The Top 10 Companies in the World by Market Cap

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Nvidia (NVDA) recently became the world’s valuable company by market capitalization beating tech giant Microsoft(MSFT). Of the top 10 companies in the world by market cap, 8 are American as the table below shows. The only two companies from outside of the US in this list are Taiwanese semiconductor giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing(TSM) and Saudi oil major Saudi Aramco.

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Source: Companiesmarketcap.com

Another interesting point to note is that except Saudi Aramco and Berkshire Hathaway the rest of the companies are in the tech sector.It remains to be seen if the AI wave will further propel these stocks to even higher market caps.

Disclosure: No positions

Bitcoin is Now the Seventh Largest Asset in the World

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Bitcoin has had an incredible in the past few years. Last month the crypto asset crossed $111,000 and was briefly the fifth largest asset in the world. Currently Bitcoin is trading at $104,171. This put Bitcoin as the seventh largest asset globally as shown in the table below. Gold is the number asset at over $22 Trillion. Tech giants Microsoft(MSFT), Apple(AAPL), Nvidia(NVDA), Amazon(AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL) are ahead of Bitcoin.

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Source: Companies Market Cap, Hat Tip Charles-Henry Monchau at Syz Group

Bitcoin price return year-to-date:

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Bitcoin price 5-Year Return:

Bitcoin’s return of over 977% in the past 5 years is astonishing indeed !

Source: Google Finance

Disclosure: No positions

US Average Effective Tariff Rate is Now Highest Since 1909: Chart

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The US average effective tariff rate has reached the highest level since 1909 with the raft new tariffs announced by President Trump according to Yale Budget Lab. According to their estimates, the rate has reached 22.5%. Frank Holmes at U.S. Global Investors notes 1909 is the year President Howard Taft proposed the idea of an income tax to Congress !

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Source: America’s Tariff Rate Hits the Highest Level Since 1909—And That’s Before Retaliation, U.S. Global Investors

The US Tariff rate was much higher back in 1800s and up to early 1900s. However back then concepts like globalization were not a thing. So it is not wise to compare current rates to the rates in those years.

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Source: Where We Stand: The Fiscal, Economic, and Distributional Effects of All U.S. Tariffs Enacted in 2025 Through April 2, The Budget Lab, Yale University

While China has quickly retaliated, it remains to be seen how other countries take action to deal with the tariffs announced by the US.

Update (4/5/25):

1.Trump’s Average Tariff Rate would be highest since 1937:

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Source: Trump Tariffs: The Economic Impact of the Trump Trade War, Tax Foundation

2.From an earlier post in 2019:

3.Trump’s Reciprocal Tariff Rates 2025:

Source: via Thinking out loud, Syz Private Banking

Bull vs. Bear Markets for Global Stocks from 1980 to 2024: Chart

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Markets go thru many phases of bull and bear markets over decades. Though bear markets are difficult to handle, bull markets tend to be longer. For example, from 1980 to 2024 global stocks as represented by the MSCI World Index had bull markets whose duration were four times that of bear markets. In addition, the average total return was much higher during bull markets than the losses during bear markets.

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Source: When markets are volatile, it pays to stay invested, Vanguard Australia

Mining is Essential: Infographic

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The province of Ontario in Canada is rich in many natural resources. Mining companies there extract a variety of minerals such as Silver, gold, Nickel, Copper, etc. I recently came across an infographic that shows how mining helps us in our everyday lives. For example, copper is used in hospital equipment and devices to reduce the risks of infection.

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Source: Ontario Mining Association