Leaders-Laggards
Over the past 12 months, the Materials sector has trailed the broader U.S. equity market. In 2024, it was the worst-performing S&P 500 sector, while the S&P 500 itself rose more than 20 percent.[1] High interest rates, weak Chinese industrial demand, and uncertainty
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Sponsored By Cambria
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The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) has stayed relatively tranquil in the mid-teens over the past month, dipping below 14-15 in mid-September and just settling around 16 as October started.¹ This sort of quiet is staggeringly complacent. Yet less volatility leads investors to take on more leverage and
Weekly Signals
Gold has long been seen as the ultimate risk-off asset — it climbs when markets tumble. But for the past two years, it has not acted that way. Gold has risen along with equities or lagged while under stress. Its recent rush toward $4,000 an ounce smacks of speculative
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Sponsored By Infrastructure Capital
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Sponsored By Infrastructure Capital
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Sponsored By Infrastructure Capital
Closing Thoughts for the Week
The previous week was a very rare balancing act between optimism on continued Fed easing and uncertainty over the U.S. government shutdown. U.S. stocks finished the week higher, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each rising about 1.1 percent, while the Nasdaq
Macro Observations
For more than two years, the traditional financial media focused nonstop on what kind of “landing” the US economy would go through as higher interest rates worked their way through the system. What few people thought about, however, is that it may not land at all. The “no landing” situation
High Yield Spotlight
A Look At The Cullen Enhanced Equity Income ETF (DIVP)
Leaders-Laggards
The U.S. energy sector has been volatile over the past year. After a strong run in 2022, energy cooled in 2023 and has delivered more modest gains since. As of mid-2025, the S&P 500 Energy sector was up about 4% year-to-date, despite wide swings
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It might seem counterintuitive for a newly launched exchange-traded fund to take a top position in a 140-year-old coal mining company. Yet The Free Markets ETF (FMKT) recently made Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) one of its largest holdings, at roughly 4% of the portfolio. What’s behind