Large Cap Growth

The A.I. chase is making for a very narrow market.

As the debt ceiling fight in Washington heads down to the wire with the risk of a technical default looming, investors are growing nervous.

As other nations seek to become less dependent on the U.S. dollar, rumors of the greenback’s potential demise continue to swirl. Can the dollar remain king of the world’s reserve currency?

We've described the past several years' stock market as a seesaw in which the "market" was the fulcrum of the seesaw. On one side of the seesaw sit the highly speculative growth sectors and on the other side, sit virtually everything else in the global equity markets.

Swiss money manager Felix Zulauf is a crowd favorite at SIC. His 2022 presentation was right on target, so I asked him back to tell us what he expects for the rest of 2023 and beyond. Unfortunately, he thinks a slowdown is coming that will hit markets hard.

If you were doubting whether the age of AI has arrived, NVIDIA’s stock performance this week may have given you second thoughts.

War, inflation, rising rates, banking chaos, and recession are among the challenges facing markets. Investors must balance these shorter-term risks with the long-term return prospects of equities.

The two primary styles of dividend investing are growth and yield. In the latter, investors embrace stocks with what are deemed above-average yields — often from slower-growth sectors, such as utilities and real estate.

The most famous “Hail Mary” in American football history happened in 1984. On the very last play of the Boston College football game, an undersized quarterback named Doug Flutie threw a bomb into the end zone to teammate Gerald Whelan. Boston College had won the game!

The artificial intelligence, or “AI,” revolution is upon us. The financial media and headlines are abuzz with stories of generative “AI” and the subsequent “industrial revolution.”

According to Buffett, the US economy just went through the “most extraordinary economic period since World War II.” That’s a heck of a statement.

The distinction between futures-based ETFs and crypto equity ETFs is clear when you look closely at the two. But even when examining them closely, it may be difficult to distinguish between the different types of blockchain/crypto equity ETFs because of similarities with fintech, metaverse, and Web3 concepts.

What generally follows that expression is a succinct synopsis. We’re always trying to be concise;
however, distilling complex economic and investment matters usually requires several pages.

Could massive monetary support have softened the deep bear market many expected? It is an interesting question. Particularly given the Fed has hiked rates at one of the most aggressive paces in history.

We often talk about technology’s influence on the economy. After the Strategic Investment Conference, though, I’ve decided that isn’t strong enough. It’s more correct to say technology is the economy.

Although attendance was down this year compared to last—mostly because Bitcoin’s price is still off its record high of approximately $69,000, set in November 2021—there was nevertheless an impressive turnout of investors of all ages, industry leaders, policymakers and more.

I once had a cat who liked movies. His name was Otto—he passed away in 2014 at 15 years old. His favorite movie was The Matrix because there’s lots of action and explosions. All the action on the screen could hold his attention.

Here’s what we learned in earnings season about how companies are coping with a particularly tricky set of macroeconomic conditions.

For this edition of Bull vs. Bear, James Comtois, and Elle Caruso discussed the pros and cons of using single-stock ETFs to express opinions on stock earnings.

The current economic and investing environment remains one of the most challenging and difficult to navigate in recent times. We have stubborn inflation, economic resilience, geopolitical tensions, tight labour markets, rising interest rates, higher for longer monetary policy, QT, bank failures, overwhelming bearishness and now, issues surrounding the debt ceiling.

The future of money is uncertain, and speculation about what comes next is all over the place. The Federal Reserve note "dollar" is the world's reserve currency, but its seat on that throne is no longer secure.

The COT (Commitment Of Traders) data, which is exceptionally important, is the sole source of the actual holdings of the three critical commodity-trading groups, namely: Commercial Traders, Non-Commercial Traders and Small Traders.

Economic moats, also called business moats, are competitive advantages that help a company maintain long-term profits and market share over competitors.

Review the latest portfolio strategy commentary from Mike Gibbs.

U.S. Treasury debt is considered the closest debt in existence to having no default risk. The ongoing game of financial chicken between Congress and the White House puts this assumption in doubt.

After moderate gains in March, markets continued to rally in April. U.S. markets were up by low single digits, while bond markets were moderately positive. International markets were mixed, with developed markets showing modest gains while emerging markets ticked down.

Economic reports and corporate data last week highlighted the cautious stance of corporations, contrasted against a resilient consumer, who continues to be propped up by strong demand in the labor market and increasing wages.

Today’s competitive landscape is creating an interesting opportunity for discussions between money managers and their small business owner clients looking to incorporate more technology-centric investments into their portfolios.

Many investors are choosing to access bitcoin and broader crypto themes through traditional ETF wrappers due to their relative simplicity and familiarity.

Taking risks is no longer necessary to make a return on your savings.

Key Takeaways

• Stocks and bonds perform well after the last rate hike
• The bar for cutting rates is higher than it has been in the past
• First-quarter earnings results have been better than feared

The U.S. regional banking crisis is intensifying as rising interest rates put smaller banks at risk, leading to significant losses in the sector. Amid the turmoil, gold and gold mining stocks may offer investors a potentially safer alternative to manage risk.

An investment in Comcast today offers the opportunity to more capital appreciation with a margin of safety, a dividend yield approaching 3%, and is growing rapidly.

I want to write a bit about artificial intelligence from the standpoint of a market person who knows little about technology.

Leadership shifts at the sector and style levels warrant some additional caution, as well as a closer look as to what investors are buying when it comes to "growth vs. value."

Though equities have proven resilient, more of the long-expected effects of the Federal Reserve’s (the Fed’s) rapid interest rate-raising policy arrived in April.

In the early 2020s, the stock market looked much like basketball used to: a big man’s game. As examples, money management firms like Vanguard and Blackrock lumbered to higher heights of assets while the passive firms swallowed more market share.