Rumors are floating that a new variation of QE will help bridge the Treasury’s liquidity shortfalls.

But a bigger story has been afoot: the incredible shrinking US bank sector. Its numbers, which have withered for decades, are the lowest in over a century. The current environment should accelerate that decline, raising multi-trillion-dollar questions: Why? What does it mean for consumers and investors?

VettaFi’s Lara Crigger parses through first quarter ETF flows, uncovering several interesting stories across stocks, bonds, and alternative assets. Dimensional’s Rob Harvey goes in-depth on the differences between a systematic active approach and traditional indexing.

Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang showed off new chips aimed at extending his company’s dominance of artificial intelligence computing, a position that’s already made it the world’s third-most-valuable business.

High-net-worth prospects aren’t looking for you to prove your competence in terms of your knowledge or skill – they’re subconsciously looking to see if you’re the one who can stop them from needing to see anyone else.

Wall Street is so divided on whether the US stock market’s meteoric rise has gone too far, too fast that even Bank of America Corp.’s own strategists disagree.

Attractive growth companies are scattered across Europe’s otherwise lackluster market landscape. Here’s how to find them.

The economic outlook in the United States is unusually murky, with different sets of indicators telling different stories. But it is entirely possible that inflation will get stuck at a level inconsistent with the US Federal Reserve’s target, reducing – perhaps even to zero – the number of interest-rate cuts this year.

The Fed meets this week, which means investors and analysts will be sifting through Wednesday’s FOMC statement, updated economic projections, the “dot plots,” and Powell’s press conference searching for any signal – real or imagined – about what our central bank will do next.

Capital markets appear content with playing the rate cut waiting game as the S&P 500 continues to rise to new highs. Meanwhile, renewed volatility could make investors reconsider adding an equal weight strategy to their portfolios.

It’s been a raucous past year for fixed income investors. Following years of quiet for rate markets, the Fed’s rapid rate hikes, and subsequent signals about rate cuts, have reinvigorated fixed income investing.

On this episode of the “ETF of the Week” podcast, VettaFi’s Head of Research Todd Rosenbluth discussed the VictoryShares WestEnd US Sector ETF (MODL) with Chuck Jaffe of “Money Life.” The pair talked about several topics regarding the fund to give investors a deeper understanding of the ETF overall.

Here are five notable charts to consider in global commodity markets as the week gets underway.

This article explores the benefit of the optimal allocations to RILA crediting strategies using expected returns and a model that accounts for the unique (non-normal) return distributions of RILAs.

While investing strategies should be consistent, changes in markets and the economy make some advice more relevant than it was in the past. Here are the top 10 things I’m telling clients.

Gold prices have done well around Fed easing cycles. In addition, inflation concerns and high interest rates make the year-ahead gold return forecast attractive.

Over the last few years, digital currencies and gold have become decent barometers of speculative investor appetite.

With interest rates at their highest levels in over a decade, now is a good time for most plan sponsors to de-risk their liabilities via a lump sum window.

Europe needs to boost defense spending while managing stretched fiscal positions.

One topic that does merit advisors and investors of all kinds to stop and learn, however, is the mutual fund to ETF conversion process. With ETFs, especially of the active variety, coming on so strong in the last year, it’s an important process to understand.

At the end of Exchange 2024, VettaFi shared an exciting announcement: Exchange 2025 will take place in Las Vegas. Next year’s iteration of the legendary conference will happen March 23-26. It will be held at Virgin Hotel’s Curio Collection by Hilton.

Homeownership is the quintessential American dream, but it’s become increasingly elusive for many households. A multitude of factors, including soaring home prices, elevated interest rates and persistent inflation, has created the perfect storm, making homeownership a distant reality for more U.S. residents.

Investments in aircraft can offer steady cash flow and a return profile that’s uncorrelated to broad market indices.

Snap up more Japanese stocks, ratchet up shorts on government debt and keep buying the yen: these are some of the most popular calls from big-name money managers ahead of a central bank meeting that may end the world’s last experiment with negative interest rates.

Markets are showing characteristics of a bubble in the record-setting surge by tech’s so-called Magnificent Seven stocks and the all-time highs in cryptocurrencies, according to Bank of America Corp. Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett.

