The third quarter of 2024 saw a clear reversal in market leadership, with the Low Volatility and High Dividend factors performing the best while the Momentum and Growth factors performed the worst.
Been with the same employer for 10 years or more? That doesn’t exactly make you a rarity in the US, where 30.2% of employed wage and salary workers were in that situation as of January 2024, according to data released last month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And while this percentage is down from a decade ago, it’s close to where things stood for the much of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
Some of the latest reads show growing momentum in the housing and homebuilding sectors. Investors can capitalize on this with targeted ETFs.
Advisors and their clients who seek to take advantage of the potential rewards of private equity investing should understand the performance dispersion between top- and bottom-performing managers, a factor that heightens both the risk and opportunity. Since private equity investments are designed to be long-term investments where capital can be locked up for years, getting the manager selection wrong can be a vexing obstacle to success.
Two major labor unions, the Dock Workers Union and the Boeing Machinists Union, have attempted to reach an agreement with their employers on a contract. The dock workers agreement proposes an average 8.5% per year wage increase over six years, and the Boeing Machinists Union’s proposal is for an average 7.5% wage increase over four years.
Volatility creates a number of challenges for advisors and investors, but also opportunities for those who know where to look.
The period from 1956-1966 offers lessons we can apply to today's bull market, regarding technological progress, market fundamentals and more.
Volatile interest rates have spurred investment capital into motion. Clients often ask where they should allocate on the yield curve.
Today’s U.S. markets are highly concentrated, with nearly 70% of the economic profit in the S&P 500 Index generated by the top 10 companies.
If you listen to tech industry leaders, business-sector forecasters, and much of the media, you may believe that recent advances in generative AI will soon bring extraordinary productivity benefits, revolutionizing life as we know it. Yet neither economic theory nor the data support such exuberant forecasts.
US sales of previously owned homes declined to an almost 14-year low in September as prospective buyers waited for a further decline in mortgage rates and more attractive asking prices.
Determining your client’s risk tolerance is a critical first step in constructing a tailored investment portfolio.
With third quarter GDP being reported next Wednesday – less than a week before election day – the US is still not in recession.
Global oil markets are working through many disruptions.
Advisors recommend having a clear understanding of how giving will align your values – and also be the most tax efficient.
Price action in some of the world’s most risk-sensitive assets is signaling concern that the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin lowering interest rates may have been premature — or unsustainable.
Housing prices matter to everyone, even if you aren’t trying to buy, sell, or rent a home. They are the key to inflation, which drives Fed policy and interest rates, which drive financial markets. We’re all part of this, like it or not. Today we’ll review what is happening.
Just 5% of board directors are under the age of 50. But research indicates that more age-diverse boards may possess unique business advantages.
Markets broadened as anticipated. After the strong rally, our investment models advise a reduction in risk-appetite.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently released its second-quarter GDP report for 2024, showcasing a 2.96% growth rate. This number has sparked discussions among investors and analysts, particularly those predicting an imminent recession.
Vietnam may be quickly outgrowing its role in the global tech industry as the attractive manufacturing sidepiece to China.
The disruptive effects of the pandemic are still reverberating across the economy and giving incorrect signs, in this case, of the U.S. labor market.
Our research shows that on average U.S. stocks performed well a year after the start of a Federal Reserve rate cut cycle.
Quarterly recap: Fed rate cut and Chinese stimulus take the spotlight.
Foreign investors have been buying more US corporate bonds, a trend that will likely continue as Federal Reserve monetary easing lowers the cost of hedging and investors hunt for yield.
Elon Musk unveiled Tesla Inc.’s highly anticipated self-driving taxi at a flashy event that was light on specifics, leaving investors questioning how the carmaker expects to achieve its ambitious goals.
The 2022 broad market downturn across major asset classes came as a nasty surprise to investors. Historically, such an event is very rare, and no one was expecting to see almost all asset classes down for the year. Yet, even though it might seem as if diversification was of no help in 2022, the story changes if we look beyond the major headline asset classes.
In the last year, we’ve written about the poor performance of clean energy, while highlighting the strong long-term outlook for the sector and the attractive valuations. These are typically the sorts of things we focus on…valuations and the long-term fundamental prospects for companies. We tend to shy away from overanalyzing short-term market dynamics.
Alpha (α) is a fundamental yet poorly understood concept in finance. Simply put, it is the difference between the return of an investment and that of a risk-adjusted benchmark. In a more advanced definition, alpha is the residual in an asset pricing equation (see Appendix A). Alpha is what active managers strive to achieve and passive managers do not pursue.
Tougher stances on trade are a point of bipartisan agreement.
Last week marked the beginning of the end of one of the most rapid interest rate hiking cycles in U.S. history.
The federal debt is already $35 trillion and currently rising by roughly $2 trillion every year – with no end in sight. As a result, some investors are worried that the US could become a 21st Century version of Argentina: completely bankrupt and unable to pay the bills.
We bring together historical and real-time analysis for insight into the economy, markets, and potential alpha opportunities and risks we’re watching.
Monetary policy began to transition from restrictive to neutral last quarter, and we’re optimistic that continued easing can prevent a hard landing.
The Wasatch team shares lessons they’ve learned on business models, portfolio management, management teams and markets.
The various bestselling books on income inequality cite a variety of driving factors. Robert Kuttner blames global capitalism. Paul Krugman pins it on bad domestic economic policies. Thomas Piketty writes of capitalists as if they are rentiers, extracting royalties from the system.
About eight in 10 investors (81%) believe they must fund their own retirement as opposed to relying on private and public pensions.
Nvidia Corp. insiders have cashed in on shares worth more than $1.8 billion so far this year — and more selling is on the horizon.
An analysis of Presidential Candidate Trump’s policy proposals recently suggests that tax cuts will increase the deficit. While the raw analysis is correct, as it subtracts the potential for reduced tax collections from the tariff revenue, it ignores the impact on economic growth.
Companies and governments around the globe spent the past month streaming into debt markets, seizing on declining interest rates ahead of an uncertain US presidential election that many fear will spur volatility in markets.
Like it does once every year, last week the Commerce Department went back and revised its GDP figures for the past several years. And while the top line revisions to Real GDP were pretty small, there was a larger revision to corporate profits.
The last two years brought challenges for investors across all walks of life, but particularly for retirees.
Sand. Salt. Iron. Copper. Oil. Lithium. These, not petabytes or algorithms or innovative ideas, are the building blocks of human life as we know it. At least that’s what Ed Conway, author of Material World, tells us.
Gold has forged multiple new record highs so far this year, and is now up some 30% year to date, 3.5% in the past week alone.
Following the first half of 2024, the NDX succumbed to significant selling pressure as investors fretted about AI-related tech spending.
When stock markets rise, the bullish narrative tends to dominate, overlooking the potential impact of market declines. This oversight stems from two main problems: a basic misunderstanding of math and time’s critical role in investing.
Historically, investors have struggled to add meaningful alpha through security selection. A dynamic new credit scoring approach could change that.
Schwab Sector Views is our six- to 12-month outlook for stock sectors, which represent broad sectors of the economy. The Schwab Center for Financial Research (SCFR) combines a factor-based approach with a market and economic assessment to determine the ratings. For the basics on sectors, please see Stock Sectors: What Are They? How Are They Used?
Not surprisingly, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are floating opposite approaches to modifying the corporate tax code. If enacted, both proposals would significantly impact corporate profits and, thus, share prices. Currently, the plans are only campaign promises
Policymakers indicated that more interest rate cuts were likely in coming months.
