Cryptocurrencies

Gold’s recent surge to $3,500 was quickly followed by a sharp correction. Each tariff update or diplomatic rumor sends markets into a frenzy—rallying stocks, selling gold, or reversing course the next day.

The muted IPO market which has become commonplace in the last few years continued in that fashion through the first five months of 2025. However, the last few weeks has brought a renewed focus to dealmaking after a couple of highly anticipated IPOs began trading, and a cryptocurrency unicorn filed to IPO.

Last summer, if you recall, then-candidate Donald Trump made headlines as the first former U.S. president to speak at a Bitcoin conference. He pledged to lower the regulatory hurdles of the Biden administration, to kill Operation Choke Point 2.0, and to position the U.S. as the global leader in Bitcoin.

Amid a fair amount of market tumult, we wrote two months ago that the best course of action was to stay invested in roughly the same portfolios that we’ve had throughout, and let the market stabilize.

Actively managed ETFs pulled in approximately 40% of the industry flows through the first four months of 2025. These ETFs tap into professional expertise, which has been helpful in the volatile market environment. The latest model allocation changes made by BlackRock’s team will help more ETF-minded advisors have greater access to active strategies.

There’s a lot to like about the travel industry right now from an investment standpoint. You just have to know where to look.

My next few letters will share some initial thoughts from SIC organized around the major topics. Today we’ll start with inflation, and specifically the sharply different views of David Rosenberg and Jim Bianco, then balance them with some thoughts from other speakers.

For many of us, ETFs have been synonymous with passive management.

Innovative ETFs are making waves as investors look for fresh ways to navigate a market marked by rapid growth and ongoing volatility.

President Donald Trump’s first overseas trip since returning to the White House is turning heads across the aerospace & defense and semiconductor industries.

Bitcoin was launched in 2008. It was the following year when it was initially used as an actual currency.

A recent Gallup poll shows gold just passed stocks as Americans’ favorite long-term investment. We explore why it might deserve the top spot.

For my entire decades-long career in capital markets, I’ve made the case that gold is not just a shiny relic of the past, but a serious, strategic asset for modern investors. After years of pounding the table, it feels pretty good to say that the world’s central banks—and now the U.S. banking system—are finally catching up.

“Compounding” is a word often used among investors to describe what they hope to achieve for their capital. Compounding is invoked so frequently that one would think it was the standard aim and practice among investors.

If you’ve been inside a Walmart, Target or Home Depot in the past week, you may not realize that a trade war is underway between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies. Store shelves are well stocked, and prices have largely held steady.

While the S&P 500 index was almost unchanged in April, the dollar remained extremely weak, ending the month down over 4%.

President Donald Trump’s recent executive order revives many of the SDI’s ambitions, albeit with a modern twist. His January 27 directive launched what he first called an “Iron Dome for America,” later rebranded as the “Golden Dome.”

Are you a “speculator” or an “investor”? This is an essential question that every individual deploying capital into the financial markets must answer. The reason is that how you answer that question determines how you should behave during market cycles.

There's a tectonic shift unfolding in global finance—subtle in appearance, but profound in implication. The traditional signposts of market anxiety—stocks, bonds, even crypto—are being bypassed in favor of something far older: gold.

Investors are currently using leveraged ETFs to embrace market volatility, particularly in disruptive technology.

Even with tariff uncertainty, there’s no stopping the engine of ETF creation. More than 288 new ETFs have already launched this year.

Compare corporate and municipal bonds, including risks, returns, and tax benefits. Learn which bond type fits your investment goals.

In nominal terms, the yellow metal set multiple new all-time highs this week, exceeding $3,300 an ounce for the first time ever on Wednesday. And on an inflation-adjusted basis, gold also notched a new record price, surpassing the longstanding record set in 1980.

The first quarter of 2025 marked a significant departure from the preceding two years, which had been characterized by an improving global economy and correspondingly positive market returns. Market performance in Q1 was dominated by abrupt, short-term policy shifts rather than longer-term economic trends, and tariffs became the foremost concern for market participants.

Cryptocurrency prices, including bitcoin’s, have been turbulent this year. That’s weighed on shares of miners. Some relief could be in sight.

Spending cuts, tariffs and recession risk—Jan van Eck’s latest outlook breaks down what to watch and why he’s focused on gold, bitcoin, semiconductors and India.

Members of Congress from both parties were among the many caught off guard by last week's Rose Garden tariff announcement.

VettaFi head of sector and industry research Roxana Islam talked to T. Rowe Price PM Dom Rizzo on active tech ETF investing.

Global markets are in freefall in response to President Donald Trump’s universal 10% tariff on all goods being imported into the U.S., with as many as 60 countries facing “reciprocal” tariffs on top of that.

U.S. indexes suffered their worst day since the pandemic, hurt by Trump's massive tariffs that sparked recession fears. Almost every sector fell, with retailers and tech hard hit.

The stock market faces severe downside risk ahead, and the U.S. is constrained in the unsystematic monetary and fiscal expansion that both amplified that bubble and fueled record but wholly impermanent corporate profit margins. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy now faces an imminent recession, and if we fail to be vigilant, we, once united Americans, risk losing what is far greater and more valuable than money.

Stocks are mixed around midday after seeing some mid-morning buying as investors position ahead of tomorrow's "Liberation Day".

Investors just can’t get enough of ETFs, and issuers are more than happy to oblige. Through the middle of last week—still with a handful of days left in the quarter—208 new U.S. ETFs were launched in Q1, according to Wall Street Horizon data.

Markets sold off sharply Friday and in the early Monday hours, and I do not believe inflation data was the culprit.

Longtime Investor Alert readers have often seen me say that government policy is a precursor to change. What this means is that, when policymakers act—whether through subsidies, sanctions, tariffs or regulations—markets can sometimes respond swiftly and dramatically. We’re seeing that play out right now in real time, especially in the copper market.

The global economy is undergoing an unprecedented wave of industrial and infrastructure expansion, driving relentless demand for commodities across energy, metals and agriculture.

Without a robust regulatory framework that incentivizes stablecoin issuers to register in the United States, stablecoin activity will migrate to countries with weaker rules, increasing the likelihood of financial instability. Fortunately, the US can still head off these risks and reap the technology’s benefits.