Nov 6, 2025
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“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.” – Margaret Thatcher
Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.
We’re now in the back half of the Q3 earnings season, and probably the most consequential data point we’re seeing coming out of this season is continued strength in forward guidance.
Last earnings season was the first one following the tariff tantrum of the spring, and investors were pleasantly surprised that more companies raised guidance than lowered guidance. That trend has continued in a big way this season, and with more than 1,000 companies reporting Q3 numbers thus far, we’ve seen 14% raise guidance compared to just 6% that have lowered guidance. As shown below, our guidance spread chart, which shows the percentage of companies raising minus lowering guidance on a rolling three-month basis, has spiked to a level we’ve only seen once before, which was the period coming out of the COVID Crash in 2020. These big spikes in guidance have historically happened in the early part of periods following max uncertainty.
Nov 5, 2025
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“When it is darkest there is always light ahead.” – Roald Amundsen
Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.
While New York City elected a democratic socialist to be its next mayor last night, today is the first anniversary of the 2024 Presidential Election. Below is a look at the S&P 500’s percentage change over the last year compared to its change in the year after President Trump’s first election victory in 2016. While the two paths diverge in the middle part of the chart because of the “tariff tantrum” seen earlier this year, the full-year performance for the S&P following the 2016 and 2024 Elections is now very similar. We’ll be looking at stock market performance during the Presidential Election Cycle in more detail in today’s Chart of the Day, so keep an eye out for that if you have an interest.
Below is our asset class performance matrix showing total returns across a range of ETFs in the year after the 2024 Election versus the year after the 2016 Election.
While large-cap domestic equity ETFs posted strong gains in the first year after Trump’s 2016 and 2024 wins, there are a lot of areas that have done a lot worse this time around.
The biggest disparities show up in small and mid-cap ETFs. In the year after the 2016 Election, we saw similar 20%+ gains across the market-cap spectrum. This time around, small-caps and mid-caps have been left in the dust, while large-caps have surged.
As an example, the S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW) is up 27.8% since last year’s Election, while the Smallcap 600 Growth ETF (IJT) is up just 0.55%.
Looking at sector ETFs, Technology (XLK) and Consumer Discretionary (XLY) were up similar amounts, but Health Care (XLV), Materials (XLB), and Real Estate (XLRE) have been much weaker in the last year compared to the year after the 2016 Election.
Outside of the US, we’ve seen most country ETFs post huge gains since the 2024 Election, while their returns were much more muted in the year after the 2016 Election.
Finally, gold (GLD) and silver (SLV) have been two of the best performing ETFs in the entire matrix since Trump’s 2024 victory, but they were down in the year after his first victory.
Nov 4, 2025
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“America’s health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.” – Walter Cronkite
Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.
After a strangely subdued reaction to its earnings report after the close yesterday, shares of Palantir (PLTR) are down nearly 8% in the pre-market as investors had some time to sleep on it overnight. An 8% decline is nothing to dismiss, but it’s also important to remember that PLTR is a volatile stock. In its history as a public company, the average one-day reaction to earnings has been a gain or loss of over 15%, and based on where it’s trading now, shares of PLTR are back to where they were just last Tuesday.
The decline in PLTR comes as a cloud of concern envelops the market over how fast stocks have rallied and where valuations have gone. Right on cue, a Bloomberg article says as much with the headline below. While the headline sounds scary enough, the details read a lot less scary. Essentially, it quotes various Wall Street CEOs, among them Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, suggesting that the market could see a pullback of 10% to 20% at some point in the next 12 to 24 months. Solomon was quoted as saying, “Of course, it’s likely there will be a 10% to 20% drawdown in equity markets over the next 12 months,” but even he admitted that pullbacks like that can come at any time and from any level.
Concerns are concerns, though, and when investors worry, they sell. With that, futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both indicated to open down by more than 1%, following a down session in Asia and Europe, where stocks are also broadly lower by around 1% or more.
Even with the sharp decline in equities, bond yields are only modestly lower as the 10-year yield still hangs around 4.1%. Crude oil prices are also down more than 1%, which suggests that investors are also concerned about the health of the economy, given the ongoing shutdown. We’ll be watching the level of airport delays; the more they rise, the more likely it is that policymakers in DC reach an agreement to open the government back up. Thanksgiving is just three weeks away, and no one on either side of the aisle wants to face the wrath of Americans who can’t get home for the holiday.
