David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation, says that as artificial intelligence become less of an economic focus, the market will wake up to potential weakness on Main Street, where "recessionary patterns" are already visible. He is expecting "one of the weaker holiday seasons in a while," and says that a lot of signs that have been viewed as bullish have become much more questionable. He would not be surprised to see the market test October lows — roughly 6,550 on the Standard & Poor's 500 — before year's end.

Nate Miles, head of retirement at Allspring Global Investments, discusses the firm's 2025 Retirement Study, which showed that only six in 10 retirees and near-retirees feel financially secure, a significant decline from just a year ago. The study also showed that investors — who have embraced target-date funds and life-cycle funds as a primary savings option — are looking for more personally tailored investment and retirement-spending solutions.

In the Market Call, absolute-value manager Brian Frank of the Frank Value Fund — who has a history of holding cash when the stock market is highly valued — says that a market flirting with record highs is not discouraging him, as he is fully invested, noting that he is not struggling to find individual stocks that are underpriced and that have a likely catalyst to unlock growth.