This past week, news flow around policy came in hot and heavy, with President Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful’ tax cut bill passing the House of Representatives, and Trump threatening 50% tariffs on the European Union (EU).
The strengths of the U.S. economy are likely to endure.
Amid a fair amount of market tumult, we wrote two months ago that the best course of action was to stay invested in roughly the same portfolios that we’ve had throughout, and let the market stabilize.
With the private equity market plagued by uncertainty and volatility, it's more important ever to locate compelling long-term opportunities.
Last week's economic data presented a mixed but generally more positive outlook. Inflation continued its downward trend in April.
Similar to the equity market’s response to the recently announced tariffs, the bond market responded with a widening of credit spreads. These spreads represent the difference in yield between a U.S. Treasury bond and other bonds of the same maturity but different credit quality.
As discussions about reshoring continue to dominate economic policy debates, VettaFi hosted a timely webcast with Dr. Daniela Rus, director of MIT’s Computer Science and AI Lab (CSAIL).
It doesn’t take much to understand that Ray Dalio, a hedge fund titan, is like every other human being and is prone to error. I will not dismiss Dalio entirely, as his track record of managing money at Bridgewater is nothing to be scoffed at.
Today I’m going to highlight some speakers who added an equity market perspective to their big-picture views. Getting both right would be much easier if more investors behaved rationally. Alas, they don’t, which is why stock prices do incomprehensible things. Fortunately, you can succeed without catching every twist and turn.
While headlines scream about the latest deal or tariff suspension, Maharrey argues that investors are dangerously distracted from the real threat: America’s exploding national debt and the systemic consequences that follow.
Gold reached a fresh all-time high in April, continuing its strong upward trajectory over the past six months.
The House passed a comprehensive tax bill to avoid an expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) at the end of the year.
Chief Economist Eugenio J. Alemán discusses current economic conditions.
Assessment and selection of covered call funds is based on criteria like total return, distribution rate (sometimes referred to as yield), and fees.
With current home sales at historical lows and mortgage rates hovering between 6% and 7%, homeowners who are locked into previously secured low-interest mortgages remain hesitant to sell. In fact, existing home sales have reached depressed levels unseen in three to four decades.
Corporate credit spreads, whether investment grade or high yield, can often hint at hiccups in the stock market and the economy. But they tend to keep a low profile.
Emerging markets debt held its ground in the first quarter, but staying ahead means staying selective. We’re reassessing positioning across high-, low-, and frontier-beta currencies and rates as trade tensions and U.S. policy inject fresh uncertainty.
Many investors have underweighted high yield bond ETF strategies in recent years, satisfied with the opportunities found in other segments of the fixed income market.
There could be a silver lining in the volatile clouds hovering above the bond markets. Investors may want to give municipal bonds a closer look given their sound fundamentals.
In this video – Part 4 – Chuck Carnevale, Co-Founder of FAST Graphs, aka Mr. Valuation discusses the volatility of the stock market, using the S&P 500 (SPY) as a proxy-Understanding the Power of Individual Stocks.
Nvidia, the biggest AI chip firm, reports Wednesday. Blackwell chip demand, tariffs, and guidance all could help determine how shares respond after a volatile two months.
Remember last July and August when the yen carry trade blew up? At the time, the central bank surprised the market by signaling a faster pace of rate hikes than expected. Investors sold foreign currency, bought back yen and sent markets into a tailspin.
Despite strong year-to-date performance, developed ex-U.S. large-cap equities continue to trade at far more attractive valuations than their U.S. counterparts.
The "One Big Beautiful Bill" tax-and-spending plan was passed by the House of Representatives and now moves on to the Senate. Here's what's in it.
The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, recently announced he will be stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
An "end-to-end" approach in process management means handling a task or product from its initial planning stages to the finishing point or delivery, without relying on intermediaries for specific steps. No nation does this better than China.
Index ETFs have evolved beyond merely providing passive exposure to the market, with a new generation of factor ETFs utilizing complex rules-based methodologies to beat benchmarks.
Matching assets to long-term liabilities without compromising on return potential can be a challenge for insurers with long-duration liabilities.
There is still a wide divergence between hard and soft data, and a recovery in the latter is likely to be weak absent a meaningful reduction in policy uncertainty.
Sell in May and Go Away? This old market saying tends to resurface around Memorial Day, suggesting investors should scale back their equity exposure ahead of what’s perceived as a seasonally weaker stretch for stocks.
Markets have recovered from their post-Liberation Day sell-off. Investors are feeling better about the outlook. But there are still clouds on the horizon.
A monumental week of announcements from Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic signals a strategic shift from standalone AI models to integrated “AI agents” that can act on a user’s behalf.
Some of the most useful financial advice has a homespun tone, like to make hay while the sun is shining or save up for a rainy day. I recently encountered another helpful idea in that vein: Think of your house like a family member who is always sick.
Given the uncertainty of what potentially happens next, the recent rally is an excellent opportunity to adjust portfolio risks to navigate the next leg of this market cycle.
Residential mortgage-backed securities, or MBS, are a big part of the securitized investment market. Here's what to know about MBS investing.
Mounting concerns regarding growing U.S. government deficits and a volatile tariff policy create a challenging backdrop for U.S. bonds.
Actively managed ETFs pulled in approximately 40% of the industry flows through the first four months of 2025. These ETFs tap into professional expertise, which has been helpful in the volatile market environment. The latest model allocation changes made by BlackRock’s team will help more ETF-minded advisors have greater access to active strategies.
While official estimates remain fluid and subject to change, our preliminary analysis at the time of this writing suggests that the House Reconciliation Proposal could significantly increase the national debt over the next decade.
Gold remains firmly in correction mode — even I will readily agree with that.
Over many years of educating investors about direct indexing, we have noticed a common misunderstanding—conflating the economic value of harvested losses with the investment return on the performance statement.
Proposed tax-cut extensions and higher debt costs could amplify fiscal concern.
Few leading men of the 1960s and 1970s were more dashing than Clint Eastwood. He played a series of gritty heroes, trying to do right in a world gone wrong.
With US economic policies driving financial and economic volatility and rousing the bond vigilantes, it is an open question whether we are witnessing the fragmenting of the international order, or just a bumpy ride toward a beneficial overhaul. Five factors could clarify the answer.
Moody’s finally downgraded US government debt on May 16th to Aa1, its second highest rating. With the US $36 trillion (and rising) in debt, it’s not hard to see why. But Moody’s was late to the party with S&P and Fitch (the other two major ratings agencies) having done so long ago.
Friday’s market tremor was ignited not by economic data, which brought limited new releases, but by revived political uncertainty—specifically, President Trump’s abrupt reinvigorated tariff threats.
There’s a lot to like about the travel industry right now from an investment standpoint. You just have to know where to look.
My next few letters will share some initial thoughts from SIC organized around the major topics. Today we’ll start with inflation, and specifically the sharply different views of David Rosenberg and Jim Bianco, then balance them with some thoughts from other speakers.
Keep your market perspective in check, avoid anchoring, and focus on your investment goals rather than market volatility.
A KEY PLANK of the new administration’s economic policy has been to embrace tariffs, a sharp reversal of decades of free market trade.
In this video – Part 3 – Valuation Drives Future Returns – Chuck Carnevale, Co-Founder of FAST Graphs, aka Mr. Valuation discusses the volatility of the stock market, using the S&P 500 (SPY) as a proxy.