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Stocks have been on a roller-coaster ride this year, as soaring inflation and fears of a recession have continued to roil markets.

With concerns lingering that the worst is yet to come for equities, investors are searching for the best hedge against whats on the horizon.

Bank of America analysts predicted in a note on Thursday that equities were still set to hit fresh lows, warning that the inflation shock aint over.

Morgan Stanley also warned earlier this month that investors should buckle up for more stock market turbulence, while Deutsche Bank has forecast the S&P 500which was trading at around 3,860 points on Friday morningcould drop as low as 3,000 points in the event of a recession.

According to Citigroup, the U.S. dollar is the only sensible hedge against looming economic headwinds that will destroy riskier assets value.

In a research note on Thursday, the lenders strategists said a deep recession would be needed to significantly correct spiraling inflation in the United States, which would continue to pummel equities.

They argued that the greenbacks inverse relationship with risk assets such as stocks, which have nose-dived this year, made U.S. currency the best place for investors to ride out what was likely to be a volatile remainder of the year.

The only place to hide is in U.S. dollar cash, Citis strategists said in the note.

The greenback has had an extraordinary run in 2022, with the dollar index gaining around 15% so far this year to reach 20-year highs.

According to ING, the currency is likely to remain at lofty levels for the rest of the year.

Despite its continuous strength, however, some top investors disagree with using the dollar as a hedge against ongoing uncertainty in stock markets.

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associatesthe worlds biggest hedge fundtold CNBC, Cash is still trash in May, citing the impact of inflation, but he noted that equities could be an even worse bet.

Meanwhile, Lisa Shalett, CIO of Morgan Stanleys Wealth Management division, said on Monday that investors should proceed with caution when it comes to Americas currency, warning that its extreme strength could lead to bouts of instability.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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This is the only asset investors can use as a recession hedge this year, Citi says - Yahoo Finance

Phil Mickelson, it seems, is now looking for a merge of sorts between the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf Invitational Series.

Mickelson who has both been the face of and received the most criticism for joining the Saudi Arabian-backed venture insisted that the golf startup is here to stay on Friday after his round at a LIV tournament outside of Chicago on Friday afternoon.

While he and others who joined the league have been suspended from PGA Tour events, as well as Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams, Mickelson thinks its time for the two leagues to come together.

The PGA Tour, for the last 20 or 30 years have had all the best players in the world. That will never be the case again, Mickelson said, despite the fact that no Official World Golf Rankings points can be earned at LIV Golf events.

LIV Golf is here to stay. The best solution is for us to come together. I think that the world of professional golf has a need for the old historical 'history of the game' product that the PGA Tour provides. I think that LIV provides a really cool, updated feel that is attracting a lot of younger crowds.

Mickelson isnt alone in wanting to play in certain PGA Tour events. Bryson DeChambeau said he wished he could play there, as well as for Team USA, on Thursday.

One of the biggest reasons players cited when jumping ship for LIV Golf, however, was the relaxed schedule. With only eight tournaments on this years schedule, there is far less travel and time involved for them. Yet, if they were to start playing in both leagues, that argument goes out the window which is something Billy Horschel called them out for ahead of the BMW PGA Championship.

Theres also a lawsuit that Mickelson and other LIV Golf players filed against the PGA Tour. Until thats resolved one way or another, its hard to imagine the Tour welcoming Mickelson and his LIV Golf counterparts back with open arms. Mickelson did say that he is considering removing himself from the lawsuit on Thursday.

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Despite his court filings, Mickelson hopes they can eventually co-exist.

"I think both are needed for the game of golf. Both are good for the game of golf, he said. The inclusion of LIV Golf in the ecosystem of the golf world is necessary.

As soon as that happens and we all start working together, thats going to be a really positive thing for everyone."

Despite his criticism, and ongoing lawsuit, Phil Mickelson wants the PGA Tour to start working alongside LIV Golf. (AP/Mary Schwalm)

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Phil Mickelson now ready for LIV Golf and PGA Tour to come together - Yahoo Sports

This post was originally published on TKer.co.

Jim Reid, macro strategist at the bank, wrote that historically the S&P 500 normally always only bottoms in a recession and usually not until mid-way through.

Reid and his colleagues expect the U.S. economy to enter a recession in 2023. As such, they also believe the S&P 500 is likely to see a low that year before resuming any rally.

There are two ways of thinking about this chart.

First, recessions are common in history and recession-related market downturns can be very tough. On average, the S&P has historically lost about a third of its value during these periods.

Second, the chart reminds us that the stock market has always recovered those losses and then some. Yes, there are extended periods of difficulty, which make the market unfriendly for investors with weak stomachs and very short time horizons. But for those with longer-term investment horizons, time pays.

According to FactSet, 240 of the S&P 500 companies made mention of recession on their recent Q2 earnings calls. This was well above the five-year average of 52. Its clear that recessions are on a lot of peoples minds.

But its not all gloom.

The thing about recessions is, they're always followed by a recovery, Jeff Campbell, CFO of American Express, said on the companys earnings call.

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There were a few notable datapoints from last week to consider.

