November 28, 2023 | 13 min

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A Tailored Equity Approach for Foundations

Foundations find themselves standing at a significant crossroads. The traditional equity mandates, which have long been a cornerstone in the investment portfolios of foundations, now seem less adept at...

Jim McHugh, Senior Managing Director, Business Development
All Insights | All Season Core Equity | Equity Market Stress Monitor | Market Observations | Sustainability
November 28, 2023 | 13 min
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A Tailored Equity Approach for Foundations

Foundations find themselves standing at a significant crossroads. The traditional equity mandates, which have long been a cornerstone in the investment portfolios of foundations,...
November 14, 2023 | 11 min
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Navigating the Complex Landscape of Foundation Investments: A Series Exploration

It’s often tempting to bundle entities with seemingly similar objectives under one umbrella. A common practice in the industry is to group endowments and...
October 31, 2023 | 8 min
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Is the Magnificent Seven’s Grip on Markets Fading?

After a bullish start to the year, equity markets turned back from recent highs in the third quarter. The prospect of lingering inflation and...
October 16, 2023 | 10 min
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Implementing Futures for Risk Management: A Guided Approach

For institutional investors, it’s not enough to simply identify effective strategies for managing risk and enhancing returns. The real challenge lies in the implementation....
October 6, 2023 | 9 min
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Case Studies: Integrated vs. Overlay Futures Strategies

In our journey through the world of equity risk management and futures strategies, we’ve explored the benefits and considerations of both integrated and overlay...
October 2, 2023 | 9 min
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Overlay Strategies: A Broad Brush for Equity Risk

Investors are often faced with a paradox: the need for diversification and the desire for precision. On the one hand, we want to spread...
September 22, 2023 | 9 min
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Navigating Frequent Regime Changes: The Power of Integrated Futures Strategies

We’re seeing a new market order emerge today. The frequency of regime changes, or shifts in the economic and market environment, has increased significantly....
September 18, 2023 | 8 min
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Introduction to Equity Risk Management and Futures Strategies

Navigating the financial markets is like sailing on a vast, unpredictable ocean. The waves represent the ever-changing market dynamics, and the wind propelling us...
August 31, 2023 | 9 min
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Futures Can Improve Risk/Return Outcomes Across a Variety of Time Horizons

In our last blog, we discussed the limitations of traditional equity strategies in an era of heightened equity market risks, as well as common...
August 25, 2023 | 12 min
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Are Traditional Equity Strategies Suited for Today’s Regime Changes?

Long-term institutional investors are facing a number of challenges within modern equity markets: time-varying risks in the form of increased volatility, more frequent and...
July 21, 2023 | 13 min
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The Dance of Diversification Amidst Market Concentration

The dynamics of the market are constantly evolving, and the current trend is both fascinating and consequential. The stock market, like any system, has...
July 3, 2023 | 16 min
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Harnessing Implicit Leverage for Resilient Alpha: The Power of Diversified Futures

In our evolving financial landscape where generating alpha, managing risk, and maintaining capital efficiency have become increasingly critical, the key lies in our ability...
June 23, 2023 | 17 min
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Beyond Stock Picking: The Rise of Outcome-Driven Conviction

“High conviction” in our business often evokes images of active managers who plunge into the intricate depths of a select handful of companies. These...
May 26, 2023 | 14 min
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Weathering the Storm of Regime Changes: A New Approach to Navigating Time-Varying Risks in Equity Markets

The equity landscape is evolving rapidly, presenting today’s investors with unprecedented challenges. Short-term market cycles have made it increasingly difficult to capture long-term alpha,...
May 3, 2023 | 9 min
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MBO Progress: 1-Year Update

Time flies when you’re making progress! It’s hard to believe that just over a year has passed since our management buyout from Janus Henderson....
March 31, 2023 | 17 min
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The Changing Landscape of Equity Market Drawdowns: Implications for Investors

Seasoned investors know full well that periodic, significant declines are a natural part of both economic and equity market cycles. This is the price...
March 8, 2023 | 20 min
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The Correlation Conundrum: How Will You Fix Portfolio Diversification?

