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☆ Mortgage-backed securities offer high-quality income and are relatively cheap, UBS says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Investors looking for high-quality income, as well as a bargain, should turn to agency mortgage-backed securities, according to UBS. Agency MBS are debt obligations backed by the government and are issued by agencies such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. However, agency MBS lagged their higher-quality counterparts because they are highly correlated to interest rate volatility, she said. As gross domestic product slowly trends lower, the market will become more comfortable with the likelihood of the Fed cutting rates, Falconio said. Banks, which have been investing excess deposits in Treasurys, will be among those turning to agency MBS, Falconio said.

Persons: Leslie Falconio, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, Falconio, Janus Henderson, Banks Organizations: UBS, CNBC, Agency MBS, Federal Reserve, MBS, SEC, Securities ETF Locations: UBS Americas, Treasurys

☆ The big, month-long rally in commodities is turning these ETFs into winners
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-06 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Some equity funds closely tied to those commodities, such as those that invest in gold and silver miners, have soared even more. Five of the six biggest gold ETFs have seen outflows this year, totaling almost $3 billion, according to FactSet. GLD 5Y mountain Gold, and the ETFs that track it, are trading at record highs in early 2024. The fund's holdings include gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Meanwhile, Teucrium has several ETFs focused on agricultural commodities that have climbed over the past month as well, including the the Teucrium Soybean Fund (SOYB) , up over 3%.

Persons: Jake Hanley, Hanley, Robert Minter, Minter, Teucrium Organizations: United States Oil Fund, Hershey Locations: East, Europe

☆ BlackRock says this is the 'last best opportunity' to buy these bonds
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"We believe the recent back up in rates is probably the last best opportunity to extend duration," wrote Gargi Pal Chaudhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist, Americas, at BlackRock. Generally speaking, the value of a bond goes up as interest rates go down, with longer-dated bonds seeing the biggest gains. While bond funds have been seeing inflows this year, there are still plenty of investors with excess cash in short-term accounts. Different funds that offer that type of exposure include the iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEI) , the SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Treasury ETF (SPTI) and the Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF (VGIT) . Investors shouldn't go overboard with adding duration, because the long-term bonds on the market carry extra risk, Akullian said.

Persons: BlackRock's, Gargi Pal Chaudhuri, Kristy Akullian, It's, Akullian, Investors shouldn't Organizations: Treasury, Federal, Investment Company Institute, BlackRock, CNBC, Treasury Bond ETF, Research, Investors Locations: Americas, BlackRock, US10Y

☆ Wall Street gets key inflation data next week amid concerns the stock market is overbought
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Economists polled by FactSet anticipate the March consumer price index will show prices rising by 0.3% on a monthly basis, less than February's 0.4% advance. Similarly, the March producer price index is expected to show an increase of 0.5%, according to FactSet consensus estimates. Monday April 8 Tuesday April 9 6 a.m. NFIB Small Business Index (March) Wednesday April 10 8:30 a.m. Consumer Price Index (CPI) (March) 8:30 a.m. Initial Claims (04/06) 8:30 a.m. Producer Price Index PPI Earnings: CarMax Friday April 12 8:30 a.m. Import Price Index (March) 10 a.m. Michigan Sentiment preliminary (April) Earnings: State Street , Wells Fargo , JPMorgan Chase , Progressive , Citigroup

Persons: Stocks, we're, Ross Mayfield, Baird, Mayfield, FactSet, David Einhorn, CNBC's Scott Wapner, he's, Michelle Bowman, Bank's Tom Hainlin, Hainlin, Jamie Myers, JPMorgan Chase Organizations: Federal Reserve, Investors, Treasury Bond, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, . West Texas, Treasury, Fed, Investment Group, Investors Intelligence, American Association of, Walmart, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Index, Treasury Budget NSA, Air Lines, Price Index, Progressive Locations: U.S, Wells Fargo, Michigan

☆ Higher yielding CDs are coming due. Here’s where savers are redeploying their cash
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Today's higher rates on CDs aren't going to last , however. For investors contending with maturing CDs, that means they're running out of places to stash their idle cash and still generate an attractive yield. "The issue is reinvestment risk," said Michael Carbone, certified financial planner and financial advisor at Eppolito Financial Strategies in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. That's because once the Fed begins cutting rates, fixed income with longer-dated maturities will allow investors to lock in those higher yields. An opportunity to diversify fixed income In addition to adding exposure to longer-dated bonds, advisors have also been diversifying across different classes of fixed income.

