Liquidity

The U.S. government’s decision to invest $2 billion directly into nine quantum-computing companies through minority equity stakes—not just grants—signals a major shift toward treating quantum as a strategic commercial industry, with potential implications for investors seeking targeted exposure through funds like the WisdomTree Quantum Computing Fund (WQTM).

May is 529 Month. As college costs rise, learn five practical ways to maximize your plan’s tax benefits, flexibility and growth potential to prepare for the future.

Commodity market trends: Commodity markets have been on an impressive, and volatile, run so far this decade, with leadership oscillating between energy and precious metals. Not surprising, after commodities’ “Lost Decade” of the 2010s, given the asset class tends to move in long capital cycles.

On the surface, last week looked engineered to embarrass our positioning. The dollar index climbed to a six-week high above 99.3 by Friday and finished the week roughly flat at those levels.

California continues to demonstrate fiscal resilience, supported by strong liquidity balances and the absence of projected cash‑flow borrowing through FY 2026–27. However, Medicaid cost pressures, a progressive tax structure highly sensitive to equity market swings, and constitutional spending constraints remain key differentiators between California and other large states.

A tidal wave of conversions has siphoned an unprecedented amount of capital out of mutual funds and into the ETF wrapper. Last year’s record 60 mutual-fund-to-ETF conversions in 2025 across 31 firms pushed total converted assets past $260 billion, and the past five years have now seen a grand total of 203 conversions.

The artificial intelligence (AI) boom has transitioned from an equity market narrative to a defining force in fixed income. Hyperscalers (Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG/L), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Oracle (ORCL)) are shifting from internal cash flows to substantial bond issuance to fund massive data center, graphics processing unit (GPU), and power infrastructure buildouts.

Chris Galipeau discusses high-conviction insights that go beyond media headlines.

After three decades of watching market cycles play out from both sides of the trade, I’ve come to a simple conclusion: Wall Street’s love of simple rules is one of the most dangerous aspects of investing.

Private credit is more inherently complex than the traditional bond market. In comparison, private credit information comes at a deficit. That’s because private credit loans are essentially bespoke agreements between a lender and a private borrower.

Despite the move lower late last week, U.S. Treasury yields are still holding well above recent lows and close to highs not seen in more than a year. By contrast, risk assets are firmly bid: U.S. equities have been routinely touching new historical highs, and credit spreads over Treasuries remain tight.

Despite these higher costs, a projected 45 million Americans are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home this weekend, setting a new record. Close to 40 million will drive while some 3.7 million will fly.

Yes, we have been there before, only to be disappointed. But the market smells a real settlement to open Hormuz, and WTI oil briefly dipped below 90 for the first time in weeks. If an opening occurs, expect the market to continue its march upward, as the momentum trade gathers strength.

This piece examines the distinction between volatility and drawdown risk in portfolio construction, and why managing routine market fluctuations may not address the drivers of long-term wealth outcomes. The article is attached as a Word document, and the related chart is included as a separate image file.

On May 26, 1896, Charles Dow calculated a simple arithmetic average of 12 industrial stocks and arrived at a closing value of 40.94. Now, exactly 130 years later, that same benchmark has crossed the historic 50,000 threshold.

New AdvizorPro data shows RIAs broadened their ETF lineups in Q1 2026, leaning into real assets, active managers, and defense strategies.

Private markets (private equity, private credit and real estate) have historically delivered an “illiquidity premium”. Institutions and family offices have recognized this illiquidity premium and have historically allocated significant capital to capture it.

Since the post-COVID recovery began, U.S. nonfinancial corporations have generally managed capital conservatively. They have kept credit metrics stable and, in many cases, actively improved them. That discipline was not entirely voluntary: The sharp adjustment in funding costs triggered by the Federal Reserve’s 2022–2023 rate hiking cycle raised the bar for incremental borrowing and pushed management teams toward balance sheet restraint.

In this second quarter update, Western Asset believes global fixed-income markets face a more complex backdrop as geopolitics, rapid AI adoption and private credit scrutiny intersect.

For private equity firms, capital flexibility is prized today. Merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activity has cooled, while commodity prices and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven disruption have heated up, creating uncertainty for investors. This makes it more challenging to sell portfolio companies, so private equity firms are holding investments longer. As a result, many firms are turning to net asset value (NAV) loans for capital needs.

