The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that the first half of 2023 is behind us, and it has turned out better than expected. Globe columnist Gordon Pape writes that inflation has declined and, while rates will probably move a little higher, it appears the worst is behind us. As for the long-predicted recession, it may still happen, but it is coming in slow motion and the consensus now is that it will be mild. Stocks have had a mixed response to these developments. The better-than-expected economic news has raised concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and the Bank of Canada may push rates higher. It is the old "good news is bad news" stock market story. Most stocks have struggled, except for the tech giants. Nasdaq ended June with a first half gain of 32 per cent. Amazon's price-to-earning ratio is 309. Nvidia is at 214. Tesla is at 74. Stocks such as Alphabet (P/E of 26), Apple (32), Meta Platforms (35) and Microsoft (36) look cheap by comparison. They are not. They are just less unreasonable. The upsurge in tech has been fuelled almost entirely by the surge of artificial intelligence. In that sense, we are back in 1999-2000 territory. If AI turns out to be just another bubble, the losses will sting.