The free finance newsletters I read all the time 📬
Plus a charted review of the macro crosscurrents 🔀
📆 TKer will be off next Sunday, May 26. The free weekly newsletter will return on Sunday, June 2.
📈 Stocks rallied to new all-time highs, with the S&P 500 setting a record intraday high of 5,325.45 on Thursday and a record closing high of 5,308.15 on Wednesday. For the week, the S&P climbed 1.5% to close at 5,303.27. The index is now up 11.2% year to date and up 48.3% from its October 12, 2022 closing low of 3,577.03. For more on how the market moves, read: Even strong stock market years can get very stressful 😱
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I spend a lot of time monitoring news, unpacking economic data, thumbing through Wall Street research, dabbling in social media, and chatting with smart (as well as not-so-smart) people.
It’s all part of a process that ends with me curating insights and synthesizing them into stories that hopefully help TKer’s audience better understand what’s going on in the markets and the economy.
Reading a select handful of newsletters helps me keep up with everything going on.
A bunch of readers have asked me what I read regularly. So here you go:
BUT FIRST: I’m only listing the newsletters that I read every time — or almost every time — they hit my inbox. There are lots of great newsletters out there that I also subscribe to that I don’t read all the time — not because they’re bad, but because their cadence doesn’t fit with my schedule, their formatting doesn’t work for me, or what they offer is mostly redundant in the context of other newsletters I’m already reading. This list mostly reflects my routine. AND like most people, I don’t always read every single word of every newsletter. I do a lot of skimming. All these newsletters are great in that they have lots of charts and sub-headlines and other stuff that make for great skimming experiences.
…ALSO, for the purposes of this list, a newsletter is anything you can sign up for and have emailed to you. This list only includes newsletters that are freely available to anyone. (Let me know if you want to know more about my schedule and/or the premium newsletters I’m signed up for.)
The daily newsletters 🗓️
👑 Points of Return: If you only have time to read one newsletter each day, this is it. No one does a better job of flagging major developments in global markets, explaining what they mean, and laying out the possible implications than John Authers. His newsletter is always loaded with charts, making it very friendly to readers who only have time to quickly scroll through. It usually hits inboxes just after midnight NYC time, which means no matter how early you get up, you’ll have something great to read. Sign up here.
🌍 Economics Without Jargon: UBS economist Paul Donovan covers major developments in the global economy in four quick bullets. His blunt commentary never beats around the bush. If you only have 20 seconds a day to spare to catch up on the world, sign up for Paul’s email. It usually lands between 2am ET and 3am ET. Sign up here.
📊 Yahoo Finance Morning Brief: Of the flagship daily newsletters in business news, Yahoo Finance hits first at about 6am ET. They do a nice roundup of stories from the past day and previews of what to come. The newsletter’s alpha comes from its rotating cast of writers who include Jared Blikre, Julie Hyman, Hamza Shaban, Brian Sozzi, and Myles Udland. Each has their areas of focus and they come with unique perspectives. (Admittedly, I’m biased as I worked with a lot of these folks when I was at Yahoo Finance from 2016-2021!) Sign up here.
🖥️ Five Things to Start Your Day: Americas Edition: Bloomberg’s morning newsletter lands at about 6:30am ET every morning. As its name implies, you get quick digests of the five biggest markets stories. I’m mostly opening to scroll down to see what Joe Weisenthal is interested in. His commentary usually comes Monday - Thursday. But I also always open the Friday newsletter to hear from Bloomberg’s other reporters. It’s fun when reporters can be a little more voicey. They’ll keep you on your toes. Sign up here.
🧮 A Wealth of Common Sense: Ben Carlson’s process is a refreshingly straightforward one: Either he or a reader asks what happens in markets or the economy when something happens. Then he looks at the historical data for past instances when that something happened. And then he publishes his findings. Often, he finds that a lot of counterintuitive things happened in history. And readers often learn that these counterintuitive things will repeat in the present day. His newsletter goes out at 7am ET. Sign up here.
🐂 The Irrelevant Investor: Michael Batnick’s newsletter usually comes with a wealth of charts many sources, including all the charts discussed on all the podcasts he’s on. His writing often includes personal stories where he’s not afraid to admit to mistakes and share lessons he’s learned. He’s super assertive and does his fair share of humble bragging, but he’s nevertheless a pretty humble guy. Sign up here.
💥 The Daily Spark: Economist Torsten Slok offers a classic “chart of the day” style newsletter. His email usually includes one or two charts on the economy or markets that reflect some big narrative. It’s quick and clear. He sends at about 7am ET every day. Sign up here.
📋 Axios Markets: Emily Peck and Felix Salmon are killer at drawing attention to interesting reports, studies, and data that are overlooked elsewhere. This newsletter doesn’t always hit the big stories you see leading most markets news outlets, which can be a good thing. It’s certainly a source of differentiation in a crowded space. It’s sent at 7:30am ET. Sign up here.
🅰️ Abnormal Returns: Tadas Viskanta has been sending out link roundups for as long as I can remember. He reads everything, included all the smart financial bloggers you might be missing. Sign up here.
