Tracking 40 Portfolio Signals Across 10 of Our Strategies
Let’s scan through the headlines for the stories of the week that speak to our Pro Portfolio holdings.
You've reached your free article limit
You've read 0 of 1 free Pro articles.
Employers are paying more for employees’ health care costs and that could be biting into wage growth. Not even McDonald’s (MCD) is spared from the pullback in eating out. And hackers spoiled supermarket foods in refrigeration systems in at least nine European countries. These are among more than 40 signals we’ve spotted this week that give a greater understanding into the Pro Portfolio’s holdings.
If you’ve come across a signal we should know about, be sure to drop a link in the Comment section below.
Aging Population
KFF projects average standalone Medicare Part D premiums will jump about 50% in 2027, from $34 to $51 a month, with no $0 plans on offer and the deductible rising to $700. Roughly 25 million seniors are in these plans, and the increase could push more of them toward Medicare Advantage. Read more here
Alliance Residential plans a $3 billion senior living development pipeline over three years, with starts in 2027–28 and land talks in about 14 metros. New communities take about 29 months to build, which keeps near-term supply tight, though the pipeline points to more competition later in the decade. Read more here
Diversified Healthcare Trust raised its 2026 senior housing operating NOI outlook to $190–200 million after occupancy climbed 200 basis points from a year ago to 84.4%. Same-property NOI jumped 50%, showing how quickly profits build as demand from older adults fills units. Read more here
Pfizer’s Q3 revenue of $16.6 billion topped estimates and it raised its 2026 outlook to $62–64 billion. Eliquis, a blood thinner widely used by older patients, grew 25% to $2.5 billion. Read more here
Position: State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), Welltower (WELL)
Artificial Intelligence
As U.S. airlines lean on AI-driven dynamic pricing, startups such as JetBack, Junova and Refare are using automation to track fares after booking and claim credits when prices fall. Junova found 22% of the 10,000 flights it tracked dropped in price after purchase. Read more here
Goldman Sachs is restricting AI coding tools, including Microsoft’s GitHub and Anthropic’s Claude Code, to its engineers after months of use by bankers and traders. JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citi are also fencing in outside AI agents, a sign that Wall Street adoption is coming with tight controls. Read more here
Palantir’s Q3 revenue rose 96% to $2.31 billion, and U.S. commercial sales of $984 million topped government revenue for the first time as it raised its U.S. commercial outlook to more than $3.56 billion. However, U.S. enterprise contract value fell to $1.46 billion from a record $2.13 billion as customers signed shorter deals. Read more here
Position: Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Axon (AXON), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Palantir (PLTR)
Cash-Strapped Consumer
Employer health insurance contributions rose 6.4% in Q3, the fastest pace in two decades, versus 3.1% wage growth, and one economist estimates that is shaving 0.2–0.3 points off pay gains. ACA marketplace premiums rise another 13% in 2027 after a 26% jump this year. Read more here
Amazon launched a $25 Thanksgiving meal for same-day delivery in about 2,300 U.S. cities and towns, pricing frozen turkey at 79 cents a pound versus Walmart’s 97 cents. The move targets budget-conscious shoppers as Amazon works to grow its roughly 3% share of U.S. food spending. Read more here
McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales slipped 0.2% in Q3 as fewer guest visits were only offset by higher checks, while industry fast-food traffic fell about 2.6%. Lower-income diners continue to pull back on eating out. Read more here
Reynolds Consumer Products said Q3 retail volumes fell 7% as pressured households hunt for promotions, entry-price items and larger packs. Shoppers are shifting purchases toward mass, club and e-commerce channels, a trend that favors warehouse clubs and Amazon. Read more here
Position: Amazon, Costco (COST), TJX Companies (TJX)
Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity
Microsoft’s threat researchers found eight North Korean hacking groups using AI to write phishing lures, build fake identities and speed up malware development, with one group producing more than 100 custom lures. Microsoft found no fully autonomous attacks, but AI is clearly accelerating state-backed operations. Read more here
