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From Grand Rapids, David Bahnsen reflects on a speech and borrows Abraham Lincoln’s “last best hope” language to argue that markets—properly understood as broad venues of human exchange, entrepreneurship, and capital formation, not merely the stock market—are inherently forward-looking declarations of optimism. He contrasts market incentives with media and political incentives that often reward negativity, and contends that entrepreneurs and investors with “skin in the game” demonstrate belief in a better tomorrow by turning ideas into solutions that meet human needs. Bahnsen urges defenders of free enterprise to resist dehumanizing markets into charts, ratios, and GDP-only talk, emphasizing the human realities of risk-taking, labor, innovation, and profitably providing goods and services. He previews a mid-year 2026 report for next week ahead of the Fourth of July and the nation’s 250th anniversary.

00:00 Welcome From Grand Rapids

00:36 Lincoln Last Best Hope

03:10 Markets As Hope

03:51 Not Just The Stock Market

05:18 Entrepreneurial Incentives

09:16 Risk And Future Focus

10:11 Humanizing Economics

14:23 Capital Tools And Portfolios

17:32 Closing And Next Week Preview

Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com

TheBahnsenGroup.com

Brian Szytel hosts Dividend Cafe on Thursday, June 25, describing a mixed but slightly positive market with a growth-to-value rotation as equal-weighted indexes outpaced cap-weighted, rates dipped, and oil rose slightly while Brent returned near pre US-Iran levels; despite one major AI semiconductor earnings beat lifting parts of the space, much of tech was down. He reviews heavy economic releases: May PCE inflation met expectations (0.4% headline, 0.3% core; core PCE 3.4% YoY), Q1 GDP was revised up to 2.1%, jobless claims beat expectations, durable goods fell as expected, and personal income and consumer spending exceeded forecasts, with five of six items better than expected. He highlights dividend growth using a 2000 S&P 500 example where a 1.2% yield grew to about 5.5% cash-on-cash over 26 years, and discusses private credit redemption gates, diversification, and software-sector stress as a key risk versus a systemic collapse.

00:00 Market Snapshot

01:03 Economic Data Rundown

02:36 Value Rotation Drivers

02:45 Dividend Growth Power

04:36 Ask TPG Private Credit

05:11 Run on Bank Explained

06:49 Wrap Up and Weekend

Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com

TheBahnsenGroup.com

Brian Szytel recaps a Wednesday session that began with a recovery bounce led by technology as interest rates and WTI fell, but the rally fizzled and selling in tech resumed while value names held up better. He says markets are digesting valuation pressure with stocks trading around 22–23x earnings and uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz and U.S.-Iran negotiations, which could affect oil prices. He highlights the 2s/10s spread flattening from about 80 bps earlier in the year to about 26 bps, suggesting slowing growth and potential Fed policy risk as inflation remains a concern; markets imply a high chance of at least one rate hike by year-end. The key data point was weak May new home sales (580k vs 640k expected) and elevated unsold new-home inventory at 9.4 months amid high mortgage rates.

00:00 Market Bounce Fizzles

00:44 Valuations and Oil Risk

01:35 Yield Curve Warning Signs

02:00 Fed Policy and Rate Hike Odds

03:15 Listener Question on Spreads

04:03 Housing Data Miss

05:11 Wrap Up and Sign Off

Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com

TheBahnsenGroup.com

Brian Szytel recaps a broad market sell-off led by technology and semiconductors, highlighting a nearly 10% drop in South Korea’s KOSPI—an index heavily concentrated in Samsung and SK Hynix—attributed to valuation, demand shifts, and DRAM supply issues after a major run-up. He notes similar 5–10% declines in high-flying semiconductor names and emphasizes that despite real AI-driven demand and a rare reversal of decades-long chip price declines due to supply-demand imbalance, valuations still matter. On the economic front, flash PMIs were strong: manufacturing surged to 55.7, the highest in a little over four years, and services also beat expectations, supporting an improving growth backdrop tied partly to data-center CapEx. He addresses concerns about the U.S. dollar losing reserve status, arguing no viable replacement exists, citing dollar dominance in FX (90%) and global reserves (57%) versus the euro (20%).