Persons: Wells Fargo, Banks, Jerome Powell, Michael Carbone, Catherine Valega, Valega, Carbone, Josh Nelson, he's Organizations: Green Bee, Keystone Financial Services, MBS Locations: Chelmsford , Massachusetts, Winchester , Massachusetts, Loveland , Colorado, BlackRock

☆ A lower-risk and cheaper way to bet on a second-quarter comeback in this emerging markets ETF
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Michael Khouw | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The MSCI All Country World Index ETF (ACWI) hit an all-time high last week. ACWI 5Y mountain iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI) This index would appear to give investors diversified exposure to stock markets around the globe. It includes developing countries, unlike the MSCI World Index, which is tracked by the ETF 'URTH.' Consequently, the US stock market comprises almost 71% of the URTH ETF and nearly 64% of the ACWI ETF. This is illustrated by the MSCI Emerging Markets Index which can be traded with the iShares ETF, 'EEM.'

Persons: —, ACWI, Rob Reiner, Miracle Max, Billy Crystal, EEM Organizations: Trust Locations: URTH, U.S

☆ Investors are focused 'overwhelmingly' on bitcoin over other cryptocurrencies, BlackRock says
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

BlackRock's push into crypto has been expeditious, but it may be hitting the brakes after bitcoin and ether. But Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's head of digital assets, shut that possibility down at the Bitcoin Investor Day conference last week. He pointed out that bitcoin and ether make up the majority of the crypto market cap – bitcoin at 52% and ether at 16%, according to CoinMarketCap. In addition to bitcoin and ether ETFs, BlackRock is also exploring digital assets through tokenization efforts. "And we have clients who are comfortable and fluent on blockchain infrastructure, interacting with digital assets.

Persons: That's, Robert Mitchnick, Mitchnick, that's, we're, … IBIT, bitcoin, Wall, Larry Fink, CNBC's, it's Organizations: BlackRock, U.S, – Locations: BlackRock

☆ Here are investor Jenny Harrington's top income plays — and they all yield around 6% or higher
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

When income investor Jenny Harrington looks for top dividend stocks, names like Whirlpool come to mind. The home appliance manufacturer not only has a 6% dividend yield, but it has also gotten very cheap, Harrington said. She buys names that have a "reasonably high dividend yield" for her portfolio, which typically generates a 5% dividend yield or better. "We specifically focus on dividend income rather than dividend growth, because the objective of our portfolio is to generate a strong and sustainable income stream for our clients," Harrington said. WHR 1Y mountain Whirlpool's one-year performance She would also like to see the potential for earnings growth in the names she buys.

Persons: Jenny Harrington, Harrington, Jay Brown, Anthony Melone, Ted Miller, William Brown, cyclically Organizations: Whirlpool, Asset Management, Dow Jones U.S, SEC, Investment Management, Crown Castle, Clearway Energy, Clearway, L3Harris Technologies

A majority of respondents — 61% — in the latest CNBC Delivering Alpha Stock Survey believe the broader market has run too far, too fast heading into the second quarter and a pullback is near. The S & P 500 is up more than 9% in the first quarter, which would be its best start to a year since 2019. When it comes to investing domestically 26% said the Nasdaq 100 was the best place to be compared to 13% from the S & P 500. That stock is up 245% in a year and 120% in six months far outpacing every other stock in the S & P 500 except for Super Micro Computer . The rest think we're more likely to be in the 5%-to-10% range for an annual return for the S & P in the next decade.

