1. Goldman Sachs strategists say buy the stock dip from Iran and AI.

Geopolitically-induced drawdowns are historically short-lived. The S&P 500 averages a drop of 6% to 8% in such episodes before resuming its ascent, according to Deutsche Bank strategists. That’s why many strategists recommend buying the dip on a medium-term horizon, especially with US mid-terms in November. That means standing firm in the face of portfolio volatility for as long as necessary.
“We hold a cautious view due to the situation in the Middle East,” says the JPMorgan Market Intelligence desk led by Andrew Tyler. “The market fallout is likely to trigger de-risking, which we feel creates a buying opportunity, should that come to fruition.

This morning the Korean stock market was taking its medicine.

2. The “March banana peel”.

Weakness in February and the early parts of March are quite common the past two decades.

3. Bond yields are going up.

The reason is that a sustained jump in oil prices is inflationary, leading fixed-income investors to demand higher yields.

4. Rotation into defensives has a lot of room to expand.

There are few places to hide right now. Bonds don’t work, given the inflation concerns. Nor does big tech, considering the AI narratives and rising yields.

Defensive sectors may be an option.

5. Defensive Danone.

With most major European countries having already announced recalls and companies presenting some quantum of direct impacts, we think a meaningful degree of the uncertainty surrounding infant milk has been cleared, presenting a path for sentiment on Danone to improve from here.
Bigger picture, ~90% of Danone's portfolio is considered "healthy", and as such is our key play on healthy eating mega-trends (i.e. gut health, high protein, GLP-1s). Beyond our +3.8% OSG forecast over 2026-28E, we think the company has capacity to drive margin expansion (+25-30bps p.a over 2025-28E) through operating leverage and efficiencies (productivity, factory closures).

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