In the investment business, it’s common to address not only what occurred during the past twelve months but also to provide an assessment of future prospects.
Looking ahead to 2026, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Municipal Bond Director Ben Barber says there are a few key factors that will likely shape the municipal bond market.
With 2025 in the books, it will be a difficult year to top for fixed income exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but Morningstar is predicting more excitement to come. That should keep fixed income investors fixated on what new developments the space brings this year.
Our view from the portfolio management desk is that there seems to be a concurrent affordability crisis in the public stock markets as well. The biggest names appear to be “priced for perfection” at this moment.
U.S. fourth-quarter earnings season began with major banks reporting results that were generally stronger than expected. Most large banks beat earnings forecasts, with many also exceeding revenue expectations, reinforcing our view that the U.S. economy remains in a healthy state.
Investors have reaped the benefits of good market conditions in many of the recent years. These periods are ideal for wealth accumulation.
Investors are pouring cash into emerging-market funds at a record pace as momentum builds for a rotation out of US assets.
There is a natural human tendency to assume that your generation has it harder than everyone else. Even by those standards, however, baby boomers (and some older millennials) are on the receiving end of an extraordinary amount of resentment.
Despite the broadening-out call in early 2024, narrow market breadth persisted through 2025. In 2025, around one-third of S&P 500 constituents beat the overall Index, but more than 60% are outperforming year to date in 2026.
Residential mortgage loans offer insurers a combination of yield, diversification, capital efficiency and liquidity that we think is difficult to replicate elsewhere in private credit. In a market shaped by structural housing undersupply, strong borrower credit and expanding non-agency issuance, we believe residential mortgages present a timely and scalable opportunity.
As the new year begins, one market theme is already attracting plenty of attention, and that is the dispersion and broadening out in the stock market that has occurred during the first two weeks of trading.
Geopolitical tensions have escalated following President Trump’s renewed intent to acquire Greenland. Franklin Templeton Institute’s Kim Catechis explores the implications.
It was a sea of red to kick off the holiday-shortened trading week yesterday. President Trump’s ambition to annex part or all of Greenland drew backlash from European leaders.
Join the professionals at Sterling Capital Management for a product due diligence session that explores two unique active fixed income products. One that redefines how investors can approach their core bonds and another that uses a multi-sector strategy.
In the last 10-plus years, investors have grown accustomed to Japanese financial assets lagging their global counterparts.
Seven hundred billion dollars. That’s the figure being floated as the potential price tag for acquiring Greenland, according to recent reporting. Call me skeptical, but I don’t think anyone’s cutting a $700 billion check anytime soon. For comparison’s sake, that’s more than half of the Defense Department’s entire 2024 budget.
Despite a fair amount of news and histrionics in the fourth quarter, stock and bond returns were relatively modest. The S&P 500 posted a moderate rise of about 2.5% and the TLT bond ETF lost about 1%.
After rising to its highest level in four years during the last quarter of 2024, the Late Earnings Report Index, our proprietary measure of CEO uncertainty, has now recorded five consecutive quarterly readings below the historical benchmark as companies prepare to report their Q4 results.
Are you ready for the next evolution of the ETF market? In this episode of ETF Prime, host Nate Geraci is joined by industry heavyweights Cinthia Murphy (VettaFi) and Matt Bartolini (State Street Global Advisors) to break down the biggest trends, risks, and opportunities for investors in 2026.
In order to develop prudent spending plans for clients that are consistent with their spending goals, advisors should employ reasonable client-specific LPP assumptions. The three-step process and tools highlighted in this article can help advisors get started.
For advisors breaking away to start their own practice, there’s no avoiding the risks that come with entrepreneurship — but in the current economic climate that includes high inflation, market volatility and heightened uncertainty — advisors need to be doubly prepared when going out on their own.
Interest rates do not exist to punish borrowers. They exist to price risk. When lenders are told they can’t charge more than 10 percent, even when the market risk calls for a higher rate, they don’t suddenly become more generous.
I have a confession, shameful as it may be for someone who has spent decades studying retirement policy and advising individuals and institutions on how to save for and think about retirement: When I bought my apartment a few years ago, I raided my retirement account for the down payment.
AI productivity gains will demand active solutions, not government gifts. Skill development, apprenticeships, employer-based training, wage insurance, and mobility support. These tools address displacement directly, while UBI does not.
