"Slumdog Billionaires": Why Hartnett Is Going Long Main Street, Short Wall Street Into The Midterms

One month ago, Bank of America CIO Michael Hartnett, who had recently redesigned the bank's closely watched Bull and Bear Indicator found something troubling: as of the start of 2026, the (new and improved) Sell signal had been triggered as it stood at a "very bullish 9.0 as outflows from tech stocks & EM debt offset by very strong global equity breadth (98% of country indices above 200dma), super-low BofA Global FMS cash positions (record low 3.3%), hedge funds adding to S&P 500 longs via futures." And this is how the indicator rose to its highest level sinc 2018: 8.5 on Dec 17th, 8.8 on Dec 24th, 9.0 on Dec 31st. (incidentally, in the latest week, the Bull/Bear index rose from 9.4 to a stunning 9.6- the highest since Mar'06 on strong inflows to tech & high-yield bond funds, record-low FMS cash, strong global stock index breath, offset by EM debt outflows, hedge funds cutting gold longs & VIX shorts; positioning excess bullish…contrarian “sell signal” for risk assets).