The S&P 500 Low Volatility Index® made a valiant comeback in late 2018 after trailing for most of the year. The strategy index finished the year well by just staying in positive territory at a 0.27% gain, when the broader S&P 500 declined 4%. It was also the best performing factor index among those based Read more […]
In the first seven trading days of 2019, the S&P 500 had its hottest start since 2003. That happened following the Fed’s message that it was in no hurry to raise interest rates. The Fed met again yesterday signaling it might end the interest rate increases, which pushed the S&P 500 up 1.55% for the day (Jan. Read more […]
The S&P Pure Style Indices select and weight securities based on their style scores, unlike the traditional S&P Style Indices. In our previous blog post, we demonstrated that differences in index construction play a major role in the performance differential between the S&P Style Indices and the S&P Pure Style Indices. We estimated that the Read more […]
Since the sector shakeup on Sep. 24, 2018, the S&P 500 fell 19.5% through the close of Dec. 24, 2018 then rebounded 12.2% by the close of Jan. 23, 2019 for a loss of 9.6% in the full period. The annualized volatility of 22.8% in the past 82 days has been the highest since the 82 Read more […]
We’ve previously observed that we can view the world through both a factor and a sector lens, but what about overlaying sectors and style? This is indeed possible, as sectors can serve as implementation vehicles to achieve a particular view on style. Using value and growth scores that are reset annually for every constituent within Read more […]
In the first seven trading days of 2019, the S&P 500 returned 3.6%, its 12th best start on record since 1928 and best since 2003. Also, the S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 surpassed large caps by posting their best gains ever to start a year. Lastly, more than half the segments by sector, size Read more […]
The S&P 500 lost 9.2% in its second worst December on record – only behind December 1931 when the index lost 14.5%. However, the widespread losses across sectors, styles and sizes in the broad U.S. equity market was remarkable with every major segment down in December. Only 9 times in history has every segment of the Read more […]
As the year comes to a close with just two trading days left of the second worst December on record since 1931 for the S&P 500, it may be hard to remember the relatively calm rise before the volatile downturn took over. Though there is not an official bear market yet, there was a 19.8% Read more […]
As we approach the final month of a rollercoaster year in the markets, adding a factor lens can provide perspective, especially when it comes to low volatility. The goal of low volatility strategies is to provide investors with protection in falling markets and participation in rising markets. The need for protection has become more relevant Read more […]
We recently introduced a new measure, capacity-adjusted dispersion, to help conceptualize the relative value of research across different markets. Intuitively, capacity-adjusted dispersion combines the potential opportunity for outperformance (dispersion) and the potential size of active positions (capitalization) in a given market. Exhibit 1 shows the capacity-adjusted figures for several markets, globally. All else being equal, Read more […]
