning next month, the fast food giant will debut a series of new discounts that include meals that cost $3 and less, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Wednesday (March 11), citing sources familiar with the matter… The report notes that the company is also preparing new $4 breakfast meal deals as it pushes back against a perception among customers that it no longer provides good value. Read more here

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

Google says it has finalized its acquisition of cloud/artificial intelligence (AI) security platform Wiz. With the deal concluded, Wiz will become part of Google Cloud as that division of the company invests in improved cloud security, the tech giant said Wednesday (March 11). The $32 billion deal was first announced last March. Read more here

Microsoft says threat actors are increasingly using artificial intelligence in their operations to accelerate attacks, scale malicious activity, and lower technical barriers across all aspects of a cyberattack. According to a new Microsoft Threat Intelligence report, attackers are using generative AI tools for a wide range of tasks, including reconnaissance, phishing, infrastructure development, malware creation, and post-compromise activity. Read more here

Russian state-sponsored hackers have been linked to an ongoing Signal and WhatsApp phishing campaign targeting government officials, military personnel, and journalists to gain access to sensitive messages. This report comes from the Netherlands Defence Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) and the Netherlands General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), who confirmed that Dutch government employees have been targeted in the attacks. Read more here

Digital Lifestyle

AI shopping assistants are driving ecommerce sales at Walmart and Amazon, according to executives from both retailers. Shoppers who use Walmart’s Sparky have average order values that are 35% higher than nonusers, CEO John Furner said on the company’s Q4 earnings call. Customers that use Amazon’s Rufus are roughly 60% more likely to complete their purchase, according to CEO Andy Jassy. Read more here

Claude’s daily active users are on the rise on mobile devices, as are its new app installs, following the company’s fallout with the Pentagon. After Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to allow the government to use its AI systems for mass surveillance of Americans or to power fully autonomous weapons, the AI model provider behind Claude was marked as a supply-chain risk. However, Anthropic’s stance led many consumers to favor the model, data suggests. Read more here

X is testing a new ad format that inserts a recommendation directly underneath a post that references the company or its products. The initial test, spotted by an X user in Europe, displayed a suggestion to “Get Starlink” beneath a post from a user that said Starlink’s satellite service works great in Portugal. The link, when clicked, directed users to Starlink’s website. X head of product Nikita Bier confirmed the test, responding, “Trying to make an ad product that isn’t an ad.” Read more here

Digital Payments

Elon Musk said X will launch its new payments feature, X Money, next month, offering peer-to-peer transfers, bank deposits, a debit card and cashback rewards in partnership with Visa and a licensed subsidiary in more than 40 U.S. states. Read more here

Buy now, pay later has been hitting an adoption wall, and could be losing momentum with the critical Gen Z and millennial age groups. The recent holiday shopping season tells a lot about BNPL’s struggles. PYMNTS Intelligence survey data shows that 14% of shoppers paid with BNPL in the three months through December, down slightly from 15% from both last October and November. Yes, survey results can fluctuate month to month, but it’s clear that Santa left some coal in BNPL’s stocking. BNPL’s slide is continuing into 2026. In January, only 12% of consumers said they made a purchase with BNPL in the previous three months… Read more here

Energy Pain Point

Power bills are going up in America and the people are angry. They know whom to blame—the bosses of technology firms thirsting for more juice to fuel artificial-intelligence data centres. Ashburn, a town of 45,000 in a featureless part of Virginia that has earned the nickname “Data Centre Alley”, has some 150 of these. They consume roughly as much electricity as Philadelphia, a city of 1.6m. On March 4th Donald Trump convened tech leaders to sign a pledge to “build, bring or buy their own power supply…ensuring that Americans’ electricity bills will not increase”. Their solemn pledges notwithstanding, the chief executives can do little to contain prices. That is not, though, because ai is unstoppable. It is because the ai boom is not chiefly to blame for the rising costs. Read more here

Homebuilding & Materials

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran threatens to derail the crucial spring housing market as oil prices soar, raising the specter of stagflation and rising mortgage rates… For the housing market, the oil shock comes at the onset of the spring housing season, the most active time of the year for homebuyers and sellers. In addition to the potential blow to consumer confidence, the crisis threatens to send mortgage rates surging as bond markets react to inflation risk. Read more here

Safety & Security

Western defence companies and governments are redoubling their efforts to bring lower-cost weapons against cheap drones and missiles to the battlefield in the wake of Iranian attacks in the Gulf. The race to find new ways of intercepting attack drones started in earnest after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago. Read more here

Military leaders have credited Project Maven — a pilot project with leading tech companies to develop AI that sifts through and interprets drone and satellite footage — with greatly reducing the time it takes to identify and strike targets.2 And the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the Pentagon organization serving as a bridge between Silicon Valley and the military, has fast-tracked contracts for experimental drone technology, which the DIU promises will make combat operations “less expensive” and “put fewer people in the line of fire.” Read more here

The U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran have unfolded at unprecedented speed and precision thanks to months of planning, a massive assemblage of military force and a cutting-edge weapon never before deployed on this scale: artificial intelligence. AI tools are helping gather intelligence, pick targets, plan bombing missions and assess battle damage at speeds not previously possible. Read more here

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

Share

We’re back with a fresh set of ripped-from-the-headlines confirmation points and signals for not only our targeted exposure and thematic strategies, but also our Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity model and the AI & Data Center Model Suite.

Feast away!

