In this episode:

• August turned out to be anything but calm, with the S&P 500 rallying 30% from its April lows. Systematic funds, retail investors, and corporate buybacks fueled “forced” buying that supported the market in a typically illiquid month, while the long-awaited correction never arrived.
• AI remains at the center of the economic and financial narrative. Infrastructure investments in data centers, chips, and plants accounted for 40% of U.S. GDP growth in the second quarter. Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft alone spent $70 billion in just three months. Meanwhile, the theme is also expanding to China, with Alibaba announcing a new proprietary chip.
• On the geopolitical and economic front, political pressure on Powell is intensifying, with Trump pushing for aggressive rate cuts. At the same time, global dependence on China for rare earths is resurfacing as a long-term strategic risk. In Europe, the French crisis weighs on markets. Defensive sectors and gold are back in the spotlight. 

Rather than simply looking for confirmation in the trend, the focus now is on understanding what is sustainable and what is mere appearance. Markets seem to be holding up, but partly on extraordinary grounds. In the coming months, the key will be the ability to distinguish genuine strength from induced strength — and to be ready to shift gears when the context demands it.