Identifying and quantifying the underlying co-movements within and across asset classes is essential in creating a diversified portfolio and mitigating idiosyncratic risk. It helps...
February 23, 2023 | 12 min
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How Much More Volatility Can You Take?

Your equity strategies are typically your largest source of portfolio volatility, and it’s clear we’re seeing more pronounced and frequent equity volatility today. Market...
January 30, 2023 | 8 min
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Q1 2023 Equity Market Observations

In 2022, equity markets posted their worst calendar year return since the global financial crisis in 2008, as losses this year were significant. During...
November 15, 2022 | 8 min
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Low Volatility? Exactly What Kind of Volatility Are We Talking About?

Now that volatility has returned to the market, we thought we’d revisit some basics about low volatility equity strategies. These strategies all have a...
October 17, 2022 | 4 min
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Q4 2022 Equity Market Observations

The third quarter started on a hopeful note as equity markets rallied in July. However, equity markets resumed their decline mid-quarter as fears grew...
July 26, 2022 | 3 min
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Why 2022’s Market Volatility May Be Sticking Around

Global equity markets recorded sharp declines during the second quarter as investors grew concerned that rising interest rates may not be enough to tamp...
July 20, 2022 | 5 min
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Intech Celebrates 35 Years of Investing

Life in June of 1987 was much different than it is today. Waterbeds were making a splash in bedrooms across America, Microsoft Windows was...
June 30, 2022 | 6 min
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Three Future ESG Challenges Investors Must Know

In our previous blogs, we covered the best and worst things happening in ESG investing today, as well as the approach we feel is...
June 21, 2022 | 6 min
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How to Approach ESG Investing Today

In our previous blog, we discussed that in spite of continued asset growth, ESG-tilt exposure may have hit a recent headwind as geopolitical events...
June 9, 2022 | 6 min
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The Good and Bad of ESG Investing Today

Continued Forward Momentum As the world continues to experience the undeniable effects of rising global temperatures, governments and company stakeholders have slowly begun to...
April 27, 2022 | 4 min
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The Dispersion Driving Uncertainty in Equity Markets

It should come as no surprise that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in mid-February has had a significant negative impact on markets around the...
April 21, 2022 | 4 min
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Take Action This Earth Day

Established in 1970, the first Earth Day celebration was not a celebration at all, but rather a push by organizers – politicians and student...
March 16, 2022 | 7 min
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How Low Volatility and Low Carbon Are at Odds

The scientific consensus is clear: climate change is here. And so is demand from investors seeking to help through lessening their carbon exposures.
February 23, 2022 | 7 min
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The Troubling Capital Concentration in U.S. Indexes

The recent run-up in mega cap companies and their dominance of index returns over the past five years has created conditions investors should be...
February 17, 2022 | 6 min
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How This Market Has Skewed Cap-Weighted Indexes

U.S. large-cap markets delivered another impressive year of returns in 2021. And once again the vast bulk of gains were driven by a handful...
December 20, 2021 | 7 min
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Boosting Portfolio ESG Scores Starts with Knowing Your Data

Committing to sustainable investing is not a check-the-box exercise, particularly when it comes to understanding the ESG data used by managers. You can benefit...
December 13, 2021 | 4 min
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How Can These Two Simple Tactics Help Bypass ESG Data Pitfalls?

ESG data is not financial data. We’ve covered the key shortcomings of ESG data in the past, including their problems with reliability, frequency, breadth,...
December 6, 2021 | 6 min
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Four Ways Your ESG Data Can Derail Your Sustainability Goals

Your sustainability objectives invite a significant and evolving challenge: ESG data. No matter the investment style, proper ESG integration requires reliable and current data...
November 19, 2021 | 6 min
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Three Key Investment Takeaways from COP26

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference—known as COP26 for short—came to a close this past weekend in Glasgow, Scotland, with a mix of...
September 15, 2021 | 5 min
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Are You Ready for the Perfect Storm in DB Cash Flows?

