Leaders at the Bell with Paul Hickey, Bespoke Investment Group, March 25, 2026

In this episode, Paul Hickey, cofounder of Bespoke Investment Group, discusses navigating volatile markets amid geopolitical tensions and heightened uncertainty. Recording from the NYSE floor on March 25, 2026, Hickey addresses how investors must contend with a headline-driven environment where markets swing tweet by tweet, particularly as conflict in Iran pressures energy markets and pushes U.S. gasoline prices to record highs. While the American consumer spends less of their income on energy than in decades past and the country enjoys greater energy independence, the psychological impact of elevated fuel costs remains significant. Hickey warns that prolonged uncertainty could gradually erode economic sentiment, though immediate damage has yet to fully materialize.

Despite broad market weakness, Hickey identifies opportunities in semiconductors and software. He highlights Intel as positioned to benefit from the ongoing shift from GPUs to CPUs in artificial intelligence infrastructure. More notably, he points to the software sector, where extreme negative sentiment may have created a contrarian entry point, with the IGV ETF holding steady even as the S&P 500 declined. Drawing parallels to energy's rebound after being written off during the COVID crash, Hickey emphasizes that sectors dismissed as irrelevant often present the strongest opportunities. He previews his upcoming presentation at The MoneyShow conference in Miami in mid-April, where he plans to discuss first-quarter dispersion, earnings triple plays, and emerging names like Planet Labs, a satellite imaging company recently achieving positive cash flow.