Jan 5, 2026
In mid-December, we sent Bespoke’s client base a survey to capture the current thinking of experienced investors on markets, the economy, policy shifts, and portfolio positioning heading into 2026 and beyond. Last week, we published our 2026 Investor Sentiment report with a detailed summary of the survey’s results. If you aren’t currently a client, you can start a trial here to view the full report and start receiving everything else we publish on a daily basis.
There were a number of fascinating findings across our entire survey about investor positioning, but one of the more basic questions we asked was for participants to “choose which sentence best describes your overall investment philosophy.”
As shown below, while “buy wonderful companies and hold them essentially forever” ranks as the single most popular philosophy, it still captures less than one-fifth of respondents, and no single approach dominates. Opportunistic strategies, trend and momentum following, passive indexing, and concentrated high-conviction investing all cluster closely together, each attracting a meaningful share of investors.
Even approaches like macro and thematic investing, deep value/mean reversion, absolute return, and systematic factor-based strategies are well represented.
We think the dispersion in responses is the key takeaway here: investors don’t converge around one unified framework, but instead express a wide range of beliefs about how risk and return are best managed. Every trade reflects a difference in opinion, time horizon, or risk tolerance, and there is no single “right” way to invest. Different strategies work at different times, and markets function because participants bring varied views and approaches to the table.
This mix of philosophies is what drives liquidity, price discovery, and ultimately “makes a market.”
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Jan 2, 2026
In mid-December, we sent Bespoke’s client base a survey to capture the current thinking of experienced investors on markets, the economy, policy shifts, and portfolio positioning heading into 2026 and beyond. This report is a detailed summary of the results from that survey. Thank you to those that took part!
You can read our 2026 Investor Sentiment report by signing up for any of our three membership levels below. Enter the coupon code “OUTLOOK” at checkout for a 20% discount on your first charge. You can review our membership levels here to help make your decision.
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Dec 29, 2025
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Dec 29, 2025
Before getting to this morning’s pre-market analysis, be sure to watch this CNBC segment with Bespoke’s Paul Hickey discussing the market’s set-up heading into 2026.
See what’s driving market performance around the world in today’s Morning Lineup. Bespoke’s Morning Lineup is the best way to start your trading day. Read it now by starting a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium. CLICK HERE to learn more and start your trial.
“Investors should purchase stocks like they purchase groceries, not like they purchase perfume.” – Benjamin Graham
Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.
With just three trading days left in the year, below are a number of snapshots from our Trend Analyzer tool highlighting where various asset classes, sectors, and large-cap stocks stand on a year-to-date basis and relative to their 50-DMAs.
Gold (GLD) is now easily the top performing major asset class in 2025 with a 70%+ gain. The next-best is the “rest of world” equity market with the all country ex US ETF (CWI) up 29.2% YTD. The Tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) ranks third with a 22% gain.
There are three key asset classes in the red this year: Bitcoin (IBIT), the dollar (UUP), and oil (USO).
Of the ETFs shown, the dollar (UUP) is the most oversold heading into year end, while gold (GLD) is the most overbought.
Looking at major domestic equity index ETFs, mid-caps have been “mid” in 2025 with only single-digit gains, while large-caps are up closer to 20%. Heading into 2026, every single index ETF shown is above its 50-DMA, with the large majority overbought.
Dec 26, 2025
Plenty of ink has been spilled in the last year about the current AI Boom and whether it’s actually an “AI Bubble.”
The current bull market for US stocks began on 10/12/22 based on the standard 20% rally/decline threshold. After a nasty bear market from the first trading day of 2022 through the 10/12/22 closing low, the current bull has seen the S&P rally 103% on a total return basis. The Tech/AI-heavy Nasdaq is up even more with a total return of 132.3% over the same time frame.
After the rally we’ve seen in the precious metals in the last couple of months, though, traders in the space must be looking at the AI Boom and thinking “hold my beer.”
Below is a look at the performance of the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite, and gold, silver, and platinum since the current bull market for stocks began on 10/12/22.
As shown, gold is now up 171.7%, platinum is up 183.7%, and silver is up just over 300%! All three metals have now easily beaten the stock market during the AI Boom.
A doubling of the major indices over a 3+ year time frame certainly qualifies as a strong bull market, and it’s hard to argue that valuations aren’t a bit lofty. But if the current AI-driven bull market for stocks is a “bubble,” then certainly what we’ve seen in precious metals lately qualifies as well.
Ironically, many bears that call the AI trade a speculative bubble also recommend increasing exposure to gold and other precious metals, but that kind of rationale gets more difficult now that the metals trade has gone even more parabolic than stocks!
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