IN THIS LIST

What is SPIVA?

Tracking Fixed Income Performance and Innovation

What’s the Role of Sectors and Factors in Concentrated Markets?

Evolving Trends Redefining Index Usage

Unlocking Deeper Insights in Private Markets

Index TV - Sep 10, 2025

What is SPIVA?

Length 2:29

Length 2:29

For over two decades, S&P Dow Jones Indices has measured the performance of actively managed funds against their index benchmarks across the world through the SPIVA Scorecards. Take a closer look at the fundamental principles that guide our SPIVA research and discover the insights these scorecards offer across asset classes, regions and market segments.

[TRANSCRIPT]

What is SPIVA^®?

For over two decades, S&P Dow Jones Indices has measured the performance of actively managed funds against their index benchmarks across the world through the SPIVA Scorecards

S&P Indices versus Active, or SPIVA, provides a robust, widely referenced suite of data on the active versus passive debate on a semiannual basis

Historically, SPIVA research shows that relatively few active funds manage to outperform their respective benchmark indices over most time periods, and the longer the data is tracked, the worse the results tend to be for active managers

The SPIVA Scorecard’s widely cited headline numbers are backed by a rich dataset that addresses issues related to measurement techniques, universe composition and fund survivorship

These data sets are rooted in the following four fundamental principles of the SPIVA Scorecard:

Survivorship Bias Correction
Apples-to-Apples Comparison
Asset-Weighted Returns
Style Consistency

Let’s dive a little deeper into each principle

Survivorship Bias Correction: Unlike other commonly available comparison reports, SPIVA Scorecards account for the entire opportunity set, which includes the funds that are liquidated or merged away—not just the survivors—thereby eliminating survivorship bias

Apples-to-Apples Comparison: SPIVA Scorecards avoid misclassification by measuring a fund's returns against the performance of a benchmark appropriate for that particular investment category

Asset-Weighted Returns: An accurate representation of how investors fared in a particular period can be ascertained by calculating weighted average returns, where each fund's return is weighted by net assets

Style Consistency: SPIVA Scorecards measure style consistency for each style category across different time horizons to account for drift, the tendency of funds to diverge from their initial investment categorization

What does SPIVA tell us?

From a practical perspective, SPIVA sheds light on the merits of passive versus active management and helps market participants identify where potential opportunities to outperform may exist

SPIVA Scorecards are available for the following regions:

Asia Ex-Japan
Australia
Canada
Europe
India
Japan
Latin America
MENA
New Zealand
South Africa
U.S.

In addition to the regional scorecards, our SPIVA series also includes the following analysis:

SPIVA After-Tax: Comparing the putative after-tax performance of indices and active funds

SPIVA Institutional: Examining long-term gross-of-fee returns and net-of-fee returns for active mutual funds, segregated institutional accounts and SMA/wrap accounts.

SPIVA Sustainability: Exploring the performance of sustainability-focused indices and actively managed funds

And coming soon...

SPIVA Blends: Comparing the performance of active fund combinations to identical combinations of their benchmarks

Want to learn more about S&P Dow Jones Indices SPIVA Scorecards?

Visit spglobal.com/spiva

Index TV - Sep 04, 2025

Tracking Fixed Income Performance and Innovation

Length 07:49

Length 07:49

What do duration, the yield curve and credit trends tell us about the evolving fixed income landscape? S&P DJI’s Anu Ganti and Ben Vörös explore the recent performance of S&P DJI’s iBoxx indices in Europe and highlight the latest innovations in the fixed income indexing toolkit.

[TRANSCRIPT]

Anu Ganti:

The first half of 2025 saw a divergence in fixed income performance in many markets for both corporate credit and government bonds, but how did this play out in Europe? And what do duration, the yield curve and credit trends tell us?

Hello, I'm Anu Ganti of S&P Dow Jones Indices, and I'm joined by my colleague, Ben Vörös, to explore the recent performance of S&P DJI's iBoxx indices in Europe, as well as unpacking new index innovations such as our fixed maturity indices.

Thanks so much for joining me today, Ben.

Ben Vörös:

It's a pleasure to be here.

Anu Ganti:

So to kick off, there are so many macro trends happening right now in 2025. Why don't you take us through some of these macro trends and the fixed income landscape, and what were some of the key trends that we saw in 2024 and so far this year?

Ben Vörös:

So, when we think about fixed income markets in the first half of 2025, we can really distinguish three main trends, or three main phenomena of interest.

The first one in the sovereign bond space is that there have been various forces pulling and pushing various regions around the world, which resulted in a significant performance differential in sovereign fixed income benchmarks around the world. At the top of the leaderboard, we've seen several Latin American indices coming out on top, namely Mexican bonds clocked up a performance of 9%, which is very strong in the fixed income space, and the Brazilian inflation-linked bonds and Peruvian government bonds also provided a high-single-digit return in the first half of 2025. At the bottom of the ledger, the S&P Japan Sovereign Bond Index dropped 3.6% as the Bank of Japan continued to pursue a policy of monetary tightening.

