Brunch Reads – 2/15/26
Welcome to Bespoke Brunch Reads — a linkfest of some of our favorite articles over the past week. The links are mostly market-related, but there are some other interesting subjects covered as well. We hope you enjoy the food for thought as a supplement to the research we provide you during the week.
We Can Do It!: On February 15, 1943, a bold new image appeared on factory bulletin boards at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Designed by Pittsburgh artist J. Howard Miller for the company’s War Production Coordinating Committee, the poster showed a woman in a red polka-dot bandana rolling up her sleeve beneath the words: “We Can Do It!”
The United States was deep in World War II. Millions of men had shipped overseas, and factories needed women to fill jobs building radios, aircraft parts, and munitions. The poster was not a national ad campaign, but rather an internal morale piece, displayed for a short window, about two weeks, inside Westinghouse plants to curb absenteeism and encourage productivity.
At the time, the woman in the image had no name. She wasn’t yet “Rosie.” That broader cultural figure came from the popular 1942 song “Rosie the Riveter” and Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post cover. Miller’s poster was just one of many wartime graphics urging workers to meet quotas and back the war effort.
Decades later, in the 1980s, the image was rediscovered in the National Archives and widely reproduced. While in the 1940s, it represented the millions of American women on the home front aiding the war effort, it stands today as a symbol of female empowerment remixed in politics, advertising, activism, and parody.
AI & Technology
Something Big Is Happening (Matt Shumer)
A tech founder argues that recent AI advances have moved far beyond incremental improvement, with new models now capable of independently completing complex, multi-day knowledge tasks and even contributing to their own development. He believes many white-collar roles, from law and finance to coding and analysis, could face rapid disruption within a few years, as tools become cheaper, more capable, and widely deployed. His advice is to spend $20/month on a paid AI tool, use it for an hour a day on real work tasks, get your finances in order, and stop assuming your field is immune. [Link]
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Bespoke’s Consumer Pulse Report – February 2026
Bespoke’s Consumer Pulse Report is an analysis of a huge consumer survey that we run each month. Our goal with this survey is to track trends across the economic and financial landscape in the US. Using the results from our proprietary monthly survey, we dissect and analyze all of the data and publish the Consumer Pulse Report, which we sell access to on a subscription basis. Sign up for a 30-day free trial to our Bespoke Consumer Pulse subscription service. With a trial, you’ll get coverage of consumer electronics, social media, streaming media, retail, autos, and much more. The report also has numerous proprietary US economic data points that are extremely timely and useful for investors.
We’ve just released our most recent monthly report to Pulse subscribers, and it’s definitely worth the read if you’re curious about the health of the consumer in the current market environment. Start a 30-day free trial for a full breakdown of all of our proprietary Pulse economic indicators.
The Bespoke Report: AI Boom to AI Doom
The “AI Boom to AI Doom” shift has happened: Software stocks have collapsed 25%+ while defensive sectors rocket higher in a rotation that’s never happened this fast—get the full 38-page analysis now. Read this week’s Bespoke Report newsletter and gain access to the rest of our product suite with a Bespoke trial. CLICK HERE or on the image below to proceed.
The Triple Play Report: 2/12/26
An earnings triple play is a stock that reports earnings and manages to 1) beat analyst EPS estimates, 2) beat analyst sales estimates, and 3) raise forward guidance. You can read more about “triple plays” at Investopedia.com where they’ve given Bespoke credit for popularizing the term. We like triple plays as an indication that a company’s business is firing on all cylinders, with better-than-expected results and an improving outlook. A triple play is indicative of positive “fundamental momentum” instead of pure fundamentals, and there are always plenty of names with both high and low valuations on our quarterly list.
Bespoke’s Triple Play Report covers what each company does, what this quarter’s results say about their growth outlooks, and their histories of delivering triple plays. Bespoke’s Triple Play Report is available at the Bespoke Institutional level only. You can sign up for Bespoke Institutional now and receive a 14-day trial to read today’s Triple Play Report. To sign up, choose either the monthly or annual checkout link below:
Bespoke Institutional – Monthly Payment Plan
Bespoke Institutional – Annual Payment Plan
Bespoke Investment Group, LLC believes all information contained in these reports to be accurate, but we do not guarantee its accuracy. None of the information in these reports or any opinions expressed constitutes a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any securities or commodities. This is not personalized advice. Investors should do their own research and/or work with an investment professional when making portfolio decisions. As always, past performance of any investment is not a guarantee of future results. Bespoke representatives or clients may have positions in securities discussed or mentioned in its published content.
