Over the past year, China’s government has swallowed many aspects of its private sector. Because China represents about 30% of the Emerging Market Index, emerging markets have fared much worse than U.S. stocks this year.

According to a recent study by Charles Schwab Asset Management, recent world events like the global pandemic and numerous natural disasters have contributed to a surge in behavioral biases among investors, leading to some unseasonably scary decisions.

Global supply chains that were severely impacted by COVID-19, continue to work through issues that caused more than 50 container ships to sit idle outside of West Coast ports. Resolving this supply-chain issue will help calm inflation fears. All this and more in the third-quarter 2021 edition of MarketWise!

In casual conversations, “we need a market correction” has become commonplace. The S&P 500 has doubled since the lows in March of last year. We achieved 55 new all-time highs this year; the previous record of 77 new all-time highs in 1995 is within reach.

If you have followed investment news through traditional media, you have likely heard the theory that a potential increase in the long-term capital gains rate may cause investors to sell all of their positions with unrealized gains ahead of the tax change in the name of avoiding higher future tax rates. At face value this seems like a reasonable theory, but what does historical evidence tell us?

2021 created a new rivalry – those who believe inflation is temporary and others who believe it’s more indefinite. The U.S. inflation rate increased to nearly 5.4% year-over-year as of July 2021, the fastest rate of growth since 2008. Concern about rising inflation in the next few years has been a major point of contention.

So far, the markets seem unaffected by the Taliban’s return to power, but without a crystal ball, it’s difficult to know what any potential long-term implications are. In situations like this one, it can be beneficial to understand how the markets have treated other geopolitical events.

In this webinar, Savant advisors challenge and test the investment and financial planning world’s most common rumors, popular beliefs, and urban legends.

The prevailing narrative over the past few years was Big Tech is carrying the market. But this year, the rest of the market is punching back. Daniel Noonan, an investment research analyst, presents a high-level perspective of what’s driving the market.

Because of the “September Effect,” superstitious investors often steer clear of the market this time of year, claiming that it has historically produced low returns for the month of September.

As we enter mid-August, daily new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have spiked. We saw about 190,000 new daily cases on July 20, up from approximately 20,000 in the prior month, but the death rate remains low. Despite this backdrop, the economy continues to achieve new highs.

Custom indexing appears to potentially be the next disruptive force in asset management. In the same way the invention of the exchange-traded fund (ETF) took assets away from mutual funds, custom indexing will likely compete for assets with ETFs and mutual funds in the years ahead.