Behind Wall Street’s Scorching Quarter

Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing

The Motley Fool

Investing, Business

4.3 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Q2 2026 was the best year on Wall Street since 2020 and AI led the way. But the gains weren’t evenly distributed and we discuss what’s sustainable and what’s not in the market. Plus, we discuss Meta becoming a neocloud and look back on the U.S. stocks that defined the past four decades. Travis Hoium, Lou Whiteman, and Jason Moser discuss: - Record Q2 Performance - How AI Ruled the Day - Meta the Neocloud? - What Happened to Compute Constraint? - History of U.S. Stocks - Stocks on Our Radar Companies discussed: Meta Platforms (META), Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Walmart (WMT), Home Depot (HD), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO), Dell (DELL), GE (GE), Columbia Banking (COLB), Axon (AXON). Host: Travis Hoium Guests: Lou Whiteman, Jason Moser Engineer: Dan Boyd Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. We’re committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Wall Street just had its best quarter since 2020.
0:04.4	Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing starts now.
0:09.7	Welcome to Motley Cool Hidden Gems Investing.
0:11.8	I'm Travis Hoym, joined today by Lou Whiteman and Jason Moser.
0:15.9	And guys, this was a surprise to me when the quarter ended, technically yesterday.
0:21.1	But Lou, this was the best quarter that we've had in six years since 2020.
0:25.7	So what are your thoughts?
0:27.1	What are the highlights here?
0:28.4	All right.
0:28.7	So first of all, I've got to be that guy.
0:30.5	You know, I'm that guy.
0:31.9	We need to mention that the lows for the year were on March 30th, which you might realize if you're good
0:40.0	at calendars is a day before the beginning of this quarter. So we timing worked out pretty well for
0:45.7	us here. And it just so happened that the first day of the third quarter was not great either.
0:50.3	Right, right. Exactly. So, so there is a little asterisk here. But look, yeah, this is impressive, amazing even. We got pretty lucky on the starting point, but don't argue with the gains. Even with that, we're up 9% for the year in the S&P, 12% for the NASDAQ. Hey, guys, I'm old fashion, but I would take that for a full year every year. So this is still good.
1:12.0	You know, a lot of this, we can get into the details, what it was, but AI is still working.
1:16.8	People are still, the optimists still outweigh the pessimists here. And we are, may it long continue.
1:25.0	Yeah, Jason, it does seem like there's certain segments of the market that are
1:28.7	hotter than others, and AI is really the story, although not necessarily the same companies
1:32.9	that were hot in 2024 and 2025. No, it's been a little bit different here. And we saw for the
1:39.0	core, I mean, chips and AI infrastructure really are what are driving the bus here, right? If you look at the Philadelphia
1:45.6	Semiconductor Index, that was on track for its best quarterly gain on record. I think it was
	...

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