Aging Population

Demand for senior housing is hitting record highs as the oldest Baby Boomers turn 80 this year.​ The tipping point was never a question of “if.” Only “when.” When is now, and the challenge of now is to catch up. New survey results from commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield show that demand is rising faster than new construction, tightening the market. Construction is at its lowest level in more than a decade… Read more here

As Canada’s baby boomer generation moves en masse into its retirement years, a quiet crisis is unfolding in the country’s real estate landscape. The demand for seniors housing — from independent living communities to assisted care facilities — is outpacing supply at a rate that experts describe as alarming. For developers, investors, and policymakers alike, the window to respond is narrowing rapidly. Read more here

A protein lurking around in the blood can help with the accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. In a recent study, researchers from Spain investigated how blood-based biomarkers, such as a protein called p-tau217, affect both the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and neurologists’ confidence in their diagnosis. Read more here

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a tool consumers use every day. New PYMNTS Intelligence research shows that 54% of U.S. adults now use AI for personal tasks. The average user relies on between two and three different AI tools, signaling that the technology is quickly moving from novelty to routine utility in daily life. Read more here

Kroger is also investing in artificial intelligence (AI) tools to improve operations, labor scheduling and digital shopping experiences, including an in-house online shopping assistant that will expand nationwide later this year. In January, Google Cloud announced that it is working with Kroger to deploy Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience. Read more here

Netflix said on Thursday it has acquired InterPositive, a filmmaking technology company founded by Academy Award-winning actor and director Ben Affleck that develops artificial intelligence-powered tools designed for movie production. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition signals a growing shift within the media industry toward embracing artificial intelligence as a tool for content creation and storytelling. Read more here

In its Cyber Pulse report, Microsoft has revealed a very significant figure: more than 80% of Fortune 500 companies have active AI agents built with low-code/no-code tools. This is not just an increase — it shows a massive shift in how enterprises, right at the top of their game, approach automation. Read more here

Cash-Strapped Consumer

Gasoline prices in the United States jumped seven cents to $3.32 a gallon, on average, on Friday, the latest in a series of price increases in the week since the start of the war led by the United States and Israel against Iran.That was the highest since September 2024, according to the AAA motor club… Read more here

The global fertiliser supply chain could face significant disruption if the effective closure by Iran of the strait of Hormuz persists, prompting concerns from analysts about crop production and food security. Passage through the waterway, located off Iran’s southern coast, has mostly stopped since the US and Israel launched their attacks at the weekend. Between a quarter and a third of the global trade in the raw materials for fertiliser passes through the strait, as well as a fifth of seaborne crude oil and gas. Read more here

More than a year into the second Trump administration, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that nearly four in five Americans say inflation is a “very big” concern for them personally and that few describe the U.S. economy as “booming.” Read more here

Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996 and now age 30–45, are navigating a cost-of-living environment that has ceased spiking and cooling to stay persistently high. In this Data Book, these consumers (including bridge millennials, born between 1978 and 1988 and now age 38–48) stand out for the number of overlapping financial pressures they face, the number of tactics they use to cope and how quickly their confidence in those maneuvers is eroding. Read more here

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

Unauthorized-party fraud has reclaimed center stage, reversing last year’s pattern and reshaping how banks think about risk. That is the core shift in the “2025 State of Fraud and Financial Crime in the United States” report, produced by PYMNTS Intelligence in collaboration with Block. Based on a survey of 200 executives at U.S. financial institutions, the report finds that fraud is not only becoming more sophisticated but also more concentrated in credential theft and account takeovers. Read more here

The Middle East conflict will have “immediate repercussions” for European Union security with an increased threat of terrorism, serious and ​organised crime as well as violent extremism and cyberattacks, ‌European police body Europol told Spanish news agency EFE on Thursday. Read more here

The Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center is warning American health systems to shore up their cybersecurity posture against the threat of distributed denial-of-service attacks stemming from the military conflict with Iran. Read more here

The number of Trojan banker attacks on Android smartphones increased by 56 per cent in 2025 compared to the previous year, 2024. The claim was made by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky in a report titled “Mobile Malware Evolution.” This type of malware is designed to steal user credentials for online banking, e-payment services and credit card systems. Read more here

Digital Lifestyle

Oura Health is acquiring Finland-based startup Doublepoint Technologies as the smart ring maker moves to add gesture and voice interactions to future versions of its wearable devices, Bloomberg News reported Thursday (March 5). The deal brings gesture-recognition technology developed by Doublepoint into Oura’s product roadmap, enabling users to control devices using small hand movements detected through a combination of artificial intelligence and biometric signals, the report said. Read more here

Energy Pain Point

The tail end of 2025 saw continued growth in most utilities’ spending and load projections, with Duke Energy claiming the distinction of having the largest capital spending plan of any regulated electric utility in the U.S. Companies used their fourth-quarter earnings presentations to highlight their efforts to address affordability concerns through large load tariffs and other means as they come under pressure from ratepayers, regulators and elected representatives over rising costs. Transmission, grid hardening and wildfire mitigation also figured prominently in several spending plans… Read more here

Homebuilding & Materials

Almost 45,000 for-sale homes that were taken off the market last year were listed in January, according to a new Redfin study, as sellers hope the spring homebuying season will revitalize the sleepy U.S. housing market. It was the highest January number in records dating back a decade, promising to boost housing supply and give buyers more negotiating power over sellers. Read more here

Homebuilders are expanding their use of discounts, with nearly 1 in 5 new homes carrying a price cut in late 2025, according to a new analysis from the Realtor.com® economic research team. In the fourth quarter, 19.3% of listings for new builds offered price reductions, compared to just 18% of existing homes. This means that, for the first time in recent history, new homes were more likely than previously owned homes to carry a price cut, according to the Realtor.com Quarterly New-Construction Insights report. Read more here

Luxury Buying Boom

Chinese shoppers are returning to luxury stores, but with less appetite to spend and in greatly diminished numbers. That is disappointing for high-end brands desperate for fresh growth... If the global luxury industry is to get back to the 6% annual growth it averaged over the past two decades, it needs China to recover. Luxury stocks used to be a favorite way for investors to get exposure to the country’s then-booming middle class. Read more here

Kering and the Chalhoub Group, a long-standing local distributor of prestigious brands in the Middle East, have already announced measures to restrict their activities in the region. But other players in the luxury sector are also likely to suffer from the conflict initiated by Israel, the United States, and Iran, which is now engulfing several of their neighbors. Read more here

