The Weekly Trend

Episode 287: New Leader on the Podium?

Kevin Firari Season 7 Episode 7

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0:00 | 37:15

In this week's episode David and Ian discuss the S&P remaining range-bound, differentiation between S&P 500 performance and the average performance of it's constituents. They also discuss market breadth, sentiment, the continued drawdown in software, how homebuilders are starting to look interesting along with transportation stocks even with the rough week for trucking stocks. They also discuss seasonality moving into the second half of February, interest rates and what a move lower in rates might mean for the broader market. 

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Welcome back to the Weekly Trend Podcast. Today is Friday, February 13th, 2026 S&P 500, currently sitting at 68 66. I'm David Zarling. I'm here with Ian McMillan. Are you a Friday the 13th type of guy? Does that make you nervous?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

No,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

No.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

superstitious, but not with, not with that stuff.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

You are not the one that freaks out when you get in the elevator and there's a button for 13.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

No,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Some people don't schedule their surgeries on 13th. It's weird. I can always call in and get an appointment.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

that's pretty. that when you do all your appointments just on Friday the 13th,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. Get it done.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

be busy. Why are you at work then?

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Well, I got, we gotta record, we gotta record for the people,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Okay. Okay. That's fair. That's

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

the,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

you.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

the people wanna hear about markets and there's plenty to talk about.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Ugh. Yeah, guess there is,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Where do you wanna start?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I don't know. Same spot we were at probably last Friday the sixth at the exact same spot the last time we recorded literally. A week ago, at least on futures

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yep.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

83. So yeah, up and down some things up and down more than others.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, I think it's interesting that we're right, you know, s and p's flat on the year, only 2% away from the all time highs, and we've been in a tight range using the s and p 500 to be clear. Tight range of like two and a half percent over the past two months, so pretty, pretty tight consolidation. But I think it's pretty fair that if you are involved in markets, not all things are the same.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I read this morning that materials

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

There

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

is up like 15% on the year.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

you haven't.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Isn't that amazing? And, and that's, well, it's yeah. I mean, there is the gold and silver thing that didn't, that doesn't sway XLB too much.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Well, and I,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

a tailwind, but

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

it is interesting that with. The s and p 500, which a lot of people like to use as a metric of what the market is doing and it's fair. But then when you look at the market of stocks, the average movement of stocks underneath the surface has been 10%. So you have a two and a half percent, 2% range over the past month. Underneath the surface stocks, the average stock has moved 10% up or down.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Wow.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

That's in a 99th percentile. Markets are normally abnormal and I think it's

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah. I mean, it's amazing what the s and p has held up.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

well and breath. Breath is held up, right? We talked about that last week with

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah, NYA

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

decline. Yeah. New York.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

from like a a chart health price action perspective,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, the NYA looks good, but breath holding up. But I think it's fair to say pretty big bifurcation, like a split market. For example, 20% of s and P five stocks are 52 52 week highs, which is the first time in six months,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

25%.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

20. 20%. And what's interesting about that first time in six months, a hundred percent of the time when this happens, the market's higher a year later, but there's typically a 12% drawdown in between.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

So

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

then on the

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

the lookout for a correction at some point.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

right, and then on the flip side, more than 6% of SAP stocks are 52 week low. So 20% of stocks making. New 52 week highs, 6% making 52.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

a lot.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

I, it's, it's the largest disparity

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Okay.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

between the two. And that's from market stats. I mean, that's definitely a split split market. And then I think it goes back to sector makeup too. You know, consumer staples, we've talked about that. Doing well.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Staples look good.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Tech has,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

of look. Okay.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

right? And But tech is not.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Tech looks bad. real estate looks bad. That's real estate. You know what really disappoints me, to be honest. Financials, I

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. And that's the first.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

day now.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Correct. Correct. And I, I was gonna highlight before that we were in a situation before today where all sectors were above a 200 day moving average, but financials now below

