The first quarter was a tough one for equity markets in the region, as a stronger U.S. dollar and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic weighed on performance. Despite a 3.1% gain in March, the S&P Latin America BMI lost 5.8% in USD in Q1 2021, while the S&P 500® gained 6.2%. At the…
READ
Volatility is often the name of the game in Latin America. While 2020 was no exception, global markets also rode the COVID-19 volatility wave (see Exhibit 1). The global pandemic exacerbated uncertainty around the world and all capital markets were affected, particularly during Q1 2020. In Exhibit 1, we can see that the S&P Latin…
The search for strategies that identify risks and growth opportunities with a motivation in sustainable investing has never been higher for emerging markets. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing provides a way for investors to go above and beyond traditional financial considerations by focusing on a variety of impactful topics relevant to corporations. These topics…
Investment in Latin America’s equity markets is not for the faint of heart—now more than ever. In the first quarter of 2020, all markets in the region were significantly negative, plagued by recent events. While April has swung markets back to positive territory, we are still far from the proverbial “light at the end of…
The SPIVA® Latin America Year-End 2019 Scorecard was released last week, showing divergent results for Latin American equities markets. The report covers Brazil, Chile, and Mexico in selected fund categories. In the framework of stable inflation, a decline in unemployment, and lower interest rates, 2019 was a great year for Brazilian equities markets, as measured…
The third quarter was a difficult one for the Latin American region. Meanwhile, it was a mixed bag for global markets—the U.S. ended on a slightly positive note, Europe on a negative one, and Japan also on a positive one, with global markets remaining nearly flat. The S&P 500® ended the quarter up 1.7%, the…
As most global markets and regions have performed well in the first half of 2019, it is great to see that Latin America has kept up with its more developed regional counterparts, although at a slower pace. The S&P Latin America 40 was up 3.4% for the quarter and 11.5% YTD. Similarly, the broader S&P…
In a previous blog,[1] we explored historical dividend payers in the Colombian equity market, focusing on the S&P Colombia BMI as the underlying universe, highlighting the number of dividend payers, market capitalization, and GICS® sector distribution. Building on that, we now examine if the Colombian market has rewarded dividend payers over non-payers. As a starting…
While substantial literature exists on dividend investing in developed markets, there is little research on emerging market dividend strategies, in particular for Latin America. S&P Dow Jones Indices surveyed the emerging market dividend payers in 2014 and found that Latin America constituted about 19% of the total global dividend payers.[1] As such, Latin American markets…
As we close the first quarter of 2019, we see that Latin America did well for the period. The broad regional index, the S&P Latin America BMI, yielded nearly 9% and the S&P Latin America 40, representing the blue-chip companies in the region, generated returns just shy of 8%. These were in line with the…
SEE ALL