Fintech

The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow), and Nasdaq Composite are all stock market indexes used to measure the performance of various aspects of the U.S. stock market. The indexes generally rise and fall together; however, the extent of gains or losses produced by each can differ depending on market conditions and the state of the economy.

Rafay Farooqui, CEO and Founder of SUBSCRIBE, joins Tony Davidow to discuss the future of fintech within private markets.

The employment report was extraordinarily strong, with approximately 165,000 jobs created, well above expectations, and upward revisions of 84,000 for the previous two months. Almost all the gains were in the private sector, with manufacturing adding 19,000 jobs.

Tuesday’s midterms were one for the history books. Democrats won control of both the House and Senate, and they picked up governorships in Ohio, Texas and Georgia. Kansas elected a Democrat to the Senate for the first time since 1932. Our home state of Texas did so for the first time in 38 years.

Our investment teams weigh what comes next for stocks, bonds, and AI to help you explain what may come next.

A will can name guardians for minor children, designate an executor, and direct certain assets after your death. A trust serves a different role, including managing assets during your lifetime and controlling how they pass to beneficiaries. Understanding the distinction can help you build an estate plan that reflects your family, assets, and wishes.

The strong October nonfarm payrolls report has effectively settled the debate over what the Federal Reserve (Fed) is likely to do at its December Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. We expect the Fed to raise the federal funds rate by another 25 basis points. Beyond December, however, the outlook remains far less certain. We continue to expect the Fed to remain on hold throughout 2027.

A global tech rout continues to remind investors that volatility can strike at any time. That’s especially true in today’s market environment, where stretched megacap technology valuations and broader equity indices have elevated concentration risk.

Domestic demand for gold bars and coins tends to rise modestly under Democratic administrations. However, elections have not historically had a significant impact on gold’s global performance over the long haul.

Portfolio Manager Denny Fish explains why the market was justified in assigning a higher level of regulatory risk to the AI ecosystem after the midterm elections. But in his view, the secular strength of this theme, along with the massive bottlenecks and geopolitical implications, mean that this historic investment cycle will likely continue.

Franklin Templeton Institute’s Stephen Dover and Larry Hatheway opine on the US stock market’s recent volatility in the wake of the US midterm elections and the path forward for investors.

The big story last week? The Federal Reserve paused despite stronger growth and persistent inflation. It was a hawkish pause, with a December hike still the base case, according to Franklin Templeton Fixed Income. Third-quarter gross domestic product showed the US economy's resilience, but also its growing dependence on artificial intelligence investment, and household purchasing power took a hit.

A stock trading at half its former price is not necessarily a bargain. Perhaps its earnings power has halved or its balance sheet can no longer support the business. Maybe its generous dividend is being financed with borrowed money. A low valuation ratio tells us what we are paying relative to one measure of fundamentals. It does not, by itself, tell us what the business is worth or whether those fundamentals will endure.

Amid a rapidly changing world, where China’s rise as an industrial powerhouse has nations around the globe on alert, we believe that American reindustrialization will be an important driver of investment returns in the decade ahead. 

We have been writing extensively about the rapid evolution of crypto ETFs, and recent data reinforces why digital assets remain top of mind for wealth managers. According to CoinShares, financial advisors hold roughly 55% of Wall Street’s total bitcoin ETF stake at the end of the second quarter, cementing their role as primary drivers of long-term digital asset adoption.

Duration management is a key function of fixed income portfolio management. However, as yields have moved approximately 100 bps in 2026 and the monetary regime has sharply changed from rate cuts to rate hikes, duration management has come into greater focus.

Notwithstanding that the major U.S. equity indexes are sitting on healthy double-digit gains heading into the final two months of 2026, the calm at the index level belies a lot of churn and rotation underneath.

Taken together, these trends point to a healthier, broader economic backdrop than the AI-driven narrative alone would suggest. For us as investors, it reinforces the case for individual, fundamental stockpicking over simply riding the AI wave. There's more supporting this market than one theme, and that breadth matters for how we position portfolios.

