Articles authored by Grant Engelbart

I have heard the phrase “trillion dollars” more in the past couple of weeks than maybe ever before — so much so that it can be tempting to even shrug off as insignificant, but a trillion is anything but. This Wall Street journal video did a great job explaining the scale of one trillion dollars. …

“Are we in a bubble?” The question echoed over the sounds of Memorial Day weekend. As markets continue to make new highs – in some ways in extraordinary fashion – many investors are likely asking this same question. How long do you ride a wave until it crashes ashore? The short answer is there is …

I believe one of the most powerful and overlooked tools in portfolio construction is the use of factor investing. Factors are characteristics of stocks that help to describe their risk and return, offering another way to classify stocks, similar to sectors and industries. Factors can also replicate some of the things an active manager can …

Small Cap stocks have staged a strong rebound starting late in 2025 in both absolute and relative (to large caps) terms. Many investors are likely not aware that small cap stocks have not only outperformed large cap stocks over the past year, but done so by more than 10%! There are a few reasons this …

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to gather significant assets, generally at the expense of traditional open-end mutual funds (albeit not completely). In the first quarter alone, ETFs have taken in some $425 billion in net flows, while traditional open-end mutual funds have seen $92 billion in investors assets leave, according to Morningstar. Beneath the surface of …

Jargon alert! Tracking error is thrown around by investment professionals as often as “basis points”, “synthetic”, and “private credit” without a full realization of what the term means. Tracking “error” is an important concept that is only an “error” in certain situations and can be a good thing in other situations. Bear with me – …

Rising market volatility tends to lead to changes under the surface of markets, even if the headline index performance remains fairly range-bound. This is especially true today, as volatility has been steadily rising since the beginning of the year, and market leadership continues to shift. Much of the prior year’s leadership has sold off, while …

A resounding, and sometimes frustrating, feature of markets is that leadership change is inevitable over any period of time studied. The “A.I. Trade” has been prevalent for the past couple of years, absent some blips here and there (DeepSeek, Liberation Day, etc). In some ways, the A.I. trade has started turning upon itself – previous …

Like any good Midwesterner, the weather is top of mind most of the time, especially in the depths of winter. Like the stock market, there is no such thing as experiencing average temperature – just a combination of above-average and below-average. Right now, many of us are experiencing above-average temperatures and likely our first ‘false …

2026 is off and running, with an action-packed January and a further reminder that the oldest trick in the investing book still applies. That “trick” is, of course, diversification, which proved resilient in 2025 as we reminded investors in our 2026 Market Outlook. Now is an ideal time to consider the makeup and risk profile …