A well-planned defensive strategy can position equity portfolios to be resilient in a very harsh market environment.
Jerome Powell’s determination to ensure any jump in prices stemming from Donald Trump’s tariffs don’t spread through the economy has earned him the moniker “Mr. Too Late” from the president.
Tesla Inc. reported abysmal numbers for the first quarter on Tuesday evening. Naturally, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk kicked off the call with a discussion on why he must fix America’s finances, facing down an army of alleged moochers.
Banking leaders and policymakers gathered for the International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings downplayed the prospect of a looming financial crisis, despite warnings that the US-led trade war threatens global market stability.
A raft of reciprocal tariffs between China and the US could bruise China’s export revenues in the short term. But its domestically focused economic engine and shrinking dependency on US trade should minimize fallout in the long run.
Risk-assets struggled amidst extremely volatile price action as investors weighed the probabilities of tariffs hitting profits and valuations.
How our open platform of best-of-breed managers allows us to distill complexity in the face of market turbulence by tapping into their collective intelligence.
A tax-advantaged account offers certain tax benefits to encourage individuals to save or invest for specific purposes, such as retirement, education or healthcare. These accounts can help you lower your taxable income, defer taxes or avoid taxes altogether if used for qualified expenses.
A historic sell-off enhances value, with high yields, strong fundamentals, and ample reserves mitigating policy risks.
Uncertainty surrounding trade policy is a key driver of our forecast this quarter, which includes an increased probability of a recession.
It’s quite easy to do bad deals in asset management. Option one, overpay for a private capital business in the aggressive dash for growth. Option two, defensively merge your existing fund manager with a regional peer and botch the integration as you try to make savings.
Rising tariffs and the weakening dollar are casting a shadow on companies’ profit guidance this earnings season, with more damage seen unfolding over the coming quarters.
Recent volatility has pushed yields to historically high levels, potentially creating opportunities in municipal bonds, especially for higher-net-worth investors.
President Trump has been a vocal admirer of China’s Great Wall, built by the country’s emperors to protect their territory from outside aggression. In his first term, he compared his plan to build a border wall with that historic structure.
During periods of market volatility and declines, investors get concerned. They question their long-term objectives and whether they have more risk in their portfolios than they can tolerate. These are reasonable thoughts to have at times like these.
Tax filing season may be over for many, but tax planning is an important focus year-round. Consider post-tax season strategies including optimizing deductions or adjusting retirement contributions. Our Bill Cass shares some tax planning ideas to consider.
I’m not someone who believes you should let offensive things go by. Look for your opportunity and be ready!
Big US banks are navigating a choppy environment just two years after the last round of turmoil, this time with almost no one questioning the industry’s ability to ride out whatever is coming.
Stock markets have been rattled by trade war tensions and economic uncertainty driven by US tariff policies. Yet history suggests that equities have usually performed well in the aftermath of peak market volatility.
Practically every financial meltdown or crisis can be traced back to a misunderstanding of which assets are “risk-free.” Investors think they have a risk-free asset — it could be a mortgage-backed security, shares in a Bernie Madoff fund, Greek debt — and are surprised when it turns out not to be.
For simplicity’s sake, let’s boil down the multiple questions facing Apple today into just one: How much are Americans willing to spend on an iPhone?
A reintroduction of SLR relief to balance treasury market stability and systemic risk would likely produce several market effects.
Andrew Leigh is a very good storyteller, making “How Economics Explains the World” an easy and fun read. In the hands of someone unfamiliar with basic economic reasoning, it might lead them to pursue economics further. Even if you’re farther along in your economic education, we almost always benefit from relearning things we already know, but in a new light.
Back in 1980, fear persuaded me that gold was a sure thing. I forgot an essential caveat—there are no sure things in investing.
The hype cycle around artificial intelligence (AI) often moves faster than the capabilities it touts.
Eitelman began by assessing the health of the U.S. economy through hard and soft data. He explained that hard data refers to measures of actual spending and economic activity, while soft data refers to how companies and consumers respond to surveys.
Tariff uncertainty, a weakening US dollar, and surging Treasury yields are flashing warning signs for investors. Explore how political risks, fiscal policy, and global volatility are reshaping capital flows and market confidence.
We’ve expected a recession for more than a year now. Simply put…the Era of Easy Everything is Over. Expanding deficits and easy money (that have lifted the economy since COVID) are no longer with us. At the same time, tariff negotiations have created an unbelievable amount of uncertainty.
U.S. defensives and international lead.a
In general, European countries have infused so much socialism and regulation into their economies that their economic growth has lagged behind the U.S. As a result, their GDP per capita is a third lower than in the U.S.
On this episode of the “ETF of the Week” podcast, VettaFi’s Head of Research, Todd Rosenbluth, discussed the SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY) with Chuck Jaffe of Money Life. The pair discussed several topics related to the fund to give investors a deeper understanding of the ETF overall.
These are scary times. No surprise, the typical advice is to stay the course — that it will all work out fine — but those near retirement should take heed.
Banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. can thank the White House’s aggressive disruptions on tariff policy and other issues for record hauls from equities trading in the first quarter, when market volatility began to surge.
The US government hasn’t broken up a company since AT&T in 1982. Now it’s trying to persuade a judge to make Alphabet Inc.’s Google next.
In nominal terms, the yellow metal set multiple new all-time highs this week, exceeding $3,300 an ounce for the first time ever on Wednesday. And on an inflation-adjusted basis, gold also notched a new record price, surpassing the longstanding record set in 1980.
Today we are going to look at some of the uncertainties in our world and then explore some ways to gain a little certainty.
President Trump’s tariffs bring déjà vu for the euro-area economy: it’s back to slower growth and lower rates.
Investing in stocks so far in 2025 has not been for the faint of heart. Some market indices have undergone wild swings, flirting with bear-market territory
The first quarter of 2025 marked a significant departure from the preceding two years, which had been characterized by an improving global economy and correspondingly positive market returns. Market performance in Q1 was dominated by abrupt, short-term policy shifts rather than longer-term economic trends, and tariffs became the foremost concern for market participants.
While the April 2 tariff announcements were more severe than anticipated, Vanguard’s active fixed income managers were well-prepared for the subsequent market reaction.
Talk of a recession is everywhere. The case is simple: Liberation Day delivered the biggest increase in tariffs in a century. Consumer prices will rise. Purchasing power will decline. Recession…right?
In this week’s installment of “Three on Thursday,” let’s explore some of the dynamics surrounding the United States dollar. In an era of inflation, massive debt, large deficits, and threats of tariffs, there are persistent rumors circulating that the dollar is at risk of losing its reserve currency status.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard or read the word recession in the last week, well, I’d have enough not to be financially worried about one. Add a dollar for every mention of tariffs and I’d be comfortably flushed with cash.
Right now we are in an incredibly complicated environment with regard to U.S. tariff policy gyrations and its whipsawing impact on global equity markets. One thing we can confidently assert is that however the trade negotiations play out, there will be higher tariffs and this will be negative for U.S. growth.
Audiences worldwide turn to Netflix for escapism. Wall Street is doing the same.
Canadians poured a record amount into US equities in February, even as a movement to boycott US products and vacations gained momentum.
This month’s panic-driven selling across municipal bonds — fueled by the boom in ETFs — is proving a mixed blessing for investors in a normally sedate market corner.
Simply stated, the U.S. doesn’t save and invest enough. As a result, we pay for too many of our imports by borrowing from our trading partners.
In this article, we examine everything from the yield curve to CAPE ratios to gain a sense of where we are, and where we might be headed next.
