Fintech

The first quarter of 2025 marked a significant departure from the preceding two years, which had been characterized by an improving global economy and correspondingly positive market returns. Market performance in Q1 was dominated by abrupt, short-term policy shifts rather than longer-term economic trends, and tariffs became the foremost concern for market participants.

Banks blew Q1 earnings expectations out of the water, benefitting from high trading volumes, but CEO commentary remains cautious for 2025.

Right now we are in an incredibly complicated environment with regard to U.S. tariff policy gyrations and its whipsawing impact on global equity markets. One thing we can confidently assert is that however the trade negotiations play out, there will be higher tariffs and this will be negative for U.S. growth.

LPL Financial LLC announced today that financial advisor Steve Jones of Tenacity Investment Group has joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer, Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and custodial platforms.

Cryptocurrency prices, including bitcoin’s, have been turbulent this year. That’s weighed on shares of miners. Some relief could be in sight.

While we continue to feel the U.S. has structural investment advantages, we are mindful that the scope of the current administration's policy shifts may present challenges to our sustained economic momentum.

Between raising and lowering tariffs on imported goods, President Donald Trump made time last week to sign an executive order aimed at reviving America’s “beautiful clean coal industry.”

After starting the year on a high note with the S&P 500 index of U.S. Large Cap stocks posting an all-time high on February 19th, equities retreated during the second half of the quarter, officially falling into correction territory (down 10 percent) on March 13.

Spending cuts, tariffs and recession risk—Jan van Eck’s latest outlook breaks down what to watch and why he’s focused on gold, bitcoin, semiconductors and India.

Global equities faced fresh challenges in the first quarter of 2025 amid growing trade-war concerns and developments in artificial intelligence (AI).

Members of Congress from both parties were among the many caught off guard by last week's Rose Garden tariff announcement.

In an era when a select group of tech behemoths has dominated market returns, investors are growing increasingly wary of the concentration risk it poses.

Markets were jolted last week after President Trump announced sweeping tariffs, including steep increases on China, Japan, and the EU, leading to a 10.5% drop in the S&P 500 over two days—an event seen only during major crises in the past 75 years.

An enduring image from 2024 will be the capture of the SpaceX booster rocket by the Mechazilla robot arms on its return to Earth.

Lost in the focus on the bludgeoning that tariff policy has had on equity markets, is the impact on global currencies. From the end of February through April 3rd, the U.S. Dollar is down 5.1% relative to other developed market currencies (DXY). In addition, we’ve also seen a violent unwinding of the popular currency carry trade.

VettaFi head of sector and industry research Roxana Islam talked to T. Rowe Price PM Dom Rizzo on active tech ETF investing.

Global markets are in freefall in response to President Donald Trump’s universal 10% tariff on all goods being imported into the U.S., with as many as 60 countries facing “reciprocal” tariffs on top of that.

As volatility rises, staying invested is a strategic priority for capturing long-term return potential in a broadening market.

U.S. indexes suffered their worst day since the pandemic, hurt by Trump's massive tariffs that sparked recession fears. Almost every sector fell, with retailers and tech hard hit.

The Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) slipped nearly 2.5% last week. That sparked fresh fears that current geopolitical and macroeconomic climates remain headwinds to growth stocks. Those headwinds may imply investors aren’t flocking to AI stocks

The stock market faces severe downside risk ahead, and the U.S. is constrained in the unsystematic monetary and fiscal expansion that both amplified that bubble and fueled record but wholly impermanent corporate profit margins. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy now faces an imminent recession, and if we fail to be vigilant, we, once united Americans, risk losing what is far greater and more valuable than money.

Social Security faces funding issues by 2035, but major changes to the program are unlikely in the near term.

Active ETFs just topped the $1 trillion threshold, making up nearly 10% of the total ETF pie. Enhanced yield is the name of the game.

Stocks are mixed around midday after seeing some mid-morning buying as investors position ahead of tomorrow's "Liberation Day".

Investors often debate the merits of value versus growth investing, but when it comes to developed international equities, the conversation isn't static; it moves in cycles.

Investors just can’t get enough of ETFs, and issuers are more than happy to oblige. Through the middle of last week—still with a handful of days left in the quarter—208 new U.S. ETFs were launched in Q1, according to Wall Street Horizon data.

In the current installment of The Roundup, Oaktree experts explore various investment risks and opportunities, including the heightened demand for mezzanine financing, potential entry points for special situations investors, the limited competition for unrated asset-backed finance investments, and the growing need for specialized life sciences lenders.

Following the latest Federal Reserve meeting, there was a massive surge in media headlines stating “stagflation.” The media’s stagflation panic is unsurprising as it elicits memories of the late 1970s during the Arab oil embargo.

Markets sold off sharply Friday and in the early Monday hours, and I do not believe inflation data was the culprit.

On March 18, 2025, Jensen Huang stepped onto the stage at Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose with the presence of a man who knows he's about to redefine the trajectory of an industry—again. His message was clear: AI has hit an inflection point, and if you're not paying attention, you're already behind.

Longtime Investor Alert readers have often seen me say that government policy is a precursor to change. What this means is that, when policymakers act—whether through subsidies, sanctions, tariffs or regulations—markets can sometimes respond swiftly and dramatically. We’re seeing that play out right now in real time, especially in the copper market.

The global economy is undergoing an unprecedented wave of industrial and infrastructure expansion, driving relentless demand for commodities across energy, metals and agriculture.

When dealing with digital assets it’s important to keep records and consult a tax professional. Our Bill Cass explains the taxation rules around cryptocurrency.

The parallels between the AI narrative driving the current market and the dot-com bubble of a quarter century ago raise important concerns for investors.

Without a robust regulatory framework that incentivizes stablecoin issuers to register in the United States, stablecoin activity will migrate to countries with weaker rules, increasing the likelihood of financial instability. Fortunately, the US can still head off these risks and reap the technology’s benefits.

Emerging markets offer the potential for long-term diversified investment returns but they can endure challenging periods of volatility and uncertainty. Head of Portfolio Strategy David Dali maps out the issues to consider when constructing and managing a portfolio for emerging markets.

Despite NVIDIA’s stock flashing a bearish “death cross”—its 50-day moving average slipped below the 200-day moving average for the first time since January 2023—the energy at the conference was electrifying. Every major industry was represented, from health care to defense, signaling that artificial intelligence (AI) is expanding at a white-knuckle clip.

Despite recent pullbacks, history shows that periods of market fear often present opportunities, as seen with Amazon, Apple and Nvidia in past downturns.

Congress managed to avoid a government shutdown, but Democrats are divided on strategy.