The US federal budget seems out of control. Funding spats and debt-ceiling standoffs routinely threaten to force defaults and shutdowns. America's once-unassailable credit rating keeps slipping. Has the government simply become too big to manage?
Bitcoin and gold were both top of mind at this past week’s 2024 Investment U Conference in Ojai, California, which I had the privilege of presenting at.
Colm Kelleher whipped up a storm at the end of last year when the UBS Group AG chairman warned of a dangerous bubble in private credit.
There’s a reason they call him the Oracle of Omaha. For decades now investors have pored over Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders, hoping to soak up whatever wisdom they can from the business icon.
Let’s look at each DiSC style and how you can adapt to make them more comfortable with you.
For high income earners, a 4.5% after-tax return is equivalent to an 8%+ pre-tax return. Whole-life insurance can provide the same after-tax return of an investment with a higher pre-tax return – but without the higher investment risk.
NVIDIA reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2023 this week, and I’m still picking my jaw off the floor.
The US and China are discussing new measures to prevent a wave of emerging market sovereign defaults, according to people familiar with the situation, one of the most significant attempts in years at economic cooperation between the rival superpowers.
A Fidelity International money manager has sold the vast majority of US Treasuries from funds he oversees on expectations the world’s biggest economy still has room to expand.
Marketing is about people, and there are three categories of people that you are likely pushing away on a professional basis due to lack of perceived prospect value.
Nvidia Corp.’s market-leading advance has left even the bulls questioning if an earnings beat will be enough to propel the AI chipmaker’s shares higher.
Relatively hot inflation reports might be blips, but they reinforce why the Fed's rate-cutting cycle might be more gradual, which could be a better backdrop for stocks.
Investment banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc are striving to get a lucrative fee-making machine back in action.
If you’re a parent or grandparent, you may know of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” storybook series. Written in second person, they make “you” the hero.
Approximately 80% of all S&P 500 companies have reported fourth-quarter earnings as of today, and of those, 75% have reported earnings per share (EPS) above estimates. That’s well above the 10-year average, according to FactSet.
Two seasoned investment professionals bring us up to date on the intersection of commercial real estate and bank lending.
The cost of housing remains a hot-button topic with both Millennials and Gen-Z. Plenty of articles and commentaries address the concern of supply and affordability, with the younger generations getting hit the hardest.
I highlight six important ways advisors can best prepare to sell their RIA to an external third party.
Modern economies, even small ones, are unfathomably complex. The number of variables is far more than any human can comprehend or any model can track. It’s really no wonder so many forecasts are wrong.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is making the titans of private credit markets very anxious.
Economic growth in the US is off to a better start than expected this year, thanks largely to a long-awaited pickup in consumers buying “stuff” again after they shifted spending to experiences in 2022.
Andy Rothman reviews data points that offer insights into the coming quarters.
Lenders in the world’s two most-populous nations are having very different problems with monetary and fiscal taps. In China, creditors are drowning in cheap central bank cash, but loan demand is muted. In India, banks are in the middle of their fastest expansion in a decade, but they’re parched for liquidity.
What does a November 2023 hockey bet have to do with the 2008 financial crisis and the Chunnel connecting England to France? A lot, and the relation is key to understanding financial disasters — not to mention getting paid for longshot sports bets and getting from London to Paris safely.
When Brookline Bancorp Inc. needs to borrow short-term cash quickly — part of the regular course of business for the Boston-based lender — it has a range of options. One source of cheap money it’s loath to turn to, however, is the Federal Reserve for fear of setting off alarm bells.
The world watched Iowa Republicans – the party of Lincoln – give a big boost to Donald Trump Monday night, January 15.
The negative side of the strong increase in mortgage rates has fallen on those who did not have a home before the start of the increase in rates and on the ability of those Americans to purchase a home.
The race for the White House intensified this week as Donald Trump won the Iowa caucus with 51% of the vote, handily beating rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. Results from the online prediction market PredictIt now show that Trump has become the betting favorite to win November’s general election.
I’m going to ask about a hot topic but also a touchy one: diversity.
Wall Street corporate bond desks are seeing a major increase in demand for hedges as debt issuers grapple with soaring interest-rate volatility.
Nvidia Corp. is off to its strongest-ever start to a year by one measure, keeping up a blistering rally that saw shares gain nearly 240% in 2023.
Bond traders are growing more convinced that US yields are heading lower as they bet on a series of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, yet the path to cheaper borrowing costs is set to be extremely bumpy.
What’s the most important price in the global economy? The price of oil? The price of semiconductors? The price of a Big Mac? More important than any of these is the price of money. For more than three decades it was falling, but now it’s set to rise.
Investors seeking liquidity are set to exit their stakes in private credit funds at a record pace this year, according to JPMorgan Asset Management.
In December 2022, I published Sea Change, a memo that primarily discussed the 13-year period from the end of 2008, when the U.S. Federal Reserve cut the fed funds rate to zero to counter the effects of the Global Financial Crisis, to the end of 2021, when the Fed abandoned the idea that inflation was transitory and readied what turned out to be a rapid-fire succession of interest rate increases.
Should retail investors partake of the very attractive yields promised by private credit fund managers?
The U.S. is adding new renewable energy capacity at a record clip, but that doesn’t mean it’s ready to quit fossil fuels just yet.
The US has yet to fully address one of the greatest weaknesses revealed by last year’s failure of Silicon Valley Bank and other regional lenders: Supervisors saw the problems, but they failed to compel action before it was too late.
Banks that rely heavily on lending products for revenue have been hit by higher interest rates. But capital markets expect rate cuts in 2024. That could give bullish vibes for regional banks.
The start of a new year brings a chance for reflection and re-evaluation. For investors, a chance to rebalance. Franklin Templeton ETFs’ Dina Ting and Marcus Weyerer highlight the pitfalls of overweight exposure to mega tech stocks and where in the world to look for diversification in 2024.
Tweedy Browne is one of the most respected value managers. In this wide-ranging interview with its investment team, they explain why the opportunity set they are seeing among stocks is the best in 20-plus years.
All across Wall Street, on equities desks and bond desks, at giant firms and niche outfits, the mood was glum. It was the end of 2022 and everyone, it seemed, was game-planning for the recession they were convinced was coming.
Quarterly commentary giving an overview of the markets and the importance of having and implementing a strategy when investing in the markets.
As we near the end of 2023, Head of Franklin Institute Stephen Dover reviews how his forecasts for the year panned out and shares the themes his team is watching out for in 2024.
Bond markets expect more cuts than the Fed is signaling, and this expectation largely reflects a return to pre-COVID dynamics of low inflation, massive central bank support, and suppressed term premia.
Cevian Capital AB’s $1.3 billion bet on UBS Group AG is unusual in more ways than one. The Stockholm-based investment firm is typically a quiet activist, working behind the scenes to steer management thinking. This time it’s being very public about what looks like a straightforward value play.
Will Beijing take the necessary steps to restore confidence in its economic policies? Sinology explores.
As is our custom, we conclude the year by reflecting on the 10 most-read investment and planning articles over the past 12 months. Tomorrow, we will highlight the 10 most-read practice management articles.
Today's uncertain economic climate is putting particular pressure on four market segments. Here's what to watch out for in the months ahead.
If a retirement income plan is entirely reliant on the accuracy of its CMAs, then success is more a matter of faith than any statistically verifiable fact.