Why AI Companies Are Refusing to Go Public | Steven Lord

2025-12-10

This is one of my favorite interviews of 2025. I just sat down with Jeff deGraaf, founder of Renaissance Macro Research, to get his thoughts on markets, cycles, and risk.

Jeff built his career translating technical analysis into actionable investment strategies for institutional clients. Institutional Investor has named him the #1 technical analyst for over a decade.

In this conversation, he walks through Jeff’s market cycle clock—a framework that plots inflation against growth to forecast stock market returns—and explains why inflation matters more to stocks than GDP growth does.

We cover:
• Why trend following beats mean reversion for long-term investors
• How to identify bubbles—and what to do when you’re in one
• Where semiconductors and healthcare sit on the valuation spectrum

2025-11-26

Zero interest rates didn’t exist for 4,000 years of recorded history. Now CrossBorder Capital founder Michael Howell believes we’re about to find out why.

Howell developed his framework for tracking global liquidity while working at Salomon Brothers, where he watched capital move across trading desks in real time. One core insight: the ratio between debt and liquidity—not debt-to-GDP—is what actually predicts financial crises and asset bubbles.

In this interview we cover:

– How policymakers created the “everything bubble” with zero rates and excess liquidity
– Why $70 trillion of debt must be refinanced every year
– What happens as that debt comes due while Fed liquidity slows
– How to think about asset allocation at different points in the cycle
– Why China is driving gold prices

2025-11-20

The CNN Fear and Greed Index hit extreme fear territory this week. Yet when Brent Donnelly surveyed investors, he found something different: a market repricing risk rather than fleeing from it entirely.

Brent runs Spectra Markets and remains one of the sharpest currency traders I know. His survey revealed that zero-revenue AI plays and debt-heavy infrastructure names are getting hammered while companies with actual cash flows hold up better. The pivot point came in late October with Meta’s earnings.

Brent’s survey found that 65% of respondents would rather short OpenAI at a $500 billion valuation than go long on a three-year horizon. Most believe AI is a bubble, but they don’t think it’s topped yet.

We also discuss what happens when OpenAI’s $20/month subscription model can’t support

2025-11-14

Bruce Mehlman is one of Washington’s sharpest political strategists. We dive deep into the recent government shutdown—why it happened, who won, and what it means for investors. Bruce also breaks down the Democratic sweep in November’s off-year elections, the AI bubble, and the economic tailwinds Wall Street is ignoring: massive foreign investment commitments, banking deregulation, and surprisingly strong corporate earnings. We also discuss the K-shaped economy that’s dividing America, why inflation remains the single most powerful political issue, and what deregulation really means for investors. Finally, Bruce pulls out his crystal ball for predictions on the 2026 midterms and who’s positioning for 2028 presidential runs on both sides.

Read Bruce Mehlman’s free Substack here: