Articles authored by Grant Engelbart

The holidays are here, and so is the gift that keeps on giving. Traditional mutual funds have enjoyed three strong years of equity market returns and an even longer period of consistent outflows. Taken together, that is a recipe — as good as grandma’s pumpkin pie — for another banner year for capital gains distributions. …

The recent drawdown from all-time highs (-5% intraday at the time of this writing) has done nothing to tarnish a great year for broad equity markets. With any strong run in the market, examining where valuations end up as a result is a worthwhile exercise. Often, price appreciation is warranted on the back of strong …

We have come a long way since I last published a Carson Quilt chart, and the situation at that time for market returns was immensely different. Commodities were leading the way, up just 2.1% for the year, followed by fixed income, illustrating how the diversifying parts of a portfolio can be beneficial when the going …

Through generations of boom and bust in investing—granted all boom for those who think long term—there are terms and phrases that elicit positive and negative emotions. Perhaps the most famous and most widely cited is “this time is different” invoked during nearly every financial bubble or subsequent crisis. Don’t worry—I am not going to utter …

Earlier this week, the SEC provided guidance that Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) would be granted ‘relief’ to offer an ETF share class of their mutual funds. This tool has existed for decades but was exclusive to Vanguard until its patent expired in 2023. Since then, more than 70 firms have applied for the use of …

Navigating financial markets is always challenging, and this year has been no exception. Fixed income is an asset class that is often labeled as boring – which is realistically what we want it to be: boring and steady – but has been anything but. Over the past year, the U.S. Treasury yield curve has shifted …

Stock market concentration has gathered an increasing number of headlines in recent years. Starting with Apple reaching a $1 trillion market capitalization in 2018, “The Four” eventually became the “Magnificent Seven” and all eyes were on these technology and communication giants. Transforming daily life and growing earnings at a rapid pace, these largest stocks have …

Nearly all S&P 500 companies have reported earnings for the second quarter of 2025, with the notable exception of Nvidia, which we will cover in detail next week. Spoiler alert: earnings results were quite solid despite the uncertainties. A.I. companies shined, particularly in the “Mag 7” (as we discuss here and here), but there were …

In our writings and conversations about the markets or portfolios, it would be rare for a mention of momentum not to come up (see a couple of recent writings here and here). Either via the market’s continued strong momentum off of the April lows, or the factor itself — which we utilize in portfolios as …

Let’s go back to basics (it’s not quite back-to-school time) to discuss a topic that can occasionally cause communication issues for investors of all types. While the yield to maturity on an individual bond is typically the best predictor of total return, as we’ve noted in many of our Market Outlooks, the current yield on …