Factors can identify systematic ways to invest that have historically been tested and are tied to economic rationales. These can lead to statistically significant incremental returns over time.
In this episode, Christopher Huemmer, senior investment strategist at FlexShares discusses how factors have performed in the U.S market.
In this episode, you will learn:
How to identify factors that fluctuate ETFs
How to use different factors
Insight on what factors performed well from 2020 to the first quarter of 2021
Play this full episode to hear Chris discuss factor exposures on the market.
Inflation continues to be top of mind for listeners and market participants alike with interest rates and inflation expectations on the rise this year.
In this episode, we talk with Mark Carlson and Ellen Chenoweth, two of FlexShares Investment Strategists to share their perspectives on the impact of inflation on portfolios.
In this episode you will learn:
The key drivers when evaluating for potential inflation to portfolios
Why investors often turn to “tips” as a first line of defense against rising inflation
How every portfolio could benefit from a strategic allocation to natural resources
Play this full episode to hear Mark and Ellen, share perspectives on why you should be focusing on the future impact of inflation on your portfolio.
Correlation, in the finance and investment industries, is a statistic that measures the degree to which two securities move in relation to each other.
The price-to-earnings ratio (P/E ratio) is the ratio for valuing a company that measures its current share price relative to its per-share earnings (EPS).
Before investing, carefully consider the FlexShares investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information are in the prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by visitingwww.flexshares.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest.
Foreside Fund Services, LLC, distributor.
Fixed income investments involve risks including credit risk, interest rate risk, default risk, and prepayment and extension risk. In general, bond prices rise when interest rates fall. .As the demand for or prices of natural resources increase, the Fund`s equity investment generally would be expected to also increase. Conversely, declines in demand for or prices of natural resources generally would be expected to cause declines in value of such equity securities. Such declines may occur quickly and without warning and may negatively impact your investment in the Fund.
If investors thought ESG would go away, 2020 really caught them by surprise. In 2021, experts are still projecting ESG assets to reach more than one-third of global assets under management in 2025.
In this episode, Evan McCall, Second VP investment strategist in asset management for FlexShares exchange traded funds, discusses one of the more attention-grabbing investment categories known as environmental, social, and governance. We’ll dive into how the market concentration has changed due to the global pandemic and what’s next for ESG.
In this episode you will learn:
What is ESG (environmental, social, and governance)
The conditions of the ESG space before COVID-19
The recent developments in ESG
What may happen to ESG going forward
Listen as Evan, shares insight on the true impact of ESG.
Basis point: Basis points, otherwise known as bps or “bips,” are a unit of measure used in finance to describe the percentage change in the value or rate of a financial instrument.
MSCI World Index: is a stock index that tracks about 3,000 stocks in 49 developed and emerging market countries, representing a total market capitalization of tens of trillions of dollars
Russell 1000 Index: a subset of the Russell 3000 Index, represents the 1000 top companies by market capitalization in the United States.
S&P 500 Index: The S&P 500 Index, or the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 500 largest U.S. publicly traded companies.
KPI: Key performance indicators (KPIs) measure a company’s success versus a set of targets, objectives, or industry peers.
Tracking error: the divergence between the price behavior of a position or a portfolio and the price behavior of a benchmark.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a measurable value (i.e. not subjective) that demonstrate how effectively a company is achieving a particular key business objective. Essential general criteria for KPIs:
Depict a correlation to risk or success factors within a corporate business
Significant and relevant for investment decisions
Firmly anchored in the corporate management system
Quantified, comparable, and benchmarkable from peer to peer
Depict dynamics, i.e. from reporting period to reporting period
Manageable in dimension
The STOXX® USA ESG Select KPIs Index and the STOXX® Global ESG Select KPIs Index selection process also seeks to identify the materiality of each KPI and ideally distinguish those that may significantly impact risk/return with strong predictability.
Based on the above criteria, KPIs that were selected and weighted:
CDP emission/energy reduction targets
Percentage of women on the board
Percentage of independent directors
Policy against child labor
Golden parachute agreements
In addition coal miners, violators of United Nations Global Compact principles, and companies involved with controversial weapons are excluded.
Disclosures:
Diversification does not assure a profit nor protect against loss in the current market
Before investing, carefully consider the FlexShares investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information are in the prospectus and summary prospectus, copies of which may be obtained by visiting www.flexshares.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest.
Foreside Fund Services, LLC, distributor.
FUND RISKS
An investment in FlexShares is subject to numerous risks, including possible loss of principal. Fund returns may not match the return of the respective indexes. A full description of risks are in the prospectus and summary prospectus. FlexShares STOXX® Global ESG Impact Index Fund (ESGG) is passively managed and uses a representative sampling strategy to track its underlying index. Use of a representative sampling strategy creates tracking risk where the Fund`s performance could vary substantially from the performance of the underlying index. The Fund is subject to environmental, social and governance (ESG) Investment Risk, which is the risk that because the methodology of the Underlying Index selects and assigns weights to securities of issuers for non-financial reasons, the Fund may underperform the broader equity market or other funds that do not utilize ESG criteria when selecting investments. The Fund is also at increased risk of industry concentration, where it may be more than 25% invested in the assets of a single industry. Investments in foreign market securities involve certain risks such as currency volatility, political and social instability and reduced market liquidity.