Turning to corporate credit, we've seen U.S. corporate credit indices outperforming both in the investment grade and the high yield space. And that outperformance over Europe came despite the fact that European credit spreads themselves did better than the U.S. ones, as duration exposure in Europe was heavily penalized, where in the U.S., there were tailwinds to taking on duration risk.

And the third interesting development we've seen is that there has been an increase in both trading volumes and open interest in futures contracts linked to the iBoxx benchmark series, and that's a sign of increased adoption by market participants in the fixed income tradable ecosystem.

Anu Ganti:

That's so interesting to see the growth in the fixed income tradable ecosystem.

And you talked about a couple of key trends here, including duration, corporate credit. These are important because there are a couple of the sources of outperformance, or alpha, for active fixed income managers that we've done a lot of research on, and also illiquidity. Why don't you take us through these three important sources and why they're so important?

Ben Vörös:

So, when we think about excess returns in the fixed income markets, we can categorize them by the three T's, which are time, trust and trading.

The first of these, which is time, refers to taking on a term or interest rate risk, and it is approximated by the relative performance of longer-dated bonds versus shorter-dated bonds.

Trust, the second of the three T's, corresponds to taking on more credit risk by tilting down the credit spectrum from sovereign bonds into investment grade and high yield bond universes.

The third of the three T's, trading, refers to getting exposure to illiquid bonds, and that is estimated by the relative performance of benchmark investment grade and high yield indices versus their liquid counterparts.

And if you look at how these three T's performed in Europe in the first half of the year, what we've seen is that two out of these three T's, namely trust and trading, have provided a tailwind to returns, but term, which is basically taking on duration risk, severely underperformed, as the whole of the Eurozone, but Germany in particular, has embarked on a massive fiscal loosening, and that resulted in increased bond issuance and, consequently, a jump in high duration yields.

Anu Ganti:

Interesting. And to see the dichotomy of U.S. versus Europe and the rest of the world is so important as investors navigate this landscape.

And speaking of the landscape, we've seen so much in the evolution of indexing within the fixed income space. Can you talk to us a little bit about some of the innovations within fixed income indexing, including our fixed maturity indices?

Ben Vörös:

So, when we think about innovation in the fixed income space, one that immediately comes to mind is fixed maturity indices. The way fixed maturity indices work is that they have a fixed maturity date, and they represent and track the performance of bonds which fall within that maturity range.

So, to be more specific, if you look at the iBoxx USD Corporates 2029 Index, for example, that index tracks the performance of investment grade bonds that mature in the year 2029. And the way these indices work is that they use the same broad diversified underlying investment grade bond universe which provides the beta of the market, but then they filter this universe to include only indices which mature in a specific year, in this case, in 2029. And what happens in the final year of a fixed maturity index is that maturing bonds are replaced by money market benchmark indices, or benchmarks, rather than corporate bonds. And by the end of the maturity year, the entire index will have been converted to an index of money market instruments, and it unwinds and matures at the end of the year.

And these fixed maturity indices are, maybe, especially useful in financial planning when the timing and the extent or amount of future cash flow needs are known in advance. And, in contrast to a single bond, which may mature in, this case, 2029, a key advantage of these fixed maturity indices is that, although they do have a fixed maturity date in the future, they still provide market participants with a diversified bond exposure rather than exposure to a single bond.

Anu Ganti:

These tools can be useful for us to keep in mind as we navigate the rest of 2025 looking to duration trends, corporate credit trends, illiquidity and the three T's as you call it.

Thank you so much, Ben, for taking the time to walk us through the dynamics within the fixed income indexing space in both the U.S. and Europe.

Ben Vörös:

Thanks very much.

Anu Ganti:

To learn more about S&P DJI's indices and the topics discussed today, please visit us at the link below.

spglobal.com/spdji/fixed-income

Index TV - Sep 02, 2025

What’s the Role of Sectors and Factors in Concentrated Markets?

Length 08:53

Length 08:53

Which sectors and factors have shown the strongest performance trends through recent market shifts? S&P DJI’s Ben Vörös joins Anu Ganti to explore the potential of indices to help market participants address concerns around concentration and unpack performance highlights from the first half of 2025.

[TRANSCRIPT]

Ben Vörös:

Volatility and recovery were major storylines for U.S. equities in the first half of the year, leading some market participants to take a closer look at defensive strategies.

Hello, I'm Ben Vörös of S&P Dow Jones Indices, and I'm joined by my colleague, Anu Ganti, to discuss the latest on concentration, home bias and the role of U.S. equities in Europe and other global markets, and which sectors and factors have outperformed and what this could mean for market participants with an eye on defense.