Some institutional investors who had grown accustomed to outperforming the broader private equity composites are finding they have not done so consistently in recent years. Their diagnoses of the problem often center on specific decisions or biases they made in their recent manager selection, whereas a likely culprit is a falloff in the persistence of outperformance among private equity managers.

From the April payroll report released on May 8, we realize that not all industries are equally impacted by AI. Diagnostic imaging centers, an area where AI is thought to replace humans, have increased demand for workers, whereas bookkeeping demand has declined in recent years.

While most institutional investors recognize that private equity and public equity share similar economic risks, they often seem to ignore how their aggregate equity portfolio is affected by their substantial allocation to private equity.

In fixed income investing, trade execution plays an important role in overall portfolio performance. The ability to source bonds efficiently, invest capital thoughtfully and execute trades at competitive prices can directly affect investor returns.

LPL Research examines rising inflation risks amid geopolitical tensions, while resilient growth and strong investment support continued expansion.

The exchange-traded fund marketplace continues to expand. Now with more than $20 trillion in assets under management ($14 trillion in the U.S., growing at an 18% five-year annualized clip), 2026’s volatility and emerging investment themes have taken the universe to new heights.

Alex Evangeli has traded ETF products since 2007. He founded and led the fixed income trading business at Virtu Financial in Europe before relocating to New York to trade and lead the development of fixed income trading technology for the ETF block business.

Although a lot has changed since our last quarterly, its central theme – dispersion – feels like it’s only become more pronounced. We wrote last time that ‘‘we believe we’re entering a new era of dispersion in the performance of financial assets.’’

On Friday, May 15, the 10-year Treasury yield closed at 4.59%, its highest level since February 2025. The 30-year Treasury yield closed near 5.12%, a level last seen in 2007. Those are significant moves because they reflect a repricing of the market’s inflation, growth, and Federal Reserve expectations.

One thing most people don’t know is that prior to the invention of the Fed, other than during wars, there was almost no inflation. Various sources including the Federal Reserve regional banks show the purchasing power of $1 in 1900 was the same as or higher than it was in 1800.

For shareholders, the upside justifies the gamble. For bondholders, the downside is real and the upside belongs to someone else. That wedge – the classic asset substitution problem – is what credit investors are increasingly pricing, and until the re-leveraging impulse shows signs of reaching a plateau, the divergence across the capital structure is likely here to stay.

As inflation lingers and market dynamics shift, advisors are rethinking the 60/40 portfolio with managed futures and options income ETFs.

I’ve long been a student of game theory, the branch of mathematics that studies how rational actors make decisions when their outcomes depend on what everyone else does. It’s a helpful framework for understanding markets and geopolitics, and right now, there’s no better place to apply it than Taiwan.

The summit in Beijing between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered little in the way of diplomatic breakthroughs but bears important cross-asset implications.

As Kevin Warsh takes over as Federal Reserve chair with his own goals, he may face challenges even beyond rate policy, from inflation to independence to a bulbous balance sheet.

Vanguard research suggests that one practical answer may lie in pairing traditional target-date funds with a modest allocation to deferred-income annuities (DIAs).

I think inflation is heading higher. That is going to take a rate cut off the table. Warsh is going to start reducing the balance sheet quickly. And will use the balance sheet contraction as a way to deal with inflation rather than actually raising rates.

First quarter 2026 earnings were stronger than expected and we think that there might be continued strength in the second quarter, unless there is a major macro shift.

For many ultra-high-net-worth families, philanthropy is not simply about giving; it is about creating meaningful, lasting impact. A thoughtfully structured family foundation can become a powerful vehicle for aligning wealth with values, supporting communities, and engaging future generations in purposeful stewardship.

Silver may help efficiently produce hydrogen for use as a power source. Not only is hydrogen clean-burning – leaving only water – but it is easier to store and transport than petroleum-based fuels. Conventional methods of producing hydrogen, such as steam methane reforming (SMR) or water electrolysis, have disadvantages that silver may help to overcome.

Yields for preferred securities have generally risen more than corporate bond and long-term Treasury yields over the past few months, making them more attractive to investors.

