# Animal Spirits: Wil the Fed Buy Stocks? > Source: > Published: 2026-07-15 11:15:27+00:00 Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus , which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com/etfs. Please read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before investing. | © Van Eck Securities Corporation, Distributor | ## Today’s Animal Spirits is brought to you by Nuveen**:** [http://nuveen.com/alternatives](http://nuveen.com/alternatives) ## On today’s show, we discuss: [10 Reasons to be Bearish](https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2026/07/10-reasons-to-be-bearish/)[Is There An Earnings Bubble?](https://chartkidmatt.com/p/is-there-an-earnings-bubble?utm_source=chartkidmatt.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=is-there-an-earnings-bubble)[Nvidia’s $1 Trillion Slide Sends Valuation to Pre-AI Boom Levels](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-08/nvidia-s-1-trillion-slide-sends-valuation-to-pre-ai-boom-levels)[The AI Wave Is Everywhere, Even in Small Caps](https://www.carsongroup.com/insights/blog/the-ai-wave-is-everywhere-even-in-small-caps/)[The Mind Game That Investors Can’t Stop Playing](https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/the-mind-game-that-investors-cant-stop-playing-e3ad96af)[The End of Reading Is Here](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687618/) ## Listen here: ## Charts: ## Recommendations: [The Invite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ19I9q_hOQ)[How to Make a Killing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxBof_p3_es)[The Mummy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ0uv-phsDk)[When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man by Rich Cohen](https://www.amazon.com/When-Stop-Talking-Youll-Know/dp/B003FX6INM/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0)[Alien: Earth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbsiKjVAV28)[Just Go With It](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpj7i2CPt8M)[50 First Dates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17KJk3ErIx0) ## Tweets/Bluesky: GS: The momentum factor had one of the largest 3-week sell-offs on record [pic.twitter.com/Vt3dgFuLpE]— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 (@MikeZaccardi) [July 13, 2026] (1) Today we're releasing Muse Spark 1.1 — a strong agentic and coding model at a very low price. It's available through our new Meta Model API and in Meta AI. — Mark Zuckerberg (@finkd) [July 9, 2026] The S&P 500 Ex-Technology Index closed the week at new all-time highs. [$SPXT][pic.twitter.com/byaDJDGX5U]— Alfonso De Pablos, CMT (@AlfCharts) [July 13, 2026] The Advance-Decline Lines for the S&P 500, S&P 400, and S&P 600 have all pushed to fresh all-time highs. Take a look at the chart 👇 [pic.twitter.com/45Ypr8Sgsm]— Alfonso De Pablos, CMT (@AlfCharts) [July 13, 2026] Amazing chart from today's episode: It's not just that US household exposure to equities is at a record high, but that the stock market is a SIGNIFICANTLY greater component of total household net worth than real estate now, which blows my mind. The stock market is the economy. [https://t.co/sGRmUI6yQo][pic.twitter.com/OdCFr5nOKd]— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) [July 10, 2026] I published a note today that I've been thinking about for months.. About how the US stock market has arguably become too big and too imp to fail.. It's basically America's retirement fund now and poss even the savior of social security which is expected to run out of money in… [pic.twitter.com/LeKW4IXL7X]— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) [July 7, 2026] Don't "K"all it a comeback… In June, higher-income households’ after-tax wage growth eased to 4.2% YoY, while that of the lower-income cohort improved to a similar level [pic.twitter.com/Y6i2hd5fvT]— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 (@MikeZaccardi) [July 10, 2026] so far at least, i'm pretty sure AI has been net job-creating. this was not what i expected–although i was much less pessimistic than others, i thought by this level of capability we'd have seen some impact. it is possible this direction keeps going! — Sam Altman (@sama) [July 11, 2026] If you look at a chart of the YoY growth in professional and business services jobs it looks a lot more like “Pandemic overhiring bullwhip/normalization” than anything related to AI: [pic.twitter.com/95VZIkxwz4]— Conor Sen (@conorsen) [July 11, 2026] Netflix's live-action Avatar lost 59% of its audience between seasons. Beef lost 58%. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder lost 80%. HBO's The Last of Us went off the air for two years and came back with more viewers than it had before. Same long wait between seasons, opposite result.… [https://t.co/EShtI0XZFn]— Anish Moonka (@anishmoonka) [July 6, 2026] In this year’s [@Gallup]survey, 11% of U.S. adults currently take GLP-1 medications for weight loss purposes, up significantly from 3% in 2024. 15% report having used the medicine for weight loss at some point, an increase of 9 percentage points[pic.twitter.com/6yo5QgUmt5]— Kevin Gordon (@KevRGordon) [July 12, 2026] Follow us on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/animalspiritspodcast/?ref=settings), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/animalspiritspod/?hl=en), and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBRpqrzuuqE8TZcWw75JSdw). Check out our t-shirts, coffee mugs, and other swag [here](https://idontshop.com/). Subscribe here: *Nothing in this blog constitutes investment advice, performance data or any recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Any mention of a particular security and related performance data is not a recommendation to buy or sell that security. Any opinions expressed herein do not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by Ritholtz Wealth Management or its employees. * *The Compound, Inc., an affiliate of Ritholtz Wealth Management, received compensation from the sponsor of this advertisement. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. Investing in speculative securities involves the risk of loss. Nothing on this website should be construed as, and may not be used in connection with, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy or hold, an interest in any security or investment product*