Judging from price movements on Monday, the Federal Reserve risks slipping further into a no-win interaction with markets that is more familiar to developing countries that lack policy credibility than to a systemically important central bank — let alone the world’s most powerful one.
The world has never seen sanctions like this. But ironically, those sanctions may give Putin even more power.
The Belkin BR2 Report is designed for the Registered Investment Advisor community. The work is posted weekly and emailed to subscribers.
Actively managed global allocation funds claim that skilled investment managers can produce a superior rate of return compared to traditional index funds. But the reality does not match the hype.
DeFi is creating a new financial system that doesn’t rely on traditional intermediaries like banks or insurance brokers, providing more freedom and creativity.
The much-awaited easing of Covid cases and restrictions is coinciding with a jump in jet-fuel costs, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted the U.S. to ban imports of Russian crude and pushed oil prices as high as $130 a barrel. That, plus higher demand for trips, means airline-ticket costs are increasing for consumers, many of whom are already facing higher prices in areas like groceries, gas and rent payments.
You may not feel it yet, but if you're an American homeowner you're probably a good bit richer after the dizzying run-up in housing prices last year. But how do you tap into your newfound wealth? And should you?
Electric car giant Tesla Inc. is the latest big name firm to scrap financing plans, as it postponed a $1 billion offering of bonds backed by leases on its vehicles last week. Almost 80 companies, nearly half from the U.S., have put at least $25 billion of deals on hold since the start of the war nearly a month ago.
The Federal Reserve embarked last week on its long-advertised monetary tightening: a quarter-point increase in interest rates, with the suggestion of six more by the end of the year, and a plan to run down its stock of government debt (details to follow). This was widely expected and essentially a non-event.
Dethroning the dollar is easier said than done. That’s the conclusion of investors after Washington’s freeze of Russia’s dollar holdings created fresh impetus among central bankers to rethink the security of access to foreign-exchange reserves. The move fueled speculation that countries such as China could redouble efforts to unshackle itself from greenback-denominated financial systems and look for alternatives.
The collapse of Sarah Bloom Raskin’s candidacy to head banking supervision at the Federal Reserve represents a major setback for financial policy in the U.S. Given how important the position is for the country’s financial stability, and given how politicized the effort to fill it has become, I see one way forward: Depoliticize the process by nominating a longtime Fed staffer.
The Windfall Profits Tax Bill doesn’t penalize energy companies. It punishes consumers with more inflation. Further, it uses a faulty assumption to help gain support from the public.
Investors grabbing shares in beaten-down companies after a merger with blank-check firms aren’t getting much of a bargain. In most cases, they’re still paying dearly for promises of revenue and profits that remain years away.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting oil market tumult are prompting a global rethink of fossil fuel reliance that progressive Democrats want to seize for a renewable energy “moonshot.” But some of the party’s climate hawks also recognize that the U.S. may have to do something they find abhorrent: increase drilling.
America’s central bank increased its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday, pushing it up by a quarter percentage point. The hike — the first since 2018 — was widely expected. But at a time when Russia’s war in Ukraine has roiled global markets, U.S. inflation is at its highest level since the 1980s and Covid-19 cases are increasing in some parts of the world, consumers and investors are contending with the prospect of rates going even higher.
Tesla Inc. delayed a more than $1 billion offering of bonds backed by leases on its electric vehicles, the third issuer in the past week to halt a sale amid market turbulence, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The recent surge in gasoline prices suggests we might see a reversal in consumers’ years-long shift towards trucks or sports-utility vehicles back to more modest, fuel-efficient vehicles. But don't expect automakers to go along.
Apple Inc. is a $2.5 trillion company. To significantly boost that bottom line, the company has only so many opportunities it can pursue. Self-driving cars and mixed-reality glasses come to mind (as much as I love the Ted Lasso cinematic universe, it won’t move the needle). There’s another massive opportunity that the iPhone maker has been fairly mum on: crypto.
Do you know someone who is financially dependent on an advisor who views themself as a financial guru, has "the answers," demands loyalty and compliance to their recommendations, willingly takes charge of their financial life, and craves the attention and adoration of their clients? For the financially dependent, it's a match made in heaven – until it isn't.
Why do we still refer to so many firms in the advisory profession as broker/dealers?
Amy Bloom’s thought-provoking book, In Love, tells the story of the “accompanied” suicide of her husband, Brian Ameche. There are several life lessons from this book, some of which I doubt the author intended to convey.
For American consumers wondering who's profiting from the run-up in food prices, it’s instructive to spend a few hours at Rob Tate’s Minnesota farm. Because he wants everyone to know that it sure isn’t him.