Safety & Security

China will boost defence spending by 7% in 2026, it said on Thursday, the lowest rate in five years but still outpacing wider economic growth targets and ​the rest of Asia at a time of growing regional tension, including over Taiwan. Security analysts and regional military attaches are watching China’s budget closely as it scrambles to ‌modernise the military by 2035, while stepping up deployments across East Asia and purging the top brass to tackle graft. Read more here

President Emmanuel Macron of France has persistently called for Europe to act decisively to defend itself and its own interests in a world where Russia is on the march, China is economically aggressive and the United States is turning away… But there is a built-in political problem. Germany is already spending much more money than its European partners, according to military spending trackers… Read more here

Poland has been the biggest buyer among the world’s central banks for the last two years, and a major support for the gold rally that has taken place over that time. Now, facing year four of the intractable conflict between Russia and Ukraine on its Eastern border and a NATO alliance in flux, the Eastern European nation is considering the unthinkable: selling its gold reserve to fund a massive military buildup. Read more here

US military forces are turning to a range of artificial intelligence tools to quickly manage enormous amounts of data for operations against Iran, according to US Central Command, highlighting the emerging technology’s growing role in warfare. Read more here

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

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The Strategies Behind Our AI & Data Center Ecosystem Models

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

The Strategies Behind Our Core Exposure Models

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• International Core Holdings – This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from ex-US developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

• Global Core Holdings - This model focuses on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide a range of exposures from US, and other developed market equities to emerging market equities, and global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

The Strategies Behind Our Targeted Exposure Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

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We’re back with a fresh set of ripped from the headlines confirmation points and signals for not only our targeted exposure and thematic strategies, but also our Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity model and the AI & Data Center Model Suite.

Feast away!

Aging of the Population

According to a study by CareScout the 65-plus population is on track to hit 82 million in the next 25 years. There are currently around 60 million. Many states across the country aren’t prepared to handle a population aging this fast… One major factor that stood out is the lack of nurses. CareScout estimates a shortfall of 63,000 registered nurses by 2030. Read more here

Projections from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the nation’s centenarian population is set to quadruple over the next 30 years. The increase in longevity stems from advancements in modern medicine, above-average quality of life and a growing awareness of healthy lifestyles and habits. But the tendency to live longer also presents new and complex challenges, including how to care for a vulnerable demographic that, in a society that prizes independence and the able-bodied, is often cast aside or left to navigate aging largely on its own, experts say. Read more here

Artificial Intelligence

Anthropic’s artificial-intelligence tool Claude was used in the U.S. military’s operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, highlighting how AI models are gaining traction in the Pentagon, according to people familiar with the matter. Read more here

According to Zscaler ThreatLabz’ 2026 AI Security Report, there is a massive rise in enterprise AI adoption. The researchers analyzed around 1 trillion AI/ML transactions for 2025, which show a 91% year‑over‑year increase. AI has effectively become core infrastructure within organizations, consistently active across workflows, tools, and business processes. Read more here

Albertsons Cos. Inc., Target Corp., and Williams-Sonoma Inc. announced they are now testing ad placements in ChatGPT through an early pilot with OpenAI, as retailers explore AI as a new retail media channel… Since the pilot’s announcement, a handful of advertisers have signed on, including Adobe, Amazon’s Audible and HelloFresh. Agency partners are also getting involved. WPP Media said it’s working with brands such as Ford, Mazda, Mrs. Meyer’s and Audemars Piguet to test placements. Meanwhile, Dentsu and Omnicom said they intend to bring client campaigns into ChatGPT. Albertsons, Target and Williams-Sonoma are the latest to announce their participation. Read more here

U.S. artificial intelligence company Anthropic opened its first office in India on Monday amid a surge of AI usage in the country, saying its revenue in the market has doubled since October on an annualized basis. The new office in the southern city of Bengaluru is Anthropic’s second in Asia after Tokyo. The move comes as the battle for AI users in India heats up, thanks in large part to American and European companies venturing into new markets in pursuit of rapid growth. Read more here

Cash-Strapped Consumer

The herd in this case refers to the U.S. cattle population, which recently hit a 75-year low. Steak prices have shot 55% higher over the past five years, and ground beef, 69%. These American staples might not weigh on household budgets like car insurance and electricity, but they are frequent cost-of-living reminders to any grocery shopper or restaurant diner. Read more here

After holding the line on prices for several months, companies—big and small—have begun a new round of increases, in some cases by high-single-digit percentage points. Companies had raised prices last year after tariffs hoisted costs. Yet starting in the fall, many firms held off on increases and sometimes offered discounts to capture holiday shoppers. The pricing break is over. Many companies typically raise prices at the start of the new year. Yet increases appeared to be stronger than normal for January for electronics, appliances and other durable goods… Read more here

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

Hackers have stolen the personal and contact information of nearly 1 million accounts after breaching the systems of Figure Technology Solutions, a self-described blockchain-native financial technology company. Founded in 2018, Figure uses the Provenance blockchain for lending, borrowing, and securities trading, and has unlocked over $22 billion in home equity with over 250 partners, including banks, credit unions, fintechs, and home improvement companies. Read more here

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn on Wednesday said it had been targeted by a cyberattack that disrupted its digital services. The company said a so-called DDoS attack hit its IT systems around midday Tuesday, causing outages in travel information and booking tools on its website and in the Navigator app. Read more here

Hackers are using ransomware to accelerate the timeline for cyberattacks, moving on average four times faster than just a year ago, according to an incident response report released Tuesday by Palo Alto Networks. AI is being used for reconnaissance, phishing and scripting, and operational execution in many cases. In the most efficient attacks, groups exfiltrate data just 72 minutes after initial access. Identity is a primary element in attacks, showing up in 90% of incident response cases. Read more here

