Latest from BCA Research
MacroQuant recommends a slight underweight position in equities, and favors a below-benchmark duration stance in fixed-income portfolios. The model is very positive on the US dollar, neutral on gold, constructive on copper, and very bullish on oil.
Despite today’s hold, the bar for a rate hike in September remains low and contingent on the next two core CPI reports.
Small-cap outperformance has been driven mostly by within-sector stock selection, not differences in sector weighting. With the small-cap earnings catch-up reversing and leverage rising, we would fade the low-quality small-cap rally. We still want cyclical and AI exposure, but through higher-quality large caps rather than highly levered small-cap Tech. We are also opening a small-cap Health Care trade as an idiosyncratic way to gain exposure to the M&A cycle.