Bullish sentiment propelled the S&P GSCI higher by 16.4% in May, its best monthly performance in 11 years. The broad commodity index’s more than 50% exposure to energy was a key contributor to its performance. Energy led the way, with the WTI-based S&P GSCI Crude Oil up 55.0%, bouncing impressively off the lows in April. Read more […]
The S&P 1500 serves as both a benchmark indicator for U.S. equity market performance and as a basis for passively replicating investment products that aim to deliver a “market” return. Our new paper examines the index from both these perspectives, and compares the S&P 1500 with other U.S. equity market indices. Here are a few Read more […]
S&P Dow Jones Indices recently published its fifth annual analysis of exchange-traded fund (ETF) usage by U.S. insurers in their general accounts. Regulatory filing data, which details the individual securities that insurers hold, showed that in 2019, ETF AUM in insurance general accounts grew to USD 31 billion—a 16% increase over 2018. While this headline Read more […]
In March, COVID-19 inspired volatility roiled markets across the globe. Similarly, the volatility of the S&P/TSX Composite also jumped. The increase, however, was not balanced across all sectors. We see this manifested in the most recent rebalance for the S&P/TSX Composite Low Volatility Index. Effective after the close of trading April 24, 2020, Exhibit 1 Read more […]
Sectors and factors are different ways of viewing the world, but they are not mutually exclusive. We find an example of such a close, symbiotic relationship between the technology sector and the quality factor. Exhibit 1 shows that the S&P 500 Information Technology index has a strong tilt towards quality, while the biggest overweight in Read more […]
Is Healthcare providing a potential opportunity for Indian investors? Explore recent sector performance with S&P DJI’s Koel Ghosh and see how India’s Healthcare sector stacks up to broader markets. Read more here: https://www.indexologyblog.com/2020/05/11/covid-19-revelations-health-care-is-wealth/
The U.S. equities market had a wild start in 2020. Following the March 2020 sell-off, the S&P 500® posted its largest monthly gain (12.8%) since 1987. Meanwhile, VIX® went from its long-term median to an all-time high within a month before it settled around 30. One thing that has been debated lately is whether VIX, Read more […]
What do presidential debates and an argument between passive and active investors have in common? They are both thrilling, demand the highest levels of rhetorical skills, don’t change audience opinions, and everyone goes home entertained. While presidential debates remain as exciting as ever, the shrillness of conversation between active and passive investors seems to have Read more […]
Globally, as markets have matured, we have seen the institutional share of public equity increasing.[1] Professional managers are continuing to enter the investment management industry, resulting in market research becoming more institutionalized. Hence, more and more industry research analysts are competing against each other and chasing the same set of stocks to generate alpha (or Read more […]
Without Fees, Do Active Managers Outperform their Benchmarks? The SPIVA® India Year-End 2019 Scorecard shows that, over longer horizons, a large proportion of active funds underperform their respective category benchmarks (see Exhibit 1a). The SPIVA India Year-End 2019 Scorecard evaluates the performance based on net-of-fees returns (i.e., gross returns less the management fees). But do Read more […]