Bespoke’s Morning Lineup – 2/13/26 – Leaders of the Physical and Digital Economies Fall
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.
“Volatility obscures the future but does not necessarily determine the future.” – Peter Bernstein
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 yesterday’s sharp declines, bulls were in no rush to get back to work this morning ahead of the January CPI report, with futures on the major indices all down about 0.20%. The 10-year yield was basically unchanged at 4.10%, down from 4.23% earlier in the week. Crude oil was also modestly lower, while gold is marginally higher and silver rallies close to 3%. Bitcoin is up a little over 2% but still below $67K.
In Asia, equities were lower across the board with the Nikkei down 1.2%, Hong Kong down 1.7%, and China’s Shanghai Composite falling 1.3%. Despite those losses, Japan still finished the week 5% higher, while South Korea rallied more than 8%!
In Europe, equities were mostly lower but by more modest amounts. The STOXX 600 is down 0.4%, putting it in the red for the week, while Germany bucks the trend with a gain of 0.1%. Q4 GDP for the continent grew 0.3%, which was right in line with expectations.
CPI just hit the tape, and the market liked it! Headline CPI came in weaker than expected, with the y/y reading was 2.4% compared to forecasts for 2.5%. Core CPI was right inline with forecasts at 0.3% m/m. In reaction, futures have bounced into positive territory, while the 10-year yield dropped to 4.07%. Is a 3-handle on the way?
It was a rough day for two very important sectors often considered leading indicators of the physical and digital economy, as the Dow Transports fell 2.5% while the Philadelphia Semiconductor index (SOX) plunged just over 4%. That’s enough to instill some fear in the minds of already nervous investors.
Starting with the Transports, yesterday’s pullback found support right at the index’s uptrend line that has been in place since late last year. Looking at the chart, even bulls have to admit that as painful as yesterday’s sell-off was, the surge in the prior couple of weeks had also gotten ahead of itself.
Moving on to the transports of the digital economy, the SOX has been on a tear for nearly a year now, and even after yesterday’s decline, it has more than doubled off its April lows. Doubled! That being said, yesterday’s decline came right after the index had come up just shy of taking out its prior high from January, so until that resistance is taken out, the burden of proof is on the bulls.
The Closer – More AI Pain Points, Stellar Long Bonds – 2/12/26
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Looking for deeper insight into markets? In tonight’s Closer sent to Bespoke Institutional clients, we begin by showing the next pain points as a result of AI (page 1) followed by a dive into the strong showing by long bonds at auction this afternoon (page 2). After recapping claims (page 3) we then turn to an overview of the reversal in January home sales data (page 4). We cap off tonight’s report with earnings reviews (page 5).
See today’s full post-market Closer and everything else Bespoke publishes by starting a 14-day trial to Bespoke Institutional today!
The Triple Play Report: 2/11/26
An earnings triple play is a stock that reports earnings and manages to 1) beat analyst EPS estimates, 2) beat analyst sales estimates, and 3) raise forward guidance. You can read more about “triple plays” at Investopedia.com where they’ve given Bespoke credit for popularizing the term. We like triple plays as an indication that a company’s business is firing on all cylinders, with better-than-expected results and an improving outlook. A triple play is indicative of positive “fundamental momentum” instead of pure fundamentals, and there are always plenty of names with both high and low valuations on our quarterly list.
Bespoke’s Triple Play Report covers what each company does, what this quarter’s results say about their growth outlooks, and their histories of delivering triple plays. Bespoke’s Triple Play Report is available at the Bespoke Institutional level only. You can sign up for Bespoke Institutional now and receive a 14-day trial to read today’s Triple Play Report. To sign up, choose either the monthly or annual checkout link below:
Bespoke Institutional – Monthly Payment Plan
Bespoke Institutional – Annual Payment Plan
Bespoke Investment Group, LLC believes all information contained in these reports to be accurate, but we do not guarantee its accuracy. None of the information in these reports or any opinions expressed constitutes a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any securities or commodities. This is not personalized advice. Investors should do their own research and/or work with an investment professional when making portfolio decisions. As always, past performance of any investment is not a guarantee of future results. Bespoke representatives or clients may have positions in securities discussed or mentioned in its published content.
