Global Factor Performance: April 2024
The following factor performance modules have been updated on our Index website.[ref]free access for financial professionals[/ref] Factor Performance Factor Premiums Factor Data Downloads
Fee Variation in Private Equity
Given the significant growth of investment in private markets, there have been increasing demands for greater transparency in the operation and structure of private market funds. This paper aims to address questions such as whether fees are set uniformly within most funds, and if not, by how much do they vary.
How the Stock Market Impacts Investor Mental Health
Studies have found that there is a correlation between stock market downturns and an increase in hospital admissions for mental illness, an increase in domestic violence, deteriorating mental health among retirees, and increased depression rates.
Tail Hedging Is Not As Easy As You Think
Convexity can provide explosive payoffs from unlikely events. It’s a powerful weapon to wield, but like most weapons, it could be inefficient or even dangerous in the hands of the untrained.
DIY Trend-Following Allocations: April 2024
Full exposure to domestic equities. Full exposure to international equities. Full exposure to REITs. Partial exposure to commodities. Partial exposure to intermediate-term bonds.
Valuing Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks
While there is literature that describes the "domain" of artificial intelligence, there are very few, if any that analyze the valuation and pricing of AI stocks. The authors attempt to fill the void with a two part methodology.
Economic Momentum
Strong empirical evidence demonstrates that momentum (both cross-sectional and time-series) provides information on the cross-section of returns of many risk assets and has generated alpha relative to existing asset pricing models.
Options 101: Understanding Options Basics
Options have a bad reputation, and for good reason. After all, our friends at Wall Street Bets have taken over and turned the options market into a casino. But just like options can be used for gambling, they can also be used to structure risk and formulate payoffs that have the potential to reduce risk at the portfolio level. In fact, options are one of the best tools at our disposal to manage portfolio risk, if used correctly.
Personality Differences and Investment Decision-Making
This study offers valuable information to provide insights into the underlying mechanisms driving investment behavior. For example, recognizing the impact of Neuroticism on belief formation and risk perception can help explain why some investors exhibit greater aversion to stock market volatility. Similarly, understanding how Openness influences risk preferences can shed light on why certain individuals are more willing to take investment risks than others.
Tracking Error is a Feature, Not a Bug
The benefits of diversification are well known. In fact, it’s been called the only free lunch in investing. Investors who seek to benefit from diversification of the sources of risk and return of their portfolios must accept that adding unique sources of risk means that their portfolio will inevitably experience what is called tracking error—a financial term used as a measure of the performance of a portfolio relative to the performance of a benchmark, such as the S&P 500.
Short Campaigns by Hedge Funds
Our analysis highlights the importance of short campaigns for understanding the economic impact of activist hedge funds.
Breaking Bad Momentum Trends
In their two papers, Goulding, Harvey, and Mazzoleni showed that observed market corrections and rebounds carry predictive information about subsequent returns and showed how that information could be utilized to enhance the performance of trend-following strategies by dynamically blending slow and fast momentum strategies based on four-state cycle-conditional information.
Exchange Funds 2.0: A Newly Accessible Way to Diversify Concentrated Positions
When investors have a concentrated stock position that has performed well, they eventually face the same tough question: Should they continue to hold the position (and the outsized exposure it brings to their portfolio) or diversify – and face significant capital gains taxes?
Private Equity Performance Around the Globe
This study provides valuable insights into how private equity performs in regions outside North America, reflecting broader trends in global investment.
Betting on a Short Squeeze as Investment Strategy
Short squeezes are often associated with a large positive jump in the price of a stock. Filippou, Garcia-Ares, and Zapatero demonstrated that skewness-seeking investors try to identify securities that could experience a short squeeze in the near future and are willing to pay a premium for them. That results in an overvaluation of the options and, on average, negative returns. Investors are best served to avoid investments with lottery-like distributions. One way to do that is to turn a blind eye to social media sites like Robinhood and Reddit so you don’t get caught up in the hype and excitement. That’s another example of why retail investors are called “dumb money.” Forewarned is forearmed.
Robo-advisors: A well-researched topic
Along with the rapid growth in the utilization of robo-advisors, there has been similar growth in academic interest about robo-advisors. What is the current state and what are the main research streams in the literature?
DIY Trend-Following Allocations: March 2024
Full exposure to domestic equities. Full exposure to international equities. Partial exposure to REITs. No exposure to commodities. Partial exposure to intermediate-term bonds.
Cut Your Losses and Let Profits Run?
Be careful before acting on what is considered to be conventional wisdom. Make sure it’s supported by empirical evidence. In this case, the evidence makes clear that “cut your losses and let your profits run” should not be conventional wisdom.
Financial Literacy and Financial Resilience: Evidence from Italy
The paper aims to contribute to the literature by providing insights into the current state of financial literacy in Italy, its implications for financial well-being and resilience, and the demographic disparities therein.
Lottery Preference and Biotech Stocks: Trust the Financials, Not the Science
Making a bet on biotech/pharma firms that have not yet achieved significant revenue is the equivalent of buying a lottery ticket—with the same poor risk/return relationship.