According to GasBuddys Patrick De Haan, the national average price of gasoline fell to $3.72 on Friday, down from its high of $5.02 on June 14. This is great news as energy is a major driver of most measures of inflation.

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The Conference Boards Employment Trends Index, a composite of labor market indicators, improved in August. From the firms economist Frank Steemers: Labor shortages may continue to be a challenge for businesses, and even if they ease during a coming recession, they could soon reappear after economic activity picks up again. Therefore, employers may try to hold onto their workers.

Consumers, including lower-income consumers, still have money to spend. From a Bank of America report released Friday: Bank of America data also indicates that customer savings and checking accounts continue to remain elevated relative to before the pandemic. The largest proportionate increases in median savings and checking balances are seen in lower income households (Exhibit 11). There has been some rise in the share of total card spending on credit cards in Bank of America internal data, Exhibit 12, but this is relatively small. The rise also seems more focused in higher income households rather than lower income ones.

The massive U.S. services sector came with mixed reports. According to the ISM Services PMI, growth accelerated in the sector during August. Meanwhile, the S&P Global U.S. Services PMI suggested activity in the sector contracted at the sharpest rate since May 2020. However, both reports showed prices were cooling, supplier delivery times were normalizing, and hiring was still positive.

Supply chains have improved considerably in recent months. The New York Feds Global Supply Chain Pressure Index a composite of various supply chain indicators fell in August to its lowest level since February 2021, meaning supply chains are easing.

Mortgage rates continue to trend higher. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 3.89% during the week ending September 8. This was the highest reading since November 2008.

New data from Redfin confirmed this negative selling sentiment. From Redfins weekly housing market update: New listings of homes for sale were down 18% from a year earlier, also the largest decline since May 2020. Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 1.2% from the prior four-week period.

Stocks rallied last week with the S&P 500 rising 3.6% to close at 4,067.36. The index is now down 15.2% from its January 3 closing high of 4,796.56 and up 10.9% from its June 16 closing low of 3,666.77.

Whether its due to the slowing economy or the cooling housing market, inflation seems to be moderating and supply chains seem to be improving. All of this is happening as the labor market remains robust, marked by low layoff activity.

While price indicators have been easing, inflation remains high. And so financial markets remain volatile as the Fed increasingly tightens financial conditions in its effort to bring down inflation. As such, recession risks linger and analysts have been trimming their forecasts for earnings. For now, all of this makes for a conundrum for the stock market until we get compelling evidence that inflation is indeed under control.

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Passive investing is a concept usually associated with buying and holding a fund that tracks an index. And no passive investment strategy has attracted as much attention as buying an S&P 500 index fund. However, the S&P 500 an index of 500 of the largest U.S. companies is anything but a static set of 500 stocks. From January 1995 through April 2022, 728 tickers have been added to the S&P 500, while 724 have been removed.

S&P Dow Jones Indices found that funds beat their benchmark in a given year are rarely able to continue outperforming in subsequent years. According to their research, 29% of 791 large-cap equity funds beat the S&P 500 in 2019. Of those funds, 75% beat the benchmark again in 2020. But only 9.1%, or 21 funds, were able to extend that outperformance streak into 2021.

Investors should always be mentally prepared for some big sell-offs in the stock market. Its part of the deal when you invest in an asset class that is sensitive to the constant flow of good and bad news. Since 1950, the S&P has seen an average annual max drawdown (i.e. the biggest intra-year sell-off) of 14%.

While valuations feature importantly in our toolbox to estimate forward equity returns, we should dispel an oft-repeated myth that equity valuations are mean-reverting, Goldman Sachs analysts argued. there is only 26% confidence that the Shiller CAPE is mean-reverting, and 74% confidence that it is not.

Picking stocks in an attempt to beat market averages is an incredibly challenging and sometimes money-losing effort. In fact, most professional stock pickers arent able to do this on a consistent basis. One of the reasons for this is that most stocks dont deliver above-average returns. According to S&P Dow Jones Indices, only 22% of the stocks in the S&P 500 outperformed the index itself from 2000 to 2020. Over that measurement period, the S&P 500 gained 322% while the median stock rose by just 63%.

Five stocks (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google) account for a massive share of the market capitalization of the S&P 500, which consists of 500 companies. While it may be technically accurate to say these five stocks represent five companies, its also a gross oversimplification of the businesses and markets these companies are exposed to.

The stock market can be an intimidating place: its real money on the line, theres an overwhelming amount of information, and people have lost fortunes in it very quickly. But its also a place where thoughtful investors have long accumulated a lot of wealth. The primary difference between those two outlooks is related to misconceptions about the stock market that can lead people to make poor investment decisions.

This post was originally published on TKer.co.

Sam Ro is the author of TKer.co. Follow him on Twitter at @SamRo

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Two ways of thinking about this chart of stocks and recessions - Yahoo Finance

USMNT players model their 2022 World Cup kits. (Nike)

Long before Nikes Thursday release of the U.S. mens national teams 2022 World Cup kits, and even before the jerseys leaked last month, some USMNT players got to glimpse and even model the threads theyll wear in November and Weston McKennie, midfielder and fashion aficionado, tried to tell them.

