AAII Journal

The AAII Los Angeles Chapter presents 10 programs each year, featuring two speakers at every event—for a total of 20 speakers annually. Seven programs are webinar-only, while three are presented both in person and via livestream. Our webinar format allows us to invite nationally recognized experts from anywhere in the country for our seven webinar-only events. We also host insightful Southern California speakers for our live events, which are livestreamed, about six times per year.

Small-cap stocks are having a good year. iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR), which tracks the S&P SmallCap 600 index, is up 23.6% year to date as of late August. This compares to a year-to-date return of 13.4% for iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV). There are two primary reasons for this. First, earnings growth has been strong for small-cap companies.

More than halfway through 2026, one question is rising in many investors’ minds: What should I do with my next dollar? This year has given investors a lot to process at once. The Strait of Hormuz has swung between closed, briefly reopened and then closed again, keeping the oil markets and investors on edge. U.S. tariffs have been imposed, struck down and then reimposed under different statutes, scrambling supply-chain bets.

Learn why common Wall Street sayings can encourage market timing, overconfidence and other investing mistakes Discover how fundamentals, not popular investing maxims, can lead to stronger long-term portfolio decisions Understand why staying invested and letting winners run may outperform reactive, short-term trading strategies AAII and BetterInvesting held a joint webinar on July 28, 2026, in which AAII’s John Bajkowski and BetterInvesting’s Doug Gerlach explained why some of Wall Street’s...

Aggressive investors looking for more excitement in their portfolios might consider buying high-beta stocks showing signs of a turnaround. This month’s First Cut begins with stocks of U.S. exchange-listed companies that have a market capitalization over $250 million—small cap and larger—and a beta in the 70th percentile or greater, according to AAII’s Stock Investor Pro fundamental stock screening and research database.

Discover why overlooked small-cap stocks can create opportunities Learn about sources for identifying promising small-cap investments Understand how catalysts, due diligence and long-term discipline can improve results Much has been written recently about small-cap stocks (often measured by the Russell 2000 index) outperforming their large-cap cousins (often measured by the S&P 500 index).

Learn how to build customized exchange-traded fund (ETF) and mutual fund views using the data fields in My Portfolio Discover how to track performance, fees, risk and fund characteristics with metrics tailored to your investing goals Understand how to organize holdings by asset type and edit custom views We’ve added a new feature to My Portfolio that will help you better track the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds you own.

Understand how market breadth reveals participation beyond index performance, showing whether gains or losses are broadly shared by stocks Learn how the Advance/Decline (A/D) line measures market trends, confirms momentum and identifies changes beneath the market’s surface Discover how breadth indicators, divergences and momentum measures can provide additional context for investment decisions When investors hear that “the market” rose or fell, the statement usually refers to a major market...

Featured Tickers: APT CMCO CMTL CVLG EML ESEA GASS GILT HDSN KGEI MG NC NGS PANL RCKY RGS USNA Stocks generally lost ground in July, with smaller companies experiencing somewhat greater weakness. The S&P 500 index posted a total return of –0.1%, compared to declines of 2.4% for the S&P MidCap 400 index and 1.9% for the S&P SmallCap 600 index. Despite the declines, market breadth remained positive, with advancing stocks outnumbering declining stocks across all three indexes.

Explains issuer-sponsored tokens as blockchain-based shares, alongside DRS share and certificated ownership Clarifies how IST ownership records are handled and what shareholder rights are included Describes ISTs’ benefits, risks and current limitations, along with their trading infrastructure Peter Duggan is an executive vice president in the issuer services business at Computershare, a global stock transfer agency.