Tech Led Stock Market Sees Sizable Weekly Gains With Fed In the Wings – $AAPL $AMZN $EPRX $INDP $LTRN $MODD $NVDA $SMMT Rise!

By John F. Heerdink, Jr.

The stock market in September has been experiencing a rollercoaster of highs and lows, with tech giants like NVIDIA leading the charge in AI advancements, while biotech companies like Summit Therapeutics have made unexpected breakthroughs, all against the backdrop of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions and an economy that continues to defy recession fears. In fact, the The Federal Reserve has been playing a coy game of “rate cut chicken” with the markets, hinting at potential easing while keeping everyone on their toes. At the recent annual Jackson Hole symposium, policymakers dropped their clearest signal yet that rate cuts are on the horizon, prepping the ground for the first reduction in over a year. Meanwhile, bond markets have already jumped the gun, pricing in a whopping 1% cut by year-end and another 1.2% drop in 2025, while the 2-year yield performed a spectacular backflip this week, dropping seven basis points to land at 3.58% & the 10-year yield, executed a slightly less ambitious dive, shedding six basis points to touch down at 3.65%.

Inflation’s Stubborn Last Mile

The latest inflation report hit the market like a lukewarm cup of coffee – not quite hot enough to excite, but not cold enough to ignore this week. Core inflation decided to play statue, freezing at 3.2% annually, as if it were participating in some bizarre economic mannequin challenge. While this figure is half of what it was at its peak, it’s still stubbornly hovering above the Fed’s 2% target like a persistent party guest who just won’t take the hint to leave.

The real drama queen of this inflation soap opera? Housing costs. Shelter prices rose by an unexpected 0.5%, apparently auditioning for a role in “The Price is Wrong”. Meanwhile, other categories like used vehicles, personal care, and home furnishings decided to take a much-needed vacation, with prices actually declining. It’s as if these sectors got the memo about the inflation fight, while housing missed the email entirely. This mixed bag of inflation data has effectively popped the balloon of those hoping for a hefty 50 basis point rate cut from the Fed. The market’s reaction was akin to a child realizing they’re getting socks for Christmas instead of the latest gaming console. As for homeowners clinging to their 3% mortgages like precious family heirlooms, they’re making the housing market about as liquid as a jar of peanut butter. In this economic comedy of errors, it seems the last laugh might be on those who thought taming inflation would be a smooth ride. It will be interesting to see what the Fed decides next week at the next FOMC meeting and also what they will say about the all. Many believe that we will see a 1/4 pt cut this first go around.

Around The S&P Horn As Volatility Chills…

In the S&P 500 sector arena, it was a case of “everyone’s a winner… except energy.” The energy sector, apparently suffering from a severe case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), decided to take a solo trip south, dropping .7% even as oil prices rose 2.2% over the course of the week. On the flip side, the information technology sector channeled its inner Usain Bolt, sprinting ahead with a jaw-dropping 7.3% gain. The small caps also rebounded strongly this week as the Russell 2000 closed 4.4% and the micro caps on the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC) rose 5.12%. With the overwhelmingly positive source that was the stock market this week, The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) or fear gauge dropped 14.86% over the last 5-days to close at $16.56.

NVIDIA’s AI Journey

Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s CEO, has become the unofficial mascot of the AI revolution, with his leather jacket-clad appearances at tech conferences becoming as anticipated as the company’s earnings reports. The chip giant’s recent quarterly results, while impressive with 122% sales growth, failed to match the stratospheric expectations set by previous quarters. This slight deceleration highlights the challenge of maintaining momentum in the fast-paced world of AI, where NVIDIA (NVDA, +15.82% over the last 5-days) currently reigns supreme with a market capitalization of $3.1 trillion, second only to Apple (AAPL, $22.50, +.76% over the last 5-days). Despite the potential for growth to slow due to tough year-over-year comparisons, demand for AI technology remains robust, with cloud providers and tech companies continuing to invest heavily in NVIDIA’s offerings.

Amazon’s UK Investment

In a bold move to bolster its presence across the Atlantic, Amazon (AMZN, $186.49, +8.81%) announced a hefty $10 billion investment in the United Kingdom over the next three years. This substantial commitment aims to enhance the e-commerce giant’s infrastructure and operations in the UK, potentially creating numerous job opportunities and stimulating economic growth. The investment underscores Amazon’s confidence in the UK market despite ongoing economic uncertainties and Brexit-related challenges.

