November 19, 2019. By Mark Barry: The macro picture has become more supportive for US equity markets in recent weeks. Economic data is suggesting continued growth, monetary policy is becoming more accommodative, and rhetoric from the US and China indicates a possible détente in their ongoing trade dispute. All of these are important risk factors for the equity markets, and as such have dominated headlines in the business press (along with a … [Read more...]
Market Update: May 10th, 2019
May 10, 2019. By J.D. Wolfsberg: We have seen generally upward trending markets thus far year-to-date following the sell-off in the last quarter of 2018, with the S&P 500 (including dividends) up 15.31% so far this year. The Federal Reserve has observed that the US economy is still in its expansion, albeit at a slower pace. Economic data in the US has been positive thus far in 2019, with signs of slower growth from elsewhere in the world, … [Read more...]
Market Commentary: Outlook and Review
January 9, 2019. By Mark Barry: Despite strong US economic growth and a favorable environment for corporate America, the majority of asset classes struggled to deliver positive total returns for investors in 2018. While the year started off on the right foot, bearish sentiment dominated toward the end, with December being one of the worst on record for the US equity markets. The S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, and Russell 2000 indexes all … [Read more...]
Exchange Traded Funds or Mutual Funds?
August 23, 2018. By J.D. Wolfsberg: No one can accuse the financial world of being predictable. As the landscape continuously changes, so do the investment vehicles and products offered. Many investors feel they are better off purchasing a fund or ‘basket’ of securities rather than purchasing individual stocks, effectively competing against those with expansive expertise in the markets. There are certainly benefits to owning these baskets of … [Read more...]
Portfolio Commentary: Performance Benchmarking
July 25, 2018. By Mark Barry: After a year in which almost all asset classes exhibited solid positive returns, 2018 has been mixed thus far with respect to performance across the financial markets. In the United States stocks are up, with small caps handily outpacing large caps, while both international developed and emerging market equities are in the red. The bond markets have also had a tough go, with the majority of sectors posting … [Read more...]
No September Blues for Small Cap Stocks
October 12, 2017. By Mark Barry: Small cap stocks have been on a roll lately, with the Russell 2000 Index hitting several new all-time highs. For the month of September, the Russell 2000 Index (IWM) was up 6.2%, compared to a 2.1% gain for the S&P 500 Index (IVV). Although large cap outperformance has been the trend for the majority of the year thus far, this reversal has seen small cap stocks narrow the year-to-date performance gap. … [Read more...]
The Case for Investing in Smaller Hedge Funds
April 26, 2017. By Mark Barry: The market environment over the past several years has proved difficult for many hedge funds, with several high profile managers making headlines amid declining performance and the resulting loss of assets as investors seek to deploy capital elsewhere. Compounding this poor performance is the fact that hedge fund fees are relatively high compared to most other investment products, and investors are now much less … [Read more...]
Intelligent Index Review, Fourth Quarter 2016
January 17, 2016. By Richard Greene and Mark Barry: In what can best be described as the year of the improbable, equity markets ended the fourth quarter and 2016 in record high territories and registered strong returns across almost all equity sectors. The fact that the majority of gains were registered in the final seven weeks of the year following the election of Donald Trump is testimony to a radical change of sentiment that accompanied … [Read more...]
Investing “Responsibly” with SRI and ESG Factors
December 27, 2016. By Mark Barry: For many years, there has been increasing interest in Socially Responsible Investing (sometimes referred to as ethical or impact investing) from the investing public as well as institutional investors, particularly endowment and pension funds. Given this, we wanted to provide a brief overview on the topic, as well as provide our perspective. Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) integrates social and ethical … [Read more...]
Intelligent Index Review, Third Quarter 2016
November 4, 2016. By Richard Greene: Despite the crazy election rhetoric, the third quarter was the best of the year so far for the market and while economic data was mixed, consumer confidence reached post-recession highs. While economic conditions were relatively unchanged during the quarter the equity markets did manage solid gains. For the first time in several quarters small cap stocks and indices such as the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 … [Read more...]