“Sell in May and go away” is an old Wall Street adage you will be hearing a lot in the coming weeks. While we have never advocated timing the market, it is certainly rational to be nervous about the continued upward trajectory of US equities after the 21% increase over the last 6 months as of 4/30/24 in the S&P 500 Index including the 6% year-to-date (YTD) increase. This is especially true considering valuations are stretched, the Federal Reserve (Fed) is attempting to be restrictive, inflation is proving tough to tame and market leadership is heavily concentrated. Geopolitical worries in ..read more

  Ryan discusses factor investing with Chris Bush, portfolio manager at First Trust, as well as risk and opportunities for various industries and themes, including artificial intelligence, regional banks, and more ..read more

  Net inflows for US-listed ETFs totaled $112.4 billion in March, bringing total ETF assets under management to $8.73 trillion. Equity ETFs had net inflows totaling $81.7 billion in March, bringing trailing 12-months (TTM) net inflows to $523.2 billion. Active equity ETFs accounted for $20.2 billion in net inflows in March, compared to $61.5 billion in net inflows for passive equity ETFs. Total AUM in actively managed equity ETFs was $400.9 billion, accounting for 5.7% of all equity ETF assets ($6.98 trillion), as of 3/31/24. Fixed income ETFs had net inflows totaling $18.2 billion in ..read more

  In this episode, Ryan is joined by Jay Gragnani, Senior Market Strategist at Nasdaq Dorsey Wright for a discussion about how financial professionals are utilizing technical analysis and Dorsey Wright’s research as an objective input for their decision-making process ..read more

  One of our favorite Yogi Berra sayings is “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” Momentum was the most dominant equity factor in February (see chart above). In fact, it has been the main factor behind the massive equity rally that started in late October that  has added almost 1,000 points to the S&P 500 Index in four months. The momentum factor is also extremely crowded... but everyone is still going there. For now. While we employ the momentum factor in our research, we prefer a multifactor approach and also like to see tangible evidence why the momentum factor is w ..read more

  Net inflows for US-listed ETFs totaled $66.7 billion in February, bringing total ETF assets under management to $8.34 trillion. Equity ETFs had net inflows totaling $48.9 billion in February, bringing trailing 12-months (TTM) net inflows to $444.1 billion. Active equity ETFs accounted for $15.5 billion in net inflows in February, compared to $33.4 billion in net inflows for passive equity ETFs. Total AUM in actively managed equity ETFs was $365.9 billion, accounting for 5.5% of all equity ETF assets ($6.65 trillion), as of 2/29/24. Fixed income ETFs had net inflows totaling $11.6 b ..read more

  In the episode of the podcast, Ryan speaks with Jon DiGiovanni, Managing Director of Direct Indexing and Separate Managed Accounts at First Trust, about some of the reasons that Direct Indexing has quietly been one of the fastest growing innovations in the financial services industry.  ..read more

  After an unusually good year for US equities in 2023, concerns about high valuations and concentration risk for U.S. equity indices, such as the S&P 500® Index, have led some financial professionals to seek  potentially better opportunities among small- and mid-capitalization ("SMid-cap") stocks.  However, fears that an economic recession could be on the horizon have led some to shy away from tilting portfolio allocations towards smaller companies.  Below, we discuss these issues, highlighting why we believe that SMid-cap stocks may offer an attractive opportunity ..read more

  In this episode of the podcast, Ryan is joined by Jim Murchie, co-founder of Energy Income Partners for a deep dive into the energy industry, discussing incentives and opportunities that lie on the horizon ..read more

  Net inflows for US-listed ETFs totaled $42.5 billion in January, bringing total ETF assets under management to $8.11 trillion. Equity ETFs had net inflows totaling $17.2 billion in January, bringing trailing 12-months (TTM) net inflows to $395.3 billion.  Active equity ETFs accounted for $15.3 billion in net inflows in January, compared to $1.9 billion in net inflows for passive equity ETFs.  Total AUM in actively managed equity ETFs were $340.7 billion, accounting for 5.3% of all equity ETF assets ($6.43 trillion), as of 1/31/24. Fixed income ETFs had net inflows totaling ..read more