As investor interest in Anthropic’s upcoming IPO grows, ETFs are finding new ways to offer exposure to private companies through derivatives tied to perpetual futures. Recent regulatory developments could accelerate the use of these instruments across the ETF industry, but they also introduce new risks and complexities.

One concern raised by the recent backup in rates is whether CRE is about to relive the stress of 2023, when depressed post-pandemic office demand coincided with rising rates and a regional bank crisis, including Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank. The selloff in public REITs suggests investors are repricing property values for a higher-rate world.

Almost three years have passed since the SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, bringing crypto and digital assets investing to a whole new audience. The asset class has evolved in that time, becoming a bigger and bigger part of investor and advisor plans.

Sometimes the best lessons are the simplest ones, and right now, the market is offering a good old-fashioned lesson on the benefits of diversification. Stay invested, stay diversified, and stick to your financial plan.

Most of us consider the end of the year as the season of giving. While you may have put some thought into how much you’d like to give this year, have you considered the best way to do it? The biggest benefit of charitable giving is supporting an organization that holds special meaning to you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate some potential tax advantages as well.

From earlier detection and more precise treatments to smarter medical technology, the healthcare sector continues to reinvent products that improve and save lives. Yet healthcare stocks have struggled to reflect that progress, overshadowed in recent years by investor enthusiasm for AI beneficiaries.

Election Day has markets watching how divided Washington will be over the coming two years. Jeff Schulze shares insights for investors based on different potential outcomes.

The broad markets experienced volatility in the 3rd quarter with concerns over the impact of energy prices on inflation as well as CapEx spending by hyperscaler companies in the AI space driving technology stocks. The price of WTI Crude oil rallied sharply during the quarter by nearly 30%.

A few years back, I compared two island-nations whose leaders came to power in 1959. At the time, Cuba was by far the wealthier of the two—rich in sugar, tobacco and tourism—while Singapore was a sleepy former colonial outpost with almost no natural resources.

Innovation takes time—very often years—and can be expensive. For example, it wasn’t so long ago that Nvidia was considered to be just a gaming company. Today, it is one of the largest companies in the world with a dominant position in hardware and software tools powering the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

Credit problems in the AI space are not going to be contained to just the AI space. It is going to have impacts all throughout the economy and global markets. I guarantee you central banks are paying attention as it is affecting what they have to charge for sovereign debt.

The strength of the US economy during the third quarter was hardly a surprise. We expected economic growth of 3.5%, and the first estimate came in only slightly below that at a 3.4% quarter-over-quarter, seasonally adjusted annualized rate. Consumer spending and investment tied to the AI and data center buildout remained the primary drivers of growth.

Infrastructure has long been valued for its defensive characteristics, income potential and ability to protect against inflation. Essential assets such as electricity networks, pipelines, railways, airports and toll roads typically benefit from high barriers to entry and predictable revenues.

In this episode of the Money Metals Midweek Memo, host Mike Maharrey considers how artificial intelligence could affect trust, cybersecurity, and investors’ access to their money. He also discusses silver’s sharp correction, the long history of gold jewelry, and ways listeners might use precious metals as a physical store of value.

The economy appears to be settling into a new equilibrium. Economic growth has moderated to a sustainable pace. While inflation has picked up over the last few months, there does not seem to be a fundamental shift in the underlying trend.

The AI investment boom has become one of the largest sources of demand in the U.S. economy. Announced annual capital spending across large U.S. technology companies points to more than $1 trillion in desired investment, up dramatically from only a few years ago.

Franklin Templeton plans to launch two ETFs Thursday that use stock dividends to buy bitcoin instead of more shares.

The Federal Reserve decided to wait for more data rather than raise rates at its October meeting. Two policymakers dissented, favoring a rate hike of a quarter percentage point.

The credit market had become more discerning. Companies with greater leverage, more uncertain cash flows, or business models requiring enormous amounts of capital appeared to be more scrutinized.

LPL Research examines three keys to earnings season: broader profit growth, margin pressures, and high expectations amid continued AI investment.