Election Aftershocks: Interest Rates, Crypto and Inflation … Oh My

Are we getting Santa or the Grinch? Stay tuned. Bob Lang, Lindsey Bell, and I are going to break it all down.

All right, everyone. Let's let's kick back and get into this latest edition of the What Does It Mean podcast. Bob, Lindsey, how you guys doing?

[00:00:45] Bob Lang: I'm doing great. I'm, happy we're, past the election now and all that nonsense is over and we can just move forward and start talking a little bit more about the economy, the stock market and, even the holiday season.

Coming up. So I'm ready to move on on to bigger and better things. How about you, Lindsey?

[00:01:03] Lindsey Bell: I feel the same way. I'm glad we don't have to guess about who's going to win the presidency anymore and what it means for the sectors. We've got an answer now. Now we do what we do best, right?

And that is Analyze where we go from here.

[00:01:15] Chris Versace: I totally agree with you on that with that point Lindsey. But on the other hand like we don't necessarily know what's gonna happen to some sectors, right? There's a lot of speculation out there, the stock market, catapulted higher as soon as we found out that trump became president elect and now the speculation begins On what types of policies may be put in play what sectors he may influence or not, tariff use or not, , all these questions and I, I, I suspect that we're going to see a fresh round of uncertainty hit the markets before too long.

as we're sitting here recording today's episode, Bob and if we look solely at the RSI or the relative strength levels for the S& P 500, the NASDAQ composite, I mean, they've had a great run over the last several trading days, and they're starting to get a little, I don't know if I'd say frothy, but certainly approaching bumping up against those classic overbought levels.

[00:02:10] Bob Lang: Well, it's hard not to call it frothy, Chris, because when indices are at new all time highs, there is a element of froth and overbought here that people are identifying with. The problem is, is that there's a whole other class of investors and traders who are going to be suffering from FOMO, which is the fear of missing out.

 they've seen the markets go up for the past, , 5, 6, 7 days. Certainly since the day after the election, that monster rally on Wednesday, and it's been continuing on. And I think there's a lot of investors and traders out there that are saying, OK, it's gone up a lot. I'm just going to wait for it to come back in.

And when it never does, you start seeing these people trying to scrape their way back into into the market and it becomes a very difficult dance for somebody to get in there and there's that whole psychological effect, Chris, that, oh, my gosh, what if I'm the last one in and the market just tanks right as I'm getting in.

[00:03:05] Chris Versace: So Lindsey, as a fellow fundamentalist, I have to ask you, right? You see the market overbought, , there is this potential for uncertainty as President Trump starts, , naming cabinet members and speculation over what policy might be. But we're also in the seasonally strongest time of the year for the market.

November, December, you know it, Lindsey, that that is some fat times. For the market. So how do you sit there and kind of architect? Okay, here's where I'm going next.

[00:03:35] Lindsey Bell: Yeah. I mean, it is the best time in the market. I think what most investors, advisors, everybody, individuals are asking themselves, and I think what you're asking me is, and Bob is, has there been a pull forward of, The 6 month strength that we typically see from November into the early part of next year.

And I do think we talked about this last week. I think that the Trump presidency red sweep Congress really has been a game changer for corporations and for markets. And while there is still pockets of uncertainty. With regards to tariffs or what exactly is happening with tax policy.

I think in general businesses understand the general direction and what I think it means fundamentally, Chris, is that we've got, , right now the S and P capital IQ, consensus for EPS on the S and P 500 is 271, which is 13 percent growth in 2025

[00:04:34] Chris Versace: Big numbers, big numbers.

[00:04:35] Lindsey Bell: That is a big number, but it could potentially go higher depending on what happens with growth and taxes and all these things that investors are willing to bet that that number goes higher, the likelihood of that going higher is is higher than the likelihood of it going lower.

