Index

Amid strong demand for European defense stocks this year, seeking ‘pure’ exposure to the theme through military equipment revenues has enabled investors to outperform.

The STOXX World AC index added 2.6% last month in US dollars to a new record, and rose 0.3% in euros. US stocks and Value indices led the advance for a second consecutive month.

Seismic shifts in the environment, technology and socio-demographics — known as megatrends — as well as geopolitical drivers are transforming our world and creating investable themes such as artificial intelligence, defense, digital assets and energy transition metals. Thematic indices offer investors a chance to target the beneficiaries of these trends.

Timing the market is difficult, but how can we measure the degree of difficulty? A new STOXX whitepaper explores a metric — the ‘tail-implied volatility (TIV) spread’ — that can help investors understand the risk of anticipating market trends for different portfolios.

AI is a vast and complex theme that covers multiple conceptual areas and technologies. How do patents help identify the AI innovators that are selected into STOXX thematic indices? We asked EconSight’s Kai Gramke and STOXX’s Ladi Williams.

The STOXX World AC index added 1.4% last month in US dollars and 4% in euros. US stocks and Value indices led the advance.

‘Made for Germany’ initiative from 61 firms, nearly half of which are DAX constituents, was presented to Chancellor Friedrich Merz as means to foster innovation, employment and competitiveness. The announcement comes amid the government’s spending plans to boost economic growth and investors’ mounting interest in German stocks this year.

Ladi Williams, Head of Thematics and Strategy Index Product Management at STOXX, explains how the index provider has catered to the specific needs and objectives of ETF managers in devising a series of indices targeting the defense sector.

DWS and STOXX have collaborated in the launch of ETFs tracking the ISS STOXX® Biodiversity indices. The product specialist discusses ongoing trends in climate and biodiversity investing, and why data is enabling a more thorough assessment of companies’ impact on our natural world.

So-called buffer ETFs offer investors exposure to the market’s ups and downs, with limits on both directions — hence providing potential gains and protection. A new STOXX whitepaper explores the relative performance of a hypothetical European buffer index over the short and long term to assess its benefits and drawbacks.

ETFs tracking a STOXX or DAX index received a net EUR 23.4 billion in the first half of the year as the EURO STOXX 50, STOXX Europe 600, DAX and MDAX surged. Nearly 44% of all net flows into EMEA-focused equity funds over the period went to those tracking STOXX and DAX indices.

Saumya Mehrotra, from STOXX’s Index Product Management team, recently talked to the Index Industry Association (IIA) for their ‘Index Minutes’ video series. She described the basics and the evolution of sustainability indices, and explained why index providers are at the core of sustainable investing.