Given the scope of the pre-market declines, it must be Tuesday. As shown in the chart below, the S&P 500’s median opening gap on Tuesdays this year has been just five basis points (bps), which is less than half the next closest weekdays (Thursdays and Fridays), so the day has had a knack for weakness. From the open to close, Tuesday isn’t the weakest day of the week, but it’s still much weaker than the median gains of 15 bps on Monday and 8 bps on Friday.
Nov 3, 2025
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“It would be a mistake to think something is wonderful just because it looks great.” – Anna Wintour
Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.
Last week may have been the peak week of earnings season in terms of the market cap of companies reporting, but we have another busy week in store for investors, and it’s picking up right where it left off last week. Of the companies reporting so far today, 89% have reported better than expected EPS forecasts, and 75% have topped sales forecasts, so you can’t ask for much more than that. Even in terms of guidance, 3 companies have raised forecasts while only one lowered.
In response to the better-than-expected reports, equity futures are also picking up right where they left off last week, as markets look to open the week higher with the Nasdaq leading the way. Today’s positive open for the Nasdaq will be the ninth straight positive start to a week for the index, which is only the longest streak since summer 2024, but still tied for the second longest in the index’s history.
In Asia, Japan was closed for the day, but other indices in the region were broadly higher even as South Korea’s manufacturing PMI moved into contraction territory. In Europe, most manufacturing PMIs were also in line with forecasts, and the STOXX 600 responded by rallying 0.5% while Germany rallied more than 1%.
Outside of equities, the 10-year yield is slightly lower at 4.09% ahead of a busy week for Fed speakers, who have mostly sounded more skeptical of a December rate cut, as concerns over inflation linger even as there are signs that the labor market is stabilizing.
Crude oil prices are essentially unchanged even as OPEC+ announced over the weekend that it would increase output by 137K barrels per day, but then pause those increases beginning in January. WTI is starting the month just over $60 per barrel after declining 2% in October, taking its monthly losing streak to three months.
Gold prices are starting off the month back above $4,000 per ounce as other metals also trade higher, but the troubles for digital gold continue as bitcoin prices trade down close to 2% and barely hangs on to $108K. Ethereum prices are down twice as much as they barely hang on to $3,700.
With just two months left in the year, over the weekend, we looked at asset class performance, country performance, and individual stock performance for October and various other time periods. Make sure to take a look at that rundown of where things stand heading into year-end. Even though the major averages may be looking good, not everything looks great.
Taking a high-level look at equity market returns, whether you’re looking at the short-term or long-term, it has been a friendly environment. Over the last year, the S&P 500’s total return has been a gain of 21.5% which is nearly twice the historical average of 12.0%, but over the last two years, the 29.5% annualized gain has been nearly triple the long-term average. Looking out over longer-term time periods, though, over the last five, ten, and twenty years, returns aren’t as strong, but they’re still above the long-term average.
While equity market investors have been on a highway paved in green, the treasury market has been a world of pain. Over the last year, long-term treasuries, as measured by the BofA/Merrill 10+ Year Treasury Index, have posted positive returns, but at 3.4% it’s still less than half of the long-term average. Over the last two years, the annualized gain of 9.0% is actually slightly above average. Still, looking back further than that, it’s been a painful five, ten and twenty years for anyone who has loaned money to the US Treasury.
Oct 31, 2025
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“The work of today is the history of tomorrow and we are its makers” – Juliette Gordon Low
Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.
To view yesterday’s CNBC interview talking about market breadth, click on the image below.
The S&P 500 heads into today with just fractional gains for the week, but today’s trading should add to those gains with futures indicated 0.7% higher. Strong earnings from the mega-caps are to thank for the gains, as what has already been a positive earnings season continues. Outside of equities, treasury yields are slightly higher, while crude oil trades slightly lower but has hung on to $60 per barrel for now. Metals prices are mixed as gold hangs on to $4,000 while silver and copper are essentially unchanged. Crypto is showing some life as Bitcoin trades higher by 3% and Ethereum rallies closer to 5%.
In Asia overnight, markets were mixed. Japan, China, and South Korea all closed out the week higher and with solid gains for the week, but Hong Kong and India were both lower. The biggest economic datapoints of the session were PMI readings in China as the Manufacturing index slid further into contraction territory while the Services component barely stayed out of contraction (50.1).
