A return to the Great Moderation Era looks unlikely, which might lead to an increasingly volatile—and somewhat unfamiliar—inflationary, economic, and geopolitical landscape.

In arguably quiet fashion, active managers are performing admirably in 2023. An impressive percentage of active equity and fixed income funds beat their benchmarks in the first half of the year.

Celebrating an exciting milestone: Franklin Income Fund turns 75. Learn more about this flagship strategy and read some fun facts from back in 1948.

In this video, Chuck Carnevale, Co-Founder of FAST Graphs, a.k.a. Mr. Valuation will cover two very interesting stocks for your dividend growth investing that have been requested by subscribers to look at.

Rather than reacting to financial challenges and opportunities as they arise, local entrepreneurs are embracing new perspectives on change management by preparing for change beforehand.

Have you ever wondered why your closing ratio on seminar attendees rarely exceeds 40%?

Now seems like a good time to talk about wrappers and which ones are best for different situations. How do you decide whether to use an ETF, a mutual fund, or something else?

Confidence is returning to the bond markets and one sign is corporations’ willingness to start taking on debt again with new issuance.

Markets are convinced that the Federal Reserve (Fed) is going to pause its interest rate campaign after it finalizes its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday, September 20.

Despite substantial growth and huge advancements in public policy support, clean energy has had an abysmal stretch in the stock market the last two and a half years.

Rising interest rates are giving sellers an opportunity to broaden their opportunity set.

VettaFi’s Dave Nadig covers the launch of the first ETF holding 0DTE options, along with IPOs in ETFs, flows, and stories to watch moving forward. Astoria’s John Davi spotlights their recently launched U.S. Quality Kings ETF (ROE) and discusses current model portfolio positioning. Fort Washington Investment Advisors’ Laura Mayfield explains the management process behind two Touchstone ETFs, including their Securitized Income ETF (TSEC).

Managing volatility is a high priority for advisors. The right investments can stabilize a portfolio and dampen volatility, while keeping goals on track. Increasing bond allocations used to be the standard way to reduce volatility, but with bonds more correlated to equities, their diversification value has decreased. With high inflation, bonds also aren’t providing enough real income for many investors.

Demand for private credit has increased because of its low correlation to traditional equities and bonds, and enhanced income potential. As an asset class, private credit has a history of resiliency throughout economic downturns. That was true during the pandemic, and last year when these types of loans largely held up, in contrast to the bond market which had historically bad performance.

My guest today will discuss how advisors can reduce volatility, increase income and diversify equity and bond allocations through private credit and other alternatives.

Okay, I took a little poetic license, but the point is that while we try, predictions of the future are difficult at best and impossible at worst.

Federal Reserve policymakers’ updated forecasts for their benchmark interest rate, due Wednesday, are looming as a key potential decider for a US Treasuries market at risk of a third straight year of losses.

Competing narratives have emerged to describe the state of the U.S. economy.

The Northern Trust Economics team shares its outlook for U.S. growth, employment, interest rates and inflation.

Today, I am going to do something that I've never done. I am going to start a two-part series describing what is in my personal portfolio and why. Let me start by offering two caveats: This letter is in the “do as I say and not as I do” category.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, is mired in a slump. The decision in the Greyscale case stoked optimism that the SEC will eventually, finally approve spot bitcoin ETFs. Still, the bitcoin slump has erased all of the upside generated by the court ruling.

AI, with its data analysis and predictive power, can revolutionize investing. However, humans remain a crucial part of the process. Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions provides use cases into how different investors can harness AI to achieve their desired outcomes and workflows.

The Energizer Bunny! That’s the term that best describes the U.S. economy.

BlackRock and Human Interest have found that American workers earning less than the national average are not saving due to lack of access to saving tools. Broadening access requires an intuitive and automated approach to retirement savings.

If held until the bond is redeemed (either by call or maturity), the annual yield earned for the life of a bond is known upfront at the time of purchase. Knowing the return on an investment upfront makes long-term financial planning a much easier task.

