We enter 2026 after a year of robust global stock gains on AI optimism, falling interest rates and a resilient world economy. Beneath this stability, however, lies a more fragile environment.
Last week's economic landscape was defined by conflicting signals from key indicators, suggesting a growing divergence between investor behavior and underlying consumer health.
This month’s Muni Monthly covers performance, supply and demand technicals, fundamentals and valuations for the month ending October 2025.
Alternative investments have already gained plenty of traction in 2025, and things may very well be the same for 2026. However, it’s crucial to evaluate which kind of alternative investments could provide a more potent use case than others.
Are you looking to combine small-cap upside with income? With markets seeing increased volatility and large-caps looking expensive, marrying the two could boost portfolios.
Okay, this is for more than just millennials. It’s for anyone who feels stuck and can’t get started with their investing strategy. If you poke around on the internet, it sounds like my generation might be in the most trouble.
In this Money Metals podcast episode, host Mike Maharrey talks with money manager Michael Pento of Pento Portfolio Strategies about what he sees as a dangerously distorted financial system.
As 2025 nears its final 100 calendar days, market focus is already beginning to turn forward and attempt to reconcile what market drivers could remain in place, and what could change in the first year of the new half-decade. While not an exhaustive list, here’s some of our early keys to 2026.
The result is the first sustained selloff for the group since April, with the Nasdaq 100 leading the broader market lower as investors ditch tech winners in favor of more defensive stocks. One of the beneficiaries: companies with juicy dividend payments.
Monetary cycles define eras of opportunity. For years, we lived under quantitative tightening. Liquidity was withdrawn, balance sheets were reduced, and capital became expensive.
Greg Stumm, CEO of American Beacon Partners, breaks down key ETF trends, including distribution, active management, multi-share class structures, private assets, and crypto. Jason Greenblath, Senior Portfolio Manager & Director of Corporate Credit Research at American Century Investments, highlights where he sees opportunities in fixed income and makes a strong case for the value of active management.
For the third quarter of 2025, most energy infrastructure companies maintained their payouts, with MLPs largely providing sequential growth. Still, the vast majority of midstream companies have increased their dividends within the last year.
Fed policy — not free markets — now plays a crucial role in forecasting how today’s speculative excesses might return to their normal levels. Will it be a pop, a slow leak, or will the Fed keep bubbles afloat at any cost?
As someone who’s been involved in capital markets his entire adult life, I can safely say that gold investors haven’t seen a period like this in decades. The third quarter of 2025 was nothing short of historic, and in many ways, I believe we’re witnessing the beginning of a new era for the yellow metal.
Markets wobbled as Washington’s shutdown drama ended, but I don’t view last week’s pullback as the start of a bear market. The Dow just printed fresh highs, breadth rotated toward quality and defensive stocks, and the weakness centered on AI-linked capex stories repricing risks associated with the capex buildouts.
The Artificial Intelligence boom has created one of the most powerful growth cycles in market history. Yet the biggest AI names—NVIDIA, Microsoft, Broadcom, and others—now trade at extremely high valuations, offering low earnings yields and limited margin of safety.
While stock and bond markets wait for U.S. federal data to become available again, private-sector reports suggest lukewarm overall economic growth.
Capital controls can be used to keep investors at home. Bank reserve and liquidity requirements can also be employed for this purpose: U.S. banks hold $2 trillion more in government debt than they did six years ago.
Drew O’Neil discusses fixed income market conditions and offers insight for bond investors.
While consensus remains cautious, there is a case, however tenuous, for economic reacceleration. This isn’t about ignoring risks. It’s about acknowledging that conditions aligning could drive a shift from stagnation to renewed growth.
As happened in the previous era, several forces are combining to keep inflation alive. Today I want to review what’s happening. This won’t be a fun letter to read, but it’s important. You need to prepare for what could be coming.
Though we are getting limited amounts of economic data during the federal government shutdown, the official and private sector data we are receiving generally paints a positive picture for U.S. economic activity.
Taiwan-based insurers are gearing up for a big overhaul in their regulatory framework. The transition to the Taiwan Insurance Capital Standard (TW-ICS) is slated for January 2026, though some provisions will have a lengthy phase-in period.
Last week’s economic data sent mixed signals. Consumer sentiment plummeted to a near-record low on economic anxiety, and the manufacturing sector continued its long contraction.
The Federal Reserve cut its Fed Funds rate by 25 bps, the 10-year Treasury yield went up 10 bps, and the S&P 500 ended the month of October up over 2%. Let’s unpack those results.
