The Dividend Cafe - Tuesday - June 2, 2026

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Brian Szytel shares a late-day market update with the Dow up about 250 points, the S&P slightly higher, the Nasdaq flat, and the 10-year yield unchanged at 4.45%. He highlights a stronger-than-expected JOLTS report showing roughly 731,000 more job openings than consensus, lifting openings to about 7.6 million, the highest in two years, with gains notably in consulting and professional services—countering fears that AI is collapsing hiring. He argues AI may shift entry-level skill requirements but supports productivity and investment over time. Addressing a question about younger investors relying on Bitcoin for retirement, he cites Ned Davis Research (1973–2025) showing dividend growers compounding ~10.2% versus ~7.7% for S&P equal weight, ~4.2% for non-payers, and negative returns for dividend cutters, recommending dividend-growth principles and warning Bitcoin’s volatility and lack of cash flows make it ill-suited for funding liabilities. 00:00 Market Snapshot Today 00:41 Jobs Openings Surprise 01:19 AI and Hiring Reality 02:47 Bitcoin vs Dividend Growth 03:17 50 Years of Dividend Data 04:23 Building Evergreen Investing Habits 04:48 Why Bitcoin Fails Liabilities 05:34 Conclusion Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com TheBahnsenGroup.com

Welcome to the Dividend Cafe, weekly market commentary focused on dividends in your portfolio and dividends in your understanding of economic life. Welcome back to Dividend Cafe. This is Brian Saitel with you here as your host this evening. It is Tuesday, June 2nd, and we've got an update in the market. At least we have an update on the Dow. The Dow is up about 250 points. I'm actually recording this about 11 minutes before the close here, so give me some grace on that. But that was up 250.

S&P was up about 15 basis points, and the NASDAQ was totally flat. Ten year didn't move. We're at 445 on the 10 year. So again, the story here is the positive fundamentals outweighing some of the concerns and worries about other things like geopolitical events. We had a stronger than expected joltz number.

This is the new job openings number that we measure often. It was robust compared to what was considered consensus. So we've got about 731,000 more new job jobs being opened and advertised for, which brings us up to what, 7.6 million. And to put that in perspective, that's the highest number in two years. Remember back in the pandemic or post-pandemic era, we got up towards nine for a period of time. So there was more job openings than there were employed to fill them. This is a much more balanced labor market.

But the point is, for all of the concern around AI, changing the landscape of companies wanting to hire and just using cloud or open AI to do the jobs of what people in professional services roles used to do, this is really speaking to the opposite of that. And I think it's interesting. In fact, the biggest part of the new job openings numbers was in consulting business professional services roles. So those were some of the roles that were deemed to be more susceptible to being supplanted by what AI can do. But the reality is there really isn't a technology that is ever going to replace human connection and human relationships. And so this tool is fantastic. And it's creating higher productivity and it's certainly a whole lot of investment. And that's good for markets. It's good

for the economy. Yes. And on some levels, if there's roles that are more remedial or more commoditized or more data entry type of roles, then I do believe that AI can solve for those. But really all that's doing is shifting the skill set requirement for entry level positions higher as it shifts the productivity amount from the businesses and what they can produce. That is a win-win for everybody over time. It doesn't mean there won't be a shifting of gears. It doesn't mean that there won't be at least some growing pains. But if you look at new jobs numbers coming out to be 730,000 more than what was expected, that's like 10% higher. That's meaningful. And that is not speaking to employment falling off of a cliff because of a technology doing everyone's job. There was a good ask TBG question

in there today that was about the younger generation that is looking at things like Bitcoin and thinking that it's going to solve their retirement need later in life at it earlier or faster clip than say their parents or grandparents did. They're looking at it as like the shiny object. This is the solution. If I put all the money in Bitcoin, then I'm going to be rich or I'm going to be able to retire soon. And the question was if there was outside proof of the counter and is dividend growth still, the ballast and the right thing to do and all these things.

And my answer in there is that there are periods of time. Look, that it feels like this time is different. But at the end of the day, when you look back 50 years, and there was a good research piece by Ned Davis research that was put out on dividend growers versus dividend payers versus dividend cutters versus just the S&P equal weight index. And so if you think about 1973 to 2025, you've got a period of time where you had the inflationary 70s, you had the disinflationary 80s, you had a dot-com era, you had a great financial crisis, you had the ZERP decade, and then you had a global pandemic. So from a case study standpoint, I mean, it's pretty indisputable that that is a really good 50 years to say all things were considered in that analysis. And in that time period, dividend growers compounded at about 10.2%. The S&P equal weight was about 7.7 and the non-pairs were about 4.2 and then dividend cutters were about negative 1. So look, I think it's a good outside resource to cite when you look at markets and cycles and business cycles for the younger generation.

I also think they need to look at more conceptual, educational formats on how to look at the market and investing. And so there's books like the case for dividend growth by my business partner, David Bonson, or the intelligent investor of Benjamin Graham are good places to start because those principles are evergreen. They're not a fad. They aren't popular one decade and then out of sorts the next. They are time tested. And that's my recommendation there. And then as far as just looking at Bitcoin as a solution to funding future liabilities,

call it retirement or sending kids to college or buying a house. It's just a terrible one to do that. It goes up 50% one year and down 50% the next. I'm not speaking to the technology not being useful or not being exciting or all of those great things. I'm just speaking to from the standpoint of satisfying liabilities, a volatile asset like that with no cash flows, no intrinsic value base, is not set up well to solve for that, period. Can it be 2% of a portfolio or 5% even? Maybe. for people that need the thrills or want the exposure, it's all good. But from the standpoint of just solving future liabilities, then I think you need income-oriented assets that will do that

and compound for you over time and appreciate it for you over time. But that's what I've got for you today. It's a little bit shorter and sweeter. I'm going to get back into another couple of client meetings. I wish you the best day and evening. Please reach out with your questions, as always, and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to the Dividend Cafe. The Bonson Group is a group of investment professionals

registered with High Tower Securities LLC, member FINRA and SIPC, and with High Tower Advisors LLC, a registered investment advisor with the SEC. Securities are offered through High Tower Securities LLC. Advisory services are offered through High Tower Advisors LLC. This is not an offer to buy or sell securities. No investor process is free of risk. There is no guarantee that the investment process

or investment opportunities, referenced Tyrion, will be profitable. Past performance is not indicative of current or future performance and is not a guarantee. The investment opportunities, reference Tyrion, and may not be suitable for all investors. All data and information referenced herein are from sources believed to be reliable. Any opinions, news, research, analyses,

prices, or other information contained in this research is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. The Bonsor Group in Hightower shall not in any way be liable for claims and make no express or implied representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of the data and other information or for statements or errors contained in

or emissions from the obtained data and information referenced here in. The data and information are provided as of the date reference. Such data and information are subject to change without notice. This document was created for informational purposes only, the opinions expressed, are solely those of the Bonson Group and do not represent those of Hightower Advisors LLC or any of its affiliates. High Tower advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. This material was not intended or written to be used or presented to any entity as tax advice or tax information. Tax laws vary based on the client's individual circumstances and can change at any time without notice.

Clients are urged to consult their tax or legal advisor for any related questions.