Actionable market insights that have outperformed the S&P 500 for over 26 years.

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June 2026 - The Inflation Specter

May 31, 2026

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In May, it was reported that sharp increases in energy costs caused by war in the Middle East caused inflation to spike to 3.8 percent, pushing the inflation rate even higher above the Federal Reserve’s targeted mandate of 2.0 percent. Wholesale prices also increased, indicating more inflation is in the pipeline. In response, yields on Treasury securities rose, with the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond climbing above 5 percent to its highest level since 2007.

Traditionally, stubbornly high inflation and rising Treasury bond yield is very bad news for stocks. However, the market was not rattled. Why not?

Investment Performance Comparison

Growth of $100,000 invested in 2000

This chart shows the growth of $100,000 invested in the S&P 500 (in gray) since 2000 would have grown to $465,820, versus $834,366 if it was invested in the Sound Advice recommendations (in blue) for 79 percent more capital return.

About the Author

Gray Cardiff has been the editor of Sound Advice since its inception in 1988. The Sound Advice Model Portfolio has significantly outpaced the return of the S&P 500 Index since 2000 with less volatility and risk. Mr. Cardiff also manages the Sound Advice Diversified Growth Fund, which maintains positions exclusively in all of the Sound Advice model portfolio recommendations. He is also an investor in the Fund on a side-by-side basis with other investors.

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Gray Cardiff invites you to invest side-by-side with him in the Sound Advice Diversified Growth Fund. Mirroring all newsletter recommendations, the Fund offers flexible income distributions, and is IRA-eligible.

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The Sound Advice Model Portfolio

Stock and fund prices may delayed by up to 20 minutes.

Growth with Income	Symbol	Price	Yield (%)	Action	Limit
Chevron	CVX	191.37	3.57	Hold
Cisco Systems	CSCO	118.20	1.39	Buy	124.11
Haliberton	HAL	42.30	1.61	Hold
Invesco Consumer Staples ETF	RSPS	29.87	2.78	Buy	31.31
JP Morgan Chase	JPM	303.00	1.85	Buy	328.89
RLJ Lodging	RLJ	9.61	6.24	Buy	10.75
RLJ Lodging Trust - Preferred A ¹	RLJ-PA	25.23	7.73	Hold	25.00
Valero	VLO	253.77	1.78	Hold

Growth	Symbol	Price	Yield (%)	Action	Limit
Exxon Mobil	XOM	156.28	2.64	Hold
Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector	ARKG	30.53		Buy	31.36
Golbal Robotics & Automation ETF	ROBO	85.24	0.36	Buy	85.73
Invesco Basic Materials ETF	RSPM	38.13	1.84	Buy	41.36
Invesco Health Care ETF	RSPH	30.80	0.71	Buy	31.96
Invesco Small Cap Industrials ETF	PSCI	166.09	0.57	Buy	181.15
Moderna	MRNA	47.26		Buy	48.24
S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF	RSP	204.71	1.40	Buy	213.61
Virtus LifeSci Biotech Products	BBP	86.81		Buy	89.02

Hedges	Symbol	Price	Yield (%)	Action	Limit
ProShares UltraShort Pro Russell	SRTY	26.50	5.28	Buy	29.44
ProShares UltraShort Russell 2000	TWM	23.81	2.31	Buy	25.89
ProShares UltraShort S&P 500	SDS	58.09	1.39	Buy	64.96

More Updates

May 2026 - Staying the Course

2026/05/01

Last month we advised not to get sidetracked by the spectacle of the military activities and lose sight of the major trend, which is revealed by our Diffusion Indexes. Since then, the S&P 500 rose to record highs.

We rely on the Sound Advice Diffusion Indexes (page 9) to identify business cycles because they have an accurate track record of predicting major stock market trends for the last 50+ years. They work by observing changes in the most sensitive leading and lagging economic indicators that lead to shifts in interest rates...

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April 2026 - A Buying Opportunity?

2026/03/31

It has been a wild month with the first significant downdraft since last April. The Sound Advice portfolio did well in the first quarter, thanks primarily to our energy holdings and downside hedges, but the overall market did not. It was very easy to get sidetracked by the spectacle of the military activities and lose sight of the major trends. When the activities die down in Iran, oil prices are certain to drop, perhaps not to the low levels seen before escalations, but substantially lower than they are now...

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March 2026 - A Tale of Two Markets

2026/02/28

It has been the best of times for stock market indexes. The S&P 500 Index rose 16.4 percent in 2025 because the Magnificent 7 -- Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet Class A (Google Class A & C), Tesla, Meta Platforms Class A, and Broadcom – did very well and comprised 37.7 percent of the S&P 500 Index due to their heavy capitalization weighting. It was the worst of times for rest of the market. Churning and rotations undermined the other 493 stocks comprising the S&P 500 Index. Without the Magnificent 7, the Index rose only 2.9 percent.

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February 2026 - Staying Ahead of the Crowd

2026/02/01

At the end of January, the so-called Magnificent 7 reported earnings that were good, but not good enough in view of the growth expected by sky-high price earnings ratios averaging 78.5. The reactions were mixed and the group has been flat so far this year. In 2025, the Magnificent 7 -- Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet Class A (Google Class A & C), Tesla, Meta Platforms Class A, and Broadcom – did very well and comprised 37.7 percent of the S&P 500 Index because of the heavy capitalization weighting.

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