Thoughtful Money with Adam Taggart

Chris Irons, author and publisher of Quoth The Raven, is a contrarian market analyst focused on private credit, commodities, and defensive sector calls. He breaks down growing private credit stress, gated redemptions, and contagion risks to banks and commercial real estate. He also discusses energy and miners as opportunities, war-driven oil spikes, and why valuations and liquidity fragility matter now.

John Rubino, monetary analyst behind DollarCollapse and a Substack on monetary collapse, warns major fiat currencies are in a 'death spiral' driven by debt and money printing. He discusses AI-driven job disruption and geopolitical risks. He highlights widening wealth gaps, the case for precious metals and commodities, and practical resilience strategies for protecting wealth and wellbeing.

Mike Preston, lead partner and portfolio manager focused on downside protection. John Lodera, lead partner and market strategist specializing in tactical risk management. They debate headline-driven volatility, Iran-related market moves, bond and commodity reactions, narrow S&P ranges that could burst, valuation signals of weak long-term returns, sector rotation, AI hype risks, and how to balance offense and defense in portfolios.

Michael Lebowitz, portfolio manager and market analyst focused on risk controls and sector allocation. He discusses market moves after the Iran conflict, why portfolios are being trimmed to neutral, technical triggers to watch like the 100/200-day moving averages, stresses in private credit and widening spreads, and the dollar’s rising impact on bonds and emerging markets.

David Rosenberg, economist and founder of Rosenberg Research, offers a skeptical read on the touted policy-driven growth. He discusses how AI capex masks weak traditional investment. He warns the stock market’s wealth effect and collapsing savings rate are propping up consumption. He flags credit strain for lower-income households and risks from valuation extremes and geopolitical shocks.

Kjirstin Breure, President and CEO of HydroGraph Clean Power, leads a company that synthetically makes high-performance graphene for industrial, defense, and energy uses. She explains HydroGraph’s detonative synthesis versus exfoliation, why graphene quality and form factors matter, how it’s mixed into composites and coatings, and the major commercial and defense applications poised to drive adoption.

Darius Dale, CEO of 42Macro and macro strategist known for systematic market regime models, outlines why he sees durable tailwinds for international, small-cap, and cyclical stocks. He links AI-driven productivity convergence, a weakening dollar, fiscal and monetary easing, and bank deregulation to a multi-year rotation. Also covers KISS, a simple systematic portfolio allocating equities, gold, and bitcoin.

Ryan Bohl, a Mideast analyst at RANE, breaks down the recent US-Israel strikes on Iran and Tehran's regional retaliation. He discusses leadership decapitation, Iran's command resilience, air superiority and strike goals, regional responses and Gulf state calculations. Scenarios range from energy shocks to slow reform, plus implications for intelligence, diplomacy, and market risks.

Lance Roberts, portfolio manager and market commentator known for technical and macro analysis. He argues markets sit at a critical crossroads and recommends trading the breakout either direction. Topics include inflation and AI-driven labor shifts, rising private credit concerns, a US manufacturing rebound tied to hyperscaler capex, and recent tactical portfolio moves.

Melody Wright, a housing market analyst who studies affordability and distressed-seller dynamics. She warns a spreading correction will push prices back toward income-aligned levels. She explores rising inventory from aging owners and heirs, shadow-market private sales and appraisal issues, plus risks from rising delinquencies, private credit fragility, and falling rents.