U.S. stocks rose on Thursday after President Trump announced a reciprocal tariff plan which will not go into effect immediately. Stocks also rose on the PPI results. PPI rose sharply in January, increasing 0.4% month over month, higher than expected. The S&P 500 rose 1.04%, the Dow was up 0.77% and the Nasdaq gained 1.5%.

Cisco is a worldwide leader in communications equipment. Originally created to provide routers and switches for Ethernet-based networks within enterprises, the company has expanded into collaboration, data center, service provider video, security, wireless, analytics, and other hardware and software niches.

Cisco Systems is the largest provider of networking equipment in the world and one of the largest software companies in the world. Its largest businesses are selling networking hardware and software (where it has leading market shares) and cybersecurity software such as firewalls. It also has collaboration products, like its Webex suite, and observability tools. It primarily outsources its manufacturing to third parties and has a large sales and marketing staff—25,000 strong across 90 countries. Overall, Cisco employs 80,000 people and sells its products globally.

Rapidly rising inflation in 2022 knocked stocks into a bear market. While growth strategies suffered the most, value strategies also declined. Even bond prices were lower that year. Stocks have recovered and a new bull market has started, but gains have been largely driven by only a handful of high-tech companies. Inflation remains an issue and now, with a new president, a trade war may be in play. Is a recession in the offing? With all the uncertainty, is it time for investors to cash in their chips? Argus believes that Min Vol is an all-weather strategy that is timely in any investing climate. Academic literature and, more to the point, returns history, indicate that Min Vol can deliver market-matching returns on an absolute basis and superior returns on a risk-adjusted basis over various time periods.