A single quantum-enabled cyberattack on a major U.S. bank could trigger trillions of dollars in economic damage, according to a new study by the Citi Institute, reframing quantum computing from a distant research concern into an immediate financial stability risk. In a report, analysts at Citi Group estimate that a one-day disruption to a top-five U.S. bank’s access to the Fedwire Funds Service — the real-time payment system operated by the Federal Reserve — could generate $2 trillion to $3.3 trillion in indirect economic losses, equivalent to 10% to 17% of U.S. gross domestic product. Read more here

As AI adoption surges toward a trillion annual enterprise transactions, IT leaders now face an attack surface expanding faster than traditional security models can contain. With nearly 40% of AI activity being blocked due to data‑exposure risks, the stakes for governing AI securely have never been higher. Read more here

Digital Infrastructure

Sony Group Corp. is now considering pushing back the debut of its next PlayStation console to 2028 or even 2029, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. That would be a major upset to a carefully orchestrated strategy to sustain user engagement between hardware generations. Close rival Nintendo Co., which contributed to the surplus demand in 2025 after its new Switch 2 console drove storage card purchases, is also contemplating raising the price of that device in 2026, people familiar with its plans said. Read more here

Texas is poised to become the world’s largest data center market by 2030, overtaking Virginia, according to a new report from JLL. “Frontier markets” such as Texas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Ohio are experiencing “explosive” growth, JLL’s North America Data Center Report Year-end 2025 said. JLL defines frontier markets as those outside of traditional mature hubs like Northern Virginia, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Silicon Valley. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of all US data center construction is happening in these markets, driven by developers seeking power availability and business-friendly environments. Read more here

Digital Lifestyle

Airbnb is stepping up to build an AI-native app experience, making the app more than a search aggregator and turning it into an assistant for planning trips or hosting visitors.

CEO Brian Chesky said during the company’s fourth-quarter conference call that Airbnb is looking to expand the use of large language models to enhance customer experience, according to TechCrunch. Read more here

Homebuilding & Materials

“Single-family home building dipped in 2025 because of ongoing affordability challenges, fueled by high housing price-to-income ratios and elevated financing and construction costs,” says Buddy Hughes, a homebuilder and developer from Lexington, NC, and immediate past chairman of the board of the National Association of Home Builders. “NAHB expects single-family starts will move slightly higher this year, as mortgage rates are expected to moderate.” Read more here

Construction executives are warning President Donald Trump that his aggressive anti-immigration crackdown is hurting their industry, making homebuilding more expensive, and could eventually turn his voters against the GOP. Read more here

Luxury Buying Boom

Gen Zers and millennials are swimming in student debt and may never own homes, but they’re splurging on gut-healthy juices and rotisserie chickens. New York City as a whole is in the midst of an affordability crisis, one that helped elect Mayor Zohran Mamdani, yet a new crop of luxury prepared-food purveyors is drawing massive crowds in Manhattan and driving social-media discourse. Influencers fill aisles in search of trendy nut butters and overpriced salads. The stores are packed on weekends with teens who inhale frozen yogurt. Read more here

China’s personal luxury goods market is expected to return to modest growth in 2026, consultancy Bain & Company said on Thursday, but warned the recovery would be fragile and uneven across brands and categories. The mainland luxury market shrank 3% to 5% in 2025, recovering from a drop of 17% to 19% in 2024, and the consultancy forecast that the world’s second largest economy would remain a “cornerstone of luxury market growth”. Read more here

Safety & Security

The fiscal 2027 defense budget could double the number of ships the Navy is set to procure under the fiscal 2026 defense budget, Navy Secretary John Phelan said during a keynote address at the WEST Conference in San Diego, California, on Thursday. While the 2026 budget allotted $27.2 billion dollars for the Navy to build 17 ships, Phelan said President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal 2027 defense budget of $1.5 trillion could bump that number up to at least 34, with a large contingent of auxiliary and support ships. Read more here

The Knoxville Police Department is utilizing two new artificial intelligence-powered translation devices so officers can have conversations with people who do not speak English or are hard of hearing during time-sensitive investigations… According to the department, the translation devices are an essential tool during time-sensitive investigations that require reliable, accurate communication. Read more here

A police department in Connecticut is testing new bodycam technology that will help officers communicate with people who speak different languages. The chief of the Norwalk Police Department says the cameras use AI technology which is already making interactions safer and smoother. Read more here

The Pentagon wants sensors that can detect small drones threatening military installations across the United States. And it wants them fast. Read more here

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

Share

We’re back with a fresh set of ripped from the headlines confirmation points and signals for not only our targeted exposure and thematic strategies, but also our Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity model and the AI & Data Center Model Suite.

Feast away!

Artificial Intelligence

U.S. employees already using artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace used it slightly more often in the fourth quarter of 2025 than in the prior quarter, continuing a gradual increase since 2023. The proportion of employees using AI daily has risen from 10% to 12%. Frequent use, defined as using AI at work at least a few times a week, has also inched up three percentage points to 26%. Read more here

OpenAI has launched a new product to help enterprises navigate the world of AI agents, focusing on agent management as critical infrastructure for enterprise AI adoption… It’s not surprising that OpenAI would release this platform in early 2026, as the company has made it clear that enterprise adoption is one of its main focus areas for this year. The company has also announced two notable enterprise deals this year with ServiceNow and Snowflake. Read more here

Chief financial officers are moving rapidly from tentatively exploring generative artificial intelligence to managing it as a core element of finance operations. By the end of 2025, gen AI was no longer confined to pilot programs or isolated analytics use cases. Instead, CFOs report that they are increasingly embedding it across core finance functions, including financial reporting, capital and working capital management, and risk-related activities, all while delivering strong effectiveness across a wide range of tasks. Read more here

