IVE News and Press, iShares S&P 500 Value From 02/05/23

Summary Market movements this year indicate that many investors don't believe that the Federal Reserve will really live up to its picture of continued increases in its policy rate. Mr. Powell, Federal Reserve Chairman, does not seem to have the confidence of the financial markets and on...

Summary We’re in the midst of the fourth quarter earnings season and already we’re seeing a cautionary setup for 2023 as corporations find ways to cut back. In the latter half of 2022 the number of companies announcing dividend decreases began to rise temporarily, before r...

Summary Three of the major investment themes of 2022 were: inflation and central bank responses; commodity and energy price spikes; and the China COVID lockdown. We discuss how each of these will likely play out in 2023. Our general market view for the year ahead is relatively sanguine,...

Summary On Wednesday we got a de-clawed hawk in Chairman Powell and he treaded carefully. For the first time, Powell acknowledged we are in a dis-inflationary environment and goods inflation is coming down fast. In my view, the most important quote of the press conference was, ...

Summary The first employment report of 2023 certainly surprised everybody. Friday morning’s report was the tenth straight better-than-expected report, which is a record and easily surpasses the prior peaks in September 2020 and March 2015. The US economy has added 4.967 milli...

Summary The jobs data surprised to the upside. The ISM data surprised to the upside. The stock market appears to be grossly mispriced relative to rates. The most stunning part of the FOMC press conference on Wednesday wasn't at the beginning or the middle. It came at the e...

Summary The Federal Reserve continues its quantitative tightening, and it keeps the pliers tight around the monetary facet. The Fed's securities portfolio continues to decline. The M2 money stock has now been in decline for about ten months. These data all seem to point toward a...

Summary RPV holds 85 S&P 500 stocks with “pure value” characteristics. The heaviest sector is financials, with 22% of asset value. It has recently outperformed the S&P 500, but return since inception is underwhelming. Volatility and drawdowns point to high ...

Summary Jobless claims continue to impress with the latest reading on seasonally adjusted initial claims dropping to 183K which is the lowest level since April 2022. While NSA claims were lower this week, it was not by much with the reading falling from 225.23K to just 224.36K. As f...

Summary When it comes to the merits of a balanced portfolio, investors may find themselves caught up in the inertia of the masses, with most asset classes suffering negative returns in 2022. While equity and fixed markets have broadly rebounded to start 2023, this does not necessarily m...