Tax Loss Harvesting

Now seems like a good time to talk about wrappers and which ones are best for different situations. How do you decide whether to use an ETF, a mutual fund, or something else?

The FOMC will make some close calls and tough decisions.

Confidence is returning to the bond markets and one sign is corporations’ willingness to start taking on debt again with new issuance.

Despite substantial growth and huge advancements in public policy support, clean energy has had an abysmal stretch in the stock market the last two and a half years.

Credit Research Analysts Greg Schantz and Julian Wellesley dive into why they favor European banks vs US banks and why they see a potential opportunity in Yankee bank bonds.

Competing narratives have emerged to describe the state of the U.S. economy.

Soft consumer confidence and property-market woes are playing a large role in the slowdown of China’s economy.

The Northern Trust Economics team shares its outlook for U.S. growth, employment, interest rates and inflation.

AI, with its data analysis and predictive power, can revolutionize investing. However, humans remain a crucial part of the process. Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions provides use cases into how different investors can harness AI to achieve their desired outcomes and workflows.

BlackRock and Human Interest have found that American workers earning less than the national average are not saving due to lack of access to saving tools. Broadening access requires an intuitive and automated approach to retirement savings.

If held until the bond is redeemed (either by call or maturity), the annual yield earned for the life of a bond is known upfront at the time of purchase. Knowing the return on an investment upfront makes long-term financial planning a much easier task.

Hear from Jeff Schulze, Head of Economic and Market Strategy at ClearBridge Investments, about the state of the US economy. Get his perspective on the Federal Reserve’s next potential moves.

Municipals posted negative total returns amid rising interest rates. Issuance exceeded tempered expectations, while demand waned as performance struggled.

Measuring, anticipating and controlling the cost of healthcare are all difficult.

How long will the Federal Reserve continue quantitative tightening (QT)? How large will its balance sheet be when QT ends? These important questions impact financial market liquidity, the anchor of asset values. We assess the likely path of QT in the years ahead.

For the savvy private wealth investor, portfolio diversity is key to success. Investing in infrastructure is one option that can help you both optimize your portfolio and make a positive and meaningful impact on your local community.

In this first episode, Franklin Templeton Institute’s Tony Davidow discusses the democratization of alternative investments and related topics with CAIA’s John Bowman.

Since the beginning of the year, economic data has continued to defy the recession calls of 2022.

ESG has dominated advisors’ minds when it comes to looking at the current generation of young prospective clients. It remains a popular investment approach for millennial and Gen Z clients per surveys.

Higher yields on cash have allowed some de-risking.

We expect yields to fall later this year and into 2024 as inflation continues to cool.

Today's economic conditions are attractive for BDCs (business development companies), and some benefit from businesses seeking alternative financing sources.

In the final part of our series on global supply chains, portfolio managers Inbok Song and Sherwood Zhang look at the companies that are reconfiguring their networks and portfolio manager Vivek Tanneeru gives his assessment on the investment opportunities.

A hard landing in China would rattle Asian economies.

Innovative provider of custom indexes becomes a key part of a growing suite of VettaFi index solutions, which now power nearly $19 billion in ETFs and other vehicles.

Even though past performance doesn’t guarantee future results, investors should prepare for continued market volatility this month.

On the interest rate front, the Federal funds rate is now close to systematic benchmarks that have historically been consistent with prevailing core inflation, nominal GDP growth, and unemployment.

Tony Davidow, Senior Alternatives Investment Strategist, at Franklin Templeton Institute, shares some takeaways from a panel discussion on the topic.

For some organizations, a partial outsourcing of their investment program is preferable to total outsourcing. Despite this, some OCIO providers will still try very hard to sell companies on a full OCIO solution.

When you step back and think about it, it is hard to believe that this hugely important retirement benefit has only been around for just over 40 years.

Dina Ting, Franklin Templeton ETFs’ Head of Global Index Portfolio Management, explores the positive trends that are making a case for holding UK equities.

Back in the 1980s, President Reagan took enormous political heat (Sam Donaldson comes to mind) for being fiscally irresponsible. His offense? Presiding over a budget deficit that peaked at 5.9% of GDP in Fiscal Year 1983.

Diversifying a portfolio means spreading the investments across a variety of asset classes, industries and geographies.

Restricting the money supply will help contain inflation.

In general, portfolios can be split into growth assets and principal protecting assets. Growth assets tend to have greater risk coupled with greater income/reward.

As multi-asset income investors, we seek to help a wide range of clients meet their income needs. The benefits of an income-centric approach are especially relevant for investors as they enter retirement – and that’s especially true today. We bring that to life with two case studies.

About once a year, I have to address the issue of chasing the “10 Best Days” of the year.

Stocks are up 18.7% year-to-date, which is good news for portfolios and 401(k)s, but did you know that most of the heavy lifting has been done by a very small number of S&P 500 stocks?

Look up the word “cycle” in a dictionary, and you’ll find something like this: “A regularly recurring sequence of events.” Sounds simple, but that definition leaves a lot of ambiguity.

Advisors can capitalize on the expected transfer of wealth between generations, the expected wave of retirements among older advisors, and referrals from other professionals.

A steady stream of news helped drain enthusiasm from the equities markets through most of August, snapping a five-month growth streak at a time of the year known for cool market performance despite the swelter of its dog days.

Chief Diversity Officer Regina Curry and Franklin Templeton Head of Digital Assets Roger Bayston believe creating workplaces with intentional collaborative, inclusive, and debiasing practices can power great development environments.

Credit balances are not the only consumer indicator running high.

The S&P 500 closed August with a monthly loss of 1.71%, after a gain of 3.22% in July.

Adjusted earnings forecasts tend to overshadow reported earnings and add uncertainty to corporate outlooks.

The resilience of US growth, earnings and markets has been the big surprise of 2023. Stephen Dover, Head of Franklin Templeton Institute, opines on the factors at play—and whether they will last.

Given their overall credit risk versus safer government debt, corporate bonds may not get enough exposure in a retirement portfolio. However, they can serve a purpose as long as investors are aware of their nuances.

We believe the best way to add value is through relative positioning in sector allocations, individual security selection and along the yield curve, holding duration neutral overall. That approach, however, does not prevent us from having views on interest rates and we think bonds offer good value at current rate levels.

The Fed's asset portfolio is on an uncharted course.

Although high-yield bonds have performed well so far this year, we continue to take a cautious view.

The Northern Trust Economics team shares its outlook for major markets in the months ahead.