To the extent that the Fund invests in Emerging markets, those investments may be subject to increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting that country, market, industry, sector or asset class. The Fund may also invest in derivative instruments. Changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate with the underlying asset, rate or index and the Fund could lose more than the principal amount invested. The STOXX® Global ESG Impact Index is the intellectual property (including registered trademarks) of STOXX® Limited, Zurich, Switzerland and/or its licensors (“Licensors”), which is used under license. The securities based on the Index are in no way sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by STOXX® and its Licensors and neither of the Licensors shall have any liability with respect thereto. Price to Earnings is calculated as a company’s current stock price divided by its earnings per share. Price to Book is calculated as the market value of all common stock shares of a company divided by the book value of the company. All data provided by: Northern Trust, J.P. Morgan, Rimes, Morningstar and Refinitiv
Performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed or sold in the secondary market, may be worth more or less than the original cost. Investors will incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) in the secondary market, and that, if reflected, the brokerage commissions would reduce the performance returns. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance shown. Shares are bought and sold at market price not net asset value (“NAV”) and are not individually redeemable from the fund. Call 855-FLEXETF (855-353-9383) for more information.
Are you an investor using the low volatility approach in today’s environment?
In this episode, Christopher Huemmer, senior investment strategist at FlexShares to discusses how to use low volatility strategies as a way to seek to offer some level of downside protection while delivering potential upside participation to stay exposed to the equity markets.
In this episode you will learn:
The low volatility factor and why some investors find it as an attractive way to invest
Why low volatility exists and its trend
What investors need to know about low volatility investing
Using quality in addition to the low volatility investment approach
Listen as Chris shares insight into investing with the low volatility approach!
VIX Indexis a real-time market index representing the market’s expectations for volatility over the coming 30 days.
The S&P 500or simply the S&P, is a stock market index that measures the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.
Betais a measure of a stock’s volatility in relation to the overall market. … If a stock moves less than the market, the stock’s beta is less than 1.0.
Diversification does not assure a profit nor protect against loss in a declining market.
The year 2020 has been universally challenging for all of us and has brought on so many surprises, certainly one for the history books.
In this episode, we talk with Ellen Chenoweth, associate investment strategist for FlexShares exchange traded funds and Chris Huemmer, senior investment strategist at FlexShares. The two investment strategists share their perspective on the year ahead and three ideas to implement in portfolios.
In this episode you will learn:
What the key points that may impact the outlook for 2021
A highlighted look at dividend stocks
Why there is a focus on avoiding large sector bets and focusing on quality dividend paying companies
How the environment and the search for yield can impact the high yield segment
Value investing – and why investors may want to focus on this in the high yield segment
Listen in as Ellen and Chris discuss the areas of focus for investors!
There’s still a lot of uncertainty regarding the future of the marketplace, and investors are scrambling to generate income while some may feel high yield is too risky.
In this episode Ellen Chenoweth, associate investment strategist for FlexShares exchange traded funds, explores some of the implications and market drivers, portfolio diversification, and contemporary ways to assess the high yield market.
In this episode you will learn:
How high yield can be used in a portfolio
The market risks affecting high yield- what you should pay attention to
If defaults follow a similar similar pattern
Why investors should consider the asset class
How investors can implement contemporary quantitative tools in their portfolios
Listen in as Ellen discusses the everchanging high yield marketplace and how investors are adapting!
Some Investors have seen this movie before and therefore they may possess a better understanding of the needed investment actions in response to ZIRP the remake.
In this episode Mark Carlson, Senior Investment Strategist for Northern Trust FlexShares ETFs review of the remake edition of ZIRP and discussions of ideas investors can pursue to address their liquidity investing objectives during a ZIRP environment
In this episode, you will learn:
What is different this time with ZIRP 2020
What happened in 2020 to disrupt the sector
What FlexShares has done in an effort to try and address the issues within fixed income strategy to help investors through these challenging periods of managing short-term liquidity assets
How you may want to consider utilizing the investment strategy behind RAVI in today’s volatile and uncertain markets
Listen in to hear how Mark believes that today’s ZIRP is a remake that most investors never wanted to see made
Welcome to the Funds in Focus podcast, the show that brings you thoughtful and informed conversations between leading subject-matter experts and members of the FlexShares investment strategy team about current market trends.
In today’s episode Investment Strategist Ellen Chenoweth discusses the drivers behind the inflation debate and potential investment strategies to consider in this environment.
In this episode, you will learn:
Why investors are starting to pay closer attention to the risk of inflation
What risks advisors should be paying attention to
How to potentially protect against these risks
How the 2020 election could affect the inflation rate
Tune in now to hear Jehan and Ellen discuss the evidence behind the rising prices.
Welcome to the Funds in Focus podcast, the show that brings you thoughtful and informed conversations between leading subject-matter experts and members of the FlexShares investment strategy team about current market trends.
In today’s episode Investment Strategist Mark Carlson discusses the natural resource/commodity sector currently being slightly out of favor with investors. Mark touches on how the U.S. and global economies will at some point recover and the demand for raw materials should return.
In this episode, you will learn:
Some background on investing in natural resources and commodities
How investing in commodities has changed over time
The differences between investing in upstream natural resource equities and commodity futures investing
What sectors within natural resources may be the primary drivers of these investment outcomes that may evolve in the post-COVID-19 world
Tune in now to learn about the trends and the opportunities in natural resources
For standardized performance for GUNR please click here. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Welcome to the Funds in Focus podcast, the show that brings you thoughtful and informed conversations between leading subject-matter experts and members of the FlexShares investment strategy team about current market trends.
In today’s episode, we talk to investment strategist Evan McCall about how one segment of real assets, global listed infrastructure, held up during the turmoil of the coronavirus pandemic. Evan unpacks how different sectors performed during the first and second quarter and what developments he expects to see from the more contemporary sectors.
You will learn:
What attracts investors to infrastructure investments
Which two infrastructure-related structures have had significantly negative performances
A look at contemporary approaches to infrastructure investing
How market participants are reacting to the stream of new information about COVID-19
How infrastructure industries performed during the first and second quarter of 2020
What kinds of developments Evan expects to see from contemporary sectors going forward
Tune in now to hear what affect COVID-19 has had so far on global listed infrastructure.
