The dollar is headed for its best year in almost a decade as US economic strength reins in expectations for the Federal Reserve’s rate-cutting cycle and President-elect Donald Trump’s threats of harsh tariffs underpin bullish bets on the currency.
Tokenization, or the process of creating digital representations of real-world assets on a blockchain, has become one of this year’s buzzwords in both conventional and crypto finance circles.
The new year will start with plenty of intrigue, especially in manufacturing, aerospace and logistics, the area where I hunt for interesting storylines about how companies navigate opportunities and pitfalls.
OpenAI, founded a decade ago as a research organization, is considering a change to the AI company’s structure that would create a more conventional money-making corporation alongside a nonprofit arm.
Recommend reading that provides a bed of knowledge for the key themes we think will define 2025. Ours differs from other lists you might see elsewhere at this time of year in that we focus on relevance rather than recency, though there are new books here, too.
The eclipse of the dollar, and with it the ability of the US to borrow on a scale that would cripple any other country, has been long predicted. For at least half a century, skeptics have counted on something — or someone — coming along to knock American assets from their perch. Don't plan for a requiem just yet.
We look back on six themes that defined another eventful year.
The S&P 500 Index posted its best month of the year in November, with a clear election result and a “no-surprise” Fed rate cut providing support.
Annuities can provide a guaranteed lifetime income stream in retirement, no matter how long you live. They thrive under high interest rate environments and are currently offering the highest payouts seen in years.
Last week’s market volatility was not surprising for readers of these commentaries, as I anticipated a jarring adjustment to readouts from the Fed Dot Plot that suggested less rate cuts in 2025.
Treasuries were under pressure in a holiday-shortened session as investors remain wary to park cash in US government debt that matures in a decade or more.
US crude exports to China plunged by almost half this year as shifts in the nation’s economy weighed on demand and it bought more barrels from other countries including Russia and Iran.
Recurring applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest in more than three years, adding to signs that it is taking longer for out-of-work people to find a job.
The C-suites and boardrooms of corporate America should be on high alert entering 2025.
America’s national debt would have horrified Ronald Reagan.
Today often kicks off the Santa Claus rally. Stocks rose and volatility is down sharply from recent peaks, but yields keep rising, which has hurt the non-tech part of the market.
Over the last decade, U.S. large cap growth stocks have been far and away the best performing major financial asset in the world.
The Federal Reserve’s recent meeting signaled a notable shift in its monetary policy approach.
For 2025, the financial markets will be entering a new chapter in the ever-evolving policy story. Indeed, not only will the U.S. economy be operating under a new political and attendant fiscal backdrop, but it will also be in the midst of a different monetary policy setting—rate cuts, not the after-effects of rate hikes.
In a complex economy, agents must rely on intermediaries – including the traditional media, government, or experts – to close information gaps, anchor beliefs, and determine equilibrium. But this process can work only if the intermediaries are trustworthy, and many Americans are not convinced that they are.
We expect the playbook for emerging markets to be one of volatility at the start of the year, transitioning to growth and opportunity as U.S. trade policies and China stimulus plans become clearer.
Happy Holidays! As the page for the new calendar year will soon turn, three cheers for a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year! With 2024 rapidly drawing to a close, we reflect on the year and all that’s transpired—our readers are wonderful, the economy remains in good shape, and market returns have been stellar for those who participate.
This analysis explores why SOC2 certification, despite its widespread adoption and respected status, may provide a false sense of security and prove inadequate in protecting organizations against modern cyber threats.
A wise mentor of mine once told me, “Businesses would be so easy to run if only there weren’t human beings mucking things up all of the time!”
Financial loss is one of the most common secondary losses. The death of a family breadwinner can bring crushing financial uncertainty. Even when the deceased was not the primary earner, grief can derail financial stability.
China’s policymakers plan to sell a record 3 trillion yuan ($411 billion) of special treasury bonds in 2025, Reuters reported on Tuesday, a move aimed at bolstering the slowing economy.
