Maria Vonotna/iStock via Getty Images Introduction: We introduced an all-funds portfolio to our marketplace members in August 2024. The idea was simple: start a set-it-and-forget-it type of portfolio that provides a sufficient level of income and market-matching growth in the long term. It has only been 20 months since its launch, which is too short a period to judge any financial strategy. But it...
Maria Vonotna/iStock via Getty Images Introduction: We introduced an all-funds portfolio to our marketplace members in August 2024. The idea was simple: start a set-it-and-forget-it type of portfolio that provides a sufficient level of income and market-matching growth in the long term. It has only been 20 months since its launch, which is too short a period to judge any financial strategy. But it is still a long enough period to judge if we are moving forward in the right direction and if we are meeting most of our goals. One of our primary objectives was to keep this portfolio simple enough to start and easy to maintain. This goal dictated that we limit our choices to funds only and exclude any individual stocks. The biggest advantage of owning funds is that they can provide wide diversification with a single click of a mouse. Obviously, we would have more than one fund to provide diversification based on many different asset classes. The second most important criterion was income. So, the portfolio should be able to provide a decent level of income for someone who needs income during their retirement. Most retirees do not want to stress about (on a frequent basis) what to sell and when to sell to raise income for living expenses. So, we wanted our portfolio to generate a decent amount of income without compromising on growth. Obviously, if you do not need income or need less than what the portfolio throws out, it can easily be reinvested. In summary, our original portfolio had the following goals: A handful of investments, but still diversified into many asset classes. To provide a roughly 5% income yield. To provide market-matched total returns. Also, the portfolio should be passive, meaning set-it-and-forget-it. The Fund Portfolio: With the above-listed goals in mind, we selected 7 funds, which are as follows: Table-1: Ticker Fund's name Allocation % Yield % Asset-class or type of fund ( ADX ) Adams Diversified Equity Fund 20% 8.51% Large-cap Blue-chip stocks (...
syahrir maulana/iStock via Getty Images Market Overview The S&P 500 Index increased by 2.66% (total return, in USD) in the fourth quarter of 2025, while the Russell 2000 Index rose by 2.21% (total return, in USD). The fourth quarter demonstrated broad resilience, as the major US indices achieved widespread gains despite softening labor market data, a record government shutdown, and increasing scru...
syahrir maulana/iStock via Getty Images Market Overview The S&P 500 Index increased by 2.66% (total return, in USD) in the fourth quarter of 2025, while the Russell 2000 Index rose by 2.21% (total return, in USD). The fourth quarter demonstrated broad resilience, as the major US indices achieved widespread gains despite softening labor market data, a record government shutdown, and increasing scrutiny of heightened artificial intelligence-related expenditures. While initial concerns regarding the sustainability of the artificial intelligence growth theme and elevated valuations led to some volatility and sector rotation, this shift broadened market leadership, further underpinned by robust corporate earnings that indicated fundamental strength. Concurrently, the Federal Open Market Committee continued its path of monetary easing, which further contributed to a broadly positive market outlook. The best-performing sectors within the S&P 500 were Health Care, Communication Services, and Financials, while the worst performing sectors were Real Estate, Utilities, and Consumer Staples. For the Russell 2000, the best-performing sectors were Health Care, Materials, and Communication Services, while the worst-performing sectors were Consumer Staples, Information Technology, and Consumer Discretionary. Portfolio Attribution The Goldman Sachs Small Cap Value Fund – Institutional Shares underperformed its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Value Index (net), during the quarter. Stock selection in Information Technology and Financials contributed the most to relative returns, while our underweight position in Health Care and stock selection in Energy detracted from relative returns. MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc. (0.6%) , a bank holding company, was the top contributor to relative returns during the quarter. The share price jumped on the news that Nicolet Bankshares was acquiring MidWestOne for a significant premium, with the deal projected to close in the first half of 2026. We beli...
