OneTrust Cookie Consent

Navigation

  • Skip to Content
  • Client Log In
  • Investor relations
  • Sustainability Institute
  • Subscribe
  • Contact us
  • Careers
  • Region
  • Go back to Main Menu
  • Client Log In
  • MSCI ONE
  • MSCI Client Support Site
  • Barra PortfolioManager
  • BarraOne
  • MSCI ESG Manager
  • MSCI ESG Direct
  • Global Index Lens
  • MSCI Real Assets Analytics Portal
  • RiskManager 3
  • CreditManager
  • RiskManager 4
  • Index Monitor
  • MSCI Datscha
  • MSCI Real Capital Analytics
  • Private i
  • Total Plan/Caissa
  • MSCI Wealth Manager (Fabric)
  • MSCI Carbon Markets
  • Go back to Main Menu
  • Region
  • China
  • India
  • Japan
Navigation

Navigation Menu

  • Our Clients
    • Go back to Main Menu
    • Our Clients
    • Asset Managers
      • Featured

        Insights on MSCI One
    • Asset Owners
      • Featured

        Institutional Client Designed Indexes (iCDIs)
    • Banks
      • Featured

        Total Portfolio Footprinting
    • Corporates
      • Featured

        ESG Trends to Watch
    • Hedge Funds
      • Featured

        Factor Models
    • Insurance Companies
      • Featured

        Total Portfolio Footprinting
    • Wealth Managers
      • Featured

        Visualizing Investment Data
  • Our Solutions
    • Go back to Main Menu
    • Our Solutions
    • Analytics
      • Go back to Our Solutions
      • Analytics
      • Analytics Overview
      • Risk Management
      • AI Portfolio Insights
      • Multi-asset Class Factor Models
      • Quantitative Investment Solutions
      • Fixed Income Analytics
      • Portfolio Management
      • Crowding Solutions
      • Regulatory Solutions
      • Managed Solutions
    • Climate Investing
      • Go back to Our Solutions
      • Climate Investing
      • Climate Investing Overview
      • Featured

        Implied Temperature Rise
      • Featured

        Trends 2025
      • Biodiversity
      • Carbon Markets
      • GeoSpatial Asset Intelligence
      • Portfolio Sustainability Insights
      • Real Estate Climate Solutions
    • Sustainable Investing
      • Go back to Our Solutions
      • Sustainable Investing
      • Sustainable Investing Overview
      • Featured

        Trends 2025
      • ESG Fund Ratings and Climate Search Tool
        • Featured

          ESG and Climate Funds in Focus
      • ESG Ratings
        • Featured

          What is ESG
      • Impact Solutions
        • Featured

          Role of Capital in the Net-Zero Revolution
      • Sustainability Reporting Services
      • Sustainability and Climate Regulatory Toolkit
        • Featured

          Role of Capital in the Net-Zero Revolution
    • Factor Investing
      • Go back to Our Solutions
      • Factor Investing
      • Factor Investing Overview
      • Featured

        MSCI Japan Equity Factor Model
      • Equity Factor Models
      • FactorLab
      • MSCI FaCS
      • Factor Indexes
    • Fixed Income
      • Go back to Our Solutions
      • Fixed Income
      • Fixed Income Overview
      • Fixed Income Analytics
      • Fixed Income Indexes
    • Private Capital
      • Go back to Our Solutions
      • Private Capital
      • Private Capital Overview
      • Featured

        Private Capital Benchmarks
      • Private i
      • Total Plan Manager (formerly Caissa)
      • Emissions Footprinting
      • Private Capital Indexes
      • Private Company Data Connect
    • Real Assets
      • Go back to Our Solutions
      • Real Assets
      • Real Assets Overview
      • Featured

        Real Estate Market Size
      • INCANS
      • Index Intel
      • Portfolio Services
      • Property Intel
      • Private Real Assets Indexes
      • Real Capital Analytics
    • Wealth Management
  • Indexes
    • Go back to Main Menu
    • Indexes
    • Featured

      Index Education
    • Featured

      Underlying Exchange Traded Products
    • Indexes Overview
    • By Category
      • Go back to Indexes
      • By Category
      • By Category Overview
      • Climate
      • Market Cap
      • Fixed Income
      • Client-Designed
      • Sustainability
      • Factor
      • Thematic
        • Featured