Summit Therapeutics’ Breakthrough

In a surprising turn of events, Summit Therapeutics (SMMT, $31,93, +160.23% over the last 5-days) has emerged as a dark horse in the biotech race, raising an impressive $235 million in a private placement without bankers’ fees. The company’s experimental cancer therapy, ivonescimab, made headlines by becoming the first to outperform Merck’s (MRK) blockbuster drug Keytruda in a head-to-head randomized late-stage clinical trial. This breakthrough sent Summit’s stock soaring, with shares jumping 22.5% in a single day, building on an earlier 85% surge. The success of ivonescimab in reducing the risk of disease progression or death by 49% compared to Keytruda has positioned Summit as a potential game-changer in cancer treatment, despite the inherent risks associated with clinical-stage biotech stocks.

VP Watchlist Updates

The global diabetes care market, valued at $18.9 billion in 2023, is projected to reach $35.8 billion by 2028, with the insulin pump segment expected to grow from $5.26 billion to $21.65 billion by 2032. As reported by Fortune Business Insights, this rapid growth is driven by increasing diabetes prevalence and technological advancements in insulin delivery devices.

Modular Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: MODD, $2.33, +2.64% over the last 5-days and is up 108.04% over the last year), an insulin delivery system technology company preparing to launch a market expansion product with a more accessible, easier to prescribe, and easier to pay for and live with technology. Using its patented technologies, the company seeks to eliminate the tradeoff between complexity and efficacy, thereby making top quality insulin delivery both affordable and simple to learn. Their mission is to improve access to the highest standard of glycemic control for people with diabetes taking it beyond “superusers” and providing “diabetes care for the rest of us.” Modular Medical was founded by Paul DiPerna, a seasoned medical device professional and microfluidics engineer. Prior to founding Modular Medical, Mr. DiPerna was the founder (in 2005) of Tandem Diabetes and invented and designed its t:slim insulin pump. More information is available at https://modular-medical.com.

On Wednesday, September 4, Modular announced it has received U. S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) clearance to market and sell its MODD1 pump in the United States. With its commercial manufacturing infrastructure substantially established, the Company anticipates the MODD1 should be available for sale in early 2025.

James (Jeb) Besser, CEO of Modular Medical (NASDAQ: MODD)

“For too long, the benefits of superior glycemic control achieved by insulin pumps have, due to cost and complexity, been restricted to only the most sophisticated, motivated and well-insured users. The goal of Modular Medical has always been to change this by making diabetes technology accessible and affordable to underserved communities. We seek to make the experience of going ‘on a pump’ simpler and less intimidating and to widen the base beyond the current pump users,” said Jeb Besser, CEO of Modular Medical.

Shares of Indaptus Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INDP) closed at $1.51, +5.59% and was up +19.87% at $1.81 in the aftermarket on Friday. Indaptus is a company with the ability to harness both the body’s innate and adaptive immune responses, believes that they are uniquely positioned to revolutionize the treatment of cancer and certain infectious diseases. Indaptus Therapeutics has evolved from more than a century of immunotherapy advances. The Company’s novel approach is based on the hypothesis that efficient activation of both innate and adaptive immune cells and pathways and associated anti-tumor and anti-viral immune responses will require a multi-targeted package of immune system-activating signals that can be administered safely intravenously (i.v.). Indaptus’ patented technology is composed of single strains of attenuated and killed, non-pathogenic, Gram-negative bacteria producing a multiple Toll-like receptor (TLR), Nucleotide oligomerization domain (Nod)-like receptor (NLR) and Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) agonist Decoy platform. The products are designed to have reduced i.v. toxicity, but largely uncompromised ability to prime or activate many of the cells and pathways of innate and adaptive immunity. Decoy products represent an antigen-agnostic technology that have produced single-agent activity against metastatic pancreatic and orthotopic colorectal carcinomas, single agent eradication of established antigen-expressing breast carcinoma, as well as combination-mediated eradication of established hepatocellular carcinomas and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas in standard pre-clinical models, including syngeneic mouse tumors and human tumor xenografts.

