It’s been 25 years since the peak of the dot-com bubble. To mark the occasion, we discuss parallels between today’s AI-driven market boom and the dot-com era with MSCI’s Donald Sze, exploring market sentiment, lessons from history and implications for investors navigating current dynamics.

The pullback in U.S. mega-caps coincides with the 25th anniversary of the dot-com bubble’s peak. The parallels between then and now are striking. However, today’s top-performers exhibit higher profitability, stronger growth and lower valuations than their dot-com counterparts.

In concentrated markets, investors can become wary of portfolios dominated by sentiment factors. A simple crowding-score-based constraint can help investors identify securities most at risk of de-rating. 

Instead of a predicted recession, U.S. equity markets have soared since 2022, and a few mega-cap technology stocks dominated the market. We analyze the most- and least-crowded market segments to help investors prudently monitor their portfolios. 

The transition to a low-carbon economy may trigger a major transformation of the global economy, generating significant risks and opportunities for companies and investors.

Given climate risk’s multifaceted nature and the long time horizon on which climate change is unfolding, investors face an elevated level of uncertainty when making decisions. What approaches can they take as they seek to manage these risks?

Factors have been shown to be important systematic sources of risk and return. We examine how factor analysis can help identify investment characteristics that lie beneath the surface of seemingly similar stocks and equity portfolios.

How did hedge funds navigate the initial volatility amid COVID-19? Though holdings information is limited, and delayed, we gained insights into their reaction by examining the change in hedge-fund portfolios between the end of January and end of February.