Thanks for joining, Anu.

Anu Ganti:

Great to be here.

Ben Vörös:

So, let's kick off with a look at how international and U.S. equity markets have behaved in the first half of 2025.

Anu Ganti:

Yes, well, it was really a tale of two markets in the first half of the year. The S&P 500^® recovered by more than 20% since the depths of the April lows that we saw. And we all remember the tariff-related tumult then. We saw continued record highs for the S&P 500, including on the final day of the quarter in Q2. So, really remarkable recovery here. Also, volatility remained relatively low, with the VIX^® closing the quarter below the 17 handle.

Now, what was particularly interesting was just the differences in size performance, looking at the U.S. and Europe. So, for example, in the U.S., we saw that mid and small caps underperformed large caps, but the S&P 400^® and the S&P 600^® were still up 7% and 5%. So, you saw this broadening of the rally. Meanwhile, in Europe, we actually saw that mid and smaller caps outperformed versus the S&P Europe 350^®. So, that was an interesting divergence to see across the size spectrum, both in the U.S. and Europe.

Now, coming to sentiment, we all remember the defensive sentiment in the first quarter, but that changed in the second quarter, and we saw that Information Technology and Communication Services were the leading sectors.

And coming to factors, which we'll talk about in a bit, we saw that high beta and momentum were the leaders. And, in fact, high beta overtook momentum outperforming the S&P 500 in Q2. So, these are some of the key themes that we saw in the first half of the year.

Now, looking internationally, we saw that the S&P Europe 350 actually outperformed, up 24% in U.S. dollar terms. And perhaps the weakness of the dollar may have been a tailwind here. And as we look ahead, as we have started H2, uncertainties remain, including tariff-related uncertainties, geopolitical risk, the future course of central banks, including the Fed in the U.S. and central banks all around the world, and inflation. So, these are some of the macro indicators that we're looking at as we go into H2.

Ben Vörös:

That's very interesting. And picking up on what you said about U.S. equity markets, why does it matter for European and other international market participants?

Anu Ganti:

Excellent question. So there's a couple of considerations here. One is when looking at the economic exposure of a company, we can think beyond the country of domicile. One example for you is the S&P 500. All U.S.-domiciled companies, but roughly 70% of the revenue is coming from the U.S. So, it's important to consider the geographic breakdown of revenues. So, 70% of that is coming from the U.S. The remainder is coming from the rest of the world, including roughly 10% from Europe. So, this may be potentially relevant for European market participants to consider when looking at their opportunity set.

Also, interestingly, we saw that our S&P 500 Foreign Revenue Exposure Index has outperformed versus the S&P 500 U.S. Revenue Exposure Index. Part of that tailwind may have been the weakness of the dollar that we talked about, potentially benefiting multinational companies that get a greater share of their revenues from overseas. So, that's revenues.

The other consideration is, of course, home bias, and important for European investors and market participants to keep that in mind. And we can apply a country and sector perspective for this. So, for example, if you look at our S&P World Index, the U.S. makes up more than 70% of the country weight. If you look at sectors, the S&P 500 Information Technology is actually larger than that of China, which is pretty remarkable, if you think about it.

So, looking at the S&P Europe 350, for example, it has greater overweights to, for example, Financials, Industrials and Health Care. And, historically, our research has shown that adding U.S. exposure has potentially helped to mitigate that risk and offer that diversification.

Ben Vörös:

Switching direction a little, mega caps and concentration have been at the forefront of market participants' minds. How can indices help allay and handle some of these concerns?

Anu Ganti:

Excellent question. And you're right that mega caps have been top of mind in 2023, 2024, in the first half of this year, with our S&P 500 Top 50 up 14%, outperforming the S&P 500. So, we've seen market concentration concerns, relatively high market concentration, if you look compared to history. We've also seen extremes in momentum.

So, we really have these unusually stretched extensions in these trends. And, historically, we've seen that mean reversion, which, of course, is difficult to predict in advance. So, this may be an interesting time to be examining equal-weight strategies, which, for example, have that exposure to small size. Also have that anti-momentum bias. And, historically, we've seen that, after peaks in market concentration, equal weight has tended to outperform. So, that may be something interesting to examine, given the current circumstances in the market. And, of course, we know that equal weight has outperformed over the long term, when looking at history.

Now, coming to a sector perspective, we've actually seen a similar trend. And we can think of sectors as tools. For example, we have cap-weighted sectors. We have equal-weighted sectors. And, historically, we've seen that, after peaks in sector concentration, equal-weighted sectors have tended to outperform. Information Technology is a great example of this.

And coming back to my earlier point about the geographic breakdown of revenues, this varies across sectors. For example, Information Technology had the lowest domestic percentage of sales, while Utilities had the highest. So, it's important to keep these considerations in mind for a sector level as well.

