QQD News and Press, Simplify Growth Equity Plus Downside Convexity ETF From 12/21/22

Summary Last week the Fed reiterated its intention to snuff out inflation with still more hikes. But beginning about 6-8 months ago, when (not coincidentally) the Fed started to raise interest rates, inflation started to decline. In the housing market it's beginning to look like int...

Summary Inflation and central bank policy will likely continue being key focus points for investors. 2023 may not see a repeat of the frantic Federal Reserve activity that characterized 2022, but policy rates almost certainly still have further to rise. While 2023, with its challeng...

Summary This year is notable for bonds transitioning from a risk mitigant to a source of risk. One way to measure this is by tracking bond market volatility. Can yields and yield vol remain contained? Today, markets seem more aligned with the central bank’s intentions, and we...

Summary While falling commodity prices signal potential easing in inflation, it’s not necessarily a good sign. That’s because assets peak in a predictable order: bonds, stocks, and then commodities. Crude Oil has fallen to the lowest level in over a year, suffering a weekl...

Summary An all-time low in interest rates was reached when the Fed cut the fed funds rate to approximately zero in late 2008 in an effort to pull the economy out of the GFC. The Fed deemed the inflation “transitory,” it continued its policies of low-interest rates and quan...

Summary Return divergences were largely an outgrowth of the collapse in resource stocks. Amid the extreme risk-on/risk-off swings in sentiment spurred by the pandemic and Russia/Ukraine war, industry performances have been as polarized as they've ever been in a decade. The turbulent...

Summary The SEC has proposed amendments to RegNMS. There is a better alternative. The key to a more efficient market structure is to put the entire system into the hands of retail investors. Introduction The SEC made two primary proposals in recent amendments to Regulation...

Summary The S&P 500 is down just over 20% since January 4th and a seasonally unusual -6.4% month to date. Sentiment reports may appear bearish, but equity positioning, especially in household portfolios, remains (as shown below in yellow) near the secular peaks of 1966, 2000 and 202...

Summary MarketCap/GVA is our most reliable valuation gauge in market cycles across history, including recent decades. To expect a large positive outlier over the coming years is to rely on bubble valuations to prevail at the end of the holding period. Interest rates are nowhere near...

Summary The credit cycle and the economic cycle are excellent leading indicators of volatility. Both are likely to continue deteriorating in the months ahead. As such, expect high stock market volatility to be a mainstay for 2023. High Volatility Set To Continue Eq...