The Big Picture
MAY 2, 2024
The Fed held its benchmark Federal-Funds rate steady yesterday at 5.25% – 5.5%, leaving the possibility of cuts in the future. Jerome Powell repeated his “ Data Dependent ” mantra. “Persuasive evidence” that higher interest rates were no longer necessary to bring down inflation is what the FOMC wants, and today I want to share a few pieces of that evidence.
Abnormal Returns
MAY 5, 2024
Top clicks this week Widen your investing lens. (awealthofcommonsense.com) Why the stock market usually goes up. (humbledollar.com) The best investors are running their own race. (klementoninvesting.substack.com) How stocks, bonds and cash have performed over the past 30 years. (awealthofcommonsense.com) How major asset classes performed in April 2024.
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Alpha Architect
MAY 31, 2024
There is strong empirical evidence demonstrating that momentum (both cross-sectional and time-series) provides information on the cross-section of returns of many risk assets and has generated alpha relative to existing asset pricing models. Ma, Yang, and Ye’s findings provide another test of both robustness and pervasiveness, increasing our confidence that the findings of momentum in asset prices are not a result of data mining.
A Wealth of Common Sense
MAY 14, 2024
A lot of investors have abandoned international diversification (or at least strongly considered it) in recent years. I understand why this is happening. The U.S. stock market has destroyed all comers ever since the Great Financial Crisis ended. Since 2009, a total U.S. stock market index fund is up more than 660% while a total international index fund is up more like 180%.
Speaker: Amanda Adams, Fractional CFO, CPA
Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Amanda Adams, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.
Advisor Perspectives
MAY 19, 2024
Few practices in the business world are as absurd, senseless, irrational, and cynical as the allocation of investments of large public pension funds and endowments. And few fail so often and so predictably to achieve their true objectives.
Financial Advisor Source brings together the best content for financial advisor professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
The Big Picture
MAY 9, 2024
Nestled in between lip-sync dancers and fashion influencers, financial fraud lurks on TikTok. At least one person1 has noticed the risks to young consumers of social media: Since August 2020, @TikTokInvestors has been curating the most outrageous money-losing and dangerous videos culled from the “financial experts” at TikTok. The advice ranges from wrong to risky to criminal: -401ks?
Abnormal Returns
MAY 19, 2024
Top clicks this week Three assets that don't diversify your portfolio as well as you think. (morningstar.com) The problematic math of passing down generational wealth. (blogs.cfainstitute.org) International diversification requires a long time horizon. (awealthofcommonsense.com) The S&P 500 is now nearly 40% of global market cap. (apolloacademy.com) Don't confuse selling calls with income.
Alpha Architect
MAY 24, 2024
There is strong empirical evidence demonstrating that momentum (both cross-sectional and time-series) provides information on the cross-section of returns of many risk assets and has generated alpha relative to existing asset pricing models. Momentum Everywhere, Even Cross-Country Factor Momentum was originally published at Alpha Architect. Please read the Alpha Architect disclosures at your convenience.
A Wealth of Common Sense
MAY 17, 2024
These are the trailing total returns for the U.S. stock market1 over various time frames: Year to date: +11% One year: +30% Five years: +94% Ten years: +223% Fifteen years: +679% Not bad considering we’ve had two bear markets in the past four years. If you put $10,000 into the U.S. stock market five years ago, your money has essentially doubled: Now look at the returns by year: 2019: +31% 2020: +21% 2021: +26% 2022.
Speaker: Abdi Ali, Sr. Lease Accounting Consultant
Join this insightful webinar with industry expert Abdi Ali, who will discuss the challenges that can arise from managing lease accounting with spreadsheets! He will share real-world examples of errors, compliance issues, and risks that may be present within your spreadsheets. Learn how these tools, while useful, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies that affect your time, resources, and peace of mind.