Insurance companies are beginning to deploy agentic artificial intelligence (AI) systems that do more than summarize documents or answer customer questions. They are orchestrating entire workflows across claims, underwriting and policy servicing functions, touching legacy policy administration, billing and claims systems that were never designed for autonomous coordination. Unlike earlier automation waves that focused on robotic process automation or narrow machine learning models, agentic AI systems are designed to ingest unstructured emails, scanned PDFs and intake forms, extract relevant coverage and risk information, apply policy rules and route exceptions to human adjusters. Read more here

Cash-Strapped Consumer

In addition to the slowing economy, shifting consumer trends are boosting Goodwill’s sales. Much of the growth is coming from Generation Z and millennials who see secondhand clothes not only as cheaper but also as more sustainable and fashionable. Read more here

Some Americans ages 50 and over are exiting retirement and returning to work, according to a new AARP survey. Most surveyed individuals who are “unretiring” say they’re motivated to make money amid today’s high living costs, the nonprofit organization, which represents people ages 50 and older, found. In the past six months, 7% of retirees have re-entered the labor force, up from 6% who said the same in summer 2025, according to AARP’s survey results. Read more here

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

Newsletter platform Substack has confirmed a data breach in an email to users. The company said that in October, an “unauthorized third party” accessed user data, including email addresses, phone numbers, and other unspecified “internal metadata.” Read more here

A data breach at government technology giant Conduent appears to affect far more people than first disclosed, with the number of victims potentially stretching to dozens of millions of people across the United States. The January 2025 ransomware attack, which knocked out Conduent’s operations for several days, is now known to affect at least 15.4 million people in Texas alone, accounting for about half of the state’s population. Read more here

The computer systems of La Sapienza in Rome, one of the largest universities in Europe with around 120,000 students, have been down for three days following an apparent ransomware attack. Read more here

Digital Infrastructure

Abu Dhabi-based AI holding company G42 has signed an agreement with two Vietnamese companies to build three data centers in Vietnam. G42 will collaborate with FPT Corporation, one of Vietnam’s largest IT and telco firms, and the conglomerate Viet Thai Group under the terms of an undisclosed framework agreement. Read more here

Amsterdam-based AI cloud provider Nebius is planning a 240MW data center in Béthune, France. As reported by Les Echos, the project will see the former Bridgestone tyre plant redeveloped and set to deliver capacity in phases. According to Nebius CCO Tom Blackwell, the first phase of capacity is expected online by late summer, with half the data center up and running by the end of 2026. Read more here

… Menlo Equities is pivoting 888-894 Ross Drive in Sunnyvale within the Peery Park business park in Santa Clara County towards data center development… Timelines haven’t been shared, but BizJournal reports the project could be delivered around 2027/2028. Read more here

Investment firm Scranton will build a new data center on the site of the former Iberboard Mill paper mill near Barcelona in Spain, giving the site a second industrial life after more than a year in bankruptcy. The facility, located in Igualada (Barcelona), will transition from a paper mill to a site specializing in digital infrastructure, geared toward hosting servers and high-demand workloads. Read more here

Shares of data-center-infrastructure provider Vertiv soared after the company’s outlook for 2026 simply smashed expectations… Orders were strong, too, up 252% year over year and up 117% sequentially from the third quarter of 2025. Read more here

Digital Lifestyle

Cars, like many other functional utilities now decked out with large connected screens, are quickly becoming an advertising gold mine. That potential revenue is leading automakers to test the controversial addition of in-car ads — and likely playing into the growing wave of automakers scrapping popular phone-mirroring systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from their models. Read more here

PayPal is launching an artificial intelligence-focused partnership with tech firms Sabre and Mindtrip, according to a Thursday (Feb. 12) press release. The collaboration combines PayPal’s agentic commerce capabilities, Sabre’s enterprise-grade travel technology and agentic AI expertise, and Mindtrip’s agentic consumer platform, the release said. The goal is to replace the “fragmented multistep booking processes” with a “single, intelligent experience that moves seamlessly from inspiration to action,” Read more here

Energy Pain Point

The largest U.S. electric utilities are ramping up spending on new power infrastructure to meet surging demand from data centers, with companies like American Electric Power (AEP.O), opens new tab and Exelon (EXC.O), opens new tab unveiling expanded investment plans on Thursday and fielding questions about rising power bills. Read more here

Duke Energy raised its five-year spending plan on power infrastructure to $103 billion, an 18 percent jump from the last iteration of what has become the largest capital expenditure plan for any U.S. regulated electric utility, the company said on Tuesday. U.S. power companies are beefing up spending plans to record levels as the country’s power demand forecasts rise after decades of stagnation, with growth driven by the proliferation of the technology industry’s energy-intensive data centers. Read more here

The parent company of Consumers Energy, Michigan’s second largest investor-owned electric utility, plans to invest more than $17 billion in generation, distribution and other assets over the next five years, company executives said at its fourth quarter earnings call Thursday. Its generation investment is set to increase more than 25% over the previous five-year plan. Read more here

Homebuilding & Materials

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell sharply in January as higher home prices and possibly harsh winter weather kept many prospective homebuyers on the sidelines despite easing mortgage rates. Existing home sales sank 8.4% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That’s the biggest monthly decline in nearly four years and the slowest annualized sales pace in more than two years. Read more here

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

Share

We’re back with a fresh set of ripped from the headlines confirmation points and signals for not only our targeted exposure and thematic strategies, but also our Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity model and the AI & Data Center Model Suite.

Feast away!

