Investing Research Articles

In response to “OFR FSI as Stock Market Return Predictor”, a subscriber suggested overlaying a 10-month simple moving average (SMA10) technical indicator on the Office of Financial Research Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) fundamental indicator for timing SPDR S&P 500 (SPY). The intent of the suggested overlay is to expand risk-on opportunities safely. To test… Keep Reading

Below is a weekly summary of our research findings for 8/19/19 through 8/23/19. These summaries give you a quick snapshot of our content the past week so that you can quickly decide what’s relevant to your investing needs. Subscribers: To receive these weekly digests via email, click here to sign up for our mailing list.

What should investors expect to see in a typical investment advisor’s model portfolio? In their July 2019 paper entitled “Factors and Advisors Portfolios”, Brian Lawler, Andrew Ang, Brett Mossman and Patrick Nolan examine patterns and factor exposures in detailed holdings for a large number of model portfolios from many types of investment advisors. When holdings… Keep Reading

Should investors consider allocations to products that track equity volatility indexes? In her July 2019 paper entitled “Challenges of Indexation in S&P 500 Index Volatility Investment Strategies”, Margaret Sundberg examines whether behaviors of S&P 500 Index option-based volatility indexes justify treatment of volatility as an asset class. To assess potential strategies, she employs the following… Keep Reading

Below is a weekly summary of our research findings for 8/12/19 through 8/16/19. These summaries give you a quick snapshot of our content the past week so that you can quickly decide what’s relevant to your investing needs. Subscribers: To receive these weekly digests via email, click here to sign up for our mailing list.

In their July 2019 paper entitled “Momentum-Managed Equity Factors”, Volker Flögel, Christian Schlag and Claudia Zunft test exploitation of positive first-order autocorrelation (time series, absolute or intrinsic momentum) in monthly excess returns of seven equity factor portfolios: Market (MKT). Size – small minus big market capitalizations (SMB). Value – high minus low book-to-market ratios (HML)…. Keep Reading

Below is a weekly summary of our research findings for 8/5/19 through 8/9/19. These summaries give you a quick snapshot of our content the past week so that you can quickly decide what’s relevant to your investing needs. Subscribers: To receive these weekly digests via email, click here to sign up for our mailing list.

Below is a weekly summary of our research findings for 7/29/19 through 8/2/19. These summaries give you a quick snapshot of our content the past week so that you can quickly decide what’s relevant to your investing needs. Subscribers: To receive these weekly digests via email, click here to sign up for our mailing list.

Is the Office of Financial Research Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI), described in “The OFR Financial Stress Index”, useful as a U.S. stock market return predictor? OFR FSI is a daily snapshot of global financial market stress, distilling more than 30 indicators via a dynamic weighting scheme. The index drops and adds indicators over time… Keep Reading

Would retail investors improve portfolio performance by using robo-advisors to manage holdings they have selected? In their July 2019 paper entitled “Artificial Intelligence Alter Egos:Who benefits from Robo-investing?”, Catherine D’Hondt, Rudy De Winne, Eric Ghysels and Steve Raymond compare performances of portfolios held by each of a large sample of actual individual investors to that… Keep Reading