Ben Vörös:

Earlier, you mentioned that high beta actually overtook momentum, at least in the U.S., to be the top-performing factor. But, how has the relationship between high beta on the one hand, and defensive sectors and factors on the other, evolved over the year? And what that relationship means for market participants?

Anu Ganti:

Yes, and coming back to the point earlier about the tale of two markets, we certainly saw that at the factor level. In Q1, if you recall, we saw that low volatility outperformed, dividend strategies outperformed, some more defensive factors did well. Meanwhile, we saw the opposite in Q2, with the return of risk-on sentiment, where momentum outperformed, high beta outperformed, overtaking momentum. So, real notable reversal here. And we can also look at sectors as drivers of the factor performance. For example, high beta's greatest sector overweight is in Information Technology, and that was the leading sector.

Now, coming to your point about factors, momentum has been really interesting to watch globally. We saw that momentum has outperformed in the U.S. It has outperformed in Europe. But, not so much the case in developing markets and emerging markets, including China. So, the diverging trend of momentum in the U.S. and developed markets versus emerging markets and China will be something to closely watch as we close out the rest of the year.

Ben Vörös:

Thanks a lot for your insights, Anu. It was really interesting to hear about sector and factor dynamics in the first half of 2025.

To learn more about S&P DJI indices and the topics discussed today, please visit us at the links below.

spglobal.com/spdji/sectors

spglobal.com/spdji/factors

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Index TV - Aug 07, 2025

Evolving Trends Redefining Index Usage

Length 26:20

Length 26:20

What’s the role of index providers in today’s markets? S&P DJI’s Brandon Hass joins Cerulli Associates’ Brendan Powers, Delta Wealth Advisors’ Niko Finnigan and Sunpointe Investments’ Rob Mooney for a deep dive into how advisors are putting an expanding range of index tools to work to build model portfolios, increase efficiencies and tailor strategies to meet client objectives.

[TRANSCRIPT]

Jeane Coakley:

Welcome to Asset TV.

The financial landscape is ever-changing, so what's the role of the index providers in today's market? Index providers play a pivotal role in the index-based products and asset allocation model portfolios now widely used in U.S. wealth management, but recent research suggests index providers are being underutilized.

Joining me today to explore the evolving trends redefining index usage are Brandon Hass, Managing Director and Head of Direct Indexing and Model Portfolios at S&P Dow Jones Indices; Brendan Powers, Director of Product Development at Cerulli Associates; Niko Finnigan, Partner, Delta Wealth Advisors; and Rob Mooney, Managing Director and Private Wealth Advisor at Sunpointe Investments.

And Brendan, we're going to start with you. Cerulli Associates' research piece, Redefining the Role of Index Providers, is the reason we're all here today, so can you set the stage with some of the key take-aways from your research?

Brendan Powers:

Yes, and I want to start with some context with the methodology. So, for this research piece, we built the foundation using a survey of about 300 financial advisors, and we paired that with executive interviews with 25 wealth management executives and financial advisors, and, at a high level, one of the things we learned in the research is that advisors generally want to use more index-based products. They allocate about 46% of their clients' book of business, an average client today, to index-based products. They plan to increase that to 49% by the year 2026.

Now, part of what's driving that is demand for lower-cost products, but that's not all the story. There is also an evolution of their value proposition, and we see advisors moving away from investment management as the thing they're pitching to their clients, and then moving more toward financial planning, and, as they do that, they're using more model portfolios, which has led to the demand for and use of more predictable, consistent building block, beta-like exposure. So, at a high level, that's the place the research starts.

Moving forward, despite the role of index-based products evolving and advisors, when they're selecting those products, telling us they care about index methodology, they're really underutilizing index providers, and, ultimately, the finding we were led to is that some of these advisors aren't aware of the scope, the scale, the breadth of the capabilities that these index providers can bring to bear and will be able to help these advisors navigate the more complex landscape they face today in terms of products, clients' expectations, etc.

Jeane Coakley:

And Brandon, I want to ask you, what trends have contributed to the rising use of index-based strategies?

Brandon Hass:

Yes, it's a great question, and I think Brendan hit a few of these points already. The concept that financial planning tends to be paramount to investment management for most financial advisors today, and that's a function of that's what clients are interested in, that's what they're demanding. They want a goals-based wealth management structure. A lot of these are based on asset allocation framework, and that asset allocation framework tends to come or is derived from index methodology. And, so, as advisors are building these financial plans, indices already play a major role.

And then when you kind of rewind the clock, many decades ago, when an index provider was more of a benchmark and a barometer for the marketplace itself. Obviously, we have things like ETFs today and other index-based solutions, so, it's not just a barometer anymore. It's actually the bedrock and the foundation of investable products through ETFs, and there's a wide breadth and depth to those product solutions.