Aging Population

The transition from your working years to retirement introduces a significant wild card: time. While the accumulation phase of retirement planning is oriented around your target retirement date, your decumulation—the spending down of your retirement assets—requires financial planners to work backwards from a lifespan estimate. Throw in further uncertainty around market volatility and inflation, and it’s clear that withdrawal rates are often predicated on assumptions that may not pan out. Read more here

Senior housing has been one of the biggest disappointments for commercial real-estate investors. Now, thanks to millions of aging baby boomers, that may be about to change. The oldest boomers turn 80 in less than a year. And by 2030, the U.S. population 80 years and older is expected to increase by more than four million people to 18.8 million. History suggests that a growing number of people conclude at that milestone age they can no longer live comfortably or safely at home and seek a senior facility. Read more here

Artificial Intelligence

According to a study commissioned by software company Appian, 70 per cent of Australian public sector workers are using AI for daily tasks – a jump from 58 per cent 12 months ago. The survey of 500 APS workers also found that that AI literacy is growing, with 68 per cent reporting they are confident using the tools in their roles – this compares to 59 per cent in 2024. Read more here

The 2026 Connectivity Benchmark Report from Salesforce, MuleSoft, and Deloitte Digital finds AI agents are now used across 89% of business teams, with the average organization operating 12 agents today and planning a 67% increase to roughly 20 within two years. Digital leaders expect to devote about 19% of their IT budgets to agent-focused initiatives as projects shift from experimental pilots to production-grade workflows. Read more here

Despite uncertainties in supply chains and turmoil wrought by tariffs, manufacturers are continuing to prioritize AI adoption in digital transformation. The Rootstock survey found 61% of manufacturers are planning to increase enterprise software spending over the next 12 months, with the largest share planning on increases of 11% to 25%. Read more here

Equifax has launched a product that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and help prevent synthetic identity fraud. Synthetic identity fraud, in which fraudsters create a fictitious identity and use it to open credit accounts or obtain loans, is a fast-growing threat… Read more here

AI has evolved beyond “copilots” and productivity tools. Increasingly, agents are being embedded directly inside workflows that affect financial reporting, customer data handling, patient information processing, payment transactions, and even identity and access decisions themselves. Read more here

Target’s new CEO, Michael Fiddelke, said Wednesday (Feb. 4) during a company town hall event that he aims to improve the retailer’s merchandise, in-store experiences and technology… “So, we’re investing to deploy the power of AI more fully across our team, freeing them up to spend more time bringing joy to our guests,” Read mor here

Cash-Strapped Consumer

Apparel, accessories and cosmetics companies are targeting higher-income households with marketing and investment in a more premium product as they splurge on nice-to-have items, while lower- and middle-income consumers are strained by higher costs for rents and food amid a softer job market. Read more here

Consumer spending continues to move fluidly across digital and physical channels, but groceries are emerging as one of the clearest signals of where financial pressure is reshaping consumer behavior. While grocery prices are often used as shorthand for inflation, grocery baskets themselves have not changed dramatically in size or composition. Instead, PYMNTS Intelligence finds that financial stress is creating a bifurcation in grocery shopping behavior, particularly in the shift toward online channels. Read more here

Roughly 16% of households were behind on their utility bills last year, owing approximately $23 billion, according to NEADA data. That was up from $21 billion in 2024 and $18.6 billion in 2023, said Mark Wolfe, executive director of NEADA, which is a group of state directors who carry out a federal program that helps low-income families with heating and cooling bills. “If current trends continue, arrears could reach around $28 billion in 2026 as higher electricity and natural gas costs collide with broader inflation in essentials like rent, food and medical care, stretching household budgets further,” Read more here

Taking their place is a phenomenon economists are calling “luxury-phobia,” a psychological and financial retreat from overt status symbols in favor of “local heroes,” homegrown brands that prioritize cultural resonance and extreme value over European heritage. Read more here

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

Lawmakers used the hearing to stress how cyber intrusions, autonomous drones and artificial intelligence are no longer discrete risks managed in silos. These risk factors are converging into a single operational reality capable of disrupting the transportation networks, energy corridors and digital systems that underpin the United States economy. “Rapid advances in emerging technologies, including AI, are further accelerating the scale, speed and sophistication of these cyber operations,” Read more here

Match Group, the owner of multiple popular online dating services, Tinder, Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, and Hinge, confirmed a cybersecurity incident that compromised user data. The company stated that hackers stole a “limited amount of user data” after the ShinyHunters threat group leaked 1.7 GB of compressed files allegedly containing 10 million records of Hinge, Match, and OkCupid user information, as well as internal documents. Read more here

Digital Infrastructure

Companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are striking deals with chip makers other than Nvidia to get their hands on as much raw computing power as they can, said Daniel Newman, an analyst at the Futurum Group. As result, he and his firm predict, the market for Nvidia alternatives will grow faster over the next two years than the market for Nvidia’s chips. Read more here

Amazon.com on Thursday projected a jump of more than 50% in capital expenditures this year, joining its Big Tech peers in adding new expenses as they race to build out artificial-intelligence infrastructure. It is the latest sign that tech companies will not be hitting the brakes on their hefty AI investments anytime soon. Read more here

Digital Lifestyle

Apple has acquired a secretive Israeli start-up Q.AI whose technology can analyse facial expressions to understand “silent speech”, in one of the iPhone maker’s biggest ever acquisitions. The deal is designed to help the iPhone maker narrow its gap with Meta, Google and OpenAI in the growing race to create new kinds of wearable devices to speak to AI. Read more here

Food delivery, which skyrocketed during the pandemic as a practical necessity, has become even more entrenched in the years since as a convenience, an everyday alternative to cooking or eating out. DoorDash is now a verb. And the new delivery economy is transforming the way Americans live — reshaping budgets, mealtimes and social habits. Read more here

Streaming viewership captured 47.5% of television in December 2025, eclipsing its previous record set in July 2025 to achieve the largest share of TV ever reported in Nielsen’s The Gauge™, the media industry’s leading snapshot of total TV and streaming consumption. Read more here

Nuclear Energy & Uranium

Rising energy demand, inflation, grid investment, extreme weather and volatile fuel costs are increasing the cost of electricity faster than many households can keep up, and there are no easy fixes, experts say. Mitigating the problem would require threading a needle of policy alternatives, but even with the right policies, it will take time to reduce customer energy burdens. The U.S. Energy Information Administration puts the national average residential price per kilowatt hour in 2026 at 18 cents, up approximately 37% from 2020. Read more here

