The Factor Report

Market Wrap

Stocks were mixed for the week ended January 15, 2021 as Developed Markets sank, about equally between US and Non-US. Investors were stuck with not a lot of data to process as the anticipation of Biden's stimulus proposal is over. Biden proposed a $1.9 trillion deal to support the economy while everyone awaits widespread vaccine distribution (which is taking longer than expected). This week also kicked off bank earnings season and it was highlighted by BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, delivering significantly to the upside. Finally, the one significant data point reported, weekly jobless claims, was a sour one as 965,000 reported unemployment. Bonds bounced around amid various reports, but ultimately ended the week flat as the yield on the US 10-year treasury note was about unchanged at 1.1%.

Performance Summary

Geographically, Emerging Markets had by far the strongest week for the third consecutive week. Developed Markets were in the red by over 1%, with the US just claiming worst-performer honors. From a factor perspective, investors continue to cycle into "economic rebound" stocks as Value, Size, and Quality outperformed the broader market. Value was the only positive factor for the week. The long-term results continue to demonstrate factor efficacy, as shown in the table to the right. As can be seen, for the 15-year periods 3 out of 5 factors win although Size is close for a fourth.

In The News

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Disclosures

Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable or equal the corresponding indicated performance level(s). Moreover, you should not assume that any of the above content serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Metric Financial.

USA is the MSCI USA index, Non-US Developed is the MSCI EAFE index, Emerging Markets is the MSCI Emerging Markets index, and All Country World is the MSCI ACWI index. One cannot invest in an index. Because the factor indexes have varying inception dates, some of the returns provided are back-tested and do not represent actual performance. Inception dates are as follows:

Momentum = MSCI ACWI Momentum NR USD Index (Inception: 11/30/95)

Value = MSCI ACWI Enhanced Value NR USD Index (Inception: 5/29/15)

Quality = MSCI ACWI Quality NR USD Index (Inception: 5/29/92)

Low Volatility = MSCI ACWI Minimum Volatility (USD) NR USD Index (Inception: 5/28/93)

Size = MSCI ACWI Risk Weighted NR USD Index (Inception: 4/6/11)

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All written content is for information purposes only. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of Metric, unless otherwise specifically cited. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources and no representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness. All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation.