On Sunday afternoon, President Trump told reporters that he knew who he was going to officially pick to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair when Powell’s term expires in May 2026. While the formal announcement hasn’t been

In our Weekly Market Commentary on November 17, we previewed our Outlook 2026 publication, due out on December 9. We highlighted several keys for markets next year, covering the U.S. economy, stocks, and bonds. This week, we broaden our preview and t

With just 24 trading days left in 2025 and the S&P 500 up about 14%, a strong year for stocks appears highly likely. If you are skeptical, consider that we’re coming out of one of the best earnings seasons in years by the numbers, the fisca

Last week’s artificial intelligence (AI) led global equity rout captivated headlines, overshadowing notable developments flowing out of Tokyo. Recently elected Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi — the pro-growth and pro-stimulus polic

2025 has been an exceptional year for emerging market (EM) equities. South Korea has surged almost 80%, while South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico have each posted gains of more than 40% year to date. Within the MSCI country universe, six of the top 10 p

With hurricane season officially coming to an end on November 30, a niche area of the investment world called Catastrophe Bonds (“cat bonds”) has time to pause from a record-breaking year of issuance. Cat bonds are insurance-linked securi

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to be a transformative technology that impacts how we all live and do business. With some creativity, and time for current offerings to improve, it is not difficult to imagine how in the future these sys

After a slow couple of years, the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market is finally picking up momentum. According to Pitchbook, the total number of deals for the first three quarters of 2025 increased by 13% compared to the same period last year.

The Federal Reserve’s (Fed) balance sheet runoff — commonly referred to as quantitative tightening (QT) — is set to conclude on December 1. Since initiating QT, the Fed has reduced its balance sheet by over $2 trillion, largely thro

What Has Separated Winning Stocks From Losing Stocks in Recent Periods?

In a word, risk. High-risk stocks have been in favor with investors in recent periods. One way to measure risk is with market beta, a statistic that indicates how