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The Declines Could be Sharp and Painful – Tom Essaye Quoted in Bloomberg

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The declines could be sharp and painful warns Tom Essaye

US Stocks Bounce as Waning Trade Fears, AI Deal Fuel Dip Buying

“As long as the AI capex enthusiasm lasts, stocks can hold on,” said Tom Essaye of the Sevens Report. However, “if doubts emerge about the stimulative power of AI for the entire economy and market, then investors will have to face this less-than-ideal reality and the declines could be sharp and painful.”

Also, click here to view the full article published in Bloomberg on October 13th, 2025. However, to see the Sevens Report’s full comments on the current market environment sign up here.

If you want research that comes with no long term commitment, yet provides independent, value added, plain English analysis of complex macro topics, then begin your Sevens Report subscription today by clicking here.

To strengthen your market knowledge take a free trial of The Sevens Report.

Join hundreds of advisors from huge brokerage firms like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors, Raymond James, and more! To start your quarterly subscription and see how The Sevens Report can help you grow your business, click here.

AI Now the “Lynchpin” Holding Up Stocks, Warns Tom Essaye

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Sevens Report’s Tom Essaye cautions that AI enthusiasm is masking deeper market risks from tariffs, a cooling labor market, and government dysfunction.

‘AI is becoming a larger and larger lynchpin’ for stock market, analyst warns

Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research, warns that the stock market could face a “horror-movie scenario” if three key risks hit at once — an AI bubble burst, worsening consumer strain, and a weakening labor market. He points to OpenAI’s $500 billion valuation and stretched tech prices as signs of speculative excess. Meanwhile, rising delinquencies at companies like CarMax show lower-income consumers are increasingly pressured.

Essaye cautions that while the economy still looks stable on the surface, markets are ignoring the potential for rising unemployment and slowing growth. If AI optimism fades and consumer spending weakens, the S&P 500 could fall 20–30%, mirroring the drawn-out collapse of the early 2000s tech bubble.

Also, click here to view the full article published in MarketWatch on October 13th, 2025. However, to see the Sevens Report’s full comments on the current market environment sign up here.

If you want research that comes with no long term commitment, yet provides independent, value added, plain English analysis of complex macro topics, then begin your Sevens Report subscription today by clicking here.

To strengthen your market knowledge take a free trial of The Sevens Report.

Join hundreds of advisors from huge brokerage firms like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors, Raymond James, and more! To start your quarterly subscription and see how The Sevens Report can help you grow your business, click here.

AI Spending Boom Keeps Markets Afloat, But Risks Loom, Says Tom Essaye

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Sevens Report’s Tom Essaye warns of sharp declines if confidence in AI’s economic impact fades, while Gabelli’s John Belton urges caution against “bubble” talk.

U.S. stocks rebounded strongly, with the S&P 500 rising 1.6% driven by AI capital expenditures

Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report, said that the ongoing AI capital expenditure boom remains the key force sustaining stock market strength. However, he cautioned that if investors begin to question AI’s broader economic benefits, the resulting selloff could be “swift and painful.” Gabelli fund manager John Belton added perspective, acknowledging that while parts of the market appear overheated, labeling the trend as a full-blown “bubble” oversimplifies the situation.

Also, click here to view the full article on Chaincatcher.com published on October 13th, 2025. However, to see the Sevens Report’s full comments on the current market environment sign up here.

If you want research that comes with no long term commitment, yet provides independent, value added, plain English analysis of complex macro topics, then begin your Sevens Report subscription today by clicking here.

To strengthen your market knowledge take a free trial of The Sevens Report.

Join hundreds of advisors from huge brokerage firms like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors, Raymond James, and more! To start your quarterly subscription and see how The Sevens Report can help you grow your business, click here.

Is AI the Only Thing Supporting This Market?

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What’s in Today’s Report:

  • Last Week’s Takeaway: AI Enthusiasm Could Soon Be the Only Thing Holding Up This Market
  • Weekly Economic Cheat Sheet – Fed Surveys in Focus

Stock futures are solidly higher this morning, recovering a good portion of Friday’s losses amid easing trade war fears.

President Trump dialed back Friday’s tariff threats on China with a post on Truth Social saying “Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine,” which is fueling a relief rally today.

