The concentration of gains up the cap spectrum isn't itself a precursor to weakness; it's the lack of participation from the "average stock" that warrants some caution.

A debt ceiling deal is within sight.

The stresses in the CRE market do not appear to pose a systemic threat to the global banking system.

Following OPEC’s surprise production cut in April that saw crude oil squeeze from $65 to $80 per barrel in a manner of days, hedge funds and the like have once again resumed selling on slowing growth and recession fears.

Transit has not made a complete recovery from the pandemic.

The stock market finished Friday on a high note, with the S&P 500 index just north of 4,200 for the first time since August 2022 and up 17.6% versus the market bottom in October.

Several key economic indicators come out every week to help provide insight into the overall health of the U.S. economy. Policymakers and advisors closely monitor these indicators to understand the direction of interest rates, as the data can significantly impact business decisions and financial markets.

Chief Economist Eugenio J. Alemán discusses current economic conditions.

As the debt ceiling fight in Washington heads down to the wire with the risk of a technical default looming, investors are growing nervous.

We live in unprecedented times. Since the COVID pandemic, the economy has been deeply influenced by a massive increase in government spending, COVID-related shutdowns, and a huge increase in the money supply.

For this edition of Bull vs. Bear, Elle Caruso and Karrie Gordon discussed the pros and cons of investing in fossil fuels.

The Northern Trust Economics team shares its outlook for major markets in the months ahead.

As other nations seek to become less dependent on the U.S. dollar, rumors of the greenback’s potential demise continue to swirl. Can the dollar remain king of the world’s reserve currency?

I originally posted a video covering the hospital REIT Medical Properties Trust on February 17, 2023, when the price was $12.96. On February 28, 2023, I did a follow-up update video after the price had fallen to $8.72.

The financial markets are giving off mixed signals of late, and credit investors may wonder whether to be downbeat or optimistic.

Like planting seeds, sometimes new investment vehicles take time to take root. David Mann, Franklin Templeton’s Head of Global ETF Product and Capital Markets, draws parallels between gardening and developing and growing new ETFs.

We've described the past several years' stock market as a seesaw in which the "market" was the fulcrum of the seesaw. On one side of the seesaw sit the highly speculative growth sectors and on the other side, sit virtually everything else in the global equity markets.

Swiss money manager Felix Zulauf is a crowd favorite at SIC. His 2022 presentation was right on target, so I asked him back to tell us what he expects for the rest of 2023 and beyond. Unfortunately, he thinks a slowdown is coming that will hit markets hard.

If you were doubting whether the age of AI has arrived, NVIDIA’s stock performance this week may have given you second thoughts.

According to the company’s investor relations page on this REIT, Simon Property Trust (SPG) is a real estate investment trust engaged in the ownership of premier shopping, dining, entertainment, and mixed-use destinations and an S&P 100 company.

Last week the VettaFi Voices gathered to reflect on a year at VettaFi under the firm’s new name. The team celebrated wins, and time spent together, and shared their favorite insights and highlights from a busy twelve months.

With a year-to-date gain of just over 60%, Tesla stock keeps rolling higher, and the company’s recent shareholder meeting could continue to appease the bulls — if the electric automaker manages to hit its goals.

While we don't expect the U.S. government to default, the uncertainty may heighten market volatility in coming days. Here are answers to some of the questions we're hearing most often.

Why not take a break from working in the world of finance by immersing yourself in the eleven best finance films of all time?

I was a math major in college. My favorite class was Probability and Statistics, taught by Dr. Wolcin. He warned us from the beginning that the final exam was the grandaddy of final exams—that it was really hard, and he would probably end up curving it.

First-quarter earnings largely surprised to the upside, but expectations also had been guided down. What does the latest earnings news mean for stock investors? Carrie King, Global Deputy CIO of BlackRock Fundamental Equities, offers three observations.

Hong Kong’s currency and financial stability are not under immediate threat.

Although few nations have a debt ceiling similar to the U.S.', rising government debt levels are a widespread global risk that may lead to lower economic output and weaker growth.

Bonds issued by government-sponsored enterprises can offer slightly higher yields than U.S. Treasuries, without requiring investors to take on too much additional risk.

Rick Rieder and team argue that a series of small, but more probable, wins in fixed income can pave the way for portfolios to outperform benchmarks in 2023.

The semiconductor cycle is dead, long live the super cycle!

Allen Li, Managing Director and Head of Guggenheim Investments' Municipal Bond Sector Team, explains the structure and characteristics of the $4 trillion municipal market, the importance of technical dynamics, and where he is finding value.

War, inflation, rising rates, banking chaos, and recession are among the challenges facing markets. Investors must balance these shorter-term risks with the long-term return prospects of equities.

As COVID-era funding boosts come to a close, US state and local governments are facing some challenges. However, they have many tools with which to tackle them, according to Jennifer Johnston, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income’s Director of Research, Municipal Bonds. She provides her latest outlook.

Stocks are having a great year, but gold is doing even better. Year-to-date global equities are up roughly 9% in dollar terms; gold has advanced more than 10%.

Over the past decade or so, there has been a broad trend in the industry toward closing and freezing defined benefit plans.

The two primary styles of dividend investing are growth and yield. In the latter, investors embrace stocks with what are deemed above-average yields — often from slower-growth sectors, such as utilities and real estate.

In 2011, markets were relatively flat during the year before Congress and the White House (temporarily) buried the hatchet with the passage of the Budget Control Act on August 2, 2011.

Cities and states may have their work cut out for them as they explore solutions to preserve their commercial tax bases and maintain the vibrancy of their downtowns.

Most of us spent moments of our childhood, crayon in hand, connecting numbered dots that gradually revealed a picture that we couldn’t deduce simply by looking at the separate dots. With experience, we got better at looking at those isolated dots and mentally connecting them into a coherent “gestalt.”

If you’ve been to a high school or college commencement lately, then you know the drill: at some point at least one speaker will urge the graduates to be “agents of change,” suggesting they’d like to see these students make the world a better place through some sort of social activism.

The terms private credit and private debt are often used interchangeably to describe direct origination credit strategies. But, the business is also known by another name: non-bank lending.

We prefer private to public credit long term on better return potential. It’s the mirror image in equity: We prefer public stocks as risks fade in the medium term.

The most famous “Hail Mary” in American football history happened in 1984. On the very last play of the Boston College football game, an undersized quarterback named Doug Flutie threw a bomb into the end zone to teammate Gerald Whelan. Boston College had won the game!

One of the advantages of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) compared to other investment vehicles is their relative liquidity. But what is liquidity for an ETF? How does that liquidity actually give ETF investors the upper hand, compared to other assets?

One metric I look at fairly often for various countries is the relationship between the performance of stocks vs. bonds. The idea is straightforward enough: when stocks are outperforming bonds, it tends to be associated with a growing economy.

Both domestic and external forces may limit China's growth prospects.

The deadline for the #debtceiling is quickly approaching. Where does each side stand? What does each side have to lose? Will a deal get done despite the hardening of partisan lines? Check out what it all means for investors.

Diversification is a cornerstone of thoughtful, long-term focused investing. Incorporating assets and asset classes that don’t always move in tandem – that is, their returns aren’t strongly correlated – can help temper stock and bond market risk.

Several key economic indicators are released every week to help provide insight into the overall health of the U.S. economy. Policymakers and advisors closely monitor these indicators to understand the direction of interest rates.