Leaders-Laggards
Nine-Week Streak: NVDA Blowout, Iran Ceasefire Hopes Collapse Oil, Tech Roars To New Highs
S&P +1.5% On Week 9; XLK +5.9% On NVDA Beat; XLE -5.4% Flips To Laggard On Iran Ceasefire; 10Y Softens To 4.45%; EEM Leads All Major Indexes
Michael A. Gayed, CFA
Newsletter
The S&P 500 Is at a Record High. The Question Is How to Get Paid While Holding It.
How a Daily 0DTE Covered Call Strategy on SPY Converts the Market’s Volatility Premium Into a Daily Paycheck
Weekly Signals
Green Lights, One Yellow
Three of four signals favor risk-on positioning, though one holdout warrants attention.
Newsletter
Credit Is Calm Again — That’s Exactly When Rotation Matters (JOJO)
KEY HIGHLIGHTS · High yield’s risk premium has compressed back toward cycle lows, with the ICE BofA US High Yield Option-Adjusted Spread at **2.85% (Apr 15, 2026)**.[1] · The yield curve remains positively sloped, with the 10-year minus 2-year Treasury spread at **0.53% (Apr 15,
Closing Thoughts for the Week
Nine Green Weeks. One Hawkish Whisper.
When does record euphoria become a setup, not a celebration?
Macro Observations
The Rate Hike Paradox
Markets just priced 70% odds of a Fed HIKE — and ran eight straight up-weeks anyway. The duration playbook just broke.
Newsletter
A Conversation on the AI Trade Most Portfolios Are Missing — Monday June 1 @ 2pm ET
The AI conversation has fixated on the same six names for two years. Matt Tuttle thinks the more interesting layer sits one step beneath the hyperscalers — in the **physical infrastructure** that AI cannot exist without. On Monday, June 1 at 2:00 PM ET, Matt joins the Lead-Lag team
Macro Observations
Weekend reading: 3 from the archive worth your time
If you missed a few paywalled pieces this month, here are 3 from the archive worth your time. Two cities, two nights, last seats — Boston tomorrow, NYC ThursdayIf you have been wondering why equities can rally even as rate expectations rise, this frames the positioning setup and the risk signal
Newsletter
When You Want More of a Good Thing: A Leveraged Take on Daily Income
How the T-Squared Lift Series Applies 1.3× Exposure to a Daily 0DTE Covered Call Strategy on SPY
High Yield Spotlight
The 12% Monthly Paycheck That the IRS Can't Touch Until You Sell
NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF (CBOE: SPYI) — $10 Billion in Assets, 12% Yield, and a Tax Structure That Changes the Income Equation
Global View
Three Round Numbers and a Memorial Day Airstrike
Dow 50,000. Nikkei 65,000. KOSPI 8,000. NVDA prints the best quarter in semiconductor history — and U.S. jets struck Iran, Bitcoin ETF flows went sharply negative, and gold confirmed a 15% correction.
Newsletter
WHEN SPREADS ARE TIGHT, INFLATION IS HOT, AND THE CURVE IS STEEPENING — WHY CREDIT ROTATION CAN’T BE STATIC (ATACX)
KEY HIGHLIGHTS · **April CPI rose 0.6% m/m and 3.8% y/y**, while **core CPI rose 0.4% m/m and 2.8% y/y** — a mix that keeps policy uncertainty elevated.[1] · **High yield option-adjusted spreads sit near 2.82%** (latest), a level that implies credit