Stock markets have been hitting all-time highs and credit spreads remain low, yet higher interest rates and mounting floating-rate debt are straining lower-rated borrowers. This tension is surfacing first in leveraged loans as “quiet defaults” become more common — opening up a dynamic set of opportunities for investors specialized in stressed and distressed assets.

The most attractive conversion opportunities appear when income temporarily drops. Early retirement before Social Security and RMDs begin is the classic window. Sabbaticals, business transition years, the gap after a company sale, years with unusually low K-1 or bonus income. These are all potential openings.

Investors and advisors often seek private equity, but they are frequently thwarted by liquidity and other issues.

Top RIA executives said Tuesday the industry's growth is still early, with breakaway clients and a talent shortage as key forces.

Addressing common 529 Savings Plan concerns and how recent legislative updates have broadened the 529 scope.

Many have drawn the comparison between the current AI buildout with the dotcom period in the late 1990s, when the infrastructure for the internet was built. It’s a sensible comparison to make because of the massive amount of capital deployed to commercialize the buildout of revolutionary and life-changing technology.

Typically, an investor’s traditional bond portfolio begins with a cornerstone, or core holding of some sort. From either a strategic or tactical perspective, a core fixed income position provides the investor with some ballast to help anchor any other strategies that may be included.

The logic of balanced investing is straightforward: equities drive long-term growth, bonds provide income and ballast when stocks fall, and the combination delivers a smoother ride than either asset alone. For decades, the 60/40 portfolio has been the default framework for good reason – it has worked, often brilliantly, across multiple market cycles.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) executives detailed their artificial intelligence strategy for operational efficiency as new data showed the top 100 registered investment advisor firms now manage more than $1.6 trillion in client assets, double what they controlled just two years ago, according to Padi Raphael, global co-head of third party wealth at the firm.

Within private credit, attempts to increase liquidity – the ability to buy or sell an asset quickly, in size, and at prices reflecting fundamental values – are welcome developments, in our view. Yet until these efforts address the market’s inherent structural constraints, including a lack of true price discovery, they will only increase the perception of liquidity without truly improving liquidity.

Access to private equity, private credit, private infrastructure, and private real estate assets can potentially improve long-term investment outcomes for participants.

Psychology plays a larger role in our investing lives than many of us care to admit. Often, when investing, we would be better off being a bit more robotic and a bit less human. The reason behind this is often our feelings influence our decisions in ways that are not always to our advantage.

After going negative in March after the outbreak of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, flows of gold into ETFs flipped positive again in April, with all regions reporting inflows of metal.

Wendy Li spent 20 years working with large endowments and foundations before founding Ivy Invest. In the latest Alternative Allocations, she discusses how institutions approach illiquid investments, the importance of manager selection, and where she sees opportunities in today's private markets.

For business owners, your company is more than an asset; it’s your livelihood, your legacy, and often your largest source of wealth. Yet too many owners delay succession planning until it’s urgent, limiting options and potentially eroding value. A well-structured exit isn’t a last-minute decision; it’s a multi-year strategy.

In my former life as a mutual fund analyst, T. Rowe Price was always a staple of my research. Back then, the focus was on their fundamentally focused active mutual fund lineup. However, in the last 15 years, the investment world — and my own research focus — has moved toward ETFs. I watched with strong interest as this Baltimore-based firm brought its active management expertise into the ETF world in 2020.

That skepticism isn’t contrarianism for its own sake, but rather the recognition that when a thesis achieves consensus, the crowd has usually already priced the easy part of the move, and the hard part is what comes next.

In this month’s Allocation Views, the Middle East conflict and its impact on the global economy in 2026 continue to be the chief concern for asset allocation, as inflationary pressures challenge central bank policy.

Though the U.S. drills far more oil than in the past and relies less on supplies from the war-torn Persian Gulf, U.S. consumers see there's no escaping global price realities.

After years of U.S. equity dominance, conditions were shifting coming into 2026. Earnings growth outside the U.S. had begun to converge, wide valuation gaps narrowed modestly, and investor interest in international equities was rebuilding. While the Iran war injected uncertainty and temporarily dampened enthusiasm for non‑U.S. stocks, the underlying setup remains intact.

The movement of silver out of the U.S. has helped ease market tightness, but an ongoing structural supply deficit makes the metal vulnerable to future squeezes.