Extended-lister
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Under the hood: Rating ESG funds
Jul 10, 2019 Michael DisabatoESG Research , Global Investing
Learn MoreNearly $31 trillion in assets under management were invested in funds that consider ESG issues in their investing process as of January 2018, a 34% increase from two years previously. Transparency is key to understanding what this expansion means.
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Asian retail resilience: Have store hours affected performance?
Jul 9, 2019 Bryan ReidReal Estate Investing , Global Investing
Learn MoreIndustrial real estate has outperformed retail assets in recent years, but the trend has been less pronounced in Asia, where store hours, among other reasons, might have led to more resilient retail performance.
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The rise of fundamental factors in China A shares
Jun 6, 2019 Oleg RubanEmerging Markets , Factor Investing , Global Investing
Learn MoreCommonly held perceptions about China A shares have influenced investors to think factor strategies may not work in the Chinese equity markets. Our research suggests this may be changing.
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What could stress emerging markets?
May 24, 2019 Thomas VerbrakenGlobal Investing , Risk Management , Economic Exposure , Emerging Markets
Learn MoreEmerging-market equities and USD-denominated EM sovereign bonds started 2019 with a bang, but recent market turbulence caused by the U.S.-China trade standoff raises a pressing question: What could trigger the next EM downturn?
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Beyond headlines: How markets responded to US-China trade talks
May 9, 2019 Zhen WeiEconomic Exposure , Emerging Markets , Global Investing
Learn MoreOur analysis suggests that changes in equity-market valuations, analysts’ consensus earnings estimates and data on companies’ revenue exposure are metrics that provided insight into recent market and sector performances.
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Game of Homes: Is winter coming for the domestic-equity bias?
Apr 30, 2019 Raman Aylur Subramanian , Anil Rao , Raman SubramanianEquity Themes , Models/Client Cases , Global Investing
Learn MoreCan we quantify home-bias risk in an allocation? And, what has happened when U.S. stocks ended previous multiyear runs of outperformance?
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The Right Tool: How Suitable is Your Real Estate Benchmark?
Apr 11, 2019 Amit NihalaniReal Estate Investing , Global Investing
Learn MoreYou don’t have to be a master craftsman to appreciate the benefits of using the right tool for the job. Even the most casual do-it-yourselfer has experienced the frustration of using the wrong screwdriver for a particular job — one that doesn’t quite fit the screw properly and shreds the head, leaving it uselessly stuck in the wood without fixing anything.
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Evaluating the Impact of LIBOR Fallback
Apr 3, 2019 Maks OksFixed Income , Global Investing , Integrated Risk Management
Learn MoreThe planned discontinuation of LIBOR and other interbank offer rates sometime in 2022 will affect a large number of existing financial contracts based on these benchmarks.
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Factors in Focus: Risky start. Quality finish.
Apr 2, 2019 Waman Virgaonkar , Hitendra D VarsaniFactors , Global Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreWe highlight the fast-moving rotation among factors that continued during Q1 2019. As we move into Q2 2019, this framework showed allocation changes in different factors.
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Saudi Arabia inclusion and emerging markets
Mar 28, 2019 Saurabh KatiyarEquity Themes , Emerging Markets , Global Investing
Learn MoreSaudi Arabian stocks will be included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the MSCI ACWI Index in a two-step process starting in June this year. With the first step of inclusion of the MSCI Saudi Arabian Index coming shortly, we ask how inclusion of this Middle Eastern market would have affected the MSCI EM Indexes.
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A New Day for Monetary Policy?
Mar 22, 2019 Andy SparksEmerging Markets , Fixed Income , Global Investing
Learn MoreListen as MSCI’s Andy Sparks discusses potential implications of the US Federal Reserve’s sharply softening monetary policy, and whether the role of central banks has changed.
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Don’t confuse capital growth and asset-value growth
Mar 21, 2019 Niel HarmseEconomic Exposure , Real Estate Investing , Global Investing
Learn MoreMeasuring real estate growth is not a simple exercise; we run through it highlighting some common confusions
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Watching Beta in Volatile Equity Markets
Mar 12, 2019 Anil RaoEquity Themes , Global Investing
Learn MoreThe U.S. equity market ended last year with a historic drawdown, and beta stood out as a driver of the market decline. But what happened when those losses starting reversing in early 2019?
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What innovative companies and women on boards have in common
Mar 8, 2019 Meggin Thwing Eastman , Meggin EastmanESG Research , Global Investing
Learn MoreWe examined constituents of the MSCI ACWI Index that had been recognized as innovators on one or more annual lists produced by Forbes, Fast Company, MIT Sloan and the Boston Consulting Group between 2015 and 2018.