Them was presumably Nike and U.S. Soccer. Players, Tim Weah said, were just as angry as fans now are. But by then, they had no recourse.

Nike officially unveiled the jerseys early Thursday morning, along with 11 other World Cup kits, including those for Portugal, France and Brazil. The U.S. home jersey is a relatively plain white design.

Ricardo Pepi models the USMNT's 2022 World Cup kit. (Nike)

The away kit features a tie-dye blue top to go with solid royal blue shorts and socks.

Sergio Dest models the USMNT's 2022 World Cup kit. (Nike)

The U.S. women's national team will also wear both kits, then will get their own new kit ahead of next summer's Women's World Cup, a U.S. Soccer spokesman told Yahoo Sports.

In a press release trumpeting the U.S. kits, Nike said they were inspired by insights and conversation with athletes. But the three athletes whove spoken about them McKennie and Weah in Instagram comments, and midfielder Yunus Musah on a Zoom call last month have indicated that USMNT players are unimpressed.

Musah, who has perhaps the most positive personality on the entire roster, was asked about them and said: The kits are yeah, they're the kits that they made, you know. I'm sure they'll look good on us on the pitch.

When asked to rate them with a thumbs up or thumbs down, he smiled and turned his thumb sideways. In the middle, he said. In the middle.

(Musah has an endorsement deal with Puma. McKennie is with Adidas, and Weah with New Balance. None of the team's Nike-endorsing players commented prior to Thursday's release; on Thursday, a few posted scripted messages on social media.)

Yunus Musah gives the U.S. World Cup kits, which he has worn, a sideways-thumb rating on a Zoom call with reporters in August. (Yahoo Sports)

Nike, which has not yet responded to detailed questions from Yahoo Sports about how the kits came to be, said in its release that the white uniform design cues include bold stripes, an enlarged center crest akin to basketball jerseys, double Swooshes on the sleeves reminiscent of those used on American football jerseys, the unique shoulder and sleeve cut-and-sew construction and pattern of a hockey jersey, and timeless block lettering.

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The away kit took inspiration from design techniques found throughout the American fashion and streetwear industry, the apparel company said. Nikes design team employed a unique ice-dying technique to create a vibrant, youthful print that brings the kit to life.

Fans, though, have come out fiercely against both designs. Many have compared both jerseys to warmup shirts or training tops. In social media comments, they've pled futilely with Nike and U.S. Soccer for a rethink.

Privately, some U.S. Soccer officials like the tie-dye blue, and think it will sell well as long as the team performs well. Past USMNT and USWNT jerseys that were initially ridiculed, such as the Waldos and Bomb Pops, are now celebrated. They often look far better on the field than in leaked photos, and better when numbers are added to relatively minimalist designs.

But the designs also arent really in U.S. Soccers hands. Nike solicits and accepts input, but takes the reins for the majority of the process in the making of the USMNT kits and others.

Nike also released jerseys for all but one of the other 2022 World Cup participants that it outfits. It said the material for all of them would be cutting-edge and lightweight.

The only Nike kit not yet fully revealed is Englands. The ones included in Thursdays release were (from left to right and top row to bottom bottom): U.S., Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Qatar, Poland, Netherlands, Croatia, France, Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Australia.

From left to right, top row then bottom row: United States, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Qatar, Poland, Netherlands, Croatia, France. (Nike)

Clockwise from top left: Canada, Brazil, Brazil, Australia, South Korea. (Nike)

Adidas and Puma have already released World Cup jerseys for their national teams including Mexico, Germany, Argentina and Belgium (all Adidas), and Ghana, Senegal and Uruguay (Puma).

The tournament begins Nov. 20 in Qatar. The U.S. and other countries will debut their new kits in friendlies next week.

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U.S. 2022 World Cup kits released by Nike, with players already angry and fans unimpressed - Yahoo Sports

Peloton (PTON): The company announced co-founders John Foley and Hisao Kushi are leaving the company as part of a wider executive shakeup, sending shares lower in after-hours trading. Former CEO John Foley stepped down as executive chairman of the board while Hisao Kushi resigned as Chief Legal Officer, effective Monday. In a note to employees, CEO and President Barry McCarthy thanked Foley and Kushi, writing There wouldnt be a Peloton without John Foley or Hisao Kushi Through their hard work, they have given the world the connected fitness industry and created a platform that empowers each of us to be the best version of ourselves. Peloton, once a pandemic winner, is near all-time lows, with shares down -69% year to date.

Oracle (ORCL): Shares fell after the companys fiscal first-quarter profit fell short of Wall Streets estimates. Oracle posted adjusted earnings of $1.03 per share on revenue of $11.45 billion, driven by Oracle's growing applications and infrastructure cloud businesses. Cloud revenue totaled $3.6 billion, up 45% year-over-year. Futurum Researchs Daniel Newman told Yahoo Finance that its a cloud story and Oracle is a little ahead of some of the major infrastructure players including Amazons AWS and Microsofts Azure this quarter.

Rent the Runway (RENT): Shares sank 20% after the company lowered its full-year guidance and announced plans to cut 24% of its corporate workforce amid potentially rougher macro conditions. Rent the Runway sees full-year revenue of $285 million to $290 million from its earlier forecast of $295 million to $305 million provided in June. Active subscribers totaled 124,131, an increase of 27% year-over-year but short of Wall Streets estimates.