We calculate over 800,000 indices every single day in the market. There's actually around USD 28 trillion that are linked and benched to our indices alone, so, you have kind of this extremely liquid ecosystem today that can be a tool and a solution to build that financial plan and, ultimately, deliver that scale across your client books. So, now you're creating a deliverable, scalable, repeatable process that can also be customized based on the client's unique needs.

Jeane Coakley:

And Brendan, I'm going to go back to you, because how are indices being used within asset allocation models?

Brendan Powers:

Good question, I think that's important. I want to define what these are because "if we asked 10 different people in the industry, they're going to give you 11 different answers" is a widely used term. At Cerulli, we think about asset allocation model portfolios as a portfolio construction solution for financial advisors to leverage. They're constructed using an asset allocation framework that then allocates to individual investment products to fill sleeves of that framework. Products like ETFs, mutual funds, even separately managed accounts now we're seeing. As Brandon mentioned, we see model portfolios as a way for advisors to create scale, grow, by putting investment management not on the side but spending less time on it and instead allocating that time saved to things like financial planning, coaching clients, business development, training staff, some of those other elements of their business.

So, with that definition out of the way, back to your question. Two ways we see index providers playing a role in model portfolios and asset allocation model portfolios is one, at the asset allocation framework construction. Index provider data is key to generating things like capital market assumptions that form the backbone of their models' framework.

The second place we see them playing a role is at the product selection level. Now, if you're a model builder and you're creating a model that allocates to an index-based strategy like an ETF, for instance, that process of deciding which product is going to involve a fair amount of diligence on the underlying index, its methodology, etc. One of the things we heard during our research with these executive interviews of folks who are building models is that, in addition to that diligence, one of the things they'll often look for is, is there an ETF out there that matches or tracks the index that we use to build the capital market assumption for that sleeve I'm trying to get exposure for? So, that is important to them, as well at that product selection level, in addition to really the main use case of the data at the asset allocation framework level.

Jeane Coakley:

Alright, let's bring Rob and Niko into the conversation. And guys, how do you use indices in your practice today, and how has that evolved in recent years? Niko, we'll start with you.

Niko Finnigan:

I think that how we're using indices obviously is in model portfolios, as both Brendan and Brandon were speaking about, and, in using these indices, we always talk around the office, we say, standardize the process, customize the advice. So, we're able to spend time with our clients during the work hours. Clients don't necessarily want to be having a meeting at 8:00 at night. That allows us then to do our investment research on the weekends and at nights outside of market hours, because when clients want to speak, they want to speak during normal hours, that is, right. So, using the indices, we're able to then build upon it over time.

And we're doing our methodology and our research on it, and so, if we want to plug and play a different index into the model, we want more exposure in one area, as you were talking about. We don't have unexpected surprises, where a manager decided to dial down risk, even though we thought that we were adding to risk by putting in a position, or vice versa.

So, by having an index, and that index is rules based, it really helps us have. We don't have defined outcomes, right, no one controls the market, but we do have some more control over. The nice things are, returns are expected, fees and taxes are guaranteed, right. And, on those two, we know what we're paying in fees, and we don't have unexpected tax consequences as well, which is something that's happened in the past. A mutual fund can have huge outflows, and, all of a sudden, you have a major capital gain that's unexpected. So, really, in having more certainty, because it is rules based, it helps us deliver what it is our clients are looking for over the long term.

Jeane Coakley:

Rob, your thoughts?

Rob Mooney:

Because there are so many indices and products that track those indices, we as advisors have the ability to make more granular models to target the specified outcomes that the clients want. And, some clients want us to build them a castle, other clients want us to build them a race car, and we're able to do that. And, whether the castle or the race car are all of the client's asset allocation, or a part of that, we can set that aside, knowing that the outcomes are not predictable but, at least, within the realm of the capital market assumptions. And, we can focus on the financial plan and helping the clients stay invested through regular meetings, especially when the markets get challenging and they don't want to stay the course.

Jeane Coakley:

I have a question for both of you guys. How do you evaluate the indices that sit underneath ETFs or SMAs that you use?

Rob Mooney:

So, if I'm looking at a really esoteric corner of the market, I look to see who built the index, and I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I do. And, I was really pleased to see in your research that other advisors feel the same way that I do. The other thing that's important to me when evaluating an index provider is, does the index provider have the capability and resources to evolve their index as the underlying companies evolve across time?

Niko Finnigan:

Yes, and to build off of that, one of the things that was interesting from the research was that methodology is the fourth most common criterion used in looking at an index. And, people always look at kind of fees and performance, that all makes sense. But, what's interesting is that that methodology, that philosophy, to go back to the old four P's, that philosophy on how you're going to approach that asset allocation, that's going to come through over time. And, you do see it when you have a strong index, where flows may come over time, and you see that fees come down because there's more interest in that space.