[00:04:55] Chris Versace: Yeah, no, the probability. Yeah, no, I totally hear what you're saying, Lindsey. The only thing that makes me just a little nervous is that as it appears that we do get the red sweep, I know we're getting the final tallies for the house, but, , what we've seen from the stock market over the last, I want to say, 18 months. Maybe a little longer. Is the expectations seem to get really ahead of themselves.

And we, we've talked about that a number of times when it came to Fed rate cuts earlier this year and how they've slowed. I, I just wonder if the market might be getting ahead of itself thinking, Man, Trump policy, it is all clear. You know,, wax up that floor, we're gonna slide right down, things are gonna pass, woohoo, here we go.

when I see that type of over enthusiasm, I get a little nervous.

[00:05:44] Bob Lang: So Lindsey, Lindsey, let me ask you according to the numbers that you gave out, 271 on earnings, that means that the current market is trading at about 22 times next year's earnings. Does that make you uncomfortable at this juncture?

[00:05:57] Lindsey Bell: It doesn't make me uncomfortable because I think if you expect earnings to go higher that that should come down, but it's also below the peak that we saw during the pandemic or just a couple years ago.

[00:06:09] Chris Versace: time out You cannot use that. You cannot use that.

I'll tell you why. Because at that point in time, during the pandemic, the EPS was falling like a cliff. Same thing we saw during the Great Recession. So those are apples and oranges. Lindsey. You can't use those. Come on.

[00:06:24] Lindsey Bell: Okay, well, let me just correct myself here. What I want to say is that it was last 22 times in january 2022 Okay, well actually we hit it in july of this year, too. And now we're back up there. The whole point I want to make is that, first of all that multiple is going to come down as earnings go up.

Second of all, the multiple, if you look at the historical average, 16 times, 18 times, depending on what range you're using, that also assumed that technology was a smaller component. Of the overall index technology has higher margins, higher multiples. And so by some extent, you got to believe that that historical average multiple is a little bit discounted than what it should be.

Every industry has some level of technology. And when you think about AI, and believe in the revolution, the productivity that can potentially be coming somewhat of a more elevated multiple than that could be reasonable. I'm not saying there's a lot of wiggle room here in this multiple. Okay.

Yeah I'm, not saying that we could go to 30 and there's no problems on the horizon I do think that the market could take a pause We all know the market doesn't go up and to the right in a smooth line It does over a long period of time But there are definitely hiccups and pullbacks along the way and I think that we could see that. But what I will say, and I'll end on this point, is that when you do see momentum in the market like we have seen and Bob probably is going to have something to say about this. But the market's up more than 20 as we sit here in early almost mid november, right?

Well when you look at history, that type of performance momentum begets momentum, right? And when you see that type of performance the strength typically will continue into the end of the year. There were 17 other times where we saw a 20 percent gain through November 8th. This was a bespoke analysis, by the way, the rest of the year gain average 3.

3%. With positive returns. 15 of 17 times, so 88% of the time. And the last time there was a down period into the end of the year, after the beginning of November was 1938. So the probability , so you're saying the end of the year is it's, it's a good thing. But like what sectors? I mean you've got what, regional banks up 15%.

You've got small caps up. 10 percent this is on like five trading days. So

[00:08:48] Chris Versace: yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is why I said, , when we see such pronounced moves like this, I get a little, I won't say scared, but I get a little suspect, a little nervous, , meanwhile, you know,, we are architecting where we want to be.

But let me, pivot the conversation here real quick. , Bob, couple things kind of coming out of last week. We've seen this real rapid rise in crypto. We know that President Trump was kind of backed by a lot of crypto dollars, wink, wink, Elon Musk. What do you make of this?

[00:09:18] Bob Lang: I think it's fascinating.

I did a little bit of analysis on where the votes came from for Kamala Harris and for Donald Trump. And it appears that a lot of the younger voters, some of the first time voters, Chris, of 18 to 25, 18 to 30 across all demographics were out there supporting Trump this time around.

