Leaders at the Bell with Steve Alain Lawrence, CIO at Balfour Capital Group, Oct 09, 2025

From the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Balfour Capital Group CIO Steve Alain Lawrence joins Víctor Hugo Rodríguez for a candid outlook on global markets — and why 2025 may not deliver the traditional year-end "Santa Claus rally" investors hope for. Lawrence breaks down the psychology driving fund managers as they defend a year of strong gains, warning that profit-taking is inevitable heading into the fourth quarter: "if you've been long this year, pigs get slaughtered." He weighs the tariffs reaffirmed by the Supreme Court and possible "Goldilocks" conditions, but tempers talk of an S&P 500 melt-up to 7,000–7,200, projecting a more disciplined finish near 6,600. Drawing on the liquidity, transparency and confidence that keep U.S. exchanges at the center of global capital flows — "there's only one game in town" — he explains how volatility abroad could rotate money back into dollar assets, and cites Jamie Dimon, Steve Cohen and Paul Tudor Jones warning of short-term pullbacks before the next cyclical leg higher.