Blog

By: Catherine Yoshimoto, Senior Index Product Manager

This year's theme for International Women's Day (March 8) is "Pledge for Parity," but if the numbers are any indication, we’re far from gender parity in the corporate boardroom. In the US, the glass is only 5% full for women, as represented by the percentage of female CEOs of companies in the Russell 3000 Index. This figure was consistent when based both on number of companies and as a percentage of market cap. Five percent is remarkably low, given women make up 47% of the civilian labor force, of which 75% work full-time.

The value of the FTSE EPRA / NAREIT UK Index, designed to represent the performance of eligible real estate companies and REITs listed on the London Stock Exchange, has risen over the last six months, indicating a rise in UK-listed real estate stocks in the “post-Brexit” era after a sharp decrease on “Brexit day.”

By: David Harris, Group Head of Sustainable Business

In recent years, the views of investors in the area of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) have matured significantly. ESG-related information has moved from a ‘peripheral’ to a ‘core’ part of investment analysis, across all asset classes. The process of reflecting on, analyzing and reporting ESG issues offers important insights into the positive and negative implications for financial and operational performance. This also applies to decisions about strategy and capital expenditure. To respond to the growing interest and need for a common framework, London Stock Exchange Group has issued guidance, through its Global Sustainable Investment Centre, setting out recommendations for good practice in ESG reporting.

By: Mary Fjelstadt, Senior Research Analyst

January 2017 saw the US stock market hit several index milestones. After the contentious presidential campaign leading up to the 2016 election, the US ushered in a new administration on January 20 that promised sweeping changes to economic and financial policies. So it seems logical to ask whether the equity market peaks in January may be attributable at least in part to the new administration.

Multi-factor indexes from global index provider FTSE Russell that underlie three ETFs from SSGA help illustrate the key characteristics that have enabled certain US large-cap stocks to experience higher returns than the US large-cap market in January, largely continuing performance trends exhibited in 2016. 

By: Mat Lystra, Senior Research Analyst

US election day on November 8 produced an outcome that was something of a surprise to markets around the world—but the markets' response indicates this was a surprise with plenty of potential upside for US companies. The US equity markets and small cap stocks in particular, responded by posting the largest post-election gains in recent history. By examining the post-election performance by sector, we can get a closer look at what drove the “Trump bump”. What happened, and is the post-election bump sustainable?

By: Catherine Yoshimoto, Senior Index Product Manager

When it comes to choosing a specific style index, there are “all strawberry” or “all lemon” packs, as it were, in the Russell Pure Style Index Series. These indexes are constructed to contain only those constituent companies that are 100% value or 100% growth—giving market participants the option to choose exposure to one style and not the other.

By: Rolf Agather, Managing Director, North America Research, CFA

Flipping the usual Shark Tank format, “Welcome to the Advisor Tank” allowed a packed room of investment advisors to play the role of sharks as they heard product pitches from four leaders in the growing multi-factor ETF world. These were Yasmin Dahya of JPMorgan Asset Management, Arne Noack of Deutsche Asset Management, Matthew Bartolini of State Street Global Advisors and the original “shark” himself, Kevin O’Leary of O’Shares Investments and host of CNBC TV’s “Shark Tank” program. I had the honor of moderating the panel and the different approaches of each panelist and product brought home for me just how diverse and innovative the multi-factor ETF playing field is today.

By: Ron Bundy, CEO, Benchmarks North America

Long the dominant force in investment management, active management suddenly finds itself an unlikely underdog as investors and policy makers demonstrate an increasingly strong preference for passive investment solutions. So one wouldn't expect to find too many active management proponents from a group of ETF and index CEOs speaking at the industry's biggest conference for exchange traded funds which are, of course, designed as passive investment solutions. And yet, that's exactly what a packed crowd heard at the ‘Future of ETFs’ session during last week’s Inside ETFs conference in Hollywood, FL.

The FTSE 100 Index, measuring the 100 most highly capitalized blue chip companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, reached its most recent all-time high of 7,337 on January 13 to cap 14 days of rising values, the longest run of consecutive daily gains in its 33-year history.