Consider how some of these funds held up in the stomach-churning month after the Dow hit its all-time high on Feb. 12: The largest such strategy, the $29.3 billion iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA ETF (ticker: USMV), was down 9% year to date through March 11, performing better than 96% of other large-blend funds, according to Morningstar, and nearly six percentage points better than the Russell 1000. The fund is up an average of 6% a year for the past five years, putting it in the top 4% of its...

But while investors often talk about bonds in broad terms, the past several weeks have underscored the fact that the global bond market is anything but homogenous. Of the 19 taxable bond fund categories tracked by Morningstar, all but four—short-, intermediate-, and long-term U.S. Treasuries, plus intermediate core—have lost money this year. So what’s a bond investor to do now? For most, the best advice is probably to “shelter in place.” Extreme markets are generally not the time to make...

Investors have been suffering from a case of whiplash. Late last year, the stock market, having posted one of the worst Decembers in decades, seemed to be flirting with bear market territory. Then suddenly the picture brightened. The Fed, which had been gradually hiking interest rates, relented. Meanwhile, U.S. corporate profits a major driver of U.S. growth, began to look healthier than they had just a few months before. By April, the S&P 500 had set a new record high. Crisis averted? Not so...

Pull into a Costco parking lot on virtually any day of the week, any time during warehouse hours, and you’ll likely be hard pressed to find a parking spot. People aren’t just there for the free samples. The aisles are buzzing with members loading up their extra-wide carts with household staples, plus those one or two novelty or seasonal items they just couldn’t pass up. Retail may be dead, but Costco is thriving — and so is its stock. Costco is up nearly 30% in the first six months of 2019,...

When Corbin Blackwell first interviewed for a job on Wall Street after college, she knew almost nothing about investing. Now six years later she regularly doles out financial advice to millionaires. “I love talking to people, and I love that a-ha moment when they understand that they can have control of their future,” says Blackwell, 28, a certified financial planner for Betterment, an online financial advisor that uses technology provide low-cost investment advice and management. Investing...