Not a Time for Big Bets | Aahan Menon on What 60 Years of Regime Data Says About Today’s Market

Aahan Menon, founder of Prometheus Research, joins Jack Forehand to explain what systematic macro data says about economic growth, inflation, Federal Reserve policy, oil prices, AI investment and the outlook for stocks and bonds. They examine why nominal GDP remains stable, why traditional recession indicators have failed, how consumer dissaving is boosting corporate profits, and why today's unusually balanced regime probabilities make this a difficult time for large macro bets.Aahan Menon on Xhttps://x.com/AahanPrometheusPrometheus Researchhttps://www.prometheus-macro.comTopics coveredWhy geopolitical volatility and disrupted market trends make concentrated macro bets unusually difficultWhat Prometheus Research's daily GDP nowcast says about stable nominal growthWhy AI capital spending matters but consumer spending still drives the US economyHow household dissaving and the wealth effect are supporting corporate profitsWhy the economy and Federal Reserve policy may be increasingly sensitive to stock pricesHow oil prices are driving inflation volatility and changing expectations for interest ratesWhy demand-driven inflation is more persistent than supply-driven inflationHow technology investment has weakened traditional recession and business-cycle indicatorsThe value and limitations of timing Federal Reserve policy with systematic macro dataWhat macro regime probabilities, valuations and expected returns suggest for stocks, bonds and diversificationTimestamps00:02 Why this is a difficult time for big macro bets05:02 A daily GDP nowcast shows stable nominal growth09:21 Consumer dissaving and the future economic risk13:23 The wealth effect linking stocks, spending and profits17:52 Oil prices and extreme inflation volatility22:23 Separating persistent demand inflation from supply shocks27:27 Why traditional recession indicators stopped working32:55 How technology is changing the business cycle37:42 Why timing Federal Reserve cycles matters for bond returns42:28 The limitations of alternative data and short histories47:33 Macro regime forecasts and expected returns51:54 Why the macro backdrop still supports equities56:19 Why investors can finally get paid to diversifyLearn more about the Excess Returns podcast network:https://excessreturns.coNo information discussed in this podcast should be construed as investment advice. Securities discussed may be held by the hosts and guests, their firms or their clients.