The economics teams looks back at the most significant stories we covered during 2023.

It’s exciting times in the ETF industry. For example, we might be headed for a photo finish in the ETF leader board. As of December 15, two ETFs stood above the rest.

The use of “factors,” or broad and persistent drivers of investment returns, has grown rapidly in equity markets, but with less adoption in fixed income.

The first actively managed exchange traded funds came to market in 2008. But 2023 may be remembered as the year when the asset class matured, paving the way for broader long-term adoption.

The conflicts of interest facing independent advisors are far fewer, less complex, more transparent and better understood by retirement investors. This is what opponents of the DOL rule won’t acknowledge.

“We all have our families and friends, we all value all of it, but in different ways and different things. So, it's just so crucial to really find out what people value and what's most important to them.” – Adam Freeland

Whether he’s building relationships with clients or establishing a value system with his firm, Adam Freeland of Harford Financial Group understands the importance of teamwork. Tune in as Adam shares his journey from the military to financial services and what his day-to-day responsibilities look like as the firm’s managing principal. Among many topics, he dives into his military experience and how it has contributed to the way he runs his business, and why he puts so much focus on learning and training. As someone who transitioned to financial services as a second career, Adam also shares the importance of mentoring the next-generation of financial professionals. Aligning with his growth mindset, Adam explains how he’s trained himself to remain detail-oriented while also looking at the big picture, playing dueling roles to appropriately meet his clients’ needs.

Investors were taught a lesson in 2022 when equities and fixed income delivered double-digit, negative returns. No longer could the major asset classes be counted on for diversification. That outcome has led to a surge of interest in alternative investments. My guest today will argue why alternatives are important for advisors to consider and how doing so in a cost-sensitive way is important. Hedge funds and private equity can provide significant alpha but are often unobtainable for retail, non-accredited investors. ETF structures offer advisors and their clients access to those types of investments in a liquid, transparent way.

The cornerstone of diversification is the allocation of investments to counterbalance losses and dampen volatility. But what happens when traditional assets, like stocks and bonds, move in lockstep as they are now?

AI applications are only one piece of the client engagement puzzle. And they shouldn’t be your first stop for building digital engagement.

An ETF startup is trying to launch a Bitcoin fund, but with what looks to be an environmentally friendly twist amid continued scrutiny the industry faces around its potentially harmful impacts.

Jonathan Hoffman, John Bonello and Jonathan Tipermas share more than just similar first names. They’re the driving force behind a gigantic wager on government debt that’s been giving regulators sleepless nights.

This year’s run-up in technology stocks, and particularly chipmakers, has left many with price tags so lofty it may seem like now is the time for firms to split their shares.

In the same way that a swimmer can make the biggest splash by jumping off of a higher diving board, so too fixed income asset returns can appear prospectively most attractive after a prolonged back up in rates.

High yield fixed income has always been considered a riskier investment relative to other bonds. But strong corporate fundamentals are making this asset class far less risky these days. And that makes so-called junk bonds currently a bit of a misnomer.

In this video, Chuck Carnevale, Co-Founder of FAST Graphs, a.k.a. Mr. Valuation will analyze the healthcare sector stocks and discuss the value of different companies within it.

What was the biggest story in ETFs in 2023 for you? What has the potential to have a lasting impact on the industry? Or is there something you think was a flash in the pan?

There are many risks for 2024 including those that are an ever-present part of investing and not unique to the outlook for any particular year. We've highlighted our top five.

We are shrugging off geopolitical risks. Not only the latest war in Israel, but Russia and Ukraine. The market is still pricing in some Fed cuts next year.

VettaFi’s Todd Rosenbluth discusses whether some of the year’s biggest equity ETF stories can carry momentum into 2024. State Street’s Matt Bartolini recaps 2023 ETF flows and highlights three missed opportunities for ETF investors.

If a retirement income plan is entirely reliant on the accuracy of its CMAs, then success is more a matter of faith than any statistically verifiable fact.

Your bio significantly impacts how you're perceived online. It's worth revisiting and rewriting your bio every year.

As your credit card is scanned one final time this holiday season, say thanks to prime numbers for keeping the checkout queues short and your money safe. Well, most of the time anyway.

