US Stocks Limp Into Year End While Treasury Yields Rise

Dec 31, 2025

Guest

Ross Gerber

Guest

Laura Champagne

Guest

Mike Green

Mike Green, Chief Strategist at Simplify Asset Management, discusses the rise of alternative ETFs and income-focused derivatives while offering insights on market positioning for 2026. Laura Champagne, Director of Research at Tabor Asset Management, tackles retail trends, emphasizing apparel and the impact of GLP-1 drugs on consumer behavior. Ross Gerber, Co-founder of Gerber Kawasaki, dives into the media landscape's shifting dynamics, critiquing Warner Bros.' strategies and predicting the future decline of traditional cable in favor of streaming.

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INSIGHT

Momentum's Long Run

Momentum and large-cap growth dominated nine of the last ten years, shaping where capital flows and investor returns concentrated.
Mike Green warns passive investing and low cost of capital reinforce this cycle and make it hard to bet against momentum.

ADVICE

Protect Income With Defensive Fixed Income

Consider defensive fixed-income strategies that generate income while reducing credit risk in uncertain 2026 scenarios.
Mike Green recommends using derivative-enhanced income and FI asset management to protect portfolios from credit stress.

INSIGHT

ETF Innovation Shifts Flows

Alternative ETFs like managed futures, money market ETFs, and niche fixed-income strategies drew substantial inflows in 2025.
Mike Green says innovation in ETF wrappers expanded access to trend-following and income strategies for retail and institutions.

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Stocks and bonds slipped along with gold and silver on the last day of 2025, bringing a subdued close to an otherwise buoyant year across asset classes that saw US equities post their third straight double-digit gain.

The S&P 500 extended a stretch of post-Christmas losses, paring the benchmark’s advance for 2025 to roughly 17%. Even so, the index is on track for its longest yearly winning streak of gains since 2021. The Nasdaq 100 was down 0.2%. Laggards include big-tech names like Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Micron Technology Inc.
Silver plunged as a run of heightened volatility featuring price moves of 5% or more entered a fourth day. CME Group raised margin requirements on precious-metal futures for the second time in the space of a week following the volatility.

Investors have enjoyed blockbuster returns this year in a market that has been powered by optimism about the vast economic potential of artificial intelligence and primed by Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. It hasn’t been a smooth ride, though, with traders weathering swings triggered by a range of forces including US trade policies, geopolitical tensions, concern over lofty valuations and some uncertainty around the path of central-bank monetary policy.

Looking ahead into 2026, market research firm Bespoke Investment Group cautions against expecting solid market performance during the first trading day of the new year. Since 1953, the S&P 500’s median change to kick off a new year was a 0.3% drop, according to a note by Bespoke. The stock market has also traded lower on the first trading day of the each of the past three years, the note said.

Today's show features:

Mike Green, Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Simplify Asset Management
Laura Champine, Director of Research and Consumer Sector Head at Tabor Asset Management,
Manos Koukoumidis, CEO of Oumi, on why the AI investing landscape may become more challenged in 2026 and where the US stands its AI arms race with China
Ross Gerber, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, on how the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery will be won

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