Though this week’s column will delve slightly into the negative, I do want to make it clear that Zacks Investment Management maintains our base case for positive, single-digit gains in the U.S. stock market this year. That forecast has not changed, and ultimately, we see the positives like earnings growth and global GDP growth as […]
The global equities bulls are back, this time with a new term: “global synchronous recovery.” Whatever you want to call it, the facts are pretty straight – the global economy has seen broad-based growth in 2017, and we fully expect it to continue in the second half of the year. Our expectation is for the […]
There are a few trends shaping-up simultaneously in debt markets that are worth keeping a close eye on. I’ll cut right to the chase because this is important: if these trends continue as-is, history tells us a recession is likely in the works. That’s why investors need to keep checking-in regularly on the issues I’ll […]
Investors often ask me which style and/or category of stocks they should favor in the current environment. Is now the time to own large-cap stocks? International? Maybe load up on value over growth? Small-cap? In reality, a broadly diversified equity portfolio should probably have some level of exposure to each category, with some categories overweighted […]
In this week’s Mitch on the Markets, I was pleased to bring in a special guest to talk about the markets with me. He is the Fixed Income Portfolio manager here at Zacks Investment Management, and also one of our top analysts on the macroeconomic side – Manish Jain. I had a sit-down conversation with […]
For investors who retired in the last eight years or so, the yields in the bond markets have been – and I won’t try to sugarcoat this – crummy. Yields on ‘risk-free’ 10-year U.S. Treasuries have fallen to near historic lows, and they barely pay an investor the long-term inflation rate. As of this writing, […]
Since January of 1986, the research firm DALBAR has been compiling data measuring how the average investor performs over time. The results are pretty harrowing, and they might surprise you. Over long stretches of time, the average investor is widely underperforming. The table below underscores the magnitude of the underperformance for equity investors and fixed […]
If you are not yet familiar with the phrase, “the internet of things,” get ready – because you will be very soon. This technology/IT subsector is perhaps the fastest growing segment of them all, and it is sure to create plenty of winners and losers as corporations posture for prominence in product development for hardware, […]
The Federal Reserve is notorious for making vague and general statements about the state of the markets and the economy. Analysts often parse the Fed minutes and statements looking for signs of changing monetary policy conditions, only to come out empty. That’s why it was surprising that the Fed was a bit more direct in […]
