LDSF News and Press, First Trust Low Duration Strategic Focus ETF From 05/14/19

Last year saw something exceedingly rare. For a period of 9 months there were exclusively rate hikes by the major central banks we monitor. But this period of tightening is turning, and now rate cuts are beginning to dominate again. If this was an important chart last year, you better believe ...

Treasury yields are likely at a temporary sticking point, waiting for the next catalyst to move yields materially in either direction. When I talk about yields being at an important level, it should not be confused with technical analysis. I don't use technical analysis in my approach. The ec...

We didn't know what we thought we knew. As far as market participants understood it, a Sino-US trade pact was a done deal. Last year's escalations gave way to a steady stream of recycled headlines about "progress" in 2019. Talks are always "constructive", according to Steve Mnuchin. China i...

This article has an ambitious purpose, namely, to show investors how interconnected different financial sectors are and how they influence other sectors. The stock markets, the Fed, the debt and the dollar are not independent entities that go their own way. They influence each other. The US do...

The disruption this week is connected with the US-China trade talks that is scaring financial markets throughout the world. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note dropped to 2.45 percent as money poured into the bond market, down from the 2.50 percent close yesterday. This rush to ris...

A few months ago, I wrote part III to this series outlining why interest rates would continue to remain low and most likely continue to fall on the long-end of the curve, confounding consensus opinion as to why interest rates should rise. The consensus opinion on long-term interest rates, ...

First Trust Advisors L.P. ("FTA") announces the declaration of the monthly distributions for certain exchange-traded funds advised by FTA. FTA is a federally registered investment advisor and serves as the Funds' investment advisor. FTA and its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P. ("FTP...

Six Months of Flattening I’ve been publishing on the yield curve since November, and in that time, the curve has undergone some changes. All yield data comes from your good friends, the economists at the US Treasury . For some time, the most obvious feature of the curve was...

A sign of the times when central banks make decisions based upon what is happening elsewhere in the world. “Fed Worried About Slowing Global Growth in Pausing Rate Increases” read the headlines in the New York Times . Jim Tankersley begins his article by writing “Fede...

One key feature of the last 15 months has been the consistent declines in the global manufacturing PMI. After peaking in December 2017, the global manufacturing PMI has undergone a major slowdown, and that was a key driver behind the weakness in global markets last year (and a reflection of st...