On September 5, Indaptus provided an update regarding key clinical advancements. The independent Safety Review Committee overseeing the Company’s Phase 1 clinical trial convened in August to review the safety data at the higher Decoy20 dose with single dose administration and the safety data at the lower Decoy20 dose with weekly administration.

The encouraging data has led to the decision to:

Continue dosing additional patients at the lower Decoy20 dose on a weekly schedule
Initiate dosing patients at the higher Decoy20 dose on a weekly schedule

The safety profile being observed to date continues to be consistent with Decoy20’s mechanism of action. The most clinically relevant treatment-related adverse events — infusion-related reaction and hypotension – have been mild-to-moderate in severity, and resolved quickly with i.v. fluids or over-the-counter therapy.

“We continue to be encouraged by the evolving safety profile of Decoy20 during the expansion part of our Phase 1 trial. Our goal is to continue to evaluate patients receiving two distinct weekly doses of Decoy20 to identify potential monotherapy activity, and to accumulate sufficient safety data to initiate combination therapy next year,” said Dr. Roger Waltzman, Indaptus Chief Medical Officer. “We ultimately believe that Decoy20’s broad but transient activation of multiple cytokines and chemokines responsible for stimulating both innate and adaptive immune pathways in concert with other therapies will enhance tumor regression.”

Jeffrey Meckler, Chief Executive Officer, added, “The clinical trial is progressing as planned. Enrolling multiple patients at two different weekly doses should accelerate the progress of our trials. We look forward to providing more updates later in the year.”

On Aug. 12, Indaptus announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024, and provided a corporate update. Jeffrey Meckler, Indaptus Therapeutics’ Chief Executive Officer, commented, “During the second quarter we had multiple opportunities to share our findings regarding our Phase 1 clinical trial to date, and to demonstrate the unique approach that our Decoy platform offers. These included impactful conferences such as the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, which are considered among the top annual oncology conferences. Further, our founder was once again recognized by the industry when he was named chair of the STING & TLR-Targeted Therapies Summit. We are encouraged by the results we have reported, along with the data we are seeing as we continue the multi-dose stage of the Phase 1 clinical trial. As Decoy20 continues to be well-tolerated in our Phase 1 clinical trial, we expect to progress to dosing multiple patients simultaneously. This will increase the data we receive and, as a result, is expected to accelerate the progress of the trial. We look forward to demonstrating continued impactful outcomes in the second half of the year.”

Key recent highlights:

Completed a $3 million registered direct offering and concurrent private placement on August 8, 2024, for net proceeds of approximately $2.5 million
Advancing clinical trial from single to weekly doses of Decoy20, the company completed one month of weekly dosing in three patients at the 3-x 10^7 Decoy20 dose
Completed a single dose cohort at the higher dose of 7 x 10^7 Decoy20 and intend to initiate weekly dosing later this year
Presented poster outlining data from 3 x 10^7 and 7 x 10^7 dose at the ASCO annual meeting on June 1, 2024, in Chicago
Presented poster outlining new mechanism of action data for Decoy platform at the AACR annual meeting in April 2024
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Michael Newman, Ph.D. presented additional data on the Company’s lead product candidate, Decoy20, at the 5^thAnnual STING & TLR-Targeted Therapies Summit in San Diego on June 19-20, 2024, where he was also named chair of the Summit

Lantern (LTRN) closed at $4.02, +17.54% over the last 5-days. Lantern is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm that is transforming the cost, pace, and timeline of oncology drug discovery and development and specifically is developing targeted and transformative cancer therapies using its proprietary RADR® AI and machine learning (“ML”) platform with multiple clinical stage drug programs.

