In many emerging markets, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) account for a huge portion of the country’s economy. These giant firms are majority owned by the state and employ millions of workers. These publicly-listed companies dominate the local equity markets in terms of market capitalization. Since they are owned by the government, these companies are high political interference in their operations. …

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The U.S. ETF industry has exploded in size in the past few years. As of July, 2014 over 1,300 ETFs are domiciled in the U.S. markets and the net assets of these ETFs exceeded a staggering $1.8 Trillion according to Investment Company Institute. ETF providers have sliced and diced the various sectors, countries, regions, etc. in various ways …

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The “sin” sector in the equity markets includes companies that operate in businesses such as making and selling liquor, weapons, casinos and cigarettes. These are called “sin” industries for the obvious reason that people engaging such activities as drinking alcohol or gambling are committing sins. These industries tend to have high profit margin and there is money …

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Global equity valuations have recently peaked to reach earlier highs and stocks are now more dependent on earnings to move higher, according to an article by Jeffrey Kleintop of Charles Schwab. From the article: Earnings are the most important driver of the stock market over the long term. The global stock market, as tracked by the MSCI …

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Credit Suisse recently published their famous Global Investment Returns Yearbook for 2015. It is a fascinating report with a variety of superb charts. For example, the chart below shows the sector weightings for select countries: Click to enlarge The entire report is worth a read for serious investors. Download the full report by clicking on the …

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