CrowdStrike agreed to buy AI-agent monitoring startup Fiddler AI and AI red-teaming firm Dreadnode for about $495 million combined, and introduced a kill switch that lets humans halt any AI agent. Security vendors are racing to protect enterprises’ growing use of autonomous agents. Read more here
Hackers tampered with supermarket refrigeration systems in at least nine European countries, reportedly setting temperatures as high as 50°C and forcing an Irish chain to pull chilled goods from 13 stores. The attacks follow October intrusions at refrigeration providers Danfoss and Copeland and widen the threat to operational technology. Read more here
Ahold Delhaize, owner of Food Lion and Stop & Shop, cut its 2026 earnings outlook after an October cyberattack that it expects to cost €200–250 million of fourth-quarter sales and €75–100 million of operating income. It is a concrete example of what a breach costs a large retailer. Read more here
Position: Alphabet, First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR), Microsoft
Digital Infrastructure
Nvidia is negotiating to guarantee billions in debt for a 460-megawatt Nscale data center in West Virginia that Anthropic has contracted to use. The deal would add to roughly $165 billion of reported data-center commitments and guarantees, renewing questions about Nvidia financing its own demand. Read more here
Agility Robotics says more than 30 companies are evaluating its Digit humanoid robot and it has over $300 million in committed multi-year orders. GXO, where Digit has moved more than 100,000 totes, is adding two more U.S. sites in early 2027. Read more here
Arista Networks’ Q3 revenue jumped 58.5% to $3.66 billion, its fastest growth since going public, and it guided Q4 to $3.9–4.0 billion, well above the roughly $3.6 billion expected. The upside points to accelerating AI networking spending by its cloud customers. Read more here
AMD’s data center revenue nearly doubled to $8.5 billion as its MI450 accelerators began shipping, and it guided Q4 revenue to about $17 billion. Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic are among the customers running workloads on its first Helios racks. Read more here
Position: Applied Materials (AMAT), Arista Networks (ANET), Broadcom (AVGO), Eaton (ETN), Marvell (MRVL), Nvidia (NVDA), Robo Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF (ROBO)
Digital Lifestyle
Meta is reportedly offering select creators $50,000 to $500,000 to post long-form video to Instagram’s new Features format, which supports videos up to 90 minutes. With no ad-revenue share yet, Instagram is paying to lure content from YouTube, which gives creators 55% of long-form ad revenue. Read more here
Prime Video will stream 23 live sports events in November, including four games on Black Friday, as Thursday Night Football averages 17.7 million viewers. Live sports with ads running by default are fueling Amazon’s ad business, which grew 10.9% to $19.6 billion in Q3. Read more here
Apple’s services revenue reached $123.3 billion for the fiscal year, with App Store weekly visitors near 1 billion and more than 2.5 billion active devices. Apple also plans usage limits on server-side AI features such as Siri, with paid expanded access, a potential new subscription stream. Read more here
Meta upgraded its AI creator assistant for Facebook and Instagram to flag emerging trends, turn ideas into storyboards and shot lists, and draft replies to viewer comments in a creator’s own voice. It is another tool aimed at keeping creators producing on Meta’s platforms. Read more here
Toyota and Alphabet’s Waymo will launch driverless taxis in Tokyo in 2027 using converted bZ4X electric vehicles. It would be Waymo’s first service outside the U.S., with more cities possible from 2028. Read more here
Position: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Netflix (NFLX)
Energy Pain Point
Exelon said it could invest up to about $8 billion in regulated battery storage to ease PJM’s supply crunch, including a $1 billion, 500-megawatt project in New Jersey. Its high-probability large-load pipeline held at 11 GW, though the longer-term pipeline slipped to 23 GW from 25 GW. Read more here
Eaton posted record Q3 sales of $8.9 billion, up 19% organically, and raised its 2026 organic growth outlook to 13–15%. Electrical backlog rose 46%, with rolling 12-month orders up 39% in the Americas. Read more here
Caterpillar delivered its biggest sales quarter ever at $20.7 billion as power generation sales rose 30% on data center demand and backlog nearly doubled to $78 billion. It is expanding production of large engines and turbines to keep up. Read more here
Energy affordability was the top voter concern heading into the midterms, with 74% of adults worried about energy and gas prices. Data centers became campaign targets in Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania, including a proposed conditional moratorium in Ohio, adding political risk to the buildout. Read more here