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah. Like, come on dude. I mean, if you're a big bank you're fine.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

true.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

But other than that, really disappointing. I mean the relative chart's been bad for basically peaked 10 months ago

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Which relative chart are we talking about?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

XLF,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Oh yeah.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

so maybe not surprising, but yeah, de definitely disappointing on absolute basis.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

And so that's the first one below a 200 day. I'm not saying the other ones have to follow, but I think it's notable that the leaders, you brought up materials, staples, energy, industrials,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Industrials energy. Very nice. Very nice charts.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

And that doesn't have to be a negative. And it, it just shows that there, there's been quite a, a split market, 19% of consumer staple stocks, new all-time highs, while 18% of tech stocks are at new, new lows. So it's, it's really been, and I've been, I've been thinking about this. You know, we're, we're, we're frequent on socials, specifically x. The sentiment on there is so negative, yet the market is 2% away from all time highs. Do you think that besides the finance bros that are on x. It's disproportionately, and I know you curate your own list, right? That's what we're supposed to do, but that it's disproportionately tilted towards people invested in tech, and so that's why the sentiment is so negative.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah, I mean, I think it's a lot of the, I mean, those have been the hot stocks, right? Like more specifically software, I guess those have been your hot stocks for the last four or five years, right? Those are the cool brands that

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Right.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Your Robin Hoods your coin bases. I don't, I mean, to me those are software. I don't know if they, or. Technically like in an IGV or where those fall I mean even Palantir, that's now Palantir does not look as bad as some of these others.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

But you're high. I think you bring up a good thing with Palantir there.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I mean, what about Spotify? Big brand, right? Huge brand. Very popular stock. 2000. 2001. I mean, really for I mean, oh three to last summer, or sorry, 2023 to last summer, this thing was up. I don't know what this is, a thousand percent basically. And then crypto of course. Do you think there's a large overlap between people who are really involved in crypto and then what if you told me those people also into equities assume it was some of the more aggressive type things? Like, I mean, if you are buying fart coin, are you buying. Probably not. Right. That's probably not the like the temperament of those people.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

No, you're probably buying hood. You're probably buying.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

You're buying, like, you're buying the cool stuff that you and your friends use or you use at work or, you know, and typically that is software.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, so I think there's a fair amount of just, I think you bring up a good point, the overlap between crypto and and tech stocks from a end user. Standpoint, and those are the ones that have gotten rocked. You know, Bitcoin's been in a 50% correction, little bounce this week. Software, some of the high flying names. Um, I'm not saying Palantir software, but Palantir app, love and Hood, you brought up Spotify

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah. App loving is rough.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

and you know, Rob Anderson on, on X just brought up that. There's been nowhere to hide in software stocks. So as, as of February 9th, a hundred percent of software stocks were in a drawdown of at least 20% from their 52 week highs. Almost 80% saw a drawdown greater than 30%. So that's.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

some of these names PagerDuty, unity Software you mentioned, well, there's Appian team. Do you remember? Team and Zscaler?

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I mean, just these were such popular names. Obviously strategy, strategy is, it's known for crypto, but it is holding an IGV yeah, just

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

FreshWorks HubSpot,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

HubSpot, Workday, DocuSign. Mm. Elastic DA Datadog.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

I mean Salesforce, 7% waiting in IGV down 27% year to date.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Box AppFolio. I mean, Oracle's down 27% in the last three months.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Microsoft

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

down 16% year to date. Now I, I would, you know, that's, that correction's been going on since October of last year. That's, it's down 20, 28%, but really there's been nowhere to hide in software and crypto. Meanwhile, energy industrials, materials doing well. What do you think about home builders?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

It's a huge question. I mean, they're intriguing. If they've done this before, relative chart is definitely intriguing. Could be breaking a rate of trend. Man, I mean these things actually were really strong up until like later 2024. I don't know. I don't know why. In my mind, I think they've been terrible for years.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Right. Well, and they were the, they had a divergent bottom coming out of the

