In the last 10-plus years, investors have grown accustomed to Japanese financial assets lagging their global counterparts.
Seven hundred billion dollars. That’s the figure being floated as the potential price tag for acquiring Greenland, according to recent reporting. Call me skeptical, but I don’t think anyone’s cutting a $700 billion check anytime soon. For comparison’s sake, that’s more than half of the Defense Department’s entire 2024 budget.
Despite a fair amount of news and histrionics in the fourth quarter, stock and bond returns were relatively modest. The S&P 500 posted a moderate rise of about 2.5% and the TLT bond ETF lost about 1%.
As earnings season picks up steam, expectations remain high. Analysts forecast fourth-quarter S&P 500 earnings growth of about 8%, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, with investors focused on themes including artificial intelligence spending, oil-market volatility and tariff risks.
Despite the influx of tariff revenue, the federal government continues to run a massive budget deficit. The December budget shortfall came in at $144.75 billion, a record for the month. That was 68 percent higher than December 2024.
We expect another generally good year for bond returns this year, but even the best-laid plans can go awry when circumstances change. Here are four risks to our outlook.
For investors navigating an uncertain macro landscape, avoiding the wrong narratives may matter more than predicting the right numbers.
As the second half of January begins, the U.S. economy presents a picture of cooling inflation and resilient consumer activity.
The 10-year Treasury note’s yield is headed for a fifth straight week of minimal change, rivaling its longest stretch of inertia in the past two decades.
EMs are entering 2026 from a position of renewed strength. A weakening U.S. dollar, improving fundamentals, and broadening country and sector leadership have created a favorable backdrop for investors—and we believe
It’s a brave new world for educational savers — and none too soon. In 2025, lawmakers outdid themselves by expanding ways families can help their children or grandchildren obtain a degree or certificate.
Following strong 2025 returns, high quality fixed income continues to offer attractive yields and global diversification at a time of stretched equity valuations and tight credit spreads.
Municipal bonds enter 2026 as a compelling option for investors: attractive yields, strong fundamentals, and structural changes that continue to reshape the market. After a volatile 2025, marked by Treasury market dislocations and record muni issuance, the outlook for this year suggests more stability — and opportunity.
Fixed income performed well in 2025, but we are proceeding cautiously, as we believe headwinds in the new year could cause the rally to stall.
DoubleLine CEO/CIO Jeffrey Gundlach looked back at 2025 and ahead in 2026 for opportunities, with charts to support his assertions.
In a year where moderation, not momentum, may define returns, options-enhanced ETFs offer an attractive way to stay invested while monetizing the more limited upside many expect.
The US economy remains resilient. The gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate from the Atlanta Federal Reserve (Fed) GDPNow model as of January 8 shows 5.4% real growth for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025.
Drew O’Neil discusses fixed income market conditions and offers insight for bond investors.
Big banks begin reporting tomorrow with JPMorgan Chase. Fundamentals may need to be robust to match the sector's recent Wall Street gains, and loan demand could get a close look.
US Treasuries slipped Tuesday as traders looked to December’s inflation data for clues on how quickly the Federal Reserve may resume lowering borrowing costs this year.
As index investing continues to evolve, it does not have to be towards ever-expanding complexity. Sometimes progress comes from asking simpler questions and answering them consistently.
Instead of offering a forecast, let us consider the potential events and factors that could influence investor sentiment and move markets this year. Inevitably, no matter how many events we and others are considering today, there will be market-moving ones that are not on anyone's radar currently.
2026 promises to be anything but dull. Rapid AI investment and adoption will likely continue to dominate market sentiment, and given the pace of technological advancement, it is hard to imagine this won’t ultimately deliver meaningful productivity gains.
The health-care corner of the US equity market has traditionally been viewed as defensive, thanks to steady growth and healthy dividend yields among the industry’s stalwarts. That narrative is changing.
Now that 2025 has come to an end, let’s take a look at the top 10 most-read charts of the year.
The backdrop for Europe’s bonds remains favorable—even as technological change creates new challenges.
Midterm election years have a rhythm that fixed income investors should recognize. While at first glance yields may seem unpredictable, a closer look reveals a pattern in how they behave throughout these periods.
