After a challenging July that saw investors sell off high-flying technology stocks, buyers returned to the market in August, bidding up risk assets across the board ..read more

Allocators add new exposures for a variety of reasons; diversification, returns, risk mitigation, etc. Understanding this, what is the most over-owned and expensive sector today ..read more

Consumer Spending: Are Consumers Tapped Out or Pushing Back?  Key Summary: Sentiment towards the consumer and spending is about as negative as I’ve seen. Assets and allocations to consumer-related stocks haven’t been this low ever. Are consumers tapped out or just fed up with high prices and sending brands a message? Very Important thesis: If ..read more

After a red-hot June built on expectations that the Federal Reserve may succeed at killing inflation without killing the economy, July saw investors begin to question the soft-landing narrative ..read more

It looks like a big margin call started in Japan. The Japanese Yen has become a funding currency in recent years, a source of cheap financing with the proceeds reinvested in better returning assets – such as US$ listed AI stocks ..read more

Watch Joe Tigay and Brian Stutland, co- portfolio managers of a hedged-equity strategy for Catalyst Funds, discuss the volatile start to August experienced by markets, the VIX, and much more in the latest edition of Trading Zone.  ..read more

This week marks the beginning of a significant earnings season, with reports expected from several major companies including NFLX, ASML, JNJ, BA, MS, UNH, TSM, and GS. This occurs amidst a recent correction with the market shifting from mega-cap companies to small-caps. The MAG 7 has risen extremely high, posing a risk for the market. Following the CPI report, the MAG 7 pulled back, however, the market did not! Despite the changing market activity, the SPX trend line continues to perform fantastically, with the upward trend line marching even higher. SPX 2 Year Trends The skew remains lo ..read more

Today’s retail sales release has us scratching our heads. The posted number showed strong retail sales for the month of June (ex-autos) with the control group indicating +0.9% MoM gains (the control group feeds into GDP data). If one scrolled lower in the report, they would notice that those figures were seasonally adjusted. The non-seasonally adjusted number showed a whopping nearly 6% decline MoM for retail sales ex-autos, tying the largest drop ever since the inception of the index. Where lies the truth on the state of the consumer ..read more

The graph and table above provide return data for major income-oriented asset categories for the month of June 2024 and YTD 2024. Returns for each asset category are based on the returns of the constituent(s) in the Nasdaq HANDLS Base Index representing that category. Also included are returns for the Nasdaq 5HANDL Index, the Nasdaq 7HANDL Index and the Nasdaq 10HANDL Index. Summer Heat In June, investors welcomed the start of summer by bidding up risk assets across the board. Not even a hot employment report at the start of the month tamped down investor expectations that the Federal Reserve ..read more

While the first quarter’s CPI prints this year were above expectations, one needs to ‘look under the hood’ to have a better view on inflation (where it was and where it is going).  We have written over the past year that inflation was on a downward trajectory and have been correct. The head fake that occurred during the first quarter with ‘apparently’ high inflation may likely be the nail in the coffin for the economy. We suggest this because most market participants, financial news pundits, and even the Federal Reserve Board of governors (including the Chair) succumbed to bullying on the ..read more