The big banks officially kicked off third-quarter earnings season last Friday. At a high level, results have been good enough to drive the broader banking space to year-to-date highs. The return of animal spirits in deal making has been a major theme as investment banking revenue surged across most major banks. A jump in asset management fees, better-than-expected sales and trading activity, and improving net interest income outlooks have been other key themes of the reporting season thus far.

Management also appears constructive on the economic backdrop. According to JPMorgan Chase’s (JPM) Chief Financial Officer, Jeremey Barnum, th

On October 12, 2022, there were very few comments suggesting that a new bull market was in the throes of being born as the S&P 500 opened at 3,590.83 and closed at 3,577.03.

After all, inflation was still running hot even though the Federal Reserve (Fed) began its rate-hiking campaign on March 16, 2022, by raising rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) and moving to a 50-basis-point hike on May 5, 2022, as it tried to quell inflationary pressures. By mid-June, a series of 75-basis-point hikes were introduced as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) peaked in June at 9.1%.

The October 13 rally that ended the bear market at a l

September didn’t live up to its reputation as a scary month for stocks. As the calendar now turns to October, we examine seasonality data to assess whether the month is more likely to deliver a trick or a treat for stock market investors.  

After an extremely poor start, during which stocks — as measured by the S&P 500 Index — were down over 4% and saw the worst weekly return since early 2023, this September eventually bucked the historic seasonal trend of being the worst month of the year for stocks and finished up by over 2%. Stocks were boosted over 6% from the intra-month lows by an aggressive

When it comes to investing, gold may be the antithesis of artificial intelligence (AI). The precious metal has acted as a store of value for thousands of years with zero technological innovation — gold is discovered, not developed. Gold is also a real tangible asset and can act as a potential hedge against inflation or a safe haven during times of crisis. Given these properties and the backdrop of a risk-on-record-setting equity market, many investors are wondering what’s behind the paradoxical price action of gold’s rally to new highs and how the yellow metal has matched the momentum in AI stocks over the last several month