EFA News and Press, iShares MSCI EAFE From 08/09/21

The U.S. is passing the baton in leading the economic restart to other developed markets; but we see fresh challenges in many emerging markets. Better-than-expected U.S. jobs data drove U.S. 10-year bond yields to the highest level in two weeks. U.S. stocks hit record highs. China...

U.S. equity markets climbed to fresh record highs this past week as better-than-expected employment data eased some concern over threats of another potential wave of COVID-related economic restrictions. The U.S. economy added 942k jobs in July, while continuing jobless claims fel...

Central banks are being forced to address many challenges—inequality, climate change, and debt management to name but three. Given these tensions, will controlling inflation retain its overriding precedence? As priorities change, we believe inflation is on the verge of an i...

Global equity markets have diverged widely lately, with European and US stocks strongly outperforming the rest of the world. Despite recent strength, Europe has performed roughly in line with its global peers since last year. Contributions to the FTSE All-World ex USA returns were...

GMI’s 10-year Sharpe ratio (SR) edged up for a fifth straight month to 0.86, the highest since January 2020, based on a rolling ten-year window via monthly data. Profiling GMI through a drawdown lens also reflects an extended stretch of low risk. GMI is useful as a baseline...

The projected risk premium for the Global Market held steady in July at an annualized 6.0%, unchanged from the previous month. Despite the recent bounce, GMI’s trailing 10-year performance remains well below the previous 8%-plus peak. No one really knows what risk premia wi...

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is rattling markets and poses real risks, but we should not be distracted from the successful impact of vaccinations. The effectiveness of vaccinations is the reason U.S. real GDP is back to pre-crisis levels amid this still-raging pandemic. Gl...

We see China’s regulatory crackdown that recently rattled markets likely to moderate, alongside a dovish shift in macro policy, for the near term. The Federal Reserve noted further progress in the economy as expected; we see a tapering of asset purchases unlikely to start befor...

Most of the major asset classes continued to rise in July, led by US real estate investment trusts (REITs). US equities continued trending higher. The bull run also persisted for the Global Market Index (GMI) in July. For further details see: Major Asset Classes: July 20...

U.S. equity markets were mixed this week as disappointing "big tech" earnings and concerns over controversial COVID vaccine and mask mandates were offset by historically strong earnings results from domestic-focused companies. Retreating from the record-highs set last week, ...