Value seems to be having a moment — over the last six weeks value style and value factor indexes (a subtle but real nuance, as we will show) are outperforming representative broad market and a representative growth style index.

International stocks could be poised for another strong year in 2026 due to accelerating global growth, attractive valuations and the potential for dollar weakness.

Signed into law in 2022, SECURE 2.0 legislation pursued many of the key themes of the original SECURE Act from 2019, including expanding access to retirement accounts and promoting plan participation.

U.S. equities edged higher last week, approaching all-time highs, fueled by steady consumer spending reflected in strong Black Friday retail sales, though data indicated consumers are increasingly prioritizing value.

Despite the concern post-2024 election about rising U.S. deficits and a potential return of "bond vigilantes," the supply side of the Treasury market has remained stable, with deficits settling near the $1.8 trillion baseline.

The U.S. economy depends on consumers buying stuff. Persistent price inflation forced Americans to blow through their savings and then turn to credit cards to make ends meet.

With a third consecutive rate cut bringing the Fed Funds range to 3.50%–3.75%, the Fed may pause for now as it reassesses the effectiveness of its “risk management” approach amid mixed economic signals.

The dot-com bubble burst in 2000. Now, 25 years later, anxiety abounds about the potential for a similar AI bubble burst and resultant crash.

The year 2025 exemplifies the prevailing regime — markets driven less by fundamentals and traditional business-cycle dynamics and more by fiscal and monetary policy influence. Today, policy decisions have emerged as one of the most impactful forces driving market direction.

After a turbulent start to 2025 defined by US policy shocks, attention shifted to AI optimism and corporate fundamentals, with earnings and capex intentions often eclipsing traditional data releases. Despite these twists, returns were solid across asset classes.

ClearBridge Investments believes emerging market equities have turned a corner, showing strong performance after years of lagging returns.

We believe the macro environment will continue to be unstable given policy crosscurrents and a wobbly labor market, but stocks can likely churn higher given a firmer earnings backdrop.

JPMorgan Asset Management is seeking to convert two municipal-bond mutual funds with over $840 million of assets into ETFs in 2026, underscoring the growing popularity of the products.

Discover the power of niche marketing for financial advisors to attract high-value, ideal clients and achieve scalable growth. Stop generalizing and start specializing to build a more profitable practice.

With great power comes great responsibility. But in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), power means megawatts, not metaphors.

With macro drivers continuing to reshape markets, Ali Dibadj explores key investment themes for 2026 to help actively position portfolios for resilience and growth. He also explains how asset managers need to evolve to best work together with clients.

Rising margin debt levels signal increasing speculation and leverage in the market, with the cost of carrying this debt nearing historical peaks that have typically preceded significant stock market corrections.

Active fixed income ETFs took center stage at VettaFi's recent 2026 Market Outlook Symposium, with two industry leaders sharing thoughts.

I’ve lived through several bubbles and read about others, and they’ve all hewed to this description. One might think the losses experienced when past bubbles popped would discourage the next one from forming. But that hasn’t happened yet, and I’m sure it never will.

With the Fed's final 2025 meeting approaching, markets anticipate a third rate cut amid labor weakness, though the FOMC remains publicly divided on balancing a cooling job market against sticky inflation.

On this episode of the “ETF of the Week” podcast, VettaFi’s Head of Research, Todd Rosenbluth, discussed the Goldman Sachs Corporate Bond ETF (GIGL) with Chuck Jaffe of Money Life. The pair discussed several topics related to the fund to give investors a deeper understanding of the ETF.

Recent frauds in the subprime auto and private credit markets have led observers to wonder if these are the "cockroaches" signaling a turn in the broader credit cycle. This transition is characterized by increasing volatility and dispersion in the debt markets, where bonds no longer trade in unison and earnings misses trigger sharp price drops.

Our latest research investigates how U.S. corporations have managed to consistently increase profits, despite a secular trend of declining net domestic investment.

For affluent families in Pittsburgh and around the US, wealth rarely grows in a straight line. Businesses evolve, real estate accumulates, trusts are created, and investment portfolios expand across public and private markets.

The first full week of the holiday shopping season confirmed what I was looking for: consumers are still spending, and they are not being spooked by tariffs or headlines. Black Friday sales were solid, and the weekend into Cyber Monday largely matched expectations.

lthough AI is often blamed for labor weakness, the data suggests other dynamics are at play, as job creation is slowing most in industries with low AI adoption. Given the strong outlook for corporate earnings and policy support, the authors maintain a positive view, advising investors to "buy the dip."