A 20-year-old with $50,000 in debt on a $50,000 annual income called The Ramsey Show to ask for help getting out of the hole. The problem: he had made it significantly deeper roughly 12 hours earlier. "I just traded in a 2023 Tesla Model 3 just last night for a truck because the Wisconsin winters, ... Dave Ramsey Tells 20-Year-Old to Cancel His $30K Truck Deal: ‘You Can Have a Good Life’
A 20-year-old with $50,000 in debt on a $50,000 annual income called The Ramsey Show to ask for help getting out of the hole. The problem: he had made it significantly deeper roughly 12 hours earlier. "I just traded in a 2023 Tesla Model 3 just last night for a truck because the Wisconsin winters, ... Dave Ramsey Tells 20-Year-Old to Cancel His $30K Truck Deal: ‘You Can Have a Good Life’
Experts say paid participants are using automated tools to generate unreliable survey responses at scale If you had been keeping tabs on the news about church attendance in Britain lately, you would be forgiven for thinking the country was in the midst of a Christian revival . Stories of swelling congregations, filled with young people returning to the flock , spurred on by everything from social ...
Experts say paid participants are using automated tools to generate unreliable survey responses at scale If you had been keeping tabs on the news about church attendance in Britain lately, you would be forgiven for thinking the country was in the midst of a Christian revival . Stories of swelling congregations, filled with young people returning to the flock , spurred on by everything from social media to a rise in bible sales appeared to be confirmed by a 2024 report from the Bible Society. Continue reading...
Over a decade ago, when I was first starting to pretend I could write about quantum mechanics, I covered a truly bizarre experiment . One half of a pair of entangled photons was sent through a device it could navigate as either a particle or a wave. After it was clear of the device, the other half of the pair was measured in a way that forced the first to act as one or the other. Once that was don...
Over a decade ago, when I was first starting to pretend I could write about quantum mechanics, I covered a truly bizarre experiment . One half of a pair of entangled photons was sent through a device it could navigate as either a particle or a wave. After it was clear of the device, the other half of the pair was measured in a way that forced the first to act as one or the other. Once that was done, the first invariably behaved as if it were whatever the measurement made it into the whole time. It was as if the measurement had reached backward in time to alter the photon's behavior, raising questions about whether causality itself actually applied to quantum mechanics. Unbeknownst to me, physicists have been asking the same question and have designed experiments to probe it in detail. A few weeks back, they provided an experiment that seems to indicate it's possible to create quantum superpositions of two different series of events, essentially making the question of whether A or B happened first a matter of probability*. While the current experiment leaves a few loopholes, the researchers behind the work think they could ultimately be eliminated. Read full article Comments
AI-generated footage depicts group of men performing a corrido, singing phrases including ‘return to your roots’ An AI-generated video from the US embassy in Mexico encouraging migrants to “self-deport” has sparked disbelief and outrage online. The video posted this week on official embassy social media accounts depicts a group of men wearing black caps and sporting tattoos performing a kind of tr...
AI-generated footage depicts group of men performing a corrido, singing phrases including ‘return to your roots’ An AI-generated video from the US embassy in Mexico encouraging migrants to “self-deport” has sparked disbelief and outrage online. The video posted this week on official embassy social media accounts depicts a group of men wearing black caps and sporting tattoos performing a kind of traditional Mexican ballad known as a corrido . Continue reading...
When did care homes come to be seen as recession-proof investments? And who pays the price? On a spring morning in 1987, a 30-year-old man named Robert Kilgour pulled up beside a row of foamy cherry trees in the town of Kirkcaldy, on Scotland’s east coast, to visit an old hotel. The building was four storeys of blackened Victorian sandstone. Kilgour was a big man, a voluble Scot with a knack for s...
When did care homes come to be seen as recession-proof investments? And who pays the price? On a spring morning in 1987, a 30-year-old man named Robert Kilgour pulled up beside a row of foamy cherry trees in the town of Kirkcaldy, on Scotland’s east coast, to visit an old hotel. The building was four storeys of blackened Victorian sandstone. Kilgour was a big man, a voluble Scot with a knack for storytelling. He already owned a hotel in Edinburgh but wanted to branch into property development and was planning to turn this old place, Station Court, into apartments. A few months after he completed the purchase, however, the Scottish government scrapped a grant for developers that he had been counting on. He had just sunk most of his personal savings into a useless building in a sodden, post-industrial town. He urgently needed a new idea. Care homes weren’t so different from hotels, Kilgour thought. And the beauty was, their elderly residents were unlikely to get drunk, steal the soap dispensers or invite sex workers back to their rooms. Turning Station Court into a care home seemed like the best way out of a bad situation. Kilgour arranged a bank loan and in June 1989 he launched Four Seasons Health Care, taking the name from a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan where he had once dined. Continue reading...
