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Mike Green returns to On The Tape discuss why U.S. equities hit record highs despite the Iran war and oil spike, arguing systematic 401(k) and volatility/trend strategies drove historic inflows and that markets had largely priced in fear via VIX, correlation, skew, and heavy hedging that later unwound. He critiques Nasdaq’s new low-float multiplier rules as boosting demand for IPOs like SpaceX/OpenAI and warns S&P’s proposal to waive profitability requirements could turn the index into a private-equity exit vehicle and alter its historical quality bias. Green views the Fed as mostly narrative-driven except during major rate shifts, faults data-dependence, and says inflation swaps don’t show a breakout, while high rates act as a fiscal transfer that reinforces a K-shaped economy. He explains passive bond indexing can underweight long-duration Treasuries, potentially motivating buybacks/yield-curve-control-like actions. The conversation also covers AI capex, emerging AI-driven job restructuring favoring older workers, and Bitcoin’s ETF-driven financialization and limited utility.
