Tag Archives: low volatility
The November 2023 Rebalance of the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index
The S&P 500® continued its strong performance this year after posting a 9.8% gain in a span of less than three weeks from Oct. 30 to Nov. 17, 2023. During this period, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dropped approximately 45 bps1 and October’s year-over-year headline CPI inflation cooled to 3.2%.2 As Exhibit 1 shows, since…
Investigating the Premium Available to Factor Returns via a Focus on Sustainability
Factor indices aim to provide investors the means to access factor exposure in a cost-effective and transparent way. S&P DJI offers sustainability versions of factor indices that incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores, which allow investors to align their investments with their interests while seeking to improve risk/return dynamics. Launched in 2021, our suite…
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S&P 500 Low Volatility Index August 2023 Rebalance
The S&P 500® performed well from the last rebalance for the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index on May 19, 2023, through the most recent rebalance on Aug. 18, 2023. As Exhibit 1 shows, the S&P 500 was up 4.7% during this period versus a decline of 1.5% for the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index. This…
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Comparing Defensive Factors in the Recent Market Environment
On Sept. 17, 2020, S&P DJI’s Indexology blog shared a post I wrote titled “Comparing Defensive Factors During the Last 3 Bear Markets.” This blog is a continuation of that study, examining the results of the same factors during the 18-month period around the 2022 market correction that led the S&P 500® officially into bear…
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Introducing the S&P SmallCap 600 QVML Top 90% Multi-Factor Index
For market participants seeking to measure small-cap, multi-factor equity premia with greater diversification and historically lower tracking error (TE), S&P DJI has recently launched the S&P SmallCap 600® Quality, Value, Momentum and Low Volatility (QVML) Top 90% Multi-Factor Index. In this blog, we will examine the index construction methodology, historic performance, sector composition and factor…
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S&P 500 Low Volatility Index May 2023 Rebalance
Since the last rebalance for the S&P 500® Low Volatility Index on Feb. 17, 2023, the S&P 500 finished up 3.2% despite briefly dropping in mid-March during the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Exhibit 1 shows that during this period, the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index underperformed the S&P 500 by 4.3%. This divergence is…
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2023 Has Already Been Trepidatious
A sizzling start for Canadian equities in 2023 found itself fizzling as March began. Despite having a return of as much as 7% in late January/early February, through March 17, 2023, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 0.7% YTD. In line with historical trends, the S&P/TSX Composite Low Volatility Index underperformed, declining 0.1%. Volatility rose…
Collections of Factors
Traditional investors think of portfolios (whether active or indexed) as collections of stocks. We can equally well think of portfolios as collections of factors—defining factor in the academic sense, as an attribute with which excess returns are thought to be associated. If we’re correct in assessing these attributes, it should be possible to explain portfolio…
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Equities Recover
In the first seven weeks of 2023, U.S. equities regained a third of the ground lost in 2022 (down 18.1% in 2022 and up 6.5% YTD through February 17, 2023). Exhibit 1 shows that since its last rebalance, the S&P 500® Low Volatility Index, which seeks to mute the gyrations of the market in both…
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What Performance Reversals Suggest
Investment results in 2022 were distinctly different from those of the recent past. The S&P 500®, which had doubled in the three years between 2019 and 2021, fell by more than 18% last year, and Exhibit 1 shows that there were regime shifts among factor indices as well. The dominance of Value over Growth in…
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