Show notes
On Thursday, May 14, Brian Szytel recaps a broad market gain (Dow +370, S&P 500 +0.7%, Nasdaq +0.9%) with the 10-year Treasury closing near 4.48% and argues the 4.50% level is not a meaningful “line in the sand,” noting rate pressure tied to oil above $100 amid Iran-deal uncertainty. He summarizes Trump’s two-day meeting with China’s President Xi as generally positive, with Xi raising Taiwan and Trump not engaging. Markets continue a “wall of worry” melt-up driven by an AI capex/productivity boom, while Q1 tax refunds ($202B vs. $179B last year) and about $100B in refunded tariffs (about one-third already returned) add stimulus, though both reflect timing of taxes extracted and refunded. Strong earnings compressed valuations (S&P ~22x to ~21x), with Middle East tensions and energy prices creating Q2 uncertainty and a moderate bull-bear ratio (~2.Links mentioned in this episode:DividendCafe.comTheBahnsenGroup.com

