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joseph_nelesen

Joseph Nelesen

Head of Specialists, Index Investment Strategy, S&P Dow Jones Indices

Joseph Nelesen is Head of Specialists, Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). The group provides research and commentary on S&P DJI’s entire product set, including U.S. and global equities, commodities, fixed income and economic indices.
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Feb 12, 2026

Spot the Difference

From a U.S. equities perspective, the first month of 2026 started on a different trajectory compared to years past. S&P 500® performance trailed much of the rest of the world (as measured by the S&P World Ex-U.S. Index), and within the U.S., the performance of the S&P 500 Information Technology (“U.S. Tech”) ranked in the…

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Apr 9, 2025

Expectations and Anomalies

At one point deep into the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, I remember a clever colleague declaring “less down is the new up.” He wasn’t alone in this point of view, since in a world with so many markets and indices falling in unison, those that performed relatively better justifiably gained attention. One of those…

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Apr 8, 2025

Terrible Twos

Life has been a little eventful since we last checked in. Under normal circumstances, this blog would review March and Q1 performance of S&P 500® sectors and blends. Yes, tariffs are the elephant in the room we’ve been unable to avoid all year, but as of April, that elephant seems to have invited the rest…

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Mar 13, 2025

Picking a Path with S&P 500 Sectors

In February 2025, U.S. equity markets reflected general unease over an unpredictable future. Worries about the probability of tariffs and their impact on growth and inflation weighed on the minds of investors who also had to contend with weaker economic data and questions about the sustainability of mega-cap tech earnings. Against this backdrop, the S&P…

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Feb 11, 2025

Beginnings and Blends: S&P 500 Sector Performance in the New Year

No matter how vast the index landscape becomes, sectors remain central to the conversation. From TV studios to trading floors, and around the world, the 11 GICS® sectors are widely recognized and discussed, reflecting their enduring utility as indicators of which way markets and economic winds are blowing. They are also valuable building blocks for…

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Aug 1, 2024

Back to the Future

In “Back to the Future,” Marty McFly accidentally ends up 30 years in the past while using Doc Brown’s time-traveling DeLorean. After realizing what has happened, he tries to get back to 1985 while not disrupting anything in the past that might adversely affect his life in the present. Marty’s main challenge was to save…

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Jul 22, 2024

Frequent Flyers

Planes are interesting places, airborne aluminum tubes stuffed with strangers from all walks of life, including seatmates prodding with the proverbial ice-breaker, “So, what do you do?” Overhearing many such conversations, I’ve found complicated job descriptions elicit blank stares and subsequently lead to higher-level answers such as “Well, I’m in tech,” or “I work in…

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Nov 9, 2023

The Magnificent Seven: A Taxing Question

“The Magnificent Seven” term has transcended its cinematic roots to become the collective moniker for a select group of U.S. mega-cap stocks responsible for over 90% of the S&P 500®’s YTD gains to October’s end. Their stellar performance has, naturally, elevated their valuations. It has also increased their already-hefty collective weight in the equity benchmark….

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Oct 4, 2023

The Challenge Continues: Results from the SPIVA Latin America Mid-Year 2023 Scorecard

In the history of SPIVA (S&P Indices Versus Active) Scorecards, most active managers have tended to underperform benchmarks most of the time, especially over longer periods. The SPIVA Latin America Mid-Year 2023 Scorecard revealed that active managers produced mixed performance during the first half of 2023. During H1 2023, more than one-half of active managers…

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Mar 30, 2023

The Risk/Return Tradeoff: Results from the SPIVA South Africa Year-End 2022 Scorecard

The year 2022 was riddled with investment challenges worldwide, as fears of recession, rising inflation and geopolitical uncertainty ranked among a whirlwind of other market pressures. In South Africa, these risks manifested in two notably different halves of the year, with major equity and bond indices ending H1 in negative territory, but then rallying to…

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