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Bear Market for the broad market. It had a. A higher low than the rest of the market and was a leader. You know, home builders were a leader coming outta that and that pause back in late 2024. And they've underperformed, but you, they're looking like they're starting to resurge here and that would be a bellwether area. You know, if home builders are doing well, kind of hard to get negative on the, on the market.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

All right. On the flip side, look what they did to our truckers man.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. JB JB Hunt.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I. Now there's some stuff like XPO, right? I guess it's hard to JB Hunt now. Okay. I mean, some of this, I guess in context, still strong. They did get hit yesterday.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Hmm.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Like JB Hunt, you could buy JB Hunt here at. Above 2 10, 2 12. That's not financial advice, I'm just saying from a risk reward.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Well and IYT.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

that sticks. We want transports to stick. We want the railroads look really good.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Right. And they've been compressing for a while. Yeah. I mean, the fact that IYT is still holding. Prior highs out of a four year base. Pretty constructive for transports. Not too shabby, but it's been an, it is just been an interesting market. You know, if home builders are gonna lead industrials to the upside, along with a lot of American manufacturing.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Shoring.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Mm-hmm. Make America great again.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

All right. So you said earlier that sentiment. Do you think people are shortened? Are they shortened?

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, I mean, the data's out there. Goldman Sachs came out and said, short selling across single stocks last week was the biggest on record going back to 2016. And then

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Does that mean we're getting to 2017?

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

maybe, I mean, counter ba Connor Bates highlighted that the Nasdaq. Put call skew is as extreme as it was liberation, you know, the tariff tantrum, panic levels last year, and then the put call ratio itself was elevated early this week, last week, close to one. So, I mean, yes, I, I, I do think people are trying to short and it's, and that's a clue, right? We have this consolidation. In broad market metrics, you have this carnage underneath the surface in certain areas people are putting on, putting on their hedging trades, and.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah. I mean, to be fair, until we get of us, I mean, we've had like failed attempts to break through. 7,000 has been 14, but it's been, I mean, if you looked intraday, it's. We've touched it multiple times over the last, I mean, since the beginning of the year.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, I think that's really gonna be the clue, right? Are we below 6,800 or are we above 7,000? You know, if we're, if we're above 7,000, things could move higher quickly, and if we're below 6,800, the opposite applies. We could be. Revisiting the 200 day and the 200 day is only 7% away on something like the s and p 500 and it's gonna be accelerating upwards.'cause the backside of that is that the president, you need to take that call. Are you gonna be the new Fed chair?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

to know. He wants to know. He's texting and I, and I haven't picked up. I told him we usually record around this time.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

He wants you to be the Fed chair.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I would, I could do it. I'm about to be head of Department of Justice if I'm pretty sure Pam's gone. But so maybe I'll vie for that 1050. I mean, I don't really know why are we even doing this podcast? If the thousand, 50,000,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

What does it matter? What does it matter?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

of this matter?

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Well, we want.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

at you. Doesn't matter. Kid's got a bad report card. Doesn't matter. Das 50,000.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Well, it was, it was,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

my landlord, dude, I bud. Das, 50,000. You'll get it when you get it.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

now we need to reclaim 50,000. We had it.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

We gave it up.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

if she ran her mouth in top, tick. See now this, you asked me about being superstitious Friday the 13th. No, people running their mouth about what the market's doing. Yeah. Don't like that.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Is it, is that more of a, is that

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

superstitious or is that more the old adage that holds true so often? Pride before the fall.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah, I mean, I just, we all know, we all see it, Pam. It's not like you had to make a big a do about it.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. And there's two ways. There's two ways to take that one. And, and for context, for those listening. You know, Pam Bondy was in a congressional hearing and asked about the Epstein investigation. Um, and she responded with, why does this matter, the DAOs at 50,000?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

