BofA Global Research released a 152-page research report identifying 14 “radical technologies that could change our lives and accelerate the impact of global megatrends.” The technologies have a $330B market size today that could grow to $6.4T by the 2030s, strategists led by Haim Israel say. “These moonshots could transform and disrupt multiple industries, contributing to the next big cycle of technology-driven growth.” Israel says. The 14 are:

• 6G: “The next generation of telecom networks will be needed in less than a decade as data continues to grow exponentially and 5G reaches its upper limit capacity.”
• Brain Computer Interfaces: “As we reach a point where humans are unable to keep up with computers and AI, brain computer interfaces could help ‘level up’ humans with computers. Shorter term, brain computer interfaces hold solutions for paralyzed individuals and promise a new wave of innovation in gaming.”
• Emotional Artificial Intelligence: Also “known as 'Affective Computing' and 'Cognitive Computing' (it) is designed to capture, analyze and respond to human emotions and simulate human thoughts. EAI can potentially collect, analyze and respond to completely new varieties of data and situations and predict or simulate human thought, leading people to take action.”
• Synthetic Biology: “At its core, 'synbio', as the field is commonly referred to, takes advantage of the vast diversity of nature to make biomolecules that traditional chemistry cannot.”
• Immortality: “Traditionally, aging has not been viewed as a disease that can be treated but this is changing. Actors in this space are increasingly looking to tackle the hallmark of aging via pathways such as genomic instability, telomere attrition, mitochondrial dysfunction, and cellular senescence among others.”
• Bionic humans: “This could be invasive (e.g. implants) or non-invasive (e.g. exoskeleton). Biohacking is also an associated field which is essentially applying DIY biology to boost oneself e.g. RFID chip in hand for contactless payments.”
• eVTOL: “Electrical vertical take-off and landing vehicles that could provide an alternative mobility transportation solution to outdated infrastructure and overly stressed roads in urban settings.”
• Wireless Electricity: “As the IoT takes off, automating and creating near continuous charging solutions could provide convenience for consumers, while solving charging problems for the rollout of EVs and secure electricity supplies for remote communities.”
• Holograms: “A technology capable of creating a simulated environment through light imagery projections that will allow everyone to come together in one virtual room, without having to leave their physical location.”
• Metaverse: “A future iteration of the Internet, made up of persistent, shared, 3D-shared spaces linked into a virtual universe. It could comprise countless persistent virtual worlds that interoperate with one another, as well as the physical world and transforming markets such as gaming, retail, entertainment etc.”
• Nextgen Batteries: “Whilst lithium batteries are the major EV technology, this does not necessarily need to stay true with alternatives such as solid state, vanadium flow, sodium ion etc provide promising additional attributes.”
• OceanTech: “It seeks to answer: ‘How do we increase sustainability of the ocean economy while harnessing its benefits?’ Solutions could include ocean energy, land based aquaculture, and precision fishing using AI.”
• Green Mining: “Transitioning away from a carbon-intensive economy will mean moving to a metal-intensive one. Green mining solutions like deep-sea mining, agromining, mining of wastewater and asteroid mining could provide less polluting and destructive solutions as the green economy’s thirst for metals grows.”
• Carbon Capture and Storage: “All current zero-carbon pathways require some form of CO2 removal. CCS, alongside other geoengineering solutions, could act as part of the solution with long-term permanent removal of CO2 vs afforestation.”

500 (SP500) (NYSEARCA:SPY) incumbents is shortening and by 2027 components could last just 12 years before being replaced, BofA says. For Next Tech to succeed, first the innovation must have the potential to be economical, then it must solve a key problem or improve quality of life, and finally, there must be government support in some way. Risks to the 14 ideas include the tech not being commercially scalable, prohibitive costs outweighing the benefits and regulation limiting applicability.

Energy crunch

An electricity cable mishap has raised the real possibility of electricity blackouts in the U.K. if there are any more problems with the grid this winter. A major cable that supplied power from France has been shut down due to a Wednesday fire and will be offline until March.

“If anything goes wrong, we might not have anything left in the back pocket,” Tom Edwards, consultant at Cornwall Insight, which advises the government and utilities, told Bloomberg. “If a nuke trips offline or something else big, that could cause issues because we might not have anything to replace it.”

Electricity prices in the U.K. surged 19% yesterday to 475 pounds ($655.50) per megawatt hour. (9 comments)

U.S. Natgas surge

U.S. natural gas futures closed at another seven-year high, as soaring global gas prices keep demand for U.S. exports high and Gulf of Mexico production recovers slowly from Hurricane Ida more than two weeks ago.

Front-month futures (NG1:COM) settled +3.8% to $5.460/MMBtu, their highest close since February 2014 for the third day in a row. (42 comments)

Goldman and GreenSky

GreenSky (NASDAQ:GSKY) shares shot up 50% after the online lender agreed to be acquired by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) for $2.24B, in a transaction that bolsters the Wall Street bank's presence on Main Street. GreenSky stockholders will get 0.03 share of Goldman stock for each GSKY share they hold.

GreenSky works through retailers like Home Depot and independent doctors and dentists to arrange loans for such things as cosmetic surgery or construction products. It has a network of more than 10,000 merchants. The business will complement Goldman's Marcus consumer banking platform, positioning it for further growth, Goldman said. (5 comments)

Cisco sales

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) said that it expects half of its sales will likely come from software and recurring revenue as it continues shifting into new areas beyond its long-time core networking products.

Scott Herron, the company's chief financial officer, gave an assessment of Cisco's business at a virtual meeting with Wall Street analysts on Wednesday.

Herron said an ongoing worldwide shortage in computing parts such as memory chips and power supply units will result in some pressure on the company's hardware profit margins. Still, Herron said Cisco sees that part of its business continues to grow. (1 comment)

Drug price negotiation

The House Ways and Means Committee late this afternoon approved a portion of the Democrats' $3.5T spending package that includes a provision for prescription drug price negotiation by HHS, The Hill reports. The provision would also cap price increases on some drugs at the inflation rate. (43 comments)

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan -0.62%. Hong Kong -1.46%. China -1.34%. India +0.76%.
In Europe, at midday, London +0.47%. Paris +1.06%. Frankfurt +0.48%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow -0.07%. S&P -0.12%. Nasdaq -0.24%. Crude -0.1% at $72.52. Gold -0.9% at $1778.45. Bitcoin +1.7% at $47964.
Ten-year Treasury Yield +1.3 bps at 1.317%

Today's Economic Calendar

8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook
8:30 Retail Sales
10:00 Business Inventories
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:00 PM Treasury International Capital
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet

Companies reporting earnings today »

What else is happening...

China Evergrande (OTCPK:EGRNF) woes raise worries for real estate, finance sectors in China.

Uranium hits nine-year highs as Sprott (OTCPK:SRUUF) resumes purchases.

Sibanye Stillwater (NYSE:SBSW) buys 50% stake in Nevada lithium project for $490M.

KKR-backed ForgeRock (NYSE:FORG) prices 11M-share IPO above range at $25.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) rises 3% after reiterating FY22 bookings despite Battlefield launch delay.

Callaway Golf (NYSE:ELY) jumps to four-week high as volume soars.

Narrower drug pricing bill introduced in House by centrist Democrats.

Boeing's (NYSE:BA) latest delivery totals suggest risk to full-year targets, analyst says.