Growing liquidity needs and funding deficits prompt Defined Benefit (DB) plan sponsors and their consultants to reshape their portfolios for optimizing near- and long-term...
July 21, 2021 | 4 min
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“Transitory” is Always Instructive When it Comes to Market Risk

“Transitory” inflation is the talk of Wall Street as pundits parse its definition and potential consequences. At Intech, we monitor a set of equity...
July 12, 2021 | 3 min
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Solving for More Efficient ESG Applications

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) portfolio characteristics have become an increasingly important consideration for investors over the past decade. However, effectively applying ESG characteristics...
June 8, 2021 | 4 min
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Six Ways to Invest Sustainably

Sustainable investing has captured the attention of institutional investors worldwide, but understanding what to do about it is more challenging. There’s a range of...
May 25, 2021 | 4 min
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Sustainable Investing May Involve More Than You Think

Sustainable investing has captured the attention of institutional investors worldwide, but the scope of sustainable investing is broader than some investors might imagine.
May 18, 2021 | 5 min
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Do You Have Good Reason to be Skeptical About ESG Investing?

With over US$30 trillion in managed ESG assets, this fast-growing investment category is proving to have profoundly resonated with investors worldwide.† And with 34%...
April 19, 2021 | 4 min
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There’s More to Markets than Vaccines and Value Stocks

Global equity markets posted gains during the first quarter of 2021 as vaccine progress drove optimism about the reopening of the global economy. But...
March 23, 2021 | 7 min
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How Simple ESG Tilts Affect Your Portfolio

In previous blogs, we’ve identified some of the data issues associated with ESG investing and offered some ways to address them. Here, we present...
March 16, 2021 | 5 min
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Three Best Practices for ESG Data You Should Know

In our previous blog, we covered what makes for useful ESG data and how the available data set is lacking in significant ways, especially...
March 10, 2021 | 6 min
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These Big Four ESG Data Problems Demand Your Focus

ESG integration comes with a significant and evolving challenge: ESG data. No matter the investment style, proper implementation requires reliable and current data to...
January 31, 2021 | 4 min
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How Equity Market Leadership Reversed Course in 2020

While equity markets continued to seek record closes through the end of 2020 backed by historical levels of monetary and fiscal stimulus, real economic...
December 16, 2020 | 4 min
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Why (and How) Diversification and Rebalancing Works

Portfolio growth is more than just the weighted compound returns of its underlying stocks. There is also the additional return contribution from the diversification...
October 28, 2020 | 4 min
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The Market Behavior Beneath the Record Recovery That Deserves Investors’ Attention

Equity markets are, of course, forward-looking by nature, principally concerned with future earnings. Naturally, as the world attempts to climb out of the economic...
August 27, 2020 | 6 min
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Two Conflicting Risks You Need to Navigate in Retirement

Just as the skill set for climbing a mountain differs from descending it, accumulating assets is very different from generating retirement income. In accumulation,...
August 18, 2020 | 3 min
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Will the SECURE Act Dispel Illusions of Wealth?

The 401(k) started as a tax-deferred supplemental savings plan over 40 years ago. Since that time, industry professionals have fashioned it as a retirement...
July 31, 2020 | 8 min
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Raking Over the Coals: Incorporating Carbon Data Into Investments

The Broader Context ESG considerations are becoming important to more investors and managers each year. The general consensus seems to be moving towards more...
July 27, 2020 | 3 min
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Where Key Market Stress Metrics are Headed Halfway Through 2020

We covered in our last blog post how the v-shaped recovery appeared nearly complete through the first half of 2020. Despite a staggering 34%...
July 22, 2020 | 3 min
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What the Mega-Cap, Growth-Led Recovery Means for Markets

