In this episode, Future Standard’s Investment Research team members Alan Flannigan and Andrew Korz break down their latest publication, Q2 2026 Mapping the Markets: Shock and Awe, a quarterly macro and cross-asset chartbook illustrating the current state of markets.

The second quarter edition titled Shocks and Awe is now live at futurestandard.com/insights, and we hope you’ll check it out. This publication is a quarterly macro and cross-asset chartbook where we illustrate the current state of markets in our most timely, compelling, and occasionally profound charts.

Shocks and Awe is not just a catchy title, though it is that. It's the apparent modus operandi governing markets and the economy. High-frequency supply-side shocks that spike inflation and challenge the path of monetary policy have repeatedly disrupted the orderliness of the economic cycle. At the same time, valuations of AI-focused firms continue to elevate at breathtaking speed as the AI build-out powers large parts of markets and economic growth.

As we’ve said before, this is a system with just cause for optimism, but one in which the frictions investors must navigate are now internal to the system. How is this showing itself in the economic data, and how is it showing up in markets? That’s the basis of the piece and today's discussion: Shocks and Awe.

I’m joined, as always, by my partner in research and colleague in podcasting, Andrew Korz, Senior Vice President of Investment Research.

Andrew Korz: Happy to be here, Alan. How are you?

Alan Flannigan: Thrilled to be here. This is a piece that we really enjoy putting together each quarter. It gives you an opportunity to step back and take a wide swath across markets and see what is jumping out, what is kind of most appealing and relevant at a given point in time, and package that all together so that way people can scan through it, 10 minutes, and you’re up to speed on what's going on. How do you think about this piece and the intended use of it?

Andrew Korz: I totally agree. This is one of my favorite pieces to put together because who doesn’t like charts, right? It’s just a long list of our favorite charts for the quarter, and I think what makes this piece so useful now is that there’s so many things that cut across asset classes. Whether it’s AI, whether it’s higher for longer interest rate complex, whether it’s these geopolitical shocks that you mentioned, all of these things cut differently across different asset classes. So, I think this allows us to take those themes, apply it to different asset classes, and see where things lie today and where we think things are going over the next, call it, three to six months.