When two opposing forces have equal power, a stalemate occurs. That sums up risk markets today. Investors find themselves torn between two conflicting motivations: continue playing the AI-driven bull market strength or sound the retreat amid rising rates and slowing economic growth. This dynamic has created a stalemate in investors' risk appetite, leading to a trading range market. Earnings are rising at the fastest pace since the post-COVID recovery period. The price-earning

The fog of war has finally descended on Wall Street. After a narrowly based snap-back, markets are poised to contract once again as the second sober thoughts of higher-for-longer oil prices dampen economic hopes and, by extension, risk appetite. The stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz is less a Black Swan event than a 'known unknown'. And investors have seen oil price spikes driven by geopolitical factors before. With Trump as its progenitor this time, I see it more like an O

Imagine going on a 9-week vacation to South America with the intent of avoiding anything to do with the U.S. While you were away, Trump started a pointless war, causing oil prices to double, interest rates to spike 50 basis points and investor confidence to collapse. But you see that the stock market is virtually unchanged from the day you left! Investors were put through the wringer. I'm just glad I was in an abandoned 600-year-old city and off the grid when all that was goi