Tax Planning

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.

Markets are convinced that the Federal Reserve (Fed) is going to pause its interest rate campaign after it finalizes its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday, September 20.

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.

The Energizer Bunny! That’s the term that best describes the U.S. economy.

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.

Some investment trends seem obvious — people are watching more streaming movies, consumers like shopping online, and more people are buying electric cars. So why don’t these ETFs always work?

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.

ETFs are the instrument of choice for millions of investors in the U.S. Through a single trade and for a relatively low price, an investor gains broad exposure to a market, sector or niche.

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.

Known as “onsemi” for short, this Knowledge Leader is a global leader in intelligent power and sensing solutions for industries ranging from automotive to industrial, and from 5G & cloud power to medical solutions.

PIMCO’s Global Advisory Board discusses economic and geopolitical factors shaping the long-term global outlook.

There has been lots of speculation lately regarding China’s economic “decline” or potential economic “perils,” so much so that newspaper articles about the coming demise of China’s miracle economic growth over the previous decades continue to take (our) time away from other, perhaps, more important topics.

Higher yields on cash have allowed some de-risking.

Changes in sentiment may drive the performance of the Eurozone equity markets, even with disappointing economic data.

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

The U.S. dollar has dropped to its lowest level against other currencies in 15 months. In this environment, a wide range of assets stand to profit, not least of which is the AI-infused U.S. technology sector. However, no space stands more ready to benefit from this environment than emerging markets..

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.

Oil has entered a new uptrend after finally breaking out from nearly a year-long bottom formation. Support from OPEC+, notably Saudi Arabia’s one million barrel per day production cut for the remainder of the year, has been a major driver of the rally.

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

High-yield bonds, often referred to as “junk” or “speculative grade,” are corporate bonds that command a higher interest rate than other bonds. This higher yield is essentially compensation for the increased risk of default that investors assume when purchasing these securities.

Resilient consumer spending has been a pillar of the US economy. While activity may soften, we think the consumer will help the coming slowdown stay mild.

With government stimulus over, accumulated savings starting to become depleted, rents soaring, and student loans about to switch back on, it appears a credit cycle has begun where borrowers struggle to fulfill their financial commitments.

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.

The August jobs report confirms the labor market's continued slowdown, which is for now consistent with the Fed's soft-landing desires—but not without warning signs.

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.

Seven mega-cap US-based companies – Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Nvidia, Tesla, and Meta (Facebook) – have stayed top of mind for many investors this year.

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.

Last week we changed our economic forecast because the economy has remained stronger than we expected. We delayed the start of the recession to the first quarter of 2024 rather than the last quarter of 2023.

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.

There are differing opinions all around, but some reputable sources like Goldman Sachs are saying it’s increasingly unlikely. Yet the Fed is going to be raising rates further, from what it looks like because inflation is higher than they want.

Xylem is a leading innovator of water solutions. This Knowledge Leader harnesses smart technology to provide water, wastewater, and energy solutions to a diverse range of sectors, from agriculture and aquaculture to commercial buildings and energy.

There’s one question I try to answer with any beaten-down stock: Is this a good company with temporary, solvable issues?