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%.
Here are the four blind spots inside of the typical advisor’s intake process
The latest Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Survey composite index came in at -1. This is an increase from last month's figure and better than the expected -5 reading. The future outlook came in at 2, down slightly from April.
Over the past decade or so, there has been a broad trend in the industry toward closing and freezing defined benefit plans.
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) released the latest monthly data for its pending home sales index. The latest index remained at 78.9, representing a 0.0% change from last month, lower than the expected 0.5% increase. Pending home sales are down 20.3% compared to one year ago.
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.
Investors should rely on the wisdom of crowds as expressed through bond yields, not credit rating agencies, to judge fixed-income credit risk.
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) rose to +0.07 in April from -0.37 in March. All four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index increased from March, but two of the four categories made negative contributions in April. The index's three-month moving average, CFNAI-MA3, decreased to -0.22 in April from -0.12 in March.
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.
The tension around the US debt-limit negotiations ratcheted up after Fitch Ratings warned the nation’s AAA rating was under threat from a political standoff that’s preventing a deal.
Cities and states may have their work cut out for them as they explore solutions to preserve their commercial tax bases and maintain the vibrancy of their downtowns.
The 60/40 portfolio – and diversification in general – is undeniably justified.
Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.3% in Q1 2023, according to the second estimate. This is slower than the Q4 2022 GDP third estimate of 2.6% growth but quicker than the initial estimate of 1.1% growth.
AI’s arrival will have an increasingly large impact on our lives. That includes investing and, especially, other aspects of financial planning.
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.”
Join VettaFi’s Head of Research Todd Rosenbluth and ProShares’ Head of Investment Strategy Simeon Hyman in a conversation about the headwinds facing the banking sector and how to manage the risks in your clients’ portfolios.
To better understand the state of play, VettaFi’s financial futurist Dave Nadig met with Canopy founder Eric Golden for a discussion on crypto’s prospects.
If you’ve been to a high school or college commencement lately, then you know the drill: at some point at least one speaker will urge the graduates to be “agents of change,” suggesting they’d like to see these students make the world a better place through some sort of social activism.
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.
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!
Microsoft Corp. is bringing its Bing search engine to OpenAI Inc.’s ChatGPT, further tightening ties with the artificial intelligence startup in a bid to challenge Google.
Debt limit talks in Washington have hit a fresh impasse with negotiators far apart on key issues, especially the spending cuts demanded by Republicans, as time runs short to avert a historic US default.
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?
I am struggling with best ways to organize my thoughts and prepare something our advisors will validate and be willing to send.
Here are a few strategies to ease the change-management process, bringing advisors of every age and background onto the right path toward adoption.
Why does giving away my expertise make sense, and why should you follow my lead?
One metric I look at fairly often for various countries is the relationship between the performance of stocks vs. bonds. The idea is straightforward enough: when stocks are outperforming bonds, it tends to be associated with a growing economy.
Both domestic and external forces may limit China's growth prospects.
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.
The Fed failed to recognize the danger of its loose monetary policy in 2021. We are seeing its pernicious effect, as the money supply and velocity combined to inflict non-transitory inflation.
Join the experts at abrdn and VettaFi to learn how an allocation to infrastructure could boost your portfolio.
We must understand our clients’ purposes and how they fit together in their lives. We need to take the initiative when rebalancing is in order.
Bond-market titans BlackRock Inc., Pacific Investment Management Co. and Vanguard Group Inc. are warning that recent violent swings in US Treasuries are only the beginning of a new era of volatility that’s here to stay until central banks conquer inflation.
Some previously steadfast bears are showing signs of giving in after a seven-month advance put the S&P 500 on the edge of a key chart line.
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.
Several key economic indicators are released every week to help provide insight into the overall health of the U.S. economy. Policymakers and advisors closely monitor these indicators to understand the direction of interest rates.
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.
Fifth district manufacturing deteriorated in May, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite manufacturing index is at -15 in May, down 5 from April. This month's reading is worse than the Investing.com forecast of -8 and is the fifth consecutive month the index has reported worsening conditions.
This morning's release of the April new home sales from the Census Bureau came in at 683K, up 4.1% month-over-month from a revised 656K in March. This is above the Investing.com forecast of 663K and the highest level in over a year. The median home price is now at $420,800, down $35K from March on a nominal basis.
Here’s a quick guide to avoiding the trap of micromanagement and promoting productivity, innovation, and employee satisfaction.
A better retirement stress test would focus on the standard of living in retirement and how spending would need to change in times of market turmoil or heightened inflation.
The worst may be over for residential investment.
Is it efficient and productive to have four people do a job that appears to take two?
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.”
Review the latest Weekly Headings by CIO Larry Adam.
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.
Many investors view real estate as an attractive long-term investment opportunity that plays an important role in portfolio diversification. With that in mind, Columbia Threadneedle Investments recently announced the expansion of its exchange-traded fund offerings with the launch of the Columbia Research Enhanced Real Estate ETF (Ticker: CRED). The fund offers investors and allocators an accessible, research-driven way to gain exposure to the real estate asset class. REITS have a history of low correlations and attractive long-term returns and have a strong historical performance record in high inflation. According to a recent Columbia Threadneedle survey, 93% of financial advisors plan to maintain or increase their real estate allocations over the next 12 to 24 months.
A member of Putnam's Fixed Income team since 2007, Onsel Gulbiten analyzes macroeconomic issues, including inflation, interest rates, and policy developments.
Social Security has always been born from political rather than financial necessity. The initial retirement age was not based on life expectancy but rather on the political and social realities of the time.