Prime minister is scrambling to clean up her government after youth vote powered a damaging referendum defeat Filippo Michelini was having a drink at San Calisto, a popular bar in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood on Wednesday night. As he chatted to his friends, Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government was reeling from a failed referendum , and her beleaguered tourism minister, Daniela Santanchè, had ...
Prime minister is scrambling to clean up her government after youth vote powered a damaging referendum defeat Filippo Michelini was having a drink at San Calisto, a popular bar in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood on Wednesday night. As he chatted to his friends, Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government was reeling from a failed referendum , and her beleaguered tourism minister, Daniela Santanchè, had just resigned . Michelini, a 29-year-old computer scientist who lives in Brussels, was spending a few days in the Italian capital after returning home last weekend to cast his ballot in the plebiscite on judicial changes. Continue reading...
Travelers wait in line at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston, Texas, US, on Thursday, March 26, 2026. Mark Felix | Bloomberg | Getty Images TOKYO/NEW YORK — Genevieve Price considers herself a great flight hacker. The 35-year-old naturopathic doctor based in San Diego usually buys basic economy tickets when she visits ...
Travelers wait in line at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston, Texas, US, on Thursday, March 26, 2026. Mark Felix | Bloomberg | Getty Images TOKYO/NEW YORK — Genevieve Price considers herself a great flight hacker. The 35-year-old naturopathic doctor based in San Diego usually buys basic economy tickets when she visits her family in New Jersey and then uses her Alaska Airlines frequent flier status to pick a seat, something that's usually not allowed for those no-frills fares. "I like to travel a lot," Price told CNBC at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, where she was returning from Rome. But Price said she has her limits, and is planning to cap the spending she does on future flights, such as no more than $900 to Rome, where her partner is from. Consumers' willingness to fly is being put to the test this spring as soaring fuel prices are leading to higher airfares . Cathay Pacific, SAS, Finnair and others are among the carriers that have already raised fares. Travelers also have to contend with hourslong airport security lines in the U.S. because of the second government shutdown in half a year that's hitting the Transportation Security Administration, leaving many frustrated. Fuel and fares Fuel at major U.S. airports was going for $3.98 on Wednesday, up nearly 60% since before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. The conflict has meant crisis for the aviation industry, particularly in the Middle East, where airspace closures have forced carriers to cancel flights and take longer and costlier routes. Airlines will brief investors starting early next month on the longer-term impacts, but they immediately started raising airfare or increasing fuel surcharges on tickets to help cover the rising costs. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told reporters at a company event in Los Angeles this week that airfare could go up 20% this year. Customers appear willing to keep bo...
Welcome to the Wall Street Week newsletter, bringing you stories of capitalism about things you need to know, but even more things you need to think about. I’m David Westin , and this week we talk to former US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns about the effects of the war in Iran on US-China relations, and we look at how it’s affecting farmers who need the fertilizer stuck in the Strait of Hormuz...
Welcome to the Wall Street Week newsletter, bringing you stories of capitalism about things you need to know, but even more things you need to think about. I’m David Westin , and this week we talk to former US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns about the effects of the war in Iran on US-China relations, and we look at how it’s affecting farmers who need the fertilizer stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. If you’re not yet a subscriber, sign up here for this newsletter. Keeping an Eye on China President Donald Trump postponed his trip to China to meet with President Xi Jinping until mid-May because of the Iran war. Former US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, who’s now a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, calls that a “sensible” decision: “He couldn’t go off to Beijing and stand beside Xi Jinping and have three days of symmetry. He had to be at his desk running the war.” He notes that, thus far, China hasn’t “really lifted a finger to help politically and diplomatically,” but might have a role at some point “pushing the Iranians to an agreement.” Although the war in Iran is urgent, Burns says it may be more important in the long run for the US to remain focused on China’s goal “to out-compete the United States.” From this perspective, “another Middle East war was not in our interest.” Fertilizer Fallout The war in Iran had its most immediate effects on the markets for oil and gas, but there is a different pressing concern for US farmers just now planting their row crops: fertilizer. Our special contributor, Chrystia Freeland, served as minister of foreign affairs and deputy prime minister of Canada and was responsible for trade in things like fertilizer. She’s also a self-described “farmer’s daughter” who says one of her first thoughts on hearing of the war was “oh, no, what’s going to happen to the farmers?” Josh Linville is vice president for fertilizer at financial services firm StoneX, and he says the effects have been immediate and dramatic. More from Wall Street...