So, because you have that rules-based index in the methodology, that you can approach it, that's really critical, because it allows us to back-test over time, and we can say, okay, look, if inflation spikes, what does it do to this part of the portfolio, and then, like what you were saying earlier for the analogy, where you have a castle and a race car, it gives clients the comfort where they say, okay, I have my safe money being safe, and I can have my grow money grow, right.

And they understand, sometimes maybe that race car is in the shop, because we're in a bear market. It happens, right. But, you have more comfort around the safe money being safe because these are rules-based indices over time. You can test against different scenarios, you can talk to clients proactively and say, look, if we see inflation do this, if we see these types of events occur, another bear market, global financial crisis, here's how each part of the portfolio responds, and then, aggregate, here's how it works as well.

So, again, coming back to that methodology, that gives us so much more comfort in being able to build plans for the long term, so you can spend time speaking with the clients, specific to what it is that they need from their money, as opposed to what the market gives them.

Jeane Coakley:

Alright, Brandon. Let's get back to what role does direct indexing play in expanding index use, and how is index design evolving to support that?

Brandon Hass:

Yes, it's a good question, and let me also just really quick say, Rob, I would like both a race car and a castle.

Rob Mooney:

We can do that.

Brandon Hass:

We'll talk after this.

So direct indexing has been around for a while, it's been around for over 30 years. So, it's not a new solution. But, there's a lot of reasons that it's recently kind of caught a lot of wind in its sails. A convergence of multiple factors, things like, fractional shares, technology interfaces that exist, kind of that are a little bit more ubiquitous across wealth, trading infrastructures that make it much more cost efficient. And, so, direct indexing, what we've seen was a solution that was not reserved, but typically accessible, to the ultra-high-net worth, is now still relevant to ultra-high-net worth, but is coming down into the high-net-worth market and mass-affluent market. So, it's a really exciting space to be in.

And, there's a handful of things that you can do with direct indexing that are fairly unique, when you're comparing them to other conventional wrappers like ETPs and mutual funds. So, within a direct index, you own the underlying securities, and, so, what you're able to do is address this concept of scale that we've talked about with financial planning and rules-based structures, but also customization, and those two things tend to be historically oxymoronic, or, at least, kind of a zero-sum game, where you have to kind of weigh the benefits of customization or scale.

And, what we're finding is, based on this convergence of factors, that a lot of asset managers and wealth managers alike can deliver both at the same time, right. It's no longer a zero-sum game, and, so, as we think about this as an index provider. I mean, indexing is in the name, direct indexing, right. So, we are product-agnostic, we are wrapper-agnostic, and, so, most direct indexes or indices exist within an SMA, or within now a UMA structure, but the index itself is still kind of the bedrock of the intellectual property, is what kind of guides the investment solution, or the investment solution that tracks the benchmark or the index itself. And, so, if you look at the market and the landscape today, a lot of that is still in large-cap core.

So, obviously, we're known for the S&P 500, but, as I mentioned earlier, we calculate over 800,000 indices a day. And, so, what we're seeing is large-cap core continues to, or tends to be, the largest allocation for a U.S. wealth client, but there's a lot of other sleeves, right. And, so, within a direct index, you can start to reflect this customization inside of one sleeve, or a combination of sleeve, a lot more seamlessly inside of kind of this tech-enabled wrapper, right. So, what we're seeing now is platforms are starting to expand their offering, offering complements to the conventional large-cap core only, and that could still be in that sleeve.

So, for example, maybe you have an income tilt, or you want to reduce volatility, or you want a multi-factor approach. A client wants to express some of their values or exclude positions. They want to reduce a concentrated stock position. And, we're also seeing offerings across asset segments, right. So, it's not only U.S. or U.S. equity anymore, it's in international equity, and it's even fixed income components. And, so, it's a really exciting place to be.

As we think about what can we do to be at the forefront of that as an index provider is having conversations like this, right. Okay, listening to what are your clients interested in. What's the demand? We don't operate in a vacuum, although, sometimes, folks think we do. We take a lot of considerations to say, okay, what's the market demanding today and how do we think it'll evolve going forward, and how do we innovate and evolve our index methodology to support that ecosystem on a go-forward basis.

And, so, one of the things we're seeing right now is kind of this resurgence into long-short, right, kind of offering this long-short solution, but based on our intellectual property. So, like a S&P 500 130/30 Quality Index (Long-Short) is an index that we manage, and we see solutions like that becoming interesting to the market, among others.

Jeane Coakley:

Alright, so Brendan. What does the Cerulli research suggest about how advisors view index providers today?

Brendan Powers:

Yes, that's the core of what we tried to get at in the research, right. And there's an exhibit in the white paper, we asked advisors, how do you engage, or how do you interact, with index providers? We gave them an option to just say, I purely use index-based products, I use content or thought leadership from index providers or I actively engage with index providers, maybe have phone calls, quarterly or standing Zoom meetings, or something of that nature.

