Daily Archives: December 6, 2017

5 Questions For Wesley Gray, AlphaArchitect.com

Momentum investing – betting on the persistence of price trends in the short to medium term — has captured the crowd’s attention in recent years. Consider, for instance, the strong growth in ETF assets in the niche. The first fund launched a bit more than five years ago; today, there are dozens of momentum ETFs, collectively holding nearly $15 billion in assets, according to etfdb.com. That’s still a small piece of the total ETF pie, but the strategy’s allure could keep growth bubbling for years to come. What should investors expect? Does the rising interest in momentum raise concerns about the strategy’s expected return? For some insight, The Capital Spectator asked Wesley Gray at Alpha Architect, a wealth manager near Philadelphia. Gray, who previously worked as a finance professor, is an obvious source for discussing momentum. In addition to managing variations of momentum-based portfolios for clients, he and his team have written extensively about the strategy at AlphaArchitect.com, a popular investing blog. Gray is also the co-author of Quantitative Momentum: A Practitioner’s Guide to Building a Momentum-Based Stock Selection System
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Macro Briefing: 6 December 2017

Trump expected to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital: Politico
Israel prepares for violence ahead of Trump’s Jerusalem decision: Haaretz
Palestinian envoy: US recognition of Jerusalem is ‘declaring war’: Jerusalem Post
US trade deficit widens in Oct, highest since Jan: USA Today
Survey data shows global growth steady at 2-1/2 year high in Nov: IHS Markit
Modest setback for US ISM Non-Mfg Index Nov after strong Oct report: CNBC
US Services PMI: Softer growth for sector in Nov: IHS Markit
Commercial real estate is the big winner with GOP’s tax cut: NY Times
10-yr/2-yr Treasury spread fell again on Tues, dipping to new decade low of 53bp: