Tag Archives: volatility
Low Turnover in the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index Reflects Broader Market Dynamics
It’s been almost a year since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S., but despite the disruption it brought to daily life, the U.S. equity market has performed remarkably well—rallying powerfully after a sharp decline in March 2020. Through Feb. 18, 2021, the S&P 500® was up 24% since the end of 2019. In the same period, the S&P…
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Factors and Factor Indices
There is a subtle but important distinction between factors and factor indices. “Factor” denotes an attribute with which long-term excess returns are thought to be associated. Fama and French, for instance, famously found that small size and cheap valuation were factors in this sense. A number of other variables – prominently including momentum, low volatility,…
- Categories Equities, Factors, S&P 500 & DJIA, Strategy
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Using Sector & Industry Indices to Uncover Opportunity
Could higher dispersion in sectors and industries translate to outperformance? S&P DJI’s Anu Ganti explores how index data can be used to inform tactical sector rotation strategies in periods of high volatility. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GHJ3YohLEE Get the latest sector dashboard: https://spdji.com/indexology/sectors/us-sector-dashboard.
- Categories Equities
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- Equities
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Two Sides of Volatility
I was recently asked whether volatility was particularly challenging for index fund owners or for active investors. The answer is “yes.” For index funds, the challenge arises because rising volatility typically accompanies poor returns. Between 1991 and 2019, e.g., months in which the S&P 500’s volatility was above median averaged modestly negative total returns. In…
- Categories S&P 500 & DJIA, Strategy
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The Defensive Advantage
A wise man told me years ago that there are some things you can’t get if you go after them directly. If you’ve ever watched someone trying to sound interesting, you’ll realize the truth of my friend’s observation. There are plenty of interesting people out there, of course, but they achieve that status by pursuing…
- Categories Equities, S&P 500 & DJIA, Strategy
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The Trade-Off between Upside Participation and Downside Protection
Financial market history is rife with prolonged bull market periods and deep corrections. With no proven way to correctly time the market, market participants can stay fully invested and attempt to capture the potential upside, but they also have to endure and recover from the full depths of drawdowns. Hence, some market participants may choose…
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Volatile Start to 2020 – What’s Next?
Last year’s prognostications about the events and trends to monitor in 2020 have evaporated as COVID-19 has upended people’s lives and caused massive recalibrations in financial markets. In Q1 2020, we said “goodbye to the bull market”; large market movements became the new normal; correlations and dispersion shifted drastically; quantitative easing returned; and access to…
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Coronaviral Correlations
Mea culpa: Roughly a month ago I used a dispersion-correlation map to describe how index dynamics can illuminate market movements. In particular, I reported that since high dispersion seems to be a necessary condition for a bear market, and S&P 500 dispersion levels at the end of February were far below those prevailing in past…
- Categories Equities, S&P 500 & DJIA
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Equity Liquidity at a Reasonable Price
The fall in equity market values since February’s peak has been sudden and dramatic. During this period, the equity markets have functioned well at their primary task of facilitating price discovery at a time when values were changing rapidly. Equity investors who wanted to trade have been able to trade. (Whether they were wise to…
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The Best Offense Is Defense – Why VEQTOR Outperformed Last Week
Six minutes after trading began on the New York Stock Exchange on March 9, 2020, the S&P 500® plummeted 7% and market-wide circuit breakers kicked in for the first time since the stock market crash of Oct. 27, 1997. However, the indices fell again later in the week and triggered another circuit breaker on Thursday,…
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