On August 9, announced operational highlights and financial results for the second quarter 2024, ending June 30, 2024 highlighting the following:

Active clinical trials across three AI-guided drug candidates with additional ADC-based preclinical molecules in evaluation for development.
Preliminary patient data and clinical readouts for Phase 2 LP-300 Harmonic™ Trial released showing an 86% clinical benefit rate in the initial 7 patient safety lead-in cohort.
Issued a Certificate of Patent by the Japanese Patent Office directed to Lantern Pharma’s drug candidate LP-284, including claims covering the new molecular entity.
Phase 1 clinical trials for both synthetic lethal drug candidates, LP-184 and LP-284, continue to advance with no dose-limiting toxicities observed in any of the patient cohorts enrolled and over 40 patients dosed to-date.
Achieved significant advancement towards key milestone in the development of molecular diagnostic for use with drug candidate LP-184 in future oncology clinical trials to improve patient selection and stratification.
Launched strategic drug development collaboration leveraging our AI platform, RADR®, with Oregon Therapeutics to optimize the development of first-in-class drug candidate XCE853 – a potent inhibitor of cancer metabolism.
Starlight Therapeutics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lantern Pharma focused on CNS and brain cancers advanced with initiating site selection and feasibility for a Phase 1B/Phase 2 trial in recurrent GBM with drug candidate, STAR-001.
Launched Webinar Wednesdays, a webinar series that focuses on the areas of artificial intelligence and oncology drug development with leading physicians, scientists and Lantern collaborators.
Approximately $33.3 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of June 30, 2024.

On August 7, Lantern announced a significant advancement demonstrating the preclinical synergy of LP-184 with checkpoint inhibitors and the ability of LP-184 to resensitize tumors that have become non-responsive to Anti-PD1 therapies. The company will be presenting preliminary data from the recent work done in conjunction with Drs. Yong Du and Shiaw-Yih (Phoebus) Lin at MD Anderson at The Immuno-Oncology Summit 2024 in Philadelphia.

The data will be presented in the form of poster entitled, LP-184, a Novel Acylfulvene, Sensitizes Immuno-Refractory Triple Negative Breast Cancers (TNBCs) To Anti-PD1 Therapy by Affecting the Tumor Microenvironment, (assigned Poster # P17). The poster highlights the following key points:

LP-184 seems to potentiate anti-PD1 response in a mouse model of TNBC that is non-hypermutated and resistant to immunotherapy in the absence of LP-184.
LP-184 can potentially transform immunologically “cold” tumors (non-responsive to IO therapies) into “hot” tumors (responsive to IO therapies) by modulating T cell activity in the tumor microenvironment and inducing a replication stress response defect.¹
LP-184 seems to reshape the tumor microenvironment (TME) by significantly reducing the amount of M2 macrophages – which are associated with tumor drug resistance, tumor cell proliferation and are involved in helping the tumor cells escape immune cell death².
LP-184 combined with an anti-PD1 agent elicited a greater anti-tumor response than monotherapies in mouse TNBC tumors that are non-hypermutated and resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitors

LP-184 is being investigated in an ongoing first-in-human Phase 1 trial (NCT05933265) in advanced recurrent solid tumors to establish a maximum tolerated dose and assess its overall safety and suitability in more targeted cancer indications, including TNBC.

Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors (CPI) account for nearly $48 billion in sales annually according to Grand View Research and has profoundly changed the landscape of treatment in oncology since their introduction by providing outstanding durable responses and potential long-term remission in a significant proportion of cancer patients.³ Treatments are now approved for more than thirty cancer indications including melanoma, lung, colon, renal, urothelial, gastric, liver, lymphoma, head and neck but only a minority of patients benefit (10% to 50% depending on the stage and site of the tumor) and often patients will be non-responsive to CPI.

“Our drug-candidate, LP-184 has shown very promising preclinical evidence supporting its role in immuno-oncology to help patients improve response and durability of response to IO therapies. This work in collaboration with MD-Anderson supports our initial AI-driven hypothesis regarding the role of LP-184 to synergize with PD1 and PDL1 drugs and potentially improve the lives of a greater number of cancer patients globally. We look forward to developing combination drug studies and clinical trials with LP-184 and checkpoint inhibitors,” said Lantern Chief Scientific Officer, Kishor Bhatia, PhD, FRCP.

The entirety of the data and poster to be presented at The Immuno-Oncology Summit 2024 in Philadelphia will be available on the Lantern website after 6pm Eastern today, August 7^th 2024.

