Bubble Trouble (Perhaps For Your Grandkids)
One day they will matter
Q3 earnings season is almost here, and we all know the script: beat, raise, hallelujah, rally. Never bet against Corporate America, bears go to die, and by week two you are wondering why you ever shorted a stock in the first place. Fair enough. But before the earnings machine gets going again, let us indulge in a little bubble trouble. None of the charts below says the party ends tomorrow. In fact, it doesn't. But earnings are stretched versus history, AI is doing an extraordinary amount of the heavy lifting and margins are sitting in increasingly rarefied air. These are the charts that don't matter — until one day they suddenly do.