Each week ETF Trends publishes news, commentary and strategist stories surrounding the world of ETFs.

Here’s a look at the Top 5 Strategist Stories of the Week for April 4-8:

1. ETF Strategies for an Earnings Recession

We have seen and heard a lot of discussion about the current “earnings recession” and it sounds like really bad news for the stock market.

Depending on which measurement of S&P 500 earnings per share (EPS) is utilized, comparisons have been negative for the past two to four quarters as Q4 2015 EPS will finish around -3.6% year over year. This meets the common “recession” definition of two or more quarters of negative growth. Read more >>

2. Can Beta be Smart?

Factors, multi-factors, smart beta, strategic beta, and whatever else you want to call non-market-cap-weighted investing is everywhere.

I don’t think it is plausible to go one week without hearing mention of smart beta if you work anywhere near ETFs. As the ETF industry (and even some mutual funds and stock pickers) expands the menu of smart beta options, some users of traditional market cap products may feel ostracized by the smart beta movement. Read more >>

3. The Tolerable Cost of Risk-Managed Investing

All approaches to Risk-Managed Investing (RMI) have a cost of some sort.

This cost typically presents itself as a drag on performance during periods when, in retrospect, downside protection isn’t needed. We sought to develop an objective way of measuring how high this cost could be before it exhausts the benefits of RMI. Read more >>

4. Value Stocks in Various Periods

Value is an engrained investment methodology loyally followed by many with varied methods of measurement (e.g. P/B, P/E, P/Cf). Simply, value represents the undervalued stocks in a given universe and is historically recognized as having a slice of the investment marketplace. Growth is value’s counterpart and in most cases they do not overlap. Read more >>

5. Commentary: Corporate Profits Plunge in Most Recent GDP Report

In the most recent Gross Domestic Report (GDP) report, corporate profits plunged.

The overall decline in profits was $153 billion in Q4, although some of this drop was due to an $83 billion settlement that BP had with the government over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Read more >>

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