March 16: This Week's Thematic Reads
If you missed out on this week's signals, we've got you covered
Aging of the Population, Digital Lifestyle
Lyft Inc. is working on a simplified version of its app for elderly riders, part of an effort to further differentiate itself from rival Uber Technologies Inc. Dubbed “Lyft Silver,” the new mode would include a user experience “designed for seniors with a simple new look” and “easy access to support,” according to a Bloomberg News review of the app’s publicly available iOS code. Read more here
Artificial Intelligence
Private search engine DuckDuckGo is leaning further into the generative AI opportunity. The non-tracking search engine has been dabbling with expanding the role of AI assistance in its product for the past year, including launching a chatbot-style interface last fall — available at Duck.ai. In a blog post Thursday, the company said the service is now exiting beta. It’s also now simply called Duck.ai, replacing the longer, mouthful name DuckDuckGo AI Chat. Read more here
More than half of the roughly 200,000 merchants on Alibaba.com were already using its AI applications on a weekly basis, company president Zhang Kuo told the South China Morning Post in an interview on Monday… Introduced in early 2024, these AI tools are designed to assist sellers in marketing, product management, customer engagement and risk control – which form part of efforts to expand Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce business. Read more here
A DeskTime study, conducted between January 2023 and December 2024, surveying 2,385 employees across 97 companies using its time-tracking tool claims ChatGPT remains the most widely used AI tool in workplaces worldwide, with adoption rates continuing to grow. The survey found that as of December 2024, 75.9% of global offices had integrated ChatGPT into their workflows, with India leading the way, with 92% of workplaces surveyed there reporting using the tool. Read more here
Airbnb is planning to embed artificial intelligence (AI) throughout its operations to transform guest and homeowner experiences, enabling a “concierge in your pocket,” according to its chief business officer… Airbnb is developing sophisticated AI capabilities to personalize recommendations based on user preferences and behaviors. The company collects data through what it calls “passports,” or user profiles, that help it understand travel context and preferences. Read more here
Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity
It’s no secret that cyberattackers have significantly upped their game by using artificial intelligence to write phishing emails that look more legitimate and contain fewer errors… The cybersecurity community is rushing to catch up with malware gangs and other threat actors, and the community is succeeding. Solution developers have been using AI for almost a decade for purposes such as detecting unseen variations of malware samples, and more recently, with the advent of generative AI, cybersecurity vendors have found new ways to use AI to battle AI. Read more here
Gartner wrote in its recent study, Emerging Tech Impact Radar: Preemptive Cybersecurity, that “[m]alicious actors are exploiting generative AI to launch attacks at machine speed. Organizations can no longer afford to wait for a breach to be detected before taking action. It has become crucial to anticipate potential attacks and prioritize preemptive mitigation measures with predictive analysis.” Read more here
The Dark Storm hacktivist group claims to be behind DDoS attacks causing multiple X worldwide outages on Monday, leading the company to enable DDoS protections from Cloudflare. While X owner Elon Musk did not specifically state that DDoS attacks were behind the outages, he did confirm that it was caused by a "massive cyberattack." Read more here
Cash-Strapped Consumer
86% of Americans expect consumer price increases due to tariffs in 2025. Even if the initial plan to add tariffs up to 25% on some Mexican and Canadian goods and an additional 10% tariff for certain Chinese goods does not move forward, survey statistics show 76% believe the threat of tariffs will still raise prices in 2025. Nearly 3 in 4 Americans are worried about how this could impact them financially, with 2 in 3 anticipating negative impacts. Because of this, 67% of Americans plan to change their shopping habits in 2025. Read more here
Cybersecurity
A recent ransomware attack has compromised a construction firm in Saudi Arabia, underscoring the increasing risk facing everyday organizations in the Middle East, as more cybercriminal and ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups flock to the region. Read more here
Hospitals are routinely targeted by cybercriminals because system availability is acutely linked to mortality rates, and rural facilities are often the least secure with 93 percent of malicious activity stemming from phishing and ransomware… Microsoft said it would cost an estimated $30,000 to $40,000 per rural hospital to raise its security posture to basic standards. Read more here
Data Privacy & Digital Identity
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said today that Americans lost a record $12.5 billion to fraud last year, a 25% increase over the previous year. Consumers reported that investment scams resulted in the highest losses, totaling around $5.7 billion with a median loss of over $9,000 and exceeding all other fraud categories. The second largest reported loss was linked with imposter scams, amounting to $2.95 billion in 2024. Read more here
More than 560,000 people were impacted across four data breaches disclosed last week to authorities by the healthcare organizations Hillcrest Convalescent Center, Gastroenterology Associates of Central Florida, Community Care Alliance, and Sunflower Medical Group. Read more here
Digital Infrastructure
Colocation vacancy rates have plummeted to a record low of 2.6 percent in North America, according to a report from JLL. Vacancy levels have continued to decline despite record construction levels, the report said. Absorption rates totaled 4.4GW in 2024, a quadruple increase since 2020. This has been attributed to cloud providers, technology companies, and finance sectors. In 2024, AI represented around 15 percent of data center workloads, with the report adding it could grow to 40 percent by 2030. Read more here
