In this episode of the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily, host Mike Milligan delivers a market recap, highlights Micron Technology’s surprise Q3 2026 earnings that upended the prevailing narrative of slowing AI capex, and uses the story of Scotland’s traveling Tartan Army at the World Cup to illustrate the importance of building financial plans around controllable factors. He outlines three key Thursday economic releases—core PCE, final Q1 GDP with durable goods and personal income/spending data, and the Federal Reserve’s bank stress test—explaining how each can move markets. In the educational segment, Milligan breaks down two essential concepts for interpreting stress‑test results: FDIC insurance limits and the Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio, emphasizing practical steps to maximize deposit coverage. Throughout, he stresses that personal financial plans should focus on variables within one’s control (savings rate, asset allocation, tax location, beneficiary designations) rather than trying to predict market outcomes. The episode concludes with a reminder to stay present, likening the experience of attending a match to the discipline of showing up for one’s financial plan.
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Good morning and welcome to the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily for Thursday, June 25th, 2026. I'm Mike Milligan. 2 days left in this week and the world hands us a packed Thursday. Core PCE before the bell, the Fed's bank stress test results, a final read on the first quarter GDP, gross domestic product, and 50,000 Scots somewhere between euphoria and heartbreak. On South Beach. Quick reminder before we go anywhere, this show is educational. It's not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell any specific security. Always consult a licensed professional before acting on anything you hear. Let's go.
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Wednesday gave us a classic split tape across the indexes. The Dow Jones Average closed up 182 points. The second highest close in its history, sitting less than a third of a percent below its all-time record at 51,848. The S&P 500 slipped 7 points, a modest 0.1% down. The NASDAQ Composite fell 110 points or 0.43%, a third straight down day for big tech. The Russell 2000, the small cap index, added 11 points. or about 0.4%. Old economy up, AI economy soft. Then after the bell, the script flipped. Micron Technology reported fiscal Q3 2026 numbers, and wow, record revenue of $41.5 billion. $40 billion against an expected $35.9 billion, $5.6 billion more than expected. They added 16 strategic customer agreements, and the guidance was so far above consensus, the spreadsheets had to be redrawn. The stock jumped 14% after hours. As we see from what happened, uh, in what I talked about on Monday with the 3-bucket cash stack, and again on Tuesday with narrative momentum, the headline narrative, AI CapEx is slowing. That would've been the narrative before 4 o'clock today. Then Micron hit, and the underlying data disagrees with the narrative. And that that change sometimes happens in the same week. That's what happened this week. Your financial plan should not depend on you correctly calling what stock wins and what stock doesn't on any given Wednesday.
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Now the part of the show I've been waiting for all week. Wednesday night in Miami, Brazil beat Scotland 3-0 at Hard Rock Stadium. There was a goal scored in the 7th minute, another one scored right before halftime, and a third about at the hour mark of the game. Brazil tops Group C, Morocco took second and Scotland finished third. But here's the thing about this story that has nothing to do with the scoreboard. The Tartan Army, Scotland's traveling supporters, invaded Miami this week after, after becoming hits in Boston. CNN, ABC, NBC, The Guardian, the BBC, The New York Times all ran the same piece. tens of thousands of Scots in kilts on Ocean Drive and Little Havana, even at a Miami Marlins baseball game. La Gazzetta wrote, Scotland has won the World Cup. The fan World Cup has already been decided. They lost the match. They won the week. Now they wait. Is it Boston? Is it playing Mexico in Mexico City? The World Cup this year is using an expanded format, and 8 of the 12 third-place group finishers advance to the round of 32 with 3 points and a -3 goal differential. Scotland is on the bubble.
Bubble.