And I think it's directly related to the money that was spent by crypto and Bitcoin investors, because Donald Trump came out in support of bitcoin, He didn't say, yeah, yeah, I support it. He didn't it was just six seven years ago he said it was worthless. But now he's coming out in support of it and he got a lot of money filling his coffers from these investors of crypto and and bitcoin They knew where their bread was going to be buttered and it was with him. This is the first time we've seen this sort of Group as an influencer in an election, either in, a midterm a couple years ago, or even in the presidential elections.

It's fascinating to see the influence that this group had in the results of the election. So, we'll see what happens going forward. I mean, certainly , the young voters are very excited about, about the future with crypto , and Bitcoin. And certainly, , since the middle of October, Chris.

Bitcoin's up about 33%.

[00:10:34] Chris Versace: it's been a huge move. And I, I suspect there's some speculation that as the SEC Chairman Gensler is moving on, let's say, under Trump there might be somebody who's a little more crypto friendly. But Lindsey, there's this other thing here that, , on the one hand, okay, crypto money came in, but what about how people were just, you know, we talk about how good the economy is from an economic data perspective, right?

But when you talk to people on the street, and there's some polling data out there between Harris and Trump, it really seemed that folks were not feeling it. Or to quote McDonald's, they were not loving it when it came to the economy. Do you think it was this level of dissatisfaction that helped put Trump over the top?

In other words, as Bill the Big Dog Clinton said a long, long time ago, Hey! It's the economy, stupid.

[00:11:25] Lindsey Bell: Yes, exactly. I don't think these under 30 year olds were only voting for Trump because of the potential for Bitcoin. Even though they have a strong interest in it. But it is really the economy. I think what a lot of folks I think a lot of folks thought in 2020, which, by the way, the market popped back then might have been due to vaccines and things like that.

But I think a lot of folks were tired of Trump after that. Right. And so they voted Biden Harris in on this idea that there was going to be a return to normalcy. And from an economic perspective, that didn't exactly happen. Right. The pandemic, of course, didn't help. The supply chain snafus didn't help.

But inflation is very, very top of mind for everyone. It doesn't matter what walk of life you come from. Everything costs more than it did. And up until the past year, real wages, they didn't grow. They were negative guys. They were negative. People were losing money in other words, , based on they weren't making enough to make up for that inflation.

So that really has weighed on, just the individuals in this country. And I think, especially on, , the younger generations, it was that it was a lot of this, like, , people just want to say what they want to say on the internet and they want that type of free so the younger generations had a lot of different reasons to vote for trump too, but I think overall yes inflation the economy even though the numbers overall look good, it didn't feel good in the wallet.

[00:12:55] Chris Versace: Well, I mean two things to that. One, we haven't seen real deflation yet across the board and and the second thing when you think about these younger voters, they aren't like us seasoned vets like bob and I up in the 50s. We'll, be gentlemen Lindsey and keep you out of that. But , we we've seen The cycle of the economy we've seen presidential elections kind of span out before and I I think if you're a young voter , if you're in your early twenties, you really haven't worked that much,

you might be getting, your adult sea legs in the last five, six years with the pandemic and all you see is these high prices out there and you see what's being reported and it's understandable that you might say, Oh, man, I can't do this again. , give me give me

something better.

Bob.

[00:13:41] Bob Lang: So I would ask you, Lindsey. Do you think that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were simply just unlucky with the timing because when they were stepping in inflation was ramping up and it peaked and then it came down. So, obviously if all you remember is, what happened to you recently.

as far as the wages are concerned, look, I mean, I get it and people are dissatisfied , with higher prices, but, at the margin, I think that a lot of industries, especially union workers, saw large pay raises over the past two and a half years, especially when some of these agreements were made these companies had to, , bend at the knee , to these unions and give them what they wanted.

And usually, in most cases, it was higher wages, but, Do you think that they were just unlucky at the time when they stepped in in 2021 and inflation was peaking or starting to peak?

[00:14:28] Lindsey Bell: Hey, look, I'm a believer that luck plays a role in a lot of aspects of our lives. It always has a little bit of impact.

