In what was supposed to be the “year of fixed income,” 2023 proved to be an OK year, but not a generational one. As we shift gears into 2024, spreads are tight, rates are low, and the market is pricing in a whopping six interest rate cuts before year-end.
We don't expect tensions between China and Taiwan to intensify this year, due to China's improving relationship at the margin with the U.S. and China's likely focus on domestic growth.
Exchange kicks off the same day as the most important game in American sports — the Super Bowl. Here are the four main reasons you’re better off seeing the game at Exchange than anywhere else.
What’s in store for stocks after they climbed a wall of worry to exceed expectations in 2023? Fundamental Equities Global CIO Tony DeSpirito sees a rich hunting ground for stock pickers and offers four insights for 2024 ― from sector likes to international opportunities.
With lower interest rates now in sight and renewed confidence in the stock market, deal making activity should pick up in 2024 after a slow couple of years.
After two years of fighting inflation amid fears of recession, markets and policy makers appear unified in their sanguine outlook. While interest rate increases designed to slow economies may well be nearing an end, markets are never without risk.
“Two is better than one” is a nice saying, but it really depends on what you’re describing. Two hurricanes or earthquakes aren’t better than one. Just one disaster at a time will suffice, thank you very much.
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.
The surge in small-cap stock performance in the final weeks of 2023 may signal a long-awaited turnaround for smaller companies that have lagged large-cap peers for a decade, according to Head of Global Index Portfolio Management Dina Ting.
With the expectation of Federal Reserve rate cuts to come this year, global central banks could also follow suit. This could pave the way for international equities to run higher, giving investors upside while also getting diversified exposure.
Initiate the year with direct indexing, encompassing tax planning, personalized investing strategies, rejuvenating sidelined cash, and navigating concentrated stock positions or financial windfalls.
I’m a big fan of ETF product development, but sometimes the choices can be overwhelming. For example, on our ETF Database platform there are approximately 90 ETFs offering high yield bond exposure.
Rate cuts don’t happen in a vacuum—staying nimble with asset allocation can help investors adapt.
While elections can be newsworthy, we think that investors shouldn’t be too concerned about the impact on financial markets. Staying disciplined will help investors in the long run.
Factors are long run drivers of portfolio risk and returns. Having strategic allocations to factors may increase a portfolio’s expected return.
Stronger-than-expected growth, concerns about the U.S. government's fiscal outlook and the Federal Reserve's (Fed's) pledge to keep interest rates higher for longer drove yields to levels not seen in decades.
Treasury yields rose on Wednesday following stronger-than-expected retail sales and encouraging remarks from a Federal Reserve member.
Still doing “T-bill and chill”? As a strategy, rolling Treasury bills may have worked well so far this year, but history suggests it’s time for municipal bond investors to get off the sidelines and back into the market—and soon.
The recent debut of spot bitcoin ETFs is expected to broaden the audience of cryptocurrency investors, including registered investment advisors (RIAs) and wealth management firms.
In this video, Chuck Carnevale, Co-Founder of FAST Graphs, a.k.a. Mr. Valuation, will discuss the concept of value investing in the information technology sector.
Tax-loss harvesting is an essential tax-management strategy that can benefit a broad range of taxable investors – even those who many not think they have to worry about investment taxes.
We did an internal survey among our associates, attempting to get a feel for their views on various economic and fixed income topics. Any survey result concerning the future can net inexact results but nonetheless reveal general sentiment. Attitude, outlook, and opinions can help shape the market.
The Fed’s balance sheet could stabilize this year, but details are unclear.
The election outcome is unlikely to change the status quo for the Taiwan Strait, U.S.-China relations, or global markets which have seemed to price in geopolitical risk.
Emerging markets bonds issuance is already reaching record highs early in 2024. The Financial Times reported that EM debt issuance is already at $50 billion, opening opportunities in EM bond ETFs.
The Federal Reserve has fueled market conviction that the good old days of extremely low interest rates and abundant liquidity are soon to return. Our Franklin Templeton Fixed Income CIO Sonal Desai sees this reaction as an excess of dovish enthusiasm that sets the stage for more volatility.
Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, discussed the launch of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), with BlackRock’s Jay Jacobs. Rosenbluth and Jacobs also talked about the benefits of ETF bitcoin exposure for investors, and about blockchain technology at the Crypto Symposium hosted on the VettaFi platform.
In 2023, the Federal budget deficit exceeded private and foreign saving, resulting in only the eighth year since 1929 with negative net national saving (to be referred to as NNNS).
“The current fiscal path is unsustainable”. This stark warning comes from the US Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s fiscal year-end projections1. Based on current appropriations and tax law, these projections display steadily rising federal spending and flat tax receipts, as a percentage of GDP.
Why we believe small companies present key opportunities to tap into the heart of innovation and expansion in emerging markets.
Economic data has provided encouragement for both stock market bulls and bears.
The market has taken a one-sided view on inflation and the Fed's reaction to it, even though other very plausible explanations exist. This illustrates both the power of narrative and the vulnerability of the current consensus.
With the SEC opening the floodgates to spot bitcoin ETFs last week, VanEck’s Director of Digital Assets Product Kyle DaCruz thinks that interest in cryptocurrency products and bitcoin ETFs is “only going to spike.”
So much of the market’s focus on the AI narrative has emphasized AI’s place in information technology firms. Chatbots like ChatGPT foretell a world of AI agents helping humans boost productivity, push creativity forward, and improve efficiency.
Markets in 2023 kept investors on the edge of their seats. Groundbreaking technological advancements, mega-popstars being blamed for summertime inflation, and a December Fed pivot were just a few of the plot twists.
Currently, consensus earnings growth is expected to be 1.3% YoY for the fourth quarter, which would mark a deceleration from 3Q (+6.1%).
The leaders of the House and Senate have come up with a new budget deal, and many people aren’t happy. It still needs passing by January 19th, or else the government, evidently, may shutdown. We doubt that this will happen, but the fight over government spending seems to drag on year after year after year.
The long-awaited spot bitcoin ETFs are trading after a decade of waiting. So now the ETF and advisor community has some available brain capacity to look forward. In a month, many will be in Miami, Florida to kick off the Exchange conference. I can’t wait.
The likelihood of another severe bout of inflation from higher shipping costs alone is low.
The launch of spot bitcoin ETFs should help advisors better connect with clients and gain a larger share of assets. For the past few years, advisors’ biggest frustration was that they were not able to get access to spot bitcoin investments despite clients asking for it.
The “magnificent seven,” Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, soared 112% (equally weighting each). They outperformed both the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which is weighted by market cap, and the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP), which weights each stock equally.
We have read plenty of analysis on what the Federal Reserve (Fed) should do as it decides when to start lowering interest rates this year. Much of the analysis is well-intentioned as well as based on very good arguments.
Kicking off the symposium, WisdomTree Investments CEO Jonathan Steinberg and Bitwise Asset Management CIO Matt Hougan gave an overview of how investors may want to interpret the news.
The employment sector has undergone a tumultuous journey over the past four years, and recently the trajectory of job gains has experienced a gradual deceleration over the past year, prompting speculation about the future.
Last week was perhaps one of the biggest weeks in the history of cryptocurrency, as the SEC finally approved 10 spot bitcoin ETFs from a range of issuers. To help ETF-oriented investors better understand these products, and the cryptocurrency industry overall, VettaFi hosted a Cryptocurrency Symposium on January 12, 2024.
Interest rates are one of the most important factors affecting the economy and the outlook for stocks. Managers increasingly think interest rates in the U.S. have likely peaked and are repositioning equity portfolios for the new environment.
The higher level of U.S. oil production is helping to keep global prices contained.
After several years of uncertainty, spot bitcoin ETFs were finally approved by the SEC on January 10. The spot bitcoin ETF launch was monumental in several ways.
Municipals experienced their strongest two-month performance since 1986 during the final two months of 2023.
As 2024 kicks off, we’re sitting down with ClearBridge Investments’ Head of Economic and Market Strategy, Jeff Schulze.