And that's what we should be talking about,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Right? And so that's one way to take it. Someone brought up a good point was, is she, is she making the point that. If we expose all the Epstein stuff, the dos not gonna be at 50,000. That's a little

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

nuanced take, but it is interesting. All the connections Jeffrey had.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Lots.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Seems like the conspiracy theorists were right. Once again,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Still betting a thousand.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

just just crazy.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

All right, so what do you think happens from here? We've been sideways since October. Well, the s and p and NASDAQ have other indices, particularly foreign indices

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

So, so we are trend followers. We're technicians and you give the benefit doubt to the primary trends. You like to see the consolidation break into the direction of the primary trend. The table is set for that because you've had this flush in tech and software that now has upped the amount of shorts, which all shorts are, are future buyers when they have to cover. So you stack the firewood. If tech rebounds and participates, the upside market could move through 6,800 pretty quickly. We have this, you know, come from, from compression comes expansion. Now, the flip side also exists were the superstars, the the MEG seven and tech stocks and software stocks, which had been the leaders. Now the laggards. Was this not rotation and, and was it just more alluding to the fact that we're gonna catch down, the rest of the market is gonna catch down to these things? That'd be, that'd be the other scenario, but the primary trend is up. And if the consolidation fails, so be it. You know, position yourself accordingly. The only way you know if the con consolidation fails is if you're a technician. I don't know how you do this if you're out there stuttering. All the macro and fundamental stuff,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Well, when the ISM survey breaks down,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

right? The C Yeah, the CPI, all that stuff. But you know, past three months s and p in a narrow range, 6%. It's kind of rare. Only 13% of the time do we do this. Sometimes consolidations mark tops, you know, like 2008, 2022. But other times really big rallies happen. So it's really about where are we above 7,000 things could move quickly. Are we below 6,800? That's a problem. So I didn't, I didn't give you like one definitive like which way? But you kind of have to defer into the direction of the primary trend because I think it's really hard to be short software here.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah. Yeah. At this point particularly software, maybe even crypto. I don't know. I mean, I wonder if big Bitcoin, I wonder if crypto's gonna now, I mean, they could bounce pretty nicely and not fix a lot of things, I

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, they could rally all back to back to the 200 day and not fix anything. But it's pretty hard to be short software and crypto into the hole, you know?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

definitely Right. So at Bitcoin, we're back at the October 21 highs. Yeah. I don't think here. I don't think, here's where you do it.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

So this is, this is,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

is kind of intriguing.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

this would be a good spot to highlight the supporter of this podcast, the Adaptive Select ETF, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker A DPV. Which helps investors access to the most prevalent factors in markets, momentum and relative strength using proprietary identification methods. The adaptive Select ETF attempts to own the strongest 25 large cap stocks when the market is in an uptrend. And since not all market environments are the same, adaptive select seeks to prevent extended declines by moving, moving to short-term treasury bills and cash during long-term market Downtrends investors can find out more including how to invest in A DPV by visiting ad pv etf.com or calling 1 8 3 3 88 0 5 200. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal AAVs distributed by Quasar Distributors LLC. What about you, Ian? Where do you, where do you think things resolve? And I, I know we spent a lot of time talking US markets, but maybe I should open that up more broadly, like asset class or international stocks. Where do you think things go?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

looks pretty good. Emerging markets. Emerging markets. X China even better. I miss Korea. You know, I read this, I read this morning that the Tel Aviv stock market's up like 700% in the last two or three years.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, Israel did well,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Mm-hmm.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