The U.S. and global economy remain on solid footing. We don’t believe recent geopolitical developments pose a systemic risk to markets at this time
We expect another generally good year for bond returns this year, but even the best-laid plans can go awry when circumstances change. Here are four risks to our outlook.
For investors navigating an uncertain macro landscape, avoiding the wrong narratives may matter more than predicting the right numbers.
Precious metals surged out of the gate to begin 2026, not dissimilar to how they closed out 2025. Gold has already made two record highs this year alone, is currently trading above $4,600 per ounce, and is up over 6% in 2026.
JPMorgan Asset Management has a new superlative: The firm now hails as the world’s largest issuer of actively managed exchange-traded funds.
Global credit markets are running at their hottest in two decades, prompting some of the world’s biggest money managers including Aberdeen Investments and Pimco to warn against complacency.
While the breaking news regarding the Fed receiving subpoenas from the Department of Justice will no doubt garner the lion’s share of Fed-related headlines in the days and weeks ahead, we wanted to roll the clock back and delve into what the markets should be looking at in terms of upcoming traditional monetary policy decisions.
Taking time away due to illness is never ideal. Upon return to school or work, we are greeted with all the tasks we did not complete while incapacitated. The recovery may feel worse than the disease.
Major tax legislation passed in 2025 represents the most sweeping changes to the tax code since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017. In addition to extending current tax brackets and rates and introducing new tax deductions, the law creates new savings accounts for minors known as Trump Accounts.
Nominal thinking in investing, a form of the "money illusion" bias, is the failure to account for inflation's erosion of purchasing power. The primary problems with this approach are overestimating real returns, misjudging true wealth, and making poor long-term investment decisions based on misleading nominal figures.
It’s a brave new world for educational savers — and none too soon. In 2025, lawmakers outdid themselves by expanding ways families can help their children or grandchildren obtain a degree or certificate.
Following strong 2025 returns, high quality fixed income continues to offer attractive yields and global diversification at a time of stretched equity valuations and tight credit spreads.
Investors have flocked to the evolving income ETFs space in recent years. The arrival of the ETF rule in 2019 helped launch countless new and intriguing ETF offerings aimed at adding income to investor portfolios.
Municipal bonds enter 2026 as a compelling option for investors: attractive yields, strong fundamentals, and structural changes that continue to reshape the market. After a volatile 2025, marked by Treasury market dislocations and record muni issuance, the outlook for this year suggests more stability — and opportunity.
Vanguard Group Inc. is bringing its decades-long relationship with Wellington Management into the ETF structure. It is launching three active equity ETFs. This marks the indexing giant’s first venture into actively managed equity products in the wrapper.
Morgan Stanley’s debt bankers increased revenue 93% in the fourth quarter, by far the biggest jump on Wall Street and capping a record year for that business.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. blew through expectations for equities-trading revenue, posting an all-time Wall Street record of $4.31 billion in the final three months of last year.
Despite strong U.S. equity returns and continued enthusiasm around AI, 2025 marked a turning point in market leadership. Paul Vella examines the fading dominance of mega-cap tech, the resurgence of international equities, and the role diversification played in delivering more durable outcomes for investors.
Fixed income performed well in 2025, but we are proceeding cautiously, as we believe headwinds in the new year could cause the rally to stall.
Most DC plan participants share the same goal of a comfortable retirement. It’s the journey that differs and much depends on personal investment knowledge, risk comfort level and other qualities, according to the latest research by AllianceBernstein (AB).
Defaults among auto loans are noteworthy because these had been seen as a safe form of lending. Living without a car is impossible in much of the United States; in the GFC, borrowers were more likely to surrender their home than their car.
At the heart of value investing is the concept of buying an undervalued stock that appears to be mispriced by the market and holding that stock until its intrinsic value is reached. Investors determine intrinsic value in several ways, including analyzing a company’s financial statements, evaluating management, and identifying competitive advantages.
Raymond James Chief Economist Eugenio J. Alemán evaluates economic conditions heading into 2026.
Market experts from the WisdomTree recently discussed how the market is responding to the latest headlines, and where opportunities lie.
DoubleLine CEO/CIO Jeffrey Gundlach looked back at 2025 and ahead in 2026 for opportunities, with charts to support his assertions.
In a year where moderation, not momentum, may define returns, options-enhanced ETFs offer an attractive way to stay invested while monetizing the more limited upside many expect.
