FINRA Debit Balance in Securities Margin Accounts Leverage in margin accounts has surged since April 2025, reflecting strong market optimism. The catch is that higher leverage can turn painful fast when volatility spikes, triggering forced…
S&P 500 Earnings & Estimates and Earnings Growth Trend Line S&P 500 earnings have significantly outpaced historical growth trends. If profits start to slip in the coming quarters, richly valued stocks could face a sharp…
S&P 500 Performance and Risk Appetite Indicator Good news for the bulls: Goldman Sachs’s Risk Appetite Indicator broke above 1.0 last week, a bullish signal that has historically lined up with roughly 15% median gains…
Commodities vs. 50/50 S&P 500 and U.S. Treasuries Commodities remain undervalued relative to U.S. stocks and bonds, offering room for strategic allocations that enhance portfolio balance. Image: Bloomberg
Gold Prices in Real Terms Gold’s real price is sky-high right now. It’s a very different story from the dot-com boom, when investors piled into tech and gold fell out of favor almost overnight. Image:…
Cumulative Gold Demand – Gold ETF vs. Central Banks Amid macro conditions, currency moves, and rising geopolitical tension, gold’s rally gathered pace in 2025 as central banks began competing with private investors for scarce bullion.…
U.S. Equity Index Valuations vs. History The S&P SmallCap 600’s forward P/E of 16x looks attractive by historical standards, while the S&P 500’s 22x forward multiple, sitting in the 94th percentile, paints a very different…
Gold Price vs. Other Assets You have to go all the way back to 1980 to find a time when gold looked this pricey against other assets. The question now is whether the metal cools…
Inflation – U.S. ISM Services Prices vs. Super Core PCE History shows the U.S. ISM Services Prices Index tends to lead super core inflation by five months, which means sticky prices aren’t going anywhere soon.…
S&P 500 Returns in January The S&P 500 is up 1% so far this month. January has finished higher three years in a row. Could this be the fourth? Since 1950, when January finishes in…
Valuation – Mega-Cap Tech PEG Ratio Despite relying on forward growth estimates that often move, the Mega-Cap Tech PEG ratio (P/E to CY3 EPS growth) has fallen sharply, echoing the lows of 2022. Image: Goldman…