A new study has made explosive claims about the world’s largest stock benchmark: Major U.S. corporations that purchase ratings from S&P Global Inc. have a higher chance of entering the S&P 500 Index -- even when they don’t meet all criteria for inclusion.
Looking ahead, new sources of inflation may continue to arise. Unless the mounting pressures push inflation to significantly higher levels that would provoke central banks into aggressive tightening, the impact on global stock markets may be a positive.
There was another “disappointing” gain in nonfarm payrolls in September (up 194,000, vs. a median forecast of +500,000), but it’s not as bad as it looks. Less hiring at the start of the school year resulted in a decline in (adjusted) education jobs.
The pressures of this remote environment, far too much work, many new clients to be onboarded, and changes we’ve made to our staffing model and how we do things is creating confusion and infighting.
On the latest edition of Market Week in Review, Director of Investment Strategies Shailesh Kshatriya and Investment Strategy Analyst BeiChen Lin discussed recent political headlines in Washington, D.C., the rise in U.S. government bond yields and the potential outcomes of Germany’s recent elections.
Data from Vanguard shows that advisors have increased allocations to passive, low-cost investment products. But they also increased allocations to commodities and timed markets poorly, particularly after the March 2020 crash.
Gold’s average daily trading volume for the one-year period was $183 billion, compared to the S&P 500 with nearly $235 billion. That dollar amount is enough to beat currency swaps as well as all government and corporate debt.
A few months ago in Xi’s Big Mistake, I said Beijing risked killing the entrepreneurial activity that had spurred the country’s rapid growth. As we learn more, this is looking less like a mistake and more like a mistakenly-conceived plan.
If the U.S. and other countries sit idly by, we may look back at today as a turning point in global economic affairs. The U.S. does not have to cede economic growth. But it must readapt capitalistic logic, which, ironically, China is slowly grasping.
After a great start to the quarter in July and August, September was when the storms hit. Here in the U.S., markets pulled back significantly.
The country’s leadership has designed a new development model, based on a ‘common prosperity’ philosophy, aimed at modernising the economy by improving the country’s future demographic profile via lowering inequality and promoting sustainable, even if slower, GDP growth which is both less dependent on financial leverage and in harmony with nature.
Executive pay is a powerful motivating factor. But investors need to consider whether executive pay incentives are fully aligned with the goals of the business. We find that companies with meaningful ESG goals embedded in their executive compensation schemes tend to have a better understanding of the ESG factors that are material to their business, use specific key performance indicators (KPIs) and are more likely to achieve them.
As the globe enters the waning months of 2021, concerns over inflation, the delta variant of COVID-19 and the unwinding of easy-money policies loom large for markets. Despite this, we believe that the business cycle is still in a recovery phase, although it’s maturing. We expect more cyclical upside for economic growth outside the U.S. in the months ahead, allowing market leadership to rotate toward the rest of the world.
The stage looks set for a taper without any tantrums.
The analytic framework for providing retirement income planning advice must use marginal tax rates and not tax brackets.
Investors and financial advisors alike want to understand the fascinating trends that are transforming the investment industry.
Today, I want to show you how richly valued the market is and then review some of the top risks that could force it downward. Like those sandpiles I talk about, we don’t know exactly what will trigger a collapse. We know something will do it. Sandpiles don’t grow to infinity.
For years climate scientists have warned about the ferocious wildfires and hurricanes that are now overwhelming many communities.
Following the strong performance in the first half of the year, economic growth was bound to moderate in the second half. Growth is still expected to be strong by historical standards. Yet, it may be disappointing for some investors.
There’s a fallacy among advisors that selecting a platform partner is an either/or proposition: a TAMP or an open-architecture solution. There is a middle ground. Some describe it as a “full-service portfolio management platform.” The team at SEI calls it a TechstodianSM.
People in this category equate net worth with their self-worth. They may hold beliefs such as, "The higher your earnings, the more successful you are."
Robinhood Markets Inc. is testing new crypto wallet and cryptocurrency transfer features for its app, a long-awaited move that will make it easier for customers to send and receive digital currencies like Bitcoin.
Emergency unemployment benefits in the U.S. expired two weeks ago, but employers who expected an increase in job applications are still largely waiting for them to roll in.