And I do think that they got a little unlucky with regards to inflation, but they also don't control the wage side of the equation, right? Corporations control the wage side. And sure, there were pockets of unions and, , even lower wage earners, hourly workers, et cetera. service places got big raises. Now,

they didn't necessarily offset the rise in the cost of living, but they got big raises. It's the middle that didn't really see real wage growth over the last five years. And sure, maybe the high, the high upper, upper the end also saw increases. And so I do think that they got a little unlucky, and I do think that

we live in a free economy, right? And so it's not just up to them. I think that there's just, there's a lot of things under the surface changing, but inflation is like the 1 thing that you can grasp on to because you can see it and you feel it every day. And even if the rate of change comes down, and maybe the Harris campaign could have articulated a little better that it went from 9 percent down to above two percent. So we're moving in the right direction. I don't know if that resonates with individuals though that have to go to the grocery store every week

[00:15:46] Chris Versace: Let me say this then we'll wrap up the segment and move on I was at the grocery store yesterday and I was shocked at what my bill was in a good way because of the number of sales and other deals that were unfolding. Where I do not feel it is when I go out to eat. And what used to be, , 40 50 bucks is 80 90 bucks.

And let's not even get started about the prices for adult beverages and cocktails because that's off the chain. I candidly wonder if we will ever see deflationary forces there.

[00:16:21] Lindsey Bell: I would just add on top of that too, eating out, which everybody enjoys doing now. It's a social thing too, right?

But like, think about property taxes, guys. Those went up substantially because the value of homes went up. Well, that cuts into your wages, right? Auto insurance, we've talked about, goes up. Home insurance, all these things, benefits, the cost of healthcare has gone up significantly. Those don't get the headlines, but they are impacting the amount of money that everyday Americans have to spend.

So, it was just, it's a, it's a tough time, for sure.

[00:16:53] Chris Versace: All right, so let me, let me just wrap up because we were so excited by today's conversation that we're kind of bleeding over into topics. So let me, let me back us up a little bit and just say that as we wrap up the notion of the election after shock, right?

We've seen a huge run in the stock market. The question TBD I think is: Will we see candidate Trump enact potential policies that he boisterously discussed on the campaign trail? I think we're going to have to watch the tea leaves of his cabinet posts and other comments that are coming, , in the balance of November, December, because remember, he's not really into office until early days of 2025.

We're going to have a lot of work to do, which means you folks, out there listening, will want to keep coming back to get our thoughts on where all this is going and what you need to do. But let's segue to our second topic. And it's one that we were bandishing about, which was inflation. Just to quickly recap we are going to get some October inflation very soon.

The data that we saw August, September, depending if you're looking at core PPI, core CPI. Either sticky or moving in the wrong direction. Expectations out there are for more of the same with the October CPI and PPI and their core data points. But as Lindsey was just saying, man, oh man, there are a lot of factors that are likely to keep inflation sticky.

Let me continue with you, Lindsey. As we think about that and get ready for the data, as you kind of think back on what Fed Chair Powell had to say last week, fewer cuts? Are you worried about a December rate cut that the market thinks we still might get?

[00:18:31] Lindsey Bell: Yeah, I mean, but there's a third of a chance, one in three chance that we don't get a cut in December.

Yeah, I mean, I think I've been of the mindset I've talked about it here that inflation has been sticky, especially the shelter component. You do see it coming down slightly year over year, but it's still hanging around that 5 percent year over year increase. And so I think there's, and I just listed out a couple other areas that have been quite elevated on a year over year basis still, and are significantly up since 2020.

And so I do think that with President Trump, we talked about before, we don't know exactly what his policies are going to be. We know about tariffs. That's inflationary. There's taxes that obviously the corporate tax rate is going to at least stay where it's at.

It might go lower. These are all things and other spending areas. These, these can all be very inflationary. We've got a U. S. debt load. What is it? 37 trillion now? Where are we at?

