ZF News and Press, Virtus Total Return Fund Inc. From 07/26/21

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 1000 points at the low Monday and closed down 725, a loss of a little over 2%. The S&P 500 did a little better but closed down 1.5%. The markets rose through the rest of the week and ended on a high note. So, you got your chance to ...

The best investing advice that we could give back in May was to “Sell in May and go away”. That advice really means to get your exposure smaller and do nothing. That served us well this past Monday as the Dow Jones fell over 700 points and then spent the rest of the week...

Strategas Technical Strategist Todd Sohn takes us through how to think about the current market environment, what sectors his team is watching, and the tricky US dollar. This is still a trend-driven market, not a momentum-driven one. It’s a more selective, slightly weaker marke...

Fortunately, the current year has been a bit kinder to prognosticators than the previous one. The bull market that began in 2009 didn’t end when the coronavirus panic pushed the S&P 500 down 34 percent from its previous high. The post-Covid rally, and particularly the fasci...

Given the fuss about the goods buying mania, if the whole domestic system were to match or even approach it, one would think this alleged inflationary boom would have to keep something like the CFNAI far above 0. However, the latest reading for June 2021 at just 0.09 indicates growth bare...

Initial claims for regular state unemployment insurance totaled 419,000 for the week ending July 17, a rise of 51,000 from the previous week’s tally of 368,000. The revised results suggest weekly initial claims may be plateauing around the 400,000 level. The number of ongoing c...

Vix spikes as volatility rattles the Dow. The advantage of using options strategies when markets turn volatile. How investors can use sector rotations. For further details see: Navigating Market Uncertainty And Higher Volatility

Since last November’s vaccine news, financial markets have been "hanging ten" on a swell of cyclical, value and small-cap stocks, and rising Treasury yields. Crosswinds started to grow in the second quarter, however, as economic and inflation data ran hot: rising yields stalled...

We’ve moved past the early-cycle environment that predominated risk taking in 2020, post the pandemic lows, and we’re moving really into a mid-cycle environment, which tends to be constructive for risk. This mid-cycle environment is still going to be expansionary, albeit...

Growth-oriented asset classes are likely to shine, but not equally. Above-trend growth is a supportive environment of risky assets like equities or credit. On valuation grounds, equities are looking a little cheaper. Geraldine Sundstrom and Erin Browne discuss PIMCO’s views...