The woes of taxes mean everyone worries about the bottom line—not gross gains but net gains after taxes. After all, the saying goes, “It’s not how much you make, but how much you get to keep that matters.” What Is a Capital Gain? A capital gain occurs when an investor accrues profit from the sale of an asset such as a stock or ETF. Simply, (sale price – purchase price) * shares = profit > 0. However, this profit is taxable. Capital Gains in a Mutual Fund vs. an ETF •  Mutual fund: With a mutual fund, capital gains can be generated in three ways: active management, rebalancing or r ..read more

The bitcoin “halving” (or “halvening,” as some say) is an event that takes place in the bitcoin network roughly every four years. Newly issued (or mined) bitcoin is cut in half, reducing oncoming supply. At a point near the year 2140, the total supply of 21 million bitcoins will be mined, and no more new supply will become available to the market. Economics 101 would say that, holding demand constant, this tightening of supply would lead to higher prices—which is what has been observed in past events such as this. Will this be the case once again? Concepts Underpinning the Halving Approximatel ..read more

This year started on a strong note, with global equity markets gaining 8.9%.1 The initial focus was on artificial intelligence, its growth potential and its impact on corporate profitability. However, with better-than-expected economic data being published in the U.S., but also in Europe and China, market confidence grew, leading to a regional broadening of the bull market. Europe closed 7.6%1 up, quite close to the 10.3%1 of the U.S. The only weakness remains in Asia, leading to emerging markets returning only 2.4%.1 This instalment of the WisdomTree Quarterly Equity Factor Review aims t ..read more

Following last week’s “hotter” than expected CPI release, the sole focus for the money and bond markets was to, yet again, dial back their Fed rate cut expectations. However, there is another aspect of Fed policy decision-making that has been flying under the radar, and that involves its balance sheet. With the May 1 FOMC meeting only two weeks away, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss this part of monetary policy because, at this point, it appears as if this facet may make headlines well before actual rate cuts do. So, what exactly am I referring to when talking about the Fed’s balan ..read more

When it comes to articulating data related to monetary policy outcomes, the FOMC has conveyed an awkwardly varied set of targets. In mid-2022, then Vice-Chair Lael Brainard articulated the labor market needed to come into “better balance” before rate hikes would cease. Later in the year, Chair Powell brought “core services ex-shelter” to prominence in the pursuit of taming inflation. Call them the “intertwined two” guideposts for monetary policy.   But the question remains—do any of the myriad data points the FOMC has pointed to as guideposts still matter? The answer is no. “Nominal wage ..read more

  The first three months and change of 2024 has brought with it a rather noteworthy shift in bond market sentiment. With Federal Reserve policy decision-making remaining data dependent for the foreseeable future, investors have been left to wonder how to position their fixed income portfolios for these changing interest rate landscapes. In our opinion, investors can use the time-tested barbell strategy to navigate not only the current setting, but more importantly, what potentially lies ahead. Let me provide a quick perspective of how rates and rate expectations have changed recently. One ..read more

  On a recent episode of the Behind the Markets podcast, we had the opportunity to speak with Dan Ives, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst covering the Technology sector at Wedbush Securities. We see his articles referenced frequently across all sorts of major financial publications.  We Are in a “1995 Moment” Dan is unique in that when we speak about the 1990s, he was an analyst covering technology stocks, so he has had some notable longevity for those seeking to think of what we see today in 2024 as a “potential bubble” in valuations.  Dan reminded us that in ..read more

The financial world passed a milestone in 2024: for the first time, the assets managed by passive investment strategies in the U.S. exceeded those under active management, marking the peak of a decade-long shift toward indexing at the cost of active managers’ market share. The S&P Annual Survey of Assets from last year reveals a staggering $11 trillion now indexed to the S&P 500, and rightly so.1 The SPIVA 2023 scorecard highlights a telling trend: over the past decade, a mere fraction, less than 13%, of U.S. large-cap funds have managed to surpass the S&P 500’s performance.2 Yet ..read more

  It is my fourteenth year at WisdomTree, and I feel like for the large majority of that time, growth investing has been in fashion and outperforming among U.S. equities. The Magnificent 71 of 2023 was just the most recent instance of this trend.  However, something we saw in March 2024 represented a distinct shift in this trend. The performance of value-oriented strategies accelerated.  Value Is in the Eye of the Beholder (or the Strategy Creator) If I paused and posed the question, what is value, would you have an answer? Historically, the value factor has been defined many di ..read more

A little over four years ago, the global economy was suddenly shuttered. Flush with stimulus payments, U.S. consumers found their only consumption outlet was goods. Of course, there was a problem. The reason for the stimulus payments was that the economy was shutdown, including factories. The “from the couch” goods boom caused a series of global economic ripples. From toilet paper shortages to counting ships off the coast of California, the world was made radically different overnight and every economic indicator became instantaneously useless.  For the first time in a long time, it was a ..read more