Advisor Perspectives
MAY 31, 2024
The latest Chicago Purchasing Manager's Index (Chicago Business Barometer) fell to 35.4 in May from 37.9 in April. This is the sixth straight monthly decline and the lowest level for the index since May 2020. The latest reading is worse than the 41.1 forecast and keeps the index in contraction territory for a sixth consecutive month.
Calculated Risk
MAY 29, 2024
From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications decreased 5.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 24, 2024. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 5.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
The Big Picture
MAY 16, 2024
The Misery Index — the combination of Inflation and unemployment — failed as a bearish criticism of the economy. Unemployment remains at 60-year lows, and Inflation has plummeted from 9% down to the 3s. If you have a bearish mindset , and seek confirmation of that perspective, then the next economic critique after the Misery Index you try on for size is “Stagflation.” We have heard the S-word from Jamie Dimon , Stanley Druckenmiller , Bank of America , Barclays , Fox , Ma
Abnormal Returns
MAY 29, 2024
Nvidia It's hard to overstate just how big a rally Nvidia ($NVDA) has seen. (downtownjoshbrown.com) Then again, few large companies have grown this fast. (theirrelevantinvestor.com) AI A look at the AI tech stacks for various players in the industry. (stratechery.com) Why Zuck and Meta ($META) have embraced an open AI standard. (nytimes.com) AI spending is going to grow as more countries jump into the game.
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Join us in this webinar, where we share best practices on how to think about the reconciliation work each month, when best to do reconciliations, how they should be prepared, and some common pitfalls to avoid. Learning Objectives: This course objective is to understand how to properly prepare and review balance sheet reconciliations and its impact on the financial statements.
Trade Brains
MAY 17, 2024
In today’s world, we’re constantly surrounded by a symphony of technology. From the quiet hum of our laptops to the dazzling display of our smartphones, these marvels rely on a hidden partnership between batteries and electronic solutions. Batteries and electronics are the unsung heroes of our modern world. Their seamless partnership is so deeply embedded in our daily lives that we often take them for granted.
A Wealth of Common Sense
MAY 7, 2024
One of my favorite pop culture developments in recent years is the famous person press tour. If you write a new book or have a new movie or TV show coming out, you have to talk to every outlet imaginable to sell your project. There is so much content and so much competition for our attention these days that even uber-successful people are forced to make the hard sell.
Alpha Architect
MAY 17, 2024
The finding that the recommendations from SA articles resulted in statistically significant risk-adjusted alphas (returns unexplained by conventional academic models using factors such as the market, size, value, momentum, profitability, and quality for equity portfolios) is surprising given that the empirical evidence shows how difficult it is for institutional investors such as mutual funds to show outperformance beyond the randomly expected (as can be seen in the annual SPIVA Scorecards) beca
Calculated Risk
MAY 20, 2024
Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 1.7% week-over-week. Inventory is now up 17.0% from the February bottom, and above the maximum for inventory last year! Click on graph for larger image. This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of May 17th, inventory was at 578 thousand (7-day average), compared to 568 thousand the prior week.
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As we step into 2024, the lending landscape evolves rapidly with technology, regulations, and market dynamics driving change. For banks and financial institutions to stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of their customers, these drivers must be understood and engaged with. Lenders can anticipate significant transformation fueled by technological advancements, regulatory shifts, and changing consumer behaviors.
The Big Picture
MAY 6, 2024
It’s taken me months to organize all of my research for my next book project; it’s a lot of stuff, some dating back to 2000. Much of it reflects the bad ideas and numbers, and worse advice, that float around Wall Street. A lot of it has not aged well. But every now and then, something I saved turned out to be prescient — not because it was lucky, but because it contained a well-considered insight that has stood the test of time.
Abnormal Returns
MAY 29, 2024
Podcasts Barry Ritholtz talks with Carl Richards about the behavior gap and how to avoid it. (ritholtz.com) Shane Parrish talks with Morgan Housel author of "Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes." (youtube.com) Amy Arnott and Christine Benz talk with Jamila Souffrant author of "Your Journey to Financial Freedom: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Wealth and Happiness.
