Research

Midyear Outlook 2025: Pragmatic Optimism, Measured Expectations

We started 2025 on a high note, although we acknowledged that “no market environment is ever permanent, and that change is always potentially around the corner.” Well change did come, and with it, volatility, perhaps in part because we assumed President Trump’s policies would simply mirror those of his prior term. The impact of policy…

Weekly Market Performance — March 6, 2026

LPL Research provides its Weekly Market Performance for the week of March 2, 2026. Capital markets faced a challenging start to March as geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran, rising oil prices, and renewed inflation concerns pressured global equities and bonds…

Managed Futures: Current Positioning and Geopolitical Risks

Managed futures strategies, also known as Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) or trend-followers, are designed for environments where macro shifts drive persistent price trends across equity, bond, commodity, and currency markets…

Iran Escalation: How Markets Have Reacted to Geopolitical Events

As with the recent escalation in the Middle East, financial markets are constantly exposed to unpredictable events — from geopolitical conflicts and terror attacks to political transitions, corporate crises, and systemic financial shocks…

How LPL Research Thinks About Dividends

Dividend strategies, a.k.a. equity income strategies, have outperformed to start the year, owing to the value-led cyclical rotation we are seeing in domestic equity markets. Looking beyond current performance, this week, we ask and answer the question “How should I think about dividend stocks or building an equity income portfolio?

Risk-On Appetite Strong in 2026: Fund Flows Recap

With February behind us, we conducted a deeper dive into exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows over the month and year-to-date (YTD) periods. Flows measure the net movement of cash into and out of investment vehicles, such as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETF).

Assessing the Impact of Developments in Iran: Watch Energy

Over the weekend, the United States and Israel conducted a coordinated series of missile and drone strikes against Iran, targeting several high-value military installations in an effort to hinder Iran’s nuclear development efforts…