On the latest edition of Market Week in Review, Chief Investment Strategist Erik Ristuben and Head of Portfolio & Business Consulting Sophie Antal Gilbert discussed U.S. consumer prices and wages, key factors impacting U.S. small businesses and home sales in China.
You think you know what a green bond is? The boundaries are starting to fall away and the definitions are changing. It's a blurry line between greenwashing and an instrument that might actually do some good.
We don’t disagree the S&P 500 could well hit a target of 5000. But, let us be honest about the reasons why...
The bond market has been in hibernation for months, and investors may have become complacent about risks.
It's been a good year for U.S. stocks, but is the run nearing an end?
The Northern Trust Economics team shares its outlook for the U.S. economy.
As the Democrats’ budget bill takes shape, higher education policy is once more a point of contention.
COVID-19 has increased inequality and aggravated social problems across emerging market economies, fueling populist pressures—but several emerging countries share features that make them particularly vulnerable. Assessing key environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics can help identify potential pressure points.
Applying a relatively single-indicator trend-following strategy is an excellent way to obtain meaningful exposure to the overall market with significantly lower downside risk and higher long-term risk-adjusted returns.
Consistent with human experience over the last several centuries, conventional wisdom holds that innovation and technology have all but eliminated the limits to economic growth. But new scholarship – from outside the realm of traditional economics – contends that this is not true.
Among the most persistent questions I hear is why we don’t just adapt to the reality that the Federal Reserve will never again “allow” the market to experience a serious decline. The problem with this view is that it rests on the premise that Federal Reserve policy supports the market in a clear-cut and mechanical way, when its effectiveness actually relies on the speculative psychology of investors.
How do you choose between corporate and municipal bonds? Both have characteristics that can be useful in your portfolio, depending on your goals and circumstances, but they’re not right for every situation.
U.S. equity markets continued to rally in August, with all three major indices setting new record highs during the month. We did see some midmonth volatility, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.50 percent, while the S&P 500 experienced a 3.04 percent gain.
New research confirms that institutional investors, such as mutual funds, outperform the market before fees, and they do so at the expense of retail investors. That is bad news for retail investors and for investors in active mutual funds, who underperform after fees.
So much of life is managing risk. That’s true on a micro, personal-level scale as well as a macro, country-level scale. Crises often can’t be prevented. It’s how you deal with them that makes all the difference.
Remember how, in late 2018, the Financial Times declared “techlash” — the backlash against the giant U.S. technology companies and all they represent — word of the year?
The progressive climate agenda in the United States has blinders on when it comes to the global nature of the carbon problem, and the imperative of finding ways to secure the buy-in of emerging-market and developing economies, which are by far the main source of carbon-emission growth.
In early 2020, when COVID hit, the unemployment rate in the United States was 3.5%, wages for low-income earners were rising faster than wages for high-income earners, living standards were rising...the economy was on a roll.
As the Fed started to talk about “taper,” the “bulls” sent a stern warning with a 2% “crash” they shouldn’t. After a couple of weeks of several Fed speakers discussing the need to reduce monetary accommodation, a quick sell-off brought had Powell singing a “dovish” tone at the recent Jackson Hole summit.
Your client’s situation is unique. A special needs trust is not necessary or recommended for all clients or their families.
We’ve known about the need transition clients to a new advisor for three years, but suddenly we are running out of time.
Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs)—also known as blank-check companies—have gained immense popularity among investors since the beginning of 2020, despite being around for decades.
We are in an odd situation where it’s unclear if labor is scarce or abundant. Many employers can’t seem to find enough qualified workers, but the August jobs report said 8.4 million are unemployed and millions more underemployed.
Social Security is in worse shape than we thought. The program’s trust fund is now expected to be insolvent by 2033, a year earlier than anticipated. According to the annual report, its finances have been “significantly affected” by the pandemic and 2020 recession, not to mention “rapid population aging.”
Inflation remained in check following the global financial crisis for over a decade despite a massive expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet.
As the founder of the firm, I am concerned about our reputation and client satisfaction.
New research shows that the ESG portions of mutual funds underperformed the remainder of the funds and did so with higher risk. But the magnitude of those differences was small.