South Korea, Japan. Japan continues to go out at new all time highs, eyes,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Brazil's kind of intriguing.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

and it's a little bit of a repeat of. Of last year. Right? International.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

that's where I, that's where I wonder if then this fizzles out, right? Because if mega, if mega caps come back, then we're all, we're all gonna, that's gonna be the, we're gonna be right back to the shiny thing.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. You're saying, so last year international led on a relative basis?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

basically Q1, right? Had a really good qua

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yep.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

quarter.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yep. And then the megas took over. Through, through summer, and then they paused. But you didn't gain any, you didn't gain any, uh, alpha by being international since,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

chart for. For the remainder of the year, and

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

and so do we.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

we are back.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

International leading, again, is it a Q1 thing? Because the stage is set for First Tech,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I would, yeah,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

if they.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

the dollar to break 96.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, isn't that interesting?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I would like the dollar to break 96. I think that that's a good, that'll be a good kick in the pants. To keep the emerging markets foreign trade going, probably I assume people get back into the precious metals. Love. We'll have to see that still might have to work itself off for a bit as we're pretty parabolic moves. So, yeah, it'll be,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Well, I even look at, you know, I look at, I think you bring up a good point, leadership out at international start the year, but now your mega cap growth and tech are sitting at levels that they seem to be holding. If they've had their downward move, you know, using Coinbase as, as an example,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

mm-hmm.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

if that could be the crossover between tech and crypto. If that stock, if cri, if Coinbase is holding 1 66, staying above that and moving higher, pretty hard to be bearish. And it's likely happening in an environment where tech overall is performing very well. And that goes back to. No different differentiation between US and international if mega caps are doing well. I'm not saying Coinbase is a mega cap. I'm just saying it's a canary that if that's moving higher from these levels now, if it's below one 60, if it's below 1 66, that's probably a problem for the market as a whole. One 50 to one 60.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

No one cares about the Palantir weakness. Just shrugging it off. That's a terrible looking chart.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, below 1 47.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

yeah, I could see it, of course. I mean there's, I say that and then I followed up with Yeah, it could bounce. Yeah, it could. But I mean, below the 200 day, the 200 day is gonna start flattening out here. Unless there's some super drastic price recovery in the next month.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Well, I think, I think if Coinbase is the overlap between tech and crypto, Palantir is probably the overlap between tech and ai.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah, could be. I could see that. Although you brought up a good point. obviously IGV expanded tech software. I forgot what didn't they get rid of? PSJ, I forgot what they called it now.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

IGBT.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Oh, that's Rice. Okay, so that's perfect. So IGV is your like classic 20 20, 20 21 hot software. Terrible. Absolutely demolished Since Holloway what is this down, I mean, 31%. 32% at the lows, roughly. Obviously we're bouncing last day or so. Then you brought up IGPT, which is software, but with an AI tilt.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, and there's, yeah, there's only 15% overlap in those ETFs and. It, it is interesting. I mean,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

it's a new H maybe.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

maybe, I mean, IGV as an example is more weighted towards Adobe, uh, more weighted towards Microsoft and Salesforce and Oracle and Intuit and Palo Alto. These are older names, right? CrowdStrike. Whereas IGT is tilted towards Nvidia, that's an older name, but like you said, ai.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

more semiconductors, some hardware like Seagate, a lot of stuff I've never heard of. Some foreign like lattice, semiconductors, micron, or microchip technology.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

South Korean, south Korean semiconductor, like Hynek, which has been on a tear. So yeah, not, not all software is the same. But it's also the makeup of like, I would call IGV pure software. Like all I, I'm not seeing a, I'm not seeing a semiconductor name in there, whereas IGPT does have semiconductors in there, and semiconductors have held up well.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

They have. I mean, it's hard. It's, they've definitely held up well, I think, I feel like healthcare's held up well. Pharmaceuticals held up well,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Biotech.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I think like XPH might be getting a new re of high today. We'll

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

so healthcare holding up. But yeah, I mean, semi semiconductors holding up well. It's really a tale of two. Two industries there. Software versus semiconductors. You brought up a good point about hardware.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Another one that's been a leader, and I'm not sure if we've lost it yet. I don't know. I don't know what to think about it. I mean, well, for, I mean, it's hard to say. We've lost it as a leader. But it would be aerospace,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Okay.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

kind of curious. I mean, I guess I kind of put it in the same bucket as semis.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

