The NASDAQ just booked its eighth positive week in a row, while the S&P 500 is up five consecutive weeks and counting. Both indexes are at their highest levels since April of 2022, which is well over a year ago. How can sensible investors make sense of this relentless rally?

I hate, hate, hate when they do this. The mainstream press spouts out enormous-font headlines like, “Inflation rose at a 4% annual rate in May, the lowest in 2 years.” Then they bury the dirty details that expose the widening wealth gap and the nation’s economic woes.

Patience pays, but waiting can be costly. Two of the summer’s most impactful events are coming up this week, and chasing commodity prices after the fact won’t be nearly as profitable as anticipating the trends before they happen.

In the financial markets as in life, there are striking divergences between the haves and the have-nots. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer – and similarly, the large-caps get larger while the small-caps get smaller.

History repeats itself if we don’t learn from it. Patriots know that America is the greatest country in the world, but greatness must be maintained. It will require more than hope and prayers to prevent this great country from repeating the famous collapse of another dominant nation-state.

It might be an exaggeration to call the Federal Reserve sadistic – or it might not be, as the central bank wants to see it get harder, not easier, to get a job in the U.S. The probability of an imminent interest rate hike just grew as a key job openings gauge pointed to a resilient labor market.

Even if you’ve seen it a thousand times before, it’s still amazing to witness the market’s rapid changes in sentiment. In a matter of days, investors have flipped from fearfully risk-off to stunningly risk-on, leaving safety hedges like gold behind in favor of “momo” plays, especially in large-cap technology stocks.

It’s not every day that a JPMorgan analyst will recommend adding gold and cash to your portfolio. That’s happening now, and it’s another sign that Wall Street’s experts are preparing for the U.S. government to again fail to work together in the best interest of the populace.

The era of TINA, or “there is no alternative,” is officially over in 2023. For over a decade, investors were practically forced into the stock market because U.S. Treasury bonds paid next to nothing. Now, however, jacked-up interest rates might tempt you to park your cash in government debt notes.

Even as the stock market chops sideways, investors must always remember that the market is not the economy and vice versa. Reality will set in eventually, and the warning signs will only be obvious to most retail traders when the exits are already jam-packed.

By the time a trend reaches the headlines of the mainstream financial press, it probably too late for the smart money to invest in it. Yet, there are ways to gain exposure to the tech trends of today that will inform the way we work, live, and communicate for the foreseeable future.

There’s no shortage of panic-button statements from financial commentators. However, when the alarm bells are being rung by the chief executive of one of America’s biggest banks, investors are bound to sit up and pay attention.