Toby Howell

They're not spending on superfluous goods.

They are spending on stuff they need, necessities, gasoline, all these things that have become more expensive recently, and that's not necessarily good if gasoline is the thing that's bringing down your savings.

I do think that Best Buy was the weirdest company during this earning cycle, though, because yes, you can paint the story that Dollar Tree is doing well because people want to save money.

Costco is doing well because people want to save money.

But Best Buy doing well, that was a little confusing to me because electronics and these things are not necessarily necessities, but their kind of take on it was that consumers will spend on discretionary products if

They feel necessary if there's innovation attached to it.

So gaming consoles, mobile phones, these are all things that sold well at Best Buy still.

And it does, to me, show that the American consumer is relatively strong still because those are not your bread and butter necessities.

I mean, you could argue in today's day and age that a cell phone is just that.

But big picture, it does seem like the consumer is a lot more price sensitive.

They're a lot more deal focused, but they are still spending even though that spending is burning through their savings.

Moving on, it took a funding round that reached midway through the alphabet, but Anthropic has officially passed OpenAI as the world's most valuable AI startup.

Anthropic raised $65 billion in a Series H round at a roughly $965 billion valuation.

A few comparisons courtesy of Fortune to put that number in perspective.

That is roughly the GDP of Switzerland, more than the combined market cap

of every US airline and more than the entire US defense budget.

It's also sort of breaking VC nomenclature.

A unicorn is a $1 billion startup.

A decacorn is a $10 billion startup.

Anthropic is now flirting with a valuation that does not have a name.