Research Paper

Global Equity Market Watch is a monthly publication that looks at global equity markets through the lens of the factors in the Barra Global Equity Model (GEM2). In each issue, we examine the various sources of global equity returns and risk - including the World factor, countries, industries, styles, currencies, and stock-specific sources - and monitor returns, volatilities, and correlations for those sources over the trailing 1-12 months. We also examine how the explanatory power and...

Portfolio Management Analytics

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Portfolio Management Analytics

Research Paper

Global Equity Market Watch is a monthly publication that looks at global equity markets through the lens of the factors in the Barra Global Equity Model (GEM2). In each issue, we examine the various sources of global equity returns and risk - including the World factor, countries, industries, styles, currencies, and stock-specific sources - and monitor returns, volatilities, and correlations for those sources over the trailing 1-12 months. We also examine how the explanatory power and...

Portfolio Management Analytics

Research Paper

Global Equity Market Watch is a monthly publication that looks at global equity markets through the lens of the factors in the Barra Global Equity Model (GEM2). In each issue, we examine the various sources of global equity returns and risk - including the World factor, countries, industries, styles, currencies, and stock-specific sources - and monitor returns, volatilities, and correlations for those sources over the trailing 1-12 months. We also examine how the explanatory power...

Portfolio Management Analytics

Research Paper

This paper deals with fixed transaction costs in the context of portfolio optimization. These are transaction costs that do not depend on the traded amount. We show how such costs need to be taken into account during the portfolio optimization process, and describe the algorithm Barra Optimizer uses to address the costs. Computational results demonstrate the performance of the algorithm.

Barra Open Optimizer

Research Paper

Global Equity Market Watch is a monthly publication that looks at global equity markets through the lens of the factors in the Barra Global Equity Model (GEM2). In each issue, we examine the various sources of global equity returns and risk - including the World factor, countries, industries, styles, currencies, and stock-specific sources - and monitor returns, volatilities, and correlations for those sources over the trailing 1-12 months. We also examine how the explanatory power...

Portfolio Management Analytics

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Portfolio Management Analytics

Research Paper

This paper examines the recent trend of adding leverage to fixed income allocations of multi-asset class portfolios of large asset owners. We show that the optimality of adding leverage from a volatility-reduction perspective depends on the correlations between bonds and equities, the relative volatility of bonds versus equities, and the weights of the two asset classes in the portfolio. If correlations between bonds and equities are negative, adding leverage could reduce the volatility of a...

Portfolio Management Analytics

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Barra Aegis

Research Paper

This Research Insight examines the question of whether currency hedging is a ‘free lunch' of risk reduction and zero expected returns. Using a long history of hedged and unhedged MSCI indices, we find that hedging does not always reduce risk, nor are mean returns zero. Contrary to some prior studies, we find there is no free lunch for the equity investor. Instead, we conclude that the usual, intuitive relationships hold: less risk usually means lower returns, and more risk, higher...

Portfolio Management Analytics