[00:19:26] Chris Versace: , I try not to go to the scariest page on the internet, which I don't know if you agree with me on this, Lindsey, but it's usdebtclock.

org, scariest page on the internet. And, and Lindsey, when you were saying a second ago that tax rates might go lower, were you thinking or seeing a conversation around a 15 percent level for corporate tax that I saw?

[00:19:47] Lindsey Bell: Yes, exactly, which I think is just crazy.

[00:19:50] Chris Versace: It is crazy, but that is sure one way to have your S& P Capital IQ consensus 2026 EPS numbers really bounce higher.

[00:20:00] Lindsey Bell: Yeah, but who benefits from that? Do employees or do shareholders

[00:20:05] Bob Lang: shareholders.

[00:20:05] Chris Versace: Bob, Bob, next time you're gonna do that you have to buzz in.

All right. So, so Bob Lindsey's has listed a number of factors that said, yeah, inflation might be sticky. Do you have a question for you? What's going to be more important this week? Is it going to be the October CPI and PPI data that we get, or is it going to be comments from the big dog himself, Fed Chair Powell, Thursday afternoon?

[00:20:30] Bob Lang: I think the comments from Powell are going to be very important. But in addition, Chris, I think retail sales coming out this week is going to be extra. Okay,

[00:20:37] Chris Versace: let's, let's stick with my question first before you go somewhere else. So are you saying that Powell's comments will be more important than the CPI and PPI data?

[00:20:45] Bob Lang: Yeah. Yes, I do. I think last week's press conference was pretty bold by Powell saying that, listen, you know what? We're on a path here. We're gonna let the data speak to us and he's going to have this data in hand as we all will, when he's ready to talk, and I do think that what he says is going to matter a lot more than what the data is going to give us.

I think we're looking at about what a point two on the CPI for month over month. And, that's not necessarily an improvement, but it's certainly the core number is looking to improve on the estimates. But to your point, I think listening to Powell is going to be the most important thing.

[00:21:25] Chris Versace: Yeah, actually, the core inflation month over month is hunched. That's the expectation point 3. And on a year over year basis, 3. 3 percent is the expectation as well. So to Lindsey's point, still sticky. And, , what's interesting, and I know some people do this mental math, but if you take the core rate and you multiply by 12, that's actually 3.

6. Right. , I think you need to be a little careful. And it was kind of interesting what Powell said last week that they're increasingly looking at a trailing three month number. So I think we'll have to take a look at that when we get the data, both Wednesday, Thursday, CPI, then PPI, but I agree with you, Bob, and I'm not trying to push back on you, but I was really curious as to what you had to say.

I agree that it's Powell's comments and the language he uses, how he says what he says is going to have the market kind of hanging there in anticipation much like Lindsey does when she can't get the ketchup to come out of the Heinz bottle. Anticipation waiting. Lindsey, do you agree with that?

[00:22:26] Lindsey Bell: Yeah, I mean, I'm from Pittsburgh. I'm not even good at getting that ketchup out of that bottle.

[00:22:29] Chris Versace: do you know the trick? Total sidebar. Do you know the trick with the 57 on the glass bottle?

[00:22:35] Lindsey Bell: Yeah, I know it. I buy the squeeze bottles. All

[00:22:39] Chris Versace: right. So Bob, I don't know if you know this being a original California native on a Heinz glass bottle, if you can still find one, there are some key points where they have a 57 in the glass.

And that is where you're supposed to hit you hit the 57 with the palm of your hand to make the ketchup come out.

[00:22:58] Bob Lang: I didn't know that. That's new. ,

[00:22:59] Chris Versace: that's because you're so mired in red vines and what's that place? Oh, the burger joint.

Not five guys. In and out. In and out. There you go.

[00:23:07] Bob Lang: That's right.

[00:23:08] Chris Versace: All right. One, one last thing that we didn't talk about. I just want to get, , your guys takes on it. Lindsey, you said yes, tariffs could be inflationary. Lower tax rates could be inflationary. What about this saber rattling about immigration and deportation?