Across the state, proposals for hyperscale data centers built to support artificial intelligence and cloud computing are driving unprecedented demand for electricity and water. That surge is already reshaping long-term energy planning, delaying coal plant retirements and raising new questions about who bears the environmental and financial costs of keeping the grid running. Read more here

Safety & Security

…the Body Worn Camera market is experiencing accelerated growth due to expansion with rising demand for transparency, accountability and safety in law enforcement, private security and public service provision. The trend to adoption is motivated by the increasing number of conflicts, regulatory requirements and the necessity to record evidence in real time. Governments are spending on digital policing schemes and efficient surveillance systems whereas the private firms are utilizing such devices to observe their employees and minimize liabilities. Read more here

The president recently announced his desire for a $1.5 trillion defense budget in fiscal year 2027, which would represent a substantial increase of $600 billion over current figures. As large a sum as that is, it is money the department could realistically use to address shortfalls in modernization and readiness. With Congress working out a budget deal, a full year defense continuing resolution looks unlikely for the remainder of 2026. But many experts predict a chance of a split Congress after the mid-term elections. If that happens, divided control of Congress creates a high probability of another full year defense continuing resolution in FY27, rendering the president’s request for $1.5 trillion as collateral damage. Read more here

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

Share

Read more

Read more

We’re back with a fresh set of ripped from the headlines confirmation points and signals for not only our targeted exposure and thematic strategies, but also our Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity model and the AI & Data Center Model Suite.

Feast away!

Aging Population

Fresh research from the workforce data company Revelio Labs sheds light on the factors making it harder for applicants like Thomas: chiefly, an aging population and more people working well into their 60s and 70s, coupled with a labor market in which companies are culling roles and seeking more experienced candidates when they do hire. Read more here

Artificial Intelligence

Companies have high expectations from AI efforts with productivity gains predicted to grow by 42% and with 67% of companies expecting the technology to eliminate resource and skill constraints… The research, from the IBM Institute for Business Value, also revealed nearly eight in 10, (79%), surveyed executives expect AI will significantly contribute to their revenue by 2030 — up from 40% today. But just a small number, 24%, have a clear view of where that revenue will come from. Read more here

People working in various industries — from healthcare to education to construction — are exploring ways to use AI, and the retail sector is no exception. In fact, the AI market in retail is expected to grow from $4.84 billion to $31.18 billion by 2028 — representing a CAGR of 30.5%. Read more here

“When we look at AI between ‘25 and ‘30, we see another 40 points of operating leverage,” Demchak said. “We have 171 different opportunities outlined and $1.4 billion of total addressable spend that we’re able to go after through. I mean, we use the term ‘AI,’ but I just think of it as the same march that we’ve been along with automation that has given us all those efficiencies between ‘22 and ‘25.” Read more here

…data from the latest CAIO Report shows that firms have effectively settled the debate over the use of agentic AI. What is changing now is how much authority companies are willing to give these systems and how quickly they are putting them to work. Across industries, executives are shifting from cautious interest to active deployment, with implications for how they build products, serve customers and make operational decisions. The findings point to a market that has crossed a threshold, where trust, adoption and scale are advancing in tandem rather than sequentially. Read more here

Cash-Strapped Consumer

In August, 68% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, and 25% of that group said they were struggling to pay monthly bills, nearly matching the highest level recorded in the previous year…. Only 48% of consumers said they were very or extremely confident they could come up with $2,000 within 30 days, a figure that fell to 15% among those already struggling to pay bills. Read more here

Amazon isn’t the only retailer warning of higher prices because of tariffs. Walmart, Target and Home Depot and many other companies have publicly said tariffs are making products more expensive. And while overall consumer inflation was modest last year, many businesses surveyed by the Federal Reserve in its latest Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes, warned they’re planning bigger price hikes this year. Read more here

The cost of living in the U.S. rose 2.7% in December compared with a year before, according to Tuesday’s federal data. That’s a steady slowdown after a yearslong stretch of intense inflation, but still painful. The past year also brought a global trade war, as President Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on nearly all imports. And the world continued to grapple with extreme weather, from droughts to downpours. All of this is showing up in our shopping carts... To entice weary shoppers, NPR found, Walmart offered more discounts in December than it had in previous years. Read more here

Income remains the most important dividing line. Among households earning less than $50,000 annually, the share reporting at least one large purchase fell from 46% in August to 40% in December. For those earning between $50,000 and $100,000, that share declined from 66% to 61% over the same period. Higher-income households, by contrast, showed little change. Seventy-seven percent of households earning $100,000 or more reported at least one large purchase in December, maintaining the highest level of spending activity across income groups. Read more here

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

Cybersecurity firms are also busy adopting AI to better shield clients from hackers. Some $213 billion was devoted to protecting computer networks in 2025, up 10% from 2024, according to research and advisory firm Gartner. Yet for all the investment in firewalls, data security and access management, there’s little to suggest cybercrime is on the retreat. It’s still a relatively low-risk business considering the potential rewards, and AI is making it easier — and faster — to execute. Read more here

Cybercrime has entered its AI era, with criminals now using weaponized language models and deepfakes as cheap, off-the-shelf infrastructure rather than experimental tools, according to researchers at Group-IB. In its latest whitepaper, the cybersec biz argues that AI has become the plumbing of modern cybercrime, quietly turning skills that once took time and talent into services that anyone with a credit card and a Telegram account can rent. Read more here

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new phishing campaign that exploits social media private messages to propagate malicious payloads, likely with the intent to deploy a remote access trojan (RAT)… The attack involves approaching high-value individuals through messages sent on LinkedIn, establishing trust, and deceiving them into downloading a malicious WinRAR self-extracting archive (SFX). Read more here

