Energy-driven inflation and geopolitical risk increase the likelihood of higher-for-longer interest rates, which listed infrastructure has several mechanisms for passing through to earnings.

The famed economist John Maynard Keynes said almost a century ago that “markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” He was referring to the unpredictable nature of investor sentiment: an amorphous, hard-to-define concept that nonetheless plays a major role across various asset classes.

While Wall Street obsesses over the Magnificent Seven, a handful of under-the-radar forces may shape the next leg of this market, for better and for worse.

AI’s rapid growth is driving demand not only for electricity but also for the clean water needed to run its physical infrastructure. As data centers expand, rising water intensity is straining supplies and testing long-term sustainability. In our analysis, these pressures create both risks and opportunities for active investors.

VettaFi sat down with Innovator ETFs CIO Graham Day to discuss the move as well as the future of those defined outcome ETFs. Day, who joined the firm in 2017, has been part of many of the shop’s launches in the defined outcome space, one of the more popular options ETF segments.

Learn how advisors can optimize late-start 529 plans using superfunding, SECURE 2.0 Roth rollovers, and multi-scenario modeling.

Discover how abrdn’s K-1 free ETF outpaced gold and the S&P 500 in March 2026 by providing broad, tax-efficient commodities exposure.

Global equities declined during a volatile first quarter as the war in Iran roiled energy markets and fueled inflation fears that destabilized the economic growth outlook. Mounting geopolitical hazards add to existing worries around concentrated equity markets and the potential for AI to disrupt businesses.

The debate over whether artificial intelligence has entered bubble territory has reached a fever pitch. For this edition of Bull vs Bear, writers Nicholas Peters-Golden and DJ Shaw discuss the disconnect between infrastructure spending and software revenue.

As AI continues to reduce software development costs, investors need to reconsider what makes a competitive moat durable, particularly for technology companies.

Gambling is rising in popularity, blurring lines between betting vs. investing. Misunderstanding the key differences can endanger financial security.

Given the combined weight of these markets within EM portfolios, Templeton Global Investments believe incremental improvements in capital discipline could have a meaningful impact on aggregate index-level earnings quality.

Geopolitical conflict involving Iran disrupted energy markets, driving oil and the dollar higher while stocks, bonds, and gold fell. Despite volatility, economic signals are mixed but stabilizing, especially in manufacturing. Muhlenkamp outperformed markets, increased cash and international exposure, while remaining cautious amid inflation, policy uncertainty, and ongoing war risks.

Geopolitical tensions and disruptions to global energy supply often lead to higher gas prices at the pump. Amid the current conflict in Iran, oil prices have surged to above $100 per barrel for the first time since 2022.

The greatest risks in markets are often the ones that don’t look like risks at all. Passive investing – now controlling well over 50% of US equity fund assets and more than $20 trillion globally, up nearly 20x since 2000 – has fundamentally altered how investors define risk. What used to mean the potential loss of capital has quietly been replaced by something far more benign: tracking error.

A geopolitical shock in the Middle East sent oil prices surging more than +70% in Q1, erasing all expected Fed rate cuts and testing how well-diversified portfolios actually were. For many investors, the answer was: considerably better than the S&P 500’s -4.3% return suggests.

On Wednesday, April 8, 2026, Morgan Stanley announced the launch of the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust ETP (MSBT). As Morgan Stanley notes, the launch of MSBT marks the first time a U.S. bank-affiliated asset manager is offering a crypto ETP.

Investors are starting to understand that robotics and AI each represent an industry of industries. Not a sector. Not a theme. The foundational technology stack that every other industry increasingly depends on. In Q1, the market decided to stress-test that thesis, and the results tell a more nuanced story than the headline numbers suggest.

Equity markets staged a meaningful recovery last week, driven by optimism of a ceasefire in Iran. The S&P 500 returned 3.4 percent, the NASDAQ gained 4.5 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added three percent – the best weekly performance in recent memory.

Last month at the Exchange conference in Las Vegas, Anna Paglia, State Street Investment Management’s chief business officer, discussed how the firm’s private credit lineup came to be and how the firm sets about developing some of its products.

If the economic life of AI hardware is shorter than its accounting life, reinvestment needs are higher than reported depreciation suggests. What appears to be capital deepening by hyperscalers is largely capital churn.

At Exchange 2026, key thought leaders from firms across the country gathered in Las Vegas to share their ideas for navigating today’s macroeconomic uncertainty and the future of ETFs.

There is no government report more meaningless and yet more relied upon by policymakers than the monthly non-farm payroll report released every month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In this video, Chuck Carnevale (“Mr. Valuation”), co-founder of FAST Graphs, explains a simple and effective way to find high-quality stocks, even in an overvalued bull market.

