Tag Archives: S&P 500 Equal Weight Index
Can Equal Weight ESG Indices Pull Their Weight?
Research has shown that equally weighted indices have historically posted long-term outperformance1 over their benchmarks—largely driven by their exposures to small size and value along with associated risk premia, in addition to a healthy dose of concentration reduction.2 However, in accessing compensated factors and reducing concentration, the S&P 500® Equal Weight Index could elicit some…
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Valuing Equal Weight
We have previously discussed the impact of Equal Weight’s rebound on its exposure to the momentum factor. We now turn our attention to its exposure to the value factor, as the recovery in smaller caps and value stocks has been an important tailwind for the strategy. The S&P 500® Equal Weight is typically biased toward…
Mean Reversion and Momentum
After almost four years of underperformance, we witnessed a change in fortune in February 2021, as the relative performance of the S&P 500® Equal Weight Index turned positive. By the end of April, Equal Weight had outperformed the S&P 500 by 11% over the prior 12 months, as we see in Exhibit 1. Equal Weight’s…
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Equal Weight Indexing during Economic Recovery
2020 was a year for the history books – especially from a finance perspective. With COVID-19 ripping throughout the globe, we saw equity markets decline rapidly as several countries closed their borders. At the same time, however, we saw some companies flourish as people spent more time at home. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google1…
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Exploring Equal Weight’s Impact on Risk/Return
What are the potential risk/return benefits of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index? S&P DJI’s Hamish Preston and Tim Edwards explore what’s driving the mega-cap trend, multi-decade highs in S&P 500 concentration, and potential applications for the S&P 500 EWI.
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A Change in Fortune
Three months ago, we observed that times of severe underperformance for Equal Weight can bode well for future performance. This reflection had become reality by the end of February. After almost four years of underperformance, the S&P 500® Equal Weight Index outperformed the S&P 500 by 1.6% over the past 12 months, as we see…
Man Bites Dog: The Year for Active Management?
For at least five years, we’ve noticed that, despite historical performance, active managers regularly proclaim that this year will at last be the time when active management shows its value. I suspect that most advocates of indexing derive at least some guilty pleasure from observing this ritual. (I know I do.) So, we want to…
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The Case for Equal Weight Indexing
2020 witnessed outperformance from some of the largest S&P 500® companies as investors expected these firms to be better placed to navigate the COVID-19 environment. Exhibit 1 shows that this outperformance led to the largest names accounting for an unusually high proportion of the U.S. large-cap equity benchmark, and therefore having a bigger impact on…
Reversal or Recovery?
When we think about reversals in the market, we likely think of brief turnarounds in performance. But what if it’s more? What makes a reversal turn into a recovery is a full-fledged long-term improvement in performance. We can apply this logic to Equal Weight’s recent experience. After consistent underperformance since April 2017, the S&P 500®…
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Motions of the Market
The S&P 500® rose by 10% in the 12 months ending on Oct. 31, 2020, trouncing the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index by 9.1%, as seen in Exhibit 1. While such outperformance is not unprecedented, it does remind us of previous market peaks (especially in December 1999), and raises questions about whether a reversal may…
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