IN THIS LIST

ETFs in Insurance General Accounts – 2026

ETFs in Institutional Portfolios: The New Normal

Dow Jones Commodity Index 3 Month Forward: A Simple Strategy to Measure Enhanced Roll Yield

In the Shadows of Giants

Why DJCI?

Research - Jul 14, 2026

ETFs in Insurance General Accounts – 2026

Anu R. Ganti

Head of U.S. Index Investment Strategy

S&P Dow Jones Indices

Nick Didio

Quantitative Associate, Index Investment Strategy

S&P Dow Jones Indices

Introduction

In 2025, U.S. insurers held USD 49 billion in ETFs. The upward trend from 2024 continued in 2025, leading to a record high in ETF holdings. For the second consecutive year, we saw significant inflows, which, coupled with market gains, led to a 25% increase in ETF assets under management (AUM) from the prior year.

In our 11^th annual study of exchange-traded fund (ETF) usage in U.S. insurance general accounts, we review ETF usage across various types of companies and across different asset classes. We also analyze how trading patterns have varied over the years.

ETFs in Insurance General Accounts – 2026 : Exhibit 1

Holding Analysis

U.S. insurance companies held USD 49 billion in ETFs at the end of 2025, an increase of USD 10 billion from one year prior. This is a small portion of the USD 13.5 trillion in U.S. ETF AUM1 and USD 14.1 trillion of assets in U.S. insurance general accounts.2 As a result, the behavior of individual companies can have an influence on the results that is more idiosyncratic in nature. Exhibit 1 shows the use of ETFs by U.S. insurers over more than 20 years.

2025 saw a large ETF AUM increase of 25%, doubling the growth rate since inception. In a reversal from recent years, the three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) turned positive (see Exhibit 2).

ETFs in Insurance General Accounts – 2026 : Exhibit 2

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Research - Jun 30, 2026

ETFs in Institutional Portfolios: The New Normal

Introduction

North American institutions have been integrating exchange-traded funds (ETFs) into their portfolios for more than a decade. Many institutions in the U.S. and Canada started employing ETFs to execute tactical tasks within their portfolios. As they began experimenting, they viewed ETFs’ liquidity and ability to rapidly access exposures as useful tools in functions like manager transitions, portfolio completion, and liquidity management. As institutions increased their usage of ETFs in these short-term functions, many observed their versatility and began using them across a broader range of applications.

Institutions gradually embraced ETFs as a tool for portfolio management in step with another trend in investing: the rise of passive strategies. As institutions shifted assets from active to passive strategies in large-cap equities and other highly liquid and increasingly commoditized asset classes, they noted that ETFs could work well as a vehicle for taking on long-term strategic exposures. Today, most ETFs in institutional portfolios are passive and categorized as strategic assets, as opposed to tactical.

The ability for institutions to use ETFs as both a tool for tactical portfolio functions and as a means of taking on long-term strategic exposures is leading to increased adoption and expanding allocations. ETF assets under management (AUM) have doubled in institutional portfolios in past years.1 More than a third of institutions have reported plans to increase allocations to ETFs in the next 12 months. Meanwhile, more than half of institutional non-users have indicated they are actively considering introducing ETFs into their portfolios.

In an effort to learn how institutions are using ETFs, S&P Dow Jones Indices engaged Crisil Coalition Greenwich to interview 150 institutions in the U.S. and Canada. Participants were asked about current allocations and applications, reasons for use, obstacles to ETF investment, expected changes to use and allocation, and other topics. In this report, Crisil Coalition Greenwich draws on the results of that research to present a detailed breakdown of the state of ETF investment in institutional portfolios. S&P Dow Jones Indices has sponsored this report.

ETFs: A growing presence in institutional portfolios

Across North America, more than half (54%) of institutions now employ ETFs in their investment portfolios. Usage rates are highest in the U.S., where 56% of institutions employ ETFs.

ETFs in institutional portfolios: The new normal : Exhibit 1

The largest institutions in North America by AUM are the heaviest users of ETFs. Over half of funds with $1 billion - $10 billion AUM and nearly two-thirds of funds with $10 billion+ AUM use ETFs.

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Research - Jun 11, 2026

Dow Jones Commodity Index 3 Month Forward: A Simple Strategy to Measure Enhanced Roll Yield

Rebecca Kaufman

Associate Director, Commodities and Fixed Income Tradables

S&P Dow Jones Indices

Introduction

When considering investing in commodities, synthetic access is a popular choice. Commodity futures offer exposure to commodities performance attributes without the need for delivery and storage, and commodity indices offer broad measures of multiple commodity sectors without the need for detailed knowledge of individual commodity markets. Popular broad commodity indices hold the nearest expiring futures contract with a mechanism to roll out of the futures contract before expiring into the next nearest expiring futures contract.

This roll mechanism introduces a second type of return to commodity investors known as roll yield. Therefore, investing in commodities synthetically exposes the investor to both (1) the return of the underlying commodity, and (2) the roll yield from the rolling mechanism.