I generally stop going through daily newsletters at around 8am or 9am, which is when I dig into breaking news, economic data, earnings announcements, and anything else crossing the wires in the morning. After that, I’m mostly fielding Wall Street research. Then I shift to drafting. My work day is mostly wrapped up when the stock market closes at 4pm. But there are two after-the-bell newsletters I open consistently:
📈 The Chart Report: Admittedly, I don’t spend much time with technical analysis. But I’ll dabble. Patrick Dunuwila does a nice job of curating notable charts from the technical analysis community. Great if you like thumbing through a bunch of charts. Sign up here.
⌛️The Sandbox Daily: In addition to giving a quick wrap of the day’s market action, Blake Millard offers a couple of highlights from the news, research, and commentary he came across. He clearly reads a ton every day, including a lot of stuff I miss. And so my day isn’t complete until I see Blake newsletter. He usually sends some time between 5pm and 8pm. Sign up here.
Not-so dailies 📆
These are the newsletters that I open mostly for the commentary and not so much for news. I like that none of them follow a daily cadence. Most don’t stick to a fixed schedule. That tells me they’re never forcing the content, which means they’re not out here to waste my time.
🤔 Known Unknowns: Allison Schraeger is offering fresh, controversial perspectives that’ll have you questioning long-held views on the economy and economic policy. She writes the stuff that us macro and markets nerds take to happy hour to discuss and debate with our other nerd friends. Sign up here.
🤯 Kyla’s Newsletter: No one is explaining complicated developments in the economy and business better than Kyla Scanlon. It boggles my mind how creative and productive she is across mediums. I started following her for her TikToks in 2021. She was one of the few people explaining things in an accurate and also entertaining way. Her newsletter challenges the norms of formatting to deliver information in engaging, unconventionally organized ways. Sign up here.
🤑 Young Money: As his newsletter’s name might suggest, Jack Raines writes for a younger audience. But, he has the thoughtfulness of someone you’d expect to be much older. I guess none of this is surprising once you’ve learned how much traveling he’s done. His writing isn’t shy, and he doesn’t tiptoe around issues where his views often go against accepted norms or the conventional wisdom. Sign up here.
💅 Fintech is Femme: There is a lot of exciting stuff going on in finance involving ventures led by women. Nicole Casperson is all over it. She puts a spotlight on all the stories that don’t get covered or get buried at the bigger publications. Sign up here.
💼 Semafor Business: Liz Hoffman writes the only newsletter that I’ve gone out of my way to promote in a section of my own newsletter. It’s a healthy blend of original reporting, mixed with cleverly presented news. Twice a week is the right cadence for this kind of thing. Sign up here.
Friends of TKer
📊 Chartr: Every other day, Chartr sends a newsletter with three chart-driven features and a mystery chart. Every time I open the Chartr email, I expect to see a chart I’ve never seen, and I’m never disappointed. Readers can’t help but share these illustrations on social media. Sign up here.
🍿 Snacks: There are so many newsletters trying to do what they do with great writing that has fun with big business stories. Snacks actually succeeds in this effort where others either dumb down content or really force the writing. Snacks is the newsletter I recommend to people who want to be on top of important business news but don’t have the patience for the dry writing of more traditional outlets. At the very least, I can’t help but always scroll to the Snack Fact of the Day. Sign up here.
Disclosure: I currently work as a consultant for Sherwood Media, the parent of Chartr and Snacks. I’ll add that I wouldn’t be working with them if I didn’t believe in their product and the people behind it. There’s good stuff going on here that you don’t want to miss.
Wall Street research you can sign up for 🎩
🏦 Wells Fargo Economic Commentary: Tim Quinlan, Sarah House, Jay Bryson, Sam Bullard, and the rest of the Wells Fargo economics team are sooo good. They offer quick and comprehensive reactions to economic news events. They also do timely deep dives into big topics everyone’s talking about. It’s the kind of expensive stuff that’s usually reserved for Wall Street brokerage clients. They’re providing it for free! Sign up here.
🟠 ING Think Economic and Financial Analysis: Like Wells Fargo, they’ve got great coverage of economics. They also have a ton of stuff for those interested in FX, rates, commodities, and other areas of the financial markets. And they’ll send the reports straight to your inbox. Sign up here.
🧮 FactSet Earnings Insight: Every Friday, FactSet publishes a mountain of up-to-date charts and stats on the S&P 500 and all of its sectors. Their analysis of quarterly earnings is a go-to for Wall Streeters and financial journalists alike. Sign up here.
Like I said…
Just because a free newsletter isn’t listed here doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s great. It just might not be what I need or want, or I’m just not opening it every time it hits my inbox. This list is intended to be an honest reflection of my actual behavior.
By the way, there’s also a bunch of paid newsletters I follow. There’s also a bunch of institutional research I’ve been granted access to as a member of financial media. There’s also a lot of pseudo-newsletters that Wall Street pros send to private email lists. There’s also the killer accounts on X.
Let me know if you’re interested in reading about any of this other stuff I haven’t covered. If enough of you are interested, I’ll share more.
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More from TKer about me:
BMO raises its target for the S&P 500 📈
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