On August 5, Lantern Pharma announced promising preliminary results from its Phase 2 HARMONIC™ clinical trial, evaluating LP-300 in combination with standard chemotherapy for never-smokers with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). As reported earlier today, August 5, the study has shown an impressive 86% clinical benefit rate in the initial patient group, offering hope for a patient population with limited treatment options. The proportion of never-smoking patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been significantly increasing globally over the past 30 years, from 15% in the 1970s to 33% in the 2000s. The high proportion of never smokers with NSCLC in East Asian countries is of particular note with Japan estimated to be 33 to 40% of new cases and Taiwan at over 50% of new cases. Lantern has received regulatory approval to initiate the LP-300 clinical trial in multiple Asian countries, and has started activation of sites in Japan and Taiwan, including the National Cancer Center in Tokyo, a globally recognized center of cancer research excellence. Read the balance of the story.

Panna Sharma, CEO of Lantern Pharma was interviewed recently on the ‘Today In Nashville’, a program hosted by Carole Sullivan and associated with Nashville’s WSMV 4, an NBC affiliate. Watch it here to learn more.

Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals (EPRX, $2.58, +1.57% over the last 5-days) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of locally delivered, extended-release products that have the potential to address therapeutic areas with high unmet medical need. The Company strives to provide improved patient benefit and has developed technology designed to deliver targeted, long-lasting activity with fewer side effects. DiffuSphere™, a proprietary, polymer-based micro-sphere technology, is designed to facilitate targeted drug delivery, with extended duration of effect, and offers multiple, highly tuneable pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles. This investigational technology can be engineered for use with multiple active pharmaceutical ingredients and delivery methods.

Eupraxia will be presenting at the upcoming H.C. Wainwright 26th Annual Global Investment Conference being held in New York, NY from September 9-11, 2024. The Company’s presentation is at 8:00 a.m. ET on Monday, September 9, 2024. Eupraxia invites all interested parties to view the presentation by clicking on the following link: https://journey.ct.events/view/454db24e-98d2-44e8-b318-dd8c5ec820ee. A webcast of the presentation will also be available on the Events and Presentations page of the Company’s website here.

On Aug. 7, Eupraxia announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2024. Dr. James Helliwell, CEO of Eupraxia stated, “Our eosinophilic esophagitis (“EoE”) clinical program is making excellent progress, as additional safety and efficacy data from our ongoing RESOLVE study continues to suggest that EP-104GI could represent a significant improvement over currently approved therapies for this debilitating condition. In addition, during the second quarter, we presented data at two medical meetings highlighting the potential of our candidate for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (“OA”), EP-104IAR, which also holds the potential to advance the current standard of care in OA. “Looking ahead, we anticipate reporting new data from the fourth cohort of the RESOLVE study in the near term and we continue to engage prospective partners for possible licensing of the EP-10IAR program. We look forward to engaging with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the fourth quarter of 2024 on the EP-104GI program and potentially expanding our gastrointestinal trials into the U.S. With two clinical-stage assets each having the potential to represent a meaningful improvement over currently approved therapies, we believe Eupraxia remains well positioned to create shareholder value.” Learn more here.

On Aug. 2, Eupraxia announced entry into a new C$12 million convertible debt facility. Under the Convertible Debt Facility, Yabema Capital Limited and other current Eupraxia shareholders (together, the “Lenders”) will make available for drawdown an aggregate amount of C$12 million for a period of 120 days following entry into the agreement. The decision to draw on the facility within 120 days of closing is at the discretion of Eupraxia and is subject to the full and final release of the SVB Facility (as defined below), originally agreed to on June 21, 2021. The aggregate unpaid principal amount and any accrued and unpaid interest thereon will be convertible at each individual lender’s discretion into Eupraxia common shares (the “Common Shares”), at a conversion price equal to C$4.84375 per Common Share. The conversion is further subject to certain threshold limitations with respect to each lender’s aggregate ownership of the Common Shares. “The new convertible debt facility provides an important source of additional funding from long term, supportive investors, and creates greater stability to Eupraxia’s cap structure as we continue to advance our clinical programs in eosinophilic esophagitis and osteoarthritis,” said Dr. James Helliwell, Chief Executive Officer of Eupraxia. The Convertible Debt Facility is subject to final approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Dr. James Helliwell, CEO of Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: EPRX)

On July 9, a Tribe Public CEO Presentation and Q&A Webinar Event titled “Exploring The Rapid Rise Of Osteoarthritis” was held with James A. Helliwell, MD, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: EPRX). The event video can now be viewed at the Tribe Public YouTube Channel!

