The escalating trade battle between the US and China shows no sign of easing, which raises questions about the outlook for US equities. Based on year-to-date results, however, across-the-board gains continue to prevail for the major US equity factors, based on a set of exchange-traded funds.
The strongest performers - quality and liquidity factors - are essentially tied so far in 2019 through yesterday's close (May 15). Leading the way by a hair: the iShares Edge MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF ([[QUAL]]), which is up 16.5%. The Vanguard U.S. Liquidity Factor ETF ([[VFLQ]]) is trailing