Tag Archives: IIS
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,…
- Categories Equities, S&P 500 & DJIA
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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…
- Categories Factors
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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….
- Categories Factors
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The Fed Is Doing What It Can – Will Emerging Markets Suffer What They Must?
“The dollar is our currency, but it’s your problem.” Former U.S. Treasury Secretary John Connally (Feb. 27, 1917 – June 15, 1993) When John Connally uttered the famous words above, exactly 50 years ago today…
- Categories Equities
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Information Technology Has Evolved to Become a Consistent Presence in the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index
Equities in 2021 had a slow start, but as December approaches it looks to be another stellar year. Through Nov. 18, 2021, the S&P 500® was up 27%. For a strategy that is explicitly designed to mitigate risk, the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index’s year-to-date gain of “only” 17% is well within the range of…
- Categories Factors
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The Importance of Order
We all know that stock market returns vary substantially over time. For example, the S&P 500®’s performance between 1981 and 2020 ranged from -37% (2008) to +38% (1995). The market’s compound annual return for this period was 11.5%. Investors, however, live with actual portfolio values, not abstract rates of return. Obviously, and other things equal,…
- Categories S&P 500 & DJIA
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Chugging Along
In the last three months, the Canadian equity market climbed another three percentage points, bringing the S&P/TSX Composite Index up to an impressive 20.4% YTD through Sept. 16, 2021. In a strong bull market environment, low volatility indices are expected to lag—and they typically have. But overall, the S&P/TSX Composite Low Volatility Index has held…
- Categories Factors
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Headwinds on the Active Horizon
Active managers’ performance was disappointing in 2020, despite the market’s heightened volatility. As the market continues to march upward in 2021, it’s natural to wonder if current conditions are favorable for stock pickers. We expect active managers’ difficulties to persist. We can think of volatility in terms of its components: dispersion and correlation. Active managers…
- Categories S&P 500 & DJIA
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Stalwarts Continue to Increase Presence in the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index
If the equity market’s report card so far in 2021 is any indication, it’s on track to be another stellar year. Through Aug. 19, 2021, the S&P 500® is up 17%. The gains were achieved steadily; apart from January, the benchmark has been up every month in 2021. Predictably, in such an environment the S&P…
- Categories Factors
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Strength of Savings
In the 20 years ending in 2020, 94% of all large-cap U.S. managers lagged the S&P 500®. Mid- and small-cap results were almost equally disappointing. A notable consequence of these shortfalls in active performance has been the rise in passive investing, one of the most significant trends in modern financial history. Our recent Annual Survey…
- Categories Equities
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