Q3 - 2026 Trade Memo | Bashful Bulls: Trimming the Edges, Keeping the Core
Working the Details
Discipline shows up in the small decisions — where risk sits, how exposures are sized, what gets trimmed.
After a volatile summer, markets found their footing in Q3 2026 — corporate earnings held up, AI and productivity investment kept driving growth, and equities recovered their momentum. But a strong market isn't a simple one, and this quarter's trade memo, "Bashful Bulls: Trimming the Edges, Keeping the Core," explains why disciplined investors don't just ride the winners.
Kelly Olczak, CFP®, Managing Partner at LynnLeigh & Company, walks through the reasoning behind this quarter's adjustments: a portfolio doesn't need to abandon what's working to manage the risk that's accumulated around it. As the market's strongest performers grow larger and more concentrated, the memo details four key moves — modestly trimming broad equity exposure while maintaining a tilt toward stocks, sharpening international allocations through more selective country-level positioning, refining the mix within long-term growth themes like U.S. large-cap and artificial intelligence, and broadening diversification across fixed income and alternatives, including selective convertible bonds, shorter-duration positioning, liquid alternatives, and a modest increase in gold.
The memo also unpacks August's performance, where equities rebounded from July's AI-related volatility and stocks outpaced bonds — a reminder that leadership rotates, and no single theme, sector, or region carries a portfolio indefinitely. A featured asset-class chart makes the point visually: this year's winner is rarely next year's winner, which is exactly why diversification matters most after a strong run, not before one.
Heading into year-end, the memo closes with the questions worth revisiting now — from tax-planning opportunities before December 31 to whether current risk levels still match long-term goals. It's a clear, grounded look at what "staying invested" actually means when markets have been kind: not complacency, but intentional, guardrail-driven portfolio management aligned with each client's Big Picture Plan.
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