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Consumer confidence measures have been mixed amid heightened geopolitical noise. The global manufacturing slowdown has pulled that sub-set of the U.S. economy into contraction territory and threatens business investment. Key service-based readings have maintained resilient growth in the U.S. Currencies around the world have fallen versus the U.S. Dollar, with the "safe-haven" Japanese Yen being the notable exception. The U.S.-China relations induced periodic bouts of volatility, and the matter goes beyond unresolved trade/tariff issues.

More and more investors are considering an allocation to commodities, typically motivated by a desire to tap the inflation-fighting and diversifying properties of this asset class. While the most natural way to get commodity exposure is by investing in a portfolio of commodity futures, many investors (and consultants) believe owning a portfolio of natural resource stocks is an easier method.

Prices of commodities and the US dollar are strongly linked. But is this also true at the individual commodity level?

Passive doesn't mean indifferent. Often people lose sight of the fact that while passive, or index, investors have made a choice to diversify and trust the market to reward them for their investments in the long run, they still want positive performance. And influencing corporate behavior for the better is a key way for them to achieve that. As assets continue to flow from active management to index investing, passive shareholders will still hold companies to account.

What are the tax benefits of investing in Qualified Opportunity Funds? A closer look assesses the opportunities —and the risks.

With the longest economic expansion on record currently underway in the United States, it is hard to imagine that capital markets and investments were in utter disarray a little over ten years ago. Or that technology stocks—the darling of equity markets today—took a severe beating two decades back. We believe that when the going is good (and has been for an extraordinarily long time), it is prudent to rebalance investment portfolios away from highperforming assets, especially at this late stage of the economic cycle.

What might your best stock holding, a piece of real estate, shares in a privately held company, interests in private equity, venture or hedge funds, fine art, collectibles, and bitcoin have in common? Whether you purchased them for love or investment purposes, they could be among the best items to give to your favorite charities to realize maximum tax benefits. Before you sell them, it's vital to understand how appreciated non-cash assets can be to a philanthropic wealth management strategy.

Wealthy individuals and family offices are increasingly looking to direct investments to enhance their returns. Other significant incentives for choosing direct investing include the elimination of management fees charged by investment firms. They can also serve as a vehicle to align investments more closely with the values and mindset of the investor. If you’re a family office contemplating a direct investment program, this article by NEPC outlines the key steps and guidelines to follow that will help set you up for success.

U.S. stocks have global exposure but do not provide global diversification. In investing, being exposed to too much of the same thing could be dangerous, especially when that market or a segment of it underperforms. A globally diversified equity portfolio may not only protect investors from the concentration risks due to home bias, but could also open the doors for them to take advantage of many lucrative opportunities abroad. And if you go global, go active.

The main threat to responsible investing (RI) is the very success of the idea itself. There are now so many investors looking for RI investments that the usual financial industry fraudsters and unethical salespeople have come out in force.