Persons: Jerome Powell, mangers, they'd Organizations: CNBC, Alpha Stock Survey, Federal Reserve, Nasdaq, bitcoin, Investors, Nvidia, Micro Locations: Japan, United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, South Korea, United States, China

☆ Stocks trade near records, but chances are your portfolio isn’t sufficiently protected from a fall
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

For instance, the iShares MBS ETF (MBB) has a net expense ratio of 0.04% and a year-to-date total return of -1.24%. Vanguard's MBS ETF (VMBS) also carries an expense ratio of 0.04% and a total return of -1.08% in 2024. Stocks in developed markets have had the closest correlation with U.S. equities, while emerging markets equities are less correlated, the research firm found. ETFs that play on that theme include the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) , which has an expense ratio of 0.08%, and the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) , with an expense ratio of 0.09%. VWO has a year-to-date total return of 1.33%, while IEMG's total return for the period is 1.6%.

Persons: Charles NeSmith, Morningstar, Andrew Herzog, Herzog, Cash, Amy Arnott, There's, NeSmith, VWO Organizations: Nasdaq, Communications, Financial, Mortgage, Investors, MBS, Morningstar, Commodities, Vanguard FTSE, Markets Locations: Plantation , Florida, Plano , Texas, U.S

☆ BlackRock says bitcoin returns likely to come down now that it has been embraced by Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

If you're looking for your bitcoin to go to the moon, the window of opportunity may be slowly closing, according to BlackRock. "Certainly, returns going forward will come down," he said at the Bitcoin Investor Day conference in New York City Friday. That demand was "massive and clear" in 2023, when BlackRock filed to launch its iShares Bitcoin Trust. "I don't think we've seen the end of cycles in bitcoin," Mitchnick said. "[With] bitcoin, when the price goes up, the probabilities of success and adoption in some senses, as digital gold, are also changing," he said.

Persons: Robert Mitchnick, It's, –, Mitchnick, CNBC's Ganesh Rao Organizations: BlackRock Locations: BlackRock, New York, @GC

☆ How to beat the retirement crisis: The founder of America's top wealth advisor explains how to properly save, and shares 2 sectors that could expedite returns if you're not on track
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But let's say you're 30 years old and haven't started stashing money away; you may have difficulty getting there. And as a result of this, if you're going to live during a 30 or 40 year retirement. In Edelman's opinion, you're late to the game if you're over 25 and haven't started saving and investing. When people do set money aside, it's often in the wrong places, such as bank savings, money market accounts, and government bonds, Edelman said. All of this might sound complicated for a beginner, but diversification can be achieved through exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Edelman noted.

Persons: haven't, Ric Edelman, Barron's, Edelman, it's, aren't, Franklin Templeton Organizations: Federal Reserve, Edelman, New York Times, Trust, Vanguard Locations: America

☆ Blackrock says bitcoin will be a good portfolio diversifier despite its recent rally with stocks
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Bitcoin is more like digital gold than a so-called "risk-on" asset, according to Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's digital assets lead. For years, bitcoin's ability to behave in different ways at different times has stumped investors . "Historically bitcoin's long-term average correlation [to stocks] has been close to zero – slightly positive, but close to zero," he said. While the recent rally was spurred by the launch of U.S. bitcoin ETFs, some on Wall Street have suggested that it may have recently fused into the more macroeconomic-fueled gold rally . Risk and portfolio construction That, understandably, adds confusion for newcomers to bitcoin investing, who are drawn to its digital gold-like qualities.

Persons: Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's, bitcoin, It's, Bitcoin, bitcoin rocketed, Mitchnick Organizations: New York City, Fed, BlackRock Locations: New York

☆ An even better way to play a potential small-cap stock breakout, according to the charts
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Todd Gordon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Is the breakout from resistance likely and should you consider allocating exposure to this basket of 2000 small capitalization stocks? I think the breakout should occur, but I don't think we should increase exposure to the Russell 2000 for two reasons. Ideally the rotation was going to carry through into the upper-right green quadrant indicating confirmed outperformance relative to the S & P 500. I'm not saying we shun small caps all together and continue to focus on the large caps. We need to focus on fundamentally sound small cap companies and we can do so through the Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows 100 ETF (CALF) .

