Perspectives

The dominance of the U.S. showed no signs of waning as the year began. But what will investors be watching as they seek to steady an unbalanced world? Our quarterly panel breaks down the potential effects for global equities, fixed income and private investments, as well as one area where it's Asia that dominates - energy consumption.

With fixed-income investors still recovering from a year that arguably saw nearly every cycle of the market, we look ahead to 2025 across sectors, including sustainability-linked bonds, securitized products and the ongoing effects of inflation and moves by central banks.

When it comes to managing portfolios, the role of risk, and risk managers continues to evolve. We hear from two industry leaders, recently returned from the MSCI Analytics Summit, on the future of identifying, measuring and managing risk.

We're joined by MSCI's Chief Research Officer, Ashley Lester and Chief Client Officer, Axel Kilian, who recently attended the 19th annual Institutional Investor Forum, hosted by MSCI. We discuss the benefits and considerations of a total portfolio approach, as well as the myriad of challenges facing asset owners and investors around the world.

From the effects of China's stimulus to the power of sustainability on portfolio performance and companies cost of capital, our panel dissects the latest market drivers and where investors may be focused for the rest of 2024.

Rate hikes from central banks around the world may offer a glimmer of hope to commercial real estate (CRE) investors, but will it be the panacea they're looking for? We discuss the state of the CRE debt market and the potential path for portfolios.

Chris Cote, an ESG research expert at MSCI, Tyler Rosenlicht, a natural resource equities portfolio manager, and Yu Ishihara, a sustainable investment leader, delve into the future of energy. They discuss the slow pace of the energy transition, noting increasing fossil fuel consumption despite lowering emissions in developed markets. The trio also explores the challenges in decarbonizing transportation, the critical role of government regulations in promoting electric vehicles, and the evolving perspectives on nuclear power's contribution to energy stability.

As investors look to manage the outsized effect of the "Magnificent Seven" and the tech sector in general, we explore sector-based investing, which offers a strategic approach for investors looking to gain exposure to distinctive segments of the economy. MSCI's own Abhishek Gupta and Dinank Chitkara dig deep into their recent paper, "Incorporating Sector Investing in Portfolio Management," and Vanguard's, Andrey Kotlyarenko, provides a view into how investors put this all into practice.

With stubborn inflation, a plunging Japanese yen and unpredictable elections around the globe, 2024 has proven challenging for fixed-income investors — and for central banks. We sat down with MSCI’s global head of fixed-income solutions research, Afsaneh Mastouri, to talk about the state of fixed-income markets, and what the rest of the year may hold.

Our panel of experts, led by chief research officer, Ashley Lester, takes stock of global markets as we enter the back half of 2024. Ashley and team examine the short- and long-term issues affecting investors, including the ever changing geopolitical landscape, the continued impact of AI and the role of private markets in the carbon transition.