Eupraxia recently completed a Phase 2b clinical trial (SPRINGBOARD) of EP-104IAR for the treatment of pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee. The trial met its primary endpoint and three of the four secondary endpoints. Eupraxia has expanded the EP-104 platform into gastrointestinal disease with the Phase 1b/2a RESOLVE trial for treating EoE. Eupraxia is also developing a pipeline of later- and earlier-stage long-acting formulations. Potential pipeline indications include candidates for other inflammatory joint indications and oncology, each designed to improve on the activity and tolerability of currently approved drugs.

On June 5, Eupraxia announced that results from its Phase 2 study of EP-104IAR for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee will be presented at the upcoming European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (“EULAR”) European Congress of Rheumatology 2024 (the “Meeting”). The EULAR Meeting is being held in Vienna, Austria from June 12-15, 2024.

Shares of ADT Inc. (ADT), the most trusted brand in smart home and small business security, closed at $7.00, -.14% over the last 5-days and +2.64% YTD.

On Aug. 21, ADT announced the appointment of Suzanne Yoon to the Company’s Board of Directors as an additional independent director. Yoon is the founder and managing partner of Kinzie Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. In 2017, she launched Kinzie and currently serves as the Chair of its Investment and Management Committees. Prior to founding Kinzie, Yoon held senior roles at Versa Capital Management, CIT Group and LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO. She is a current member and former Chair of the National Philanthropic Trust Board of Trustees, the largest independent donor advised fund manager in the world with approximately $40 billion under management and is a member of the first-ever Women’s Advisory Board for the Chicago Bears.

CalEthos, Inc. (GEDC, $5, +31.58% over the last 5-days), a developer of sustainable data center solutions, announced recently the following business update:

On July 24, 2024, CalEthos signed an Option Agreement to purchase 315 acres of land in the soon-to-be approved “Manufacturing Zone” of Lithium Valley. The new property provides CalEthos with significant advantages over its previous data center development site, which include:

Larger, strategically located, industrial-zoned property with acreage for on-site switchyard, substation and additional data center buildings
Better options for connectivity to high-voltage transmission lines
Closer proximity to existing and planned geothermal power plants
Shorter fiber routing distances to internet backbone and communications networks
Directly on the main north/south transportation corridor (Hwy. 111) and gateway entrance (Sinclair Rd.) to the planned 51,000-acre Lithium Valley development area
Lower flood risk – outside of the 100- and 500- year flood zones in a FEMA X (Unshaded) area

CalEthos’ first of three development phases on the property is a planned 100-acre/420-megawatt (MW) campus, with up to 1,000,000 square feet of clean energy powered build-to-suit data centers to support AI, Cloud and Hyperscale customers.

“This new property gives CalEthos the acreage to develop 3 to 4 million square feet of data center over time as more geothermal power plants and other renewable energy and storage solutions come online in and around Lithium Valley”, said Joel Stone, the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

CalEthos has been working over the last couple of years with the County of Imperial, Imperial Valley Economic Development Corp. (IVEDC), Imperial Irrigation District (IID), and geothermal power producers to develop a comprehensive plan that leverages the region’s clean energy resources to support a large-scale data center operation.

“CalEthos has the county’s full support to develop its data centers in alignment with the broader vision for Lithium Valley,” said Chairman Luis A. Plancarte, Imperial County Board of Supervisors. “The sooner CalEthos builds its data centers and utilizes locally produced power for their operations, the sooner our geothermal power producers can expand operations and increase lithium recovery.”

“CalEthos’ energy needs advance the building of additional local transmission, supports adding more sources of clean energy to the grid, and expedites plans for new geothermal power plants, without waiting for new long-distance transmission lines to be built to get power in and out of the area,” added Alex Cardenas, Chairman of IID.

Sean Wilcock, Vice President of IVEDC, emphasized the project’s positive economic impact, stating, “CalEthos’ data center plans accelerate Lithium Valley’s development by providing energy offtake opportunities, creates jobs, and stimulates the local economy. This project is a vital component of the long-term vision for the region and is a testament that Imperial County has the attributes necessary for the green data center industry.”