tadamichi/iStock via Getty Images Jefferies highlighted key takeaways, including AI adoption, from the RSA cybersecurity conference, where analysts met executives from over 20 companies, including CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ). "We met 20+ cyber vendors at RSA (covered incl. CHKP, CRWD, MSFT, S, SAIL, TENB and ZS). Overall, sentiment at RSA was positive; publics/privates/experts see ...
tadamichi/iStock via Getty Images Jefferies highlighted key takeaways, including AI adoption, from the RSA cybersecurity conference, where analysts met executives from over 20 companies, including CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ). "We met 20+ cyber vendors at RSA (covered incl. CHKP, CRWD, MSFT, S, SAIL, TENB and ZS). Overall, sentiment at RSA was positive; publics/privates/experts see AI being implemented this year, but security lags AI adoption & more a '27 story. We see Identity as first to benefit from AI as Enterprises shift to Agentic workflows from LLM [large language model] model usage. SASE [Secure Access Service Edge] is poised to benefit as AI traffic grows (lots of runway left; but competition ramping) & Endpoint sounds healthy," said analysts led by Joseph Gallo. Check Point Software Technologies ( CHKP ) The analysts said they attended a meeting with Chief Product Officer Nataly Kremer, Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Zanger, and Kip Meintzer, head of Investor Relations, and had five key takeaways. Firstly, the analysts said that Check Point's SASE offerings have closed some of the gap versus competitors (SaaS protection capabilities and unified firewall and SASE management pane), but some gaps remain, and SASE still needs to scale for very large enterprises (a goal for 2026). Secondly, they said that agents should drive more traffic in private data centers and through firewalls, more Application Programming Interface, or API, calls and more workloads in public clouds and on the endpoint. Thirdly, the analysts noted that cyber companies have the pricing power to charge per agent, and seat-based pricing is not at risk. Fourthly, they added that code scanning and vulnerability research are most at risk from LLMs. Lastly, the analysts noted that Check Point's management emphasized that CEO Nadav Zafrir has reinvigorated the culture with new hires, more mergers and acquisitions, or M&A, and a renewed focus on innovation. Microsoft ( MSFT ) The...
Guvendemir | E+ | Getty Images The Iran war is redefining modern combat for the U.S. and driving demand for lower-cost tech. It's the exact situation Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned against a few months ago. "We cannot afford to shoot down cheap drones with $2 million missiles," Hegseth said in December. "And we ourselves must be able to field large quantities of capable attack drones." Two ...
Guvendemir | E+ | Getty Images The Iran war is redefining modern combat for the U.S. and driving demand for lower-cost tech. It's the exact situation Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned against a few months ago. "We cannot afford to shoot down cheap drones with $2 million missiles," Hegseth said in December. "And we ourselves must be able to field large quantities of capable attack drones." Two days into the war, the U.S. used up a reported $5.6 billion in munitions. Meanwhile, Iran has wreaked havoc on military bases, tourist centers and data centers used by America's largest tech giants with swarms of low-cost Shahed drones that cost between $20,000 and $50,000, according to public estimates. This is the moment defense tech and Silicon Valley have been waiting for. For years, defense tech has fought to prove itself in Washington and grab a chunk of the ballooning Pentagon budget snatched up by defense primes like Lockheed Martin , RTX and Northrop Grumman . The war, coupled with President Donald Trump 's military reindustrialization efforts, could offer that long-awaited catalyst. "The world is more dangerous," said Mike Brown, partner at Shield Capital . "Technologies that were on the drawing board a decade ago have now proven themselves on the battlefield." watch now VIDEO 13:13 13:13 Andreessen Horowitz General Partner David Ulevitch: AI, drones and defense tech are reshaping modern warfare Aerospace & Defense Proving ground for drone tech The U.S. has deployed its own version of the Shahed in Iran called the Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System, or LUCAS. The drone, built by Arizona-based SpektreWorks , costs about $35,000 per unit according to industry estimates . The Department of Defense is also reportedly in the market to buy more. Tara Murphy Dougherty , CEO of defense software startup Govini , said LUCAS is one of the only major new systems emerging in the Iran war, but production is modest. Most U.S. air capabilities in Iran have been with tradition...
