Blog posts

With DAX increasing its composition from 30 stocks to 40, we review the changes to the DAX® ESG Target Index, a sustainable version of the flagship German benchmark.

With the flagship German benchmark increasing its constituency from 30 stocks to 40, we look at the effects of the overhaul from the perspective of average constituent size and equity turnover.

The STOXX® Global 1800 Index gains 2.5% in dollars in August, lifting this year’s advance to 17.5%, amid economic optimism and expectations that interest rates will remain low. The VSTOXX® index, the gauge of European equity volatility, remains higher than it was before COVID-19 hit financial markets in the first quarter of 2020.

Impact investing is growing as a means to generate positive, real-world change. But defining, measuring and standardizing it is no easy task. A joint whitepaper from Qontigo and Clarity AI looks at some of the frameworks that are taking on these challenges and helps shed light on the way forward for the strategy.

Chris Huemmer, Northern Trust Asset Management’s Senior Investment Strategist, discusses his firm’s innovative ETFs tracking multi-factor, ESG and climate strategies, and the role of an index provider in wrapping up a holistic investment approach.

A new Qontigo whitepaper compares the composition, risk profile and performance of the STOXX® Global Millennials and STOXX® Global Ageing Population indices, two thematic indices that help investors target companies most exposed to these two very distinct cohorts.

The STOXX SRI (Socially Responsible Investing) indices are part of Qontigo’s index-based sustainability solutions framework, which grew this year to address investors’ varied ESG needs and ambitions. The SRI indices seek to improve the ESG profile of the portfolio and lower its carbon emissions.

The futures are the world’s most popular sustainability-focused derivatives and have seen increasing demand as investors and traders turn to ESG-compliant instruments to hedge and manage portfolios. The ESG derivatives space at Eurex has beaten records in daily and monthly traded contracts this year.

A new Qontigo whitepaper analyzes the risk, performance and returns attribution of four indices tracking technology themes, uncovering specific characteristics of the portfolios and differences vis-à-vis the broader technology sector and the overall market.

The STOXX® Global 1800 Index gains 1.6% in dollars in July as investors’ optimism about economic and earnings growth outweighs concerns that a new variant of the COVID-19 virus may slow down the recovery. Asian stocks fall as China tightens regulation over some industries.

The world’s share of responsibly managed assets continued to expand in the two years through 2019, according to one of the most comprehensive industry studies. US-based ESG assets jumped 42% during the period. In Europe, sustainable assets dropped amid higher standards of what constitutes an ESG investment.

The first annual ESG survey from the Index Industry Association (IIA) shows asset managers are preparing for sustainability principles to take a more significant role across their portfolios. It also points to significant challenges including the lack of data standardization, and says indices have a critical role to play in facilitating the adoption of ESG strategies.