msci

International stocks and exchange traded funds are not repeating the impressive performance seen in 2017. The widely followed MSCI EAFE Index is lower by 6.5 percent in 2018 and close to violating its 52-week low. Some other ex-U.S. developed markets strategies are proving more durable or less...

MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), one of the largest providers of benchmarks for use by issuers of exchange traded funds and index funds, said Wednesday it will promote Argentina and Saudi Arabia to the widely followed MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The announcement was made as part of MSCI's annual...

Index providers Standard & Poor's and MSCI Inc. announced plans last year to reconfigure the telecommunications sector as communication services, a move that will result in the departure of some well-known companies from some popular consumer discretionary and technology exchange traded...

It may be hard for investors in developed markets such as the U.S., Europe and Japan to fathom, but there are some countries around the world with high interest rates. There are high interest rate countries and then there is Argentina. After last week's rate hike, Argentina, one of South...

Whether it is on the demand side in China, India, South Korea, or on the production side, in Brazil, Russia and more, emerging markets exchange traded funds have some exposure to oil prices. While the MSCI Emerging Markets Index allocates just 7.29 percent of its weight to the energy sector, oil...

The iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF (NYSE: KSA), the only exchange traded fund listed in New York dedicated exclusively to Saudi Arabian equities, jumped 2.13 percent Monday on volume that was nearly eight times the daily average. That extends KSA's year-to-date gain to almost 11.6 percent,...

Previously announced changes to the telecommunications sector, including renaming that sector as communications services, will take full effect in late September, but some issuers of exchange traded funds are already in preparation mode. Vanguard, the second-largest U.S. ETF sponsor, said it is...

As has been widely documented, value stocks in developed markets have trailed their growth and momentum counterparts. The same is true in emerging markets, as the MSCI EM Value Index trailed the MSCI EM Growth Index in four of the five years ending Dec. 31, 2017. With signs pointing to an emerging...

The premise is simple: in order for emerging markets stocks and related exchange traded funds to build on the impressive returns delivered in 2017, economic growth is essential. With the MSCI Emerging Markets Index up about 8 percent this year and several emerging markets ETFs adding assets at...

Last year, the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (NYSE: EWZ), gained 23.7 percent, a performance that on its own sounds impressive, but in reality is not when considering the MSCI Emerging Markets Index jumped 37.3 percent. EWZ, the largest exchange traded fund dedicated to stocks in Latin America's...

Later this year, Standard & Poor's and MSCI, two of the dominant providers of indexes for exchange-traded fund and index funds, will unveil changes to several major sectors as part of alterations to the Global Industry Classification Standards (GICS). The telecom sector is expected to...

Last year was hard on value stocks, but not all exchange traded funds dedicated to the value factor turned in tepid performances. For example, the  iShares Edge MSCI USA Value Factor ETF (CBOE: VLUE) gained 22 percent, outpacing the S&P 500 Value Index by 670 basis points. With U.S. stocks...

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is up about 29 percent year-to-date, prompting some investors to ponder the value proposition, if any, remaining with developing economies. After all, a large part of the thesis for embracing emerging markets equities when the asset class was lagging was that the...

Conventional wisdom, at least as it pertains to equity market valuations, holds that U.S. equities are pricey, while ex-U.S. markets such as Europe and Japan are attractively valued. Emerging markets are also viewed as bargains relative to the U.S. Some emerging markets exchange traded funds may...

Seasoned emerging market investors know that even supposedly diversified emerging markets exchange-traded funds are heavily allocated to Chinese stocks. Those allocations stand to increase following MSCI's June announcement that China A-shares, the stocks trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen, will...