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Penton’s WealthManagement.com Advisor Confidence Index (ACI), a benchmark of financial advisors’ views on the U.S. economy and the stock market, marked the slowest rate of growth since the end of last year on lowered optimism over the future of the U.S. economy and the stock market....More

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been one of the bright spots in U.S. markets over the past few years—their assets have grown at almost 30% a year since 2005 and now total well over $1 trillion. In its most basic form, an ETF is an open-end fund (typically, tracking an index) that trades on an exchange. It has a unique creation and redemption process for primary transactions and provides daily transparency of holdings. Introduced in the U.S. 18 years ago, ETFs have been steadily gaining traction among investors and advisors. According to Morningstar, ETFs generate up to 40% of exchange trading volume...More

The Advisor Confidence Index (ACI), a benchmark that gauges advisor views on the U.S. economy and stock market, reports that advisor confidence increased slightly in October, with the index increasing 0.91% from the September level to close at 95.65....More

The Advisor Confidence Index (ACI), a benchmark that gauges advisor views on the U.S. economy and stock market, reports that advisor confidence fell in August, with the index slipping 2.29% from the July level to close at 96.49....More

Advocates of alternative investing often point to persistent market volatility as a good reason to hold more than just stocks, bonds and cash in a portfolio. These days, being long-only in the three basic asset classes means exposing a portfolio to the damaging effects of increasingly interdependent equity and fixed-income markets, which often rise and fall together in reaction to major market events. By combining traditional and alternative investments, investors may have the potential to profit within a variety of market environments....More