Does that has the potential to be inflationary at all?

[00:23:28] Lindsey Bell: So it's a double edged sword, right? We need immigration to help fuel the economy. But the more immigrants who come in, they're going to take lower wage jobs, so if all the growth what we saw in a big chunk of this year, a lot of the job growth came from immigrants and so that lowered wage growth.

But so if you have less of that, you're going to have to pay for potentially lower wage jobs. You're gonna have to pay more for domestic candidates. Right? So that could push inflation higher. So, yeah, so I think it's a, it's a double edged sword. We need immigration from an economic perspective.

That's what this country is. Right?

[00:24:08] Chris Versace: Oh, yeah. Yeah. But, but I, I, I think the concern is that if we don't have people coming into this country, taking these low skilled jobs, there's a lot of folks that. , right or wrong, they won't do those jobs for those wages, which companies might have to pay up to get people to do them.

I mean, I can't tell you that I'm going to break down and, , go, go pick strawberries. I just don't think that's going to happen. But, , again, I, I think it's another thing that we're going to have to watch to see if inflation is not only remaining sticky, but if it potentially moves the other way and what that might mean for the Fed policy.

[00:24:42] Bob Lang: Lindsey makes a great point is the trickle down effect from the immigration that is extremely positive for the economy. And I think , , people coming into this country, even if they come in illegally it's not a good thing.

But still, they, they do tend to provide a service. I'm not endorsing that as a policy here, but. Being from California and knowing that there is a lot of farmland out there, and a lot of immigrants come in from Mexico or elsewhere to do work that most Americans won't do, right? And let's just face it.

There's some jobs that Americans won't do where these immigrants will will come in and do the jobs because they're going to get paid better wages than they were from the countries that they were originating in maybe in Mexico or some other place. But the trickle down effect here in the economy is absolutely essential.

And if that stops, I don't know. It's gonna be a huge log jam. They're gonna have supply chain issues much like we had before in a different area and could cause a lot of chaos.

[00:25:44] Chris Versace: All right. Well, let's let's wrap this up kind of differently. I'm going to ask you guys rapid fire a quick question. Lindsey: Inflation, sticky or further progress ahead quick.

[00:25:55] Lindsey Bell: Sticky. Which one

[00:25:56] Chris Versace: Bob? Sticky like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth.

[00:25:59] Lindsey Bell: I'm just going to add one quick point. We also heard from two, one, one current fed person and one former fed person Kashkari and Loretta Mester.

They both are saying that there's going to most likely be less rate cuts next year than is anticipated or at least the Fed plot. Let's just say as the Fed dot plot, the 4 cuts expected by the Fed dot plot could come in.

[00:26:24] Chris Versace: I agree with you on that. , I think the consensus of the CME FedWatch tool is says that there's only 4 rate cuts left between now and the end of the year. Now three, I think it's four. I think it's four, but we'll take a look. In fact, what? It doesn't really matter because what matters is what is the market think by Friday?

So let's move on. Last question of the day, our last topic of the day. This is going to be a quick one cause we've been jawboning quite a bit today, but Bob holiday shopping season. We're almost at the mouth of it. Granted, we saw some pull forward in October with Amazon's prime big deal days.

We'll get a sense of that. with the October retail sales report you tried to talk about earlier. But here's my question. Who's coming? Bob, Santa, or the Grinch?

[00:27:11] Bob Lang: I think Santa Claus gonna make his way here to Christmastime, Chris and I know that there's a possibility that there's gonna be some disappointment, especially at the retailers with the type of products that they have and the sales that are out there.

But I have a good feeling that cyber Monday is going to be good. I think the cyber sales, which hit records last year in 2023. are going to hit records again this year. I think a lot of people, you and I do a lot of shopping online. I think we're going to see those numbers explode.

And I think there's a lot of great new items, new products out there that people are going to want to buy and put under the tree.

