S&P 500 Twitter Sentiment Indices: Factor Analysis
We previously introduced the S&P 500 Twitter Sentiment Indices and analyzed their performance characteristics. We noted how the indices seek to capture the Tweet-based sentiment premium, with their differentiated performance being driven by differences in index construction and sector weighting. In this blog, we will examine their exposure to standard risk factors and analyze their…
A Stellar 2021 for Indian Equities
Indian equities had a stellar 2021—the S&P BSE SENSEX rose over 23%, outpacing most major emerging markets, though slightly lagging the S&P 500®, which gained 29%. Information Technology and Financials were the top contributors, adding 9% and 6%, respectively, to the performance of the Indian bellwether. Smaller Indian companies did even better than blue chips;…
No Safe Harbor for Stockpickers
We can use volatility and its components dispersion and correlation to analyze stock selection conditions globally. Most active managers run less diversified, more volatile portfolios than their index counterparts. Active managers should prefer above-average dispersion because stock selection skill is worth more when dispersion is high. The role of correlation is more subtle. While counterintuitive,…
Smart Factories to the Supply Rescue
With the global economy ramping up from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, labor shortages and supply chain bottlenecks are hampering manufacturers. Fortunately, there is relief on the way. Digitalization is sweeping through manufacturing plants and transforming today’s sleepy mills into the smart factories of tomorrow. The catalysts include several of the technological forces driving…
S&P 500 Twitter Sentiment Indices: Performance Characteristics
In a previous blog, we introduced the S&P 500® Twitter Sentiment Index and the S&P 500 Twitter Sentiment Select Equal Weight (EW) Index, highlighting their objective and construction. At the core of these indices is a model-based sentiment score that captures the direction and magnitude of the sentiment associated with a given company. S&P DJI…
Commodities Crushed It in 2021
The market standard commodities benchmark, the S&P GSCI, crushed it in 2021, rising 40.35% and outpacing other similar commodity indices and asset classes, as high and rising inflation provided a great backdrop for this inflation-sensitive asset class. Commodities finished strong in December, rising 7.59% over the month as energy bounced back and Omicron COVID-19 variant…
Focusing on Factor Indices
Factor indices have two important uses. First, they can be used as benchmarks to help clients of specialist managers disentangle how much of the manager’s performance is attributable simply to factor exposure, and how much is attributable to the manager’s stock selection beyond the factor. Second, factor indices can be used as investment vehicles to…
Active Management: Naughty or Nice?
The history of active investment management is, for the most part, a history of failure and frustration. Most active managers underperform most of the time, and success in one period seems not to predict subsequent success. We have long argued that active underperformance is not coincidental—it happens for identifiable and understandable reasons, and is therefore…
Be Careful What You Wish For
The Canadian equity market has had an exceptional 2021. One of the distinctive quirks of low volatility indices is that their relative performance typically suffers when their absolute performance is at its best, a pattern that we saw again this year. The S&P/TSX Composite Index was up an impressive 22.0% YTD through Dec. 16, 2021….
Did COP26 deliver?
This piece originally appeared on Risk.net. The dust has now settled on the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). Did the gathering of almost 200 nations succeed in putting us on a path towards limiting warming to 1.5°C? COP26 concluded with the signing of the Glasgow Pact, which agreed to “keep 1.5°C alive.” Some of…
