Why are the market environments most conducive to generating positive absolute returns the least conducive to producing positive relative returns? Explore the active manager’s conundrum with S&P DJI’s Craig Lazzara and Anu Ganti.
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The evolution of indexing is one of the most noteworthy trends in modern financial history. The rise of passive investing is the consequence of shortfalls in active performance, as regular readers of our SPIVA reports will recognize. Our recent annual Survey of Indexed Assets shows a surge in S&P 500 indexed assets to $4.6 trillion…
Explore how high volatility and high dispersion can impact passive and active managers’ performance with S&P DJI’s Craig Lazzara. Get the latest Dispersion, Volatility, & Correlation dashboard: https://spdji.com/documents/commentary/dashboard-dispersion-2020-03.pdf
The Wall Street Journal recently quoted several active managers who claim that “conditions for stock picking are improving”. Their rationale is that declining correlations among stocks in the S&P 500 have made it easier for active managers to select stocks based on fundamental analysis. We have heard this argument before, most notably in 2014 when,…
As a leading index provider with clients and customers around the world, S&P Dow Jones Indices regularly launches new indices. Just like our children, we try to love them all equally. Every now and then, however, a particularly exciting new index comes along. Last week, our global equities group launched a potentially important new benchmark…
Fifty years ago, there were no index funds—all assets were managed actively. The subsequent shift of assets from active to passive management in the U.S. and European markets could be considered one of the most important developments in modern financial history, and this shift was the consequence of active performance shortfalls.[1] In India, we have…
Investment strategies that switch between sectors or industries – and the related activity of using sectoral performances to discern broader macroeconomic trends – have long been an part of professional investing. However, it is surprisingly difficult to find even basic research explaining how sectors are classified, why they are important and how they might be…
Investors have spoken: There is a world outside of traditional indexing, and they want in. “Smart beta” or factor indices bridge the gap between active and passive management by allowing investors to tilt toward specific investment attributes – for example, low volatility or high dividend yield. These indices use factors in a rules-based, transparent manner…
Academic arguments may well have “proven” the theoretical advantages of passive investing. But theory is nothing without experiment; a comprehensive and impartial assessment of where and when active managers have delivered the promised “alpha” – or not – is a necessary and critical component of the debate. Our S&P Index Versus Active scorecard and associated…
At the beginning of this year, we suggested that 2013 might well have been a another tough year for active managers. Judging from the response received at the time, this expectation was somewhat controversial: the more common refrain was to point to falling correlations during 2013 and predict a return to “stock-pickers’ market.” In such an environment,…
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