Quarterly Outlook
Q4 Outlook for Investors: Diversify like it’s 2025 – don’t fall for déjà vu
Jacob Falkencrone
Global Head of Investment Strategy
Summary: Today, we look at markets taking the US-China trade stand-off quite seriously, while retail meme-stock madness continues apace as seen in many names pumping to new highs yesterday. We also look at the wild action in gold and especially silver, discuss the latest drop in crude oil prices, note that earnings season begins in earnest today with many of the big US banks reporting, talk macro and FX, geopolitics and more. Today's pod features Saxo Head of Commodity Strategy Ole Hansen and Saxo Global Head of Macro Strategy John J. Hardy.
Listen to the full episode now or follow the Saxo Market Call on your favorite podcast app.
Some speculate that a very well-timed whale hit the crypto market with such precision timing that insider knowledge rumors are running rampant. As noted on today’s pod, I have zero special knowledge here, but have heard from multiple sources that something is going on at the top of China’s political structure. Would treat these rumors as highly suspect, but would make sense that if there is room for debate anymore at the top in China, the deepening adversarial relationship with the US must be pressurizing the situation. One specifica interesting development has been Hu Chunhua’s appearances of late. Again, no idea if there is even smoke, much less fire there. Really looking forward to reading the latest treatment of the great stock market bubble and crash of 1929, from Andrew Ross Sorkin - here interviewed on the Odd Lots podcast. Just in time for the top? Why an ETF like MEME even exists or is allowed to exist is beyond me - and yet it does. The presence of retail in this market is enormous, and it is certainly worth keeping an eye on the speculative names driven by the frenzy of speculation and option buying in everything from the Rigettis (RGTI) and Oklos (OKLO) to QuantumScapes (QS) and USA Rare Earths (USAR). On Friday, I trotted out the Dow Theory angle on things, which some might view as outdated. Financials are also important to track, both because they are often a leading sector and because it is a “boring” sector clean of the retail speculative froth - note how close this very large sector is to the 200-day (40-week here) moving average. The chart is of the XLF ETF, which holds all of the big banks as well as Berkshire Hathaway (it’s largest holding at 12%, credit card companies, etc.).Chart of the Day - looking away from the retail frenzy…at boring old financial stocks as earnings season kicks off.