01 / THE RATE REALITY MONEY JUST GOT MORE EXPENSIVE.

The Federal Reserve raised its target range by 25 basis points last week to 3.75%-4.00%. The message was equally important: inflation remains elevated, economic activity is still expanding at a solid pace, and policy makers are not declaring victory.

Higher rates do not automatically end a bull market.

They change the test. When investors can earn meaningful yields in government bonds, companies have to work harder for every dollar of capital. Growth has to be visible. Cash flows matter more. Execution matters more. Balance sheets matter more.

That selectivity may help explain why the market can look strong even when the macro backdrop looks difficult: capital is not treating every company equally. It is concentrating where investors believe durable growth can outrun the cost of money.

Sources: Federal Reserve FOMC statement and September 2026 projections, Sep. 16, 2026.

02 / PRESSURE POINTS THREE PRESSURES THE MARKET CANNOT IGNORE

01 / OIL Oil is not merely an energy story. When crude rises, transportation, manufacturing and household costs can rise with it. That can feed inflation expectations and keep bond yields elevated. This week, Brent moved back below $100 as Middle East crude flows improved - a reminder that geopolitics can quickly change the inflation narrative.

02 / BANKS Banks are a useful market thermometer. A flatter yield curve can squeeze the spread between funding costs and longer-term lending returns. On Tuesday, major U.S. financial stocks fell as the 2-year/10-year Treasury spread narrowed to roughly 22 basis points.

03 / THE CONSUMER Higher borrowing costs, food and energy prices can pressure households. But sentiment and behavior are not the same thing. The key question for earnings season is whether caution turns into weaker spending - or whether resilient employment and income keep demand intact.

Sources: Reuters (Sep. 23) on oil/markets; MarketWatch (Sep. 22) on financials and the 2s/10s spread.

03 / THE ENGINE AI ISN'T THE WHOLE STORY. IT'S PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER.

The easiest explanation for this market is 'AI.' But that is too small. Artificial intelligence is becoming a capital-expenditure story that reaches far beyond software and chatbots.

Nvidia, Broadcom, AMD, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon sit at different points in this ecosystem. But the larger point is the supply chain around them: chips need networking; data centers need power and cooling; models need cloud capacity; new infrastructure needs security.

That helps explain why the technology trade can remain powerful even with high rates. Investors are not only buying today's earnings. They are trying to identify the infrastructure required for tomorrow's economy.

Sources: Reuters market report, Sep. 23, 2026; company references are illustrative ecosystem examples, not recommendations.

04 / THE FORWARD VIEW THE FUTURE IS ALREADY BEING BUILT.

5 STOCKS ON OUR RADAR

The market is not moving on one story alone. These five companies give investors five different ways to research the same future - from scaled AI platforms and compute to memory, digital infrastructure and real-world machine vision.

NASDAQMETA META PLATFORMS AI AT SCALE Meta surged about 11% on Monday as enthusiasm around its Muse AI assistant revived the AI trade. The bigger thesis is scale: advertising cash flow funding massive AI and data-center investment.

NASDAQAMD ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES THE COMPUTE RACE AMD jumped nearly 10% Monday and then added 1.3% Tuesday. The company sits directly in the competition for AI accelerators, CPUs and data-center compute.

NASDAQMU MICRON TECHNOLOGY AI NEEDS MEMORY Micron gained 5% Tuesday. AI infrastructure requires more than processors: high-performance memory is becoming an increasingly important part of the compute stack.

OTCQBFCCN SPECTRAL CAPITAL SMALL-CAP DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE Spectral has a very different risk profile. The company is listed on the OTCQB and has filed an application for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. An S-1/A form was filed on September 18.

OTCQBOMQS OMNIQ AI IN THE REAL WORLD OMNIQ focuses on AI-based computer vision, vehicle recognition, automation and intelligent mobility. Q2 revenue was $7.4M as the company continues its transition toward a focused machine-vision business.

This is a research watchlist, not a buy instruction. OTC securities can carry materially higher liquidity, volatility and execution risk than large-cap Nasdaq stocks.

Sources: FT; market data through Sep. 23, 2026; SEC filings; OMNIQ Q2 2026 shareholder letter.

05 / YOUR MARKET. YOUR CONVERSATION. LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR INVESTMENTS.

WE WRITE TO THOUSANDS OF INVESTORS. NOW WE WANT TO TALK TO SOME OF YOU.

The Investor Call is built to make markets clearer - but analytics, clicks and subscriber numbers only tell us so much. We want to understand how you actually engage with the market: what you invest in, what you follow, how you make decisions, what information you are missing and how far you want to go as an investor.

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