Michael A. Gayed, CFA
Bio
5x Dow & Founders Award Winner. Risk-On/Off $RORO ETF, Junk-On/Off $JOJO ETF, & $ATACX Mutual Fund Portfolio Manager. Publisher Of The Lead-Lag Report.
The Lead-Lag Report
leadlagreport.substack.com
Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

IEA just released 400M barrels from emergency reserves.

That's one-third of their total stockpile. For context, the largest prior release was during the 1973 oil crisis.

This is not normal. $WTI

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

$EEM down 14% from its February highs.

EM rallied on dollar weakness. Now oil is the wrecking ball.

Every emerging market playbook just got rewritten by one strait.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

Dow below 47K. S&P at 2026 lows. Three straight weeks of losses.

The "buy the dip" crowd is running out of dips to buy.

This is what repricing looks like. Slow. Grinding. Relentless. $DIA

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

Copper at $5.63/lb. Down 3% on the day.

Oil screams supply shock. Copper whispers demand destruction.

When oil and copper diverge like this, one of them is wrong. $HG_F

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

Big Tech committed $660-690B in AI capex for 2026. Nearly double 2025.

Meanwhile the S&P is at its lows and payrolls went negative.

AI is building the future with money the economy no longer generates.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

Silver up 153% in a year. Gold up 71%.

Silver is outperforming gold by 2:1 and nobody is talking about it.

$GLD gets the headlines. $SLV does the work.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

BOJ meets the same week as the Fed.

Rate at 0.75%. Expected to hike to 1% by June.

35 trillion yen in carry trade forwards. If BOJ hikes, the unwind starts. $FXY

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

AAII bearish sentiment: 46.4%.

Up 11 points in one week. That's a panic reading.

Historically, extreme bearishness precedes sharp rallies. But history didn't have $100 oil and a closed strait.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

$BTC at $71K. Down 44% from its October highs.

Fear & Greed at 15. Extreme fear.

Crypto was supposed to be the inflation hedge. Instead it trades like leveraged Nasdaq.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

Energy stocks at all-time highs while $SPY sits at 2026 lows.

Exxon, Chevron, Marathon ripping. Everything else bleeding.

This isn't a market. It's a bifurcation hiding in plain sight.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

Morgan Stanley's private credit fund: investors wanted 10.9% out. They got 5%.

Cliffwater's $33B fund: investors wanted 14% out. Got 7%.

Private credit is a roach motel. $MS

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

Gold above $5,100. Up 71% in a year.

Central banks aren't buying gold because they like the color.

They're buying it because they no longer trust the system they built. $GLD

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

FOMC meets next week.

98% chance they hold. Oil at $100. Payrolls negative. CPI at 2.4%.

Cut -> inflation. Hold -> recession. Hike -> collapse.

The Fed has no good options. None. $SPY

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

$VIX near 27.

Not panic. Not calm. Just enough fear to keep you from acting, not enough to force capitulation.

The worst kind of volatility is the kind that makes you freeze.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-14

Brent above $100. WTI near $99.

Strait of Hormuz shut. 20% of global oil at risk. IEA released 400M barrels from reserves — the largest ever.

And it barely moved the needle.

$WTI $USO

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-13

Silver up 144% over the past year.

Nobody is talking about it. That's how it always starts.

$GLD gets the headlines. Silver does the work.

$SLV

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-13

Goldman: Fed cut pushed to September.
Fed futures: December 2027.

The Fed is not just behind the curve. They're in a different zip code.

Hold → recession. Cut → inflation. I will not relent on this: there are no good options.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-13

$WTI front-month surging. Long-dated barely moving.

That's backwardation. The market is screaming: this supply shock is real and immediate.

When the curve screams, listen. Most people don't.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-13

I fast regularly. 36-48 hours at a time.

The discipline it builds is the same discipline that keeps you from panic-selling at lows.

Your edge in markets isn't your model. It's your nervous system.

Train it.

Michael A. Gayed, CFAleadlagreport
2026-03-13

AI capex up 35%+ YoY, propping up growth.

Private credit imploding, dragging down the companies AI is destroying.

AI builds with one hand. Destroys with the other.

The irony is breathtaking. $QQQ

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