The company's cloud infrastructure segment, which helps businesses move workloads out of their own data centers, has been booming due to demand for computing power that can support artificial intelligence projects. Oracle said revenue in its cloud infrastructure unit increased 49% from a year earlier to $2.7 billion. "We are on schedule to double our data center capacity this calendar year," Oracle Chair Larry Ellison said in a release. "Customer demand is at record levels." Read more here
OpenAI has agreed an $11.9 billion deal to buy services from CoreWeave, which will see it take an equity stake in the AI cloud provider. The five-year tie-up has been signed ahead of CoreWeave’s stock market debut, which is expected to happen in the next few weeks via an IPO… OpenAI has previously used Microsoft data center infrastructure to train and run its AI models. Microsoft is also a major customer of CoreWeave, accounting for more than half of the latter's revenue. Read more here
Digital Lifestyle
In the last quarter of 2024, Amazon made inroads across multiple product categories, the report found. Amazon captured 30% of the total sales in the electronics and appliances sector. This dominance in the electronics market shows Amazon’s appeal to consumers who prioritize convenience, competitive pricing and fast shipping. The ease of browsing Amazon’s inventory, coupled with its one-click purchasing feature and rapid delivery options, has further solidified its role as a leader in discretionary spending. Read more here
Guilty Pleasure, Cash-Strapped Consumer
Theft of truck loads of green coffee beans is surging in the United States, the world's largest importer of the commodity, as prices for the beans increased to all-time highs in the last year, according to transportation companies. Read more here
Trader Joe's customers in the United States have noticed an increase in the price of various chocolate products in recent weeks. The chain, known for its competitive prices, has adjusted the costs of some of its most popular sweets. According to a report by Tasting Table, the peanut butter cups rose from $4.99 to $5.99. Meanwhile, other products, like chocolate-covered cherries and dark chocolate with almonds, have also seen increases of between $0.30 and $1. Read more here
Luxury Buying Boom
Credit card data released by Citi on Tuesday showed U.S. spending on top luxury brands dropped 5% in February compared with a year ago, following two months of positive growth in December and January. The number of transactions was down sharply, while average transaction value was up—possibly a sign that middle-income shoppers pulled back more than the wealthiest. The types of products left on the shelf back this up. Goods that tend to be bought by aspirational shoppers were hit the hardest—purchases of handbags fell 9%. Demand for high-end jewelry brands who cater to the super rich was more resilient, although spending was still noticeably weaker than in January. Read more here
Nuclear Energy & Uranium, Rebuilding America
“The demand for AI and digital infrastructure is growing faster than ever, and the data center industry is at a crossroads,” said Raul Saavedra, vice chair, head of data center advisory, Americas at Colliers. “Power constraints are now one of the most significant challenges for operators. As AI adoption increases, so too does the demand for energy, and securing enough power is becoming a critical factor for success.” According to Colliers, traditional data center hubs such as Northern Virginia, Dallas, and California are reaching near full capacity. Read more here
Sam Altman-backed Oklo has been the most active in the market. In January, the firm inked an MoU with RPower to deploy a power model that combines natural gas and nuclear power for the data center sector. Before this, it signed a non-binding master power agreement with US data center developer Switch to supply up to 12GW of power through 2044. It also has agreements with Equinix, Prometheus Hyperscale, and two undisclosed data center operators. In total, Oklo has a customer pipeline exceeding 14GW of power. AWS has also signed three agreements with Energy Northwest, X-Energy, and Dominion Virginia to support the deployment of more than 600MW of power across Washington and Virginia. Lead times are also still 50 percent above pre-pandemic levels and data center supply chains continue to be challenged. Read more here
Rebuilding America
Infrastructure remains strong, with firms like Granite and AECOM pointing to continued federal funding for roads, bridges and water projects, even as Washington’s policy landscape shifts. Meanwhile, data centers continue to drive expansion for multiple firms, with Jacobs, Skanska and Fluor highlighting increased activity in that sector as artificial intelligence accelerates demand. Read more here
Safety & Security
The Miami Beach Police Department launched a new Real Time Intelligence Center and drone-first responder program to bolster public safety before spring break. According to officials, the department is the first in Florida and one of only five nationwide to implement Skydio’s Drone as a First Responder program, which allows officers to deploy drones for real-time monitoring and rapid response to incidents. Read more here
Gulf Power has launched a program that uses drones to inspect power lines. Operators will maneuver the drones, which are equipped with both infrared and regular cameras, along major transmission feeder lines to identify potential problems. Read more here
German arms maker Rheinmetall on Wednesday said it expects 2025 sales to jump by 25-30% this year, amid expectations of “major high-volume orders from military customers” that could gain a further boost from a recent change in tack in European defense policy. 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.
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.
Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.
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.