The broad stock market is taking a breather from its rally. That means the “Magnificent Seven” stocks are also catching their breath after a strong rally that started late in 2023. Despite the recent pullback, certain members of that cohort still show technical signs of bullishness.

The January debuts of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. have figured prominently in the cryptocurrency’s ascent this year. However, experienced crypto investors know that the upcoming quadrennial halving is likely playing a significant role in Bitcoin’s 2024 bullishness.

If a bubble is forming in US stocks, it has plenty of room to expand before it bursts, according to strategists at Societe Generale SA.

This week, more than 400 members of the Women in ETFs (WE) organization gathered to celebrate the group’s 10th anniversary. The New York City event was just the latest opportunity for community members to exchange ideas and learn together.

With the future of the economic environment remaining uncertain, investors are reevaluating what factors to prioritize when seeking large-cap opportunities.

Japan is back, China is over. Only a few years ago, such an assertion would have been dismissed out of hand. The latter was on the road to economic dominance and the former languished, characterized by endless stimulus that produced little tangible benefit, and doomed by a shrinking population.

All durable bull markets need bouts of positivity to keep them moving higher, and the next month is shaping up to be a good-news desert.

Fresh data on inflation and unemployment filings gave Federal Reserve officials more reasons to hold off on cutting interest rates, even as retail sales suggested a slowdown in consumer spending.

Bitcoin extended a retreat from its latest record high amid an intensifying debate about whether the bull run in cryptocurrencies is evidence of speculative froth in global markets.

Since their inception, exchange traded funds (ETFs) continue to grow their market share and popularity with investors. The tax efficiency for which they are known comes down to three primary mechanisms from which the vehicle wrapper benefits.

Is now the time to get back into REITs? Media headlines may have previously dissuaded investors from real estate, but the landscape is changing.

The ongoing narrative around the strength of large-cap equities will continue to center around forthcoming rate cuts. Once the Federal Reserve receives the economic data it needs to loosen monetary policy and hit its inflation goal of 2%, it could propel growth-oriented large-cap stocks into the stratosphere.

Investors appear increasingly optimistic regarding equity performance in the second half. However, frothy markets continue to create challenges this quarter and advisors looking to find opportunities within equities this year don’t want to miss the recent 2024 Equity Symposium hosted by VettaFi.

Gold has definitively broken out of the range it's been stuck in since the start of this decade, reaching a record $2,195 per troy ounce this month.

Just as private credit is becoming an asset class of its own and private equity houses are finding a new revenue stream away from their bread-and-butter buyout businesses, this burgeoning part of leveraged finance is losing steam.

How bad is 2024 going so far for Tesla Inc.? Well, its stock is down more than Boeing Co., making it the worst performer in the S&P 500 Index.

Nvidia Corp.’s annual artificial intelligence conference is just days away and expectations are high for the semiconductor maker to deliver news that will sustain the blistering rally in its stock.

Municipals posted positive performance and outperformed comparable Treasuries in February. We expect supply-and-demand dynamics to turn less supportive in the coming months. After patience to start the year, we would view any material backup as an opportunity to buy.

Trading volumes for spot bitcoin ETFs have been the talk of the industry. David Mann, our Head of Global ETF Product and Capital Markets, offers his take on how best to evaluate the liquidity of these ETFs via his favorite NFL team.

With a quarter of 2024 in the books, investors have been closely watching key inflation and interest rate trends.

If 2023 was the year of the mega cap tech stock, 2024 may see SMIDcap stocks rise to new prominence. While key names in the “Magnificent Seven” remain big players, strategies that look for SMIDcap opportunities could appeal. Valuations are such that investors may want to consider new approaches.

Any sliver of news that feeds into the higher-for-longer interest rates narrative will be an unwelcome guest for tech bulls. For traders looking to feed off bearishness, it’s an opportunity to take advantage of inverse exchange traded funds (ETFs).

For decades, the tech sector wasn’t viewed as a prime source of equity income. But that’s changed for the better in recent years, and that positive evolution is ongoing.

The U.S. stock market has done so well that many investors may have forgotten about the rest of the world. Emerging markets, however, have a case to get back into investors’ portfolios.

With the end of the free money era, fundamentals and management quality matter more now than they did in the 2010s, underscoring the role of active ETFs.