Planet Labs PBC (PL): The satellite imaging company posted record second quarter revenue and raised its full year revenue guidance, sending shares high in after hours trading. Revenue grew 59% from a year ago to $48.5 million. Planet Labs sees fiscal year 2023 revenue of $182 million to $190 million, representing approximately 42% growth at the midpoint.

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Stocks on the move after hours: Peloton, Oracle, Rent the Runway and more - Yahoo Finance

For the better part of his 20 years in the NFL, the story of Brett Favre was tailor-made for a middle America that swoons over blue-collar football heroes.

We learned about his formative years in tiny Kiln, Mississippi, a town defined by the boom of the timber industry, decimated by the Great Depression, then sustained by decades of illegal moonshining ingenuity. We heard tales about Favre being raised by a pair of schoolteachers, then his serendipitous discovery as a high school football player while being coached by his dad, Irvin Favre. And of course, we heard about the football hurdles, with Favre lucking into a single scholarship offer from Southern Mississippi despite running an ill-fitting wishbone offense that rarely showcased the massive arm that would eventually deliver him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

All of this would be part of Favre's tapestry as he carved out his illustrious two-decade NFL career, which included a Super Bowl win, three straight league MVPs, countless passing records at his retirement, an iron man streak for consecutive starts that is unlikely to ever be broken, and a ceaseless high tide of gunslinger compliments from John Madden and seemingly every other football analyst who ever laid eyes on him.

He was an exciting talent at the center of an iconic Green Bay franchise, the kind of player who basked in the national media attention and made fast friends with some important journalists. All while fitting into the mold of the leagues favorite historic commodity: an easily sellable white quarterback during a cable television era that would drive NFL popularity into space.

For most of his career, this was a defining part of the Brett Favre story. Since then, a lot has changed in the world. And with it, perhaps a small part of our perspective on the type of hero worship that often conceals something unsavory behind it.

The disappointing reality for many is simple: As weve moved on from Favres career, it has been challenging to keep up with the character questions surrounding him. And never more so than this week, when expansive reporting on a welfare fraud scheme in Mississippi is making Favre look either incomprehensibly incompetent or nefariously dishonest.

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The world has changed a lot since Brett Favre retired, and it's getting harder and harder to buy into the noble, working-class image that's been tailored for him. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

If you havent followed the work by Mississippi Today, you should. The general outline of Favres alleged involvement surrounds millions of dollars in welfare funds that were improperly diverted to build a volleyball stadium at Favres alma mater, Southern Miss (where Favres daughter was also a volleyball player). According to the reporting, Favre denied ever speaking to former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant about the stadium, denied knowing where the money for the project came from, and generally denied any knowable wrongdoing whatsoever.

The problem? Texts have surfaced from Bryant that reference an alleged meeting with Favre about the project, as well as other texts featuring the former NFL quarterback allegedly asking an executive involved in the fraud scheme whether the media would ever be able to determine where the stadium project money came from or how much money was contributed.

At best, it makes Favre look like hes got some significant explaining to do. At worst, he looks like a liar who played a part in diverting millions of dollars away from the poorest Mississippians so that a volleyball stadium could be built. Somewhere in the middle of all that is a question about entitlement, politics and how the rich and influential manipulate the system to essentially steal tax dollars earmarked for some of the neediest people in America.

So which is it? We need to know, because hanging in the balance is Favres good ol Mississippi reputation, which has (until recently) always framed him as the small-town kid who made it big and never forgot his roots. The guy who still keeps his home in Americas poorest state and has statues outside his high school stadium and inside the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. A classically embraced story of an athlete who reached the highest of peaks and then returned home and invested in many of the people that he couldnt take with him.

Looking back now, it would be great to know how much of it was ever actually true. But theres also another troubling part of all this the reality that Favre has appeared to skate on a number of questionable issues over the years, while maintaining his largely undiminished iconic stature in the NFL.

Lest we forget, in the final weeks of his career, the NFL said Favre failed to fully cooperate with a league investigation into whether he sent former New York Jets employee Jenn Sterger multiple unsolicited photos of his penis while both were with the team in 2008. The NFL fined Favre $50,000 in the wake of that investigation in 2010. Sterger certainly hasnt forgotten, commenting on Favres latest issues Tuesday with a series of tweets, including: Oh.. NOWWWWW he gets in trouble for inappropriate texts.

Then there was the 2013 civil settlement over a lawsuit brought by two massage therapists in response to allegedly sexually suggestive text messages Favre sent while with the Jets in 2008. Or the questionable business dealings, one involving litigation over bankrupt digital sports media company Sqor (which was ultimately thrown out, but not until after Favre had been named as one of the defendants in a fraud lawsuit brought by an investor); and in another case, a U.S. Justice Department investigation of Rx Pro, a brand that Favre heavily endorsed that later came under scrutiny for statements made about pain-relieving creams that hadnt been approved by the FDA.