          Thematic Exposure Standard
      • Private Real Assets
      • Private Capital
    • Tools
      • Go back to Indexes
      • Tools
      • Tools Overview
      • Index Monitor
      • MSCI Index API
      • MSCI IndexMetrics®
      • Index Data Modules
      • Equity Index Constituents
      • Fixed Income Index Constituents
      • Index Profile Tool
      • Direct Indexing
    • Resources
      • Go back to Indexes
      • Resources
      • Resources Overview
      • Communications
      • Education
      • Equity Factsheets
      • Derivatives
      • Methodology
      • Performance
      • Regulation
  • Research & Insights
    • Go back to Main Menu
    • Research & Insights
    • Featured

      Navigating Uncertainty: Tariff Implications
    • Featured

      In Focus
    • Research & Insights
      • Go back to Research & Insights
      • Research & Insights
      • Research & Insights Overview
      • Carbon Markets
      • Climate
      • Equities
      • Factor Investing
      • Fixed Income
      • Multi-Asset Class
      • Private Capital
      • Real Estate
      • Sustainability
    • Events
      • Go back to Research & Insights
      • Events
      • Events Overview
      • Featured

        Upcoming climate events
      • On Demand
  • Discover MSCI
    • Go back to Main Menu
    • Discover MSCI
    • About Us
      • Featured

        2022 Annual Report
    • Technology
      • Go back to Discover MSCI
      • Technology
      • Technology Overview
      • Data Explorer
      • Developer Community
      • Technology and Data
    • Corporate Responsibility
      • Go back to Discover MSCI
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Corporate Responsibility Overview
      • Enabling Sustainable Investing
      • Environmental Sustainability
      • Governance Practices
      • Social Practices
      • Sustainability Reports and Policies
    • Inclusion & Belonging
    • Media Room
    • Our Leadership
      • Featured

        Henry A. Fernandez
    • Recognition
  • Client Log In
  • Investor relations
  • Sustainability Institute
  • Subscribe
  • Contact us
  • Careers
  • Region
  • Go back to Main Menu
  • Client Log In
  • MSCI ONE
  • MSCI Client Support Site
  • Barra PortfolioManager
  • BarraOne
  • MSCI ESG Manager
  • MSCI ESG Direct
  • Global Index Lens
  • MSCI Real Assets Analytics Portal
  • RiskManager 3
  • CreditManager
  • RiskManager 4
  • Index Monitor
  • MSCI Datscha
  • MSCI Real Capital Analytics
  • Private i
  • Total Plan/Caissa
  • MSCI Wealth Manager (Fabric)
  • MSCI Carbon Markets
  • Go back to Main Menu
  • Region
  • China
  • India
  • Japan

Main Search

Popular searches:
ACWI Research ESG Factor Investment Insights Gallery Asset Owners
Might interest you:
Incorporating Sector Investing in Portfolio Management

Social Sharing

Extended Viewer

Incorporating Sector Investing in Portfolio Management

Jun 20, 2024

Sector investing offers investors a strategic approach to gaining exposure to distinctive segments of the economy. Using the sector indexes constructed from the MSCI US Investable Market 2500 Index, which represents the investment opportunity set accessible to U.S. domestic investors, we studied sector investing in the U.S. over the last two decades.

Because sectors vary in their economic, thematic and factor exposures, as well as their sustainability and climate profile, degree of concentration and fundamental characteristics, their performance behavior has differed as macroeconomic conditions have changed.

We found that, over the last two decades ending May 2024, most U.S. sectors had low performance correlations, suggesting that investors could have built portfolios using sector rotation strategies to potentially improve performance or combined less-correlated sectors to reduce portfolio risk.

Calendar-year active returns of US sectors

sd

Data period from Dec. 31, 2003, to Dec. 29, 2023. The plot shows the calendar-year active returns of the U.S. sector indexes compared to those of the MSCI US Investable Market 2500 Index. Returns are gross in USD.


Download report

Research authors

  • Abhishek Gupta, ​​Executive Director, MSCI Research
  • Dinank Chitkara, Senior Associate, MSCI Research

Related content

Reimagining Country Investing

We introduce an integrated framework to investing in individual country and regional markets, analyzing macroeconomic risks and new growth opportunities as well as the role of sustainable investments in a globally diversified portfolio.

Learn more

Sector Indexes

Expanding investors’ toolkit

Read more

Finding Value: Understanding Factor Investing

We examine how value investing could be implemented in a passive portfolio, using three generations of value indexes as a starting point for creating investment vehicles: traditional value, value- or fundamentally weighted and high-exposure value.

Explore more
msci logo
  • Terms of Use
  • Legal
  • Modern Slavery Statement
  • Privacy notice
  • Index regulation
  • Locations
  • Cookies
  • Use of ISO standards
  • Site map
Subscribe Contact us
© 2025 MSCI Inc. All rights reserved

UtmAnalytics