A strong earnings season and continued enthusiasm around artificial intelligence are helping support U.S. equities, even as investors contend with volatility tied to inflation concerns and geopolitical tensions.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Brian Szytel, co-chief investment officer at The Bahnsen Group, about broadening market leadership, dividend-focused investment opportunities and how rising energy prices could influence the Federal Reserve’s next moves.
Key Takeaways
- Corporate earnings have remained a key driver of equity gains, with profit growth supporting markets despite periodic volatility.
- Market participation is expanding beyond technology, creating opportunities in sectors with lower valuations and stronger dividend characteristics.
- Dividend-growth strategies may offer investors a way to benefit from earnings strength while reducing reliance on momentum-driven trades.
- Higher oil prices risk adding to inflation pressures and could keep central banks on hold for longer than investors expect.
- A sustained rise in inflation combined with resilient employment data could revive discussions about additional rate increases later this year.
Read the full transcript below:
LINDSAY: Markets are back in the green this morning, but inflation remains a dark cloud over the markets as investors worry the central bank could potentially hike rates in the coming months. Let’s get more now from Brian Szytel, co-chief investment officer at The Bahnsen Group. Good morning. Thanks so much for joining us.
BRIAN: Good morning, Lindsay. Thank you.
LINDSAY: So, what do you make of the real sharp selloff we saw on Friday and the kind of rebound, the direction the markets are heading in this morning to start this Monday?
BRIAN: Well, you know, markets do that. They tend to go up one day and down the other. The results that we got out of Broadcom were actually quite good. I mean, the revenue that company saw on their specialty AI chip component was up 200 per cent year over year. So, some of these names, it’s not about execution and how the businesses are actually doing. It’s everything to do with where they’re already priced. You’re seeing some of that volatility play through, especially to some of the chip names, and that’s what we saw on Friday. Then, lo and behold, we get some of that recovery today because the story is very exciting with what’s going on with AI and the capital expenditure that’s going into it.
LINDSAY: Do you think a big part of that selloff on Friday was because of Broadcom?
BRIAN: Specifically in the chip sector, yes. Obviously, there’s continued turmoil in the Middle East, and we’ve gotten day-to-day volatility around some of those other things too. As that Middle East tension tends to heat up, you get rising oil prices. Rising oil prices feed into interest rates and that, of course, is causing some volatility in markets to some degree. By and large, the market is down three per cent or so from the highs, so we’re not talking about a very big move lower here. If anything, it gives some backfilling support to markets, and so I don’t think it’s necessarily a negative either to get some normalcy in trading.
LINDSAY: Were there any other key takeaways you had just across the slew of earnings that we saw over the last couple of weeks?
BRIAN: Earnings generally have been very, very positive. The results, I mean, we’re year over year up 27 per cent. Year to date, we’re up 13 per cent. If you look at the S&P, up around eight or so per cent year to date, you’ve actually gotten, believe it or not, a little bit of market multiple compression, and that’s a healthy thing again as we sort of backfill and trade around these things. Having markets essentially go in one direction for far too long is not necessarily a good thing, and so we want to have some give and take as we go along here.
LINDSAY: With all this volatility and everything we’ve been seeing of late, I know you have some stock picks — we’ll get to those in a minute — but first of all, in a broader sense, what’s your investment strategy right now?
BRIAN: I think it’s more focused. We’re dividend-growth investors, and so we’re going to be more value-focused in the way that we look at things. I’d say looking away from some of the momentum trades that have worked the past, call it four years in a row. Remember, markets are up double digits four years in a row. I think it’s time to look at other sectors. As markets broaden out and breadth increases, there’s opportunity there. Consumer staples, for example, as a sector are now just 4.6 per cent of the S&P 500. That’s an all-time low. That’s lower than they were in the year 2000, and I think there’s some value to be had there. Especially when you couple that with the benefit of rising dividends, you get a nice way to play this market.
LINDSAY: Okay, so let’s get to some of your stock picks. You own all of these. The first one is Accenture. What opportunities are you seeing there?
BRIAN: The stock is down almost by half. Okay, so this is a value play. This is an international global consulting firm. It’s a very relationship-oriented business, but this is the company that’s going to help implement a lot of these AI strategies into Fortune 500 companies. While the stock is off because of what AI might do to business models of software companies, we still feel very confident in a consulting business that, again, is very relationship-oriented. You get a very nice dividend yield, call it 3.7 per cent. It’s trading at 15 times earnings and has grown the dividend at 11 per cent a year for the last 20 years. So, there’s a quality name here, and it’s on sale, and we like to see that.
LINDSAY: Blackstone is another one you like right now. You say it’s one of the most mispriced large-cap stocks in the market. Tell us why.
BRIAN: This is the largest alternative asset manager in the world. This is a selloff related to what we’re seeing and essentially just the normal illiquidity of private investments like private credit. I think some of the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater in this franchise. If you think about the company that is quite literally financing all of the data centre buildout here, Blackstone is the main component of that, and we think there’s upside. There’s also a four per cent dividend yield and a very strong growth track record behind it. So, I think you can pick up shares on sale here as well.
LINDSAY: I wonder, though, is there risk also tied to financing a lot of this big AI buildout?
BRIAN: Normally, yes, but I guess when there’s $1.3 trillion in total assets in the company, you keep it in perspective. It’s a component. It just happens to be the biggest component in that data centre buildout space, but I’m not overly concerned if there’s a slowdown. I think the play with how much is going into artificial intelligence and the capital expenditure is just dwarfing what we saw in the ’90s internet boom. Again, if there’s a component of that being financed by a diversified real estate-focused and private equity-focused company like Blackstone, I think it’s a good diversified way to play it.
LINDSAY: Got it. Okay. Your last pick for today is McDonald’s. Tell us why you like this company.
BRIAN: Tried and true. There’s bifurcation, I think, in markets with different income levels and how consumers are spending. McDonald’s now has a 2.7 per cent dividend yield. If you look back in history, anything over a 2.5 per cent yield has more or less meant buy for the company. It’s raised the dividend an average of 7.5 per cent a year for 40 years. So, we’re looking at it from a value play, from a dividend-growth play, from a diversification play away from just chips in the market. I think it’s a nice complement to most portfolios, and it’s also on sale here.
LINDSAY: Just lastly, I wanted to ask you as well, because we’re obviously looking ahead to the Bank of Canada decision happening this week. The Federal Reserve’s next interest rate decision is next week, June 17. What are you watching for there? Do you think inflation and robust jobs data will play into any decisions that we see in the next couple of weeks?
BRIAN: Inflation and jobs always do play into central bank policymaking. The June meeting, I’d be really surprised if there was any change other than maybe the verbiage in the statement and maybe what is said by Waller in the press conference. Other than that, as far as rate policy goes, I think they’re going to hold steady. I think it all is tethered to what ultimately goes on as far as opening the Strait of Hormuz and how that plays into oil prices, which is what feeds into CPI. If we get some sort of resolution, then I think they’ll end up staying steady on rates. If we don’t and we get inflation sticking in the high twos or low threes toward the holidays, then I think they’re going to be forced to take a look at a rate hike before the end of the year.
LINDSAY: Okay. Brian Szytel, co-chief investment officer at The Bahnsen Group. It’s great to have you on. Thanks for joining us.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the June 8, 2026 interview with Brian Szytel are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