Bespoke’s Morning Lineup 2/12/26 – Lift Off in Energy
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.
“Volatility obscures the future but does not necessarily determine the future.” – Peter Bernstein
Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.
Bespoke’s Paul Hickey appeared on CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange this morning to discuss AI disruption and other issues impacting the market. To view the segment, click on the image below.
US equity futures are higher across the board this morning, with gains ranging from 0.25% to 0.30%. Treasuries are also catching a bid with the 10-year yield falling 2 basis points to 4.16%. Oil prices are taking a rest and trading down fractionally, which is also the case for gold and silver. Crypto is catching a modest bid with Bitcoin prices inching up towards $68K.
In Asia, it was a mixed session. The Nikkei was down 0.02% after being closed for a holiday yesterday, but South Korean stocks were higher again as the KOSPI rallied 3.1%. Those types of moves for a major country benchmark were once considered out of the ordinary, but lately, multi-percentage point moves in the KOSPI (mostly to the upside) have become commonplace.
In Europe, stocks are trading higher across the board. The STOXX 600 is up 0.4%, and the German DAX is leading the gains with a rally of 1.3%. UK GDP for Q4 was weaker than expected, but outside of some individual earnings reports, it’s been a quiet session.
Here in the US, it’s also a quiet day for data. The main report will be jobless claims at 8:30, followed by Existing Home Sales at 10. Since it’s Thursday, the weekly individual investor sentiment survey from AAII showed that optimism towards the stock market fell for the second week in a row to 38.5%, its lowest level since Christmas. Bah humbug!
You need energy for a rocket to lift off, and boy, does the Energy sector have a lot of it! After essentially trading rangebound for the second half of 2025, the sector broke out in mid-January and has been gaining altitude ever since.
While most sectors have outperformed the S&P 500 YTD, none of them hold a candle to Energy’s gain of over 23%. Since sector data begins in 1990, this year’s gain ranks as the second-best start to a year through 2/11, trailing only the 26.5% gain to start 2022. That was a bit of a different situation, though, as the market was gearing up for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This year also now ranks as just the fourth year since 1990, that the Energy sector was up at least 10% YTD through 2/11. The others were 2021 and 2005.
As the sector’s price has gone parabolic over the last few weeks, the spread between the Energy sector’s price and 200-DMA has ballooned to one of its highest levels on record. The only times it was wider were in 2005, 2011, 2021, and 2022.
The Closer – Employment Deep Dive, AI Breakout – 2/11/26
Log-in here if you’re a member with access to the Closer.
Looking for deeper insight into markets? In tonight’s Closer sent to Bespoke Institutional clients, we lead off with a deep dive into the employment situation report (pages 1 – 3). We then review markets action today including the moves in bonds, the dollar, tech stocks, and more (pages 4 and 5). We cap off with an update on the latest petroleum inventory data (page 6).
See today’s full post-market Closer and everything else Bespoke publishes by starting a 14-day trial to Bespoke Institutional today!
The Triple Play Report: 2/10/26
An earnings triple play is a stock that reports earnings and manages to 1) beat analyst EPS estimates, 2) beat analyst sales estimates, and 3) raise forward guidance. You can read more about “triple plays” at Investopedia.com where they’ve given Bespoke credit for popularizing the term. We like triple plays as an indication that a company’s business is firing on all cylinders, with better-than-expected results and an improving outlook. A triple play is indicative of positive “fundamental momentum” instead of pure fundamentals, and there are always plenty of names with both high and low valuations on our quarterly list.
Bespoke’s Triple Play Report covers what each company does, what this quarter’s results say about their growth outlooks, and their histories of delivering triple plays. Bespoke’s Triple Play Report is available at the Bespoke Institutional level only. You can sign up for Bespoke Institutional now and receive a 14-day trial to read today’s Triple Play Report. To sign up, choose either the monthly or annual checkout link below:
Bespoke Institutional – Monthly Payment Plan
Bespoke Institutional – Annual Payment Plan
Bespoke Investment Group, LLC believes all information contained in these reports to be accurate, but we do not guarantee its accuracy. None of the information in these reports or any opinions expressed constitutes a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any securities or commodities. This is not personalized advice. Investors should do their own research and/or work with an investment professional when making portfolio decisions. As always, past performance of any investment is not a guarantee of future results. Bespoke representatives or clients may have positions in securities discussed or mentioned in its published content.