FEM News and Press, First Trust Emerging Markets AlphaDEX Fund From 11/03/21

The recent run higher in the Sharpe ratio for the Global Market Index finally reversed in October. Risk-adjusted performance has slipped, but GMI's rebound in October lifted it to a new record high. GMI is useful as a baseline to begin research on asset allocation and portfolio de...

The interesting thing is that, depending on how you define “global stock market capitalization”, the US stock market is not nearly as big as we think. If we use the actual full market capitalization the US stock market is just 41% of global equities. But if we use the in...

The long-run risk premium forecast for the Global Market Index (GMI) rebounded in October, edging up to 6.1%, based on revised numbers through last month. The new estimate is calculated in terms of the projected return over the “risk-free” rate, according to a risk-based...

US real estate investment trusts (REITs) and stocks posted the strongest returns for the major asset classes in October - by wide margins. US REITs surged 7.7% last month, reversing September’s sharp decline. The recovery puts American property shares in the lead for 2021 with ...

The major US equity indices moved in concert, but the big disappointment so far this year has been small caps. Energy is clearly where the action is this year. After spending years at the bottom of the tables, Natural Gas, Gasoline, and Crude Oil now lead the pack. For furth...

Low Vol has been in the doldrums for most of the equity rally from the pandemic lows of March 2020, as would be expected based on its historical return patterns. Well-established academic research has found that stocks with lower volatility (or beta) tend to generate higher risk-adjus...

Consensus remains cautiously positive on the economic and market outlook for the coming year, but for the first time in 18 months, we have started trimming risk in our views, advocating building dry powder to take advantage of opportunities that arise due to potential short-term market vo...

Investors have shifted focus from the immediate COVID-19 threat to the prospect of a cyclical slowdown and secular stagflation. Investors may also need to process a longer-term adjustment, because of the lasting impact of COVID-19’s shocks to both supply and demand. Markets...

The economic healing from the effect of Covid continues. The economic recovery in emerging markets (EM) countries remained strong throughout September 2021. One frustrating aspect of new regulation in China is the method by which changes to industry rules happen. So far this year,...

As public debt rises to record levels, countries need to calibrate fiscal policies to their own unique circumstances. With the pandemic, global debt in 2020 jumped by 14 percent to a record high $226 trillion. This figure includes both public and nonfinancial private sector debt. ...