Even amid the volatility, the rally continued. Retail investors poured $4.1B into U.S. stocks during Monday’s post-downgrade selloff—the largest three-hour surge on record. While some some hedge funds have been quietly leaning short, others, like Bill Ackman, are going all in on perceived undervalued stocks like Google.  On the other side, famed investor Michael Burry is running shorts on Nvidia.  
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With buybacks peaking and Q2 earnings still weeks away, markets face a vacuum of catalysts. Friday’s tariff headlines briefly shook confidence, but even that couldn’t keep the S&P from clinging to key technical levels. Yet the backdrop is shifting. Bond yields are no longer just a sideshow—they’re setting the tone.
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Retail may be buying weakness, but institutions are watching macro risk build. If the next inflation print or trade flare-up hits wrong, the nascent bull market that added 20% to the S&P 500 in two months may finally run out of steam.

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