Is the US Dollar Losing Its Edge? The Dollar Outlook in the Age of Oil Shocks and Geopolitical Risk

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
This is InvestTalk from KPP Financial, helping investors make sense of the markets one day at a time. Here's your host, Justin Klein.

**Justin Klein** (0:16)
Good afternoon, fellow investors, and welcome back to InvestTalk. This is our Wednesday, July 29th, 2026 edition, and it's Fed Day, a very interesting Fed Day, a lot to talk about, which I'll get into our market recap because there was a lot of volatility and a lot to take away from that market reaction. Very atypical. We have a new Fed chair. We had the, this is the second meeting. The first one, I think, was more of a feeling out, and now it's like, okay, we know the drill, or at least the market thought they did, and then he had an answer that was not, in my mind, up to par for the market, and that's why you saw a major reaction. So we'll talk about that in a little bit, but we're gonna talk about a lot on today's show, mainly whatever's on your mind. I have topics to bring forth I think are important, but ultimately, this show is not about me. This show is about you. I'm just here to serve you, give you my answers, my perspective based on 25 plus years of investment experience. I have a ton of data sitting in front of me.
My goal for every show is for you to come out of it with just one tidbit, one little thing that can help you become a better investor. Then tomorrow, hopefully, you'll get one more thing, and then another thing, and it stacks on each other. Eventually, you know how to avoid the pitfalls and capitalize on opportunities. That's what the show is about.
In just a bit, we will talk about today's Mark performance and run down the show topics, but as usual, we'll tackle this first call-in question now.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:04)
Hello, this is David from San Jose, Colory Garden Company, Brookfield Corporation, symbol BN, looking for a good entry point to buy for a long-term investment. Thank you.

**Justin Klein** (2:19)
Brookfield Corp, management, public and private, investment products and services operates through a few business segments, asset management, wealth solution, renewable power, infrastructure, private equity, private real estate, et cetera.
This is an interesting one because it's one of those names that has a lot of different exposures. Talked about private equity, private credit, we know that area is struggling. But then when you're talking about infrastructure, that area is booming. Renewable power and energy solutions, those are doing well and in high demand. There's this push and pull here. Now, what I would say is I would want something that is more targeted. And if I remember correctly, there is a Brookfield, there's BAM and then there's BN, which is the one's Brookfield Asset Management. That one, I believe, I remember the difference here. BN's certainly stronger. I'll say that from a technical perspective. Its dividend yield is, where is that? 0.67%, it's not a big dividend yield. Earnings supposed to be up 22% this year, 24% next year.
Once again, my issue is that private equity and private credit lends. Now, I do like this better than Brookfield Asset Management, which has a bit of leverage, higher dividend, but just overall not as strong of a business as Brookfield. So similar companies, kind of sister companies, but if I'm going to pick one or the other, I'm going to go with Brookfield. And I would probably be patient on it because it is starting to weaken a bit. And frankly, now that I look at it, it's just kind of just because of the technicals. And I just don't want to have exposure to private equity and private credit. Now, in a great show yesterday, we looked at the story of how the bond market outlook for 2026 is evolving. What treasury yields near multi-year highs means for your portfolio. And it's never more important than what happened in the market today.
So Luke broke that down. He also answered questions about energy transfer. If you haven't missed it, go check it out. That's the way to get every show is to follow InvestTalk wherever you get your podcast. Now, a lot of ground to cover over the next 45 minutes or so. And here is what we have permitted, time permitted.
I mean, focus point is about the dollar, kind of the corollary to what's going on in the interest rate market. With the Fed meeting today, a bit of a reversal, but overall, the dollar has been strong. So what does that mean for your, what does that mean for your portfolio, your strategy? Not just today, but going forward, once again, bringing one of those tidbits back so you can fully understand how foreign equity or even foreign bond exposure, foreign currency exposure in general fits in your portfolio or maybe doesn't. So we'll look at that. Also, for years, there was a formula that pushed tech stocks higher, and that was good businesses, great businesses, solid earnings growth, great cash flow. They would pay their shareholders in both salary and especially stock, but they were buying back that stock and then some with all of that free cash flow. Now in the age of AI, that cash flow is going elsewhere, and now the dilution of paying employees with stock options is starting to come to the forefront, and how this is going to be a drag over time. It has been a drag. You just haven't seen it because it's been sterilized through buybacks. So we're going to look at that topic because it's very important if you're trying to understand whether the market is pricing your stock appropriately.