And are you talking like pure aerospace or are you talking aerospace and defense?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

like a ITA.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. I-T-A-X-A-R. Aerospace and defense PPA Looking good. And I know. You know, whether you're looking at UFO or ROKT, kind of more pure space plays, kind of consolidating.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

SPCE as a taker.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Hmm.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Y'all are

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Well, well, I've got Virgin Galactic Holdings on NYSC under that ticker. Must be a

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Sp. Oh, okay. You're right. I'm looking in funds. I was looking at ETFs.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, no.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

does have it as a I stand mistaken.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

The Virgin Galactic. I don't know if that's related to Virgin Airlines. I don't know if that's another Epstein participant

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

say, well,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

has his own little island, has his own little island.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

that. Was Richard Branson. Right? I

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yep.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Richard Branson in ages.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, he's, he has his own little island that's next door to Little St. James.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

How about that

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

It is a Virgin Galactic is a Space flight company, Richard Branson.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

stock chart sucks.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

It does that one is not doing well in the space, space, space, space.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Hmm,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

You know what chart I, I've really enjoyed is. The number of federal government employees is now at its lowest level in 50 years.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

isn't that amazing? And yet, life goes on, doesn't it?

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

It does, and don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good workers in federal government, a lot of good workers, but also a lot of unelected bureaucrats. And it's okay. It's okay that we do more with less.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah, don't need that many hall monitors.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Nope. And we get end of, we're heading into the second part of February. We got Valentine's Day tomorrow.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Second half of the February is also supposed to be bad seasonality.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Correct. But will it be.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

my wife, how am I supposed to pay for Valentine's when we've likely got a five to 10% drawdown coming? Maybe I should, maybe I should do it now before, before I lose my money.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Babe markets are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

They're, we actually already did our Valentine's Day dinner, so

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Whoa. Look at you.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah. Did it last weekend

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Is that'cause of your jumpstart personality is that

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

maybe

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

like,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah. Went down to visit my dad celebrated his birthday.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

oh, nice.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

let the grandkids. Get some grandparent time and my wife and I went out killing lots of birds with this one stone, potentially four birds.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Wow.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

So it was a, it was, it was great.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Multitasking at its finest.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

And my wife says, I can't multitask.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Look, babe,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

to think that I can.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

all you gotta do is point to a ratio chart. That's that's multitasking.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

There you go.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Two charts in one. What do you think about the net Netherlands announcing a 30%, 36% tax on unrealized gains?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I don't even know. I don't know how that works. I don't even want to, I don't ever wanna know how that works.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. My under.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

just wouldn't invest.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, my, yeah. My understanding is if you bought something at 50 and it goes to a hundred, that$50 gain is now considered, income is taxed, it's just bananas. And then, I don't know if you sell that thing. To pay for that tax if that's now a realized gain. And so there's a tax on that.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I was gonna say, so what? I just gotta realize all of them.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

This is crazy

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

No, I realized it. Realize all of them.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

sounds like the Netherlands needs to have the US chart for federal government employees. Maybe a little

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

get there. I'm sure America will get there.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

nah,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

No, we won't.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

don't do it. Super Bowl was pretty, uh,

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

It's okay.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

it was. Okay.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

It's okay. Not a lot of hype going into it. Not a lot. A lot of hype coming out of it.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Ryan Dietrich says that when the NFC team wins Super Bowl by double digits, the full year is higher for the s and p, more than 90% of the time.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Well, and that's why I got 200% long the day after the Super Bowl.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Hmm. So market-wise, bifurcated markets, split market hard to be short. Software here, it's already been down 20 to 30% mags have lagged yet in industrials, and materials have led can be indicative of the end of bull markets. That's tend to be the sectors that lead on the flip side of. If tech starts to get going here, you could see US markets regain the 7,000 level using SP 500. Maybe international continues to lead. We talked about crypto not being great. It's still not great. We haven't talked about treasuries.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah, treasuries kind of got, well, rates went down. Again today. I mean, so we've, we're back below 200 day a flat, 200 day. A sloppy, sloppy, sloppy 200 day. We're still in the big range. Clients will be very familiar with this. I talk about it every month still in the range between four and five, a little over, we'll call it five. I'll call it five for simplicity's sake, but I don't know, maybe breaking rate of trend. Could we be going back down to fours,

