Someone must pay for rampant federal spending.

Data has shown that investment strategies that address ESG issues constitute a third of professionally managed U.S. assets. That has led some to claim that asset prices have been driven up to the point where investors should expect poor performance going forward. That narrative is false.

Is it time to give newer or smaller exchange-traded funds (ETFs) a look?

During these challenging times, growing a financial advisory firm is a study in the fundamentals: understanding your clients and building relationships.

Wall Street thought 2020 was the Year of the SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, women investors are more concerned about their finances and feel less prepared than they’ve been in years. Nearly three in four women with investable assets of $100,000 or more said the pandemic has negatively impacted their ability to retire. Ann Bair and Lori Hall present the findings from Nationwide’s sixth annual Advisor Authority study, powered by the Nationwide Retirement Institute®, reflecting the responses of more than 2,500 individual investors, advisors and financial professionals.

Wall Street thought 2020 was the Year of the SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Turns out, this title was premature.

One year ago this month, our world changed in some pretty dramatic ways.

The word “bubble” is tossed around quite a bit in the financial markets, but it’s rarely used correctly.

There are many ways to go wrong in choosing a TAMP. Here are two no one is talking about.

Covered call strategies can help investors manage short-term volatility and may provide better long-term outcomes while seeking to provide attractive monthly income to investors.

As the latest COVID-19 relief bill winds through the U.S. Congress, some economists have been warning that too much stimulus could lead to the economy overheating

“Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria.” -Investor and mutual fund manager Sir John Templeton

Treasury yields rocketed higher in February, with the move again concentrated in longer maturities. Volatility spiked as liquidity dried up in the Treasury market, especially after a very weak 7-year auction that briefly pushed 10-year Treasury yields to 1.60%. The news flow was largely the same direction: an improving economy, increased vaccine rollout with deaths and hospitalizations turning sharply lower, and a continued march toward a substantial fiscal stimulus plan.

What’s a “zombie company”? You may have heard the term in the financial media recently and wondered if it’s something you should be worried about.

Gold hasn’t been getting much love from investors lately due to rising bond yields, and bullion-backed gold mutual funds and ETFs have seen significant outflows so far this year through the end of February.

Our Fixed Income CIO Sonal Desai has been ahead of the curve in flagging the risks of inflation and rising rates that have now entered the mainstream debate.

With very low inflation expectations for this year, Rich analyzes the shifts in the global and US economies that could impact inflation and explains how to position your portfolio for this change.

A small mutual-fund provider is slated to make history later this month as the first to convert its products into exchange-traded funds.

What normalcy will it be? I don’t expect to simply go back to the way things were. The economy as it was structured in December 2019 is gone forever. The world is different now. The economy will be different, too.

Turmoil in mega-caps like Apple Inc. is stirring investor anxiety. But for professional stock pickers, it’s mostly good news when the market’s biggest companies loosen their grip.

It’s tempting these days for some investors to question the role of fixed income in portfolios. After all, real yields have plunged, potentially leading to less income today and smaller capital gains tomorrow.

Quantitative investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors is already making waves in the $5.9 trillion exchange-traded fund market.

On October 2, 2019 brokerage firm Charles Schwab announced they were no longer going to charge commissions on stock and ETF trades. Before the day closed E-Trade and TD Ameritrade followed suit. And just like that, commissions were dead.

This is a new type of exchange-traded ETF that is built differently from a traditional ETF.

I don’t say this often, but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is wrong. Regular readers of our investor letters and other publications will recall that we regularly cite Chairman Powell as doing the best he can with the levers he has while arguing correctly for others to do their part.

When companies take positive ESG steps, they attract asset flows from fund managers, according to new research. But the price spikes from those flows may not result in outperformance for long-term investors.

2021 has certainly started off interesting. From Reddit readers chasing the most heavily shorted stocks, to the new Administration discussing more stimulus, investors have had plenty to deal with. A market review seems appropriate as the bulls seem to remain bulletproof even as the mania grows.

Treasury yields continued to march higher in January, with the move again concentrated in longer maturities. Mortgage spreads tightened slightly, while corporate bond spreads were mostly mixed. The market remains stuck between the push/pull of the prospect for greater fiscal stimulus and ongoing vaccine rollout versus continued lockdowns and the greatest one-month mortality rate since the pandemic began nearly a year ago.

While your chances of winning an argument on any given topic are slim, there’s one situation where it’s non-existent. That’s when you’re confronted with a high-conflict personality.

Collateralized loan obligations are the largest source of demand in the loan market. Cheryl Stober breaks down some key drivers of CLO manager behavior.

The explosive rally in GameStop, pitting retail investors against hedge funds, has renewed calls to ban short selling. But new research shows how valuable short sellers are to the efficient functioning of markets.

The rationale behind the meteoric rise of Gamestop, a chain of videogame rental stores, and AMC, one of the nation’s largest cinema operators, is too unlikely to be believed. In just one month both stocks had risen by more than 600%.

Bank loans offer some of the highest yields in the current interest rate environment. We believe their unique characteristics may prevent many investors from considering them, but it may be a mistake to overlook them.

Inflation will likely heat up in the coming months, but not to worrying levels.

For all Millennial readers, if you visited a casino in your lifetime only to see your money quickly disappear, you have not seen anything compared to trading versus professionals. So to all you Robinhood traders I say, “Welcome to the Jungle.”

Heading into 2021, advisors face numerous headwinds: a potential return of inflation, sky high equity prices, possible negative returns on bonds. Yet advisors with retail clients have few good options to protect against these risks, and many that embraced alternative mutual funds and ETFs have been disappointed with low returns, high fees and large drawdowns.

The questions advisors are asking today is:

How can retail investors gain exposure to leading hedge funds yet with the client-friendly features of an ETF? Given the difficulties for many hedge funds in the 2010s, will hedge funds will return to the Golden Age of the 2000s, when they generated alpha through two bear markets?

The decade-long onslaught inflicted by growth stocks on value investors is due to end, according to Gerard O’Reilly. But the data is too “noisy” for him to say when that will happen.

There is no easy answer for income investors whose expectations and behaviors need to be adjusted accordingly.

You can take active steps to protect your practice, clients, and employees by following this checklist.

"There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch," my grandpa once told me. The adage suggesting you can't get something for nothing seems to have bitten millions of unwitting investors who used a popular trading platform, Robinhood.

2021 market outlook from BlackRock's municipal bond team.

In his forecast for 2021, Jeffrey Gundlach predicted a “regime change.” Investors should prepare for themes that reverse prior trends: U.S. equities will underperform the rest of the world, inflation will rise, volatility will be higher, and the dollar will weaken.

This is the second in my series about what I’d like to see more and less of in 2021.

LIBOR is still being retired, just a little later than initially expected.

Advisors still don't trust annuities. But rejecting them as unsafe is a misguided disservice to clients who would benefit from the financial solutions they provide.

The performance of ESG funds has been unimpressive, according to new research, and the occasional outperformance is driven mainly by funds’ expenses, exposures to certain industries and factors.

Half of Americans aren’t saving enough for retirement. Blame for this problem is usually pinned on some combination of low wages or irresponsible choices, but there’s another culprit: an expensive and antiquated 401(k) system. Reforming it could put billions more dollars into savers’ pockets.

How can credit markets help active investors achieve their goals in the present low yield environment? Here are 5 ideas.

There is strong demand for steady income. However, most investment products and strategies fail dismally in this regard.