In 2025, the playbook was easy: buy “AI exposure” and let the multiple do the work. In 2026, that gets replaced by something far more powerful (and more dangerous): political pricing power. The Trump “affordability” campaign isn’t just a slogan — it’s an enforcement mechanism. When the White House decides a cost is politically unacceptable, it doesn’t ask markets to solve it… it forces a solution and tells you who’s paying for it. We’ve already seen the template in real time: cap the pain (credit-card APR rhetoric), attack the toll booths (swipe fees), and make Big Tech “pay its own way” so the public doesn’t “pick up the tab” for data-center power bills.

Here’s the investing tell most people miss: Washington is not picking winners and losers at random. It’s following two rules that you can front-run:

Think of affordability like a new tax. If Washington wants lower prices and still wants growth, it needs someone else to eat the cost:

This is the new reality: Washington is now a margin regulator for anything that touches household budgets.

You don’t need to be a political junkie. You need a checklist.

If it shows up on a household statement, it’s a candidate:

When the White House starts naming a “villain,” that sector becomes tradable.

The first big company to comply tells you where the puck is going.
Microsoft being singled out on data-center power cost responsibility is a perfect example of how this works: once one player agrees publicly, peers get pressured into “voluntary” alignment.

This is the easiest forecast in markets: no administration wants to be blamed for strategic weakness. If we’re behind, subsidies/procurement/fast-track permitting tends to follow:

The best “Washington-proof” positioning is usually:

Avoid thin-margin businesses whose entire “moat” is a fee the public hates.

1) “Affordability beneficiaries” (lower rates / housing activity)

2) “Pay-your-own-way AI” enablers (data centers keep building, but the cost shifts)

3) “We’re behind China” national-priority trade

These are the “quiet winners” that benefit because Washington is forcing capex and re-shoring:

1) “Affordability villains” (fees + APR optics)

2) Institutional housing buyers (if Washington targets them)

3) AI buildout “middlemen” that need cheap power and a friendly regulator

2026 isn’t about predicting one macro number — it’s about predicting who gets stuck with the bill. When the White House is explicitly saying consumers won’t “pick up the tab” (power, fees, interest), the market is going to re-rate entire industries based on whether they have:

In a year like that, the edge is simple: don’t fight the White House… front-run the incentives.

Rough day in the market yesterday. The tariff decision was delayed, which could have added to uncertainty, or the market has had a great start to the year and a bit of profit taking is to be expected.

Days like today are perfect examples of why we tell clients to have precious metals and crypto in their portfolios as both of those areas where up nicely.

Remember, I do not think precious metals or crypto are Hedges. To be a Hedge something needs to go up every time the market goes down. They do both do that sometimes and tend to be uncorrelated though.

Meanwhile, Taiwan Semi (TSM) posted record earnings and said it expects capital investments to rise sharply in the next three years. This has all the semiconductor stocks ripping this morning.

Today’s stock is Teradyne (TER)……

Teradyne (TER) is one of the cleaner “picks-and-shovels” ways to express the next leg of AI infrastructure without having to be right about which chip vendor wins—because as AI chips and especially HBM-heavy systems get more complex, the industry’s pain point shifts from making silicon to qualifying, testing, and shipping silicon at high yields. That’s why TER keeps showing up as a top idea in the semicap tape: if 2026 wafer-fab equipment spend is indeed being pulled forward (the chatter is +10–15% and 2H-weighted), the test layer tends to tighten right alongside it, and TER has a setup for a “turning quarter” as AI/memory-driven test intensity rises. The asymmetric bull-case is a combo of (1) higher test content per device (advanced packaging + HBM complexity), (2) improving mix/ASPs as customers chase throughput, and (3) the optionality that TER could gain incremental share if Nvidia expands its GPU test vendor set beyond the incumbent path—one credible “GPU win” can change sentiment fast in this group. Bottom line: TER is a high-beta way to play the constraints of the AI buildout (yield + validation), not just the buildout itself.

The H.E.A.T. (Hedge, Edge, Asymmetry and Theme) Formula is designed to empower investors to spot opportunities, think independently, make smarter (often contrarian) moves, and build real wealth.

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