The ego meter opens at a respectable 52 as stocks inch higher on the usual mix of in-line inflation and steady growth data. Nothing wild yet — just the market doing its favorite impression of a responsible adult.
Micron’s outlook lands and the needle lurches to 71. Suddenly one company’s AI revenue projection is treated like gospel, as if chipmakers have never overpromised before. The is impressive until you remember how quickly these forecasts age.
By late morning the reading clears 85. Every artificial-intelligence mention now carries the weight of a religious text, and traders are pricing in eternal dominance for anyone holding the right semiconductors. The data still looks fine, but the interpretation has left the building.
At 94 the meter starts flashing. Technology firms are no longer selling products; they’re selling the idea that their growth curve has no ceiling. One strong quarter has somehow validated an entire decade of hype.
The final tick toward 99 arrives when analysts declare the AI trade “derisked.” That’s the market’s polite way of saying it has stopped checking its own math.
