Weekly Wisdom
Explore market perspectives from Stephanie Link, paired with thoughtful wealth insights from Hightower Signature Wealth.
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Weekly Wisdom: Fed Meeting Recap – Higher Rates, Stronger Growth
The Fed Delivers a Rate Hike The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds target range by 25 basis points to 3.75%–4.00% at its September meeting, marking the first rate increase in more than three years.1 The decision was unanimous and largely anticipated by markets, but the more important message came from the Fed’s updated projections and…
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Weekly Wisdom: Powering AI Amid a Tightening Energy Market
Iran Conflict Further Constrains Global Energy Supply Tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated again this week, increasing concerns about the availability of global oil and natural gas supplies. The U.S. military destroyed five Iranian tankers after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attempted to strike a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles. Tehran responded by…
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Weekly Wisdom: Cybersecurity – A Structural Beneficiary of the AI Revolution
AI Adoption Is Driving a New Era of Cybersecurity Demand Cybersecurity continues to stand out as one of the most compelling areas within technology, particularly as the rapid adoption of AI creates both new opportunities and new vulnerabilities for businesses. As companies deploy AI agents, expand cloud infrastructure, and connect more systems and data, the…
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Weekly Wisdom: Cybersecurity – A Structural Beneficiary of the AI Revolution
AI Adoption Is Driving a New Era of Cybersecurity Demand Cybersecurity continues to stand out as one of the most compelling areas within technology, particularly as the rapid adoption of AI creates both new opportunities and new vulnerabilities for businesses. As companies deploy AI agents, expand cloud infrastructure, and connect more systems and data, the…
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Weekly Wisdom: Treasury Takes the Lead as Markets Navigate Global Risks
Treasury Increases Buybacks Just two weeks after announcing its buyback calendar at the quarterly August refunding, the US Treasury surprised markets by announcing it would at least double the size of its liquidity support buybacks for longer-dated Treasuries. Beginning September 9, Treasury will increase the maximum size from $2 billion per operation to at least…
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Weekly Wisdom: Resilient Consumer and Strong Retail Earnings
Retail Sales Headline Masks Continued Consumer Strength Recent headlines announced July retail sales falling -0.6% month over month, missing as estimates forecasted growth to be +0.1% for the month. However, this headline figure does not fully reflect the current condition of the consumer. The largest contributor to the drag in July came from non-store retailers,…
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Weekly Wisdom: The Drivers of the Next Commodity Cycle
Electrification, Deficits, and Geopolitics Defining the Commodity Move Commodity markets have seen significant moves this year, but beneath the volatility we believe a broader structural trend is emerging. Over the past month, gold has risen 9.64%, silver 12.45%, copper 5.01%, while copper remains the strongest performer year to date, up 13.98%. Gold and silver have…
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Weekly Wisdom: Consumer Strength and AI Continue to Drive Growth
The Consumer Continues to Surprise to the Upside One of the biggest developments over the past week has been the dramatic improvement in the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast. Just before second quarter GDP forecast was released, the model was tracking growth at roughly 1.5%. Following the GDP report, the estimate climbed as high as…
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Weekly Wisdom: Earnings Momentum Expands Beyond Mega Caps
Market Leadership Continues to Broaden One of the biggest takeaways from this earnings season has been the continued broadening of market leadership. While artificial intelligence and the largest technology companies remain important drivers, strength is no longer confined to just a handful of mega-cap names. The Equal Weight S&P 500 has pushed to fresh highs…
