Most investors, whether institutional or individual, tend to believe that stocks are a good—perhaps even the best—investment in the long run. However, the reason for expecting good performance from stocks is perhaps not always clearly articulated: Quite simply, it is because they are risky. Investors also tend to believe that investing in alternatives, such as managed futures, necessitates sacrificing some of their stock and/or bond asset allocation. This Insight explains how investors can have both the diversification benefits of managed futures, and their traditional stock/bond portfolio. Thus, the power of “&”.

Here's an interesting set of charts that will especially resonate with those of us who follow economic and market cycles. Imagine that five years ago you invested $10,000 in the S&P 500. How much would it be worth today, with dividends reinvested but adjusted for inflation? The purchasing power of your investment has increased to $17,729 for an annualized real return of 10.99%.

In a reversal from last year, the U.S. dollar has strengthened against other major currencies in 2018, reflecting rising U.S. rates, expectations of more Federal Reserve rate hikes and recent sluggish economic data outside the U.S.

Russ explains why gold is not working as an effective equity hedge, despite higher volatility.

A segment of the credit market many investors may overlook, preferred securities are one of PIMCO’s highest-conviction credit views today.

David Littleton is a founding principal of the Vestmark Manager Marketplace. I spoke with him about how this solution drives value for advisors and asset managers.

How low-cost, broadly diversified, balanced portfolios offer competitive alternatives.

Valid until the market close on June 29, 2018.

The S&P 500 closed May with a monthly gain of 2.16% after a minor gain of 0.27% in April. All three S&P 500 MAs are signaling "invested" and two of five Ivy Portfolio ETFs — Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and PowerShares DB Commodity Index (DBC) — are signaling "invested".

Is the era of easy financial conditions over? Not yet, says Russ.

Philanthropy can be a powerful way for families to deepen relationships across generations, develop a shared mission, and increase their impact on the world. It is also a powerful way for advisors to deepen relationships with clients, prospects and their families by being an important resource to help them maximize their charitable contribution deductions and reach their charitable goals.

High-quality bonds and defensive stocks are on the ropes. And U.S. blue-chips look poised to roll over, if history is any guide. But what if it isn’t?

Central bankers catch a lot of flak these days. However, there are two dominant trends in the market place – increasing allocations towards passive and private market investment strategies – where this ire might be misplaced. What if these developments were merely part of the natural evolution of investment markets?

China’s markets are opening to the world—but be aware of the potential for unintended consequences. As more money flows into domestic Chinese stocks from abroad, more money is also flowing out of China, which may trigger volatility in regional markets.

Emerging market (EM) stock indices have generally trailed the S&P 500 Index in the years after the financial crisis, although developing markets handily outpaced the U.S. in 2017.

Readers of these missives should know our fundamental energy analysts have been bullish on oil for quite some time, as have we. In fact, we have been bullish on commodities in general, often noting they are the cheapest relative to equities as they have been since the 1960s. Yet last week crude oil’s decline spooked energy investors, raising the question, “Is the crude oil rally over?”

Judd Peters is a portfolio manager of the Hotchkis & Wiley Small Cap Diversified Value Fund (HWVIX). Since its inception, the fund’s annualized return has been 9.45%, resulting in a 254 basis point outperformance versus Russell 2000 Value Index. The fund is rated five stars by Morningstar. I interviewed Judd last week.

Public debt may be growing at the expense of private debt, the Chinese bond market is opening up, and important dates for tariffs are fast approaching.

It may be time for U.S. investors to challenge their home-country equity biases.

In-depth write up of Moody's (MCO) highlighting how it fits into YCG's investment framework which focuses on identifying "great business" and "market-timing" mispricings.

Carl Kaufman is the co-president, co-chief executive officer and managing director, fixed income at Osterweis Capital Management. He is the lead portfolio manager for the Strategic Income Fund. That fund has had an annualized return of 6.18% since its inception on 8/30/02. Its performance exceeded the AGG by 278 basis points. I interviewed Carl last week.

Data mining is a huge risk with factor-based investment strategies. Many factors have proven to not work in practice. Even the most popular factors, like value and momentum, may prove less effective going forward.

In the past 9 months, US equities have outperformed Europe by 6% and the rest the world by 5%. Despite this, fund managers remain underweight the US. US equities should continue to outperform their global peers on a relative basis.

Socially responsible investing on an institutional level, where one body makes “socially responsible” capital allocation decisions for a pool of investors, is a utopian concept, just like socialism. It is simply impractical.

Market signals have been decidedly mixed thus far into the year. By this time a year ago, the S&P 500 had already returned 5%. Today, in early May, the S&P 500 is down fractionally, while volatility and bond yields are up.

We are positioning our ultra-short and short-term bond portfolios with the goal of not only navigating rising rates but also ultimately benefiting from them.

In the past 9 months, US equities have outperformed Europe by 6% and the rest the world by 5%. Despite this, fund managers remain underweight the US. US equities should continue to outperform their global peers on a relative basis. Fund managers' inflation expectations are near a 14 year high...

Passive investing has been ridiculed by Wall Street for decades. The common theme is that indexing has become such a force that the market’s price discovery function is no longer working properly. Given the number of questions I get about this issue, one would think that passive investing is now dominating markets.

Even the most avid baseball fan may not realize that A-Rod, who was one of the highest paid players in MLB history, says that committing to a financial plan from the onset enabled him to successfully make it from rags to riches.

The Fed chairman makes clear the bar for slowing monetary tightening is higher nowadays, and argues emerging markets are much better positioned to handle higher U.S. yields than they were before.

In a new quarterly letter to GMO's institutional clients, head of asset allocation Ben Inker reflects on a change in the investment environment in the first quarter, characterized by a rise in volatility and a significant shift in the correlation between stock returns and bond returns ("Is Investing Starting to Get Difficult Again? I Hope So").