00:00Is it premature or do markets finally see the end of the tunnel here?
00:06I think today's price action certainly looks like a relief rally from my perspective.
00:13You entered into the conflict with risk premio already priced at extremely high levels.
00:20And then when you took oil up over 120, that certainly escalated fears that investors had
00:26that the higher oil prices would be a tax on growth and really derail some of the cyclical
00:32quickening, which has been behind some of the good news in the markets this year.
00:36I do think today's price action does, in fact, reflect investors growing in confidence that
00:42there is an end in sight to high energy prices and perhaps geopolitical tensions can take
00:47a backseat to stock fundamentals.
00:52OK, if we move away from the headline risks, then, Todd, there's still that lingering concern
00:58that, you know, three weeks of conflict has already led to some economic scarring, right?
01:04These fears of stagflation.
01:06Is it still worth kind of positioning around that sort of scenario now or can we start to
01:11fade some of these concerns?
01:13Well, concerns were the order of the day, no doubt.
01:16But I think wise investors can look through that and point to, one, a strong and quickening
01:23pace of global economic activity.
01:25The U.S. is slated to grow at about 2.5 percent.
01:29And meanwhile, worldwide, you're seeing about 7 percent revenue growth with about 14 percent
01:34earnings growth in 2026.
01:37Despite all the drama in the headlines, you're actually seeing a strong underlying economy.
01:42And even without two additional Fed cuts, yes, I think it's enough reason for investors to
01:47go risk on overweight equities, overweight credit modestly.
01:52Remain optimistic that, yes, you can achieve a positive level of return in 26, even despite
01:58an elevated level of geopolitical noise.
02:00The U.S. is the U.S. is the U.S. is the U.S. is the U.S. is
02:00the U.S. is the U.S.
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