Ed Elson

and takes the consumer economy down with it.

So let's just start with your initial reaction to the Citrini Research article, the blog post, and also how the markets reacted.

All those companies you mentioned, they got really hit hard after this article came out.

Some other names that have gotten really hit hard, again, because of this AI narrative, Visa, MasterCard, American Express,

DoorDash, a lot of the big software names.

And you ask yourself, like, okay, what do all of these companies, what do all of these stocks have in common?

If you look at their fundamental businesses, they do not have a lot in common.

They're very different businesses pursuing very, very different objectives.

The thing that all of those companies have in common is they were all mentioned by name in the blog post.

which tells you that these drawdowns have absolutely nothing to do with fundamentals, nothing to do with what we're actually seeing with their businesses on the ground, nothing to do with their earnings.

It's all about the vibes.

It's all about the fact that they were included in the big bucket of stocks that this guy

who wrote this interesting and, as we've discussed, very well-written article that was really creative and really fun to read.

I think that's an important, underlooked aspect of this.

And they were all mentioned by name.

And because of that, you saw this gigantic drawdown, literally in a single day, on all of these stocks because they were included in that article.

And that is like the most obvious, perfect example of narrative running away from fundamentals, narrative becoming untied and untethered from the numbers.

And so I think you're right.

with your instincts to just go in and be like, okay, I'm probably going to have to buy these things.

Because it is such a clear indication of such a level of panic and confusion in the markets.