Of course, there's more beyond the legal realm. You had Favre making all types of eyebrow-raising statements, like having sustained thousands of concussions during his playing career, to telling Peyton Manning he didnt know what a nickel defense was in the NFL until he asked Ty Detmer, to revealing to Peter King that he went to rehab three times in his career for substance abuse issues.

At best, Brett Favre's alleged involvement in diverting welfare funds so a volleyball stadium could be built means hes got some significant explaining to do. At worst, he looks like a liar who played a part in taking money away from the poorest Mississippians. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

From a football perspective, it has been interesting to see how the public has absorbed those revelations and natural to wonder how it would play if someone like, say, Russell Wilson or a comparable Black quarterback ever said the same things. Never mind the other other football-related oddities that orbited Favre, like his repeated retirements or the offseasons he left the Packers wondering whether or not they would have a quarterback the following season. Or the time he gifted his friend Michael Strahan an NFL single-season sack record that basically undercut the legitimacy of what had been a coveted accomplishment. Or one of the forgotten hits, when Jay Glazer reported that Favre had given Detroit Lions general manager Matt Millen intelligence on the Packers during Favres season with the Jets. Favre denied it, of course.

These are all just a few examples of the static that has seemed to follow Favre through the years. None of it feels clean, or resembles a spotless reputation or character. Time will tell whether or not the fraud investigation in Mississippi has more layers, or whether the texts that have come to light ultimately shape the historical perspective of Favre as a person.

For now, the judgements are left to the beholder. But its worth noting that at least one person who spent a great deal of time unraveling Favre seems to have come away with a concrete and unambiguous opinion. That would be Jeff Pearlman, a respected author who has written multiple New York Times bestsellers and who in 2016 penned what is considered the most significant biography about Favre: Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre.

It turns out Pearlman has some thoughts following the release of the texts messages tying Favre to the Mississippi welfare fraud investigation.

As he put it Tuesday from his Twitter account: On the day of extended Favre revelations, I wanna share something: I wrote a biography of the man that was largely glowing. Football heroics, overcoming obstacles, practical joker, etc. Yes, it included his grossness, addictions, treatment of women. But it was fairly positive. And, looking at it now, if Im being brutally honest Id advise people not to read it. Hes a bad guy. He doesnt deserve the icon treatment. He doesnt deserve acclaim. Image rehabilitation. Warm stories of grid glory. His treatment of [Jenn Sterger] was ... inexcusable.

Thats not exactly a synopsis tailor-made for middle Americas love affair with a football player. But it also might be the most truthful conclusion about this edition of hero worship gone wrong.

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Brett Favre is an example of NFL hero worship gone wrong - Yahoo Sports

If you think the stock market selloff has come to an end, Morgan Stanley has some bad news.

The S&P 500 is already down 14% year to date, but the Wall Street juggernaut believes the market has yet to hit a bottom.

Our '22/'23/'24 base case estimates are now 3%/13%/14% below consensus, respectively, a team of Morgan Stanley analysts led by Mike Wilson write in a recent note to investors. In our base case, 2023 now marks a modest earnings contraction (-3% year-over-year growth), though we do not embed an economic recession in this scenario.

While acknowledging the poor performance in equities year-to-date, we do not think the bear market is over if our earnings forecasts are correct.

The analysts expect the S&P 500 to fall to 3,400 by year-end. And if a recession hits the economy, they say the benchmark index could drop to 3,000.

Considering that the S&P 500 sits at around 4,107 right now, Morgan Stanleys projection implies a further downside of 17% to 27%.

That doesnt mean selling everything. The Wall Street firm still sees upside in quite a few companies. Heres a look at three that it finds particularly attractive.

This American pharmaceutical giant commands around $300 billion in market cap, with products marketed in 120 countries around the world.

Despite the market downturn this year, Eli Lilly is not a beaten-down stock.

In the first six months of 2022, Eli Lillys revenue grew 6% year over year. Meanwhile, the companys adjusted earnings per share improved 12% from a year ago.

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Shares are actually up roughly 16% so far in 2022, and Morgan Stanley expects the trend to continue.

On Sept. 7, analyst Terence Flynn reiterated an overweight rating on Eli Lilly while raising his price target from $395 to $412.

Considering that Eli Lilly shares trade at around $317 apiece right now, the new price target implies a potential upside of 30%.

Welltower is in the real estate business.

The company doesnt own fancy shopping malls or posh office buildings. Instead, it focuses on health care infrastructure and provides real estate capital to senior housing operators, post-acute care providers and health systems.

In Q2, Welltowers revenue grew 29.1% year over year to $1.47 billion. Its same-store net operating income rose 8.7%.

Health care is a recession-resistant sector, so health care-anchored real estate is typically in high demand.

The company also benefits from a major demographic tailwind: population aging.

Morgan Stanley analyst Ronald Kamdem notes that the population aged 75 and older is expected to grow by 4% annually through 2030, which could serve as a catalyst for Welltowers business.

Kamdem has an overweight rating on the company and a price target of $90 implying a potential upside of 15%.

Thanks to strong oil prices, energy stocks have turned out to be some of the best performers of the S&P 500 so far this year.

Exxon Mobil, for instance, is up 53% year to date and thats after a strong rally in 2021.

