In December 2023, Vladimir Putin declared that the 2024 BRICS Summit, hosted by Russia, would be focused on establishing a “fair world order” based on shared principles. At the core of Putin’s goals for stronger BRICS economic integration is a longstanding and overriding objective to provide a viable alternative to the West’s global hegemony in nearly all facets of political, military, economic, financial, and security affairs.

Challenging Western Dominance

Creating a common currency designed to curtail — and displace – the dominance of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency

Every year as the summer months draw near their end, LPL Financial hosts its annual conference for financial advisors. While the conference is an excellent opportunity for advisors to expand upon professional interests, discover ways to enhance their impact on clients, and connect with industry experts — learning is a two-way street. At this year’s big event with nearly 9,000 attendees in sunny San Diego, the LPL Research team had the unique opportunity to connect with many of these advisors in person to get their perspectives on the capital markets. Below are some of the frequently asked questions from the road.

Equi

What Happened?

In short, the recent sell-off was underpinned by three primary factors, including: 1) overbought conditions coming into August &m

This latest bout of market volatility has been unsettling, especially after such a calm 2023 and 2024 for stocks. However, with the benefit of some historical perspective, volatility of this magnitude is quite common.  

That said, Monday morning's brief spike in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) to over 60, which we wrote about in "Navigating the Storm: Insights on Current Market Volatility", was certainly not normal. Now that this measure of implied volatility based on S&P 500 option prices is back to more normal levels in the low 20s after closing at 38.6 on Monday, it’s fair to say this pullback has been