An ETF that just last month was dubbed the most volatile to ever hit Wall Street has already been upstaged, after the debut of a competing product that adds even more leverage.
In the long-running popular series about what’s wrong with economics, there is a new entry: Our profession is too insular. “Economists generally agree that competition is good, and that markets with only a few dominant players are inefficient,” writes the economist David Deming in the Atlantic. “We may need to take a hard look in the mirror.”
In the frothy business of selling artificial intelligence service, Salesforce Inc. has been punching above its own weight. “Salesforce?” I hear you wonder. The folks in the dull business of selling customer relationship management software?
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday began its policy easing with a bang. Much of the focus was on its decision to cut interest rates by half a percentage point from a two-decade high. But the key question for the bond market is where rates will land once all is said and done. Nobody knows for sure, and Chair Jerome Powell injected enough uncertainty to ensure a choppy ride ahead.
Jerome Powell delivered exactly what traders up and down Wall Street had long hoped for: A big interest-rate cut that would justify this year’s steep rally in stocks and bonds as the era of tight monetary policy finally began to reverse.
MSCI boosted India’s weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and reduced China’s in its latest quarterly rebalance, continuing long-term trends.
While the beach version of SoCal has had an epic, non-marine layer summer, it seems to have been enjoyed by few locals who instead violate the cardinal rule of adult life without children living at home and nevertheless travel to Europe in summer. We haven’t missed you.
With the Fed nearing its first interest rate cut since 2020, enthusiasm for fixed income assets is increasing. Enter the ALPS Intermediate Municipal Bond ETF.
A client recently refused to complete my risk tolerance questionnaire. After looking through our instrument, with its fairly standard hypotheticals about market movements and portfolio returns, they said, “That’s not how I think about risk.”
The price increments at which thousands of stocks and ETFs are quoted look set for an overhaul Wednesday, when the US Securities and Exchange Commission votes on final rules to reduce them to less than 1 cent.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to begin cutting interest rates this week as moderating inflation allows the central bank to roll back some of its previous rate increases. I expect that some investors will be tempted to chase stocks given the stubborn conventional wisdom that interest rates and stock prices move in opposite directions. They should reconsider.
Munis cemented their best “summer” since 2010 after another month of strong performance. Some near-term caution is warranted given that September has been historically challenging. Robust issuance ahead of the election should provide opportunities in the primary market.
It might just be the most audacious bid on Wall Street to exploit newfangled AI tools to mimic the legends of finance.
Vanguard, one of the world’s biggest asset managers, is buying the dollar this week on the view that market bets on Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts are overdone.
The last five years have bombarded investors with a seemingly never-ending array of challenges. Yet despite all these obstacles the S&P 500 is up almost 90% as of this writing.
History suggests Presidential elections are not nearly as important to the financial markets as the media plays them up to be, and a focus on fundamentals rather than political slogans has generally been beneficial. Historical asset class and sector performance shows virtually no consistent performance pattern under Democratic or Republican Presidents.
Panic is never a good investment strategy—nor is greed. Here's how disciplined investing helps navigate through volatile environments.
The August jobs report highlighted a critical reality: the labor market is cooling off. While the headline figures seemed decent, the underlying data reveals clear warning signs that worker demand is slowing.
The yield curve measures the difference between short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term Treasury yields.
Active fixed income ETFs have taken a big leap this year per new research about active ETFs that may draw new investor eyes.
VettaFi’s Cinthia Murphy provides an in-depth look at the recent wave of private credit ETF filings and what may come next. ETF industry veteran Dave Nadig discusses the challenges of packaging private assets within the ETF structure and also offers perspective on the current state of product development overall.
When buying or selling an RIA practice, one of the most important documents you'll encounter is the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA). This agreement is like the foundation of the deal, spelling out exactly what is being bought or sold, how much will be paid, and the responsibilities of both parties.
Alphabet Inc. shares have been struggling for the past two months amid mounting regulatory uncertainty. For some bulls, that’s a buying opportunity.
Microsoft Corp. raised its quarterly dividend 10% and unveiled a new $60 billion stock-buyback program, matching the size of a repurchase plan three years ago.
Investors piled money into exchange-traded funds that buy emerging-market bonds on Friday amid optimism that developing-nation debt will get a boost from a highly anticipated Federal Reserve rate cut this week.