The oil-producing giant gushes profits and cash flow in this commodity price environment. In the first six months of 2022, Exxon earned $23.3 billion in profits, a huge increase from the $7.4 billion in the year-ago period. Free cash flow totaled $27.7 billion for the first half, compared to $13.8 billion in the same period last year.

Solid financials allow the company to return cash to investors. Exxon pays quarterly dividends of 88 cents per share, translating to an annual yield of 3.6%.

Morgan Stanley analyst Devin McDermott has an overweight rating on Exxon and recently raised his price target to $113 roughly 16% above the current levels.

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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Morgan Stanley expects the S&P 500 to plunge another 17%-27% within the next four months use these 3 top recession-resistant stocks for protection -...

The NFL is a snow-globe league and every week and every season is weird, and weird in its own way. You want to be careful with overarching fantasy themes and takeaways because were never far away from a set of unexpected results.

That said, the top wide receivers sure ran pure in Week 1, and it has to make you wonder: Will Fantasy Football 2022 be defined by big-name, glamorous pass-catchers?

Is this the year of the receiver?

Consider the top-seven scoring wideouts in the opening week:

Justin Jefferson, drafted as the WR2 in Yahoo drafts

Cooper Kupp, WR1 in Yahoo Drafts

Davante Adams, WR5 in Yahoo Drafts

JaMarr Chase, WR3 in Yahoo Drafts

Michael Pittman Jr., WR10 in Yahoo Drafts

Stefon Diggs, WR4 in Yahoo Drafts

A.J. Brown, WR13 in Yahoo Drafts

A position cant run much cleaner than that.

The receiving studs were buoyed by opportunity and targets, of course. The five most targeted receivers are all from that list Adams, Chase, Kupp, Brown and Pittman. Game results didnt matter much wins, losses and even ties were represented in this list.

Davante Adams was starting a game with a new team and new QB in Week 1 he still crushed in fantasy. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

And some of the big-name wideouts who didnt finish in the top seven still had favorable debuts:

Mike Evans scored another touchdown, his recurring drumbeat since Tom Brady got to Tampa Bay. Since the Brady acquisition, Evans has 28 spikes in 33 games.

Deebo Samuel kept a heavy rushing workload something we were unsure of entering 2022 and punched in another touchdown. And now the Niners are without Eli Mitchell, their opening-day tailback.

Tyreek Hill was heavily utilized in his Miami debut, with 12 targets leading to a strong 8-94-0 return.

The limited disappointments from name-brand receivers were mostly related to injury. Tee Higgins suffered a concussion. CeeDee Lamb lost Dak Prescott on Sunday night. Keenan Allen suffered a hamstring injury.

Maybe this discussion has you shrugging the best players, of course, should be the best players. But other positions didnt return so cleanly. The top of the running back board had all sorts of surprises Cordarrelle Patterson, Kareem Hunt, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Dontrell Hilliard and James Robinson all crashed the top eight in Week 1. Three of those guys weren't even projected starters, for crying out loud, and CEH was passively drafted after a mediocre summer.

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The quarterback board had plenty of stars, but Carson Wentz, Jameis Winston, Ryan Tannehill and Marcus Mariota all crashed the QB1 cutoff.

Tight end? Forget it. Travis Kelce was an easy call for No. 1, but then were looking at O.J. Howard, Taysom Hill, Gerald Everett, Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson. Several of the top-12 projected tight ends did very little.

One of the reasons I prioritized wide receivers in my early rounds (the goal was one anchor running back along with several name-brand receivers) is because big-name wideouts start themselves every week. I dont want to play guessing games, trying to figure out what WR53-ranked option could turn in a WR19-type of return. And although the Week 1 scoresheet cant be seen as a recurring answer key, it makes me think Big Receiver was the way to go this year.

Running back and wide receiver are generally accepted as the two most important fantasy positions, but true talent level seems to matter less at the running back position. If you can move into an expanded role at RB, the fantasy points generally follow.

Consider: Jeff Wilson Jr. is expected to be the San Francisco RB starter in Week 2. Hes had a respectable but unspectacular career to this point. Although the overall San Francisco backfield is nebulous, Wilson is nonetheless projected to be RB21 in half-point PPR leagues this week, per Yahoo's outsourced stat projections. (In many other instances, a RB promotion will catapult the new starter into a lofty position, must-start fantasy territory. Think of how we'd view Alexander Mattison or Hunt if their backfield teammates weren't available.)

Compare this to wide receiver, where Joshua Palmer and Tyler Boyd are looking at possible role expansions after Allen and Higgins got hurt last week. I liked both players as upside stashes before the year, and their value has increased due to circumstances. But the fresh projections arent gigantic the stat projections merely call Palmer the WR35, while Boyd is the WR49. Neither is an automatic start, while a player like Wilson likely will be.

