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Spring Forward: 5 Indicators Illustrate a Bullish Shift
Despite Market Volatility, Bulls Have the Edge: Here’s Why
Lately, Wall Street investors have had to contend with a choppy market and heightened volatility driven by geopolitical turmoil, inflation concerns, and AI-related spending concerns. However, if there’s one lesson veteran investors understand, it’s to block out the headlines and noise and instead take a non-emotional, hard look at key market indicators. Below are 5 indications that the bulls have a large edge into spring.
Spring Seasonality Favors the Bulls
Seasonal patterns are often studied by investors because they provide a roadmap of the recurring,often predictable price trends that occur at certain times of year on Wall Street. In 2026 in particular, seasonality has proved its mettle. Historical seasonality trends predicted modest gains in January before a correction that occurs in the back half of February and into the beginning of March – and that is exactly what has occurred. However, this same seasonal road map now suggests a robust rally into year-end. In fact, stocks have bottomed on average on March 12th over the past two decades.
Volatility Spikes Lead to Buying Opportunities
Historically, volatility spikes provide some of the best buying opportunities on Wall Street. Often, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) spikes represent emotionally driven panic among investors that is detached from the underlying fundamentals of the economy. Over the past few years, spikes above $28 in the VIX have served as strong buy zones for bulls. Earlier this month, VIX spiked above $28 amid fears about geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East.
Inflationary Concerns Are Overblown
The Jones Act, or Section 27 of the Marchan Marine Act of 1920, is a federal law that regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters and mandates that all goods that are transported by water must be carried on ships that are U.S.-built, flagged, owned, and crewed. However, amid the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran, President Trump has suspended the Jones Act. The suspension of the Jones Act should increase supply flexibility and provide some relief for rising oil and gas prices.
Meanwhile, although high energy prices are putting pressure on prices at the pump, the overall inflation rate remains tame. According to Truflation, which aggregates 35 million real-time data points, U.S. CPI is still just 1.21% - well below the lagging government-provided numbers would suggest.
Leaders Defend Long-Term Support
Despite recent market volatility, several leading AI-related stocks have recently found support at their rising 10-week moving averages, including SanDisk, Micron, Bloom Energy, Vertiv and Lumentum.
Investors are Extremely Fearful
According to the CNN Fear & Greed Index, investors are “extremely fearful.” As Warren Buffett teaches,“Be greedy when others are fearful.”
Bottom Line
Navigating a market defined by geopolitical friction can be challenging. By recognizing that volatility spikes often create better buys than sells, especially when real-time inflation remains manageable, and leading stocks hold their long-term support, investors can position themselves for seasonal strength ahead.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights SanDisk, Micron, Bloom Energy, Vertiv and Lumentum
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 13, 2026 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights SanDisk (SNDK - Free Report) , Micron (MU - Free Report) , Bloom Energy (BE - Free Report) , Vertiv (VRT - Free Report) and Lumentum (LITE - Free Report) .
Spring Forward: 5 Indicators Illustrate a Bullish Shift
Despite Market Volatility, Bulls Have the Edge: Here’s Why
Lately, Wall Street investors have had to contend with a choppy market and heightened volatility driven by geopolitical turmoil, inflation concerns, and AI-related spending concerns. However, if there’s one lesson veteran investors understand, it’s to block out the headlines and noise and instead take a non-emotional, hard look at key market indicators. Below are 5 indications that the bulls have a large edge into spring.
Spring Seasonality Favors the Bulls
Seasonal patterns are often studied by investors because they provide a roadmap of the recurring,often predictable price trends that occur at certain times of year on Wall Street. In 2026 in particular, seasonality has proved its mettle. Historical seasonality trends predicted modest gains in January before a correction that occurs in the back half of February and into the beginning of March – and that is exactly what has occurred. However, this same seasonal road map now suggests a robust rally into year-end. In fact, stocks have bottomed on average on March 12th over the past two decades.
Volatility Spikes Lead to Buying Opportunities
Historically, volatility spikes provide some of the best buying opportunities on Wall Street. Often, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) spikes represent emotionally driven panic among investors that is detached from the underlying fundamentals of the economy. Over the past few years, spikes above $28 in the VIX have served as strong buy zones for bulls. Earlier this month, VIX spiked above $28 amid fears about geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East.
Inflationary Concerns Are Overblown
The Jones Act, or Section 27 of the Marchan Marine Act of 1920, is a federal law that regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters and mandates that all goods that are transported by water must be carried on ships that are U.S.-built, flagged, owned, and crewed. However, amid the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran, President Trump has suspended the Jones Act. The suspension of the Jones Act should increase supply flexibility and provide some relief for rising oil and gas prices.
Meanwhile, although high energy prices are putting pressure on prices at the pump, the overall inflation rate remains tame. According to Truflation, which aggregates 35 million real-time data points, U.S. CPI is still just 1.21% - well below the lagging government-provided numbers would suggest.
Leaders Defend Long-Term Support
Despite recent market volatility, several leading AI-related stocks have recently found support at their rising 10-week moving averages, including SanDisk, Micron, Bloom Energy, Vertiv and Lumentum.
Investors are Extremely Fearful
According to the CNN Fear & Greed Index, investors are “extremely fearful.” As Warren Buffett teaches,“Be greedy when others are fearful.”
Bottom Line
Navigating a market defined by geopolitical friction can be challenging. By recognizing that volatility spikes often create better buys than sells, especially when real-time inflation remains manageable, and leading stocks hold their long-term support, investors can position themselves for seasonal strength ahead.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
See Stocks Free >>
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Zacks Investment Research
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.