QUOTE OF WEEK

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

Investing & Inspiration

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu
“The end of labor is to gain leisure.” – Aristotle
“People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.” – Epictetus
“Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.” – Saadi
“The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.” – Barack Obama
“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
“Courage is knowing what not to fear.”– Plato
“The home is the chief school of human virtues.” – William Ellery Channing
“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” – Paulo Coelho
“There are no shortcuts in evolution.” – Louis D. Brandeis
“A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nature uses as little as possible of anything.” – Johannes Kepler
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” – Seneca
“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.” – John Keats
“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” – George Halas
“Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell
“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” – Andy Warhol
“The secret of happiness is something to do.” – John Burroughs
“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.”
“You begin with the possibilities of the material.” – Robert Rauschenberg
“The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.” – Robert M. Pirsig
“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” – Warren Bennis
“A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.” – Joseph Addison
“Happiness is good health and a bad memory.” – Ingrid Bergman
“We pass through this world but once.” – Stephen Jay Gould
“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” – Norman Vincent Peale
“Nothing can have value without being an object of utility.” – Karl Marx
“Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.” – Michael Jordan
“Courage is found in unlikely places.” – J. R. R. Tolkien
“One that would have the fruit must climb the tree.” – Thomas Fuller
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffett
“We relish news of our heroes, forgetting that we are extraordinary to somebody too.” – Helen Hayes
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Everything in the world may be endured except continual prosperity.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Time is money.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Change before you have to.” – Jack Welch
“Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.” – George Eliot
“The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson
“Care and diligence bring luck.” – Thomas Fuller
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” – Edmund Burke
“A man who is a master of patience is master of everything else.” – George Savile
“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” – Willie Nelson
“Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.” – John Ruskin
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” – Napoleon Hill
“Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break.” – Earl Wilson
“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford
“Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.”– Samuel Smiles
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” – Mark Twain
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” – Vincent Van Gogh
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg
“Our lives improve only when we take chances – and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.” – Walter Anderson
“Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso
“Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.” – John Wooden
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs
“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” – Havelock Ellis
“The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.” – Robert Kiyosaki
“O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” – Percy Bysshe Shelley
“Patience is a virtue, and I’m learning patience. It’s a tough lesson.” – Elon Musk
“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” – John Boyle O’Reilly
“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” – Norman Vincent Peale
“Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” – Boris Pasternak
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein
“It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory.” – Blaise Pascal
“Do exactly what you would do if you felt most secure.” – Meister Eckhart
“Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized.” – Leo Buscaglia
“Wisdom is oftentimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar.” – Wordsworth
“Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” – Mary Tyler Moore
“A single twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong.” – Tecumseh
“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself.” – Louis XIV
“The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.” – Arthur C. Clarke
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa
“The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.” – Barack Obama
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” – Confucius
“No man was ever wise by chance.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.” – Thor Heyerdahl
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
“I want to put a ding in the universe.” – Steve Jobs
“Research is creating new knowledge.” – Neil Armstrong
“The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.” – Jonas Salk
“Man is a creative retrospection of nature upon itself.” – Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“There’s something about taking a plow and breaking new ground. It gives you energy.” – Ken Kesey
“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” – William Feather
“The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love, passion.” – Nadia Boulanger
“More business is lost every year through neglect than through any other cause.” – Rose Kennedy
“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes
“A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.” – Mark Twain
“The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – Francis of Assisi
“Without labor nothing prospers.” – Sophocles
“Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.” – Albert Einstein
“This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes.” – Hannah Arendt
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
“He who is brave is free.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” – Elon Musk
“I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need.” – Auguste Rodin
“Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.” – Robert Green Ingersoll
“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” – Lao Tzu
“Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.” – Stewart Udall
“In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.” – Dalai Lama
“A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.” – Bob Dylan
“Inflation destroys savings, impedes planning, and discourages investment. That means less productivity and a lower standard of living.” – Kevin Brady
“If we give something positive to others, it will return to us. If we give negative, that negativity will be returned.” – Allu Arjun