Position: Eaton
Homebuilding & Materials
Construction spending fell 1.9% in September to a $2.19 trillion annual rate and was down 2.7% from a year ago. Residential spending dropped 5.5% while nonresidential rose 1.1%. Read more here
LGI Homes’ Q3 net orders plunged 61% to 609 and its cancellation rate jumped to nearly 54% from about 34%, even as closings rose 10% from backlog. It is a stark sign of how affordability is hitting first-time buyers. Read more here
Entry-level builder Smith Douglas grew net orders 13%, but incentives of 740 basis points cut its gross margin to 16.3% from 21%, and EPS of $0.07 missed the $0.39 estimate. It expects incentives to rise again in Q4. Read more here
Mortgage applications fell 1.2% in the week ended Oct. 30, with purchase demand 19% below a year ago even as the 30-year rate eased to 7.30%. The adjustable-rate share climbed to 11.4%, its highest in over a year, as buyers look for ways around 7%-plus rates. Read more here
Luxury Buying Boom
Marriott’s U.S. and Canada luxury and resort hotels posted a 12% jump in revenue per available room in Q3, leading a 6.5% global gain, and the company raised its full-year RevPAR outlook to 4.5–5% growth. High-end travel spending is holding up. Read more here
American Express expanded its NBA and WNBA partnership globally and added USA Basketball, giving card members presale tickets and 10% back on concessions at select arenas, up to $250 a year. It extends Amex’s strategy of tying premium cards to exclusive experiences. Read more here
Ferrari’s Q3 revenue rose 7% to €1.9 billion even as it shipped fewer cars, with richer mix and personalization lifting its EBITDA margin to nearly 40%, and it raised 2026 guidance again. Its order book now stretches into 2028, though shipments to China fell by more than 40%. Read more here
Pandora’s organic growth accelerated to 6% in Q3 and it narrowed its full-year outlook toward the upper end of 2–3%. However, October like-for-like sales slowed to 1% and management cited a difficult consumer environment heading into the holidays. Read more here
Position: American Express (AXP)
Safety & Security
Leonardo DRS joined AeroVironment’s nearly $500 million Army program to field its LOCUST laser counter-drone system as a mobile, vehicle-mounted weapon, handling integration, power and thermal management. The award covers dozens of laser systems. Read more here
West Fargo, North Dakota police are switching to Axon under a 10-year, roughly $6.5 million deal covering body and dash cameras, TASERs, license-plate readers and interview-room technology. It is another multi-product, long-term contract of the kind that drives Axon’s recurring revenue. Read more here
The midterms removed several senior defense advocates in Congress, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins. Democrats are set to lead the armed services committees and the defense appropriations subcommittee, reshuffling the panels that write the Pentagon budget. Read more here
Analysts expect a Democratic Congress to trim rather than cancel the Golden Dome missile-defense program and to target the $350 billion reconciliation piece of the $1.54 trillion FY27 defense request. Space-based interceptors and the Trump-class battleship look most at risk, while the F-47 is expected to survive. Read more here
Position: Axon, Palantir
The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models
Aging of the Population – Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings.
Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.
Cash-Strapped Consumer – Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.
Cybersecurity – Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.
Data Privacy & Digital Identity – Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.
Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity – The buildout and upgrading of our Networks, Data Storage Facilities, and Equipment.
Digital Lifestyle – The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.
Digital Payments – This model focuses on companies benefiting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).
Energy Pain Point – Companies poised to prosper from rising power demand.
EV Transition – Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.
Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.
Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.
Luxury Buying Boom – Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.
Rebuilding America – Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.
Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.