The extraordinary hype around artificial intelligence this year touched the finance industry, too, but most banks have been rightly cautious about jumping directly onto the bandwagon. In such a tightly regulated business, the costs of getting it wrong could be extreme.

BlackRock’s Rick Rieder said that market expectations for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting interest rates in March are likely too early.

An unprecedented amount of cash flowed into the world’s largest and oldest exchange-traded fund last week, as stocks rallied to near-record highs after the Federal Reserve indicated it could cut interest rates next year.

A New York money manager has netted a 64% gain from a strategy riding the big plunge in volatility across the stock market in this expectations-busting year on Wall Street.

It’s a temptation many on Wall Street succumbed to recently when small-cap stocks notched two-decade lows versus the S&P 500 – only to rally sharply after the Federal Reserve’s dovish policy surprise last week.

The 60/40 portfolio composed of stocks and bonds, respectively, has somewhat fallen to the wayside in the past decade. But with optimism flooding the bond markets for 2024, it could make a comeback.

Earlier this year, many industry observers and investors were expecting an imminent slowdown with markets. But with rates coming back down and the risk outlook improving, the outlook on fixed income has improved.

Although cash donations are appreciated, donating securities may be more impactful for both the charity and the donor.

Because of the robust performance of the magnificent seven, portfolios are overweight to large-cap stocks, resulting in an underweight to small- and mid-cap stocks, as well as international equities.

Sometimes the real action is in the dog that didn’t bark. What is striking about the European Union’s pending regulations on artificial intelligence is what’s missing: There is no ban on open-source AI.

Just one month after setting a 2024 target for the S&P 500, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists increased their forecast as the year-end rally shows no signs of abating.

A vehicle used to track longer-dated US government bonds surged into a bull market, as investors seek to end three years of pain on the Federal Reserve’s willingness to consider interest-rate cuts.

Jerome Powell didn't exactly say "mission accomplished" last week, but that's largely what the markets heard on Wednesday.

It’s worth noting that despite the recent market advance, our own investment discipline, and even Treasury bills, have outpaced the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 during this period, with less volatility.

This year proved a difficult one for bonds as the Federal Reserve aggressively hiked rates for much of the year. With the rate narrative changing moving into 2024, investors moved back into bonds in a big way beginning in October, including municipal bonds.

If the last year or two have taught investors anything, it’s that alts can play a big role in portfolios. As recently as 2022, bonds struggled amid significantly low interest rates, with their role as a contrast to stocks weakened.

If you really want to reduce the federal debt, you don’t have to convince Congress of anything. You can just write a check. The Treasury Department gladly accepts gifts from anyone so inclined.

If today were the last day of 2023, Bitcoin would have returned almost 155%, marking the best year since 2020, when it rose a phenomenal 305%.

Mutual Series sees an increasing number of investment opportunities in real assets.

While inflation isn’t yet at the 2% range that the Federal Reserve has been targeting, it’s getting there. At least, it’s getting close enough for it to ease up on the gas on raising interest rates. In fact, the Fed could pump the brakes next year.

With stocks racing to record highs, diminishing expectations of a recession, and hopes that the Federal Reserve could potentially reduce interest rates multiple times next year, risk appetite is being reborn. 

As markets staged a monster rally following the Federal Reserve’s shift toward loosening monetary policy, one corner of the financial system had reason to remain on edge.

A rally in this year’s laggards shows investors are now going “all-in” on expectations of a flurry of central bank rate cuts next year, according to Bank of America Corp.’s Michael Hartnett.

China stocks have been a source of frustration for investors this year. But there are expectations that situation will improve in 2024. The key is selectivity. That means market participants shouldn’t wager on uniformly stellar returns by China equities next year.

It’s been the year of active equity ETFs, the year of covered call ETFs, and a year when growth and quality has mattered most in the equity market. All of this is now clear from the year-to-date net inflows and fund performance records.

Analysts are growing increasingly doubtful that US consumer spending will hold up into next year, even as American shoppers continue to be surprisingly resilient despite lingering inflation and elevated borrowing costs.

The dollar will surprise by getting stronger next year as the US economy outperforms, according to some of the world’s biggest money managers.

A major change in automobile manufacturing could pave the way for a revolution in how cars are bought, fixed and resold. Gigacasting, which reduces the number of car panels, has the potential to lower prices but can complicate repairs and transfer costs to owners.