Given all the municipal bonds to choose from, how do you decide which ones should make up the core of your portfolio? With $3.9 trillion of muni debt outstanding1 spread among tens of thousands of issuers, the choice may seem daunting, but we’ll help you break it down.
Ever since the Federal Reserve started hinting it was planning to end its ultra-loose monetary policy, bond yields have been falling. That it happened in a booming economy with the highest inflation readings in nearly 40 years has taken a lot of investors and analysts by surprise.
Inflation continues to be a concern these days, and many investors are looking for investments that can keep pace with, or hopefully beat, the rate of inflation. As a result, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS, have become a popular investment option.
As we wrote about in our 2022 Global Outlook, COVID-19 is becoming endemic rather than pandemic. We anticipate a winter wave of COVID, potentially with new variants like omicron.
The S&P 500 index is up more than 20% so far this year, but more than 90% of its member stocks have had “correction” level drawdowns—more than 10% from a peak—at some point this year. In short, while overall stock market performance has been strong, there has been a lot of churn beneath the surface.
Bear with us as (no pun intended) you read this longer-than-usual outlook!
U.S. and global stocks fell sharply Friday amid spiking fears about a new COVID variant, named Omicron, emanating from South Africa, where it’s spreading quickly. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite indices closed down more than 2%, while the Russell 2000 fell nearly 4%.
A high tide of growth, aided by a sea change in fiscal policy, is likely to help float the global economy safely over the rocks of risks in 2022, despite waves of worries emanating from COVID, inflation, shortages, and rate hikes.
Current low yields and tight spreads in the municipal bond market have made it difficult for investors to find opportunities to earn attractive interest income on their investments. We expect that to change in 2022.
Rarely is there any sector that has everything going for or against it—and that is true today of the Information Technology sector.
You’ve researched the nuts and bolts of cryptocurrencies and considered whether you should invest in them. Now you want to participate in the cryptocurrencies market. How do you do it?
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been growing in popularity, but if you’re considering investing in them, there are some key things you should know first.
So what is cryptocurrency? Should you invest in it? How can you invest in it? We’ll cover all three topics in this and related articles. For now, here are answers to some of the most common questions about the basics of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
With less than two months left in what has been an extraordinary (and mystifying) year on multiple fronts, stocks have maintained a largely uninterrupted trek higher (at the index level) in the face of myriad headwinds...
Liz Ann Sonders shares her perspective on the U.S. stock market and economy in this monthly Market Snapshot video.
After a year of supply shortages, the global economy may be closer to the end of the supply chain problems than the beginning.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced the start of balance sheet tapering at a pace of $15 billion per month ($10 billion of Treasuries and $5 billion of mortgage-backed securities). They made no change to the fed funds rate, which remains near the zero bound.
Earnings season has been stellar so far, although the growth rate is well off its prior quarter peak, with profit margins in focus looking ahead.
Signs are growing that inflation may be more tenacious than originally expected. We don’t believe a return to 1970s-style inflation is likely, but there is a worrisome scenario in which persistently sharp increases in prices could be a factor to reckon with—and if history is any guide, they could have an impact on sector performance.
Services make up more of the economy, jobs, and the stock market. The time has come to focus on services data to get a sense of the overall economic picture.
The speculative exuberance around special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) seems to be over, but investors still have questions about them.
The age of abundance has given way to an age of scarcity, while the pro-cyclical version of inflation may have given way to the counter-cyclical version.
Supply chains typically aren’t something the average person needs to think about too much. When they’re working, these high-tech, globalized networks of parts suppliers, assemblers, shippers, and distributors allow companies to make and move goods around the world so quickly and cheaply that it’s tempting to take them for granted.
September closed with a whimper (from folks hoping the seven-month stretch of positive performance months for the S&P 500 would make it to eight). The month also held true to the history of September being the worst month for performance on average since the index’s inception in 1928.
Looking ahead, new sources of inflation may continue to arise. Unless the mounting pressures push inflation to significantly higher levels that would provoke central banks into aggressive tightening, the impact on global stock markets may be a positive.
There is a cost to waiting for interest rates to rise—you may be missing out on higher coupon rates and yields elsewhere. Rather than waiting on the sidelines for yields to rise, investors should consider short-term corporate bonds today—specifically those with fixed coupon rates.
U.S. stocks fell Tuesday on persistent concerns over the debt ceiling, along with a continued increase in Treasury yields. The S&P 500 closed down 2%, the Nasdaq fell 2.8%, and the Russell 2000 fell 2.3%.
The performance momentum could continue with the reopening of the nation’s capital reinvigorating economic growth, the strong upward trend in revisions to analysts’ earnings estimates for Japanese companies, lower relative valuations, and a historically bullish pre-election period.
It was 35 years ago this month that I began my career on Wall Street. In thinking about those three-and-a-half decades, I decided to shift tack with today’s report and ask readers to indulge me as I ruminate about what I’ve learned during these decades.
House Democrats have proposed a higher top individual tax rate and changes to the capital gains tax. Both are a long way from becoming law.
The bond market has been in hibernation for months, and investors may have become complacent about risks.
Over the past 70 years, rising government debt generally has been accompanied by weaker economic activity. But it’s not a simple relationship.
A gradual slowing of stimulus heralds a potential drop for the world’s stock markets, but the evidence suggests a possibility for a positive outcome.
How do you choose between corporate and municipal bonds? Both have characteristics that can be useful in your portfolio, depending on your goals and circumstances, but they’re not right for every situation.
Now that the dollar is near the year’s highs, can the rally continue? We believe it can in the near term, although our longer-term view is more nuanced. Here’s what we see ahead.
Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs)—also known as blank-check companies—have gained immense popularity among investors since the beginning of 2020, despite being around for decades.
Supply chain issues are worsening again, reversing improvements seen earlier this summer.
The stock market could use some mouthwash.
The latest major initiative from the White House—a package of social measures known as the American Families Plan, comprising expanded child care assistance, two years of free community college, universal prekindergarten, and more—includes proposed tax increases on the wealthy to help fund the plan.
As the Federal Reserve transitions from merely talking about tapering its bond holdings to actually tapering, investors may be left wondering what it might mean for the markets and their portfolios.
Although the prospect of the Federal Reserve tapering its bond purchases has unsettled markets in the past, we expect it to be more orderly this time around.
News about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, much like hearing about a neighbor who won the lottery, have been impossible to ignore lately.
China’s stock market pullback this year has been in line with the average annual drawdown; historically, this volatility has tended to produce double-digit annualized gains.
As expected, in a unanimous vote, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve (Fed) kept the fed funds rate unchanged in its range of 0-0.25%.
In what shaped up to be a very impressive first half of the year for both the economy and stock market, stellar earnings growth has been a key ingredient.
COVID-19 resurgences appear to be the primary driver of moves across many markets this year.
For investors considering preferred securities today, there is good news and bad news.
In the last few weeks, stock market leadership reversed back to lockdown-era defensives as the stock market made new all-time highs.
More than 75% of the West is in an extreme or exceptional drought, with over 58 million people living in a drought area—and expectations are that it will get worse.
There is always a lot of controversy around the implications of high and rising government debt. Over the past 70 years, rising government debt has generally been accompanied by weaker economic activity.
