You’ve built your book. Refined your process. You know how to serve clients and grow your business. But what if your current firm is acting like an outdated piece of equipment? One that doesn’t match how you actually operate? One that limits what’s possible?
If you’ve been inside a Walmart, Target or Home Depot in the past week, you may not realize that a trade war is underway between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies. Store shelves are well stocked, and prices have largely held steady.
In this video, Chuck Carnevale, Co-Founder of FAST Graphs, aka Mr. Valuation, compares three best payment processors: Visa (V), MasterCard (MA), and Global Payments (GPN). All three share similar characteristics, such as strong earnings growth and consistency, but exhibit significant valuation differences.
This week marks the first 100 days of President Trump’s second term in office—and what a rollercoaster it has been for the financial markets! While presidents often enjoy a ‘honeymoon period’ at the start of their tenure, Trump wasted no time ‘flooding the zone’ by pushing forward many of his key initiatives.
Noise about tariffs, business uncertainty, a constitutional fight, and a drop in stock prices had already created fear of a recession. When real GDP declined in the first quarter of 2025, some started to question if a recession is already here. Let’s take a deep breath and consider the facts.
US markets struggled in the first half of April due to tariff-related worries. The second half saw rallies amid policy reversal.
Warren Buffett is retiring, but his investment advice is likely to carry weight for years to come.
The S&P 500 real monthly averages of daily closes reached a new all-time high in December 2024 but has retreated from it over the past few months. Let's examine the past to broaden our understanding of the range of historical bull and bear market trends in market performance.
Join the experts at Unlimited Funds for a product spotlight on their global macro ETF which provides investors with hedge fund exposure in the convenience of an ETF wrapper.
With the Q1 GDP advance estimate and the April close data, we now have an updated look at the popular "Buffett Indicator" -- the ratio of corporate equities to GDP. The current reading is 207.8%, down slightly from the previous quarter.
While tariff negotiations may well bear fruit eventually, investors today are trying to figure out the impact of changing trade pacts on GDP growth, interest rate levels, the value of the dollar, and the ability of the Treasury to refinance $9.2 trillion of our $36 trillion federal debt in 2025.
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 $21,618 for an annualized real return of 15.52%.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released its March Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), with the headline composite index at 51.6—above the forecast of 50.2. This marks the tenth consecutive month of expansion for the index.
The April U.S. Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) from S&P Global came in at 50.8, below the 51.4 forecast. The reading marks the 27th consecutive month of expansion and the slowest growth since November 2023.
Shockingly, given that I thought most readers would find interest rate swaps dull or wonky, we have received a few emails asking for more information. Given the importance of liquidity to all markets and how interest rate swap spreads are a good liquidity barometer, it's worth giving you that “coming article” now.
Jim Tuchler, a Chicago-area retailer, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have a lot in common these days.
Citigroup Inc. is ramping up lending to private equity and private credit groups, working to catch up with peers like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. after the bank spent years on the sidelines.
The weekly leading economic index (WLEI) is a composite for the U.S economy that draws from over 20 time-series and groups them into the following six broad categories which are then used to construct an equally weighted average. As of April 25th, the index was at 6.038, down 1.531 from the previous week, with 4 of the 6 components in expansion territory.
Warren Buffett is stepping down as chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the company he built alongside his later partner Charlie Munger for the past six decades.
Ahead of this quarter’s crop of tech earnings, I predicted companies would be reluctant to offer much in the way of forward guidance given the almost Covid-like upheaval of the global economy thanks to President Donald Trump’s tariffs. I was half right: There was some guidance — though it arrived with a large asterisk.
Warren Buffett picked the final minute of his 60th shareholder meeting to drop a long-awaited announcement that was still completely surprising for his fans, most of his board and even his successor.
Understanding and integrating resilience into investment strategies is not just prudent, it is critical for navigating the complexities of the current market landscape. In this article, I lay out seven key principles towards building resilient portfolios.
In investing, success is often judged by numbers—returns on investment, percentage gains, and the ability to outperform benchmarks like the S&P 500. However, some investors frequently pursue a peculiar set of “awards” without realizing the pitfalls they embody.
