Episodes

Dec. 25, 2024

All In on US Stocks (EP.392)

On episode 392 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: healthy corrections, rate cuts vs. the stock market, terrible sentiment towards foreign stocks, the crack cocaine of the stock market, addiction in th...
Dec. 23, 2024

Talk Your Book: Looking for the Next NVDA

On this episode of Animal Spirits: Talk Your Book, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson are joined by Nick Frasse, Product Manager at VanEck , and Angus Shillington, Equity Research Analyst at VanEck to discuss NVDA vs everyone el...
Dec. 18, 2024

Eff You Money (EP.391)

On episode 391 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: the prospects for another 20% year in the stock market in 2025, the U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders, no one is predicting a recession anymore,...
Dec. 16, 2024

Talk Your Book: Buy Low, Sell High in China

On this episode of Animal Spirits: Talk Your Book, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson talk to Brendan Ahern from KraneShares about Chinese tech stocks, historically low sentiment towards international stocks, US vs. China tech c...
Dec. 11, 2024

The Bears Capitulate (EP.390)

On episode 390 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: the 4 biggest types of investment mistakes, bears throwing in the towel, Bitcoin hitting $100K, more travel stories, the greatest family movie of all ...
Dec. 9, 2024

Talk Your Book: Matching Longs with Shorts

On this episode of Animal Spirits: Talk Your Book, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson are joined by Mick Rasmussen, Portfolio Manager at Wasatch Global Investors , to discuss how to construct a long/short portfolio, factors that...
Dec. 4, 2024

The Mother of All Bubbles (EP.389)

On episode 389 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: US exceptionalism in markets and the economy, losing all of your retirement savings, yield sells, financial nihilism, the downfall of the CFA, the gre...
Dec. 2, 2024

Talk Your Book: J.P. Morgan's Guide to ETFs

On this episode of Animal Spirits: Talk Your Book, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson are joined by Jon Maier, Chief ETF Strategist and Shayan Hussain, Head of U.S. Investment Specialists at J.P. Morgan Asset Management to discu...
Nov. 27, 2024

The Leverage Mania (EP.388)

On episode 388 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: great stock market returns so far for 2024, Bluesky vs X, the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy, when to sell Bitcoin, money in college athletics,...
Nov. 25, 2024

Talk Your Book: Animal Spirits Live

On today's show, we are live from Chicago with Alex Morris, Chief Investment Officer of F/m Investments to discuss why investors are still crowded on the short end of the curve, thoughts on why rates went up following a Fed c...
Nov. 20, 2024

Everybody in the Pool (EP.387)

On episode 387 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: 7 years of Animal Spirits, the miracle of US equities, the wall of worry has fallen, S&P 10,000, massive ETF flows, vibes rule everything around me, a...
Nov. 18, 2024

Talk Your Book: Investors Love Cash Flow

On today's show, we are joined by Barry Martin, Portfolio Manager of Shelton Equity Income Fund to discuss what it means to have shares called away, what makes a good stock to write a call option on, understanding the relatio...
Nov. 13, 2024

The Bitcoiners Won (EP.386)

On episode 386 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: why Trump won, how the Dems fumbled the economic messaging, how this will impact recession spending moving forward, 30% gains in the stock market, cre...
Nov. 11, 2024

Talk Your Book: Infrastructure Investing

On today's show, we are joined by Jon Levin, CEO of GCM Grosvenor and Mark Gatto, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of CION Investments to discuss the basics around the infrastructure asset class, BDC's vs interval fu...
Nov. 6, 2024

A Once in a Lifetime Investment Opportunity (EP.385)

On episode 385 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: Warren Buffett's massive cash pile, the performance of the average stock this year, the Polymarket whale, markets in everything, Twitter replies now a...
Nov. 4, 2024

Talk Your Book: Longevity Income

On today's show, we are joined by Nate Conrad, Head of LifeX at Stone Ridge Asset Management to discuss how longevity income ETFs work, what LifeX is actually investing in, why matching spending with investment products is im...
Oct. 30, 2024

The Cost of the American Dream (EP.384)

On episode 384 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: changing narratives in the markets, why interest rates are rising, why you should never take macro advice from hedge fund managers, why the S&P 500 is...
Oct. 28, 2024

Talk Your Book: The Next Big Short

On today's show, we are joined by Jared Dillian , Founder of Jared Dillian Money to discuss Jared's bearishness on private equity, understanding the demand side of private equity, a private equity sentiment bubble, an explosi...
Oct. 24, 2024

Talk Your Book: Marketing is Everything with Seth Godin

On today's show we talk with Seth Godin about his new book, This is Strategy , along with why everyone is in sales, how to produce good content, how to define your audience, how to avoid procrastination, marketing for introve...
Oct. 23, 2024

The Envy of the World (EP.383)

On episode 383 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: stock market return expectations for the next decade, why there's no euphoria, Nvidia is a unicorn, the American economy is unstoppable, millennials a...
Oct. 21, 2024

Talk Your Book: Factor Investing with Dimensional Fund Advisors

On today's show, we are joined by Rob Harvey, Co-Head of Product Specialists at Dimensional Fund Advisors to discuss how DFA separates itself as an asset manager, details around converting a mutual fund to an ETF, how DFA han...
Oct. 16, 2024

The 1990s Really Were Better (EP.382)

On today's show we discuss an unbelievable run for the stock market, diversification vs. hedging, an unprecedented surge in household wealth, the new normal of negativity, some nostalgia for the 1990s, the stock market doesn'...
Oct. 14, 2024

Talk Your Book: Yield at What Cost?

On today's show, we are joined by Jonathan Molchan, Managing Partner at STF Management to discuss how the trend following rules work, issues with traditional call option writing strategies, trend following performance through...
Oct. 9, 2024

Money Buys Happiness (EP.381)

On episode 381 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson discuss: calling a top in the stock market, why people don't trust data, the economy is still fine, why yields are rising in a rate cutting environment, a bigg...