The market volatility may be leading retail investors astray.

According to Kathmere Capital Management’s Nick Ryder, they shouldn’t use the current backdrop as an excuse to dive into defensive trades — including dividend-paying stocks and bonds.

“Oftentimes, we just see too often people taking an income-focused approach, and it leaves a lot on the table,” the firm’s chief investment officer told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “We generally just advise for all of our clients to take a total return-oriented approach … that’s going to apply across stocks, bonds and everything in between within a portfolio.”

Ryder, whose firm has $3.5 billion in assets under management, warns against so-called “yield-chasing.”

“Within fixed income, it could be yield-chasing in terms of moving further out interest rate risk, taking greater amounts of duration and portfolio, [and] moving from investment grade to high-yield bonds —which have dramatically different risk and return expectations,” he added.

Ryder contends income shouldn’t be the foundation of long-term portfolios. He indicates investors are better served starting with goals and risk tolerance, then adding income, because pullbacks are part of long-term investing. An income-first approach, he cautions, can quietly push portfolios into unintended bets.

He’s also optimistic about the macro backdrop.

“Overall, the economy has been pretty darn resilient,” added Ryder. “You’ve seen corporate profitability be very resilient.”

That total-return approach is also why Amplify ETFs’ Christian Magoon is urging investors not to let the distribution number drive the decisions. 

“We think being smart about yield means balancing attractive yield with upside or long-term capital appreciation … not just going for a maximum possible yield,” the firm’s CEO said in the same interview. “We think that’s a yield trap.”

The biggest investors in the world often have a greater focus on the private than public markets, but with the artificial intelligence boom set to reshape the economy for decades to come, they can’t afford to not pay close attention to what’s taking place with the largest publicly traded tech stocks, and they are not worried.

Amid fears about risky over-concentration in the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks that dominate the S&P 500, and related fears of an AI bubble, two managers overseeing tens of billions of dollars from investors told CNBC at its Delivering Alpha conference last week they remain bullish on what’s taking place in the U.S. tech sector and the huge sums being invested in AI.

Coatue Management founder and portfolio manager Philippe Laffont, whose fund manages roughly $70 billion in assets, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, said at Delivering Alpha that there is an important difference between now and the dotcom bubble, what he called the “hyper-scaler advantage,” a reference to the ability of companies including Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon to invest what Wall Street estimates may reach over $500 billion in AI bets next year.

General Atlantic Chairman and CEO Bill Ford, whose firm manages $118 billion in assets, agreed that the dollar signs currently being discussed in the market are a reason for conviction about the biggest public tech stocks rather than doubts. “The people driving change in AI are the large public companies and the incumbents, they have the advantage,” he said.

Even as Ford said his firm remains focused on the private market opportunities and how AI can be applied to its portfolio companies — investments he says are being made across every one of the 200 companies in which General Atlantic is invested — he added, “You cant invest in the private market without an understanding of what Oracle, what Google, what Microsoft is doing.”

“You can’t make good decisions. We have to be fully aware of what they are doing even if we are not investing in them,” Ford said.

General Atlantic has been “pretty aggressively” investing across its portfolio companies in AI and Ford said it has already seen a “pretty high payback,” and he added that is in what he would describe as just the “front edge” of the value opportunities from apply AI, in areas like customer care, coding and digital marketing.

Laffont, whose firm invests in both public and private companies, said it is fair to have concerns about tech stocks that increase in value very quickly because that can be at odds with a bullish view of valuations over the longer term. That’s because with publicly traded stocks, he said, belief in the future doesn’t necessarily mean that belief hasn’t already been priced in. He…

Bonds may be more than just a safe haven.

BondBloxx ETFs’ Tony Kelly, a former Goldman Sachs Asset Management global ETF head, contends it’s where investors can also play offense due to the market backdrop.

“It’s definitely getting more nuanced,” the firm’s co-founder told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “Advisors are being a bit more thoughtful because there is more opportunity in fixed income now that rates are no longer… close to zero [percent].”

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday by a quarter point — its second move this year. The decision took its benchmark rate down to 3.75%-4%, a level that’s still far above zero.

Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year Treasury Note yield ticked back above 4% following the latest decision. The yield has dropped by almost 2% over the past month and is down about 11% so far this year.

Kelly, whose firm specializes in fixed-income exchange-traded funds, finds bonds are evolving into an active source of diversification, income and tactical opportunity. 

Kelly highlights emerging market debt as a standout performer.

“[It’s] one of the top returning asset classes in the fixed income market this year,” he noted.

Kelly finds interest is also growing in private credit ETFs, which allow investors to tap into institutional-style yield with daily liquidity.

“I don’t know if that is something you would necessarily refer to as plain vanilla, but there is a lot of interest in that subset of the fixed income asset class to be in an ETF wrapper for clients,” said Kelly. “We do have a private credit ETF product in the market now. We’ve got one in registration.”

Over President Donald Trump’s first 100 days, the S&P 500 lost more than 7% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 11%.

On a sector basis, consumer staples is the biggest gainer in that time period, up 5%. Consumer discretionary lost the most value, off 13%.

We asked the “Fast Money” traders to share which market areas should see the most promise — and problems — over the next 100 days.

No. 1: Karen Finerman

Most promise: Big cap pharma. She’s bullish because the group is “way oversold,” and it’s largely out of the tariff crossfire.

Most problems: Container space. It’s likely seeing benefits right now from a big pull forward in demand. If the tariff fight takes a while to get resolved, expect to see fewer containers and a reduction in full containers overall, making for a “very sad income statement.”

No. 2: Tim Seymour

Most promise: Semiconductors and international investing. In the case of semis, they’re the “ultimate cyclicals” and should be a buying opportunity built off of beaten-down valuations. He predicts supply and demand dynamics will “rage again” in the year’s second half.

Seymour is also bullish on international investing. His name for it: MIGA, an acronym for “Make International Great Again.”

He highlights Germany’s DAX index outperforming the S&P 500 since late November. According to Seymour, it’s a trade that should still work over at least the next 100 days because tariffs are both a wake-up call and tailwind.

He lists relative valuation attractiveness and “Magnificent Seven” exhaustion among other key upside drivers.

The Mag 7 index, which is comprised of Apple, Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Tesla, is down almost 16% over President Trump’s first 100 days.

Most problems: Companies exposed to consumer credit and discretionary spending. Seymour expects U.S. consumers to tighten their belts due to high prices and a deteriorating jobs market.

No. 3: Dan Nathan

Most promise: “Cash will be king.”

Nathan sees little working. He notes defensive groups including utilities, consumer staples and U.S. Treasurys, which historically benefit during economic distress, will eventually slump. According to Nathan, the headwinds produced by a tariff-induced recession will punish them.

Most problems: Planes, trains and automobiles. His base case scenario is a “protracted trade war” with China and possibly other key nations that will choke demand. Nathan advises consumers to “fasten their seatbelts for unexpected turbulence and bumps in the road.

No. 4: Guy Adami

Most promise: Retail. Most problems: Retail.

He thinks retail is in an odd spot. According to Adami, there’s “no way to game this out, but they seemingly have the most at stake.”

He told “Fast Money” on Tuesday that the unemployment rate will likely surprise to the upside.

“When you have an economy…