[00:27:46] Chris Versace: All right. So apparently, Lindsey, I have a stalker in Mr. Lang, keeping his eye on how many packages I have in front of my house. Are you, are you favoring brick and mortar this year, Lindsey, or do you agree with Bob that digital shopping is likely to kind of win out?

[00:28:03] Lindsey Bell: I do agree with Bob. I'm not sure about your shopping addiction that you allegedly have online. but I do think that I mean, I, I have family members of friends that are already starting to shop. My mom is like pinging me. What did the, your kids want? And I'm like, I don't know what they want to just buy them anything, but

[00:28:20] Chris Versace: Lindsey, just remember when it comes to kids and the holiday season and grandparents, the list is life.

[00:28:27] Lindsey Bell: I know. So I had to get on top of that. But I do think that the retailers are going to do well this holiday season. And I think what has changed, in my opinion, and Bob and I think we talked about that, and you talked about this a couple months ago, is the potential for discounting into the holiday season.

I think discounting will happen, but I don't know that it's going to be as significant or as sharp as I initially anticipated because it's going to be interesting to watch the consumer confidence surveys, consumer confidence and sentiment now that Trump is heading into the White House and if there's any impact there because if there is, it could mean more spending this holiday season too.

So yeah, I just think it's going to be a good holiday season. The other thing I would say about not just the Santa Claus rally or the end of the year rally, but also over the next 6 months is that you typically do see there could be this opportunity. Small caps do well, but developed economies, emerging markets could also.

I mean, I know there's the whole China thing, but those are areas within the market that people may be underexposed to at this point in time that could have potential to rally over the next six months.

[00:29:38] Chris Versace: , Lindsey, I think you just gave us a topic for one of our next podcasts. So let's, let's, let's put a pin in that.

And when we come back, we'll wrap everything up.

.

[00:29:50] Chris Versace: All right, Bob and Lindsey, as I like to say, let's put a bow on this week's episode. And I kind of hinted at it, but we were so enthusiastic in our conversation today that we almost lost track of time. So let's keep this real quick. Let's start with Bob, the Counselor Lang. Counselor, what

stood out to you in our conversation today?

[00:30:10] Bob Lang: It was talking about the holiday season the retail, of course, and Lindsey made some great points about discounting and and how that is going to affect holiday sales and interest in holidays and and the fact that people are getting started early. It's not even thanksgiving yet and people are still getting out there starting to shop.

So that pretty much Had a good impact on me and ending the podcast in a nice positive way Is always nice too.

[00:30:34] Chris Versace: I agree I don't really understand why folks in the neighborhood that I live in already have Christmas lights up Christmas trees up. It's not even Thanksgiving, but Lindsey what stood out to you during our conversation today?

[00:30:47] Lindsey Bell: , I know Bob just ended on a positive note, but go maybe slightly the other way. I think what stood out to me is that we had a major event uncertainty in the marketplace resolved

with

the election, but there still are some uncertainties. So again, like there, it has been an exuberance in, in the market in the last week or so, and I think it's just, , a good reminder, Chris, I think you did a good job of reminding us and questioning me in particular about the potential for market upside.

But where do interest rates go from here? What is the inflation story? Where does it go from here? What do tariffs mean? What is policy going to be from this new administration? So I think we do have some uncertainty in the marketplace.

[00:31:37] Chris Versace: Totally agree, Lindsey. And I'm gonna leave it there.

I'm gonna say , Ibbid. In other words, I agree with you. That's my gonna be my takeaway. And I just rue the day that you host the next podcast because I know I'm gonna get attacked. But you know what? that'll make for good podcasting conversations. All right, folks, that's today's episode.

Thank you so much for joining us. As always, be sure to take a look at the show notes down below. And if you need anything from Bob between now and the next podcast, march on over to explosiveoptions. net. Be sure to check out what Lindsey is doing with her newsletter, The Shift, and see her very insightful posts over on LinkedIn. As for me, Chris Versace, as always, you can find me over at the Street Pro Portfolio. Thanks for listening. We'll be back with you next week.