Strengthening Portfolios with Less Understood Tools
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 …
Big (AI) Wheel Keeps On Turning, The Economy & Markets Keep On Rollin’
Back in 2023 when we were writing our 2024 Outlook, we decided to call it Seeing Eye to Eye, with a bit of a pun on “AI to AI.” We knew then that the AI impact was coming but also knew we were in early days. In fact, we expected relatively little direct impact on …
Shutdown…but Not Out
In this episode, Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist, and Sonu Varghese, VP, Global Macro Strategist, tackle the market implications of the ongoing government shutdown, the surge in gold prices, and what investors should expect from the Fed. They also dig into the booming AI investment cycle, shifting momentum across market caps, and why the …
Semiconductors Surge, But Is Caution Warranted?
Semiconductors have been one of the best performing groups of stocks in the past 6 months. The group’s fearless leader, Nvidia, continues to lead from the front, but a smaller corner of the semiconductor industry – memory providers – have shone even brighter. While recent price action in the stocks of memory providers has been …
Never Mind the Shutdown, Here’s What Really Matters (in 11 Charts)
Welcome to Day Three of the government shutdown, thanks to which we didn’t get the September payroll report that would have been released on Friday, October 3. Right now prediction markets over at Kalshi are forecasting a 15-day shutdown, with the odds of a shutdown that lasts over 35 days at just 14%. I think …
ETF as a Share Class: Progress!
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 …
A Quarter for the History Books. Now What?
“October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.” —Mark Twain What a Month and Quarter “Wow” is about all you can say for what just happened. Yes, historically August and September tend to be weak …
Talking Gold, Crypto, and More With Jan van Eck
In this special episode of Facts vs. Feelings, recorded live at Excell 2025 in Phoenix, hosts Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist, and Sonu Varghese, VP, Global Macro Strategist, sit down with Jan van Eck, CEO of VanEck, to discuss gold, crypto, ETFs, and the future of investing. From the history of the first U.S. …
Are Stocks in a Bubble?
“By many measures, for example, equity prices are fairly highly valued.” Jerome Powell, Tuesday, September 23, Speech to the Providence Chamber of Commerce That recent comment by Fed Chair Jerome Powell helped spark the recent three-day selloff in equities. No, it wasn’t just that comment alone, but those words did add some worry for investors. …
To The Ryder Cup’s Victor Goes The Outperformance
The Ryder Cup tees off this week. It’s sure to be a battle on the course. It’s also shown itself to be a battle for market returns. Since 2000, the winning team’s market has outperformed the loser’s market by an average of 1.6% into the end of the year! There may be both pride and …
Is This Like 1929? Not Really
Here we go again. The crash guy has been let out of his box. The Wall Street Journal had an article this week, where a fund manager says he sees conditions akin to 1929, when stocks crashed. The “silver lining” here is that he thinks this is like the early part of 1929, when stocks …