In this article DBMF .SPX US10Y AGG ISMF IMF FFUT Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch now VIDEO 14:36 14:36 ETF Edge on the mechanics of managed futures ETF Edge Managed future strategies are gaining renewed attention as investors look for new sources of returns from the market at a time when both stocks and bonds are under pressure as a result of the U.S.-Iran war and the risk o...
In this article DBMF .SPX US10Y AGG ISMF IMF FFUT Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch now VIDEO 14:36 14:36 ETF Edge on the mechanics of managed futures ETF Edge Managed future strategies are gaining renewed attention as investors look for new sources of returns from the market at a time when both stocks and bonds are under pressure as a result of the U.S.-Iran war and the risk of 1970s-style stagflation . These strategies, which are typically run by commodity trading advisors, use systematic models to trade future contracts across different asset classes. Rather than focus on short-term market moves in traditional asset classes, they aim to capture broader trends that unfold over months. The ability to adapt to changing market conditions, and their performance back in 2022, has made managed futures funds increasingly relevant in 2026. In 2022, when the S&P 500 Index fell around 18% and the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index was down about 13%, managed future strategies were up 20%. " That's meaningful outperformance in an environment when stocks and bonds are under pressure," Nate Geraci, NovaDius president, said on CNBC's "ETF Edge" earlier this week. Andrew Beer, managing member at DBi, which manages the largest managed futures ETF, the iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF ( DBMF ), said on "ETF Edge" that the uncertainty around inflation and interest rates, and the volatile geopolitical backdrop, are a good match for the managed futures approach, which can take long or short positions and have the flexibility to respond to different trends across the markets. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Performance of the iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF over the past five years. Managed futures ETFs remain a relatively small category, collectively holding around $6.5 billion in assets, according to ETFAction.com. Within that space, the iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF has attracted about $1 billion in flows this year. The use of the managed f...
On Tuesday morning, everything was business as usual at OpenAI. By the end of the day, the company had announced that it would scrap its video-generation app, Sora, and reverse plans for video generation inside ChatGPT; it would wind down a $1 billion Disney deal; it would shuffle the role of a high-level executive; and it would raise an additional $10 billion from investors, adding up to more tha...
On Tuesday morning, everything was business as usual at OpenAI. By the end of the day, the company had announced that it would scrap its video-generation app, Sora, and reverse plans for video generation inside ChatGPT; it would wind down a $1 billion Disney deal; it would shuffle the role of a high-level executive; and it would raise an additional $10 billion from investors, adding up to more than $120 billion total for its latest funding round. OpenAI is now in a frenzy to turn a profit, or at least lose less money. Since its launch, Sora seems to have taken up a massive amount of compute without the financial return to justify it. Indus … Read the full story at The Verge.
Bank of America revealed several top tech companies that are best positioned heading into April. The investment bank said that investors should buy the weakness in companies such as Microsoft. Other stocks rated buy at Bank of America and screened by CNBC Pro include: Meta Platforms , Apple, PicPay Holdings and Payoneer Global. PicPay PicPay was recently initiated with a buy rating by analyst Mari...
Bank of America revealed several top tech companies that are best positioned heading into April. The investment bank said that investors should buy the weakness in companies such as Microsoft. Other stocks rated buy at Bank of America and screened by CNBC Pro include: Meta Platforms , Apple, PicPay Holdings and Payoneer Global. PicPay PicPay was recently initiated with a buy rating by analyst Mario Pierry. Bank of America says the Brazilian fintech company, which trades on the Nasdaq in the U.S. after a January IPO at $19 a share, is a "compelling growth story" that boasts roughly 43 million active users on its platform, the investment bank wrote. PicPay has a unique ability to service businesses of varying sizes, according to Pierry. "Revenue expansion should also be supported by new verticals, such as services to small- and medium size enterprises," he wrote. PicPay also has a wide array of credit offerings, which should help boost profits from current customers. "We rate PicPay as Buy given strong earnings momentum (supported by monetization of existing clients and operational leverage gains), while valuation multiples are discounted vs LatAm and global peers," he said. The stock is down about 39% in March but investors should buy the dip, Bank of America said. Microsoft Analyst Tal Liani reinstated coverage of the Windows and Xbox parent earlier this week, saying Microsoft is firing on all cylinders. The bank sees Microsoft as a key beneficiary of artificial intelligence in both applications and infrastructure. Liani added that demand remains robust for Microsoft's Azure cloud infrastructure platform. "We believe that Microsoft is well positioned to generate sustained mid double digit growth in the coming 3 years, led by continued adoption of [the] Azure cloud infrastructure platform, cloud based Office 365 productivity suite and a growing number of AI solutions and services," he said. Liani has a price target of $500 per share and says Microsoft shares have ple...
