Articles authored by Grant Engelbart

The third quarter was a very strong one for markets, but in a different way than we have seen in recent periods. Leadership changed, often catching some managers off guard, but showing the broadening strength of this bull market. The chart below shows this simplistically, with the returns from Q3 in light blue, compared with …

United States Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) assets just hit $10 Trillion for the first time. That is still around half of the assets in traditional open-end mutual funds but the gap is closing quickly. An increasingly larger part of this growth is coming from active ETFs, which have accounted for roughly a third of ETF inflows …

The Federal Reserve has done all but carve in stone a September interest rate cut – market expectations are at 100% (70% for 25bps and 30% for 50bps). The broad bond market has been higher four months in a row as investors pile in ahead of cuts, pushing interest rates below 4% across maturities from …

Investment factors are characteristics of securities that explain their risk and return profiles over time. Factors such as value (buying inexpensive stocks), momentum (systematically owning recent outperformers), quality (high margin, low debt, high return on capital businesses), minimum/low volatility (stocks exhibiting lower beta or standard deviation), and size (small caps- lower market cap stocks), have …

The second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ethereum, has now made its way into US-listed exchange-traded funds. Last Tuesday, the SEC greenlit 9 products (one conversion) to begin trading in  a quiet and almost unexpected launch, especially relative to the craze seen earlier in the year surrounding Bitcoin ETFs. Ethereum was the logical approval after …

Well, that didn’t take long. Since the Fed’s decision to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday- presumably waiting on continued solid data supporting their case – the data confirmed otherwise. Thursday’s set of economic data saw initial jobless claims rise to their highest level in a year, alongside a weak manufacturing ISM number. Stocks fell …

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeting concluded Wednesday, leaving target interest rates unchanged, almost exactly a year after raising rates to their current level. In their statement and press conference, the committee acknowledged moderation of the labor market and the move higher in the unemployment rate. Chair Powell went beyond hinting when referring to …

We cover a lot of ground in our 2024 Midyear Outlook, but one area worth diving into more is non-US equities. Over the past 15 years, international stocks have only outperformed the U.S. stock market in 12.5% of rolling 12-month periods, not exactly compelling! This year has not started off any different, with the S&P …

Small cap stocks have been left in the dust by their larger-cap cousins since early 2023, with a few fits and starts along the way. Small caps showed strength coming out of the 2022 lows but were unable to build on their momentum as the Fed continued to raise interest rates until the summer of …

Omaha in May brings value investors from around the world to the ‘Woodstock of Capitalism,’ a chance to listen to Warren Buffett opine on life and his latest investments. The event serves as a good reminder to take time to step back and look at the long term. After an April swoon, a May rebound, …