Persons: Russell, Powell, Gordon, POWL Organizations: Federal Reserve, Powell Industries, Edge, Inside Edge Capital Management

☆ How to trade the market after this week's rally to record highs
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Fed Chair Jerome Powell also noted that a strong labor market wouldn't deter the central bank from cutting rates. Fundstrat's Tom Lee told CNBC he expects the Russell 2000 to rally 50% . "I think the Russell 2000 represents sort of the best of things to happen when the Fed starts cutting." The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 1.6% this week. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF tracks that index.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Blair Boyer, Boyer, Goldman Sachs, Tom Lee, Russell, —, Lee Organizations: Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Federal Reserve, Dow, CNBC, Nvidia, Microsoft, Devices, Visa, Blackwell, JPMorgan, NVIDIA, Fed, GE Vernova, New York Stock Exchange, GE Locations: Jennison

☆ How to hedge your winning chip trade if you nailed the AI rally
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Jeff Kilburg | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

However, I want to establish an insurance trade in the event chip stocks come up for a breather short-term or reverse some of this rally. SOXX .SPX 6M mountain iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) vs. the S & P 500 The continued euphoria and associated demand for artificial intelligence semiconductors has boosted several chip stocks such as Nvidia, Broadcom and AMD. These three stocks alone are collectively up 150% on a one year look back and also make up nearly 25% of iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) . DISCLOSURES: (Long SOXX, Long this put spread) THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Long Organizations: Federal Reserve, Semiconductor, Nvidia, Broadcom, AMD, iShares Semiconductor Locations: U.S

☆ This ETF tracking the housing market is undergoing a post-Fed breakout, according to the charts
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-21 | by ( David Keller | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The weekly chart of the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) shows how the long-term trend has become quite strong off the October 2022 low. The higher low in October was a sign of accumulation, showing that the bearish momentum going into the summer had begun to dissipate. Once this ETF broke above its July 2023 high, it traded higher to a price gap in December of last year. In this case, the homebuilder ETF resolved this pattern to the upside in late February with a break above $105. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR.

Persons: Jerome Powell's, ITB, David Keller Organizations: Home, CMT Locations: U.S

☆ Active bond funds outperformed their passive peers in 2023, Morningstar says. These are top performers
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-20 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Overall, actively managed mutual funds and exchange-traded funds fell short of passive funds, with 47% of active strategies surviving and beating their index-following peers, according to Morningstar. However, actively managed funds outperformed in the bond category. About 53% of active bond managers survived and beat the passive average in 2023, up from 30% in 2022, the research firm said in a recent report . Intermediate core bond funds largely invest in investment-grade debt, spanning from government issues to corporates. Core bond funds have also held up in recessions, thanks to their diversification across fixed income and duration.

Persons: Morningstar, Paul Olmsted, Olmsted, Olmstead, It's Organizations: Morningstar, Vanguard, Bond Market, Aggregate Bond, Intermediate Bond Fund

☆ Build a tax-efficient portfolio with these funds, Bank of America says
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

April 15 is the deadline for taxpayers to file their income tax returns and pay sums owed for 2023. MLPs themselves aren't subject to federal income taxes, but limited partners owe taxes on the income distributed. MLPX has a total return of 7.6% in 2024, and MLPA's year-to-date total return is 9.3%, according to Morningstar. In 2024, IYK has a total return of nearly 4.7%, while XLU's total return is about 0.7%, according to Morningstar. MFM's total return this year is 3.66%, and NZF has a total return of 3.4% in 2024, according to Morningstar.

Persons: Jared Woodard, Woodard, —, MLPX, IYK, Morningstar, XLU, NZF Organizations: Bank of America, MLP & Energy Infrastructure, X MLP, Morningstar, Consumer Staples, Income Trust, Income Locations: MLPs, Indonesia, America, Nuveen

☆ A key segment of the Treasury market is on a record losing streak ahead of the Fed meeting
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The price of bond funds like TLT move in the opposite direction of bond yields, meaning lower prices equal higher yields. TLT 1M mountain The iShares 20+ Year Treasury ETF has fallen for eight straight trading sessions. Only two of the trading sessions have seen a decline of more than 0.5%. One of the TLT's main competitors, the Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF (VGLT) , also fell for eight-straight trading sessions. The iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY) has only fallen in five of the past eight sessions, for example.