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Brexit, Black Wednesday and Real Estate's Currency Risk
Feb 25, 2019 Niel HarmseReal Estate Investing , Global Investing
Learn MoreWhen investors buy overseas real estate, they inevitably take on foreign-exchange exposure. The resulting currency-market dislocations resulted in near-term losses for some investors, but also created attractive opportunities for investors to buy real estate exposure in the U.K.
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Evaluating Emerging-Market Stocks through a Governance Lens
Feb 21, 2019 Raina Oberoi , Anil RaoEquity Themes , Emerging Markets , Global Investing
Learn MoreEmerging-market stocks generally are perceived to have lower governance standards than their developed-market counterparts. Less transparency is one factor behind this view. Some emerging-market companies may also disadvantage minority shareholders. How can active and index-based investors address these issues?
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Venezuela and the Specter of Recovery Risk
Feb 14, 2019 Manuel Rueda , Hamed FaquiryanFixed Income , Global Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreVenezuela unfortunately finds itself on the verge of political and economic collapse. From the perspective of investors in the country’s sovereign and corporate bonds, recovery risk is now likely a bigger consideration than default risk.
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2019 Emerging Real Estate Trends
Feb 5, 2019 Will RobsonESG Research , Real Estate Investing , Global Investing
Learn MoreFor real estate investors, 2019 may be a year of adjusting to rapid changes arising from a variety of sources, including environmental, social and governance-related (ESG) risks; geopolitical uncertainty; and disruptive technology.
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What Would a “No deal” Brexit Mean for Markets?
Jan 17, 2019 Thomas VerbrakenGlobal Investing , Integrated Risk Management
Learn MoreFinancial markets are increasingly edgy about prospects for the U.K. Parliament’s expected Dec. 11 vote on a Brexit deal with the European Union.
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Brexit and the Risks of Home Bias
Jan 11, 2019 Jean-Maurice LadureEconomic Exposure , Global Investing
Learn MoreEvery so often, a country can be hit by a negative event — a tidal wave, a terrorist attack, a political uproar.
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What it may mean for Japanese stocks if easy money ends
Nov 22, 2018 Naoya NishimuraModels/Client Cases , Global Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreSome observers are concerned that when the Bank of Japan (BOJ) eventually ends its ultra-easy monetary policy, it could hurt the Japanese stock market. Part of this concern stems from the fact that the BOJ’s unconventional monetary policy involves purchasing Japanese exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
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Small cap allocations may not be that straightforward
Nov 20, 2018 Abhishek GuptaGlobal Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreThe low size factor, or the premium that has been historically realized by investing in smaller sized companies over longer time periods, forms an integral component of many institutional portfolios. However, investors can choose different ways to making a low size allocation.
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Sector investing in China
Nov 14, 2018 Anil RaoEmerging Markets , Global Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreAs the China A shares market has evolved, investors have faced new choices. They can continue with broad allocations to the emerging markets (EM), choose slightly narrower allocations to China and other specific EM countries or consider targeted investments within China through a variety of means.
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Which Factors Mattered in China?
Nov 7, 2018 Oleg RubanModels/Client Cases , Global Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreChinese equity prices have hardly been music to investors’ ears so far in 2018. The MSCI China A Onshore IMI Index — the broadest MSCI A shares index designed to represent the performance of the overall A shares market — has declined more than 25% in local currency terms through Oct. 31, 2018. Were there factors in this market that outperformed?
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Apples vs. Oranges? Core vs. Opportunistic Real Estate Funds
Oct 25, 2018 Amit NihalaniReal Estate Investing , Risk Management , Global Investing
Learn MoreReal estate investors sometimes treat core and opportunistic funds as if they were different asset classes. They are measured against different benchmarks and comparisons are limited by a lack of consistent data. But a comparison of the two shows that both core and opportunistic funds have similar return profiles — it’s the magnitude of their returns that has varied over time.
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How the low volatility factor has performed in China A shares
Oct 11, 2018 Zhen WeiGlobal Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreWhich factors have performed best in the China A market, especially given its relatively high annualized market volatility? Is there too much risk to bear? We investigate the role that the minimum volatility factor has played.
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China A Shares: The Journey Continues
Oct 10, 2018 Chin Ping ChiaEmerging Markets , Global Investing
Learn MoreAs China continues to open its capital markets to global investors and accessibility standards have improved, MSCI recently launched a consultation to explore increasing the weight of A shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Ultimately, we seek to reflect the full investable opportunity set — all of China accessible to global investors — in the benchmark, as we do in all MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes.
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Corporate Disclosure in a TCFD World
Sep 24, 2018 Laura NishikawaESG Research , Global Investing
Learn MoreIn June of 2017, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) released climate-related disclosure recommendations to companies and investors that included a framework for better company disclosure and a request for climate scenarios as part of that disclosure. But for investors looking to incorporate environmental risk into their process, there might be a pretty big catch: We mapped over 140 MSCI ESG Research climate-related data points to the TCFD framework and found a significant gap between what investors need to know under these recommendations and what companies are telling them.
