Mega-cap stocks continue to dominate the market in 2023. The question is, why? After all, many other great companies have arguably much better valuations and fundamentals.
Innovative provider of custom indexes becomes a key part of a growing suite of VettaFi index solutions, which now power nearly $19 billion in ETFs and other vehicles.
Even though past performance doesn’t guarantee future results, investors should prepare for continued market volatility this month.
Greetings from Europe. I promised to write a letter describing my personal investment portfolio. I still plan to, but it won’t be this week.
High-yield bonds, often referred to as “junk” or “speculative grade,” are corporate bonds that command a higher interest rate than other bonds. This higher yield is essentially compensation for the increased risk of default that investors assume when purchasing these securities.
Resilient consumer spending has been a pillar of the US economy. While activity may soften, we think the consumer will help the coming slowdown stay mild.
An efficient avenue for asset managers and fund issuers to avoid regulatory scrutiny of products with the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) label is to ensure that those funds live up their ESG ETF billing. That can be accomplished with data-intensive approaches.
With government stimulus over, accumulated savings starting to become depleted, rents soaring, and student loans about to switch back on, it appears a credit cycle has begun where borrowers struggle to fulfill their financial commitments.
On the interest rate front, the Federal funds rate is now close to systematic benchmarks that have historically been consistent with prevailing core inflation, nominal GDP growth, and unemployment.
Vanguard has forecasted that inflation will remain sticky, so the U.S. central bank will continue raising rates. But the investment giant also estimates that a recession still won’t hit the U.S. this year.
Tony Davidow, Senior Alternatives Investment Strategist, at Franklin Templeton Institute, shares some takeaways from a panel discussion on the topic.
For some organizations, a partial outsourcing of their investment program is preferable to total outsourcing. Despite this, some OCIO providers will still try very hard to sell companies on a full OCIO solution.
When you step back and think about it, it is hard to believe that this hugely important retirement benefit has only been around for just over 40 years.
I am traveling for business this week, but I’ll return with a fresh interview for Global Macro Update next Friday. For those of you who missed my interview with Louis Gave last week, read on… There’s a reason this was one of our most-watched Global Macro Update interviews of the year.
Conference season has come for Financial Services. Future Proof is coming up and Exchange is right around the corner. Many advisors have complex, busy schedules.
Dina Ting, Franklin Templeton ETFs’ Head of Global Index Portfolio Management, explores the positive trends that are making a case for holding UK equities.
Many investors are starting to look for ways to diversify their portfolios and protect their wealth. One way investors have done so in the past is through investing in gold.
Equity investors should look beyond the hype for companies with clear strategies to profitably monetize the benefits of generative AI.
The August jobs report confirms the labor market's continued slowdown, which is for now consistent with the Fed's soft-landing desires—but not without warning signs.
In this video, Chuck Carnevale, co-founder of FAST Graphs, a.k.a. Mr. Valuation, will guide you through the analysis of consumer staple stocks.
Most portfolios live or die based on their equity allocations. VettaFi is thrilled to announce that they will be hosting an Equity Symposium on September 21st.
August saw modest market pullbacks across the board, as investors were nervous about risk.
Factory order numbers had previously been a source of positivity for the U.S. economy. The tough turn for the economy should remind investors of active ETFs’ ability to respond to a market downturn.
Back in the 1980s, President Reagan took enormous political heat (Sam Donaldson comes to mind) for being fiscally irresponsible. His offense? Presiding over a budget deficit that peaked at 5.9% of GDP in Fiscal Year 1983.
I write a few newsletters, and I frequently get feedback from my subscribers. Sometimes, they’re just saying hello, and sometimes, they’re ripping on me, but sometimes, they’re telling me about things they see in the economy that are of interest.
Powell’s recent Jackson Hole Summit speech was mainly as expected. Well, except for the part where Powell obfuscated the truth behind the surge in inflation.
Diversifying a portfolio means spreading the investments across a variety of asset classes, industries and geographies.
When money becomes less valuable and costs rise, the money you have saved affords you exponentially less. In the short term, you may not notice the difference.
After a slow start to asset gathering, U.S.-listed equity ETFs were in vogue during the summer. At the end of August, the asset category had $165 billion of net inflows, more than $125 billion for fixed income.
In the second part of our series on global supply chains, portfolio managers Inbok Song and Peeyush Mittal examine the regions and countries that may benefit from industries and companies shifting operations.
Seven mega-cap US-based companies – Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Nvidia, Tesla, and Meta (Facebook) – have stayed top of mind for many investors this year.
Last week, the VettaFi AI Symposium was one of the more popular places to be in the days before Labor Day.
Restricting the money supply will help contain inflation.
This week was packed with several key economic releases that helped provide insight into the overall state of the U.S. economy. Policymakers and advisors closely monitor economic indicators to understand recession risk and the direction of interest rates because the data can ultimately impact business decisions and financial markets.
In general, portfolios can be split into growth assets and principal protecting assets. Growth assets tend to have greater risk coupled with greater income/reward.
Bond investors have been looking for an approach that delivers attractive, repeatable, uncorrelated active returns. Is their wait over?
Last week we changed our economic forecast because the economy has remained stronger than we expected. We delayed the start of the recession to the first quarter of 2024 rather than the last quarter of 2023.
The BRICS’ invitation to six more nations to join their group is an important initiative promoting greater global influence for major EM countries.
As multi-asset income investors, we seek to help a wide range of clients meet their income needs. The benefits of an income-centric approach are especially relevant for investors as they enter retirement – and that’s especially true today. We bring that to life with two case studies.
There are differing opinions all around, but some reputable sources like Goldman Sachs are saying it’s increasingly unlikely. Yet the Fed is going to be raising rates further, from what it looks like because inflation is higher than they want.
Xylem is a leading innovator of water solutions. This Knowledge Leader harnesses smart technology to provide water, wastewater, and energy solutions to a diverse range of sectors, from agriculture and aquaculture to commercial buildings and energy.
Though it encountered some hiccups last month amid fears the Federal Reserve isn’t done raising interest rates, tech remains one of this year’s best-performing sectors. Some analysts believe there’s more upside to come for the S&P 500’s largest sector weight.
Things are not exactly going China’s way these days. One incident after the other has led to a virtual collapse of international investments in China, but that could potentially be the more benign outcome of the ongoing Chinese debt crisis.
There’s one question I try to answer with any beaten-down stock: Is this a good company with temporary, solvable issues?
About once a year, I have to address the issue of chasing the “10 Best Days” of the year.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been top-of-mind for investors for much of 2023, fueling a strong rally in the S&P 500. While it may take time for AI to have a similar impact on small cap stocks, we share the market’s enthusiasm and believe AI has the potential to become one of the most disruptive secular growth trends ever.
Stocks are up 18.7% year-to-date, which is good news for portfolios and 401(k)s, but did you know that most of the heavy lifting has been done by a very small number of S&P 500 stocks?
Look up the word “cycle” in a dictionary, and you’ll find something like this: “A regularly recurring sequence of events.” Sounds simple, but that definition leaves a lot of ambiguity.
Advisors can capitalize on the expected transfer of wealth between generations, the expected wave of retirements among older advisors, and referrals from other professionals.
The favorite in Argentina’s presidential election has vowed to eliminate the central bank and dollarize the economy. Which path will the country follow?
