Large Cap Growth

As I wrote this blog, the S&P 500 index is up roughly 17% year-to-date. Most likely, your portfolio isn’t. This is a common frustration among many investors in the market this year in particular.

This is an exciting time for artificial intelligence and robotics stocks, with many companies reporting and some major news announcements. This week, for the Disruptive Theme of the Week, I reached out to VettaFi’s Senior Research Analyst, Zeno Mercer, for an update on the latest developments in AI and robotics.

There are clear intersections between artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. But for some reason, the latter has been an afterthought as the former has flourished in 2023.

Year to date, the Russell 2000’s scant 1% gain is dwarfed by the S&P 500’s 18% gain. But that could be changing. After dominating much of 2023, large-caps could potentially step aside for small-caps to take the majority of gains.

It might feel as though enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and the related investment theme has waned in recent months. Actually, the opposite is true.

Today's uncertain economic climate is putting particular pressure on four market segments. Here's what to watch out for in the months ahead.

For the better part of two years, investors have been primed with hope of a “Fed pivot” that will presumably restore easy monetary policy and supportive conditions for the financial markets.

Are you an “investor” or a “speculator?”

A new psychological contract is transforming the modern workplace, highlighted by an increase in collective actions and changing employee expectations.

The federal government starts a new fiscal year every October 1. In a rational world, Congress would fulfill its responsibilities by passing bills before that date to authorize spending in the various agencies and programs.

The run-off election looks tight in Argentina, where I’m attending a Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) event in Buenos Aires.

As we approach the final months of 2023, consumer strength has been somewhat mixed but has overall been running out of steam due to stubbornly high grocery prices and higher housing costs. Interestingly, consumers continue to spend on experiences like concerts, movies, and restaurants.

Confounding market and economic signals persist as the year’s end draws near. In a year punctuated by heightened uncertainty as investors attempted to navigate a confluence of risk factors, stock and bond correlations proved a significant challenge to traditional portfolios.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) is arguably one of the most important and overlooked economic indicators.

Third-quarter earnings announcements have almost come and gone, with yesterday being the last big burst of companies. Some key firms have yet to announce, like Nvidia and Walmart, but everything I’m seeing says it surpassed expectations.

Like some advances earlier this year, the market's current surge hasn't been defined by strong breadth underneath the surface—which will be key for a sustained, durable advance.

We speak with ClearBridge Investments’ Jeff Schulze about a topic on many investors’ minds: the 10-year US Treasury yield and the path of monetary policy. He also shares his views on the latest US retail sales data and whether consumer resilience will last into 2024.

The price of gold just had its best October in nearly half a century, defying tough resistance from surging Treasury yields and a strong U.S. dollar. The yellow metal rallied an incredible 7.3% last month to close at $1,983 an ounce, its strongest October since 1978, when it jumped 11.7%.

Good news – the earnings recession is over! After three consecutive quarters of negative earnings growth, 3Q S&P 500 earnings are on pace to climb 5% YoY. If sustained, this would be the best quarter of earnings growth since 2Q22.

Higher interest rates and inflation are likely to usher in a decade of policy restraint, limited liquidity and macro volatility, pressuring equities and motivating investors to reconsider tactical asset allocation and embrace real assets.

Is the bond bear market finally over? That is the question everyone is asking now that bond prices rallied sharply following the November FOMC policy meeting.

The quality of financial advice on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok is up for debate. But it’s not debatable that many younger investors turn to those platforms for investing advice. They also use those platforms to voice their opinions on specific stocks.

The third quarter was a more favorable environment for active managers in U.S. Large and Small Caps, Japan, Australia, and Canada equities, while being more challenging for Global, Global ex-U.S., Emerging Markets, Europe, UK and Long/Short managers.

Just six metrics can effectively assess sovereign issuers’ sustainability and provide guidance for both issuers and investors.

The doves lined up last week guiding the S&P500 up 5.85%, marking the best week of performance for the year. A busy week of data began with the quarterly refunding announcement from the Treasury.

Global investing is easily accessible through the financial markets. Many investors prefer to stick to companies and industries they are familiar with.

Exploring federal budget data is a journey through endless rabbit holes, some of which are eerily close to Alice in Wonderland insanity. Countless variables interact in unexpected ways. Seemingly small changes can cascade into billions of dollars within a few years.

For this edition of Bull vs. Bear, Nick Peters-Golden and James Comtois debate whether this is truly the year active ETFs turned pretty.

Despite substantially tighter monetary policy, the strength of jobs and retail sales stumped expectations of a recessionary downturn in 2022.

The direction of interest rates was the biggest factor moving markets in the third quarter. Sentiment on technology stocks appeared to shift. Money market assets reach historic high, but returns lag stock market.

Pay enough attention to small-cap stocks and ETFs as of late and it’s easier for even novice investors to identify at least two prominent points.

While often difficult, investing rules can help us maintain our focus and investment discipline in volatile or uncertain markets.

In Q3, the strongest performance among factors was seen in developed ex-U.S. large cap and small cap and U.S. small cap, where Value outperformed by 4.9%, 3.3% and 3.3%, respectively. The weakest performance among factors was in U.S. small cap, where the Size factor underperformed by -2.4%.

Identifying problems is great. Identifying solutions is even better, especially when the politicians who are supposed to be solving our big problems don’t even try.

The return of inflation has altered the investing landscape in a way last seen more than half a century ago.

I have always had an affinity for short-term interest rates, and it is from my days as an index arbitrageur.

Economists no longer expect a recession. Such was according to a recent WSJ survey of Wall Street economists.

Earnings results thus far underscore the strong bifurcation within the market, which is confirmed by the continued deterioration in breadth throughout the current correction.