Bank of Russia expanded its gold reserves almost sixfold since the mid-2000s, creating the world’s fifth-biggest stockpile that’s valued at about $140 billion. It’s the type of asset it could sell to shore up the ruble, which has plunged as global economies isolate Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
While the U.S. has limited trade ties with Russia and Ukraine, businesses from beer breweries in Missouri to semiconductor plants in California would see an impact, as prolonged combat and even harsher sanctions constrict supplies and drive up global prices for oil and other critical materials.
I’m having an existential crisis with a few of my advisors.
For the past three weeks Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine, has been witnessing the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine firsthand -- working from within a war zone to bring desperately needed medical supplies to the country.
The Federal Reserve is poised to raise interest rates Wednesday for the first time since 2018, with investors focused on how aggressive central bankers plan to be in tackling the hottest inflation in four decades.
For all their daily volatility, U.S. stocks have been on a bumpy round trip to nowhere since Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine began three weeks ago. The S&P 500 Index, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite Index have all been basically flat in the period.
We describe how an intentional and sustainable vision for diversity and inclusion at Wealthspire took form.
ICYMI: In this roundup, we’re highlighting the five most popular pieces of content from the previous week.
According to Sports Pro, 112 million people tuned in to watch the Bengals play the Rams in the 2022 Super Bowl. If two formerly mediocre, schlocky franchises can turn that many heads, there’s no way advisors shouldn’t be using more sports in their marketing.
If higher inflation persists, at least two mechanisms represent an ongoing risk to achieving expected real portfolio returns: Inflation will erode nominal returns and it will inflict a tax drag on assets.
The only certain way to ensure you, your organization or your product are thought of first is through frequent, repetitious contact.
As a financial advisor looking to jump to independence as an RIA, you have two doors from which to choose.
Prices paid to U.S. producers rose strongly in February on higher costs of goods, underscoring inflationary pressures that set the stage for a Federal Reserve rate hike this week. The producer price index for final demand increased 10% from February of last year and 0.8% from the prior month, Labor Department data showed Tuesday. That followed an upwardly revised 1.2% monthly gain in January.
The most important news for long-term investors is rarely in the headlines. Great contrarian plays rarely come from things most people don’t believe, rather they are based on things most people ignore.
Crypto markets still have many puzzles, but they are beginning to reveal their secrets. The last few months of chaos show what Bitcoin and other crypto assets are good for: They are advanced tools of globalization, luxury goods for complex, well-functioning markets — not protections against the depredations of hostile governments.
Since Wuhan two years ago, China has had relative success in minimizing disruption by bringing virus cases quickly under control. Now, the geographic spread of infections and higher transmissibility of the omicron variant is challenging the country’s hawkish pandemic strategy of aggressive testing and locking down whole cities or provinces.
As risks pile up for global equity markets -- from soaring inflation and central bank policy tightening to the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine -- the list of indexes that have fallen into bear market territory is growing.
The classic 60/40 portfolio -- a strategy named for the share allocated to equities and high-grade debt, respectively -- is down more than 10% this year, leaving it on pace for the worst drubbing since the financial crisis of 2008.
Choice – more options – as the finest luxury of all. When an advisor helps a client, the door to better options and choices opens wide.
The surging volatility in the world’s biggest bond market is challenging traders trying to play both tighter global monetary policy and a war-induced commodity price shock that’s raising the specter of 1970s-style stagflation.
The Federal Reserve is in a deep hole of its own making as its top policy committee meets this week to announce the start of a long-anticipated cycle to raise interest rates. Inflation is at a 40-year high and still accelerating, the Fed’s inflation-fighting credibility is damaged, and it has lost control of the monetary policy narrative.
These are uncertain times, but we’ve never lived with less risk. That may sound crazy coming out of a pandemic that disrupted our lives in uncountable ways — and now we may be on the brink of World War III. But there is a big difference between risk and uncertainty, and each requires different coping strategies.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a much smaller conflict than World War I, and the trade disruptions associated with the U.S./European quasi-embargo on Russia are smaller than the British blockade of the Central Powers. But the clash is nonetheless a giant step away from globalization — and, unlike World War I, it comes at a time when the world has already been moving away from economic integration.
The extra yield offered by developing-nation sovereign debt over U.S. Treasuries has risen above 500 basis points, crossing a threshold breached only two other times in more than a decade. That’s drawing money managers including FIM Partners and Vontobel Asset Management to bet spreads will quickly tumble, just like they did following the previous spikes.
Corruption is “a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy,” said a certain vice president, back in 2014. Now commander in chief, Joe Biden must confront a corruption problem unfolding on his watch: the spiraling costs of misspent Covid funds.
An important part of tax planning is medical expenses, which add up quickly. Your clients (including spouses and dependents) will have medical expenses throughout the year, and hanging onto those receipts could save them money this year.
The failure to even mention nuclear energy as a solution for climate change is a mystery. What is the reason for this neglect of what would seem the world’s best hope for abating carbon emissions?
All geopolitical crises, including the current one, present three timeless lessons investors would be wise to heed.
