Election noise can distort market signals. Jim Lydotes looks beyond the headlines at consumers, AI infrastructure, and defense demand.

Success in small caps increasingly depends on position sizing, as concentrated winners amplify the cost of underexposure.

Utilities may be a fat pitch, policy curveballs may miss banks, and markets are differentiating the contenders of AI adoption.

AI companies face a trust test, cost pressure is spreading, and the Fed’s blunt tool may not reach the real bottlenecks.

Small caps just got cheaper, energy still looks compelling, and defense stocks haven’t caught up to a wave of major contract wins.

Growth investing is often defined by outcomes. We believe it is better defined by process. Forward-looking insights, fundamental judgment, and disciplined portfolio construction can help investors pursue growth with a more deliberate approach to risk.

Is a home décor boom hiding inside the housing market freeze? Plus data center NIMBYs creating an opening for new winners in the AI trade, and slimming corporate margins.

Are consumers becoming more tolerant of roaches, or simply less tolerant of rising costs (even for pest control)? Plus, hunting for the next leg of AI winners.

As the market broadens beyond the AI trade, shifting Fed signals and lofty earnings expectations demand more active judgment.

Low-volatility stocks look cheap, AI may be helping hiring, and banks are turning higher rates into a tailwind.