Today, a look at the latest strong session for some of the market&#x27;s highest momentum names, as we note with some caution the risks that leverage, especially not fully evident hidden leverage is a mounting risk for the most speculative corners of the market. We also preview Nike earnings as the company does not yet look like a bargain after its 77% fall from all time highs into yesterday&#x27;s low, unless it surprises strongly today after the close. Some thoughts on macro, FX and much more also on today&#x27;s pod, which is hosted by Saxo Global Head of Macro Strategy John J. Hardy. Links FTAlphaville with coverage of the rising costs of equity financing on margin and concerns into today&#x27;s quarter-end. Bloomberg also with coverage of leverage and especially the hidden leverage as some combine margin lending with options buying, even on levered ETFs. What could go wrong? About twice per week (in normal times, hopefully soon to resume), you will find links discussed on the podcast and a chart-of-the-day over at the John J. Hardy substack. Read daily in-depth market updates from the Saxo Market Call and the Saxo Strategy Team here. Please reach out to us at marketcall@saxobank.com for feedback and questions. Click here to open an account with Saxo. Intro music by AShamaluevMusic DISCLAIMER This content is marketing material. Trading financial instruments carries risks. Always ensure that you understand these risks before trading. This material does not contain investment advice or an encouragement to invest in a particular manner. Historic performance is not a guarantee of future results. The instrument(s) referenced in this content may be issued by a partner, from whom Saxo Bank A/S receives promotional fees, payment or retrocessions. While Saxo may receive compensation from these partnerships, all content is created with the aim of providing clients with valuable information and options.

Leverage upon leverage, what could go wrong?

Saxo Market Call

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Saxo Market Call

## Participants

- **John J. Hardy** (SaxoStrats)

## Transcript

Welcome to the Saxo Market Call. Before we get started, it's important we emphasize that the views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only.

Hey everyone, it's Tuesday 30th of June 2026 and we have a market in a very fine mood in the U.S. The high momentum stuff, very high momentum indeed. Have some thoughts on that as well as some concerns about leverage and a couple of links that I'll put in the podcast episode description today.

But rounding up the session, we had NASDAQ 100 up over 2%, S&P 500 up just over 1%. You see that divergence there. The high beta, especially hardware names having a strong day of it. Though as we've been talking about recently, some of the hyperscaler MAG7 and that beta differential and even negative correlation to returns for the major index, that was not in evidence.

We had a pretty strong day for MAG7 as a group. Although flattering that to a degree was a huge advance, 8.5% in Tesla shares. Still in the shadow of sort of the previous price range of quite some time here. But that big move was the biggest in a long time. A self-drive update, especially for older vehicles, something like 3.5 million of these older hardware vehicles was seen as the proximate cause for that.

But looking at the broader market, so we have this big NASDAQ 100 headline gain, quite impressive. It is one of the indices most in focus here. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Sox Index up 3.8%. And yet the broader market and the median stock pretty flat on the day. S&P 500 Equal Weight barely above 0%. Same for the Russell 2000 Small Cap Index.

And KOSPI overnight, the Korean Index was only up small. So in relative terms at least. So we have markets rebounding. We're still in the range of below the previous high. And just getting into this, looking at some of these individual names here and some of the gains we're seeing, applied materials up over 10%. Basically, this is the foundry equipment maker, the stuff that makes the chips. And just look at the stock price there. Ramping parabolically.

Highward, as is, I think it was the top gainer on the S&P 500 GLW or Corning. They make the glass things like for screens, I think also for fiber optics, etc. Also enjoying just incredible day yesterday, up 15 plus percent. They are up over 600% since the Liberation Day lows of April of 2025. Incredible moves. KLA 10 core up 12%, up over 100% year to date.

You know, there's, what was that, over half, I think I said, of the SOX 40 stock index there is up over 100% year to date. So this continues to ramp. And I've got a story on, I'll just go ahead and highlight those now. First, there was an FT Alphaville piece highlighting that sort of margin or interest rate premiums or inter...

Leverage upon leverage, what could go wrong?

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

Leverage upon leverage, what could go wrong?

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.