The European Commission has proposed new cybersecurity legislation mandating the removal of high-risk suppliers to secure telecommunications networks and strengthening defenses against state-backed and cybercrime groups targeting critical infrastructure. This move follows years of frustration over the uneven application of the EU’s voluntary 5G Security Toolbox, introduced in January 2020 to encourage member states to limit reliance on high-risk vendors. Read more here

The U.K. government is warning of continued malicious activity from Russian-aligned hacktivist groups targeting critical infrastructure and local government organizations in the country in disruptive denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The attacks are aimed at taking websites offline and disabling services… Read more here

Digital Infrastructure

Microsoft experienced one of its largest outages to date, affecting services including Outlook, Teams, 365 and more. Now, it appears the impact has been “resolved.” Multiple Microsoft services suddenly went down on January 22, which left multiple users without access to emails, apps and even Microsoft Defender. Over the course of around nine hours, Microsoft tried to fix the issue, resulting in a mixed bag of services returning and being out again. Before that, on January 21, Microsoft 365 and Teams also suffered a brief outage that left users unable to log in or access various Office apps. Read more here

Digital Lifestyle

OpenAI also plans to begin testing ads in the U.S. for its Free and Go tiers within weeks… As the company introduces ads to the ChatGPT experience, it said it will ensure that the artificial intelligence assistant’s responses are driven by “what’s objectively useful,” not by advertising; users’ data and conversations will remain protected and never sold to advertisers; and users will be able to choose to control the experience to see relevant ads and to turn off personalization, according to the release. Read more here

A week after adding a new Personal Intelligence feature to its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Gemini, Google has expanded the feature to AI Mode in Google Search. Google announced the initial launch of Personal Intelligence in a Jan. 14 blog post, saying that when added to Gemini, it personalizes the AI assistant by connecting to Google apps and drawing information from email, photos and videos. The apps to which it connects include Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube and Search. Read more here

Particularly as consumers are beset by economic uncertainty and financial stresses that may threaten to undercut even the most carefully architected innovation strategies. In response, Amazon this week pushed further into artificial intelligence and ambient computing, unveiling an agentic AI health assistant and broadening the reach of Alexa+. Walmart, by contrast, focused on the mechanics of marketplace evolution and organizational design, expanding its online platform into premium musical instruments while reshuffling leadership to reflect a more explicitly tech-forward strategy. Read more here

Energy Pain Point

Data centers can bring their own power generation that would either be maybe onsite or nearby, bring your own power. You’re hearing it across the country, you’re seeing it in a lot of places in Texas and Tennessee and Ohio and all sorts of places, you are seeing large data center projects that are bringing onsite power with them and they are planning to either, in a few cases, island themselves and just provide their own power forever or just use it as a bridge until all of the grid infrastructure can catch up and then they will connect at some point. Read more here

Guilty Pleasure

Instead of mocktails, he drinks nonalcoholic beer, because he says it’s cheaper and “the taste is a bit of a placebo.” Other times, “I’m drinking club sodas and downing like four, one after another.” He’s been saving money, but not as much as he anticipated. During a regular month, he estimates that he spends as much as $900 on alcohol, which includes buying rounds for friends and drinks for dates; this month, he thinks he’ll end up at about half of that for nonalcoholic beverages. Read more here

A historic downturn in demand for Scotch, whiskey, cognac and tequila has left drinks makers sitting on a lake of unsold spirits, forcing them to mothball distilleries and slash prices to shift bottles piling up in warehouses. Five of the biggest listed alcohol producers — Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Campari, Brown Forman and Rémy Cointreau — are sitting on $22bn worth of ageing spirits, the highest level of inventory in more than a decade, according to their financial reports. Read more here

Luxury Buying Boom

De Beers cut its official diamond prices for the first time in more than a year, according to people familiar with the matter, ending its attempts to support the market in the face of slumping demand. The diamond industry has been beset by one of the deepest and most prolonged crises in modern history amid a pullback in Chinese luxury spending and rising popularity of synthetic stones. US tariffs on India — the world’s largest diamond exporter — have added even more pain. Read more here

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

• Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings with it.

• Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

• Cash Strapped Consumers - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

• CHIPs Act – Capturing the reshoring of the US semiconductor industry and the $52.7 billion poised to be spent on semiconductor manufacturing.

• Cloud Computing – Companies that provide hardware and services that enhance the cloud computing experience for users, such as co-location, security, and edge computing.

• Core Holdings – Companies that reflect economic activity and are large enough to not get pushed around by day-to-day market trends. Low-beta, large-cap names able to better withstand economic turmoil.

• Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

• Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

• Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity - Companies that are integral to the development and the buildout of the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.

• Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

• Digital Payments - Companies benefitting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

• EPS Diplomats - Profitable large capitalization companies proven to produce above-average EPS growth and provide investors with the benefit of multiple expansion.

• EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

• Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

• Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

• Market Hedge Model – This basket of daily reset swap-based broad market inverse ETFs protects in the face of market pullbacks, overbought market technicals, and other drivers of market volatility.

• Nuclear Energy & Uranium – Companies that either build and maintain nuclear power plants or are involved in the production of uranium.

• Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

• Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

• Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.

• Space Economy – Companies that focus on the launch and operation of satellite networks.

The Strategies Behind Our Dividend Income Models

• Monthly Dividend Model – Pretty much what the name indicates – this model invests in companies that pay monthly dividends to shareholders.

• ETF Dividend Model – High-yielding ETFs that provide a range of exposures from domestic equities, international equities, emerging market equities, MLPS, and REITs.

• ETF Enhanced Dividend Model – A group of high-yielding ETFs that utilize options to enhance yield through collecting option income.

Don’t be a stranger

Thanks for reading and if you have a suggestion for an article or book we should read, or a stream we should catch, email us at info@tematicaresearch.com. The same email works if you want to know more about our thematic and targeted exposure models listed above.

Share