The S & P 500 is up 13.99% year-to-date, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has surged 30.9% in the same period. In this context, we've taken on the bears of late — and been vindicated by a recent pullback in bond yields that had weighed on stocks. The yield on the closely-watched 10-year Treasury has come down to around 4.6%, from more than 4.8% last week, while the S & P has climbed roughly 3%.
At the same time, we're concerned that Oracle paid too much for Cerner — an electronic medical-records company acquired for $28.3 billion in 2022 — but think the deal could still work if Oracle were to harness its AI potential. "That said, I believe Oracle is the lowest price to earnings multiple hyperscaler, which makes little sense given the intellectual firepower and the work Larry has done with AI already," Jim said.