Where— whether they play next depends on the results that have not yet been played yet. But I will tell you this. The Tartan Army does not know if they'll fly home or fly to another city. This guy is rooting for another city. They did everything they could in the group stage. The outcome is now outside of their control. It depends on other people's results. That is not a soccer concept. That is a planning concept. We build the financial plan around what we can control. Savings rates, asset allocation, tax location, beneficiary designation, the order withdrawals and retirements. We don't build build the plan around what we cannot control: the next Federal Open Market Committee's dot plot, where the S&P closes on December 31st, whether Brazil drops points to Haiti. Estoy aprendiendo. I'm learning. That's the best plans. We know that the best plans are the ones that still work when other people's results don't go your way.
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3 big items on the calendar Thursday, and they all matter to a financial plan. Number one, core PCE. This is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. Consensus is looking At 0.2% month over month on the core. Whatever prints, watch the year-over-year number. This is the one Chairman Warsh and the FOMC will quote in their next statement. The second thing, final Q1 GDP plus durable goods orders, personal income and personal spending, the same release window. A lot of data in 8 minutes. Markets often whipsaw between the prints and then settle by 9:30. And then number 3, the thing to look for, the Federal Reserve Bank stress test results were released later in the day. The annual stress test tells us which of the large US banks have enough capital to absorb a severe recession scenario. The results drive dividend and buyback decisions at those banks for the next year. Educationally, this is one of the most underdiscussed events on the calendar. It is the Fed checking the homework of the institutions that hold your deposits. And there are Fed speakers, Williams in the evening, Goolsbee later. After the Wash statement last week, every word from a sitting governor or regional president is being parsed. That is educational, not a recommendation. But the lesson is one we keep coming back to. A single Thursday morning can move 6 different markets. Your plan should not require you to be right about any of them.
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Speaking of education, here is The Educate segment for Thursday. Most people will read tomorrow's stress test headlines and look at one thing. Did my bank pass? That is the wrong question. The right question for a personal financial plan is 2 parts. Number one, FDIC limits. It's $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category. Most people leave deposits above that limit sitting in one account because they never bothered to check. A simple titling change like a joint account, a revocable living trust, beneficiary designations, payable-on-death business account, that can multiply your coverage at the same bank. Number 2, the CET1 ratio. That stands for Common Equity Tier 1 Capital. It is the cleanest measure of how much loss a bank can absorb before depositors get nervous. The Fed stress test publishes a stressed CET1 For each large bank, a higher number means more cushion. You do not need to memorize the number. You need to know the term exists and you need to know where to look it up. That's it. 2 numbers: FDIC limits, CET1 ratio. Education only, not a recommendation about any specific bank or account structure. But knowing those 2 phrases can put you ahead of most people who will read the headline tomorrow and learn nothing.
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Guys, And to close, I keep coming back to this. The Tartan Army flew across an ocean to watch their team lose 2 out of the 3 matches. They will, they will tell you it was the best couple weeks of their lives because they were there. They didn't miss a moment. They showed up everywhere on social media, the news. Boston fell in love with them. My Amy fell in love with them, and I'm rooting for them to get to another city so people can see the spirit and the love and hear Scotland the Brave being played by a legion of bagpipers wearing kilts walking down the road. That's the whole thing. Never miss the moment. Whether your plan delivers a 7th-minute goal or a quiet 3rd-place wait, You still showed up. You still wore the kilt. You still bought the ticket. Coming up on Friday morning, core PCE prints, the stress test lands. We'll go over those and we'll know whether Scotland is flying home or flying to the next host city. Either way, Friday morning, I'll be there. I'm Mike Milligan. Educate, coach, plan. This has been Mike Milligan for the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily. This has been for educational purposes only. I am an investment advisory representative. With Advisory Alpha LLC. Ideas by Mike, doing business as One Oak Financial and Mike Milligan LLC, are unaffiliated entities of Advisory Alpha LLC. Before making any financial decisions, please consult with a licensed financial professional. To learn more about our firm, go to www.oneoakfinancial.com. That's the number oneoakfinancial.com. To learn more about me, you can go to mikemilligan.com.
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