Insights Investments

Today’s blog is a follow-up to Carson’s VP, Investment Strategist Grant Engelbart’s insightful recent discussion of factor investing and alpha opportunities, “Enhancing Portfolio Management.” Factors are a theme we regularly return to. Grant also covered factor investing in a piece earlier this year called “Factor Investing 2024,” and our Portfolio Manager Mike Lawrence covered the …

Inflation concerns are widespread, but are they justified? Economic trends suggest that the narrative of persistently high inflation may be overblown. In this episode, Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist at Carson Group, and Sonu Varghese, VP, Global Macro Strategist at Carson Group, analyze the nuances of current inflation data and its implications for investors and …

Stocks have been weak lately, with the Dow recently down eight days in a row and the Russell 1000 Value Index also down 11 days in a row. In fact, the S&P 500 had more stocks down than up for 11 days in a row, the most since 1996. Some of this weakness has been …

Another strong year for stocks means a lot of happy investors, at least until their 1099s are distributed! Higher equity prices and continued outflows from traditional mutual funds spells trouble for impending capital gains payouts. This may be best illustrated by this figure: of the legacy mutual funds at Carson, there are 10 “tax managed” …

The dollar has been on a tear since the end of September, and especially post-election. It took a bit of a breather over the Thanksgiving week but swung up again over the last couple of weeks. The dollar is now up over 6% since the end of September (through December 12th).  Just before the Thanksgiving …

November inflation data, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) landed right along expectations. Headline CPI rose 0.3% and is up 2.7% from last year. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, also rose 0.3%, and is up 3.3% year over year. These numbers are clearly over the Fed’s 2% target. Cue the cries …

We sometimes get questions about why we think stocks will continue to go up in the long run. That gives me an opportunity to refer back to some of our favorite long-term investing charts that capture our views. Almost exactly a year ago, our Global Macro Strategist Sonu Varghese wrote a piece called, “This Is …

Market sentiment is shifting, and the conversation is abuzz with optimism. What drives these changes, and how should investors prepare for potential volatility ahead? In this episode, Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist at Carson Group, and Sonu Varghese, VP, Global Macro Strategist at Carson Group, unveil the surprising rally in the market, factors influencing the …

“Any company that has an economist certainly has one employee too many.” Warren Buffett Another bear issued a mea culpa last week. This time it was David Rosenberg of Rosenberg Research. Rosie, as he is affectionately known, has been steadfastly in the camp that any data has been bad, will lead to trouble, and a …

The iShares Expanded Technology Software Sector ETF (trading under IGV) has recorded a quarter-to-date gain of +21.5% as of Thursday’s close (FactSet data). The software-focused ETF is trouncing other broader ETFs over this period. It’s a welcome relief for software and technology-focused investors compared to earlier in the year, with the ETF seeing a gain …

The November payroll report was going to be a tricky one to parse because of a bounce back from hurricane effects (which pulled down October payrolls) and the resolution of the strike at Boeing. The economy created 227,000 jobs in November, close to expectations, which somewhat made up for the low 36,000 number in October …