The U.S. repurchase agreement, or “repo” market, provides more than $3 trillion in short-term funding each day. Most repo transactions are overnight and are collateralized by Treasuries.
The dollar's strength, particularly against major Asian currencies, has triggered a wave of skittishness in financial markets. Can anything be done to stem the greenback's rise, and even if something can be done, should it?
Investors have seemed transfixed lately by endless news headlines on the path of monetary policy. But fiscal policy outcomes have far-reaching impacts on long-run growth and fundamentals in the world’s economies. On that score, many regions continue to wrestle with the challenges of deficits and debt.
Skepticism is warranted when inflation stories exclude bad news.
The finance world can get complicated, especially for the passive or uninterested investor. Let’s face it, some of us are not curious about sports, movies, exercise, reading, or other things while others of us carry a passion for them.
Investors are understandably frustrated by listed real estate investment trusts (REITs). The S&P Real Estate Select Sector Index is off 2.1% over the past three years, belying real estate’s reputation as an inflation-fighting group.
Active ETFs seem to be everywhere right now following a big boom over the last few years. While active ETF strategies have been available for many years, the so-called ETF rule in 2019 kickstarted ETF development.
Last week was quiet on the economic and data front. The one high frequency data indicator we did receive was jobless claims, which ticked up after a dull stretch of near constancy. The jobless claims figure came in at 231,000, which is at the higher end of my preferred range of 200-240k.
You will find it very difficult to find good value in stocks in a bull market like we’ve had since 2008. As Warren Buffett says – “You cannot invest in what’s popular and expect to do well.”
Happy National Small Business Day! Every year on May 10, small businesses are officially recognized for their contributions to the US economy. And rightfully so. Small businesses are the backbone of the US economy.
ESG integration is a trend financial markets are familiar with, but that doesn’t mean all asset classes are at the same levels of progress. ESG means different things to different people, and its integration into equity investment does not represent the same journey experienced in fixed income.
Franklin Templeton Institute’s Tony Davidow discusses democratization of alternative investments and the lessons learned from institutions that have historically used alternatives with Matt Brown, Founder and CEO of CAIS.
AI adoption will dent the fight against climate change.
Bank lending standards are still restrictive, underscoring the Fed's view that financial conditions remain tight and any resulting economic weakness could keep rate cuts in play.
One theory making the rounds is that if President Trump gets back into office, inflation is going to surge.
Markets seem to have been basking in the spring sun as they wait for the approaching summer heat, so to speak.
In this issue of Sinology, Andy Rothman offers his perspective on two key questions.
The latest FOMC meeting caused a stock rally as Jerome Powell turned more “dovish” than expected. While Powell did note that progress on inflation has been lackluster, the announcement of the reversal of “Quantitative Tightening” (QT) excited the bulls.
Any way you care to measure it, the United States has the world’s largest economy. It is not, however, the fastest-growing economy. And growth rates matter because, other things being equal, a faster-growing economy might eventually challenge US leadership.
Premiums and discounts are a popular metric to gauge the trading health of an exchange-traded fund (ETF). David Mann, our Head of Global ETFs Product and Capital Markets, updates his views on this metric with football (aka soccer) analogies from across the pond.
As an advocate of sound fiscal policy and a strong believer in the power of free markets, I find Argentina’s recent economic overhaul under President Javier Milei not just refreshing but essential in today’s world of bloated government spending.
As long as ETFs stay true to their original mindset of solving investor problems, growth is the only path forward. Current product development suggests that’s the most likely case.
Amit Dholakia of Franklin Mutual Series explains why some US capital goods companies may be off to the races after years of merely plodding along.
As institutional investors, we most often represent risk as standard deviation or tracking error. But when we implement changes in our portfolios, the real-time risk happens much faster.
Active management can help investors address some of the especially tricky issues in sustainable equity portfolios.
Do presidents and prime ministers make economies? Or do economies make presidents and prime ministers? 2024 is a year of significant elections, with more voters heading to the polls worldwide than ever before.
US housing has weathered surging mortgage rates. Thin inventory and pent-up demand could create opportunity.
Legislation is driving a renewed focus on workers without workplace savings plans, creating opportunities for both wealth advisors and retirement specialists. Our Retirement Strategist Mike Dullaghan discusses the trends.
Life is full of surprises. If you don’t have a crystal ball, you can’t really predict what may come next in your life—or in the markets. That’s why we should always be prepared for any potential situation.
Investors have been obsessed with when the Fed will cut and how many rate cuts there will be this year and over the entire cycle.
In this PIMCO Perspectives, we examine how the return of elevated bond yields comes at an opportune time to consider shifting out of cash.
Hong Kong's prospects are closely linked to the outlook for China.
A recap of the important drivers, along with our views on how things will play out over the rest of the year.
Stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities have made significant moves in the past few months. Find out what factors to consider when deploying or redeploying capital from Franklin Templeton Institute’s Stephen Dover.
We think the intersection of hope and fear offers opportunity across asset classes and market segments. Tapping into it, however, requires in-depth research and a discerning eye. Waiting for a clarion bell to ring before deploying capital might leave investors a step behind.
Over the last five years, financial markets grappled with two generational upheavals—the Covid pandemic and the subsequent inflation surge post the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Rather than wait for interest rate cuts, some companies are opting to simply offload debt, which could be a boon for corporate bonds.
The tendency of high earners to spend their money rather than looking to build up their net worth is known as the wealth paradox.
Investors often forget that nothing in the financial markets is permanent. Regardless of the hype or castigation, what’s hot eventually becomes cold and what’s cold eventually becomes hot. While we remain very skeptical of today’s market’s heroes, we think the range of investment opportunities is historically broad, historically attractive, and a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
At the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting we marked what we believe is the end of an era both for Berkshire and for the S&P 500 Index.
It seems that every few years, the term “stagflation” gets floated around to describe the current and/or prospective U.S. macro landscape.
So much happened in the spring of 2020 that it’s easy to forget we were on track for a recession just before COVID hit. QI Research founder Danielle DiMartino Booth mentioned this during her presentation with Lacy Hunt at our Strategic Investment Conference.
It can be easy to overthink the markets and it is human nature to try to out-guess, out-maneuver, or out-smart the average, but perhaps we can step back and simplify what seems to be occurring.
Shifting dynamics among global economies and markets present a range of opportunities for multi-asset portfolios.
Are the Next Top 10 best performing S&P 500 stocks in 2023 good investments now in 2024?
Franklin Templeton Fixed Income CIO Sonal Desai discusses why persistently loose fiscal policy, relentless price pressures and resilient economic growth may cause a problem for the US Federal Reserve—and explains the implications for bond yields.
VettaFi looks at the expected growth in US LNG export capacity and how midstream/MLPs benefit.
The TCW Group announced that two of its mutual funds have been converted into ETFs, offering focuses on growth and artificial intelligence.
As of last week, the total return of the S&P 500 was even with 3-month Treasury bill returns since the valuation peak of January 2022, more than two years ago. In our view, investors continue to “grasp at the suds of yesterday’s bubble,” ignoring extreme valuations, lopsided bullish sentiment, emerging pressure on profit margins, economic conditions at the border of recession...
Over the last two weeks, the bullish sentiment index has reversed from extreme greed to fear. The composite net bullish sentiment index, comprised of professional and retail investors, fell from 38.15 to 9.9 in two weeks.
