Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk.
Evercore ISI is making the case that the most overlooked names in the S&P five hundred are exactly where investors should be positioned heading into earnings season. The firm argues that profit growth — not AI hype — will be the real driver of index gains, and that the least loved, most under-owned large caps carry the most upside as results come in.
Shifting from equities to the executive suite, McKinsey's latest Global CFO Forum is highlighting a meaningful structural shift in how large companies are run. Finance chiefs at roughly one hundred organizations across more than thirty countries are increasingly owning corporate strategy outright — not just advising on it. The CFO role is quietly becoming the most powerful seat in the C-suite.
And in geopolitics with a direct read-through to energy markets, the Strait of Hormuz is back in focus. Vessels are reportedly going dark as tensions mount in what one analyst is calling an undeclared naval confrontation. Oil prices are ticking higher on the uncertainty, and with the midterm clock running, the pressure on the administration to de-escalate is building fast.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
