The year 2021 will be remembered as one in which markets tumbled down a rabbit hole and entered financial wonderland: A once-elite undertaking became more populist, tribal, anarchic and often downright bizarre.
President Joe Biden extended the pause on federal student-loan repayments by another three months as the U.S. faces a fresh wave of Covid-19 cases from the omicron variant, removing a near-term threat to millions of Americans’ finances.
Before we bid farewell to 2021 let's take a look back at some of our favorite milestones.
The S&P 500 will probably end next year with a gain, while yields on 10-year Treasuries and the price of oil will climb as well. That’s according to nearly 900 Bloomberg Terminal clients who responded to a survey conducted by our Markets Live blog in the first two weeks of December.
Die-hard dip buyers are bracing for even more volatility -- and bigger, more enticing dips -- in the run-up to Christmas.
In 2021, at least 40 residential properties sold for more than $50 million in the U.S., according to data compiled by the appraiser Miller Samuel.
Oil climbed with equities as traders resumed buying risk assets following a two-day rout.
Warm weather, no state income taxes, palm-fringed beaches and condos have made Florida the quintessential U.S. retirement destination. But a little shore town in New Jersey seems to be taking some of its shine.
There was a lot of yelling when I was there from 1999 to 2008, but there was a lot of a bank’s own capital being committed and a lot of risk being transferred. I probably did more yelling than anyone, and I got yelled at plenty. But at the end of the day, nobody took anything personally.
As is our custom, we conclude the year by reflecting on the 10 most-read market and economic commentaries over the past 12 months.
We conclude the year by reflecting on the 10 most-read AP Charts & Analysis articles over the past 12 months. These are updated frequently depending on the release of data, but in 2021, these were the most popular topics.
Great articles don’t always get the readership they deserve. We’ve already posted the most-widely read articles for the past year. Here are another 10 that you might have missed, but I believe merit reading.
As is our custom, we conclude the year by reflecting on the 10 most-read practice management articles over the past 12 months.
As is our custom, we conclude the year by reflecting on the 10 most-read investment and planning articles over the past 12 months. Tomorrow, we will highlight the 10 most-read practice management articles.
A return to the office means a return to the commute. Less time with family. Less time for your health. All to do the same work for the same company at a different desk.
In your meetings, hand the reins to the client. You may find that your initial assumptions weren’t valid.
We need to do year-end planning but in past years it hasn’t gone well.
Capitalism’s death warrant was signed on March 19, 1968. That is when President Lyndon Johnson eliminated the requirement that the Federal Reserve back the U.S. dollar with gold reserves.
Investors in the booming ethical bond market are having to swallow short term losses on the road to improving their green credentials.
The U.S. investment-grade loan market is set to return to normality in 2022 after loans delayed early in the pandemic were shifted into this year, making it among the busiest on record, according to some of the market’s lead deal arrangers.
An exceptional year for wealthy Americans, at least in terms of their financial health, just got better.
Bond traders suspect the Federal Reserve will quickly discover it’s being too ambitious with its newly hawkish stance.
Of the many economic reports that the U.S. government puts out each month, the one looking at the number of homes on which builders have started construction doesn’t come close to matching the interest of investors, economists and politicians...
To envision the future of crypto, I keep trying different analytical tools. This time around the concept of relevance is focality, by which I mean the part of the system at which consumers direct their attention.
Media attention has focused on the long-standing “4% rule” and how economic and demographic realities have reduced that guideline. This article discusses related considerations and provides opportunities for retirees dealing with the new normal.
Successful investors must answer three questions: Will we have serious inflation? Will interest rates increase? Will stock prices fall?
To obtain the best long-term risk-adjusted performance, investors should combine multiple trend-following factor strategies into a single portfolio.
The value for clients is higher with larger portfolios than small ones. The fees should be higher too.
No example of transformation is more well-known this time of year than that of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.
The best marketing doesn’t just attract people to your business. It also repels the people you don’t want to work with.
I haven’t written one of these rips in a while, so I thought as an end of the year celebration I’d bring the “six phrases” series back and the first roast will focus on my personal favorite: brokers.
The best tribute to Vanguard founder John C. Bogle near the end of his long life cannot be repeated without heavy censorship.
New research shows that companies that engender high employee satisfaction are rewarded with higher stock prices and investor returns.
In this interview, Spencer Logan discusses Harbor Capital’s recent launch of an active transparent ETF that uses a scientific approach to fixed income investing.
It has been my tradition to informally rate the investment-related books I read in the past year. I have also included some novels and books of general interest. Here is my list of winners and losers.
The dollar is on the rise, and with it comes underappreciated consequences.
Investors should hold off from ditching all their high-priced growth stocks for cheaper value shares as bond yields rise, at least until benchmark Treasuries yield 3%.
Lofty prices for parody coins. Celebrity-driven commercials for trading platforms. A frenzy over non-fungible tokens has enticed famous names including former first lady Melania Trump. Even after a pullback in the past month, the cryptocurrency market remains full of frothy behavior.
At the end of every year, I like to look back on my work and see which themes and findings are as striking now as they were months ago. I’ve chosen ten ideas – and the ten charts to go with them...
The extreme volatility from November 26 to December 3 caused many clients to panic. By using deep analytics, advisors can illustrate that this episode – and others like it – were not that unusual.
The biggest owner of stocks in the world tends not to look at the headline numbers provided by ESG ratings firms, and says only by digging into the underlying data does it find the information needed to guide portfolio decisions.
Betting on flashy names like Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Shaquille O’Neal and Martha Stewart to boost blank-check companies this year left investors mostly in the red.
The head of President Joe Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers expressed confidence that high inflation will fade in 2022 as supply bottlenecks ease and more Americans return to work, even as the price spike has proved more persistent than many economists had been expecting.
Surging gasoline demand may limit the success of the Biden Administration’s efforts to nudge pump prices much lower.
A food price surge propelled by supply chain snags, weather woes and pent-up demand is coming to an end, said the top executive of one of the world’s largest agricultural companies.
The finger-pointing has already started after data glitches resulted in the brief display of astronomical gains for many cryptocurrencies late Tuesday.
Federal Reserve officials intensified their battle against the hottest inflation in a generation by shifting to end their asset-buying program earlier and signaling they favor raising interest rates in 2022 at a faster pace than expected.
The Federal Reserve, caught embarrassingly offside in its view of U.S. inflation, had to do something to wrest back the narrative with its final policy decision of 2021.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said officials have begun to debate when to start shrinking the central bank’s massive balance sheet, but their approach the last time they did this may not be the best way this time around.
As advisors, it is up to us to help prospects and clients appreciate our full value.