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” ~ George S. Patton
“You must do the things you think you cannot do.”- Eleanor Roosevelt
“Success is dependent on effort.” – Sophocles
“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” – George Halas
“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
“And when I breathed, my breath was lightning.” – Black Elk
“Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all virtues.” – Joseph Hall
“You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.” – Maya Angelou
“If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.” – Clint Eastwood
“We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.” – Ray Bradbury
“If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.” – Confucius
“I’d rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.” – Robert H. Schuller
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” Desmond Tutu
“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” – Thomas Sowell
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha”
Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” – Boris Pasternak
“Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.” – Khalil Gibran
“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.” – Bruce Lee
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up.” – Allen Klein
“Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” – W. Clement Stone
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
“In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.” – Albert Einstein
“Life is too short for long-term grudges.” – Elon Musk
“There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” – Henry Kissinger
“Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.” – Oliver Goldsmith
“The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever.” – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.” – Omar N. Bradley
“Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.” – Rumi
“But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” – Ernest Hemingway
“Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
“Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.” – Nelson Mandela
“The social object of skilled investment should be to defeat the dark forces of time and ignorance which envelope our future.” – John Maynard Keynes
“A successful society is characterized by a rising living standard for its population, increasing investment in factories and basic infrastructure, and the generation of additional surplus, which is invested in generating new discoveries in science and technology.” – Robert Trout
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” – Albert Einstein
“It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory.” – Blaise Pascal
“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” – W. Edwards Deming
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Without investment there will not be growth, and without growth there will not be employment.” – Muhtar Kent
“You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.” – John F. Kennedy
“Delete the negative; accentuate the positive!” – Donna Karan
“It’s crazy how fast time flies and how things progress.” – Nathan Chen
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius
“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” – John C. Maxwell
“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.” – Helen Keller
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” – Charles Darwin
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” – Michelangelo
“Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.” – Thor Heyerdahl
“I like to encourage people to realize that any action is a good action if it’s proactive and there is positive intent behind it.” – Michael J. Fox
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” – Audrey Hepburn
“But investment in space stimulates society, it stimulates it economically, it stimulates it intellectually, and it gives us all passion.” – Bill Nye
“Bitcoin, in the short or even long term, may turn out be a good investment in the same way that anything that is rare can be considered valuable. Like baseball cards. Or a Picasso.” – Andrew Ross Sorkin
“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” – Charlie Chaplin
“No matter what you’re going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you’ll find the positive side of things.” – Demi Lovato
“Infrastructure investment in science is an investment in jobs, in health, in economic growth and environmental solutions.” – Oren Etzioni
“Educating our children and giving them the skills they need to compete in a global economy is a smart investment in our country’s future.” – Sheldon Whitehouse
“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.” – Sun Tzu
“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day.” – Franz Liszt
“The sofa is a really important investment for anybody, and I don’t mean financially. You need to find a really great sofa that can transition with you, and you can build from there.” – Jeremiah Brent
“There is no investment you can make which will pay you so well as the effort to scatter sunshine and good cheer through your establishment.” – Orison Swett Marden
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” – Marie Curie
“There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself.” – Louis XIV
“In tennis, you strike a ball just after the rebound for the fastest return. It’s the same with investment.” – Masayoshi Son
“A camel makes an elephant feel like a jet plane.” – Jackie Kennedy
“The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it, so it’s part of everyday life.” – Bill Gates
“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” – Confucius, Chinese
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” – Edward Everett Hale
“Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.”– Albert Einstein
“Education is not only a ladder of opportunity, but it is also an investment in our future.” – Ed Markey
“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” – Samuel Johnson
“In my view, the biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital. Not only is the mere drop in stock prices not risk, but it is an opportunity. Where else do you look for cheap stocks?” – Li Lu
“A successful society is characterized by a rising living standard for its population, increasing investment in factories and basic infrastructure, and the generation of additional surplus, which is invested in generating new discoveries in science and technology.” – Robert Trout
“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.” – Elie Wiesel
“Investing in women’s lives is an investment in sustainable development, in human rights, in future generations – and consequently in our own long-term national interests.” – Liya Kebede
“Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace.” – Mike Ditka
“No matter how many goals you have achieved, you must set your sights on a higher one.” – Jessica Savitch
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”– Arthur Ashe
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
“The amount of work and the amount of both physical and emotional investment it takes to get to the top.” – Drew Bledsoe