Recessions are less common today than they were before the 1980s. Some argue that the reason is that we have become better at conducting fiscal and monetary policy to reduce the ebbs and flows of economic cycles.

Private credit is expanding beyond its traditional niche to finance major infrastructure projects for investment-grade corporate borrowers, a trend particularly notable among hyperscalers building AI infrastructure.

The field of quantum computing has shifted its focus from the short-lived concept of "quantum supremacy" to a more measurable goal: quantum advantage, which emphasizes reproducible, domain-specific results that verifiably outperform classical systems.

Advisors should avoid centering long-term investment strategies on predicting the Federal Reserve's next interest rate move, as tactical bets based on the Fed's near-term calls often cause investors to miss out on returns.

Due to the federal government shutdown, official jobs data remains incomplete, forcing the Federal Reserve to rely on alternative private-sector reports to gauge the labor market. These alternative data sources, such as the ADP report and Revelio Labs estimates, indicate a widespread and concerning slowdown in employment, with job creation stalling, openings shrinking, and layoffs rising across many sectors.

I’ve been a retirement economist for my entire adult life, and yet I am continually amazed at how America continues to get retirement saving so wrong. Now, finally, the world’s largest issuer of mutual funds is showing signs that it recognizes a major flaw in the system.

In this article, Russ Koesterich discusses gold’s recent positive correlation with stocks, particularly those names showing strong price momentum.

The Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently announced key figures for 2026. After several years of above-average cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security, beneficiaries will receive a slight increase in the cost-of-living allowance (COLA) in 2026 based on the current inflation environment.

Marc Seidner, CIO of Non-traditional Strategies, explores opportunities across equities, bonds, credit, and commodities that have the potential to offer investors resilience and diversification.

We continue to suggest an up-in-quality fixed income bias for the short run, but investors can still consider some of the riskier parts of the fixed income market in moderation.

I suspect almost 100% of my readers live well above the “poverty line.” I also suspect that probably 99% of you don’t know exactly where that line is. I didn’t really know the number either until I read the article we’ll discuss today.

Wall Street is gearing up to lend massive amounts of money to the biggest players in artificial intelligence — and simultaneously trying to figure out how to protect itself from any bubble that its financing may be helping to inflate.

While AI adoption is becoming ubiquitous across all segments of society, a significant bottleneck is emerging that could slow its expansion: a critical power problem. AI data centers consume massive amounts of electricity—up to the equivalent of 100,000 households—with projections showing they will account for nearly half of US electricity demand growth through 2030.

State Street Corp. is deepening its expansion in Saudi Arabia as it looks to cash in on booming demand for exchange-traded funds and growing appetite for alternative investments from clients including family offices.

For fixed-income investors seeking diversification, Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS), specifically the VMBS ETF, are presented as a high-quality alternative to potentially overvalued corporate bonds, particularly those fueling the AI boom.

Federal Reserve officials are poised to cut interest rates again next week, but any benefit to the economy is likely to take much longer to show up than normal and may be blunted by factors that monetary policy can’t control.

In this third installment of the retirement income series, Chuck Carnevale (“Mr. Valuation”) walks through the completion of a hypothetical $2 million dividend portfolio designed for a retiree who requires at least $100,000 per year in income—equivalent to a 5% yield, with annual income growth to offset inflation.

here’s something comforting about dividends. For decades, investors have turned to them as tangible proof that a company is generating real cash flow and is willing to share it.

Despite a choppy November, the big three market indexes are all just a few percentage points off their record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the Nasdaq are up 12.5% and 21.2%, respectively, year to date.

Plenty of official economic data is already coming down the market’s chimney, much to the delight of our partners at Econoday. Now that the pesky government shutdown is over, the pace of macro updates is set to accelerate as we head into the end of 2025.

Geopolitical risks remain elevated as the markets continue to digest the impact of trade tariffs. What does this mean for private markets? Franklin Templeton Institute shares its outlook.

Spreads are essential for investors who utilize leverage, but for most fixed income investors, yields are much more important. Fortunately, in today’s market, yields are relatively attractive despite historically tight spreads.

We expect 2026 to be another good year for fixed income investors. However, yields that are lower than where they were a year ago and less room for rate cuts by central banks likely will mean less-robust returns.

Despite nearly a 5% deficit mid-month, the S&P 500 finished November with a modest 0.1% gain, fueled by strong earnings, AI optimism, and hopes for Fed rate cuts. This rebound helped repair technical damage, lifting the S&P 500 above its 50-day moving average, though retail investors remain hesitant to re-engage.