2020 was a year for the history books – especially from a finance perspective. With COVID-19 ripping throughout the globe, we saw equity markets decline rapidly as several countries closed their borders. At the same time, however, we saw some companies flourish as people spent more time at home. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google1…
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In our previous blog, we suggested growth factors with longer lookback periods may be more effective for constructing growth factor portfolios in Australian small-cap equities. In this blog, we examine the performance cyclicality, factor exposure, risk/return decomposition, and factor correlation for the long-term growth factor portfolios.1 From April 20, 2001, to June 30, 2020, the…
In our paper, How Smart Beta Strategies Work in the Australian Market, our studies indicated that most factor indices in Australia exhibited distinct return characteristics during up and down markets. Indeed, different factor indices also displayed unique style and industry factor exposures, resulting in factor index performance differentials over the long term. In this blog,…
The S&P 500® has had a wild ride in 2020. The index hit an all-time high in February, then dropped 33.8% to the bottom in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then rallied 32.6% by May 22. During this turbulent time, the S&P 500 Pure Growth, while declining along with markets, ultimately outperformed its…
Over the last few years, mega-cap companies have played an increasingly important role in driving U.S. equity market returns. Indeed, the five largest names in the S&P 500® accounted for 16.8% of the index at the end of last year, the highest year-end weight since 1982 and higher than the 16.6% reached at the end…
We recently published the 10-year anniversary edition of the paper “A Tale of Two Small-Cap Benchmarks,” which gives insight into why the S&P SmallCap 600® outperformed the Russell 2000, historically.[1] Our latest paper also showed that, in the period from Dec. 31, 2002, to Dec. 31, 2018, profitable companies typically outperformed unprofitable companies in the…
Single factor “smart beta” indicized strategies that were once exclusive to the realm of active management. Multifactor indexing is beginning to garner much interest as the newest chapter of index innovation. It’s a natural conjecture that if single factors are successful, combining more than one factor should prove even more beneficial. While any combination of…
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