Let’s start this topic with describing what Smart Beta is. I’ll be using the definition from Investopedia. “Smart beta investing combines some of the efficiencies and cost savings characteristic of passive investing while mimicking active investing strategies that have the potential to produce excess risk-adjusted returns, also called ‘alpha.’” All 5,000 stocks, 16 sector groups, … Read more
The third quarter of 2023 is now history. The September effect overwhelmed mildly positive returns in July and August to submerge all six benchmark indexes we monitor quarterly into the red. Although the order of best to worst varies among the six indexes, one commonality is having September as the worst historical month, both in … Read more
Cambria Advisors recently sent out a mailing that was somewhat self-congratulatory noting the 10-year anniversary of the launch of its first ETF. As we will explore shortly, I contend that the congratulations are well-deserved from a number of perspectives. The email missive piqued my interest for a specific reason. The main comparisons made in the … Read more
Artificial Intelligence related stocks led the way robustly in the first half of 2023 with Nvidia (NVDA) leading the way. The general consensus among major strategists cautions that the steep price increases of such stocks is characteristic of a market bubble. Furthermore, for those who must be invested in equity, they suggest using growth stocks … Read more
Approaching 2023, the experts were in near unanimity that the fourth quarter of 2022 was little more than a dead cat bounce and that once the inevitable recession hit, the bear market would quickly take the S&P 500 Index to new lows. Instead, the first six months have seen the Nasdaq-100 ETF, Invesco QQQ rise … Read more
Throughout my career, I’ve heard professional investors assert that index funds are fine for bull markets but in volatile-to-down markets, active management will outperform. SPIVA (S&P vs. Global) published research available from S&P Global has demonstrated that this was not true for actively managed mutual funds for 2022, and less true for the 2020-2022 period. … Read more
2022 provided a litmus test for ETFs designed to shield Investors from the full impact of a major stock market decline. The bad news is that half of them failed. The good news is that three of them actually did perform in line with their objectives. These are the results of a recent study that I co-authored … Read more
ValuEngine Capital Management Chief Equity Strategist and Financial Advisor, Jordan Kimmel, is offering his e-book “Invest in the Now” once again to anyone who may have missed out on the previous offer. This e-book provides 108 quotes to help readers maintain the right mindset to invest and live life to the fullest. Available from May … Read more
GARP is an acronym used in the investment industry to connote “growth at reasonable prices.” Last week, we discussed the market size and style trends year-to-date and what our models expect to see for the year ahead. The bottom line is that both our predictive and valuation models thought the mega-cap-weighted ETFs, such as QQQ, … Read more
In January, we published “Rotating Regimes – What to Plan For in 2023.” At that time, we recounted that the 2022 US Stock Market was a conflagration that wiped out almost everything in its path with the exception of a few industries and ETFs. At that time, we reported that two Benchmark ETFs we track, … Read more