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The state of global investing 

Economic Exposure , Emerging Markets , Global Investing

Financial markets are inherently unpredictable, while structural forces such as shifts in monetary policy, trade conflicts and climate change compound the challenges facing investors. Read our analysis commissioned by Norway’s Ministry of Finance.

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Emerging market country allocation matters 

Emerging Markets , Global Investing , Economic Exposure

Investors with strong convictions on emerging markets might consider an approach allowing tilts toward or away from specific themes, such as active allocation to single-country index-based funds. We explore considerations linked with this approach.

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Cyclicals vs. defensives: Did tariffs tip the scales? 

Economic Exposure , Emerging Markets , Global Investing

Did tariffs imposed by the U.S. and China in May trigger a shift to defensive from cyclical stocks? How did they affect different U.S. sectors and industry groups?

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CEO Pay: Trick or Treat? 

ESG Research

Some large asset owners are increasingly coming to believe that many executive pay schemes don’t align the interests of CEOs and investors. There appears to be an increasing focus on pay plan simplicity and transparency.

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Exploring the ‘what ifs?’ in real estate 

Real Estate Investing

The opacity of real estate markets and the wide spectrum of potential outcomes makes it hard to understand performance. Running a historical “what if” analysis may help institutional investors understand how different choices could have impacted outcomes.

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Beware high dividend yield traps 

Factor Investing , Factors , Risk Management

During low interest-rate, high-volatility environments, some investors have turned to high dividend-paying stocks. However, overly simplistic approaches to selecting dividend-paying securities exposed investors to potential “yield traps.” Could these traps have been avoided?

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Repo-market turmoil may not spell SOFR’s end 

Fixed Income , Risk Management

Investors and the media have begun to worry that the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) — the U.S. interest-rate benchmark meant to address issues with and replace USD LIBOR — may introduce a new set of problems. Are the concerns justified?

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Value investing is down. But is it out? 

Factor Indexes , Factor Investing , Factors , Global Investing

Value stocks generally underperformed the broad U.S. equity market over the past decade — just as they did in the late 1990s. What drove that underperformance? Was it consistent globally? Within U.S. sectors?

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Stress testing US-China trade wars 

Emerging Markets , Fixed Income , Global Investing , Risk Management

Amid ongoing U.S.-China trade tension, we have updated our stress test to consider three scenarios for how the situation could unfold — and their impact on currency, bond and equity markets around the world.

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Factors separated fact from fiction 

Factor Indexes , Factor Investing , Factors

Technological advances have expanded the application of factors. What was the realm of quantitative investors has become more accessible, bringing greater transparency and potential insight into portfolio characteristics and performance drivers.