The Federal Reserve (Fed), and markets, overreacted to the slightly higher inflation seen during the first quarter of the year. After that scare, the Fed went from expecting three cuts in the federal funds rate in 2024 to just one cut during its June dot plot release.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to begin cutting interest rates at its September meeting. Market performance may depend on whether the pace of cuts is fast or slow.
You don’t have to read or listen for long these days before you hear a politician, pundit, or politically-inclined person say: “Government spending causes inflation.”
The longest continuous yield curve inversion has finally come to an end. Or has it? The answer depends on how you measure it.
Market participants don’t need to pick names in search of chip stock value, because the ETF SMH holds chip equities sporting favorable valuations.
I have looked at market data on inflation expectations, Fed Funds futures, and other factors that influence interest rates. Today, I add an unorthodox factor to the list: cash cows.
The money manager who hasn’t cracked open the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Portfolio Management, or Financial Analysts Journal for the past few years probably hasn’t lost any steps.
The time has come! After the most aggressive tightening cycle in modern history, the Fed is ready to turn the page and begin dialing back its policy restraint after the second longest ‘on hold’ period (14 months) in history. Barring any surprises, the Fed should lower interest rates at its meeting next week—the first rate cut in over four years—in the hopes of preserving a soft landing for the economy.
BlackRock Inc. strategists turned underweight short-dated US Treasuries from overweight, saying the extent of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts the market is betting on is unlikely to pan out.
The US Federal Reserve faces a crucial decision at its policy-making meeting this week: Ease off slightly on monetary restraint with a 25-basis-point interest-rate cut, or go for a rare 50-basis-point cut to fend off a recession.
For a brief moment, when volatility picked up in early August and again in early September, we saw some appetite reappear for low volatility ETFs
With tax-loss harvesting season on the horizon, investors may want to consider a pair of tax-conscious, active fixed income ETFs.
The S&P 500 index is a critical benchmark for the U.S. equity market, and its performance often dictates investor sentiment and decision-making. Between November 1, 2022, and September 6, 2024, the S&P 500 experienced a significant rally but not without volatility. Currently, investors have very mixed views about where markets are heading next as concerns of a recession linger or what changes to monetary policy will cause.
In my cycles book I’m reviewing the forecasts of Neil Howe, Peter Turchin, George Friedman, and Ray Dalio. For different historical reasons and patterns, all see a crisis culminating at the end of this decade. Some readers have legitimately pushed back, saying no one knows the future.
As we move into the final stretch of 2024, many investors may be asking themselves: Is it time to give airline stocks another look? According to a new report from Bank of America (BofA), the answer might very well be yes
What is interesting about the growth of hedged equity is that most of the assets are held in passively managed structures.
Due to balance sheet concerns, the higher-for-longer interest rate environment has been a significant headwind for the relative performance of U.S. small-cap equities.
China’s bond traders defied signs of intervention to push sovereign yields to a record low, setting the stage for a showdown with authorities seeking to tame the blistering debt rally.
In this video, Chuck Carnevale, Co-Founder of FAST Graphs, a.k.a. Mr. Valuation and Professor Nathan Mauck, Phd. are going to talk about how to approach growth stock investing. As Mr. Valuation, Chuck is a proponent of growth at a reasonable price, often referred to as GARP investing, and Professor Mauck is going to provide some insights into what that actually means.
“Fracking” is an expletive in environmental circles. Yet the spirit of shale is creeping into a business with transformational potential for the energy transition. Schlumberger NV, the industrial giant best known for sucking oil and gas from shale, the seabed (and other places besides), this week announced a breakthrough in direct lithium extraction, or DLE.
The single-stock ETF frenzy is going global, with a new bid to launch products that give US traders a way to bet directly on overseas companies — without fretting about currency risk.
Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve seemed to have time on its side. Payrolls were growing at a healthy clip and the unemployment rate hovered near a five-decade low. Even though there were signs that inflation was licked, there didn’t appear to be much harm in keeping interest rates elevated for a while longer — just in case.
In a niche corner of the bond market, an almost $140 billion wave of maturing debt is poised to lend momentum to what is already one of Wall Street’s hottest hedge fund trades.
Nvidia’s strong earnings exceeded expectations, but the stock fell as investors recalibrated their expectations given its high valuation.
Passive fixed income index investing has evolved significantly over the previous decade, offering investors the flexibility to align risk requirements and investment goals. Learn more from our experts.