Investor optimism appears to be on the rise as economies have begun reopening around the world. Both fiscal and monetary stimulus have boosted valuations,...
June 18, 2020 | 6 min
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Diversification Potential, or What the Cap Doesn’t Tap

Indexes that attempt to replicate the performance of equity markets via the time-honored tradition of capitalization may seem diversified, but they barely scratch the...
April 27, 2020 | 3 min
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Underlying Market Stress Realized in 1Q20

We started the year publishing a paper welcoming 2020, and tail risk we’ve seen before. We mentioned that the combination of low relative return...
April 15, 2020 | 5 min
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When Low Beta Isn’t Low

This blog is the second of a two-part series examining the anomalous dislocation of equity betas we observed in the drawdown during March 2020....
April 13, 2020 | 6 min
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When Equity Beta Correlations Collapse

This blog is the first of a two-part series examining the anomalous dislocation of equity betas we observed in the drawdown during March 2020....
March 14, 2020 | 3 min
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Intech Celebrates Pi Day!

Celebrating Pi (π) Day (March 14th or, sometimes, July 22nd) is a great chance to spread the word that math is exciting and fun.*...
March 10, 2020 | 4 min
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Has This Coronavirus Taken Us by Surprise?

Nassim Taleb popularized the black swan in his eponymous book. He described it as an event that’s highly surprising, highly disruptive, and, in hindsight,...
February 28, 2020 | 7 min
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Is There Really a “Free Lunch” in Investing?

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from an old friend with the subject: Sound Familiar? It contained a link to an...
February 12, 2020 | 6 min
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How to Overcome Challenges in ESG Data

Naughty and Nice Separating ‘naughty’ from ‘nice’ in a verified list is no longer a seasonal activity limited to residents of the Arctic Circle....
January 20, 2020 | 7 min
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It’s Time to Challenge Your View on Risk

New year, new you, right? Every year I seem to go back to the drawing board and evaluate how I can improve myself. This...
January 8, 2020 | 5 min
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The Signs of Tail Risk We’re Seeing Now

Forecasts for 2020 are easy to come by, but market efficiency makes these prognostications difficult to exploit in a directional sense. Instead, by examining...
December 17, 2019 | 7 min
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Is There a Better Way to Think About Factor Investing?

The popularity of factor investing appears to be at a crossroad. While investors’ adoption of factors has never been broader, their concerns about the...
December 12, 2019 | 8 min
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Do You Need to Change Your Factor Prescriptions?

Only the United States and New Zealand allow direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs. In the U.S. alone, pharmaceutical companies spend nearly $10 billion annually...
October 21, 2019 | 3 min
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Is Stock Volatility a More Persistent Characteristic than Stock Returns?

At Intech®, we harness natural stock-price volatility to generate an excess return above the benchmark – without forecasting returns. We find that a stock’s...
October 15, 2019 | 4 min
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A Volatile Quarter Underscores Stress

Looking at last quarter’s dynamic in U.S. equity markets you would be hard pressed to believe that the S&P 500 Index reached its biggest...
October 10, 2019 | 4 min
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Can You Associate Higher Volatility with Market Drawdowns?

Volatility returned to equity markets this month. Investors often think of volatility as something bad – a foe that needs to be controlled, managed...
September 30, 2019 | 6 min
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How to Benchmark a Defensive Equity Strategy

Defensive equity indexes are often examined within the context of their potential as investable ‘passive’ portfolios. But before Jack Bogle helped put the index...
August 26, 2019 | 5 min
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4 Issues to Consider When Monitoring ESG Portfolios

This blog is the third of a three-part series where we delve into an implementation framework to help you: 1) establish ESG investing goals, 2) uncover...
August 19, 2019 | 6 min
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How to Select an ESG Manager that Fits Your Goals

This blog is the second of a three-part series where we delve into an implementation framework to help you: 1) establish ESG investing goals, 2)...
August 13, 2019 | 6 min
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Can You Fit ESG Investment Goals in Your Portfolio?

