Leveraged and Inverse Funds

We believe Asia is the core of growth and innovation within emerging markets, and companies domiciled in Asia comprise over 75% of the benchmark universe.

With everything up, where are the value buying opportunities?

In December of 2018, I was invited to dinner with some of the world’s largest Bitcoin holders at the Guggenheim museum in New York.

The reflation trade continued in earnest during the first quarter of 2021. Commodities were up another 13.3% from January to March, following a 14.7% move in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Much has changed since the oil-market collapse in the early pandemic days of 2020, when prices actually turned negative. Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Research Analyst/Portfolio Manager Bryant Dieffenbacher looks back at industry developments since then, and outlines opportunities he sees in the high-yield energy bond market today.

Nuclear decommissioning trusts (NDTs), the pools of money accumulated over decades used to dismantle nuclear power plants and safely dispose of radioactive materials, allocate about 40% of their assets to fixed income securities.

Although we remain constructive about the economic outlook, the recent increase in speculative activity gives us some pause. We continue to favor a cautious approach in the near-to-medium term.

Investors aggressively sold off Treasuries in the first quarter in favor of risk assets. We think this is likely to continue as the economy strengthens and inflationary pressures build, and we are maintaining a defensive duration profile to protect against rising rates.

Investors choose particular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for many reasons, but volume and liquidity are often important considerations.

There is no way this bull market doesn’t end very badly.

Digital currencies stormed Wall Street in a big way this week. Crypto exchange Coinbase went public in a direct listing, opening the floodgates for a number of other crypto-related companies.

Even before the war is over, the winning side needs to consider how to “win the peace” which will follow.

Quarterly commentary - Discussion on the historic stock market measures presently in place due to the Fed's largesse.

From 1949 through 1964, the S&P 500 enjoyed an average annual total return of 16.4%. In the 8 years that followed, through 1972, the total return of the index averaged a substantially lower 7.6% annually; strikingly close to the 7.5% projection that Graham had suggested based on prevailing valuations, yet still providing what Graham had suggested would likely “carry a fair degree of protection” against inflation, which averaged 3.9% over that period.

Another round of stimulus totaling $1.9 trillion is making its way through the US economy, with hopes it will trigger a sharp rebound from the ravages of COVID-19.

Yes, the housing market is a bit overheated, but for reasons that make far more sense than the rationalizations of stock market bulls. Some buyers are certainly overpaying and may regret it. Nonetheless, I don’t foresee another 2008-style housing crash in the near future, nor anything like the subprime crisis. There are altogether different fundamentals working here.

As a backdrop, we’ll bring a bit of scientific language to our analysis this quarter as we celebrate the amazing feats of our scientific brothers and sisters.

The American Jobs Plan is not only the biggest traditional infrastructure proposal in over 50 years, but if approved, it will also fund significant investments in human and environmental infrastructure.

Well, let’s just say things are different in 2021.

Dumb and Dumber was a 1994 movie which tells the story of Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels)

Today’s market environment taps into bond investors’ primal fears.

Defining a quality business is easier said than done. We have found that the highest quality businesses either consistently exercise pricing power while maintaining market share or consistently grow market share by undercutting incumbents. A choice few companies we call “compounding machines” can both raise price and increase market share.

New bond issuance exploded to record highs in 2020. What will 2021 supply look like?

With a broad-based economic reopening coming closer into focus, investors are planning for the next stage in the cycle.

My question, as always, is whether we’re measuring inflation accurately. What if we’re doing it all wrong? As investors, we want to make decisions based on the best available data, so what should we do if the data is incomplete or flawed?

There are many detractors that believe that dividend growth stock investing is stodgy, old and boring.

The Federal Reserve on 19 March announced that the temporary changes to its supplemental leverage ratio, or SLR, will expire as scheduled on 31 March.

You've got to hand it to the Federal Reserve. With the cleverness of a seasoned head coach – think Jim Boeheim leading Syracuse in the NCAA basketball tournament – they figured out how to accomplish a great deal while making it look like they didn't have many tools at their disposal.

Since the “Financial Crisis,” the hope was that inflating asset prices would trickle down into economic growth.

Wall Street thought 2020 was the Year of the SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Turns out, this title was premature.

Last year featured a jaw-dropping list of extremes, from a once-in-a-century pandemic to record-breaking market moves. Howard Marks writes in his latest memo about approaching the investment environment left in 2020’s wake – one generating many questions and no easy answers.

A better appreciation of the history of market bubbles should help advisors and their clients sidestep some of the carnage when they inevitably burst. It is our intention in this article to take a more clinical approach by quantifying what we mean by a “bubble” solely in terms of market action. In that way, it is possible to compare conditions between individual markets and arrive at a rough standard. There are of course, many other aspects to bubbles and manias, several you can read about here.

The word “bubble” is tossed around quite a bit in the financial markets, but it’s rarely used correctly.

A little over a hundred years ago, the United States emerged from the double whammy of a world war and deadly pandemic. Eager to get back to “normal” life, Americans went on a decade-long spending splurge, buying cars and radios and stocks.

In this issue of Sinology, we provide a macro perspective for thinking about whether an investor’s portfolio has enough exposure to China.

As the latest COVID-19 relief bill winds through the U.S. Congress, some economists have been warning that too much stimulus could lead to the economy overheating

“Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria.” -Investor and mutual fund manager Sir John Templeton

China’s economy should see a soft landing as stimulus is reduced, but the drag on global growth may place a burden on developed economies to keep stimulus taps open for longer.

Treasury yields rocketed higher in February, with the move again concentrated in longer maturities. Volatility spiked as liquidity dried up in the Treasury market, especially after a very weak 7-year auction that briefly pushed 10-year Treasury yields to 1.60%. The news flow was largely the same direction: an improving economy, increased vaccine rollout with deaths and hospitalizations turning sharply lower, and a continued march toward a substantial fiscal stimulus plan.

In a “market mania,” retail investors are generally “long confidence” and “short experience” as the bubble inflates. While we often believe each “time” is different, it rarely is. It is only the outcomes that are inevitably the same.

There may be some incredible opportunities for investors in companies that produce the metals, minerals and other raw materials that will be needed with an increase in spending.