Three Ideas

AI companies face a trust test, cost pressure is spreading, and the Fed’s blunt tool may not reach the real bottlenecks.

Small caps just got cheaper, energy still looks compelling, and defense stocks haven’t caught up to a wave of major contract wins.

Is a home décor boom hiding inside the housing market freeze? Plus data center NIMBYs creating an opening for new winners in the AI trade, and slimming corporate margins.

Are consumers becoming more tolerant of roaches, or simply less tolerant of rising costs (even for pest control)? Plus, hunting for the next leg of AI winners.

Low-volatility stocks look cheap, AI may be helping hiring, and banks are turning higher rates into a tailwind.

Lower income households are getting a raise, increasing capex estimates signal confidence, and small businesses are catching up in their use of AI.

Jim Lydotes flips the timer on a retail energy deal, thinner consumer cushions, and how index rebalancing shows why investors should look beneath the market surface.

Jim Lydotes flips the timer on our Grassroots Research on data centers, healthcare companies reinvesting AI dividends, and the breakdown in common value metrics.

Jim Lydotes breaks down three market signals: a shift in enterprise AI spending, energy reshoring after Iran tensions, and a potential catalyst for housing.

Jim Lydotes flips the timer on 1) packaging companies’ pricing power, 2) consolidation in utilities, 3) Voya’s Grassroots Research on college recruitment in the AI era.