Introducing Callie Cox!

Let me start with the most exciting development of the week - Ritholtz Wealth Management now has a chief market strategist and we found the absolute best person for the role, the one and only Callie Cox!

Callie hails from Charlotte, North Carolina and if you’re a fan of The Compound, you already know how great she is at educating and explaining the markets to American investors. When I see her in action, it feels as though this is what she’s been born to do. Her enthusiasm and sense of humor make her a perfect fit for our team. She was one of us before she was one of us, and now it’s official.

You can read about her position at the links below…

Press Release

Investment News

Citywire

Wealth Management

And here she is on CNBC with Carl Quintanilla and Sara Eisen breaking the news live on air:

Callie will be interacting with our advisors and clients on a daily basis, communicating the insights from our research and Investment Committee discussions to thousands of households. She’ll also be representing us in the media and at industry events throughout the course of the year.

We are so excited to be adding her voice to the mix. Callie is fired up too. It’s going to be an amazing time for the firm.

Talk to us here about your financial plan and portfolio if you’d like to learn more about what we do.

Wall Street Targets

On the newest episode of What Are Your Thoughts, we take a look at the new high target on The Street - S&P 6,000! - from the strategist who previously had the lowest target. Now, it’s JPMorgan with the low target with their chief strategist pointing to 4200, which would mean a full-blown bear market of 20% by year-end.

The good news is, no one really knows what’s going to happen and year-end S&P 500 targets are mostly used as a framework for conversations between banks and institutional investors, not as statements of absolute fact. Oh, they’re also great fodder for conversation in the financial media. Creating a target and laying out the reasoning is just a part of the job, that the whole reason strategists wake up in the morning. It’s not their primary work product. No one actually makes investment decisions as though these numbers are the gospel. Taking them in the aggregate is a good gauge on sentiment, and that’s pretty much it.

The video is below, followed by a link to the podcast version:

Also, on the podcast is my new conversation with CNBC’s media reporter Alex Sherman. Alex explains everything going on at Warner Bros, Paramount, Disney, Amazon and Netflix as the media company storylines get even wilder than they’ve been all year. Some of these stocks are at all time lows while others are pushing new highs - the winners and losers of the modern media landscape are sorting themselves out at an accelerated pace.

Listen here on the podcast app of your choice.

Cash

Speaking of chief strategists, we had Alicia Levine of BNY Mellon who oversees the bank’s $300 billion in wealth management assets on The Compound and Friends this weekend. If you haven’t heard it yet, Alicia absolutely rocked the show. It was her first time with us and we already can’t wait to have her back on.

One of the crucial points she makes is that it’s time to take a little more duration on the fixed income side of the portfolio. As we approach the end of high overnight rates, smart advisors are already pivoting to extend maturities and lock in high enough rates for their clients. It may be early but getting this right doesn’t mean nailing the exact moment - it means getting ahead now so there are minimal regrets once the cutting cycle is underway.

Her message - “Get out of cash” - is something you will be hearing everywhere in the second half of this year.

If you’re a listener rather than a watcher, you can listen to the show here.

That’s all from me today, have an awesome week, talk soon! - JB