When markets become volatile, many investors gravitate toward assets they perceive as “safe.” Cash, certificates of deposit (CDs), money market funds, U.S. Treasury securities, and high-quality bonds can all play an important role in a diversified portfolio. But “safe” doesn’t necessarily mean “risk-free.”

LPL Research analyzes rising U.S. debt, Treasury yields, and fiscal trends, highlighting implications for markets and investors.

Target-date funds have become a staple qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) because they help participants invest appropriately without requiring them to act. But as retirement nears, income needs become more pressing and financial situations diverge—a situation dynamic defaults seek to address.

Brent crude oil rose above $100 a barrel for the first time since July, while the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crossed $95, with varying impacts on energy ETFs. The price surge followed escalation in the Middle East conflict, including U.S. military strikes on five Iranian oil tankers and Houthi attacks on Saudi energy facilities.

From an earnings perspective, this summer proved to be a largely fruitful one for many companies within the S&P 500.

Join the experts from Stance Capital, SS&C ALPS Advisors, and VettaFi for an educational webcast to learn all about the mechanics of Section 351 and how to determine if an investor qualifies under IRS regulations.

The alternative is to be proactive by helping a grieving client name and address the financial concerns that loss creates, without ever rushing them. Doing that well takes two things: an understanding of how grief actually unfolds and a deliberate process for the conversation itself.

As clients come to advisory shops more informed, due to the plethora of financial advice available online, firms will need to be able to “stress test the information or bias” they arrive with. A comprehensive team, with training across advisory areas, can offer clients more depth of service.

When navigating leadership decisions that leave a team feeling underappreciated, offering benefit of the doubt can reduce personal frustration and help maintain productive daily interactions.

Every year, Americans send hundreds of billions of dollars of retirement savings to life insurers in return for annuities that promise a future income. It’s an industry built on trust and prudence.

At least a third of all Federal Reserve officials have said they would consider meeting less frequently to set interest rates, giving Kevin Warsh an early opening for one of the biggest structural changes he’s proposed as the central bank’s new chairman.

Defiance ETFs has submitted paperwork to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a series of leveraged funds that would seek to double the moves of some individual stocks — over periods measured in just hours, rather than days.

Donald Trump’s pledge to ensure that Bitcoin mining activity is centered in the US is rapidly disintegrating under the twin forces of the artificial intelligence boom and a prolonged crypto slump.

Chapter 3 of this series ended with a simple question. If the math so plainly says avoid big losses, respect valuations, and mind your timing, why does so much of the industry preach the opposite?

Equity markets can be as difficult to forecast as the weather, yet investors often assume future return patterns will predictably follow recent trends. In today’s turbulent market climate, we think fundamental research can help investors build conviction in long-term company forecasts that may be obscured by the AI-driven cloud cover.

Labor Day signals more than summer’s end. It marks a return of focus to the economic and market forces that will shape the remainder of the year. From resilient earnings and record AI spending to rising bond yields and the midterm elections, there is no shortage of forces shaping the market outlook.

If you’re planning on driving anywhere this Labor Day weekend, be prepared to pay the highest gas prices ever for this time of year. The national average hit $4.14 per gallon on Thursday, an approximately 30% increase from last year, according to AAA.

Bond markets around the world have trembled in the last week, as uncertainty continues to rise. A mix of geopolitical, trade, debt, and currency pressures have put immense pressure on yields. The Yen carry trade situation alone has soaked bond markets, but when combined with U.S. debt fears and Hormuz concerns, the picture has shifted.

To kick off our fourth season of the Alternative Allocations podcast series, I sat down with John Bowman, CEO of CAIA Association, to explore the massive changes underway across our industry. John and I discussed CAIA’s seminal paper “The World Rewired,” and the implications for private markets.

The Federal Reserve has spent the past four years trying to cool price increases through higher interest rates. The federal funds rate is still well above its pre-pandemic average, mortgage rates remain elevated, and borrowing costs for households and businesses are considerably higher than they were in the era of ultra-low interest rates.

Oil prices climbed further Tuesday, with Brent crude rising 1% to $97.95 a barrel and briefly touching $99.46, according to the Associated Press. The benchmark has climbed from around $72 over the past two months. Fighting tied to the war with Iran has clouded hopes for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to tankers.

The S&P 500 gained 2.7% in August 2026 and four indexes hit all-time highs, but only five of eleven sectors rose and the Fed’s speech at Jackson Hole put a rate hike back on the table.

Are investors overlooking a “stealth bear market” hidden beneath the strength of the broader market?

