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“The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.” – Ronald Reagan, 1/28/1986
Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.
US equity futures are modestly higher again this morning, with the S&P 500 indicated to open up 0.25% while the Nasdaq is looking much stronger, gaining 0.85% as positive earnings reports in the Technology sector drive the sector’s gains. Investors are selling treasuries as the 10-year yield pushes 4.25%.
Gold is surging again today after yesterday’s comments by the President regarding the dollar, and the SPDR Gold ETF (GLD) has already rallied at least 1% for six straight days! Silver is also strong this morning, and the Silver ETF (SLV) has rallied at least 3% for four straight days! Investors are in such a ‘buy anything mode’ that even Bitcoin is rallying more than 1%, taking it back above $90K.
In Asia overnight, most major indices were higher. Hong Kong led the way with a gain of more than 2.5%, and South Korea’s Kospi tacked on 1.7%. A 40-year JGB auction in Japan was met with strong demand as the bid-to-cover ratio came in at 2.76, which was the strongest since last March. As we said, they’re buying everything this morning!
Well, maybe investors aren’t buying everything. In Europe, stocks are lower across the board. The STOXX 600 is down 0.5% with France, Italy, and Spain both down over 1%. Luxury stocks are weighing on stocks in the region following earnings from LVMH after the close yesterday, which we covered in last night’s Closer.
Today in the US, there’s no economic data on the calendar, but at 2 PM, the Fed will announce its latest rate decision, and the market is basically pricing in 100% odds of no change in rates. After the close, though, we’ll get earnings from Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Tesla (TSLA).
Merriam-Webster’s word of 2025 was slop which described the unending stream of low-quality, computer-generated content that has inundated the internet and social media feeds over the last three years. As much as AI promises to change life for the better, some of the more immediate impacts have been less than compelling. You can’t get away from it!
This is not even a month old, but if early indications are accurate, the term broadening could be a serious contender for the word of 2026. Looking at sector performance, the S&P 500 is up just under 2% YTD, but seven sectors have outperformed the index, including Energy and Materials, which are both up over 10%! Behind these two commodity-related sectors, Consumer Staples and Industrials are both up over 5%, while Consumer Discretionary, Communication Services, and Real Estate are all outperforming the index by a small degree.
On the right side of the S&P 500, Technology sticks out like a sore thumb with its gain of less than 1%. Along with Technology, Utilities, and Health Care are also up YTD but still underperforming, while Financials, which started the year off hitting all-time highs, is the only sector in the red for the year.
With the market broadening, we found it notable that, along with the S&P 500 yesterday, four sectors also closed at 52-week highs yesterday. Even many of the sectors that didn’t hit new highs yesterday aren’t far. Industrials and Consumer Discretionary are both within 2% of a 52-week high, while Utilities, Financials, and Technology are the only three sectors down more than 5%. The fact that the S&P 500 closed at a record high yesterday and its two largest sectors (Technology and Financials), which together account for nearly half of the entire index, are both down more than 5% from their highs is remarkable.
Regarding yesterday’s trivia, the five other schools to produce a Super Bowl winning QB and at least one US President are:
– Delaware: Biden/Flacco
– Miami (OH): Harrison/Big Ben
– Michigan: Ford/Brady
– Stanford: Hoover/Elway/Plunkett
– Navy: Carter/Staubach
Now to the bonus question. Of the 36 different head coaches to win a Super Bowl title, the school the college/university that has produced the most winning head coaches is Miami University of Ohio. The three Super Bowl-winning coaches who went there were Weeb Ewbank, John Harbaugh, and Sean McVay. Congratulations to everyone who got it right.