00:00 Summer Market Check-In

00:31 Global Tech Sell-Off

01:38 Semis Valuation Reality

02:01 AI Chip Demand Shift

02:48 PMI Data Highlights

03:43 Dollar Reserve Status Fears

04:32 What Could Replace Dollar

05:53 Reserve Currency Numbers

06:32 Wrap Up and Q&A

Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com

TheBahnsenGroup.com

Today's Post - https://bahnsen.co/4vxzpNy

David Bahnsen hosts the Monday Dividend Cafe from Grand Rapids during the Acton Institute Symposium, noting a relatively quiet day that allows more market focus. The Dow rose 148 points while the S&P fell 0.37% and the Nasdaq dropped 1.33% amid weakness in communication services and mega-cap names. He highlights strong year-to-date energy performance, surprising small-cap outperformance, and argues much of the market’s gain is concentrated in AI/AI-adjacent and energy. Bahnsen cites speculative behavior in the SpaceX IPO, including extreme trading volume, limited float, and a sharp decline from recent highs. Bonds sold off with the 10-year at 4.51% and the 2/10 spread flattening to 28 bps from ~80 bps. He shares an anecdote about Allbirds rebranding to “Smartbird” to pivot to AI, covers UK political instability, Iran-US talks, pending US housing legislation, mortgage rates, Fed hike probabilities, Alan Greenspan’s death at 100, and oil falling to $75.19 as Hormuz uncertainty persists.

00:00 Welcome and agenda

01:24 Market close snapshot

02:19 Sector leadership and breadth

03:06 Small caps surprise strength

03:49 SpaceX IPO mania

06:23 Rates and yield curve shift

07:13 AI bubble anecdote

08:57 UK politics and US policy

09:59 Fed odds and Greenspan

11:08 Oil and energy outlook

12:06 Wrap up and reminders

Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com

TheBahnsenGroup.com

On Thursday, June 18, David Bahnsen recapped a strong market day led by the Nasdaq (up nearly 500 points, just under 2%), with the S&P 500 up just over 1% and the Dow up 72 points. Technology, consumer discretionary, and communication services led, while energy, financials, healthcare, and consumer staples lagged. He highlighted SpaceX’s roughly $2.5 trillion market cap (down from nearly $3 trillion days earlier after a 17–18% drop) and contrasted it with Amazon and Microsoft profitability versus SpaceX’s $19 billion in sales and a $9 billion loss. Economic data showed initial jobless claims at 226,000 (four-week average 223,000). Bond yields reflected further curve flattening: the 10-year fell to 4.45% while shorter maturities rose.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:23 Market Rally Snapshot

00:44 Sector Winners and Losers

01:07 SpaceX Valuation Reality Check

02:33 Jobless Claims Update

02:54 Yield Curve Flattening

03:28 Wrap Up and Tomorrow Preview

Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com

TheBahnsenGroup.com

Today's Post - https://bahnsen.co/4fUPJml

David Bahnsen hosts Friday’s Dividend Cafe from East Hampton on June 19, a Juneteenth market holiday, and discusses whether current conditions signal a “top” while rejecting short-term market timing. He notes elevated S&P 500 multiples based on operating earnings and warns that today’s concern is more about market mood and complacency than valuations alone, citing Bill Ackman’s SpaceX-related quote as symptomatic of circular reasoning about value. Bahnsen argues the risk paradigm is shifting as companies move from low reinvestment and buybacks toward heavy capex, more borrowing, and potential equity issuance. He highlights NVIDIA and Broadcom stocks lagging despite strong revenue growth as possible signs of over-discounted narratives, and points to extreme SpaceX valuation as a sentiment indicator. He also describes a Fed leadership shift toward a more constrained approach that may tolerate froth coming out of risk assets, concluding investors should prioritize rational, defensible portfolios tied to operating performance and dividend growth.

00:00 Summer Intro and Holiday

00:57 Is This the Top

02:33 Valuations Aren't the Trigger

04:45 The Market Vibe Problem

06:13 Ackman Quote Warning Sign

09:27 Risk Paradigm Shifts

11:59 NVIDIA and Broadcom Signals

14:32 SpaceX Valuation and Mood

16:19 Fed Regime Change

19:53 Do the Right Thing

22:19 Closing Thanks

Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com

TheBahnsenGroup.com

David Bahnsen recaps a major market day following the first FOMC meeting chaired by Kevin Warsh, where the Fed left rates unchanged but offered a notably brief statement with little forward guidance. The dot plot implied higher rates ahead, though Warsh declined to submit his own projection, reinforcing his opposition to forward guidance as a policy tool. In his first press conference, Warsh announced five task forces covering Fed communications, the balance sheet, data sources, productivity and jobs, and inflation frameworks, and emphasized focusing on what data says about the economy rather than predicting the Fed’s reaction. Markets sold off: the Dow swung from +280 to close -500, the S&P fell 1.25%, and the Nasdaq more than 1.25%, alongside a yield-curve flattening with short rates up far more than the 10-year. All 11 S&P sectors ended down.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:10 Fed Meeting Recap

01:14 Dot Plot and Guidance

01:55 Five Fed Task Forces

02:44 Reaction Function Critique

04:17 Market Selloff and Yields

05:29 Sector Performance Breakdown

06:02 Economic Data Check

06:26 Wrap Up and Sign Off

Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com

TheBahnsenGroup.com