Gregory R Lai, CFA When most people think of investment banks, they think of chaos—trading floors, market swings, and earnings tied to whatever the market gives or takes. But every now and then, a firm quietly changes its DNA. Though as a former Morgan Stanley Managing Director, I can tell you—insiders wouldn’t describe it as quiet. Those that “were” became former Morgan Stanley. But that’s a conversation best had over beers. That said, Morgan Stanley may have changed its DNA

By Mike Petrino, Senior PM, Market Historian for Affinity Most metrics used to form expectations about future stock-market performance point to a volatile outlook. The trailing twelve-month Price/Earnings Ratio (P/E) is roughly 30x, well above the long-term average of about 18x. The largest seven stocks—NVIDIA, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Apple, and Amazon—now constitute nearly 37% of the Index on a capitalization-weighted basis. These companies, concentrated in the

OP Ed - Gregory R Lai, CFA Independence? Or theater? Every few months, headlines flare about “protecting Federal Reserve independence.” The outrage feels staged. How independent can the Fed be when its charter points in two directions at once? The dual mandate—price stability and maximum employment—is less a compass than a hall pass. Imagine one owner controlling both the Dodgers and the Yankees in the World Series. The outcome isn’t competition, it’s choreography. The Fed,