This blog is the first of a three-part series where we delve into an implementation framework to help you: 1) establish ESG investing goals,...
August 8, 2019 | 5 min
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3 ESG Investing Challenges You Need to Know

The investing world is seldom cut and dry. Nowhere has this become more apparent than investing in environmental, social and governance issues, also known...
August 5, 2019 | 4 min
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We Love this Outburst of Math Obsession

Somewhat unusually for the Twitter-sphere, where celebrity gossip and partisan invective is the norm, an arithmetic-related Tweet trended strongly last week. Its popularity is...
July 25, 2019 | 7 min
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Stress Signals Emerge in Rising Equity Markets

Global equity markets had their best first-half of the year performance in 33 years, largely attributable to the U.S. market. However, caution signals are...
July 19, 2019 | 4 min
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Strong Markets Reveal Signs of Stress

The U.S. stock market posted its strongest June performance in more than half a century as well as its best first-half of the year...
July 6, 2019 | 4 min
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Defensive Equity Performance Metrics You Need to Know

With increased interest in defensive equity investing, asset owners and consultants need constructive ways to evaluate results from managers. Methods for quantifying the expectations...
June 14, 2019 | 7 min
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6 Things You Need to Ask a Defensive Equity Manager

Defensive equity strategies may have obvious appeal – especially right now – but how do you distinguish between similar-sounding strategies? A brief perusal of...
June 10, 2019 | 4 min
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Can You Turn Investing From a Drag to a Delight?

Yes, investing can definitely be a drag. How? In short, it’s volatility. Anyone that has purchased a leveraged ETF can attest to the problem....
June 4, 2019 | 5 min
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3 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Risky Stocks

The longest bull market in history, persistently low interest rates and increasing life expectancies are driving many asset owners to consider defensive equities again....
May 9, 2019 | 4 min
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Did Remarkable Growth in ESG Investing Invite Regulation?

The popularity of ESG investing is making due diligence increasingly important.
May 6, 2019 | 4 min
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4 Ways to Adopt ESG Investing

Consideration of environmental, social and governance issues has captured the attention of institutional investors worldwide, but understanding what to do about them is more...
April 23, 2019 | 3 min
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What You Need to Know About ESG Investing

Investors are increasingly interested in a rapidly-growing investment approach that considers their values and beliefs when selecting and managing their portfolio. Consideration of environmental,...
April 10, 2019 | 4 min
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3 Things to Watch in Today’s Risk-On Market

Global developed equity markets posted strong returns in the first quarter, and some indexes were close to rebounding to last September’s record highs. The...
April 5, 2019 | 5 min
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Was it Really the Best First Quarter in 21 Years?

Yes, it really was. 2019 started with a bang. The U.S. equity market just finished its best first quarter in 21 years!1 The S&P 500...
February 20, 2019 | 3 min
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Volatility as a Reliable Alpha Source

At Intech®, we harness natural stock-price volatility to generate an excess return above the benchmark – without forecasting returns. We find that a stock’s...
February 6, 2019 | 3 min
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How Intech Uses Artificial Intelligence

Many of the popular techniques in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been used in real-life applications since the 1980s, including machine-learning (ML) techniques.
January 17, 2019 | 4 min
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How The Risk Monitor Revealed Market Stress

Last year was one to remember. The U.S. equity markets opened – and closed – 2018 with a sharp rise in volatility that pushed...
December 12, 2018 | 2 min
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Signs of Equity Market Strain

When U.S. equity markets started to join the international sell-off this quarter, we saw a notable contrast in market dynamics: a broad based market...
November 29, 2018 | 6 min
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Volatility Is Coming: Is Your Low Volatility Strategy Ready?