In Europe, there’s another negative bias with the STOXX 600 down 0.4% as an index of inflation expectations showed a modest uptick from 2.0% to 2.1% for 2025. It wasn’t all bad news, though, as 2025 GDP growth forecasts also showed a modest uptick from 1.1% to a still anemic 1.2%. The higher inflation expectations were also accompanied by an uptick in headline CPI to 0.2% m/m from September’s rate of 0.1%.
Apple (AAPL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) rounded out the group of mega-caps reporting this week with earnings releases after the bell Thursday. Shares of Apple (AAPL) are poised to gap up over 2% at the open, but the real standout is Amazon.com (AMZN). While investors worried that the company’s layoff announcement earlier in the week was a precursor to a weak report, AMZN eased those fears with strong numbers across the board, and in response, shares spiked more than 10%.
Today is Halloween and the last trading day of October, so can investors expect a trick or a treat? Over the last 50 years, it’s been a bit of a coin flip. As shown in the chart below, the S&P 500’s median performance on the last trading day of October has been a gain of 0.02% with positive returns 54% of the time. In terms of volatility, the median absolute daily change on these days has been 0.50%.
While the last day of October has been relatively uneventful in terms of returns, November typically starts on a more positive note. Over the last 50 years, the S&P 500’s median gain has been 0.35% with gains 70% of the time. And while October is a month known for its volatility, with a median absolute daily change of 0.77%, the first trading day of November has been more volatile than the last day of October.
Oct 30, 2025
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.
“And so we always say we’re not on a preset path, and we really mean that.” – Jerome Powell
Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.
Futures are lower this morning with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both indicated to open moderately lower from yesterday’s close as investors continue to digest Powell’s hawkish comments from yesterday. The weakness also follows a slew of earnings reports, including the behemoths of Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta (META), and Microsoft (MSFT). The reaction from the market to those three has been somewhat of a draw, with GOOGL up sharply, META down sharply, and MSFT only modestly lower. The fun continues tonight with just as many reports, including Amazon.com (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) after the bell. After that, we’ll be through the peak of earnings season, at least in terms of market cap, so Congress better get the government open again, so there can be some economic data to focus on!
In Asia, there was no shortage of headlines with Presidents Trump and Xi meeting in South Korea. While the two leaders reached a 1-year détente on trade with Trump reducing fentanyl tariffs to 10%, China agreed to keep the flow of rare earth materials going and announced plans to purchase soybeans, energy, and other farm products. President Trump also said he plans to visit China in April. Despite all the headlines, though, it was a quiet session as most indices in the region were modestly lower. Of course, South Korea bucked the trend, though, with a gain of 0.1% as the KOSPI remains seemingly unstoppable.
In European trading this morning, stocks are decidedly lower. The STOXX 600 is down 0.5% as Spain leads the way lower with a decline of just over 1%, while Germany outperforms, even as it faces a decline of 0.1%. GDP growth for the region was above expectations (0.2% vs 0.1%), as growth in France led the region. The underperformance from Spain, however, stems from a higher-than-expected inflation print as y/y CPI increased 3.1% versus expectations for an increase of 2.9%.
As US equities continue to march to new record highs, individual investor sentiment got a boost this week as the weekly survey from AAII showed that bullish sentiment increased from 36.9% to 44.0% for the highest reading in three weeks. While you would expect bullish sentiment to rise, current levels of optimism are nowhere near where they were at this point last year.
Perhaps one reason investors are less optimistic is due to the government shutdown, which has lasted nearly a month. With the S&P 500 up over 3% this month, it doesn’t appear as though the market is all that concerned, but looking at sector performance, there have been some shifts this month. The chart below compares sector performance so far in October (period covering the shutdown) on the x-axis to sector performance in the first nine months of the year (y-axis).
While sectors like Technology, Utilities, Energy, Real Estate, Materials, and Consumer Staples have stayed relatively close to the trendline, indicating that their YTD trend has remained largely intact this month, sectors like Communication Services, Health Care, Consumer Discretionary, Industrials, and Financials have seen their performance trend this month deviate significantly from their YTD trend in the first nine months of the year. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the shutdown has had a direct impact on these sectors’ performance, but their YTD trends have shifted.