Economically, Chinese trade data was strong with exports jumping from 4.4% to 8.3% vs. (E) 6.5% in September.

There are no economic reports in the U.S. today and just one Fed speaker: Paulson (12:55 p.m. ET).

There is one noteworthy “bellwether” earnings release today: FAST ($0.30), however, with bond markets closed in observation of Columbus Day, it is likely to be a quiet day of volatility consolidation.

AI Rally Fades as OpenAI’s $500B Valuation Fuels Bubble Concerns – Tom Essaye

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Sevens Report president says stagflation or fading AI enthusiasm are key risks

Open AI’s Valuation: Sign of AI Confidence or Froth?

The tech sector—especially semiconductors and anything AI-related—caught a solid morning bid yesterday following reports that OpenAI’s latest secondary stock sale valued the company near $500 billion. The $10 billion employee share sale sparked fresh enthusiasm across the AI complex, fueling a wave of early risk-on momentum in big-tech names.

However, the initial surge quickly faded. Key AI leaders like NVDA gave back early gains, and while the SOX (semiconductor index) still finished higher, it closed below its open—suggesting growing reluctance among investors to chase AI stocks at historically rich valuations.

The takeaway: While the OpenAI valuation reinforced confidence in the long-term AI narrative, it also underscores how frothy sentiment has become. If investor expectations begin to recalibrate or AI momentum stalls, the risk of a meaningful profit-taking pullback in tech—and potentially the broader market—is rising.

Also, click here to view the full article featured on Barron’s published on October 3rd, 2025. However, to see the Sevens Report’s full comments on the current market environment sign up here.

If you want research that comes with no long term commitment, yet provides independent, value added, plain English analysis of complex macro topics, then begin your Sevens Report subscription today by clicking here.

To strengthen your market knowledge take a free trial of The Sevens Report.

Join hundreds of advisors from huge brokerage firms like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors, Raymond James, and more! To start your quarterly subscription and see how The Sevens Report can help you grow your business, click here.

Acknowledging the Negative Outcome

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What’s in Today’s Report:

  • Acknowledging the Negative Outcome
  • Weekly Market Preview: Does Fed Commentary Back-up Rate Cut Expectations?
  • Weekly Economic Cheat Sheet: Fed speak the key with no government data this week.

Futures are solidly higher thanks to strength in Japanese stocks following a surprise election outcome and despite no progress on resolving the U.S. government shutdown.

The Nikkei surged more than 4% after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected Sanae Takaichi to be the new Prime Minister, a mildly surprising outcome that’s seen as positive for more economic stimulus from the BOJ.

Politically, there was no progress on resolving the U.S. government shutdown over the weekend, although markets are continuing to ignore the shutdown (and likely will for another two weeks or so, should it last that long).

Today there are no economic reports so focus will remain on any progress on resolving the shutdown.  There is also one Fed speaker today, Schmidt at 5:00 P.M. ET, but his comments come after the close and shouldn’t move markets.

How ORCL Earnings Explain the Opportunities and Risks in AI

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What’s in Today’s Report:

  • How ORCL Earnings Explain the Opportunities and Risks in AI

Futures are slightly higher following a mostly quiet night of news as investors digested the better than expected PPI report and looked ahead to today’s all-important CPI.

Economically, the only notable number was Japanese PPI which was better than expected, rising 2.7% y/y vs. (E ) 2.8% y/y.  Japanese stocks rallied 1% in response.

Today brings the highlight of the week, CPI, and expectations are as follows:  0.3% m/m, 2.9% y/y.  A better-than-expected headline will solidify rate cut expectations and push back on stagflation concerns and that should be a solid market positive.  A “hot” number, however, will put three rate cuts before year-end in doubt and almost certainly pressure stocks.

Other events today include an ECB Rate Decision (E: No Changed), Jobless Claims (E: 234K) and some notable earnings reports:  KR ($1.00), ADBE ($4.21), RH ($3.20).

 

Understanding Where the “Bubble” Is in AI

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What’s in Today’s Report:

  • Understanding Where the “Bubble” Is in AI
  • Weekly Market Preview: Does the Fed Start a New Rate Cutting Cycle?
  • Weekly Economic Cheat Sheet: Fed is Key, but There’s Important Growth Data This Week, Too

Futures are slightly higher following a mostly quiet weekend and despite negative tech news and economic data from China.