A rude surprise could be in store for the millions of Americans who get health coverage through the Affordable Care Act. If Congress doesn’t act next year, enhanced premium subsidies will expire by December, causing enrollees’ payments to increase by more than 75% on average.
People often make a distinction between “good debt” and “bad debt,” in terms of both personal finances and public spending.
Emerging markets-focused investors have had little to celebrate over the past year.
The crypto market’s center of gravity is back in the US as 2025 approaches, courtesy of Donald Trump’s reelection to the presidency and widening demand for the nation’s digital-asset funds and derivatives contracts.
Some hedge fund managers are sounding the alarm on overvalued nuclear power stocks and scaling back exposure after a stunning rally this year.
As investors continue to step out of cash and potentially rebalance out of equities following their strong performance, we expect bonds to play a larger role in diversified portfolios next year.
It’s that time of year when Wall Street polishes up its crystal balls and predicts next year’s market returns. Since Wall Street never predicts a down year, these forecasts are often wrong and sometimes very wrong.
If you happen to be a Bitcoin skeptic, you’re not alone. A recent Pew Research survey found that 63% of Americans are not confident in the reliability or safety of cryptocurrencies in general.
The Bible story of the virgin birth is at the center of much of the holiday cheer this time of year. The book of Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus decreed a census should be taken.
Index funds emerged in the early 1970s and were designed to match rather than beat the market. For decades, they were associated with the capitalization-weighted (CW) market indexes that defined their investment approach.
As we near the end of 2024, researchers, businesses, and investors have begun to question the overheated artificial intelligence sentiment.
Since we are not going to publish Weekly Economics on December 27, 2024, we will take this opportunity to say farewell to 2024 and to all our readers, we want to wish you a very happy holiday season and a very prosperous New Year 2025!
Displaying your expertise is an attempt to prove your value, and it’s how the industry has always taught advisors to win new clients. However, it does not work.
AI has the potential to elevate industries by blending mechanical precision with human creativity. The key lies in balance: harnessing its capabilities while preserving the uniquely human touch that remains irreplaceable.
After years in the investment world as an institutional manager, an academic researcher and lecturer, and an independent advisor to individual investors, I’ve learned that there are three main objectives we’re trying to achieve when we design client portfolios.
J.P. Morgan’s Jon Maier highlights the firm’s suite of ETFs and discusses the industry’s accelerating momentum behind active management. VettaFi’s Roxanna Islam offers insights into the recent Nasdaq-100 index rebalance and its connection to broader ETF trends.
Has the U.S. economy diverged from the global economy, or are a lot of economic canaries in coalmines keeling over and warning the U.S. is soon to catch down?
On this episode of the “ETF of the Week” podcast, VettaFi’s Head of Research Todd Rosenbluth discussed the iShares Nasdaq Top 30 Stocks ETF (QTOP) with Chuck Jaffe of Money Life. The pair discussed several topics related to the fund to give investors a deeper understanding of the ETF overall.
CAPE, or the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio, introduced in 1988 by economists John Campbell and Robert Shiller, is arguably the best-known indicator of broad market valuation. And CAPE is now at an almost (though not quite) all-time high level, according to data from Robert Shiller's website.
Wall Street expects the stock market to earn a return in 2025 that is similar to the average return over the past 100 years. Do you agree?
To Michael Saylor’s online fanbase, it’s the next step in the great normalization of crypto: Bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy Inc. enters the S&P 500 next year, forcing the likes of index-tracking funds to buy his controversial company en masse. Whether they like it or not.
Orders placed with US factories for business equipment rebounded in November, posting the strongest monthly advance in over a year.
Bond traders have rarely suffered so much from a Federal Reserve easing cycle. Now they fear 2025 threatens more of the same.
Forced to seek a government rescue barely a year ago, Siemens Energy AG was an unlikely candidate for Europe’s best performing stock of 2024.
