Tag Archives: stock
Not Melting Yet
Despite the hovering cloud of geopolitical menace as we entered 2019, the U.S. equity market enjoyed an almost seamless rise through the first four months of the year. May’s retreat reacquainted investors with volatility and served as a reminder that the market is near all-time highs, having enjoyed a more or less sustained increase for…
- Categories Equities, S&P 500 & DJIA
- Other Tags
Volatile but Not Necessarily Disastrous
In 2018, the S&P 500 declined for the first time in 10 years. The year’s 4% decline is obviously de minimis compared to 2008’s 37% plunge, though investors may feel it more keenly since the fourth quarter’s 14% decline erased what had been a profitable year. Nonetheless, the risk landscape changed dramatically in 2018 compared…
- Categories Equities
- Other Tags
Breaking Down Volatility
“Data! Data! Data!” he cried impatiently. “I can’t make bricks without clay.” – Sherlock Holmes (in “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches”) Despite yesterday’s hand wringing loss for equity markets— the S&P 500 dropped 3.3%—the index is still up 5.8% year to date 2018. Nevertheless, losing in one day a third of what the equity market…
- Categories Equities, S&P 500 & DJIA
- Other Tags
No Longer Calm but Not Chaotic
Although market volatility has retreated somewhat since the spike in early February, it has remained elevated. In the last 30 trading sessions, the S&P 500 moved by more than 1% (in either direction) 14 times. VOLATILITY FOR S&P 500 (21-Day Rolling) Volatility manifests itself in both dispersion (a measure of the magnitude of differences among…
- Categories Equities, S&P 500 & DJIA
- Other Tags
Vectors of Volatility
Risk is once again part of investors’ vocabulary. Through yesterday’s close, the S&P 500 lost a total of 6%, made all the more jarring by the practically straight line rise in most of 2018 prior to the losses. Volatility has, of course, ticked up, but in the context of the broader 27 year history, not…
- Categories Equities
- Other Tags
2017…Among the Sleepiest of Years
If 2016 was unremarkable, 2017 was downright sleepy…at least as far as equity markets were concerned. In 2017, the S&P 500 notched the lowest level of volatility in 27 years. Both dispersion and correlations were among the lowest levels in the same period. This is in spite of a year that was far from lacking…
- Categories Equities, Uncategorized
-
Other Tags
2017, 2018, Active, active management, active performance, Active vs. Passive, correlation, Correlations, dispersion, dispersion-correlation map, equities, Equity, Fei Mei Chan, index dynamics, Index Investment Strategy, institutional investor, Passive, S&P 500, S&P Europe 350, S&P Pan Asia BMI, volatility
- Categories
- Equities, Uncategorized
- Other Tags
- 2017, 2018, Active, active management, active performance, Active vs. Passive, correlation, Correlations, dispersion, dispersion-correlation map, equities, Equity, Fei Mei Chan, index dynamics, Index Investment Strategy, institutional investor, Passive, S&P 500, S&P Europe 350, S&P Pan Asia BMI, volatility
Rising Rates Arrive
Which of the figures below belong together? It’s obvious, even if analogies aren’t your strong suit, that A is like C and B is like D. A and C are not like B and D. The economic relevance of this simple visual exercise is this: At its March 2017 meeting, the Federal Open Market…
- Categories Equities, Factors, Fixed Income, Strategy, Uncategorized
-
Other Tags
2017, defensive strategies, equities, Equity, Factor, Fed Funds Rate, Fed Policy, Fed Rate Policy, Federal Funds Target Rate, Federal Reserve, Fei Mei Chan, high beta, Higher Interest rates, Index Investment Strategy, institutional investor, interest rates, low volatility, Raising Fed Funds, rising rates, risk, S&P 500, S&P 500 (TR), S&P 500 High Beta Index, S&P 500 Low Volatility, S&P 500 Low Volatility High Dividend Index, smart beta, U.S. Federal Reserve
- Categories
- Equities, Factors, Fixed Income, Strategy, Uncategorized
- Other Tags
- 2017, defensive strategies, equities, Equity, Factor, Fed Funds Rate, Fed Policy, Fed Rate Policy, Federal Funds Target Rate, Federal Reserve, Fei Mei Chan, high beta, Higher Interest rates, Index Investment Strategy, institutional investor, interest rates, low volatility, Raising Fed Funds, rising rates, risk, S&P 500, S&P 500 (TR), S&P 500 High Beta Index, S&P 500 Low Volatility, S&P 500 Low Volatility High Dividend Index, smart beta, U.S. Federal Reserve
Valuations Are High but Dispersion Is Low
“Stocks Have Froth but No Bubble,” in today’s Wall Street Journal argues that while stocks are sitting at the highest valuations seen in many years, the market is not in a bubble. Despite similarities to early 2000 by some measures, other distinguishing features of trading bubbles (such as high trading volume and high leverage) are…
- Categories Equities
- Other Tags
U.S. Preferreds, An Option to Pick A Specialty
Preferred stocks are a class of capital stock that pays dividends at a specified rate and has a preference over common stock in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of assets. The S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index is designed to serve the investment community’s need for an investable benchmark representing the U.S. preferred stock…
- Categories Equities, Fixed Income
- Other Tags
Jekyll & Hyde: The U.S. Preferred Stock Market
Preferred stocks have a split personality, part equity and part bond. The bond characteristics of preferred stock has, at least for the time being, become the ‘Mr. Hyde’ of the asset class. The high dividends that preferred stock owners enjoy can be compared to future interest payments of bonds. Like bonds, the prospect of the…
- Categories Equities, Fixed Income
- Other Tags