Chris Versace Sees Buying Opportunities in SPX Amid Iran, Fed Volatility

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Welcome back to Opening Bell. Joining me right now, Chris Versace, Chief Investment Officer, Tematica Research and Portfolio Manager of the Street Pro Portfolio. I'm glad to be with you. We start off a new month. Bond sell-off continues. How are you feeling today about, not only today's trade, but the near future?

**Chris Versace** (0:20)
You know, gonna be a little cautious here, Nicole. I have to say we've got a number of things going on. Not to make light of it, but just the fact that the market's gonna have to chew through quite a bit. Obviously, renewed tensions between the US and Iran. Oil prices, gas prices, diesel prices moving higher. We've got some movement on the G20.
You know, just a lot going on. And a big week for economic data as well that could very well decide the fate of a Fed rate hike on the 16th.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:53)
Are you waiting to say what you think the Fed should or shouldn't do? I mean, are you leaning towards what the Fed or shouldn't do between now and the end of the year?

**Chris Versace** (1:03)
Well, you know, I'll jokingly say I've decided to adopt Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's stance and, you know, follow the data on our own. I'm kidding because we always do that anyway. We always try to triangulate around it. And really, his comments last week about where some of the inflation data is, you know, being sticky, obviously what we're seeing with oil prices, to me, that suggests that based on everything we know now, the Fed should indeed deliver a rate hike in September. However, we will be getting some August PMI data at 9.45 and 10 o'clock. And that could be rather revealing because what we saw for the PMI data, manufacturing PMI data in August, both in the Eurozone and the UK, pointed to softening inflation. So we're going to want to chew through those reports first and then help make up our mind.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:56)
Okay, so you don't want to speculate what we might get from those at this moment.
Your thoughts on the 10-year yield may be hitting 5%. We're not that far away. I mean, we're a stone's throw from 4.8 at this moment.

**Chris Versace** (2:10)
Look, I would like to say it's not going to happen, but we can't rule it out. And what we've known, especially in the last several quarters, is that when we see moments like this, the market tends to overreact both in good ways and bad ways. And right now, given the confluence of events that we have ahead of us and the reputation for September to be the worst month of the market during the year, it's very likely that we could do that. However, I would say that as that happens, there's some key technical levels that folks want to pay attention to, arguably for the S&P 500, that could bring about some of those buying opportunities that Sam was talking about in the last few minutes.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:54)
Let's talk about the 20-day, you actually noted that on the S&P 500, you were watching the 20-day, right? What does that tell you?

**Chris Versace** (3:02)
So, well, we're below the 20-day now. So, normally what we want to see is a positive test to that support level today, tomorrow. Based on developments, doesn't look like we're gonna get it. So the next level of support's gonna be the 100-day moving average, sorry, the 50-day moving average, and that's a little over 1% away. Next one after that is the 200-day moving average that clocks in a little over 3%.
So, not a lot of downside, arguably, but potential areas of support that we will need to see that they hold. And if they do, that can bring about some buying opportunities, you know, for others in the market, maybe even for us at the pro portfolio.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:41)
Okay. Let's talk a little bit about AAPL. We have a big event next week, on September 9th. Looking forward to that.
You have John Ternes coming in after about 15 years for Tim Cook, where the stock was up over 2200%, according to Barron's. It was a great run. Your thoughts on this transition?

**Chris Versace** (4:00)
You know, I'm very curious to see, because Ternes' reputation is more of a product guy, which is something that Tim Cook, you know, clearly was not excellent on the operational front.
But Ternes, you know, let's see what he brings. Let's see how effective of a communicator he is. I'm really looking forward to both the product announcements that we'll get on September 9th, as well as the role that Ternes plays. And I think this is a chance for him to kind of reshape AAPL and get them back to their product roots. So I'm cautiously, cautiously optimistic.