There’s a lot of collective wisdom about the challenge of forecasting markets and the economy. Warren Buffet once famously said: “”Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.”
For the third year in a row, stock investors had reason for a celebratory year-end toast. The year started strong with the S&P 500 jumping 2.7% in January on strong earnings reports and anticipation of a more business-friendly administration.
For the third consecutive year – and sixth among the past seven – the S&P 500 tallied double-digit gains – a remarkable run. As the index climbed 16.39% for the year, it also recorded 38 new record highs.
The capture of Venezuelan President Maduro has been digested well by global markets, which is in keeping with 2025’s theme of massive volatility and solid index-level returns.
LPL Research reviews 2025 market predictions: key wins, misses, and lessons across equities, fixed income, and the U.S. economy.
Silver was the best-performing commodity last year, up an astounding 145%, but precious metals as a whole delivered solid returns. Gold, silver, platinum and palladium all responded positively to a number of factors, from rising geopolitical tensions to changes to global trade to the accelerating energy transition.
The market enters 2026 on a fundamentally solid footing, even if the year-end trading days were choppier than the traditional year-end rallies we often see. Economic momentum exiting 2025 was strong.
Silver’s parabolic rise has been remarkable. In this article, we examine the two similar price surges to provide context for what may be occurring today and, importantly, for what might cause this bubble to pop tomorrow.
The defining feature of every bubble is the same: a growing inconsistency between the long-term returns that investors expect in their heads - based on extrapolation of the past, and the long-term returns that properly relate prices to likely future cash flows - based on valuations. Every bubble smuggles the same tragic past into the same tragic future by packaging it with new wrinkles that convince investors that this time is different. Ultimately, they still end the same way.
In 2025, the prices of precious metals rose sharply, with silver prices recently surging past $80 per ounce. Of course, when precious metals rise, there is always the same group of commentators (mostly paid newsletter writers and physical metal dealers) to declare that a financial analysis is underway.
Our 2026 outlook shows fixed income continuing to benefit from elevated rates, while equities still face a narrowing edge over risk-free investments.
Investors and advisors have numerous goals to meet with their portfolios. Some investors full send their portfolios to produce as much capital appreciation as possible. Others, especially those at or near retirement age, look for current income and ballast to steady their financial ships.
US Treasuries rose on the first trading day of 2026, getting off to a positive start after notching their best annual return in five years.
Investors were rationally exuberant in 2025. US consumers remained remarkably resilient, keeping the world's largest economy out of recession. The tariff blizzard waxed and waned, eventually settling at levies still compatible with maintaining global growth, albeit at an anemic level.
The Federal Reserve delivered a widely anticipated rate cut in December, signaling caution about growth risks while maintaining a “wait and see” stance.
The U.S. economy appears poised for a measured and confident expansion into 2026 driven by a stabilizing monetary policy, corporate strength, and resilient household income growth. Our outlook suggests a supportive environment for risk assets, particularly domestic equities, while favoring specialized strategies in fixed income.
Franklin Templeton Institute believes tax-free municipal bonds continue to be well positioned in the current market environment.
As we pass the halfway mark of the 2020s, comparisons now abound between our current decade and the roaring 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald best captured the opulence of the Flapper Era in The Great Gatsby, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness.”
There is a rising market risk in 2026 that is largely overlooked as we wrap up this year. Optimism about 2026 is running high. Currently, investors are pricing in strong economic growth, robust earnings, and a smooth path of disinflation. Notably, Wall Street estimates suggest a significant acceleration in corporate profits...
As we get ready to close out 2025, one stand-out trend in the U.S. Treasury (UST) market has been the steepening of the yield curve. The question now is whether this trend will continue into 2026, and if it does, how should investors position their bond portfolios?
2025 was a good year for most fixed income markets but we’re approaching 2026 with caution. All-in yields are still attractive for most markets, but spreads (the additional compensation for owning riskier debt) are low, suggesting investors aren’t getting paid to take on a lot of credit risk right now.
The Santa Claus Rally often grabs headlines because markets tend to deliver solid gains during this short window — or perhaps because it falls during a typically quiet news cycle.
Challenging the conventional view of gold as a bubble, this analysis explores whether the metal's 109% surge since 2024 signals a permanent paradigm shift rather than a looming crash.