You saw it in February and again in October. Large and quick market drawdowns hit the S&P 500 Index leading it into temporary correction...
October 31, 2018 | 6 min
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Feeding the World – rice or glyptodon?

Current fashion for institutional investors who want higher returns from their active equity allocations is to choose unconstrained, high-tracking error portfolios. The portfolio managers...
October 10, 2018 | 6 min
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Capital Concentration Levels Approach Extremes in Q3

The U.S. stock market continued its rising trend during the third quarter with the S&P 500 Index surging 7.7%, its biggest gain since 2013....
September 28, 2018 | 4 min
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Market Stress and Volatility: Extremes of Capital Concentration

Let this one sink in: The five largest stocks in the S&P 500 Index currently have a market capitalization equivalent to the smallest 270...
September 21, 2018 | 6 min
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A Dangerous Game: Have Equities Become Your New Liquidity Source?

Over the last 20 years, pension plans have had to nearly triple their risk to achieve a 7.5% expected return. To pay out benefits...
August 15, 2018 | 7 min
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Infinite Monkey-Business and Splitting the Atom

It seems that just about any systematic approach to constructing equity portfolios beats the poor old cap-weighted index, as numerous entertaining articles and papers...
July 30, 2018 | 5 min
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Letting Off Steam but Still Boiling

The Intech Equity Market Stress Monitor™ saw modest improvements last quarter, but extreme conditions signal more volatility to come. Key takeaways: Most major market...
June 29, 2018 | 4 min
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Let’s Hope for a Little More of This Type of Volatility

Uncertainty abounds with this year’s increased equity market volatility. But while we’ve seen increased market volatility, we’ve also seen an increase in relative stock...
June 8, 2018 | 3 min
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A European Taste for Volatility…

Growing concerns about political issues in Italy, Spain and UK contributed to the increase in market volatility in European equity markets last month. Bond...
May 23, 2018 | 4 min
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Why is Absolute Return so Absolutely Painful?

With equity markets near all-time highs and interest rates near all-time lows, consensus return forecasts have dwindled and many institutional investors have turned to...
April 21, 2018 | 2 min
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Can Absolute Return Protect Against the Comeback of Volatility?

I’ve recently noticed a change in the tenor of my conversations with CIO’s, public equity heads and risk managers, due primarily to increased market...
April 19, 2018 | 4 min
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Has the Stock-Pickers’ Market Gone Up in Smoke?

The dramatic increase in equity market volatility this year has many market watchers pointing out a corresponding rise in stock-to-stock correlations. Marketwatch.com picked up...
March 5, 2018 | 2 min
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Beware the Ides of GARCH?

Julius Caesar didn’t heed his warning to stay home in Shakespeare’s tragedy only to be violently murdered. Can GARCH methods be the soothsayer of...
February 9, 2018 | 2 min
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Are You Vexed by the VIX®?

Have you ever tried to use the VIX® to monitor market risk? The CBOE volatility Index (VIX®) is a popular view of equity market volatility,...
January 24, 2018 | 3 min
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Do Winners Take All?

Have you ever wondered about the persistency of your manager’s alpha source? This is a great question in world of traditional asset management; after...
January 22, 2018 | 2 min
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5 Market Stress Indicators You Need to Know

Have you ever tried to use mainstream risk metrics for evaluating and managing risk? If so, you know that they tend to focus on...
January 18, 2018 | 1 min
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Q4 Update: Equity Market Stress Increases

We’re telling Intech® clients this quarter that our risk measures of volatility point to increasing signs of suppressed global-equity risk. This trend intensifies the...
January 16, 2018 | 2 min
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Is There a Relationship Between Risk and Valuations?

It happens time and again – a strategy catches fire in the marketplace, investors rush in to get a piece of the action, and...
January 2, 2018 | 2 min
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12,475 Ways to Improve Your Portfolio?

Starting a new year is a lot like hiring a new manager: optimism and hope abound! But let’s be honest, you might expect a...