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Global Real Estate: To Hedge, or Not to Hedge
Sep 12, 2018 Will Robson , Bryan ReidReal Estate Investing , Risk Management , Global Investing
Learn MoreWhile not quite as profound as the Shakespearean original, it is still quite a tricky one for real estate investors to grapple with. Until fairly recently, it is one that has been avoided by the majority of real estate investors due to their heavy home bias. But the increasing global nature of the asset class, combined with rising currency volatility, means the question is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.
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Does Turkey offer lessons for managing emerging-market currency volatility?
Aug 15, 2018 Raman Aylur Subramanian , Raman SubramanianEmerging Markets , Global Investing
Learn MoreThe recent 40% drop in the Turkish lira is part of a long-term trend of rising emerging-market currency volatility. Typically, investors do not hedge this exposure. Is it time to reconsider this approach?
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Is Japan’s “lost decade” Over?
Aug 14, 2018 Naoya NishimuraEquity Themes , Global Investing
Learn MoreThe Japanese equity market’s spectacular crash in the early 1990s is referred to as the “lost decade.” Recently, this period has been extended to include the decade that followed. Despite this, most Japanese investors continue to favor an outsized domestic equity allocation. This home bias has come with a huge opportunity cost. Since the end of 1987, the cumulative return of global stocks was over 1,400% in yen terms, while the cumulative return of Japanese stocks was only 49%.
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What happens if Italy leaves the EU?
Aug 6, 2018 Thomas VerbrakenModels/Client Cases , Global Investing , Integrated Risk Management
Learn MoreWith populist policies on the rise, globally, many believe Italy’s coalition government could add to the EU’s challenges by pursuing populist strategies that could further disrupt both equity and bond markets. We consider two scenarios – a severe and mild one – with very different implications.
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Can investors win a U.S.-China trade war?
Jul 3, 2018 Anil RaoEquity Themes , Economic Exposure , Global Investing , Integrated Risk Management
Learn MoreWith new tariffs in effect as of July 6, we investigate our earlier assertion that “while an expanded trade war could lead to a ‘lose-lose’ outcome, there could be greater impact for stocks in the U.S. Overall, they are more exposed to the Chinese economy than the other way around.”
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Can Your Investment Strategy Work with China A Shares?
Jun 27, 2018 Zhen WeiGlobal Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreMany institutional investors have long viewed China A shares as an inefficient market, suggesting that active strategies such as stock-picking can thrive. However, researching a universe of over 3,500 stocks comes with huge challenges, and may lead investors to question whether factor-based systematic strategies could have worked well with China A shares.
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Investors eager to write the obituary of the size premium might want to put down their pens. Small-cap stocks in developed markets outside the U.S. have been on a decade-long run of outpacing their large- and mid-cap counterparts.
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Emerging markets may never be the same. On May 31, MSCI will include about 233 China large-cap A shares to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Inclusion at a 5% initial weight could lead to approximately USD 22 billion of capital inflows into these stocks. What might investors need to consider as we approach this milestone?
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Institutions and individuals increasingly invest through funds that track indexes. While index funds bring transparency and low cost, their critics claim that they allocate capital indiscriminately, hurting market efficiency. Is this claim supported by the evidence? It is not. Our analysis shows that, far from damaging market efficiency, index funds1 facilitate active portfolio management by offering investors diverse and efficient tools to express investment views and implement active investment decisions.
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Winners and Losers of a U.S.-China Trade War
Apr 17, 2018 Zhen WeiEconomic Exposure , Factor Indexes , Global Investing
Learn MoreThe question of who wins or loses a U.S.-China trade war has more than two possible answers. While much of the analysis has focused on China’s heavier reliance on exports to the U.S., American companies (and those who invest in them) actually have greater revenue exposure to China than the other way around. In fact, 5.1% of the revenues of companies in the MSCI USA Index come from China and may be at risk as a result of a trade war. In comparison, only 2.8% of the revenues of the companies in the MSCI China Index come from the U.S.
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Putting the spotlight on Spotify: Why have stocks with unequal voting rights outperformed?
Apr 3, 2018 Dimitris Melas Learn MoreNearly 15 years after Google’s initial public offering, the debate about listed companies that offer unequal voting rights to outside investors rages on. A number of high-profile technology companies including Dropbox Inc., Spotify and Snap Inc. have recently listed shares with unequal voting rights, adding fuel to the debate. Meanwhile, investors are trying to determine if they should shun the stock issued by these companies or include them in equity portfolios.
