Now the Chief Market Strategist at StoneX, Kathryn Rooney Vera comes from humble beginnings. As a teenager she cleaned houses in order to contribute to her family’s finances. In college, she changed her major to finance from liberal arts, seeing a more direct path to a well-compensated career. She would ultimately settle into the study of economics, a craft she continues to refine today in support of colleagues and clients at StoneX.

Our discussion surveys the process Kathyrn uses to find value in markets. She focuses on forecasting growth and inflation, the Fed’s response to these variables and the construction of trades that will capitalize on them. We review some of the recent cross-asset volatility and the role that positioning played. Kathryn rightly suggested that clients utilize protective option strategies in the period prior to August 5th.

She has also seen value in curve steepeners, embedding a little bit of the Sahm Rule notion that the Fed may find itself behind the curve. Lastly, she sees a favorable setup in the utilities sector, providing both the traditional defensive property through its linkage to rates as well as embedding an AI play that can empower it should the boom continue.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Kathryn Rooney Vera.