Our rating on the Financial sector is Over-Weight. The Fed's rate-hike campaign is expanding net interest margins for banks. We also look for recovery in fee-based businesses, bond issuance, and M&A as the rate cycle winds down. Still, with inflation running hot, companies may cut back on hiring and investments, and thus on business loans. As of the end of April, the sector accounted for 13% of the S&P 500. The sector was outperforming the market with a gain of 12.0%. It underperformed the market in 2023, with a gain of 7% compared to a gain of 24% for the S&P 500. The sector includes money center banks, regional banks, investment banks and brokerages, exchanges, insurers, and financial data companies. Here are the Financial companies that either are on our Focus List or are used in our model portfolios.

T. Rowe Price provides asset-management services for individual and institutional investors. It offers a broad range of no-load US and international stock, hybrid, bond, and money market funds. At the end of April 2024, the firm had $1.485 trillion in managed assets, composed of equity (51%), balanced (34%), fixed-income and money market (12%), and alternative (3%) offerings. Approximately two thirds of managed assets are held in retirement-based accounts, which provides T. Rowe Price with a somewhat stickier client base than most of its peers. The firm also manages private accounts, provides retirement planning advice, and offers discount brokerage and trust services. The company is primarily a US-based asset manager, deriving just under 9% of its AUM from overseas.

Franklin Resources provides investment services for individual and institutional investors. At the end of October 2023, Franklin had $1.335 trillion in managed assets, composed primarily of equity (31%), fixed-income (35%), multi-asset/balanced (11%) funds, alternatives (19%) and money market funds (4%). Distribution tends to be weighted equally between retail investors (50% of AUM) and institutional accounts (48%), with high-net-worth clients accounting for the remainder. Franklin is one of the more global of the U.S.-based asset managers we cover, with more than a third of its assets under management invested in global/international strategies and 29% of managed assets sourced from clients domiciled outside the United States.

T. Rowe Price provides asset-management services for individual and institutional investors. It offers a broad range of no-load U.S. and international stock, hybrid, bond, and money market funds. At the end of January 2024, the firm had $1.450 trillion in managed assets, composed of equity (52%), balanced (33%), fixed-income and money market (12%), and alternative (3%) offerings. Approximately two thirds of managed assets are held in retirement-based accounts, which provides T. Rowe Price with a somewhat stickier client base than most of its peers. The firm also manages private accounts, provides retirement planning advice, and offers discount brokerage and trust services. The company is primarily a U.S.-based asset manager, deriving just under 9% of its AUM from overseas.