Pzena Investment Management is well-known among financial institutions but is new to the advisor community. The firm was started by Rich Pzena, my guest today, in late 1995. It ended the first quarter of 2021 with $49.2 billion in AUM, which is an all-time high, and it has had positive net flows for the past four years. Rich and I will talk about the global deep value discipline his firm is known for, as well its concentrated, high-active-share strategies, and its bottom-up methodology that is focused on company-level research.

The 20th century Baby Boom was one of the most powerful demographic events in the history of the United States. We've created a series of charts to show seven age cohorts of the employed population from 1948 to the present.

Here's the latest on the three largest cryptocurrencies by market share: bitcoin, Ether, and XRP.

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) released this morning puts the year-over-year inflation rate at 4.16%. It is abovethe 3.76% average since the end of the Second World War and above its 10-year moving average, now at 1.73%.

As the S&P 500 has grown ever more top-heavy, many investors in products tied to the Index have found themselves facing historic levels of concentration risk, the likes of which passive investors have not seen since 1970. The five largest companies have grown to account for nearly 22.0% of the index, potentially leaving investors vulnerable if the companies’ current high valuations fall back to earth. In this session, Invesco will discuss why an equal weight approach to investing in the S&P 500 may provide diversification benefits and reduce concentration risk.

The world’s largest SPAC – Pershing Square’s “tontine” – is “deeply engaged” in a transaction that could close in the next few weeks, according to Bill Ackman.

The US Centers For Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that the US birth rate plunged for its sixth consecutive year in 2020. The US fertility rate also hit a new record low. Demographers are puzzled at this potentially troubling trend...

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs)—also known as blank-check companies—have gained immense popularity among investors since the beginning of 2020, despite being around for decades.

The switch on the U.S. economy is readying to come fully “on,” more than a year after the global pandemic forced abrupt closures around the world and across industries.

The NASDAQ is falling as tech stocks begin to show cracks in their armor. Of course, according to Mr. Valuation the reason is simple – most tech stocks are overvalued.

Widespread lockdowns have resulted in record output declines and soaring debt across the euro area. But the political response to the COVID-19 crisis may be positive for the European integration project—and for euro-area bond markets.

The smallest companies in the market may be overlooked by many investors, but can offer big potential. Here, we posed some questions about micro-capitalization (microcap) stocks to Franklin Mutual Series Portfolio Manager Oliver Wong, who explains how they have fared recently and where he’s finding opportunities.

Here is a table showing the annualized change in Headline and Core CPI, not seasonally adjusted, for each of the past six months. Also included are the eight components of Headline CPI and a separate entry for Energy, which is a collection of sub-indexes in Housing and Transportation. We can make some inferences about how inflation is impacting our personal expenses depending on our relative exposure to the individual components.

Let's do some analysis of the Consumer Price Index, the best-known measure of inflation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) divides all expenditures into eight categories and assigns a relative size to each. The pie chart illustrates the components of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers, the CPI-U.

We've updated this series to include the April release of the Consumer Price Index as the deflator and the monthly employment update. The latest hypothetical real (inflation-adjusted) annual earnings are at $43,774, down 5.7% from 45-plus years ago.

Has the storm passed for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.?

The median price for a single-family home in the U.S. rose the most on record in the first quarter, as buyers fought over a dearth of inventory, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Inheritance tax could make a return to the political agenda after decades of declining use as governments try to repair public finances and address widening inequality after the pandemic.

The once red-hot SPAC market has gone cold.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the April Consumer Price Index data this morning. The year-over-year non-seasonally adjusted Headline CPI came in at 4.16%, up from 2.62% the previous month. Year-over-year Core CPI (ex Food and Energy) came in at 2.96%, up from 1.65% the previous month and above the Fed's 2% PCE target.

Outperforming the market, requires looking different than the market. Actively managed, concentrated portfolios are one way to help diversify risk while adding to alpha potential and can be a welcome complement to passive allocations. At Diamond Hill, our equity strategies range from concentrated to highly concentrated—learn more about two of our highly concentrated strategies: Large Cap Concentrated and All Cap Select.

My guest today, Ryan Sullivan, has written that, in crisis moments, the “pros” are “active.” If a client hasn’t called you, don’t assume they are not concerned. If they get the sense you’re avoiding contacting them, they may reach out to another financial professional for help. But in-person meetings have been ill-advised and phone calls don’t provide the level of connection clients need. Virtual meeting technology is a great option for staying in touch with clients, and Ryan is here to share his research on this topic.

