All articles by Rachel Fixsen – Page 208
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Features
'History of change' launch by MSCI
Morgan Stanley Capital International has launched a product to help researchers which shows all the historical rebalancings which have been made to its indices. The MSCI ‘History of Change’ (HoC) provides details on index rebalancings made to all MSCI Equity Indices since 1988, but does not include market-driven changes such ...
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Features
Now for the classification wars
As globalisation shifts the investment focus onto industrial sectors and away from geographical regions, so index providers have been sharpening up the way they define those sectors. Starting this year, Standard & Poor’s is using the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) as the sole system for all its indices worldwide. ...
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Features
Wait for rout to be over
Plagued by serious structural problems, Japan is still a market for only the bravest of investors. Things can’t get much worse, strategists say. But is this necessarily an argument that improvement is on the horizon? Among the optimistic voices, Mike Collins, chief strategist with Pictet Asset Management in London, says ...
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Features
Why indices are becoming similar
In the 1990s, index providers started to notice a chasm between the story their benchmarks were telling and the environment investors were dealing with. Not all of the market capitalisation the indices represented was actually available to buy. Because of this, in the past three years every one of the ...
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Features
Brightening up the dull world of fixed income
Investors in European bonds now have a new tool at their disposal. With the iBoxx family of bond indices, the bond market finally has access to a reliable and transparent benchmark, claims the newly formed company behind the index. “It’s something that’s completely different in the grey world of fixed ...
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Features
Waiting for signals to change
UK equities have recovered some of the losses they suffered following 11 September and there are signs that the domestic economy is more robust than previously feared. But investors’ hopes for a more geographically widespread upturn in economic fortunes could paradoxically dent share index levels in the UK. This is ...
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Features
Growing market for commodity indices
As equity returns have slumped, so the appeal of alternative investments has risen. Commodities in particular are seen by many as having advantages not just in terms of diversification, but also as assets which can produce solid growth. In this environment, Standard & Poor’s has lauched its new commodities index. ...
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Features
Hefty blow to fragile market
Hurtling towards its fourth recession in 10 years, the Japanese economy is once again in a vulnerable state. And the terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September have dealt the fragile Japanese equities markets a hefty blow, say equity strategists. Export levels have contracted, and this vital source of ...
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Features
S&P's geometrical index progression for commodities
In a move which extends its businesses beyond equities, Standard & Poor’s has come up with a new commodities index. There is no shortage of heavyweight commodities benchmarks in the marketplace, with Goldman Sachs Commodity Index and the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index already in broad use. But S&P sees some ...