And, interestingly, partially due to the parameters we set around what advisors we were focused on, we required advisors to have at least 10% of their client assets in ETFs, nearly all said they're using index-based products to some degree. But just 33% told us that they were using thought leadership or other content from index providers, and a lesser 27% are actively engaged with index providers. And, so, we really want to focus in on those content users and those that are actively engaged to really understand what's driving their motivation, how do they get access to this information, how are they using it. And, so, what we found is that those users, they're really keyed in on a couple different types of data, and I'd be curious, I think hopefully we'll hear from Niko and Rob on actual use cases. But, in generalities here, they're interested in performance data, index performance data, they're interested in performance attribution analysis. They're looking for information, details on index design and methodology, to Niko's earlier point. And then, any updates or changes to the indices, rebalancing information. And then, general thought leadership as well.

How that's typically applied, the advisors we spoke with during those executive interviews were able to tell us that they're primarily using them for investment decisions. There's also a use case for facilitating client conversations. One of the more common examples that we came across was, across index providers, including S&P Dow Jones Indices, these, what I'll call active versus passive scorecards as a general category, and these are documents where, or thought leadership where, the index providers, or even other asset managers, are helping the advisors understand where is it more or less common for active management to beat the benchmark over time. Advisors are using that to make investment decisions, where do I go active, where do I go passive, or choosing models. Because, as we know, model portfolios, there are thousands upon thousands of iterations out there. Some all active, some passive, a lot of a mix. So where do you want to go active, where do you want to go passive, to create that more cost-efficient portfolio for the client. And then, having that information from a third party to add credibility goes a long way in bolstering how you explain that to your clients.

Jeane Coakley:

So, why do you think some advisors still underutilize index providers, and how do you think they could change that?

Brendan Powers:

Yes, so going back to that data we just discussed. There's a gap between those who are using index-based product and those who are engaging or are using content from index providers. How do we see that gap closing? I think one of the issues preventing that from closing right now is advisors frankly don't know the resources are available. When they're using index-based products, they tend to get information from asset managers that are building those products, but they're not going necessarily to the source who are building the indices that that product is constructed off of. So, as awareness of the index providers' role grows, and the awareness of the breadth and depth of capabilities that they can bring to bear in terms of educational content, thought leadership, index-level information, we do think there'd be a benefit for advisors to tap into that.

As it relates to how that occurs, one of the factors we see driving it is the greater use of more complex product types that are tracking indices, like direct indexing. As Brandon mentioned, there's a lot of product proliferation going on there. We're seeing more types of indices across the equity spectrum, but into bond ladders and fixed income as well, which we could get into a debate whether that's direct indexing or not. But data is important there.

And then, in the ETF space even, we do see more demand and use of complex products that are tracking more complex indices. So, as the advisors are trying to grapple with this, this current industry that they're participating in, where these complexities exist and the need to discuss these products with their clients and these portfolio construction methodologies, going right to the source for the index construction, to the index providers, is a critical source of information for them.

Jeane Coakley:

And Brandon, what are some of the underutilized capabilities that the index providers offer beyond just benchmarks themselves?

Brandon Hass:

Yes, I think Brendan hit a lot of them. You know, I said before, like we don't operate in a vacuum, right, and we build indices and we publish these indices publicly, in a public vein. So, you can go online, you can Google any index S&P, and the methodology deck is right there. But, that's one of the things that we do, right.

The other thing that we do is we do a ton of research around our own indices and competitor indices. We do a ton of research, to Brendan's point, on active versus passive. It's called SPIVA. We're on our 21st year now. So, SPIVA stands for S&P Indices versus Active. So, we look at the entire active universe and compare it to its appropriate index. What outperforms, what underperforms, how does that tend to trend through time? We look at persistence, so ability to consistently outperform or remain in top quartiles. A lot of that research is written for consumption for financial advisors. And, so, we have people that can communicate that to advisors. Folks that can work with the asset managers that are building products around the things that they might want to get this word out about. So, a lot of it does revolve around education and communication.

And, the last thing that I'll say is that we love getting feedback, and we actually actively seek public consultations in our existing indices. Not only that, but in the construction of new indices. So, we consistently, we have a whole business dedicated to creating custom indexing, where somebody will come to us, and they'll say, hey, I want a little bit of this, and a little bit of this and a little bit of this. And, we'll say, okay, we'll go to the lab, we'll put it together, does this look right to you? So, we consistently do create indices on a customized basis and solicit proactively or sometimes reactively feedback from the users on how they want the indices developed. So, this is certainly a two-way street, and our door is open. It is interesting to kind of see this research and figure out why there's a rational kind of gap here, and realistically, we have a lot of resources to close that gap.

Jeane Coakley:

And, Rob and Niko, you're both ahead of the curve in terms of how you're using indices and working with index providers. What are some of the tools provided by S&P DJI that you've found most useful in this practice?