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

And we, and for inter market analysis purposes, I mean, if, if you've got. A tremendous debt taken on by these tech companies and rates lower might be a tailwind if I'm allowed to stand on that fundamental soapbox.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Again.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Thank you. It feels nice up here. Well, we don't.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

it going back down. I guess then what they'll refinance. I don't know what all these people do. They just refinance their debt at lower rates.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yep. You been watching any Olympics?

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yeah. I watched USA versus Sweden Gold mi it was mixed curling gold match.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Ooh.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

They lost it. They kind of, they had the lead going into the final frame. okay, here's, here's one I didn't know existed. We watched this last night, luge relay.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, me too. I watched that too.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

I had no idea that, how long have they been doing like a relay version of

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

I don't know. I think maybe this is a first year.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

sit up and then hit the thing

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. And then the next. Batch goes.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

thing goes? Yeah.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. I thought it was pretty cool.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

it. I'm trying to think, but I haven't, I haven't gotten to catch my favorites. I haven't gotten to catch any country skiing. A lot of snowboarding, A lot of the big jump, the ski jumps.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah, those are fun. Snowboard half snowboard, half pipe is great.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yes.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

So many good sports, so much fun.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

like, like to see'em wipe out on the snowboard. That's what they find humorous

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

for the shot in Fre. They're there for the

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Yes.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

of defeat. Oh.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Isn't it? So? And I saw good how many? So when you get Summer Olympics, like, oh, look at this 19-year-old from. Houston, Texas fastest, third fastest kid in the world. And in Winter Olympics it's like, oh, here's this 43-year-old mom who does cross. She won gold and cross country skiing and shooting at little medal targets.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

The

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

And then

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

one

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

yeah, and she has a part-time job. The the guy in the summer Olympics, he's sponsored by Nike, and this lady has like a full-time accounting job. She's a CPA. It's a fascinating, like

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

it is.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

type of athletes you get now, clearly, yes, there's lots of young athletes in the Winter Olympics, especially in like the snowboarding and all that. But yeah, just the backstories of winter. They're just like really

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

It's, it's definitely more, yeah. Yeah. Pretty more pretty diverse. I mean, local Wisconsinite, Jordan Stoltz from Ki Wasum. Not far from here. One golden. Skating. Speed skating. Yeah, speed skating.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

skating.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

Yeah. It was pretty sweet. I have a feeling he does it full time. I don't think he's got an accounting job, but your point is made, I mean, like, you're right. There's.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

because you could probably get sponsored. I guess you're speed skating. I don't know. Ask him. You're close.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

So it's fun. Time of year, col, you know, college baseball starts. Pitchers and catchers report for MLB. We got the World Baseball Classic coming up. We talked about Valentine's Day. We get a three day weekend. Market's closed on Monday. Pretty nice.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Mm. I'll take it.

david_1_02-13-2026_105142

We all will. Well Annie, I appreciate you. Uh. Doing this again with me this week, and we'll see what the buyers and sellers decide to do here between 60 807,000 on the s and p. Whether some of the software catches up and recovers, or whether the leadership that it's established year to date continues. The good news is we get to find out more information next week, so we appreciate everybody listening. Please share it with your friends and family. Give us a high ranking on your platform or choice. That means a lot to us.

ian_1_02-13-2026_115141

Have a great weekend everyone.