Advocacy Talking Points 13 July 2023
Markets in Focus: Looking Beyond the Rate Hikes
Webinar Presentation
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The MSCI ACWI Index rose 0.5%[1] in Q2 2023, bringing the year-to-date gain to 11.2%[1]. The Technology sector powered the increase, but only about a third of the 2,883 stocks outperformed the index YTD, creating a challenging environment for active managers.
Investors are asking - will there be a soft landing or a rocky landing? If the US rate cycle takes a pause or pivots, what could be the implications? How have analyst revised their forward expectations through this market cycle? Is there alpha in following analyst sentiment?
Join this webinar where we look to address the above questions and highlight key trends in performance across ESG, Climate, Thematic and regional indexes in Q2, 2023. We will also share some great insights on equity factors and their evolving role in asset allocation.
[1] As of YTD June 8, 2023
Agenda topics:
- Following trends in analyst predictions
- How have indexes responded to rate cycle's pauses and pivots?
- Results of MSCI's institutional factor survey - what are investor's views on equity factors and their evolving role in asset allocation?
Speakers:
- Mark Carver, global head of equity factor products and equity portfolio management, MSCI
- Oleg Ruban, head of apac equity solutions, MSCI
Moderator:
- Sivananth Ramachandran, CFA, director of capital markets policy, india, CFA Institute
Please refer to below resources for more information. You can also visit MSCI Factor Investing Research page to access research and leadership library on Factor Investing.
- Blog - Markets in Focus: Looking Beyond the Rate Hikes
- Research paper - Equity Factors: Investor Views and Research Insights
Co-hosted by:
Speakers
Mark is Managing Director and Global Head of Equity Factor Products and Equity Portfolio Management at MSCI. In these roles, he acts as the general manager driving commercial strategy and product development initiatives, for these product lines, across the firm.
Prior to joining MSCI, Mark was a member of the Global Alternative Premia group at AQR Capital Management. He joined AQR from BlackRock where he spent ten years, most recently as a regional executive and Head of Factors for US iShares. In this position Mark was responsible for commercial strategy, client support, product development and marketing activities for a suite of active and index-based ETFs. Before BlackRock, he served as Vice President and Client Portfolio Manager for fundamental growth strategies at Columbia Management Group. Mark began his career at Fidelity Investments in Boston.
Mark is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and in the financial press and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Hedge Fund Alert, The Financial Times among other outlets.
Mark earned an MBA from University of New Hampshire and an ALM with a concentration in Finance from Harvard.
As Head of APAC Equity Solutions, Oleg Ruban conducts research and assists institutional clients in the Asia Pacific region on their investment decisions with respect to MSCI solutions. He also leads Analytics research in Asia-Pacific.
Prior to joining MSCI in 2008, Oleg worked as an emerging market economist and a quantitative strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort. Oleg began his professional career as a graduate trainee in derivative sales at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Oleg has an undergraduate degree in Economics and Management from the University of Oxford and MSc degrees from the University of Warwick and Manchester Business School. He also has a PhD in Finance from Manchester Business School, where his topic was studies in emerging market debt.
Sivananth "Siva" Ramachandran, CFA, is the Director of Capital Markets Policy, India at CFA Institute. In his role, he is responsible for advocating policy positions on issues that impact Indian capital markets, including corporate governance, ESG, and financial reporting, to name a few. Siva was part of a SEBI working group that reviewed the related party transaction regulations. He is frequently quoted in media. Siva has nearly 13 years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining the CFA Institute, he spent five years at Morningstar, and led their global index product development team. He also served as a spokesperson for sustainability at Morningstar India. Prior to his time at Morningstar, Siva spent nearly five years at MSCI where he co-authored research papers on small cap investing, portfolio construction, and economic exposure. Siva has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. He also holds the chartered financial analyst (CFA) and professional risk management (PRM) designations, and the fundamentals of sustainability accounting (FSA) credential provided by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).