If you were wondering whether markets were still in summertime silly season, allow me to settle the matter for you: they definitely are. August is traditionally a month when markets go bump in the night thanks to slimmed-down trading desks in the northern hemisphere summer, and 2024 is a particularly fine example.
This is something that is always worth remembering about markets: they tell you very little about what is going on today, and much more about what investors think will happen tomorrow. In this case, these are great expectations indeed. The explosion higher in Nvidia stocks — some 800 per cent or so since the start of 2023 — is already a reflection of the so-far largely unproven potential of artificial intelligence.