Research Report

This article examines how stock exposures to the Volatility factor, as defined in the Barra Global Equity Model 2 (GEM2), can be used to understand how a portfolio is positioned for changes in risk aversion. In a previous note “The Volatility Factor and Risk Aversion,” presented in the Q1 2012 newsletter, we explained how returns to the Volatility factor can provide a measure of investors’ risk appetite. Now we extend this analysis and show how specific groups of stocks,...

Equity Risk Models

Research Report

The 2008 financial crisis put global markets into a volatile “risk-on / risk-off” swing.  When investors worry about recession or deflation, their risk aversion goes up and they shift to low-risk assets, thus hurting risky assets like equities. In contrast, when investors expect a recovery or inflation, their risk aversion goes down and they shift into high-risk assets.  This binary attitude results in a high degree of correlation among global markets and may point to a...

Research Report

US investors are bracing themselves for the potential expiration of the 2003 Bush dividend tax cut.  To help portfolio managers prepare for this potential change in the US tax code, this Market Report uses the rich factor structure of the Barra US Equity Model to examine these issues: (1) what effect the initial tax cut had on dividend-paying stocks, (2) the impact of this policy on the overall stock market, and (3) the change in dividend policies of the issuing firms. 

Research Report

MSCI have collaborated with Ulster University for the last six years to produce the Northern Ireland Commercial Property report. This unique report provides the only performance measurement analytics on the Northern Ireland market, and provides comparison with its European and Global peers.

Real Assets

Research Report

This paper describes BIM303, a new version of the Barra Integrated Model (BIM). This new version incorporates the latest Barra equity models, includes several new and updated Barra fixed income models, and completes the history of the private equity and private real estate components. Other local models that form the complete BIM are the same as those in BIM301, the previous integrated model. BIM303, like BIM301, comes in versions for multiple horizons: Short, Long, and Extra Long.

Methodology

Indexes

Research Report

BarraOne

Research Report

In this Research Insight, we present the results of MSCI’s IPD® Global Annual Property Index 2017, identifying current asset-level real estate performance trends globally and by national market.  The analysis focuses particularly on the latest performance year, 2017.  Global -level real estate delivered a total return of 7.9% in 2017, up from 7.4% in 2016 and marking the eighth consecutive year of positive performance since the global financial crisis. Spain was the best performing...

Real Assets

Research Report

This stress test report uses CreditManager to examine the relative stability of sample credit portfolios. In a buy-and-hold context, our analysis suggests that 'book mode' generally produces lower risk figures that are more sensitive to ratings changes and correlation moves; conversely, in a mark-to-market context, 'migration mode' results produce larger risk figures that are less sensitive to ratings. In both test cases, the stresses demonstrate significant increases in capital, in the range...

Risk Management Analytics

Research Report

The enhancements introduced in the new Barra US Equity Model (USE4) are designed to improve risk forecasts for optimized portfolios. In this paper, we investigate the turnover and forecasting accuracy of optimized portfolios generated using USE4S, and compare them with those generated using the model's predecessor, USE3S. By testing various investment strategies, rebalancing on a daily or weekly basis, during the period 2007-2012, we found no systematic difference in turnover, and, in fact,...