2026 Predictions with Dan Ives and Chris Verrone | The Real Eisman Playbook Episode 40

Steve Eisman (0:00)

Hi, Steve Eisman here. On my weekly wrap, I try to both teach and convey information as objectively as possible. I try to make clear what are the facts and what are my opinions. But in today's media, it's increasingly hard to figure out what are the facts and where the facts are being shaded by opinion. That's why when I look into news events, I first go to ground news. Ground news is my solution for getting to the facts of important stories, but also to see how left, right, and center are seeking to convey the same exact story. Take, for example, the recent Senate rejection of dueling health care bills as the Obamacare deadline nears. To understand the story, I went to groundnews.com and clicked on that particular story headline. There, I immediately saw four tabs, left, center, right, and bias comparison.

When I clicked on the center tab, a series of headlines appeared all from center-leaning sources. I could then click on any of those headlines and read the story at the source. The same happened when I clicked on the left tab and on the right tab. The Bias Comparison tab showed Ground News' own analysis of how all three political leanings conveyed the same exact story. I find the Ground News system enormously helpful because it allows me to easily separate the facts from opinions. I use Ground News, and I recommend you try it out. Go to groundnews.com/r-e-a-l to get 40% off there on Limited Access Vantage Subscription. That's groundnews.com/r-e-a-l, groundnews.com/r-e-a-l, and if you don't mind, use this link to get the discount, so they know I sent you.

SPEAKER_2 (1:52)

Why do growing businesses love working in Slack? Let's ask Christy at RE Bikes.

Dan Ives (1:57)

Running things in Slack saves me so much time.

SPEAKER_2 (1:59)

AI summaries save 97 minutes per week. What say you, Rocks from Gosney?

Dan Ives (2:04)

Slack helps us build community, it helps us build connection.

SPEAKER_2 (2:07)

Your partners, vendors and customers all in one place. Take us on home, Ashley from Caraway.

Chris Verrone (2:12)

If we didn't have Slack tomorrow, I would explode.

SPEAKER_2 (2:16)

Well, let's not let that happen. Visit slack.com/podcast to get 50% off Slack Business Plus.

Steve Eisman (2:22)

We're going to do a year-end review. We're going to talk about next year because there's just not that much to talk about. Dan Ives of Wedbush, Chris Verrone of Strategas.

Chris Verrone (2:32)

Right after Liberation Day, April 7th, we were down 20 plus percent relatively quickly on all the major averages. And just think of how the narratives have shift so many times.

Dan Ives (2:41)

I think this is like a top two or three crazy year that I've had in my career.

Steve Eisman (2:45)

When you're talking to investors on the tech trade, what are the big concerns?

Dan Ives (2:49)

The big concern is just when's monetization of AI going to happen? Is it going to be quick enough that investors are not going to be like white flag, you got to stop spending and become self-filling prophecy? To have a view that this is an AI bubble, we're just in the early days of the demand cycle. But given China, given where they are from an energy perspective, it is an arms race what we need to do.

Steve Eisman (3:11)

Whatever rates have done hasn't helped housing at all.

Chris Verrone (3:13)

No.

Steve Eisman (3:13)

Just housing is just dead.

Chris Verrone (3:15)

I think it's a very important, frankly, next couple of weeks for these housing stocks.

Steve Eisman (3:18)

What's your prediction for next year?

Chris Verrone (3:20)

Bitcoin's weakness is kind of the first hint of the first tell that 26 is not about owning purely liquidity driven high beta speculative assets. It's about owning real stuff.

Steve Eisman (3:31)

I'm not interested in predicting the end of the world anymore, because believe me, it was no fun the first time around.

Dan Ives (3:36)

Get the popcorn out. It's going to be, you know, obviously a lot of ups and downs.

Steve Eisman (3:53)

Hi, this is Steve Eisman, and welcome to The Real Eisman Playbook. And here we have two great guests today. Dan Ives of Wedbush, Chris Verrone of Strategas, who is the market strategist. And we're gonna do a year-end review, we're gonna talk about next year, because there's just not that much to talk about. So, let me give you each an opportunity. Let's, we'll do predictions later. Let's just, Chris, you're the market strategist, give us your view of this absolutely insane, exhausting year.

Chris Verrone (4:26)

Before we get to just how insane and the ups and downs and the twist and turns of the year were, let's also first start by just saying how consistent a few things were throughout the course of the year. And really have been so consistent for two or three years. The premise of our call for two years has been so long as banks are involved and so long as credit has come, the trend of the market's probably still up. And if you look at what's continued this year, all the bank stocks have continued to work, credit conditions have remained remarkably calm. I think until those change, we would be reluctant to kind of move away from the bull call here. Now, put this in context of what was a very nuanced year from point to point. Now, you entered 2025, expectations were high. Trump had just won, animal spirits were running wild. The bar of expectations was set high. And that kind of moved us into the April tariff disaster.