This week, I hit the road. I’m traveling all across the Midwest. It’s part of my commitment to getting out and seeing firsthand the economic conditions across the country.

Today’s update is from Indiana. And instead of my usual written commentary, I shot a short video update for you.

I’m a huge fan of auto racing. So of course, I visited the Brickyard, home of the Indy 500, while I was there.

But I also visited a company nearby that is transforming to meet the evolving energy, infrastructure, and tech needs of the local and national economy.

It’s just one great example of where my distortion investing themes merge.

It’s all in the short video below. Just click on the image below to watch it. It’s just under four minutes long.

And as always, I’ve also included a transcript underneath.

I hope you enjoy my video update from Indianapolis. Let me know what you think at [email protected].

Happy investing, and I’ll be in touch again soon.

Regards,

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Nomi Prins
Editor, Inside Wall Street with Nomi Prins


TRANSCRIPT

Hi everyone, Nomi here. I’m in Indianapolis, Indiana, after driving through our country’s beautiful Midwest to check out economic, Infrastructure, and New Energy conditions on the ground, as they’re impacted by The Great Distortion between the markets and the real economy.

I’ll get to more about why that matters in a moment.

But first, as you can see behind me, I’m right by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, or the Brickyard, as it’s sometimes called.

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This is where racecar drivers compete in the Indy 500, the largest one-day event of its kind on the planet.

Between you and me, I love Indy racing. I love NASCAR, too. But I have to admit, I really love F1. And my favorite driver is Lewis Hamilton.

Now, the state of Indiana is actually known as the crossroads of America. That’s because Indianapolis and the greater region provide a central hub for our nation’s major interstate junctions. The crisscross of highways here made Indiana a marquee spot for the federal highway system way back in 1926.

Today, the state is heavily trafficked. It bridges Ohio to Illinois. And it serves as a gateway to the Great Lakes for many trucks carrying raw materials and finished products across the country.

All of that makes infrastructure demands here both very real and of significant national and business interest.

Unfortunately, 23% of the roads here in Indiana are in really poor condition. And on average, each motorist pays $638 per year in costs due to driving on roads that are in need of repair.

To be clear, this is not exceptional to Indiana. But the fact remains that in our current economy, delaying building out sustainable infrastructure can, and does, cost the country and us taxpayers real money.

Building a Sustainable Future

The good news is that even for the crossroads of America, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

What I’m seeing is that businesses in the area are evolving their products to keep up with infrastructure demand, current energy needs, and New Energy transitions.

They’re making vehicles and parts more sustainable and efficient. And they’re committed to long-term energy demands.

And while not every company builds roads or bridges, they can still play a key role in transportation.

After meeting with folks in this area and having in-depth conversations here, one example that stands out to me, in particular, is Allison Transmission. It’s headquartered here in Indianapolis. And it’s a manufacturer of commercial automatic transmissions.

It actually got its start by helping to build the Indianapolis Motor Speedway here back in 1909. And what it’s doing now is really cool.

You see, Allison Transmission was once fully devoted to airplane engines, plus other gas-guzzling transmissions for trucks, buses, and commercial vehicles.

But as the electric vehicle (EV) trend emerged in the United States and globally, these transmissions were seen as incompatible to the propulsion systems that take gasoline and diesel. Some of these don’t need a transmission at all.

But today, this company has developed several fully electric propulsion solutions that allow for fully electric axles. They’ve even opened a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art vehicle electrification and environmental test center right here.

So, instead of being left behind by emerging Transformative Technology and New Energy demands, plus roadway needs right now, innovative companies like Allison and others are leaning into becoming relevant and viable for a sustainable future.

And they fit into our long-term views on Infrastructure, New Energy, and Transformative Technologies, which are three of our five main distortion themes.

[Managing Editor’s Note: Allison Transmission is not an investment recommendation. It is, as Nomi says, an example of a company adopting new technology to play a key role in the New Energy transition.]

Meanwhile, I would love to hear about any of your racing favorites. So please write in with them.

Happy investing, and I will talk to you soon.