Volatility tied to geopolitics, oil prices and a wave of high-profile technology IPOs could create buying opportunities for investors focused on quality companies with strong profitability and competitive advantages.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management, who discussed the impact of easing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, the potential effect of upcoming IPOs on technology stocks and opportunities in Apple and data centre-related infrastructure.
Key Takeaways
- Progress toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz could ease oil-price pressures and support broader risk assets if shipping traffic continues to normalize.
- Upcoming IPOs and equity raises tied to major artificial intelligence companies could prompt investors to sell existing holdings to free up capital, contributing to near-term volatility.
- Pullbacks in high-quality companies with durable earnings, strong balance sheets and clear profitability may present buying opportunities during the summer.
- Apple remains attractive because of its cash position, steady earnings growth and potential to benefit from future artificial intelligence opportunities without matching competitors’ spending levels.
- Emcor is benefiting from growing demand for data centre construction, electrical infrastructure and liquid-cooling systems required for artificial intelligence computing.
Read the full transcript below:
MERELLA: Oil prices, as we said, are slipping today after the U.S. president announced a possible deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The development also caused equities and bonds to jump. Let’s talk about this with Brian Mulberry. He is the chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management. Thanks for joining us today.
BRIAN: Absolutely.
MERELLA: West Texas Intermediate last night was down more than five per cent, close to six per cent so far today. Do you see the drop as just temporary until there’s a clearer understanding of how much supply can get through?
BRIAN: Well, I see the drop as a little bit more lasting this time. We’ve obviously seen volatility as the negotiations haven’t really been all that trustworthy, if you will. But this time, the fact that they’re actually going to physically sign a document and that there seems to be activity in the Strait of Hormuz, that seems to me to be a clear signal. We also broke through the clear threshold of US$80 a barrel. I think that’s an important moment and that we’re likely to see this type of decline last longer than what we have over the last couple of months.
MERELLA: Okay, so you don’t expect the volatility to continue for the rest of the year, or do you?
BRIAN: Well, obviously it all comes down to the actual traffic normalizing through the Strait of Hormuz. We’re seeing positive indications that ships are preparing to sail and all of that kind of stuff. But we need to get back to that regular traffic of 100 to 120 vessels a day going in and out of the strait. Obviously, we’ve only seen a handful in the last 24 hours. That’s better than zero, but it’s not normalized traffic. So it comes down to the actual movement of the goods through the strait, and we expect that to happen immediately once the memorandum is signed.
MERELLA: Okay, so let’s talk about the markets. From last Friday, SpaceX, of course, stole the spotlight. Is it something you invested in? Why or why not?
BRIAN: We did not. For us at Zacks, we’re all about earnings, which is just another way of tracking profitability. While SpaceX is a gigantic company with three distinct businesses, we’re still not seeing a clear road to profitability, at least in the short term. In the long term, there are definitely models out there for them to capture a lot of revenue, but there are some questions for us.
We know that Google and Anthropic are going to pay US$2 billion a month for data out of xAI, but xAI is spending even more than that, US$25 billion to US$30 billion in capital expenditures. So they’re not cash-flow positive there. There are some indications from Starlink that you have enough subscriptions to carry the day, where you might generate enough revenue, but we’re just not clear yet.
We also want some of the dust to settle. Obviously, it’s getting a nice pop. We don’t necessarily expect the price to ever come back below the issue price of US$135, but once all of the institutional trading settles down after the inclusion into the Nasdaq, we feel like there might be a better entry point than what we’re finding right at this moment.
MERELLA: All right. Do you feel, Brian, that other tech stocks got hit as investors were looking to reroute their money to SpaceX?
BRIAN: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s not just SpaceX. When you look at OpenAI, Anthropic and even Google, which is going to do an US$80-billion raise in the equity markets, you’re talking about US$350 billion-plus in opportunities for investors to look at. But they’re going to have to sell something to buy into that opportunity.
So I do think part of the volatility we’ve seen in the last five to seven trading sessions has been exacerbated by the fact that people are raising cash to participate in these IPOs.
MERELLA: All right. Are there certain pullbacks at this point you would invest in?
BRIAN: Yeah. I think now that we have a little bit of a dynamic here again, a better understanding of where the future of commodity prices is going to be, we’re even seeing interest rates coming down measurably. That lowers the pressure, if you will, on the cost of capital, even on a global basis. That’s better for growth all around.
So now I would say that if there are pullbacks, and there could be a few through the summer, those are buying opportunities for high-quality companies with large moats and clear profitability.
MERELLA: Okay. One of them, I know you’re watching, is Apple. Are you already invested in Apple? Are you looking to pick up more, or are you looking to start a position?
BRIAN: We actually have owned Apple for quite some time, and we’re adding to it through some of the pullbacks that you’re finding. Some of the valuations we’ve seen in the technology sector have gotten a little bit crazy. Apple’s been a little bit behind, but it’s starting to catch up.
We feel like they’ve just done a great job of moderating their spending and not participating in the craziness of all the capital expenditures. They’ve kept US$180 billion in cash on their balance sheet, so if they wanted to, or felt like they needed to, they could make a big splash at any one moment. I feel like the market wants them to, but they’re just steadily going about their business and doing what they do.
They had a really nice cycle of upgrades in the iPhone 17. With 2.5 billion users worldwide, that translates to a lot of revenue growth all on its own. So I feel like Apple is really in a solid position and a little bit of a buffer against some of the volatility that might happen in the technology sector.
MERELLA: All right. Tell me about Emcor. This is one you’re watching as well. What do you like about it?
BRIAN: Emcor is one of these names that has kind of come out of the ether over the last couple of years because they’re just so good at what they do. It’s a construction company, but they do both electrical wiring and plumbing, and they’re really good at intricate design and buildouts. That makes them the perfect partner for data centres.
When you’re talking about having to do the plumbing for liquid-cooled GPUs and that type of setup, and also the actual power design that’s going to need a lot of copper harnesses and things of that nature, the wiring, the plumbing — their business is growing. They’ve made some strategic acquisitions and they’re able to grow with it. Their profitability and margins are increasing.
So we feel like this is a name that’s done really well over the last 12 months, but it actually has more room to run because of its competitive moat.
MERELLA: Let me touch on something you did speak a little bit about, and that’s the fact that we have these other two big IPOs coming later in the year. Anthropic is one of them. OpenAI is the other. You expect to see people moving their money around to get ready for that?
BRIAN: Yeah, I would expect so. It’s just a huge amount of capital that they’re asking the market to provide in these public offerings of shares. So I think there are some people who are going to have to make some choices. Do they sell out of some of the winners that have occurred, or are they looking for a better opportunity from different sectors that are out there?
When I look back over the last 90 days, technology as a sector is up almost 30 per cent. The next closest is health care at 4.5 per cent. So there’s a lot of lagging in the other sectors outside of technology.
People are going to have to make decisions. I just don’t see that much cash on the sidelines that could absorb US$350 billion in new shares being offered on the public market. People are going to have to make choices.
MERELLA: Brian Mulberry, good to have you, sir. Thanks for joining us. Brian is chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the June 15, 2026 interview with Brian Mulberry 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.
