Volatility Tests High Valuations | S2 E095

Markets with Megan: A Quick Financial Markets Update · Nov 18, 2025 · 6m · transcript

Fear has a way of compressing lofty stories into hard numbers, and that’s exactly what’s playing out across U.S. markets. We open with a clean read on why volatility jumped to levels last seen around April’s tariff shock, then connect the dots between stretched forward P/Es, softening consumer trends, and a Federal Reserve that can’t quite agree on timing for rate cuts. It’s a live stress test of equity risk premia, and the results aren’t evenly distributed.

We break down the five forces pushing risk lower: valuations near late-1990s territory, big tech’s need to prove that AI spend will…