3 ETFs to Buy Before Jackson Hole (and 1 Group of Stocks to Sell)

Trading around events is not in my playbook in the traditional sense. I don’t try to guess what’s going to happen – I don’t need to guess, because I believe the charts will help me. 

Not to pinpoint the exact right trades every time. But charts have a broader significance in sizing up where the lower-risk opportunities are. Those are the ones I focus on when something like the annual Jackson Hole summit approaches. 

While retail traders spend late summer fixating on corporate earnings releases, the big macro managers turn their focus to Grand Teton National Park. The 2026 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from Aug. 27-29, serves as the premier monetary policy catalyst of the season. 

Historically, this annual gathering is not merely an academic retreat. It is a major market-moving event that frequently rewrites central bank expectations and triggers sharp repricing across global asset classes.

That shindig features new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s first speech. It is a tradition for the person in that role to speak at Jackson Hole. 

However, it is quite possible that Warsh will continue his attempts to depart from the approach of his predecessor, Jerome Powell, and not say too much. “Thanks for coming, drive home safely” is not likely to move markets much.

So instead, what I’ll do here is identify a few market areas that look like they are setting up for rallies. 

U.S. Treasurys have been battered. But the Invesco Equal Weight 0-30 Year Treasury ETF (GOVI), which essentially acts as a bond “ladder,” owning equal amounts of bonds maturing every year over the next 30 years, has a chart that says “look at me!” It is slowly crawling out of its price hole. Just in time for Jackson Hole?

The Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF (BETZ) invests in a portfolio of companies related to sports betting and gaming. And my guess is that the hot prediction markets are full of “opportunities” to predict what Warsh will say, what the markets will do, etc. 

All I know is that this set of stocks has been working on a long-term base that, despite a major surge and retreat during 2025 and early 2026, is very much intact. Long term, this could be a winner at the betting windows. That is, over the next few Jackson Hole summits. 

The third one is more of a “flyer,” and may simply be reliant on those potentially falling long-term interest rates. That’s the iShares Residential and Multisector Real Estate ETF (REZ), which naturally will benefit from easier borrowing costs for home owners. 

What to Consider Trimming or Selling

A 10-basis-point shift in short-term rates within 24 hours recently could be a signal to re-evaluate what we call “high-duration” growth assets. If a trader is carrying concentrated risk ahead of the symposium, they should evaluate trimming or hedging two specific areas. Note, this can be made more specific by saying “if you are all over the AI trade, consider that you should be less so heading into September.”

Companies trading at elevated price-earnings or price-sales ratios are exceptionally sensitive to rate volatility. If central bank rhetoric leans hawkish, higher discount rates compress growth multiples rapidly. 

And as I’m no fan of most small-cap stocks, here’s a reminder that smaller firms reliant on floating-rate debt or near-term debt refinancing face immediate margin pressure whenever 2-year yields surge. Taking profits on speculative small-cap rallies before the Friday keynote reduces exposure to sudden credit tightening.

Jackson Hole is not an event to gamble on policy semantics or split-second headlines. The smartest strategy entering late August is treating the symposium as a reminder that the historically tough months of September and October are coming up quickly. Trim overextended momentum positions, hedge where it makes sense, and don’t ignore still-solid yields on short-term cash equivalents. Collectively, that’s how to stay out of a financial market hole. 

Rob Isbitts is a semi-retired CIO, former fiduciary investment advisor, and Barchart columnist. Check out his other work at ETFYourself.com (featuring the Fresh Charts weekly trading post), and ROAR.PiTrade.com, helping investors to better-manage their own portfolios.