Persons: Jason Goepfert Organizations: U.S . Treasury, Treasury Bond ETF, Treasury, Federal, White Oak Consultancy

☆ Bitcoin to rally to $150,000 this year and could touch $250,000 in 2025, Standard Chartered says
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The excitement around the arrival of bitcoin ETFs and the subsequent surge to new highs for the cryptocurrency is making even bitcoin bulls raise their expectations. "We raise our long-held price estimate to the USD 150,000 level from USD 100,000 given the more rapid pass-through from ETF inflows to the BTC price to date," the note said. The new bitcoin ETFs have pulled in billions of dollars from investors since their January launch, even with the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust seeing heavy outflows. The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has raked in more than $12 billion on its own, according to FactSet. The quick growth of the bitcoin ETFs has boosted confidence that there are more investors interested in crypto who have been reluctant to buy it through crypto exchanges.

Persons: Geoff Kendrick, Kendrick Organizations: BTC, Metrics, bitcoin Locations: Bitcoin

☆ Retail traders are making some surprising moves in the latest week
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Retail traders bought billions of dollars worth of cash equities over the past week on net, according to data compiled by JPMorgan's Peng Cheng. With those gains, he said traders bought into Apple and Alphabet , which have both largely sat out of the broader market rally this year. By comparison, investors bought more than half a billion dollars of Alphabet when accounting for outflows. Neither tech stock made the list of top 25 securities by retail net inflows in the previous week. Outside of big tech, Cheng noted that retail investors snapped up shares of beat-down Boeing , which is facing a crisis surrounding its 737 Max 9s after a door panel blew out midflight.

Persons: JPMorgan's Peng Cheng, Cheng, SPX, Max, LSEG Organizations: Retail, Nvidia, Meta, Apple, Trust, outflows, Boeing, Dow Jones, Broadcom, Costco Locations: Japan

☆ Pocket more of your return and save on taxes with these tips, says Bank of America
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"Fixed income returns, by contrast, come almost entirely from coupon payments, which can be taxable at the highest rates." You may also want to think about where you're holding these fixed income assets. The fourth step to save on taxes: Consider whether a buyback ETF or a dividend ETF is right for you. Woodard recently highlighted the iShares Core Dividend ETF (DIVB) and the Invesco BuyBack Achievers ETF (PKW) as buyback plays. He also noted that true income investors may want to go with dividend funds, including Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) and Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM) .

Persons: It's, Jared Woodard, Woodard, buybacks, they're, DIVB, PKW, SCHD, VYM, Morningstar Organizations: Bank of America, Taxpayers, Schwab, Equity, Vanguard, & ' $

(This is CNBC Pro's live coverage of Tuesday's analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. An online car seller and a crypto trading platform were in focus on Tuesday's analyst chatter. Carvana shares are up more than 47% this year, soaring after the company topped fourth-quarter profit estimates. Until ETP flows taper and/or reverse, we suspect the stock's current momentum may persist," analyst Patrick O'Shaughnessy wrote. COIN YTD mountain COIN year to date Coinbase shares received a boost from the ETF excitement, rising more than 40% year to date, as bitcoin climbs to record highs .

Persons: Coinbase, Raymond James ., Jason Bazinet, Bazinet, — Pia Singh, Jefferies, Carvana, John Colantuoni, Carvana hasn't, Raymond James, Patrick O'Shaughnessy, ETP, O'Shaughnessy, — Fred Imbert Organizations: CNBC, underperform, Jefferies, Citi, New York Times, Citi Research, Bazinet , New York Times Locations: Bazinet ,, underperform, Monday's

☆ Why these stock buyback ETFs might be a better bet than dividend funds
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Investors weighing a shift into dividend stocks may be better off focusing on companies with big share buyback programs instead, according to Bank of America. The idea behind focusing on stock buybacks is that companies that can use excess cash to reduce their share count through buybacks are likely on strong financial footing. This is more of a pure-play buyback fund, tracking the Nasdaq US Buyback Achievers Index. To be sure, stock buybacks are a frequent target of politicians and their tax treatment could change in the years ahead. President Joe Biden called for raising the corporate tax rate for stock buybacks at his State of the Union address last week.

Persons: Jared Woodard, Woodard, PKW, Joe Biden Organizations: Bank of America, Bank of America's, Bank of, Nasdaq, Union Locations: buybacks

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