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Chicago, IL – March 25, 2025 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights IonQ (IONQ - Free Report) , iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM - Free Report) , the iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF (IEUR - Free Report) , S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY - Free Report) and Goldman Sachs (GS - Free Report) .
Wall of Worry: Contrarians Points to Market Upside
Insider Buys Spike
I often warn investors that insider selling can be a tricky metric to track because company executives will sell stock for a variety of reasons. For instance, many insider sales are pre-planned or are sold due to taxes. In addition, a company executive may sell a stock because they want to retire or purchase a new home – not necessarily because they think their stock will fall. Conversely, insider buying can be among the best signals for individual stocks.
For example, a IonQ insider made an unusually large stock purchase a few weeks ago. Since then, the stock has soared more than 20%. Beyond individual stocks, investors can measure insider buying as a whole to gauge the market. When an insider buys their own stock, they only have one goal – making money. In addition, these insiders have access to valuable information that the general public doesn’t. Insider buying recently spiked across the market, and the insider buy/sell ratio has reached its highest level since May.
CTAs Are Caught Offside
A Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) is a firm that offers trading and investment services related to futures contracts, commodity options, and swaps. For years, U.S. stocks have outperformed international peers. However, year-to-date, global markets, like the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF and the iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF, have finally enjoyed some rotation and are outperforming the S&P 500 Index ETF handily.
While the rapid rotation and outperformance of European stocks are impressive, new Goldman Sachs data suggests that CTA’s may have moved to the other side of the boat too fast. According to Goldman, “CTAs are short $34 billion of U.S. equities vs long $52 billion of European equities…that spread is the largest we have ever seen by a decent margin.”
Media Terrified About Economic Uncertainty
Sentiment is one of the biggest drivers of stocks in the short-term. Recently, newspapers have been writing about economic uncertainty – a lot. According to NextGen News, “Uncertainty has ramped up over the past 50 days, mostly due to the Trump administration’s vacillations regarding trade policy. This often has a chilling effect on business planning, and stock markets have responded by suffering losses. However, by the time the uncertainty index reached its current level in the past, most of the market losses had already been suffered, and recovery was soon at hand.”
Bottom Line
If history teaches investors anything, it’s that stock markets like to climb the “Wall of Worry.” Three metrics suggest that they may be ready to do just that.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights IonQ, EEM, IEUR, SPY and Goldman Sachs
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 25, 2025 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights IonQ (IONQ - Free Report) , iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM - Free Report) , the iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF (IEUR - Free Report) , S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY - Free Report) and Goldman Sachs (GS - Free Report) .
Wall of Worry: Contrarians Points to Market Upside
Insider Buys Spike
I often warn investors that insider selling can be a tricky metric to track because company executives will sell stock for a variety of reasons. For instance, many insider sales are pre-planned or are sold due to taxes. In addition, a company executive may sell a stock because they want to retire or purchase a new home – not necessarily because they think their stock will fall. Conversely, insider buying can be among the best signals for individual stocks.
For example, a IonQ insider made an unusually large stock purchase a few weeks ago. Since then, the stock has soared more than 20%. Beyond individual stocks, investors can measure insider buying as a whole to gauge the market. When an insider buys their own stock, they only have one goal – making money. In addition, these insiders have access to valuable information that the general public doesn’t. Insider buying recently spiked across the market, and the insider buy/sell ratio has reached its highest level since May.
CTAs Are Caught Offside
A Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) is a firm that offers trading and investment services related to futures contracts, commodity options, and swaps. For years, U.S. stocks have outperformed international peers. However, year-to-date, global markets, like the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF and the iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF, have finally enjoyed some rotation and are outperforming the S&P 500 Index ETF handily.
While the rapid rotation and outperformance of European stocks are impressive, new Goldman Sachs data suggests that CTA’s may have moved to the other side of the boat too fast. According to Goldman, “CTAs are short $34 billion of U.S. equities vs long $52 billion of European equities…that spread is the largest we have ever seen by a decent margin.”
Media Terrified About Economic Uncertainty
Sentiment is one of the biggest drivers of stocks in the short-term. Recently, newspapers have been writing about economic uncertainty – a lot. According to NextGen News, “Uncertainty has ramped up over the past 50 days, mostly due to the Trump administration’s vacillations regarding trade policy. This often has a chilling effect on business planning, and stock markets have responded by suffering losses. However, by the time the uncertainty index reached its current level in the past, most of the market losses had already been suffered, and recovery was soon at hand.”
Bottom Line
If history teaches investors anything, it’s that stock markets like to climb the “Wall of Worry.” Three metrics suggest that they may be ready to do just that.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
See Stocks Free >>
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.