Last week's economic data arrived against the backdrop of a buoyant stock market enjoying a nine-day winning streak — its longest since 2004.a
The GDP report for the first quarter of the year showed a very engaged business sector as it rushed to try to minimize, as much as possible, the future impact of higher tariffs.
While the S&P 500 index was almost unchanged in April, the dollar remained extremely weak, ending the month down over 4%.
April was a volatile and policy-sensitive month in the markets. Every week, my colleagues and I were joined by Professor Jeremy Siegel to discuss how macroeconomic data, Federal Reserve policy and the variety of tariff proposals from President Trump shaped sentiment and the investment landscape.
Inflation is caused by the growth of the money supply, and gold is a strong hedge because it rises alongside it.
Economic data can be soft or hard. “Soft” data reflects attitudes, expectations, opinions, and feelings. It’s a step removed from the “hard” data reflecting actual events. Soft data is still valuable because future expectations shape the hard data that follows.
For decades, U.S. Treasuries have been universally regarded as a benchmark and a safe haven asset during periods of turmoil.
There is a general belief that there are four big indicators that the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee weighs heavily in their cycle identification process. This commentary focuses on one of these indicators: nonfarm employment. In April, total nonfarm payrolls increased by 177,000 while the unemployment rate remained at 4.2%.
At the end of April, U.S.-listed ETFs gathered approximately $360 billion of new money.
Amazon.com Inc. said it’s bracing for a tougher business climate in the coming months, echoing concerns from a range of companies that tariffs and related economic turmoil could crimp consumer spending.
The world’s biggest exchange-traded fund just got its biggest endorsement yet.
Our monthly market valuation updates have long had the same conclusion: US stock indexes are significantly overvalued, which suggests cautious expectations for investment returns. This analysis focuses on the P/E10 ratio, key indicator of market valuation, and its correlation with inflation and the 10-year Treasury yield.
In this exclusive webinar, Daniela Rus, Director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), will provide an expert perspective on the state of AI today—where the real innovations are happening and what the future holds.
Lightspeed Venture Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s largest venture capital firms, has changed its regulatory status to broaden its range of investments — following similar moves by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst as they shift away from the traditional VC playbook.
US job growth was robust in April and the unemployment rate held steady, suggesting uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s trade policy has yet to have a material impact on hiring plans.
US stock futures rose Friday, putting the S&P 500 Index on track to post the longest winning streak in more than 20 years after a government report showed buoyant hiring in April, providing evidence of resilience in an economy beset by trade pressures.
The moving average for the per-capita light vehicle sales series peaked in August 1978. Almost 50 years later, it is down 35.2% from that peak.
Apple Inc. received at least two downgrades on Friday, following quarterly results that reinforced concerns over tariffs and its growth potential.
The latest employment report showed that 177,000 jobs were added in April, down from 185,000 in March but higher than the expected 138,000 addition. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained at 4.2%, as expected.
University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment is a so-called "soft" report, not reflecting "hard" data like GDP or CPI. It moved markets recently, so how much attention should investors pay?
The markets today move at breakneck speed. In fact, if you’ve been watching your 401(k) the past month, you might have gotten whiplash.
Conventional wisdom is that investors should hold gold as an inflation hedge. Over the long term, this is a wise strategy.ok,
Uncertainty reigned through April and likely will continue to do so, at least in the near term. Markets have reacted, both negatively and positively, to every headline coming out of Washington.
In this article, Russ Koesterich discusses the ongoing uncertainty around tariffs and how investors can protect their portfolios against the potential for an environment of prolonged and heighted volatility.
A tense global trade war, policy uncertainty and other investor concerns in recent weeks have unleashed the sharpest market swings in years, with the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) spiking to 52.3 on April 8.
Businesses may face challenges but there are also a number of tax-smart strategies that can help mitigate tax liability and enhance efficiency. Our Bill Cass discusses several tax-smart strategies to consider.
Like sailors lured by the Sirens' song, today’s investors risk being captivated by seductive narratives in the market. While diversification remains a time-tested strategy for building wealth, we examine the risks and returns investors are embracing today.