Rob Mooney:

So, S&P Dow Jones Indices has a white paper for seemingly everything. And, SPIVA is a go-to to help inform or reinforce the belief active makes sense here, passive makes sense here, here, here and here. Another white paper that my clients have enjoyed is small companies with earnings provide free alpha versus an index that tracks small companies that don't have earnings. Dividend Aristocrats really resonates with clients, especially in inflationary times. And, lastly, there is the Daily Index Insights e-mail, a must-read.

Niko Finnigan:

One of the things that Brandon touched on earlier is, in working with advisors and providing a toolkit, we probably get a dozen, two dozen calls, emails, every day, of somebody trying to say, here's this new investment strategy, it's outperformed in the past three months. Great. I'm trying to build a portfolio for three decades, right. I want the facts. And, so, one of the things I like working about with S&P DJI is, it's just like, look, here's a number of facts, work with it as you want to.

And then, also, if knowledge is like an island, the bigger it gets, the more there is to explore. And, so, we're always trying to say, okay, well, we understood this about the index, how can we take it to the next level, where can we learn about this or that. And, so, like you were saying, having those white papers, you can consume it when you want to consume it, right.

And you're not being pushed into a product. And, so, you're just, it's education, you're saying, okay, do I want more of this in my portfolio, do I want less of it? And, if I did, where do I swap it? And then, because it is rules-based, you can go and back-test it. So, I always tell our clients, we look at making trades is like taking a test. You want to spend more time preparing for the test than actually taking the test. So, you want to be researching and studying ahead of time, not just making willy-nilly trades in the force of a market, ripping up or down, right.

Jeane Coakley:

Alright, well that wraps up our discussion. Thank you all for your insights today. Of course, we all look forward to seeing how the role of the index provider continues to evolve.

And, to read the paper, Redefining the Role of Index Providers, and to explore S&P DJI's range of indices, its direct indexing capabilities and to stay up-to-date with the latest research and index data, visit the link below.

spglobal.com/spdji

I'm Jeane Coakley for Asset TV. Thanks for watching.

Index TV - Jul 21, 2025

Unlocking Deeper Insights in Private Markets

Length 4:13

Length 4:13

Meet the Cambridge Associates Private Markets Benchmark Calculator, a new tool designed to help investors make more informed decisions and bring greater clarity and deeper insights to private markets.

[TRANSCRIPT]

Unlocking Deeper Insights in Private Markets

Private market investing is complex, particularly when it comes to benchmarking, and you may be looking for better ways to understand and assess private investment performance.

For over 50 years, Cambridge Associates has been a leader in building institutional-quality portfolios for its clients.

Cambridge’s widely adopted private investment benchmarks, built by and for investors, offer representative and detailed coverage of the private capital markets.

They serve as a tool to address a number of use cases.

Use cases include:

Performance measurement
Performance monitoring
Due diligence
Risk management
Asset allocation
Capital raising

For limited partners, fund managers and other industry participants, the benchmarks are designed to help:

Measure performance
Identify investment opportunities
Support the fund manager selection process
Provide data-driven intelligence to better manage risk

In collaboration with Cambridge Associates, S&P Dow Jones Indices now offers the Cambridge Associates Private Markets Calculator, an advanced web-based tool for evaluating private investment performance.

The calculator provides access to information on 10,000+ funds, all categorized by asset class, industry and geography.

Asset classes covered include:

Private Equity
Venture Capital
Private Credit
Real Assets

The calculator has functionality designed to customize analysis using filters for fund:

Asset class
Strategy
Vintage year
Geography
Fund size
Industry
Currency

Performance metrics include:

IRR
Performance multiples
Cash flows
Public market equivalents

For example, the tool may help you identify the top quartile breakpoint for IT-focused U.S. venture capital funds.

Data in the Cambridge Associates Private Markets Calculator is built bottom-up, using cash flows and NAVs sourced directly from GP financial statements, and is available on both a since-inception and horizon return basis.

All data is subject to quality control by Cambridge Associates’ dedicated team of private investment specialists.

Now you can experience the flexibility of dynamic data modes and navigate between current datasets, both preliminary and published, and historical snapshots.

Looking to choose between the current quarter’s preliminary data and fully published datasets from prior quarters?

The data is just a click away.

We’ve designed the Cambridge Associates Private Markets Calculator to simplify report exports and streamline workflows, helping users:

Quickly adjust criteria and run new analysis on the fly
Access benchmark data and export to Excel or PDF
Save, schedule and share previously created reports with updated data

Hundreds of pensions, non-profits, family offices and other private markets industry participants are accessing the insights that the Cambridge Associates Private Markets Calculator has to offer.

To learn more about the Cambridge Associates Private Markets Calculator

contact: index_services@spglobal.com

visit: spglobal.com/spdji/calculator

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