In this week’s podcast, we take a closer look at the recent impact of the COVID backdrop on the US equity market. The three big things you need to know: (1) First, COVID has taken up more airtime on earnings calls in August, and the tone on the variant has been fairly mixed. (2) Second, we’re seeing more pronounced signs of stress in the high-frequency indicators that we track. (3) Third, for the most part, the US equity market has remained forward-looking, focusing not on the impacts of the latest surge but rather on the continuation of the recovery thereafter.