Despite West Texas Intermediate crude climbing to $111.54, U.S. stocks ended last week higher for the first time since February 20.

Fixed income markets have faced a challenging stretch following the escalation of conflict in the Middle East. Sharply rising oil prices and renewed inflation concerns have pushed US Treasury yields higher, and municipal bonds have moved in tandem.

Across corporate lending markets, some investments are easier to trade and exit than others – differences that deserve particular attention today.

As strikes on Iran continue and the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, it’s clearly too early for market watchers to stop thinking about geopolitical risk.

529 Plans are a huge part of many families' investing lives, but up until recently rarely involved advisors. Could that change?

Developments in the Middle East continue to be, without a doubt, taking center stage for the financial markets. However, it’s important to keep tabs on the U.S. macro-outlook, especially the labor market and inflation aspects.

At this point, we think the odds are very high that the Democrats win back the House in the mid-term election in November. Compared to how they did in 2024, the Democrats only have to gain three seats to take back the House.

Last week, the stock market rally was one of the best performances in nearly a year. The S&P 500 surged 3.4%, the Nasdaq climbed 4.4%, and the bulls declared the correction over. As I have stated before, having watched markets for more than 35 years, I have come to recognize the difference between a relief rally and the end of a corrective cycle.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, jet fuel prices in the U.S. have more than doubled. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the year-to-date percent change in U.S. jet fuel prices stood above 120% as of the end of March.

The economy continues to show resilience, and the March jobs report reinforced that view. Payroll growth came in stronger than expected, prior months were not meaningfully revised away, and the unemployment rate edged lower. Wage growth eased, but the broader message was clear: the labor market remains too firm to support any near-term case for Fed easing.

The US-Iran conflict has altered Iran’s regional influence and, more broadly, has many other consequences. It pressures government relations as well as global and financial market trading.

With the conclusion of a volatile first quarter in 2026, the Amplify Energy & Natural Resources Covered Call ETF (NDIV) demonstrated the resilience of its underlying index (VettaFi Energy and Natural Resources Covered Call Index).

Gold’s recent drop from $5,600 to $4,400 is a classic liquidity story where investors are selling their most liquid winners to raise cash.

The middle is typically not where you want to be. In American sports, teams in the middle of the standings aren’t contenders for either a championship or a high draft choice. The middle seat on an airplane, subject to incursions from either side, is not very comfortable. The middle manager is accountable in every direction, empowered in none.

It was a rough first quarter for the Broadleaf Growth Equity Portfolio and the markets in general as investors tried to identify market leadership buffeted by AI spending concerns, talk of escalating private credit market risks, and ultimately, the emergence of War in Iran.

An Exchange conference panel explored bitcoin's evolving role, allocation tactics, and ETF structures for advisors building crypto portfolios.

I have written for years that oil prices act like a tax on the economy, both in the US and globally. It is actually simply the price paid, but the effect on the economy is similar to a tax. If the price goes up, it takes more money from individual consumers that would otherwise be saved or spent somewhere else. Just like taxes.

After more than three decades of watching oil markets upend economies, one pattern keeps repeating: investors learn the wrong lessons from the last shock. The 1973 OPEC embargo taught us that geopolitical disruptions are temporary.

March 2026 was a rough month for financial markets. Broad indexes experienced large selloffs, led by international stocks, though many of these still remain up in 2026. The dollar rallied strongly, breaking its year-plus downtrend.

Volatility is a trader's bread and butter: Without it, profits are harder to come by. However, when volatility remains elevated for an extended period, it could be the sign of a more deeply rooted market shift.

Generational wealth doesn’t disappear because families fail to invest well. It disappears because the knowledge, communication, and decision-making structures surrounding that wealth were never intentionally passed down.

The war in Iran has been costly, in a number of ways. First and foremost, the humanitarian consequences have been substantial: the price paid by those in harm’s way is immeasurable.

For much of the past decade, U.S. investors didn’t need much convincing to stay close to home. But according to experts at a recent AllianceBernstein (AB) Product Due Diligence Session, the tide shifted dramatically in 2025, signaling a “new dawn” for non-US stocks.

Amid hopes that the conflict in Iran will soon de-escalate, stocks rallied in recent days. This provided some much needed relief for the growth-heavy Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX). However, advisors and experienced investors know that things can change in a heartbeat.

As Q1 2026 comes to a close, we follow up on an article we published last week on buybacks by analyzing corporations' other favorite way to return value to shareholders. The percentage of companies increasing dividends in Q1 was the highest level since Q1 2019 (45%).

Markets often react sharply to geopolitical developments, but just as often, they overreact. Investors today are grappling with heightened global tensions, rising oil prices and uncertainty around central bank policy. The key question is whether these risks meaningfully alter the economic outlook or simply create short-term volatility.