HSBC $HSBA (+0.33%) was the first bank in the world to use a quantum computer in the financial market - a breakthrough that is likely to accelerate the race for technology.

With the most powerful quantum processor to date, Heron from IBM $IBM (-1.61%) the major British bank has improved the prediction of the price at which a bond will be traded by 34 percent.

The basis for this was an anonymized data set of European bond deals, as the bank announced on Thursday (25.9.). This could significantly increase the efficiency of the market.

The experiment is considered a milestone because real transactions were included on a large scale for the first time. Until now, the technology was mainly limited to universities and specialized tech companies.

Companies such as Google's parent company Alphabet $GOOGL (-1.07%)IBM and Microsoft $MSFT (+0.49%) are already investing billions of dollars in quantum research, but the road to everyday applications remains long.

》No live trade《

HSBC's attempt was aimed at over-the-counter trading, in which transactions are carried out directly between two parties - without an exchange or broker. Philip Intallura, Head of Quantum Technology at HSBC, emphasizes that although it was not a live trade, it was very much a demonstration on a real production scale. "We firmly believe that we are on the cusp of a new era of computer technology in financial services - and not just in the distant future," says Intallura.

While technology companies are setting the pace in terms of development, banks such as JP Morgan Chase $JPM (-0.6%)Goldman Sachs $GS (-0.43%)Citigroup $C (-0.6%) and HSBC are also investing heavily in quantum projects.

Management consultancies McKinsey and KPMG expect far-reaching benefits: better risk management, optimized portfolios, more accurate predictions of asset prices and sharper fraud detection.

》Faster with physics《

The foundation of quantum computers is physics itself. Unlike conventional computers, they do not work step by step, but in parallel. This allows extremely complex problems to be solved very quickly.

Alphabet showed just how big the leap is at the end of last year: the quantum processor Willow solved a problem in five minutes that even the most powerful supercomputers since the beginning of the universe would have calculated - and not come up with the result.

It is currently becoming apparent that $IREN (+8.02%) after the phenomenal run of the last weeks and months will probably be available today at a significant discount from the ATH, certainly also due to the downgrade by $JPM (-0.6%) will be available at a significant discount from the ATH😉.

Let's see where the US PCE data today in the early afternoon CET and the opening of trading in the US shortly afterwards will take us.

If necessary, I may actually have to add some more after all😂. A bit of powder is still dry.

Have a (hopefully still) green Friday in the portfolio and a good start to Wochenende✌🏻.

$IREN (+8.02%)
$CIFR (+9.73%)
$BITF (+9.43%)
$BTC (+0.25%)

https://de.investing.com/news/analyst-ratings/bewertung-zu-hoch-jpmorgan-stuft-iris-energy-auf-underweight-herab-93CH-3162761

JPMorgan Chase ($JPM) (-0.6%)- with more than 85 million private customers worldwide - intends to launch its Chase digital bank in Germany in the second quarter of 2026. This will make Germany Chase's second European market after the UK (since 2021).

The launch will be deliberately gradual: To begin with, Chase plans to launch an overnight deposit account that is directly tailored to the strong savings culture and high demand of German customers. Based on this start, the digital offering will be successively expanded to include other product types.

Chase's German headquarters will open in Berlin by the end of 2025. JPMorgan has been active in Germany for a long time - with roots dating back to 1924 and currently more than 900 employees in Frankfurt and other locations working in areas such as investment, private and asset management.

The move reflects a clear strategic approach: Chase wants to position itself as a digital, innovative and trusted banking offering - supported by global expertise and locally adapted services.

US companies plan share buybacks on a historic scalewhich is a sign of the American economy's confidence in the economy. Nvidia Corp is the latest company to join the long list of buyback plans.

The announced buybacks exceeded the 1 trillion US dollars reaching this level in a very short time, according to data from Birinyi Associates. The previous record was set in October last year.

In recent months, corporate giants - particularly in the areas of finance and technology - have given the green light for extensive share buyback programs.

$AAPL (-0.8%)

$GOOGL (-1.07%)

$NVDA (+1.86%)

$JPM (-0.6%)

$GS (-0.43%)

$WFC (-0.8%)

$BAC (+0.11%)

$V (+0.51%)

$C (-0.6%)

$BKNG (-1.93%)

Source: https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/markets/us-firms-racing-through-1trn-buyback-spree-in-record-time/

$MS (+0.23%)

Today I reduced my semi-ETF by 20% to bring the weighting from 15% to 10%.

No single position has a total weighting (ETF+single stock) above 5%, which is also my threshold. I always want to stay below 5% exposure.

My forward P/E of the portfolio has also fallen to 23, which is below my target of <25, despite the high tech allocation.

This means that my tech sector weighting is now in line with my world ETF $QDEV (+0.49%)which contains around 40-49% tech. I'm happy with that. I'm just still tech-bullish.

I have also reduced the USA region to 63%, almost identical to my world ETF (61%), and thus within my target range of 60-69%.

My favorites in the semi area remain anyway $TSM (-0.21%) and $HY9H (+6.34%) which I bought cheaply and undervalued as individual positions.

$NVDA (+1.86%) is and remains king, but I do not believe that the annual return will remain above 10% in the next few years, for this the market cap would have to grow by 400 billion every year, which I think would be difficult. $AVGO (-2.12%) currently has a P/E 5x greater than forward P/E, which shows that analysts are extremely bullish on future earnings. I am also bullish, but not as strongly, so the stock has already run very hot.

My top 10 holdings with 32% total weighting are currently:

4.95% $TSM (-0.21%) Taiwan Semi

4.65% $NVDA (+1.86%) NVIDIA

4.55% $GOOG (-1.16%) Google

4.47% $AVGO (-2.12%) Broadcom

2.85% $MSFT (+0.49%) Microsoft

2.63% $META (-0.16%) Meta

2.37% $AAPL (-0.8%) Apple

2.04% $ASML (+1.25%) Asml

1.95% $MA (-0.47%) Mastercard

1.91% $JPM (-0.6%) JPMorgan

Today I got rid of some of my winners and shifted further into my ETFs.

I have sold:

$CL2 (+0.46%) +5% this fine ETF, also known as holy amumbo, will be rebuilt right next week via savings plan.

$TXRH (+2.26%) +13% whether this will not become a tenbagger in the long term and was therefore a stupid sale?

$JPM (-0.6%) +20%

$V (+0.51%) +25%

$CAT (+1.7%) +26% I suspect that we are at the end of the cycle here. But who knows for sure?

$LULU (+0.81%) -10% good numbers, very bad chat history, but at least it saved me some taxes.

$RKLB (+2.52%) +28% This stock always made me think of Peter Lynch's quote, "don't buy the stocks of rocket companies, buy the boring ones..."

Bought:

$VWRL (+0.22%) at €129.48 🥱

and

$EQQQ (+0.11%) at 481.75 € 😎

Homer Simpson July 31, 2025