JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, asked about fierce competition across the financial industry, said he’s starting to see parallels to the era before the 2008 financial crisis, when a rush to make loans ended disastrously. Stocks staged a cautious rebound after fears about the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence sparked an indiscriminate selloff across broad swathe...
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, asked about fierce competition across the financial industry, said he’s starting to see parallels to the era before the 2008 financial crisis, when a rush to make loans ended disastrously. Stocks staged a cautious rebound after fears about the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence sparked an indiscriminate selloff across broad swathes of the market. The so-called AI scare trade has become a dominant theme for stocks, with selling spreading beyond software to hit insurance brokers, private credit, cybersecurity and even real estate services. (Source: Bloomberg)
Thanadon Naksanee/iStock via Getty Images By Daniel Loewy, CFA | Karen Watkin, CFA | Fahd Malik A multifaceted mix has the potential to bolster income portfolios against market downturns. The playing field presents broad opportunities for income investors today, with income and growth potential across asset classes . But an effective defense is also critical in capturing that potential. When it co...
Thanadon Naksanee/iStock via Getty Images By Daniel Loewy, CFA | Karen Watkin, CFA | Fahd Malik A multifaceted mix has the potential to bolster income portfolios against market downturns. The playing field presents broad opportunities for income investors today, with income and growth potential across asset classes . But an effective defense is also critical in capturing that potential. When it comes to the tools of the trade, we think broader is better. Diversifying Beyond Classic High-Quality Bonds For decades, Treasury securities and high-quality bonds have been a staple of portfolio diversification. With a negative correlation to equity markets, bonds generally rose when stocks fell and fell when stocks rose. This behavior enabled bonds to act as an important counterbalance that helped steady portfolio returns. In recent years, that correlation rose substantially ( Display ), making Treasuries a less-effective diversifier. And in periods when inflation is higher than normal or uncertain, stocks and bonds might decline at the same time, as 2022 illustrated. Bonds are still important diversifiers, though, and their correlation to equity has been normalizing lately. Owning longer-term bonds, with their sensitivity to interest rate changes (or duration), may dampen losses if economic growth stumbles or fears of falling inflation emerge. Even in routine market dips, some duration may help. Correlations Are Elevated, Though Normalizing Rolling 36-Month Treasury-Equity Correlation (January 1999 to January 2026) Current analysis and past performance do not guarantee future results. Treasuries are represented by the Bloomberg Global Treasury Index and equities by the MSCI World Index. As of January 31, 2026 (Source: Bloomberg, MSCI and AllianceBernstein (AB)) But as we see it, a comprehensive multi-asset strategy demands thinking more broadly about the available tools for diversification across asset classes and strategies—and even incorporating defensive segments within...
Would you be shocked to learn that Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock has underperformed the broad market indices over the past five years? That's right: Even though the mega-technology company keeps posting impressive growth figures, it is only up 23% cumulatively from five years ago. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) has produced a total return of 88% over that same time frame. Amazon's stock has underperf...
Would you be shocked to learn that Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock has underperformed the broad market indices over the past five years? That's right: Even though the mega-technology company keeps posting impressive growth figures, it is only up 23% cumulatively from five years ago. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) has produced a total return of 88% over that same time frame. Amazon's stock has underperformed the index due to investor concerns about losing the race in artificial intelligence ( AI ), large capital expenditure plans , and the lack of profitability in its e-commerce and retail segments. However, if you look at Amazon's consolidated financials, it is as popular as ever. Does that make the stock a once-in-a-decade buying opportunity right now? Continue reading
Dzianis/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis In Q4 CY25 ER that PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL ) published earlier this month, the payments company missed expectations and too many levels that were painful to watch, leading to an immediate change in the company's leadership. It is not just the double miss on the top and bottom lines that looks concerning. The sudden drop in PayPal's TPV (transaction pa...
Dzianis/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis In Q4 CY25 ER that PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL ) published earlier this month, the payments company missed expectations and too many levels that were painful to watch, leading to an immediate change in the company's leadership. It is not just the double miss on the top and bottom lines that looks concerning. The sudden drop in PayPal's TPV (transaction payment volume) was alarming, as I show below. Plus, PayPal's outlook implies further deterioration on both top-line and margins, which resulted in its market cap cratering. With the new CEO that is brought in, PayPal's board is quite clear on the deep transformation the company needs, even if it means divesting parts of the company or selling the company in its entirety. Reports indicate that suitors are already eyeing parts or all of PayPal's business, and until some clarity emerges, PayPal's shares could be highly volatile. To me, this volatile period in PayPal's shares now represents an investor's dilemma but a trader's delight, leading me to keep a neutral view on PayPal. PayPal's Volatile Path Ahead My past coverage on PayPal has been generally bullish on the strategic direction management was taking in arresting the decline in its payments business and pivoting towards growth markets like Venmo Checkout, Branded Checkout, and agentic commerce. But the execution of those strategic pivots has severely been lacking, causing dismal performance in its shares. This is why PayPal's board announced an immediate CEO transition, effective March 1, 2026, alongside the full-year CY25 financial results published earlier this month. In fact, the board acknowledged the lack of execution in their announcement of new CEO Enrique Lores: While some progress has been made in a number of areas over the last two years, the pace of change and execution was not in line with the Board's expectations. The "progress" that Paypal's board acknowledges under the company's previous CEO was made in C...
80% Of The World's Population Will Use Social Media By 2028 Launched in 2004 as an experiment at Harvard, Facebook is often regarded as the defining social media platform of its era, the one that brought such platforms into the mainstream. Facebook reached one million users just ten months after its launch; it took Mark Zuckerberg's social network around eight years to reach one billion users. Tha...
80% Of The World's Population Will Use Social Media By 2028 Launched in 2004 as an experiment at Harvard, Facebook is often regarded as the defining social media platform of its era, the one that brought such platforms into the mainstream. Facebook reached one million users just ten months after its launch; it took Mark Zuckerberg's social network around eight years to reach one billion users. That milestone was reached in October 2012; by that point, many other social media platforms had become household names, including Twitter (launched in 2006) and Instagram (launched in 2010). Just over 20 years after Facebook first took the internet by storm, social media use is almost universal. As Valentine Fourreau shows in the infographic below, based on Statista Market Insights data, over 5 billion people worldwide were estimated to use social media in the world in 2024, a global penetration rate of almost 71 percent. According to Statista estimates , the global penetration rate of social media should reach 82.6 percent by 2029. You will find more infographics at Statista In recent years, growing concerns about mental health, online safety and digital addiction have led governments worldwide to take action to limit children's access to social media. In November 2024, Australia passed the Online Safety Amendment, banning social media for users under 16, and platforms face significant fines if they don't comply. Several European countries are working on comparable bans, while similar legislation will take effect in Brazil in March 2026. According to a recent WHO survey, one in ten adolescents worldwide is considered to be a problematic social media user . Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 05:45