China declared that NVDA had broken anti-monopoly news, escalating existing tech tensions between China and the U.S. (although this move isn’t a total surprise).

Economically, Chinese data underwhelmed as Retail Sales rose 3.4% vs. (E) 3.8% while Industrial Production gained 5.2% vs. (E) 5.6%.

Focus today will be on the first economic reading of September, the Empire Manufacturing Index (4.3) and markets will want to see stability to further push back on slowdown concerns.

Sevens Report: Tech Valuations Look Stretched Despite AI-Driven Leadership

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Massive demand for semiconductors and AI infrastructure fuels gains, but valuations raise sustainability concerns.

Tech Valuations Stretch as AI Boom Meets Investor Caution

According to the latest Sevens Report, “massive demand for semiconductors and AI infrastructure combined with the promise of AI driven leaps in profitability” have made technology the undisputed leader of the S&P 500’s advance.

But valuations now appear difficult to justify. Sevens highlighted Palantir as “the most obvious example,” calling it “a stock that is the best performer in the S&P 500 YTD but also trades at a quasi-absurd 212X forward earnings!” Even broad-based exchange-traded funds such as XLK are trading at “above 29X earnings, a level that hasn’t proven historically sustainable.”

Recent declines in AI-related names, driven by disappointing reactions to earnings at CoreWeave, Applied Materials and Cisco, provided a small relief to valuations. But Sevens warned that “the ‘bar’ to impress investors in the AI names is high.”

With rate cuts expected next month, investors are also rotating into more cyclical sectors such as utilities, industrials and financials. Still, finding value in technology remains a challenge for new money. “The reality is that finding value in the tech space is a challenge, especially for new money that needs to be allocated but doesn’t want to chase sky-high valuations,” Sevens said.

The report suggested that investors can still participate in the AI-driven rally while managing risk by using alternative ETF strategies. These include equal-weight and smart beta approaches, as well as income-focused ETFs that “boost yield, and in doing so lower the aggregate valuation of the ETF.”

“Alternative tech strategies that can complement core tech holdings can lower overall tech valuations in a client portfolio, yet still provide exposure to the key names in the space,” concluded Sevens.

Also, click here to view the full article published in Investing.com on August 21st, 2025. However, to see the Sevens Report’s full comments on the current market environment sign up here.

If you want research that comes with no long term commitment, yet provides independent, value added, plain English analysis of complex macro topics, then begin your Sevens Report subscription today by clicking here.

To strengthen your market knowledge take a free trial of The Sevens Report.

Join hundreds of advisors from huge brokerage firms like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors, Raymond James, and more! To start your quarterly subscription and see how The Sevens Report can help you grow your business, click here.

Tom Essaye Quoted In Barron’s – Two Threats Could Derail Market Rally

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Sevens Report president says stagflation or fading AI enthusiasm are key risks

2 Factors That Could Trigger a Stock Market Selloff

Despite recent economic surprises and geopolitical noise, none of it has slowed the market rally, according to Tom Essaye, president of Sevens Report Research.

“For the simple reason that they weren’t enough to make investors think that 1) tariffs may cause stagflation or 2) meaningfully reduce AI enthusiasm,” Essaye wrote.

He stressed that while conflicting inflation data, questions about data validity, and global tensions add uncertainty, investors should focus on whether developments increase stagflation risk or curb AI optimism.

“As long as the answer to both is ‘no,’ then while stocks may see some volatility, the trend in this market should remain higher,” Essaye concluded.

Also, click here to view the full article featured on Barron’s published on August 18th, 2025. However, to see the Sevens Report’s full comments on the current market environment sign up here.

If you want research that comes with no long term commitment, yet provides independent, value added, plain English analysis of complex macro topics, then begin your Sevens Report subscription today by clicking here.

To strengthen your market knowledge take a free trial of The Sevens Report.

Join hundreds of advisors from huge brokerage firms like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors, Raymond James, and more! To start your quarterly subscription and see how The Sevens Report can help you grow your business, click here.