Jessica Marino

As hopeful humans, it’s hard not to believe in the idea that the best is yet to come—that what lies ahead carries opportunity, abundance, and upside. So, for this Monday, we’re leaning into that optimism as the opening theme for the week. While today’s price action felt more like a setup than a statement, let’s adopt the mindset that the best truly is still ahead. Markets initially struggled to find meaningful direction through the early hours, but following the European close we saw a steady d…

“Hey Siri, play John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’”

“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” While we were not caught in a landslide today, it does feel that—no matter how much we might like—there is “no escape from reality”. Headline risk continues to rise as the war in the Middle East oscillates between nearly over and nowhere near, depending on who you listen to and when. “Any way the wind blows” struck a familiar tune, with U.S. equities struggling to find true directional conviction—rallying off morning lows on renewed hopes of de‑esc…

The S&P spent today doing its best impression of a flatline, dipping a negligible 8bps, while the Nasdaq lifted in an equal and opposite 8bps direction. Very meh. Meanwhile, the Dow decided to take the stairs down with a 61bp drop. If you were hoping for a summer rate cut, The Fed just sent your plans to voicemail as markets now don’t see a “pivot” until late October, pricing in a solitary cut for the entire year as yields marched 5–7bps higher. Geopolitics remain the ultimate “black swan” afte…

It felt like markets could have taken a page from the school‑closing playbook and opted for a two‑hour delay today… A cold snap hit US equities early as Microsoft‑led megacap tech earnings pushed indices to mid‑morning lows before conditions thawed and stocks drifted impressively higher throughout the day and into the close. Still, with the ROI‑on‑AI‑capex debate heating up, sentiment froze over just enough to stall the NDX’s latest attempt at a 52‑week breakout, leaving it lagging the broade…