Mutual Funds

Investors have had a lot to contend with thus far in 2023. Moderating economic growth, persistent inflation, volatile interest rates, falling profits, stress in the banking sector, war in Ukraine, and the debt ceiling debate all combined to weigh on sentiment.

Doug Drabik discusses fixed-income market conditions and offers insight for bond investors.

Portfolio Manager Alex Zarechnak identifies six key themes from the COVID years—some new, some familiar—to help anchor investors in today’s emerging markets.

A robust implementation strategy and real-world implementation capabilities are both necessary in order to achieve your portfolio’s preferred position.

The industry group Airlines for America predicts that approximately 257 million people will travel on U.S. commercial airlines this summer, representing a 9.5% increase from last year. That would also set a new record, as volumes are projected to surpass the summer 2019 levels by around 2 million passengers.

The AI Powered Equity ETF (AIEQ) has garnered attention recently, but not for positive reasons. Despite using artificial intelligence to make investment decisions, the ETF has struggled to perform well, with a disappointing one-year return of -13.92%.

Structural changes in the world’s energy systems represent significant investment potential across an array of sectors. Analysts on our equity research team offer insights into the impact and opportunities.

Managing substantial wealth often requires specialized capabilities and expertise.

A core concern for investors contemplating taking advantage of the incredible cheapness of deep value stocks today is the potential for a near-term recession. 

Truist Financial Corporation is a purpose-driven financial services company committed to inspiring and building better lives and communities. Truist has a leading market share in many high-growth markets in the country.

Choppiness in the equity market continues as investors look to see a debt limit deal approved.

David Dali, Head of Portfolio Strategy, provides his 12-month outlook for global equity markets.

In the five months prior to U.S. recessions dating to the 1920s, the equity Momentum factor was the top performer, with an annualized cumulative excess market return of +6.7%, on average.

Nick Goetze discusses fixed-income market conditions and offers insight for bond investors.

The private equity (PE) industry has been all the rage over the past 10 years.

A quick PSA from RBA: Beware of the coming credit crunch. The key goal of tightening monetary policy is to reduce the flow of credit. It is also important to note that the weakest links always default first. This cycle is so far no different.

The Federal Reserve’s higher interest rates, the work from home trend, ESG distractions, increases in crime, etc., are having far reaching effects on our economy and investors.

While markets are often efficient, the current market environment exposes a number of select areas within the bond market that exhibit less efficient behavior. Investors taking a value-oriented bond management approach may find ways to exploit the inefficiencies.

I received many emails and questions on “why” we are adding the U.S. Treasury bond to our portfolios. The question is understandable, given its dire performance in 2022, where bonds had the biggest drawdown since 1786.

This week, the VettaFi Voices come together for an abbreviated chat about an important topic: the debt ceiling.

For this edition of Bull vs. Bear, Elle Caruso and Karrie Gordon discussed the pros and cons of investing in fossil fuels.

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.

First-quarter earnings largely surprised to the upside, but expectations also had been guided down. What does the latest earnings news mean for stock investors? Carrie King, Global Deputy CIO of BlackRock Fundamental Equities, offers three observations.

Rick Rieder and team argue that a series of small, but more probable, wins in fixed income can pave the way for portfolios to outperform benchmarks in 2023.

The semiconductor cycle is dead, long live the super cycle!

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.

Stocks are having a great year, but gold is doing even better. Year-to-date global equities are up roughly 9% in dollar terms; gold has advanced more than 10%.

Over the past decade or so, there has been a broad trend in the industry toward closing and freezing defined benefit plans.

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.

In 2011, markets were relatively flat during the year before Congress and the White House (temporarily) buried the hatchet with the passage of the Budget Control Act on August 2, 2011.

Most of us spent moments of our childhood, crayon in hand, connecting numbered dots that gradually revealed a picture that we couldn’t deduce simply by looking at the separate dots. With experience, we got better at looking at those isolated dots and mentally connecting them into a coherent “gestalt.”

The terms private credit and private debt are often used interchangeably to describe direct origination credit strategies. But, the business is also known by another name: non-bank lending.

We prefer private to public credit long term on better return potential. It’s the mirror image in equity: We prefer public stocks as risks fade in the medium term.

One of the advantages of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) compared to other investment vehicles is their relative liquidity. But what is liquidity for an ETF? How does that liquidity actually give ETF investors the upper hand, compared to other assets?

The deadline for the #debtceiling is quickly approaching. Where does each side stand? What does each side have to lose? Will a deal get done despite the hardening of partisan lines? Check out what it all means for investors.

Diversification is a cornerstone of thoughtful, long-term focused investing. Incorporating assets and asset classes that don’t always move in tandem – that is, their returns aren’t strongly correlated – can help temper stock and bond market risk.

Tax-loss harvesting is one of the direct indexing’s biggest benefits. The automation that direct indexing provides greatly increases the strategy’s potential benefits.

The worst may be over for residential investment.