Animal Spirits: Everything is Outperforming the S&P 500 This Year

A wave of stocks has seen triple-digit gains in 2026, with the S&P 500's return on equity boosted by the AI capex boom. Retail investors are pouring into U.S. stocks at a record pace, while consumer spending growth hit a four-year high in May. Google invested $75 million in A24 to develop AI-powered filmmaking tools, and a startup raised $140 million to build floating data centers for AI.

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On today’s show, we discuss: Triple-Digit Club: A Wave of Stocks Have Seen Huge Gains in 2026 https://www.morningstar.com/markets/triple-digit-club-wave-stocks-have-seen-huge-gains-2026 The impact of the AI capex boom on S&P 500 return on equity https://www.gspublishing.com/content/research/en/reports/2026/06/12/50f004d3-b246-4366-9d7d-0bc7e845644b.pdf?utm source=news.theideafarm.com&utm medium=newsletter&utm campaign=stocks-record-roe Markets are entering one of the most technically important periods of the year. https://www.citadelsecurities.com/news-and-insights/global-market-intelligence/july/?series=global-market-intelligence America’s Economic Anxiety Is Rising Up the Income Ladder https://www.wsj.com/economy/americas-economic-anxiety-is-rising-up-the-income-ladder-d77b97d4?mod=e2tw The age of the solopreneur https://www.stripeeconomics.com/p/the-age-of-the-solopreneur?utm campaign=email-half-post&r=khrn&utm source=substack&utm medium=email “The Tech Stack Is Dead” — Jason Wenk on Rebuilding Advisor Infrastructure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZv2tqQeOgA World Cup visitors are going viral for their reactions to everyday American life https://www-cdn.abcnews.com/GMA/Living/world-cup-visitors-viral-reactions-everyday-american-life/story?id=133927192&utm source=chatgpt.com Kalshi Plans Workplace Disclosure Rule to Combat Insider Trading https://www.wsj.com/finance/regulation/kalshi-plans-to-require-users-disclose-where-they-work-to-make-certain-trades-7c6ada99?st=ke92NP&reflink=desktopwebshare permalink They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket–but None of It Was Real https://www.wsj.com/business/media/polymarket-social-media-bets-prediction-market-441cdeb5 Own the Internet https://www.notboring.co/p/own-the-internet Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo to co-chair joint venture between NYSE owner and crypto exchange OKX https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/former-york-governor-andrew-cuomo-120045042.html?guccounter=1 Social Security https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/2026/tr2026.pdf Google Invests $75 Million in A24 to Develop AI-Powered Filmmaking Tools https://variety.com/2026/film/news/google-a24-ai-filmmaking-tools-1236787297/ Listen here: Charts: Recommendations: Tweets/Bluesky: NEW: Retail investors are pouring into U.S. stocks at a record pace. According to Citadel Securities, the day of SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO marked the largest single day of net retail stock buying ever recorded by the firm, which handles roughly 35% of U.S. retail trading volume.… pic.twitter.com/KJnCvfviTr — Frank Chaparro @fintechfrank June 17, 2026 Per @VandaTrack :Retail's single-stock net buying has fallen to the lowest on a 3-day rolling basis since COVID pic.twitter.com/XmXln8sLqI — Kevin Gordon @KevRGordon June 15, 2026 History didn't stop at $10 billion. The Roundhill Memory ETF $DRAM surpassed $20 billion in AUM in just 54 days, approximately half the time of the previous record holder. Another milestone that further establishes $DRAM as the fastest-growing ETF ever launched. As of… pic.twitter.com/zqfdLB7E4n — Roundhill Investments @roundhill June 18, 2026 BofAI: Consumer spending momentum is remarkably robust, with total card spending rising 5.1% YoY in May – the strongest growth in nearly four years Note: this is from BofA Institute. publicly available pic.twitter.com/in7DyDulFk — Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 @MikeZaccardi June 11, 2026 They are putting DATA CENTERS in the ocean now. Panthalassa, a startup from Portland, just raised $140 MILLION. what they do: build floating platforms that sit out at sea and run AI. no power grid needed. the ocean waves make all the electricity. the seawater keeps the chips… pic.twitter.com/iv2cOj2uza — shirish @shiri shh June 18, 2026 A technical dive inside our new "Midjourney Scanner" pic.twitter.com/wJBHz2O7ro — Midjourney @midjourney June 18, 2026 This is the primary source of prediction market nihilism. Two years ago, prediction market volume was 90% Politics + Economics. Today, those same categories are under 6% of total volume. The onus is on venues to create novel products that surface novel + useful information. pic.twitter.com/bZt2Sw7r31 — Ryan Chern @ryanchern June 21, 2026 When do home sales finally return to normal? How long does lock-in prevent home sales? What happens to home sales if rates stay at 6.5%?I get asked these a lot so I worked with Compass economist @JonahCoste on the model for the next few years.Two illustrations: pic.twitter.com/FhSNMVrg8D — Mike Simonsen 🐉 @mikesimonsen June 17, 2026 BOX OFFICE: Pixar’s ToyStory5 opens with $160M domestic . That is… – The biggest opening of 2026 – The biggest opening for a Toy Story movie – The 2nd biggest opening ever for an animated movie – The 2nd biggest opening ever for Pixar behind The Incredibles 2, which has a new… pic.twitter.com/BERW8fWRJR — Erik Davis @ErikDavis June 21, 2026 Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/animalspiritspodcast/?ref=settings , Instagram https://www.instagram.com/animalspiritspod/?hl=en , and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBRpqrzuuqE8TZcWw75JSdw . Check out our t-shirts, coffee mugs, and other swag here https://idontshop.com/ . Subscribe here: Nothing in this blog constitutes investment advice, performance data or any recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Any mention of a particular security and related performance data is not a recommendation to buy or sell that security. 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