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Stocks hovering near the flat line here, but higher across the board fractionally as of now, even though we started the trading session near that flat line. We're seeing fractional gains for the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, despite last week being the best week for markets this year. Our next guest sees a pullback ahead. With us, let's bring in Vance Howard, who is the Howard Capital Management CEO and portfolio manager. Take us into your analysis here. Why are you throwing the pity party right now on this market that's trying to rebound from some of that volatility to start August?

Oh, I'm not, I'm not really throwing a pity party. I'm very much bullish, but I think whenever you've had 6, 7, 8, 9 days in a row that are up, you're going to get a three to four day pullback. So I think maybe if you're a trader, you know, you may want to look at scaling out and looking to re-enter. As an investor, I think you're just fine, continue to trade the trade. You know, we saw that nasty pullback from the carry trade. That's really what, what caused that nasty sell off, which was straight down, but net net we are bullish even though when you look on a short-term trading basis, you may want to be a little cautious for the next three or four days because markets just don't go straight up forever.

They don't. So if we are bracing and positioning for a little bit of a pullback here from your purview, what are some tips that investors should keep in mind, should heed as they do look at their own and assess their own asset structure and and diversification even to say that, okay, I'm well positioned or maybe I'm out of positioned if there was a pullback.

Well, I think what's really interesting is you need to look at what's working right now. If interest rates start to drop, look at real estate, real estate investment trust. You know VNQ, Vanguard's got a nice one, it's starting to break out now. And if you think about it logically, Brad, if, if interest rates are going to drop, which we think they are, I think everybody does, that's going to increase profitability of real estate. So you know their carrying cost is less because their interest rates is less. It also greatly affects small caps. Small caps have been really sort of a bummer the past two years, but they're actually starting to, to pick up some interest and steam here. But again, they're dramatically affected by interest rates also. So I'd look at small caps, I would look at real estate investment trust, and also your high dividend paying stocks are starting to make a move now which is, which is very encouraging and and worthwhile to look at those quality stocks paying a good dividend.

Is, is there a good rule of thumb to really identify a good stock that's paying dividend versus a bad one?

I don't know if there's a really good rule of thumb. Look at the value of the company though. You really got to go back to the fundamentals, go back to your Warren Buffett philosophy of looking at really a value play, and there's some great stocks out there. But if you don't want to spend the time looking for a great stock, look at a good ETF like DVY or VIG. You know, Vanguard's got a good one, and Ishares has a good dividend paying ETF, and then that way you diversify your risk with one, you know, with one investment.

We also have, and you know, I'll talk one single name because it's been a bellwether here for previous earning seasons, and that's been Nvidia. You knew it was coming. It's been the AI poster child here. What can that earnings report tell us or perhaps kind of do to the broader market activity that we have seen for the course of this earning season, but especially given some of the rally that we've seen off of that pullback that happened early August?

Well, I think what we've seen, and I, you noticed this, Brad, is that we saw this pullback, you know, before this, this last week, we had a pretty nasty pullback, but it really brought down semiconductors. If you look at SOXX, which is the ETF for semiconductors, it really sold off hard, and it's actually an attractive buy down here for, you know, traders and investors who want to pick up additional shares. Nvidia, Nvidia is the, it, it is the, the King Kong of AI right now and the chips that they're producing. So it should be a long-term hold for anybody even with the volatility inside of the stock. It's just a wonderful company. They're printing money over there, and I don't see any way that's going to stop.

All right, Vance Howard, who is the Howard Capital Management CEO and portfolio manager, Vance, thanks so much for joining us here today.

Thank you, Brad.