Kathrin Ziegler/DigitalVision via Getty Images Co-authored by Kody's Dividends As analysts, covering Dividend Champions is something we especially enjoy doing. These are publicly traded companies with at least 25 consecutive years of payout raises. Why is this the case? While the broader market fixates on the volatility of quarterly earnings beats or speculative growth, we appreciate the disciplin...
Kathrin Ziegler/DigitalVision via Getty Images Co-authored by Kody's Dividends As analysts, covering Dividend Champions is something we especially enjoy doing. These are publicly traded companies with at least 25 consecutive years of payout raises. Why is this the case? While the broader market fixates on the volatility of quarterly earnings beats or speculative growth, we appreciate the discipline that it requires to maintain a multi-decade streak of rising dividends. A 25-plus-year reputation of dividend growth implies that a company has navigated at least two full economic cycles, a variety of geopolitical events, and so forth. This brings us to our focus for today, which is Artesian Resources ( ARTNA ). When Kody last covered it with a Buy rating in December , he was encouraged by its double-beat in Q3. The company's continued allocation to infrastructure upgrades and new buildouts was another positive. What's more, ARTNA's interest coverage ratio was vigorous. Sealing the deal, shares were moderately undervalued at the time. In our January listicle , we liked ARTNA for the same reasons. Fast forward to today, and we're reaffirming our Buy rating. The water utility invested a record amount in 2025 in water and wastewater infrastructure. We think that ARTNA will receive the bulk of what it requested in its ongoing rate case with Delaware's Public Service Commission, or PSC (DEPSC), too. The company's interest coverage ratio remains admirable for its industry. Finally, shares are a better value now than they have been in recent months. The Ongoing Rate Case And Infrastructure Investments Are Growth Tailwinds Artesian Resources Q4 2025 Earnings Press Release On March 12th, ARTNA released its earnings report for the fourth quarter ended December 31st, 2025. The utility's total operating revenue increased by 4.3% over the year-ago period to $28.02 million in the quarter. What elements contributed to this mid-single-digit percentage topline growth during the fourth qu...
mustafaU/iStock via Getty Images It has been an eventful start to 2026 as the first quarter draws to a close on Tuesday, to understate things. A new war has broken out in the Middle East. Oil, natural gas, diesel and other commodity prices have spiked thanks to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz for a month now. New problems in the private credit space have emerged and huge private cred...
mustafaU/iStock via Getty Images It has been an eventful start to 2026 as the first quarter draws to a close on Tuesday, to understate things. A new war has broken out in the Middle East. Oil, natural gas, diesel and other commodity prices have spiked thanks to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz for a month now. New problems in the private credit space have emerged and huge private credit funds have ' gated ' redemptions. The case for Stagflation continues to grow and cryptocurrencies and precious metals entered ' official ' bear market territory in Q1. So, what is ahead for investors, the markets and the U.S. economy in Q2? Three market predictions for the coming quarter follow below: 1) The Iranian Conflict Ends It is impossible to predict how the nascent regional war in the Middle East will conclude, but this conflict seems destined to be resolved in Q2, one way or another. I state this for several reasons. First, regime change driven solely by airpower is all but impossible. And the ' boots on the ground ' needed to make this happen via a ground invasion simply will not be greenlit by Congress or supported by the American public. Iran is many times bigger than Iraq both in territory and population it should be acknowledged. EIA Iranian military and other assets have been severely degraded . To what extent is impossible to know given the fog of war, and the lack of confirmable assessments being provided. We do know that U.S. air defense munitions have been significantly depleted . In addition, the huge spikes in gasoline and diesel prices are hitting on the homefront and pushing up inflation in front of mid-term elections where ' affordability ' will be a key election theme. Statista The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz is pushing fertilizer and other commodity prices up significantly, which will result in higher food inflation in the months and quarters ahead with a lag. Europe and Asia are in worse positions given their energy dependence on ...