After the mother of all market selloffs in March and the mother of all market rebounds in April, it is long overdue to survey the debris that some investors might mistake for a well-constructed portfolio. As an income investor one should really ‘beware the Ides of March’ and in this article I will review four sources of income and the risks that come with that territory.

We’ve long held the view that in the next market downturn, somewhere down the line ETFs would be vilified. And that happened, initially, with headlines noting: wild swings in premiums/discounts; illusion of liquidity; exacerbating volatility. But after the initial hysteria and alarmist headlines, as calmer heads prevailed and market participants shared their truths, the tune changed, and ETFs emerged as a hero in troublesome times.   

By Allan Lane (pictured), Algo-Chain – At Algo-Chain when re-balancing our Model Portfolios we have always been big advocates of using macro-economic data to help guide the asset allocation decision process, and central to that is the data provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD.

By Allan Lane (pictured), Algo-Chain – We live in strange times; many countries have seen business come to a complete and utter standstill and yet in many instances the equity markets continue with gay abandon. In this new paradigm, perhaps best described as a once in a lifetime fish tank, some equity markets are performing much better than others. 

Morningstar’s Director of Global ETF Research, Ben Johnson, agree with the spirit of an industry coalition proposal to improve the labelling of ETPs, but not the specifics…

What is it about collecting that forces someone to want everything on a list once they have engaged with their first item of that kind? One needs to only think of either record collectors or train spotters to know this habit can get out of control. Oddly enough this line of thinking also applies to investing - once you have traded one US Equity Sector ETF, then one’s inner voice compels you to keep looking at all of them. 

It’s fair to say the world has turned upside down since BlackRock’s Larry Fink unleashed his annual investment letter back in January.  For those that have not read it, his message was simple, it is time to go all in on ESG.  

As the speed of tech driven change accelerated during those two decades, and each one of us constantly refreshed our RAM, our ability to remember the past seems to have gone by the wayside.  Add to that another seven years when the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange – can any of us ever truly remember how it was back in the good old days?

By Allan Lane, Algo-Chain – During a week when the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 11.4 per cent, the largest one day increase since 1933, this news seemed at odds with some of the more harrowing coronavirus statistics that hit the airwaves by the time US markets closed.

…says Kenneth Lamont (pictured), Senior Analyst, Passive Strategies, Manager Research, Morningstar.