Hear from Jeff Schulze, Head of Economic and Market Strategy at ClearBridge Investments, about the state of the US economy. Get his perspective on the Federal Reserve’s next potential moves.

A host of Wall Street funds have minted profits riding the recent crypto fever after Grayscale Investments LLC snagged a big win over America’s top financial watchdog in its bid to create a US Bitcoin ETF.

Some investment trends seem obvious — people are watching more streaming movies, consumers like shopping online, and more people are buying electric cars. So why don’t these ETFs always work?

Although US bond yields are well above their lows of the past decade, it’s always a good idea to think globally.

Municipals posted negative total returns amid rising interest rates. Issuance exceeded tempered expectations, while demand waned as performance struggled.

The consensus is wrong, and the Fed has not engineered a “soft landing.” A recession is all but certain in the first half of next year, according to Jeffrey Gundlach.

Americans are downbeat about the economy, even as inflation rates rapidly decline back toward more normal levels, the unemployment rate has held below 4% for the longest stretch since the late 1960s and economists race to raise their growth forecasts.

All week, stock traders have shrugged off everything from hot inflation data in the US to another recession-threatening hike in interest rates over in Europe.

The 10-year Treasury yield has climbed steadily over the past two years. But we believe fixed-income investors should be prepared for lower yields ahead.

Touchstone Investments now has six actively managed ETFs. It seeks to bring its “distinctively active” mutual fund approach to meet advisors where they are focused.

How long will the Federal Reserve continue quantitative tightening (QT)? How large will its balance sheet be when QT ends? These important questions impact financial market liquidity, the anchor of asset values. We assess the likely path of QT in the years ahead.

VettaFi’s Equity Symposium is just over a week away and will provide advisors with free access to some of the most important thought leaders in the investment space.

A recent paper analyzing the correlation between stock and bond returns going back to 1875 suggests the relationship of the past quarter century is shifting in an uncertain inflationary environment. The results might stimulate some investors to rethink their portfolio allocations.

This year’s hottest options trade has found its way into the $7.4 trillion ETF arena for the first time, in the latest push by the financial industry to tap booming demand for stock investments with an income stream.

ETFs are the instrument of choice for millions of investors in the U.S. Through a single trade and for a relatively low price, an investor gains broad exposure to a market, sector or niche.

For the savvy private wealth investor, portfolio diversity is key to success. Investing in infrastructure is one option that can help you both optimize your portfolio and make a positive and meaningful impact on your local community.

In this first episode, Franklin Templeton Institute’s Tony Davidow discusses the democratization of alternative investments and related topics with CAIA’s John Bowman.

Incorporating debt planning into your services helps your clients achieve a more comprehensive and sustainable financial future.

Since the beginning of the year, economic data has continued to defy the recession calls of 2022.

A flurry of hedge funds, direct lenders and others are expecting a revival of the $1.3 trillion collateralized loan obligation market — and they want to be ready to reap the benefits when it happens.

The US government has been looking at ways to offload nearly $13 billion of mortgage bonds it amassed from failed lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, according to people with knowledge of the transactions.

In his latest memo, Howard Marks discusses the essential choice in both investing and sports. Should you go for more winners or try to eliminate losers? That is, should you emphasize aggressiveness or defensiveness? This is a key decision that every investor has to make thoughtfully, and the answer can be different for each person.

PIMCO’s Global Advisory Board discusses economic and geopolitical factors shaping the long-term global outlook.

There has been lots of speculation lately regarding China’s economic “decline” or potential economic “perils,” so much so that newspaper articles about the coming demise of China’s miracle economic growth over the previous decades continue to take (our) time away from other, perhaps, more important topics.

While there are lots of reasons to celebrate the growth stocks inside the NASDAQ 100 index, some advisors might be looking for alternatives to the market-cap weighted index ETFs that reduce their risk profile. Thankfully there are some choices to consider.

Higher yields on cash have allowed some de-risking.

Changes in sentiment may drive the performance of the Eurozone equity markets, even with disappointing economic data.