Vegh Wealth Management

10/24/2026

What the “SaaSpocalypse” Can Teach Investors About Narratives, Fundamentals, and Time Horizons

In this month’s edition of the Equity Research team’s flagship “Beyond the Numbers” publication, we discuss the potential threat that personal artificial intelligence (AI) agents, like Meta Platforms’ (META) recently released Muse, pose for consumer facing online businesses. In the note, we touch upon how markets got it wrong with a similar narrative earlier this year. In today’s market article, we dive deeper into what happened and what can be learned from the “SaaSpocalypse”.

Markets are forward-looking, but they are not always patient. Earlier this year, investors rapidly embraced the dramatic idea that AI coding tools could create many of the typical software applications businesses use, obviating the need for subscription-based “Software-as-a-service” (“SaaS”) licenses. The selloff in large “SaaS” stocks, which was quickly coined the “SaaSpocalypse,” showed how a plausible long-term risk can become an overpowering short-term narrative, and lead investors to “sell first and ask questions later”. The industry’s subsequent recovery offers a useful lesson for investors. In equity markets, narratives drive price in the short run, business value drive returns in the long run, and those two can diverge significantly, sometimes for months at a time.

LPL Research analyses what can be learned from the “SaaSpocalypse” and why investors should weigh market narratives against underlying fundamentals.

10/24/2026

Weekly Market Performance — October 23, 2026

Stocks finished a volatile week mostly lower as AI-related funding and monetization concerns dominated market focus in up and down trading. Still, the pullback was more rotational than broadly risk-off, and the S&P 500 ended with just a moderate loss. Overseas, European stocks fell amid civil unrest and rising oil prices, while weak Chinese demand weighed on earnings. Asian equities slid for a fourth straight week. Meanwhile, core bonds rallied on a fresh haven bid while in commodities, oil surged late in the week as Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia raised Middle East tensions.

LPL's Weekly Market Performance for the week of October 19, 2026, highlights AI-driven volatility, the first round of big tech earnings, and bond market gains.

10/23/2026

Some simple, inexpensive energy-saving tips that may help you save money.

10/21/2026

Bull Markets That Last Four Years Typically Last Five Years

Happy Anniversary bull market! October 12 marked the fourth anniversary of the bull market that began at the S&P 500’s closing low of 3,577 on October 12, 2022. Four years later, the index has more than doubled, an impressive run considering everything investors have endured along the way. The gain in the first four years on a price basis was 118%.

When we celebrated this bull market’s third birthday a year ago, we noted that history suggested the advance probably had more room to run. Well, history delivered. In the year ending October 12, 2026, the S&P 500 gained an impressive 19.2%.

That resilience is notable considering the formidable wall of worry markets have climbed. Investors have worked through monetary tightening, tariff uncertainty, geopolitical conflicts, an oil-price shock, higher Treasury yields, and persistent questions about whether enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) has gone too far. Despite those challenges, the S&P 500 recently traded near record highs.

The fundamental backdrop has helped. Corporate profits remain strong, while the AI infrastructure buildout continues to support spending on semiconductors, memory, data centers, power, and related equipment.

So, what does history tell us about the four-year-old bull market’s chances at making it to five

LPL Research analyzes historical performance of S&P 500 bull markets that have made it through a fourth year as a guide to what stocks might do over the next year.

10/20/2026

Weekly Market Commentary: Moats vs. Inertia: Unpacking the Personal AI Agent Threat

The AI agent catalyst. Meta's September launch of Muse, a personal artificial intelligence (AI) agent designed to act on a user's behalf across digital workflows, crystallized the market's latest disruption narrative.

Moats versus friction. If AI can make consumer switching easier, which business models are truly protected by moats and which are merely monetizing friction?

Where disruption risk lies. While we are skeptical that AI agents will disrupt businesses whose moats were earned through differentiated products, services, or brands, we do see potential disruption risk for businesses that largely benefit from consumer inertia, like forgetting to cancel subscriptions or not wanting to spend time on price comparisons.

LPL Research examines how personal AI agents may disrupt businesses relying on consumer inertia while leaving strong competitive moats intact.

10/17/2026

Weekly Market Performance — October 16, 2026

Markets turned more defensive this week as elevated inflation, renewed artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor concerns, and ongoing debt and financing risks prompted investors to rotate away from technology and other high-growth areas. U.S. equities finished mixed, with the Nasdaq facing the most pressure, while Europe benefited from its lower technology exposure and Asian markets broadly declined. Meanwhile, bonds gained on a safe-haven bid, and commodities were mixed.

LPL's Weekly Market Performance for the week of October 12, 2026, highlights, the latest bout of AI jitters, bond market headlines, and commodity market moves.

10/16/2026

What should you look for in a personal finance app?

An increasing number have been developed to help individuals with their personal finances.

10/15/2026

Housing, Jobs Send Mixed Economic Signals

Gloom in the Living Room, Lock-In in the Housing Market, and a Fed Still Eyeing One More Hike

The U.S. economy is handing investors a muddled picture. Housing is stuck, hiring is lopsided, and households feel worse than the jobs data suggest. Add a string of geopolitical shocks and a Federal Reserve (Fed) under new leadership still establishing its reaction function, and the signals markets rely on are harder to read. Investors will have to adjust to this market, where clarity is scarce.

Housing Stays Stuck
Start with housing, where softer demand for new homes should push the median price lower still, especially as mortgage rates climb. The median price of new single-family homes has been sliding. Even so, it remains well above pre-pandemic levels.

LPL Research discusses what it means when the gap is widening between mortgage rates and the prevailing rates existing mortgage holders pay.

10/13/2026

Credit Still Flowing as Businesses Keep Borrowing

Banks Aren’t Pulling Back

Right now, that is what the data show. In the Federal Reserve's latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, larger banks left standards for C&I loans basically unchanged, while smaller banks eased. Lenders also reported stronger demand from large and middle-market companies.

That steadiness matters. Standards are looser than they were a year ago, and demand has risen from firms of all sizes. Even after a prolonged stretch of higher interest rates, credit looks more like a tailwind than a constraint for business spending.

The link to the real economy is direct. C&I lending tends to move with business fixed investment, a closely watched line item in the GDP report. Stronger borrowing often accompanies spending on equipment, technology, and capacity — the kind of outlays that keep paying off long after the check is written.

LPL Research examines resilient business lending, narrowing credit spreads, and a housing market constrained by the mortgage rate lock-in effect.

10/13/2026

Weekly Market Performance | October 9, 2026

Stocks climbed to fresh record highs for the first time since August early in the week, but headlines grew choppy and tested the advance. Conflicting reports on possible U.S. strikes in the Mideast and renewed worries about artificial intelligence (AI) spending and revenues fueled a push-and-pull in markets, but stocks rose heading into the weekend to lock in a weekly gain. Overseas, European stocks finished flat amid French fiscal jitters and bond market volatility, while Asia-Pacific markets were mixed. Outside of equities, U.S. bonds snapped a five-week losing streak and crude oil rose continued to march higher on supply concerns.

LPL's Weekly Market Performance for the week of October 5, 2026, highlights choppy market catalysts, a weekly gain in bonds, and commodity market moves.