Advisor Perspectives
MAY 17, 2024
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) decreased in April to its lowest level since April 2020. The index fell 0.6% from last month to 101.8. Overall, the LEI continues to signal softer economic conditions lay ahead for the U.S. economy.
A Wealth of Common Sense
MAY 19, 2024
Four charts about the economy you might find surprising: 1. Wages are cumulative too. The Congressional Budget Office released new research comparing inflation on a basket of goods and services households at different income levels consume between now and 2019 along with changes in wages. Here’s the chart: And the explanation: For households in every quintile (or fifth) of the income distribution, the share of inc.
Speaker: Joe Buhrmann, MBA, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC® Senior Financial Planning Practice Management Consultant eMoney Advisor
During an era of evolving consumer preferences, the banking sector is undergoing a profound shift. As customers continue to broaden their perspectives, banking professionals must support their customers' financial wellness by providing holistic financial advice that aligns with individual goals and circumstances. Without adapting, financial institutions will find that loyalty may crumble amid uncertainty.
Alpha Architect
MAY 10, 2024
To date, the best metric we have for forecasting future equity returns and the ERP is current valuations. An interesting question is whether more complicated methods using newly developed machine learning models can provide superior forecasts. Using Machine Language Programs to Forecast the Equity Risk Premium was originally published at Alpha Architect.
Calculated Risk
MAY 6, 2024
Fannie reported results for Q1 2024. Here is some information on single-family Real Estate Owned (REOs). Fannie Mae reported the number of REOs decreased to 7,791 at the end of Q1 2024, down 5% from 8,403 at the end of the previous quarter, and down 9% year-over-year from Q1 2023. For Fannie, this is down 95% from the 166,787 peak number of REOs in Q3 2010.
Trade Brains
MAY 10, 2024
Bearish Engulfing Candlestick Pattern: Technical analysts rely heavily on chart and candlestick patterns to conduct comprehensive analyses of stock prices and accurately predict their future movements. Each pattern formed in the market has a clear and justified reason behind its formation and indicates the market’s direction. Here in this article, we shall discuss a two-candlestick pattern called the bearish engulfing candlestick pattern with its meaning, formation, indication, and how to
Abnormal Returns
MAY 18, 2024
Autos Waymo cars are making 50,000 paid trips a week. (engadget.com) Pedestrian deaths are a function of speed. (vox.com) Detroit may regret killing off the sedan. (fastcompany.com) Why auto insurance premia are soaring. (nytimes.com) Why 'stroads' are the bane of American cities. (wsj.com) Transport GPS spoofing continues to grow. (ft.com) Urban transit systems are struggling post-pandemic.
Speaker: Carolina Aponte - Owner and CEO, Caja Holdings LLC
In today's rapidly changing business environment, building a resilient balance sheet is crucial to the survival of any business. A resilient balance sheet allows a company to withstand financial shocks and adapt to changing market conditions. To achieve this, companies need to focus on key strategies such as maintaining adequate liquidity, managing debt levels, diversifying revenue streams, and prioritizing profitability over growth.
Wealth Management
MAY 13, 2024
Speakers at Wealth Management EDGE at The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood Beach, Fla., discuss how investing strategies, including SMAs and how inflation and the Fed are impacting investing.
A Wealth of Common Sense
MAY 10, 2024
I saw the following headline earlier this week: I didn’t even need to read the actual article to know what the message would be. The tell here was the term ‘veteran forecaster’ In finance-speak, veteran forecaster can be translated to mean someone who is supremely confident in their predictions but almost always wrong. It has to be this way because forecasters are so unreliable.
Alpha Architect
MAY 3, 2024
Momentum continues to receive much attention from researchers because of the strong empirical evidence. Momentum and the Clarity of the Trend was originally published at Alpha Architect. Please read the Alpha Architect disclosures at your convenience.
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