Jonathan Corpina, senior managing partner at Meridian Equity Partners, joins Remy Blaire to break down markets as the S&P 500 crosses 7,000 and investors await key signals from the Federal Reserve.
Remy: It is finally Fed Day and after a volatile start to the new year, the S&P 500 hitting new record highs and breaking 7000 for the first time ever this morning after three straight years of double digit gains. Meanwhile, the US dollar is fairly stable after extending losses. This came after Trump said he’s not concerned about the recent decline in the US currency. Joining me this morning is Jonathan Corpina, a senior managing partner at Meridian Equity Partners. Jonathan, thank you so much for joining me on S&P 500 7,000.
Jonathan: Yes. Special day.
Remy: Yeah. And so we’ve hit that level. But we are looking at mixed trading now for the major U.S. stock averages with the Dow coming below flat. So what do you make of what we’ve seen so far in 2026?
Jonathan: Right. So you know coming into 2026 high expectations to continue the follow through that we saw in 2025 I think, you know, you and I have had this conversation many times. There’s the same headwinds that are in front of us that we discussed at 2025 are still here. Clearly today we’re going to we’re going to hear a little bit more from the fed about interest rates.
We’re all planning that there’s going to be no cut, which is fine, but it’s going to be the reasoning why there was no cut. We want to hear that in the Q&A. We want to hear that in the statement and some insight moving forward. We all, we all feel and know that rates are going to come lower at some point. They moved high very fast.
It’s not it’s going to take some time for them to come back in, but hearing from the fed today is going to be very important. We still have our geopolitical risks, as we hear from President Trump today of our ships moving closer to Iran, and that slowly is starting to escalate. We’re going to continue to watch the headlines here. But as of now, yes, a little bit disconnect between the Dow and the other indices. But overall, good to see that the market is trending higher.
Remy: You bring up an important point because there’s a lot of noise out there, isn’t there? Whether we’re talking about politics or geopolitics.
Here on Wall Street, we do pay attention to what’s happening outside these walls, obviously, but we do keep an eye on those numbers. So when we break down the gains in the S&P 500, we are seeing that energy materials as well as industrials, consumer staples even are leading the way higher for the S&P 500.
So do you expect more of the same? And tell us a little bit about what you’re seeing when it comes to rotation.
Jonathan: I think we’re going to continue to see the rotation right. We’ve talked about tech stocks and the Mag 7 before. And this week is going to kick off some important earnings in that area. That will continue through next week. So for now they’ll be in the forefront. They’ll be the favorite. But we will see that rotation. I think investors are kind of trying to enjoy the best of both worlds. They want their yield. They want their return.
While this market is moving higher and don’t want to miss out on it, but they do want to protect themselves in case we do have a pullback. So you see that rotation into some of the safer sectors or the ones that can provide some of that shielding and shelter, whether that’s energy whether that’s the higher dividend stocks that are that are yielding good numbers out there.
So we will continue to see this rotation. And that’s natural as this market moves higher. Let’s just all keep in mind that as this market moves higher we are going to have some bumps in the road. We are going to have some catalysts that will cause investors to take some fear, take some risk off the table and take some of their short term profits off the table. So the volatility that we’ve seen in our markets, if you go back towards last week, the Greenland headlines hit on markets down 1.5% -almost 2% – and then bounce back the next day. We’re going to see a lot of that volatility. I would I would advise investors out there to be patient. You will see these swings, but it’s kind of a two step forward one step back mentality. We’re going to continue to tick higher.
Remy: I think that’s important as we go through earnings season to keep that in mind, especially with all of the political geopolitical headlines that are coming through. But one clear winner so far when it comes to asset classes is precious metals. We’ve seen gold and silver rally to new highs. And of course, gold may be coming off all time highs, but it is still elevated above 50 to 70. So do you expect more of the same?
Jonathan: I do. I can’t think of a headline that’s going to stop our gold and silver press higher. We’re going to still have these uncertainties in our markets, these uncertainty in our economy. Think investors have felt much more comfortable diversifying their portfolios into areas that could provide some safety.
That has been gold and now most recently silver. We’re going to continue to see that. And again, I don’t think that there’s a headline out there that’s really going to spook that market that’s there. A good sign to me is that investors are, in fact, diversifying their portfolios and are looking for safe havens there. Gold has always been that safe haven – not always traded in the same correlation of our volatility on all markets. but nice to see now that it is in the mix. It will be interesting to see if we have a 2%, 3% pullback on any headline, whether it warrants it or not. The impact of investing in gold, we’re going to probably continue to see that. So I don’t see that slowdown anywhere in sight anytime soon.
Remy: When we talk about diversification as well as volatility, we also pay attention to what’s happening in bonds, not just yields here in the US but also overseas. And of course, the FX markets, especially given what we’re seeing with the U.S. currency. So what is the key takeaway and what is the signal that you’re watching?
Jonathan: Key takeaways is that there’s a massive disconnect going on right now. We normally see this inverse relations in trading and equities and bonds. And at this point, we’re not we’re not seeing that direct correlation.
Yes. We continue to watch yields in the short term and long term bonds that that in the US and internationally. But at this point we’ll go back to the uncertainty in our markets. We’ll go back to the uncertainty in the fed. All of this changes what we were taught in the textbooks. This is kind of unchartered territory.
So I think we have to be patient. I think we we can’t be over reactionary. We have to kind of wait to see if and when dust settles, and those opportunities there. And then again, you know, coupling these geopolitical risks. The Venezuela headline went away very quickly. The Greenland headline went away very quickly.
We still have the current headlines of Iran, a few weeks ago. We saw some plans for what’s going to happen in Gaza. You and I have spoken about China, Taiwan, and that headline just always pops its head up and then goes away very quietly. So when you have these geopolitical risks that are out there, it’s going to continue to cause this uncertainty, which will cause a disconnect or fluctuation between the equity markets and the bond markets.
Remy: Finally, Jonathan, before I let you go, I do want to round out this conversation by focusing on the nation’s capital. So as you mentioned earlier, Trump will be speaking later. And later on we’ll be focusing on the Federal Reserve, not just the FOMC, but what Powell will be saying. And there are also concerns about a partial government shutdown coming down the pike. This would come on the heels of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. So what do you think we need to be paying attention to?
Jonathan: Remy, that’s a great point. That’s another headline that’s out there that can definitely put some pressure on our markets. Of the government shutdown that’s looming at this point right now. Based off of what happens before we can see this going down a certain path that we might not want it to go down to. Listen, I think we need to get some clear messages out of DC. That might be wishful thinking, but it’s not always what we get from Powell. Today we’re going to have to get some insight, some information as to what their thought process is. I’m not saying that a pause is incorrect, but it’s always good to understand why they have that on the table.
And we can then take that information and see how that’s going to play into the next round of fed decisions. And then as far as our president is concerned, we need to we need to continue to work with this this message of working with other countries and working on tariffs and the implications of tariffs and how that all plays out. So I think we’re going to need some clear messages out of Washington. Not always what we get, but certainly on my wishlist early in the year now.
Remy: Jonathan, always great talking to you. Thank you so much for joining me on this Wednesday and I appreciate all of your insights. Thank you.
Jonathan: Have a great day. Thank you.