Weekly Wisdom
Explore market perspectives from Stephanie Link, paired with thoughtful wealth insights from Hightower Signature Wealth.
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Weekly Wisdom: 2026 Outlook and Investment Themes
Introduction As we start off the new year, we sense several structural themes that will continue to shape the market backdrop in 2026. In this special edition of Weekly Wisdom, we’ll walk through a mix of familiar and newer key developments and themes we find opportunistic and provide a clear framework of the longer-term shifts…
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Weekly Wisdom: Deregulation and Renewed Momentum for Banks
Deregulation Gains Momentum for Banks We have talked and written about the upcoming deregulation that is coming for the U.S. economy, and specifically the financial services industry. It’s one of the reasons we are overweight relative to our benchmarks – in addition to benefiting from a stronger economy, higher Net Interest Income (NII), M&A, and…
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Weekly Wisdom: Robotics Revolution Fueling Efficiency
Golden Age of Automation We’ve talked a lot about the food chain from AI. The growth of AI requires more data centers, a massive grid repair, and power, which we are undersupplied. One other area that will benefit from this theme is robotics. It will play an important role over the next decade, if not more, in…
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Weekly Wisdom: Holiday Spending Fueling a Strong Market Finish
Record Black Friday Weekend Shows Consumer Strength The Black Friday and Cyber Monday period delivered a new record: 202.9 million consumers shopped over the five-day weekend, surpassing last year’s 197 million and breaking the previous record set in 2023.1 This figure far exceeded the National Retail Federation’s initial expectation of 186.9 million shoppers and highlights…
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Weekly Wisdom: Consumer Support and AI Expansion Signals a Constructive Outlook
Targeted Tariff Exemptions Strengthen Consumer Purchasing Power The Trump Administration has introduced a broad set of tariff exemptions designed to strengthen the consumer by lowering costs on essential goods and expanding real purchasing power. The policy removes reciprocal tariffs on approximately $62 billion of food imports that are not produced domestically. The incremental tariff relief…
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Weekly Wisdom: IBM Quantum Day Roadmap and Scalability
IBM’s Strategic Positioning in the Quantum Market IBM’s most recent investor event at its research headquarters highlighted the company’s determination to remain a central player in the emerging quantum computing landscape. This investment day furthered the enthusiasm we expressed for quantum computing in an earlier Special Edition Market Note, reinforcing our conviction that it represents…
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Weekly Wisdom: Third Quarter Earnings Growth
Broad EPS Growth Across the Spectrum This earnings season delivered one of the strongest quarters in recent memory. The growth has been broad-based, with the S&P 500 seeing sales growth of over 8% and EPS growth above 11%.1 It was supported by accelerating cloud demand, operating leverage, and higher returns on years of AI and…
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Weekly Wisdom: Leadership in Focus – Turning Fundamentals into Performance
Reclaiming Strength Through Leadership and Execution Management teams matter. Across the corporate landscape, several legacy names long weighed down by misaligned leadership show that decisive management change remains a driver of value creation. The key is whether they’ve had success in the past and their proven strong execution. What we are witnessing now is a…
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Weekly Wisdom: Strong Banks and Contained Credit Risk
Credit Concerns Emerge from First Brands and Tricolor Recent volatility has impacted credit markets, driven by two high-profile bankruptcies, First Brands Group and Tricolor. First Brands, a major U.S. auto parts manufacturer with more than $11 billion in liabilities, filed for Chapter 11 at the end of September following years of leveraged acquisitions and non-transparent…