Note: This commentary has been updated with the latest numbers from last Friday's Employment Report. Consider: Today nearly one in three of the 65-69 cohort and one in five of the 70-74 cohort are in the labor force.

We've updated our monthly workforce analysis to include last Friday's Employment Report for April. The unemployment rate inched up to 6.1%, and the number of new nonfarm jobs (a relatively volatile number subject to extensive revisions) came in at 266K.

A wealth tax “crosses the line and is unnecessary,” according to Ray Dalio.

Global indicators continue to signal a sharp business recovery from last year’s COVID-19 pandemic lows. While inflation expectations are increasing as a result, business improvements offer multi-asset investors good reasons to remain tilted to equities for the next stage of the recovery.

To say that we were surprised by some of the discussion at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting would be an understatement. The conversation Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger leaned into on inflation was possibly the most interesting. Warren and Charlie gave large credit to Larry Summers for his willingness to stand alone on the effects of today’s fiscal and monetary policy on prices. We thought this was an ideal time review Buffett and Munger’s discussion and see what conclusions we could draw.

Markets are vulnerable to “significant declines” should risk appetites falter, the Federal Reserve has warned. At the moment, there are very few signs of that happening.

Cathie Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF looked set for another difficult day on Tuesday as it extended losses in early trading after suffering its worst drop in seven weeks.

This week’s fund-raising round for online brokerage Wealthsimple Inc. shows how Power Corp. of Canada’s fintech investments will pay off for the financial conglomerate, IGM Financial Inc. Chief Executive Officer James O’Sullivan says.

Tracy Nolte talks AAM’s Outlook for Inflation, Fixed Income Market’s Outlook for Inflation, and Managing the Current Rate Environment.

After decades of starting successful airlines and dreaming up new ways to operate them, David Neeleman is again plotting a different course, this time for staffing.

The performance of a market-cap-weighted index is driven by a handful of stocks with the largest capitalizations, but these stocks do not remain at the top for long. A smart beta multi-factor strategy is a good solution for investors concerned about the concentration risk of a passive market-cap tracker.

One of the best economic debates that's happening right now isn't between Republicans and Democrats or liberals versus conservatives, it's between policymakers who want to go full steam ahead with as much fiscal and monetary "stimulus" as possible and center-left economists who worry about the economic effects of over-stimulating the economy.

Labor markets are changing course. When will the Fed do the same? India's second wave will disrupt activity elsewhere.

The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is a simple computation: You take the Civilian Labor Force (people age 16 and over employed or seeking employment) and divide it by the Civilian Noninstitutional Population (those 16 and over not in the military and or committed to an institution).

Today, we find ourselves with particularly high confidence in the likelihood of three scenarios to which we believe all investors should be paying close attention. First, we anticipate the current market euphoria will likely last through the summer. 

The latest JOLTS report (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary), with data through March, is now available.

Being named an executor means taking on a part-time job. Often, executors have day jobs so the duties of being an executor happen during lunch hours, after work, and on weekends.

As of May 10, the price of Regular and Premium was up seven cents each from the previous week. According to GasBuddy.com, California has the highest average price for Regular at $4.09 and Mississippi has the cheapest at $2.62. The WTIC end of day spot price closed at 64.92, up 0.7% from last week.

The headline number for April came in at 98.2, up 1.6 from the previous month. The index is at the 50th percentile in this series.

This is where the evolution happens, and a firm innovates to thrive in the future.

“My office is out of control!” If this sounds like you, get help by using my top 10 list for organizing and decluttering your office.

A great advisor has natural comprehension, intuition, empathy, and compassion. That is why women make exceptional financial advisors.

It’s your responsibility to make it easy for people to refer you.

Do I let this go? Do I confront him? What if he makes it seem like I was the one who was guilty of the misunderstanding?

Metal and mining companies face some risk of being saddled with stranded assets, but the story for these companies is complex and nuanced.

The strong economic recovery will not be interrupted by inflation or a credit crunch, according to Ed Yardeni, and the S&P 500 will soon reach 4,500.

The initial hoopla, particularly over the expanded use of client testimonials, has been overdone.

Seven of eight indexes on our world watch list posted gains through May 10, 2021. The top performer is France's CAC 40 with a gain of 15.03%, our own S&P 500 is in second is with a gain of 11.51% and Germany's DAXK is in third with a gain of 10.31%. Coming in last is China's Shanghai with a loss of 1.30%.