A popular and simple carry strategy involves holding commodity futures further along the curve, for example, three months forward. To be clear, being three months forward is a constant maturity strategy, whereby the commodity index always aims to hold futures contracts that expire roughly three months in the future. Practically speaking, this means the contract calendar for a given (prompt month) index is shifted by three units.

This paper will explore the characteristics of indexing at the three-month tenor, using the broad-based commodity index the Dow Jones Commodity Index (DJCI) and its variant the Dow Jones Commodity Index 3 Month Forward (DJCI 3M) as an example.

A Comparison of DJCI and DJCI 3M on a Spot and Excess Return Basis

To begin, we will compare the performance of the DJCI and the DJCI 3M on a spot and on an excess return basis. As a reminder, the spot version of the indices is simply the weighted average price of the constituent contracts, whereas the excess return version of the indices accounts for (1) the daily price return of those contracts, and (2) the roll yield received from rolling those contracts.

It is important to note that the contracts must be rolled for a long only strategy to prevent physical delivery, and therefore the excess return index is the only strategy that is replicable.

Exhibits 1 and 2 show the DJCI versus the DJCI 3M on a spot and on an excess return basis, respectively. While the DJCI outperformed the DJCI 3M on a spot return basis, the DJCI 3M outperformed the DJCI on an excess return basis.

BDJCI and DJCI 3M Spot Return : Exhibit 1

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Research - May 13, 2026

In the Shadows of Giants

Tim Edwards, Ph.D.

Managing Director and Global Head of Index Investment Strategy

S&P Dow Jones Indices

Nick Didio

Quantitative Associate, Index Investment Strategy

S&P Dow Jones Indices

Highlights

The 10 largest companies in the S&P 500^® represented almost 40% of the index by mid-2025, a level of concentration not seen since the mid-1960s.
While the past does not guarantee the future, we can gain useful perspective by examining what happened last time 10 companies held a similar index weight.
History shows a nuanced relationship between concentration and market performance and illustrates how changes in leadership can impact markets and their benchmarks.

The concentration of U.S. equity market capitalization in a select few mega-cap companies has reached levels not seen for more than half a century due to unprecedented investment in rapidly advancing and highly disruptive technologies. The potential risks and opportunities resulting from this market concentration may find parallels in historical trends, the examination of which offers insight into the continued relevance of broad, capitalization-weighted benchmarks such as the S&P 500.

FANGs and the Evolving Monikers of the Past Few Decades

More than 12 years ago, CNBC’s “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer helped popularize the acronym “FANGs” for a select group of high-growth, technology-driven stocks that dominated their market segment. Other market participants and commentators subsequently observed and grew concerned about the narrow leadership within U.S. equity markets. The monikers and composition have evolved, but the overall outperformance by the largest U.S. companies was almost unchallenged throughout, and the distribution of market capitalization in the U.S. equity market became increasingly concentrated as a result. By mid-2025, the largest 10 companies in the S&P 500 represented almost 40% of the index, a level of concentration not seen since the mid-1960s.

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Research - Apr 24, 2026

Why DJCI?

Rebecca Kaufman

Associate Director, Commodities and Fixed Income Tradables

S&P Dow Jones Indices

Introduction

Given the current uncertainty in the equities and bonds markets, market participants may be considering how to protect their investments and enhance their strategies. In our previous paper, we spoke to the diversification characteristics of commodities compared with stocks and bonds, and how the S&P GSCI has reflected this. In this paper, we reintroduce another important commodities index: the Dow Jones Commodity Index (DJCI). With 27 years of history and a more balanced approach to commodity investing, the DJCI has historically shown both increased diversification and superior performance as compared to other indices, including the S&P GSCI and the Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM).

Launched in 2014, the DJCI is a broad-based commodity index. As of its January 2026 reconstitution, it includes 29 commodity futures contracts, representing global commodities across three sectors: agriculture and livestock; energy; and precious and industrial metals. Like the S&P GSCI and BCOM, the DJCI holds the front-month futures contract, rolls monthly and rebalances annually in January.

Unlike the S&P GSCI and BCOM, the DJCI is liquidity weighted and reweights monthly. Additionally, the DJCI caps the maximum weight of any commodity component at 32%, with any remaining commodity components capped at 17%, and equally weights between commodity sectors. These weighting constraints are applied iteratively until all requirements are met.

Part I: Methodology and Performance

In this section, we will dive into three unique methodology components: specifically, (1) the emphasis on liquidity; (2) equal weighting between sectors; and (3) monthly rebalancing. We explore the historical characteristics that each index has shown in terms of performance enhancement and volatility reduction across various time horizons.

Exhibit 1 shows a quick methodology comparison between three leading commodity indices

Why DJCI?: Exhibit 1

First, by emphasizing liquidity, rather than world production, the DJCI offers a unique measurement of the commodities market. Liquidity, which is proxied by the total dollar value traded for all outstanding contracts, determines the overall weight, and therefore the importance of individual constituent commodities within the index.

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