Latest from BCA Research
Investors should modestly underweight equities in their portfolios and look to turn more aggressively defensive once the whites of the recession’s eyes are visible. We think that will happen within the next few months.
President Trump’s big beautiful bill will pass but faces near-term hurdles and will not tighten the government’s belt. It will combine with renewed tariff implementation to generate near-term risk for both the bond and stock market. The Iran crisis fizzled, saving Trump from a major oil shock that could have derailed his second term.
Since the start of Israel’s military operations against Iran on June 12, we warned clients that there would be an epic opportunity to fade geopolitical risk premium by shorting oil. We did it here, here, and again here. Over the weekend, however, we lost our cool and suggested that there could be more risk premium to fade as Iran and the US danced the dance of re-retaliation following President Trump’s decision to attack Iran’s nuclear sites directly.
Imminent monetary and fiscal easing, along with resilient earnings growth, support a constructive outlook for equities. However, in the near term, significant tail risks persist. We recommend strengthening downside protection by lowering portfolio beta.