As of November 22, the S&P 500 and Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index are higher by 20.3% and 1.2%, respectively, year to date. So by most accounts, being long traditional assets has been effective in 2023. The tide could possibly turn in favor of interest rate cuts in 2024. Therefore, bonds could perform even better in the new year.
However, market participants know what worked in a particular year won’t necessarily deliver comparable bullishness the following year. With that in mind, now is the ideal time to prepare for 2024 strategies. VanEck’s upcoming webinar “Screaming Buys for 2024” can assist registered investment advisors in positioning client portfolios for the 2024 opportunity set.
The webcast, which will be hosted by VanEck CEO Jan VanEck, is scheduled for November 28 at 11 a.m. ET. Advisors can register for it here. VanEck, who accurately predicted this year’s spike by 10-year Treasury yields, will field questions from advisors over the course of the hour-long webinar.
Plethora of 2024 Ideas to Consider
Some of the themes that emerged this year could have carryover value for 2024. Those include the point that smaller stocks, both small- and midcap names, lagged this year, but are not historically inexpensive. The valuation gaps relative to large-cap equities are getting extreme.
Wide moat investing — a topic that could well be in focus on the VanEck webinar — has delivered for investors this year. That shouldn’t surprise savvy advisors, because over the past three years, the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT) beat the S&P 500 by 230 basis points. With MOAT up more than 20% year to date, 2023 will likely be the fifth year in the past seven in which the ETF generated positive annual returns.
With the possibility of 2024 being the year in which the Federal Reserve considers cutting interest rates, perhaps more than once, income investing could be back in style. Should that be the case, a rebound could be afoot for high-yield income funds.
On that note, advisors may want to ask VanEck about opportunities with ETFs such as the VanEck Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF (PFXF) and the VanEck CLO ETF (CLOI). PFXF offers advisors and clients the traditional income benefits associated with preferred stocks and leverage to declining interest rates without exposure to bank-issued preferred stocks.
For its part, CLOI is actively managed and provides a high level of income with minimal credit risk. All this could continue being appealing traits in 2024.
Advisors can register for the webinar here.
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