Maybe you landed some wide receiver help on the waiver wire. Curtis Samuel had a snappy debut for Washington, and Robbie Anderson played full snaps in Carolina, catching a long touchdown. Both are welcome on my rosters, but initial expectations are modest. Samuel projects to WR40 this week, Anderson to WR54. (Ill likely rank both of them higher, and theres a Man vs. Machine debate to be had at a different time. To play fantasy football well, I think you need a blend of stat crunching, game observation and common sense. But even the rosiest optimist in the room would probably hold off on calling Samuel or Anderson locked-in fantasy WR2s right now. Theyre still just consideration plays, not slam dunks.)

Every NFL season has a floating butterfly nature to it the moment we cast our net and think we have it captured, things are likely to dip and bob and weave somewhere else. In a weeks time, the takeaways could easily have a different shade to them. And any fantasy championship season is probably going to require a tidy and productive running back room, no matter how you allocated your assets towards that position.

That said, I feel confident (a dangerous word for any fantasy analyst to use) that WR-heavy builds were a good idea entering this season. If you have a late-running draft to come, Id consider the same motif. And perhaps you can still shape your assembled roster towards a WR-heavy approach, through trades and roster manipulation.

Because the alpha receivers might be taking over in 2022.

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Fantasy Football: Will 2022 be the Year of the Receiver? - Yahoo Sports

If you're still trying to make sense of the NFL's opening week, we have a six-pack of stats that will hopefully help fantasy managers out there. Let's begin by acknowledging an astonishing comeback...

260: That's how many days passed from the moment James Robinson tore his Achilles last season to when he returned to action in opening week against Washington. Amazing. It's one of the most remarkable recovery timelines in recent memory, given the severity of the injury. Robinson was phenomenal against the Commanders, gaining 69 total yards on a dozen touches, scoring a pair of touchdowns and playing 49 percent of the offensive snaps. He gained 4.2 yards after contact per attempt according to PFF. Here's a sample of his work:

Robinson looked exactly like the pre-injury version of himself, the guy who'd averaged 5.0 yards per touch in his first two seasons. Whatever surgeons are doing with tendons these days, it's incredible. Sterling Shepard made it back from an Achilles tear on a timeline similar to Robinson's and he also made a house call in the opener.

123: Saquon Barkley rushed for 123 yards after first contact on his 18 carries against the Titans, the highest opening week total for any back in the league. He picked up only 435 yards after contact all of last season in 162 attempts. We should also note that Tennessee's defense ranked second against the run last year, so it's not as if Barkley was simply feasting on a friendly matchup. It would appear that Saquon is, in fact, back.

Saquon Barkley looks like he's back to being a fantasy star as long as he can stay healthy. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

39: Chase Claypool lined up in the slot 39 times on Sunday, claiming a role in Pittsburgh's offense that previously belonged to JuJu Smith-Schuster. He caught four balls for 18 yards on six targets, plus he did Deebo-ish things, carrying six times for 36 yards. So that was fun. It didn't add up to much for fantasy purposes, but his usage makes him a very interesting chess piece moving forward. Claypool is a clear trade target exiting Week 1.

13.9: This was Jarvis Landry's average air-yards per target on Sunday according to NFL Next Gen Stats and, as you can probably guess, it's a big number by his career standards. Jameis Winston has been a high-aDOT quarterback his entire career, so it should be no great surprise to see his primary receivers targeted deep downfield. Landry was excellent in the opener, absolutely instrumental in the team's fourth quarter comeback.

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We can start him with confidence in any sort of PPR format. If Landry remains healthy, he's going to top 1,000 yards for the first time since 2019.

12: Marcus Mariota ran the ball 12 times against the Saints on Sunday, a new career high, gaining 72 yards on the ground and scoring a touchdown. The fumbling was unfortunate and he passed for just 215 scoreless yards, but let's not pretend he was facing a pushover defense. If Mariota is going to run at this rate (or anything close to it) this season, then he's going to be exceedingly streamable. There are plenty of friendly matchups ahead on Atlanta's schedule and eventually Mariota is going to find Drake London and Kyle Pitts in the end zone.

[Week 2 Fantasy Rankings: QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | FLEX | DST | Kickers]

5.1: Jalen Hurts finished with an average depth of target of just 5.1 in Sunday's win, among the lowest in the league in opening week. He was near the top of the leaderboard last year at 9.5 (and 10.1 the season before). All the short-range attempts didn't do much for his completion percentage as he connected on just 18 of 32 throws. In fact, Hurts was 10-for-13 when targeting A.J. Brown and 8-for-19 targeting anyone else. He attempted only one throw of 20-plus yards, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Last year, Hurts completed deep balls at a rate of only 38.1 percent, producing four TDs and five interceptions.

More here:

Fantasy Football Week 2 Six-Pack: James Robinson was the steal of your draft - Yahoo Sports

In some of the darkest days of the Cold War, the U.S. intelligence community was alarmed by a startling discovery: the Soviet Union was bombarding the U.S. Embassy in Moscow with microwaves, in what some officials feared was an attempt to harm American diplomats and possibly, even mess with their minds.

The discovery in the 1950s led to years of highly classified research by the Pentagon to assess the impact on the body and mind of what the Russians were doing. Were the Russians implanting sounds or even words into the heads of American diplomats in an effort to disrupt their work and damage their health?

The questions ultimately triggered a supersecret brain weapons arms race, says journalist Sharon Weinberger in todays episode of the "Conspiracyland" podcast entitled The Mystery of the Moscow Signal. (It is the second of three episodes in the "Conspiracyland" series The Strange Story of Havana Syndrome.)

So one of the working theories was that [the Soviets] knew something we didn't know, said Weinberger, the author of a book, The Imagineers of War, that dug into the issue. That they had uncovered some secret of weaponizing microwaves. And so we had to catch up with them, and we had to have our brain weapons.

The Cold War concerns about the impact of microwave bombardment on American diplomats is newly relevant to one of the most perplexing issues that has confronted U.S. officials in recent years: the epidemic of strange health ailments, ranging from vertigo and dizziness to, in some cases, brain injuries, reported by U.S. diplomats and spies. It is a phenomenon known as Havana syndrome.

In the early 1950s, U.S. officials discovered a microwave-generated bug concealed inside this Great Seal of the United States given as a gift to the U.S. ambassador in Moscow. (Photo combination: Yahoo News; photos: Mark Seman/Yahoo News)

When the reports of health ailments first surfaced in 2017, and later spread to U.S. officials serving all over the world, some in the U.S. intelligence community and many in the media concluded that the "Havana syndrome" symptoms were the direct result of secret Russian microwave attacks comparable to what diplomats in Moscow had experienced decades earlier.

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But as "Conspiracyland" shows, that theory only goes so far: Pentagon researchers were never able to establish a connection between microwave exposure and injuries to the body and brain, undercutting the entire U.S. interest in developing a brain weapon.

This finding is buttressed by newly declassified documents released just this week about Project Pandora a top-secret project in which Pentagon researchers in the 1960s bombarded rhesus monkeys with waves of microwaves in an effort to test whether this had any impact on their ability to perform basic tasks on a computer, in exchange for receiving banana pellets. The documents were obtained by the nonprofit National Security Archive. (Peter Kornbluh, a senior researcher at the National Security Archive, appears in a special bonus episode of "Conspiracyland," which will be released today, called Henry Kissingers Radiation Treatment.)

As the documents show, the researchers couldnt find evidence that the monkeys were in any way disrupted or harmed by the microwave bombardment, undermining the idea that U.S. diplomats were being injured at the embassy in Moscow. I feel confident in stating that persons exposed are at no risk of injury, a CIA analyst wrote in a September 1967 memo about the monkey experiments.

U.S. Embassy in Moscow from circa 1964. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images)

"Conspiracyland" also includes an interview with James McIlwain, a neuroscientist who had reviewed the Project Pandora monkey tests for the Pentagon and similarly concluded theres no convincing evidence of the effect of a special signal [of microwaves] on the performance of monkeys.

Still, the conviction that microwave bombardments were affecting the health of U.S. diplomats persisted for years and reached a crescendo in the 1970s, when Walter Stoessel, the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, demanded that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger confront the Soviets over the issue. Stoessel had been diagnosed with leukemia while serving as ambassador, and believed his condition could have stemmed from the Soviets microwave-beam bombardment.

Documents obtained by the National Security Archive include transcripts of sometimes testy, sometimes humorous conversations that Kissinger had with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin over the issue.

"I wanna talk to you about the signal, Kissinger said during one conversation on Dec. 9, 1975. "What signal?" replied Dobrynin, feigning ignorance of what Kissinger was talking about.

"That beam you are beaming into our embassy in Moscow," Kissinger says. He urged the Soviets to turn it off at least until he arrived in Moscow during an upcoming trip at which point you can turn it on again and give me a radiation treatment.

Then you would be radioactive, joked Dobrynin.

But for all the humorous asides, Kissinger made clear this was a serious issue: The State Department was under pressure to call out the Russians publicly and pressure them to stop the microwave bombardments. Look, we're really sitting on it here, but too many people know about it, Kissinger told Dobrynin. We will catch hell unless we say something is happening."

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, left, chats with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Dec. 5, 1974, as they awaited the arrival of West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. (AP Photo)

The Soviets never 'fessed up to bombarding the embassy with microwaves, although eventually they turned it off in the 1970s under U.S. pressure. The prevailing theory today is they were using the microwaves to activate secret listening devices they had installed to eavesdrop on the conversations of U.S. diplomats.

But the Pentagons interest in developing its own microwave weapon didnt go away. As Weinberger explains in "Conspiracyland," after the Sept. 11 attacks, researchers stepped up their efforts to develop a microwave weapon that could even implant sounds and words into the heads of terrorist targets. It came to be called a voice of God weapon.

So at some point, over the years, the idea was forwarded that if you could create the sensation of sending words into people's heads, you could make them think they're crazy, that their mind is going crazy, she said. You could make them think that God is talking to them and tell them to lay down your weapons.

That, she said, would be the ultimate gaslighting. But like much else in the realm of microwave weapons research including those monkey experiments, so far as anybody knows the exotic theories never panned out.

Subscribe to 'Conspiracyland' on Apple Podcasts

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Mark Seman/Yahoo News; Bettmann Archive via Getty Images, Getty Images

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How a Soviet plot to beam the U.S. Embassy with microwaves led to a 'brain weapons arms race' - Yahoo News