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Facebook’s privacy issues, Apple’s European tax woes and Amazon’s global ambitions are constantly in the news. And over the last few years, large U.S. technology companies, sometimes known as FAANG, have made up larger slices of the global equity market. Should their level of market concentration concern investors?
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Why are Small Caps Different?
Sep 18, 2017 Raina OberoiGlobal Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreA lot has been written about the persistence of the global small-cap premium. But what, apart from size, distinguishes small-cap stocks from their large- and mid-cap counterparts, and how can these distinctions help institutional investors?
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Global small-cap fund capacity: no small matter
Jun 15, 2017 Raina OberoiGlobal Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreIn recent years, pension funds around the world increasingly have shed their home bias and made global small-cap allocations.
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Why global small-cap stocks are becoming an important part of institutional portfolios
Mar 16, 2017 Raina OberoiGlobal Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreInstitutional investors worldwide traditionally have tended to focus on the stocks of larger companies, finding them less risky, more liquid and offering greater investment capacity than small-cap stocks. But asset owners and managers increasingly are allocating strategically to the small-cap equity segment as part of their global equity portfolios i.e., via an “all-cap” approach.
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How to Integrate ESG Without Sacrificing Diversification
Feb 8, 2017 Laura NishikawaESG Research , Global Investing
Learn MoreAs institutional equity investors increasingly think about the long term, they may adjust their portfolios to accommodate environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns in their investment decision-making processes. That can be particularly challenging for the largest investors, such as pension funds and endowments, whose portfolios span the entire equity market.
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A Look at MSCI’s Emerging Markets Index and China A-shares
Oct 24, 2016 Chin Ping Chia Learn MoreDuring our consultations on whether to add China A-shares to MSCI’s Emerging Markets Index, some institutional investors asked what full inclusion might mean for the index and the asset class. Given China’s already-significant weight in the index, would the addition of shares of local Chinese companies, even if years away, reduce diversification of the index and render the asset class irrelevant?
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How Low Interest Rates May Impact your Portfolio
Oct 6, 2016 Carlo AcerbiRisk Management , Global Investing , Integrated Risk Management
Learn MoreSlow growth and a shortage of safe assets have led major central banks to maintain monetary policies that include short-term interest rates near or below zero. The policies, which aim to encourage businesses and consumers to borrow and spend, have lowered bond yields, distorted yield curves, shifted the composition of central banks’ balance sheets toward riskier assets and sent savers in search of yield. The persistence of low growth and a lack of inflation also have led investors to wonder whether such policies still pack any punch.
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Insight into the emerging markets rally
Sep 27, 2016 Raman Aylur SubramanianEmerging Markets , Global Investing
Learn MoreApart from a recent swoon spurred by fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise rates, it has been a summer of love for investment in emerging markets.
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How to think bigger about small cap investing
Jul 15, 2016 Raman Aylur SubramanianGlobal Investing , Factor Investing
Learn MoreInvestors who allocate to small-cap stocks can use either a benchmark weighted according to the market value of companies that constitute it or indexes that track the performance of factors such as size. But all small-cap indexes are not the same.
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It may be time for institutional investors to rethink whether to hedge their exposures to foreign currencies. Though hedging can help investors avoid losing money amid swings in the foreign-exchange market, the strategy can be an expensive one for investors based in countries with structurally low interest rates.
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Investors who aim to understand what drives returns over the long run might look to the Land of the Midnight Sun.
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The volatility of currency has increased in recent years as a combination of quantitative easing and currency wars fuel swings in the foreign-exchange market.
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The year that began in January stands out for the uncertainty that has rocked the global economy. The search for growth, the prospect of deflation and a slowdown in China have combined to roil financial markets and challenge asset owners and managers worldwide
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Maintaining a “home bias” in the equity portfolio may come with huge opportunity costs. In a 2012 study MSCI prepared for Norway’s Ministry of Finance, we examined...
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China A-Shares are too big to be ignored but remain difficult for many institutional investors to access. How can global investors avoid a stock market that is now the world’s third-largest, with a total market value of nearly USD 4 trillion, putting it just behind the United States and Japan?
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Many institutional investors recognize that their reference universe should include large-, mid- and small-cap equities and that smaller companies should earn a risk premium over larger ones. In practice, however, many of these investors - particularly in Europe and Asia - underweight the small-cap segment.
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Some Like it Hot: Very Active Mandates in a Core-Satellite Structure
Nov 24, 2014 Raman Aylur Subramanian Learn MoreInvestors have long debated the benefits of active versus passive investing. There are institutional investors with strong convictions in each camp, but many have become increasingly pragmatic, combining active and passive mandates in pursuit of the best risk-adjusted return.
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We’ve observed that many institutional investors have abandoned their historical domestic-equity bias and now view global equities as a single, broad asset class. In high-growth economies, however, particularly in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America, many investors remain focused primarily on domestic stocks.