OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thinks the artificial intelligence (AI) market is in a bubble.

In his opinion, we are in a phase where investors are overexcited about AI and that is when bubbles happen. Altman appears to compare this situation with the infamous dot-com bubble of the early 2000s, which ended in a stock market crash that resulted from massive investor enthusiasm for internet-based companies during the late 1990s.

Remember the story about Goldilocks and the three bears? Ultimately, she found a bowl of porridge that was not too hot, not too cold, but “just right.” And, on the face of it, it may be what investors see as fitting for where the United States (U.S.) stock markets (and other major global markets) are currently, despite President Trump’s increasingly aggressive use of executive power when it comes to tariffs.

In 2008, I was in a car, travelling to a conference in Calgary with a colleague. We were listening to some rock-and-roll station. They really are the same in every city in Canada, aren’t they? Anyway, the disc jockey (radio announcer for the younger readers) was talking about how the Canadian dollar had just passed “par” with the U.S. dollar, so it would be a great time to invest.

A word of caution: I don’t recommend taking advice from rock-and-roll radio DJs

Tariffs continue to dominate the news cycle.

It appears that the use of the U.S. economy as leverage to push countries to accept tariffs of 15 to 20 per cent to do business with the United States is the new normal. However, continuing to insist that someone other than the U.S. consumer ultimately pays the tariffs is simply incorrect.

The result is that the tariffs are acting like a value-added tax.

Given how the markets have recovered from the tariff-induced volatility of Q2 2025, asking how they will fare in the second half of 2025 may seem like a trick question. The markets have been incredibly resilient, weathering the tense conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, relentless attacks on the Federal Reserve’s independence and tariff-on, tariff-off policies.

You know the feeling you get when you look at our credit card statement. Well, governments may be getting that feeling too.

Why?

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), government debt is higher and rising faster in most global economies.

We are past the halfway mark for 2025. It’s been… interesting. We’ve witnessed the continuing possibility of a global trade war, more-than-usual tension in the Middle East, and a global re-alignment of economic and political alliances, thanks to U.S. trade policy. Stock markets fell and rose like the tides over the last few weeks. Given all this, it’s no wonder people are still nervous and anxious. But, there are some positives.

Everyone remembers this line from James Cameron’s iconic 1984 movie, The Terminator: “I’ll be back.” Well, reciprocal tariffs are coming back like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s time-travelling cyborg. President Trump paused tariff implementation by 90 days and that period ends Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Analysts are expecting some measure of tariffs to be reinstated on some 180 United States (U.S.) trading partners.

Technological advances have made producing everything from light to tables to computers faster and cheaper. What underpins all of this, though, is the access to energy. Energy production and storage is central to our modern economy, sure, but it’s also central to how our civilisation advances.

Yet, despite advances in renewable energies, fossil fuels still make the world go round.

Wayne participated in his sixth Ride to Conquer Cancer over last weekend. This two-day bicycle ride, a 200-kilometre-plus event, is a major fundraising intitiative for Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. For the unprepared, there are long straight sections, sections with curves, and sections with hills.

Kind of like markets.