Following a 9-month hiatus in its rate-cutting cycle, the Federal Reserve (Fed) recently resumed monetary easing, with cuts in September and October 2025 in response to signs of a softening labor market.
Investors have poured into gold – but they may also see compelling benefits from a broad-based commodity allocation.
The equity arena is certainly booming with cheers following the Fed’s second rate cut. But the reaction from the fixed income crowd might be more mixed.
The real issue comes when these investments are held in tax-advantaged accounts like a 401(k) or traditional IRA. Since the income is generated by a partnership, it will be considered Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI) in these types of accounts.
Investors are increasingly viewing bonds from large corporations like Microsoft and Siemens as safer than the sovereign debt of their home governments, a conclusion driven by a sharp contrast in fiscal management.
he dollar is regaining its crown as one of the world’s most appealing assets, defying talk of a “Sell America” trade that had raised troubling questions about the outlook for the global reserve currency.
VettaFi recaps key takeaways from energy infrastructure MLPs and corporations third-quarter 2025 earnings calls.
For more than a century, New York City has stood as the beating heart of global capitalism. That’s why this month’s election of Zohran Mamdani, a self-described Democratic Socialist, as the city’s next mayor has sent shockwaves through America’s business and investing community.
To better understand how the AI industry is funding itself and the potential risks involved, we believe it is helpful to draw on historical context from the dot-com bubble, when similar deals were common amid a thriving technology sector.
Everywhere I go, people ask me what’s next for the economy. My answer depends on what they mean by “next.” Today I’ll review some of the alternate employment and inflation data to see where we stand. There’s a lot we know and a lot we don’t know… but for the big decisions, we probably know enough.
As the Federal Reserve continues to cut rates, the yields on money market funds are on a decline. For investors who prioritize safety, liquidity, and enhanced income, low duration bond strategies present a compelling solution. These strategies offer a balanced approach to navigating the current financial landscape.
The age-old question in fixed income is when should I go long duration? Over the last two years, this has been an ongoing query for investors. More recently, with the Federal Reserve resuming rate cuts, it has come back on the front burner for sure.
After the Fed’s latest rate cut, markets are grappling with mixed signals—slowing inflation meets a still-hawkish central bank. Meanwhile, tech’s outsized gains and surging cloud investment highlight a market driven by innovation as much as policy.
After implementing the first interest rate cut of the year, the prospect of further easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve could make fixed income investors nervous.
After the first rate cut of 2025 and the prospect of more rate cuts to come, the capital markets are now wondering at what pace the U.S. Federal Reserve will institute them. For fixed income investors looking for options that balance credit quality and yield, municipal bonds should be considered.
Amid headline-grabbing AI funding rounds, managers are focusing on specialist infrastructure and supply-chain bottleneck companies with clear order-book visibility and strong pricing power. These include semiconductors and components.
Though many AI-related stocks continued to struggle, including Advanced Micro Devices despite solid earnings, indexes rebounded early as a private jobs report exceeded forecasts.
Even with the government shutdown casting a shadow over Washington D.C., equity markets have continued their upward march, fueled by a trifecta of positive surprises: cooler-than-expected inflation, another rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Fed) and easing trade tensions.
Often framed as rivals, private and liquid credit should instead be viewed as powerful complements for both issuers and investors. We believe these two markets are settling into a symbiotic coexistence, as the distinctions blur between the likes of direct lending and broadly syndicated loans.
In their latest article, Why Hold Expensive Slow-Growing Stocks? An Alternative Framework for Value and Growth Indices, Chris Brightman, Campbell Harvey, Que Nguyen, and Omid Shakernia, argue that traditional style-box construction forces investors to hold stocks that are neither true “value” nor true “growth”—notably, expensive, slow-growing companies that have historically underperformed.
Before we started some recent home renovations, neighbors offered advice: stay patient. Construction projects feature weeks that feel like no progress has been made, and days that feel like everything has changed at once.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell caught everyone's attention when he cast doubt on a December rate cut. It’s easy to see why. Standard Fed logic is simple: 2, 3, 4.
Amidst ongoing US policy unpredictability and signs of a softening labor market, the US economy and markets have continued to demonstrate notable resilience. A long-awaited Federal Reserve interest rate cut, and strong corporate earnings supported equity and credit markets - yet policy shifts, elevated stock valuations, and ongoing geopolitical tensions continue to pose potential headwinds.
LPL Research reports on Fed rate cut, U.S.–China trade truce, strong earnings, and AI spending scrutiny amid narrowing market breadth and volatility risks.