Join the experts at Cohen & Steers for an educational webcast exploring real assets and how they fit into client portfolios.

The U.S. ETF market reached $16.4 trillion in AUM in August 2026, driven by record product launches and a defensive shift to Treasuries.

The SEC wants to rescind a 15-year-old rule curbing political donations by investment advisers, aiming to ease compliance burdens for RIAs.

Direct venture investment rewards a rigorous, patient approach. The companies that generate exceptional returns tend to combine all three factors above: genuine growth momentum, clear category ownership, and strong institutional support.

The value of actively bringing the quieter partner into the conversation by turning toward them, making eye contact, and asking for their thoughts. Even if the answer is still a shrug, the question signals that their view belongs in the conversation.

Organizations are beginning to rethink how development projects are priced. One emerging approach is the use of a max-price software model. This establishes a predefined budget ceiling while allowing priorities to evolve throughout the project.

Chris Galipeau discusses high-conviction insights that go beyond media headlines.

Stock investors are caught between the pull of strong earnings and mounting macroeconomic risks, with key events carrying binary outcomes that argue for some protection.

I love ETF milestones and round numbers almost as much as I love watching football. There is something deeply satisfying about watching a fund hit a clean asset threshold. Crossing $500 million, $1 billion, or $2 billion in assets under management (AUM) is more than just a psychological victory. It signals real validation from financial advisors, provides greater liquidity, and lowers the risk of fund closure. Plus, as a fun bonus this week, our three featured funds all start with the letter B!

Around 2020, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook returned from a trip to Asia unusually energized about a new product category: foldable phones.

SpaceX’s stock has been stuck in a tight trading range recently, but a wave of new buying may soon arrive when the Nasdaq 100 Index goes through its quarterly rebalancing later this month.

A sudden reversal in momentum for previously high-flying shares of industrial companies over the past three weeks has some investors bracing for more pain ahead.

If you look deeply into a speculative bubble, you can already see the collapse. If you look deeply into a market collapse, you can already see the bull market. The road up and the road down are the very same road. Even so, aside from knowing that our investment position presently requires a safety net regardless of shorter-term conditions – we have utterly no opinions, preferences, or scenarios about the market outlook even a month or a quarter from now.

Before I discuss why I disagree with the “AI bears,” I want to state that I respect their opinions, have evaluated their concerns, and have simply derived a different set of conclusions. That is an important statement, because this particular group of “AI bears” includes some of the sharpest risk minds in the business, and they have been early to almost every warning that later mattered.

It's been 40 years since I began my career on Wall Street and the lessons I learned along the way from some all-time investment greats always hold true.

I haven’t always taken the most conventional approach to economics. In a world where many practitioners construct elaborate models to arrive at conclusions, I often find more value in simply following my instincts. During stressful times and paradigm changes, thinking outside of the equations is essential.

After a week of traveling abroad to meet with clients and discuss our outlook for the US economy and financial markets, we returned feeling the need to address a growing misconception, both in the United States and overseas, regarding the differences between the US and Chinese economies.

My goal with this letter will be to not interrupt your long weekend too much. But there are some things that are happening that are important. My basic thesis for quite some time has been that we are in a Muddle Through Economy, which I’ve always meant that to me the GDP will grow slightly south of 2% over time.

The “K-shaped” divide endures even as it evolves. Higher-income households keep benefiting from equity gains, home price appreciation, and solid earnings, while lower-income households face mounting pressure from elevated costs and tighter credit. But recent data suggest the story is becoming more nuanced.

Cerulli projects a $2 trillion surge in advisor-held alternatives over five years, as interval funds reshape how RIAs access private markets.

By combining a demographic framework with a value-driven investment approach, the Pictet Emerging Markets Rising Economies ETF (RISE) seeks to identify companies that are attractively valued and positioned to benefit from long-term structural growth. Join the experts at Pictet for a product due diligence session to learn more.

If you were Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang and you were laying out a few sector-shifting artificial-intelligence trends that could take shape over the coming months and years.

What if you could capture the potential gains of the S&P 500, but limit your losses if the market goes down? Or earn above-market income given the right stock market conditions? How about gaining some market exposure while protecting principal with FDIC insurance, up to applicable limits?

Apple Inc. has spent much of the past 15 years refining existing product lines and launching services to generate more recurring revenue. There have been a few fresh device categories, like the Apple Watch and AirPods, but no steady stream of new concepts.

For the past six weeks, we’ve walked through the forces creating America’s K-shaped economy, housing, healthcare, education, wages, incentives, and the political consequences when enough people decide the system is not working for them. This week let’s look at the situation from a more optimistic angle.