As the midnight deadline approached for Congress to pass a continuing resolution that would temporarily fund the federal government, the prospect of a shutdown dominated market sentiment.
No matter how enthusiastic one might be about the prospects for artificial intelligence, it is fair for investors to ask inconvenient questions. Wouldn’t it make sense to maximize your impact now if you thought we were in the midst of a bubble that could explode later?
In the 20th century, power revolved around oil, steel and finance. In the 21st, it revolves around compute, certain design tools and semiconductors. For investors, this is both an opportunity and a warning. The rewards of scale, scarcity and sovereignty could be immense. But the risks are equally real.
Investors are turning to the euro and yen as safe havens amid rising global uncertainty and currency market volatility. Slowing US labor markets, tariffs, and an impending Fed easing cycle weigh on the dollar, adding to a bearish outlook.
Dispersion remained the theme, with the Dispersion Index still elevated. While it could rise further, it’s something to watch—high dispersion typically coincides with low correlations.
This insight outlines several industry and sectoral implications from market developments during the first half of 2025 that argue for greater diversification for multi-asset investors and is supported by lower asset correlations recently.
It is important to understand the fundamentals of any asset to improve the probability of a positive outcome when investing your hard-earned capital. Capital markets have their own version of grading scales when it comes to evaluating assets.
While widely anticipated, the real news about the cut was in the finer points made by Fed Chair in the post-meeting press conference. He said the move was essentially a “risk management” cut which confused investors a bit.
The enthusiasm for all things related to artificial intelligence is akin to that of the dawn of the internet, though many of the circumstances are quite different.
With Fed policy remaining highly data-dependent at this stage of the game, getting policy to neutral is a good starting point. If the upcoming employment data doesn’t improve, or gets worse, in the months ahead, then the voting members will more than likely front-load their rate cuts and get them in before year-end…then on to 2026.
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Financials may shine post Fed rate cut, with strong fundamentals and earnings growth creating new investment opportunities in the sector.