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Do Downgraded Treasurys Still Belong in Your Portfolio? What Does the Treasury Downgrade Mean for Your Portfolio? The creditworthiness of the US Treasury is hugely important – the function of the global economy is built on it. So at first the decision of Fitch, one of three major ratings agencies, to downgrade US debt would seem to matter. But this is old news. Fitch merely do ...

Key Takeaways  The second quarter saw substantial global equity growth, marked by the US and international markets entering technical bull territory.  Large-cap growth stocks excelled, driven by a handful of US mega-cap tech companies, which greatly benefited from the ongoing artificial intelligence boom.  Markets priced out rate cuts by year-end, leading to an overall ...

Most students of modern finance are familiar with the efficient frontier chart, which shows the range of expected returns and risks for optimized portfolios. Because these calculations are performed when the portfolios are constructed, before they are invested, the values on the chart are estimates, almost sure to differ from the observed risks and returns.   An Important Diff ...

Key Takeaways  While the banking crisis was severe, it has directly slowed down the economy, with the impact of tightening credit conditions being equivalent to rate hikes.  Despite the heightened volatility and reversals during the quarter, markets managed the crisis well, with long-duration bonds, large-cap growth stocks and gold leading the markets. All New Frontier ETF ...

In 2022, numerous unprecedented events led to a decline in asset prices across all markets, resulting in an historic decline in global investment wealth. This scenario is unlikely to reoccur for four primary reasons, which we discuss below. Key Takeaways: 2022 was an historically bad year: the worst in centuries for bonds, and the first time in history when both stocks and ...

Much academic and industry effort has been placed into how to meaningfully divide the equity markets in the US and other countries into parts which behave distinctly, cross-sectionally and over time. Fama and French (1998) were pioneers into dividing US equity markets by ranking on fundamental characteristics, finding important differences in high versus low-ranked stocks along ...

Retirement is fraught with uncertainty. Individuals approaching retirement face a variety of questions regarding their families, their health, and long-term market uncertainty. Financial planners must answer questions from clients seeking guidance and hoping to establish a secure financial cushion for their later years. One common question is, "how much do I need saved at retir ...

Key Takeaways  Beyond a historic decline in global investment wealth, what’s unusual for 2022 is that for the first time in history, both US large-cap stocks and long-term bonds had significant losses of more than 15% in the same calendar year.  Despite a challenging year, all New Frontier ETF portfolios delivered positive returns in Q4, outperforming the broad global equit ...