Dividend cuts following the COVID-19 slowdown led to approximately USD 194 billion of lost dividends between February and April 2020. An approach that looked beyond dividend-yield ranking would have avoided some affected companies, based on our analysis.

Foreign interest has risen in Saudi Arabia following the easing of foreign-ownership limits. Our analysis shows investors would have benefited by controlling for exposure to small-cap companies.

We detail the biggest-ever structural change to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) in terms of market capitalization impact: the Telecommunication Services sector being broadened significantly and renamed Communication Services. This reflects the fact that the way people communicate, share information and entertain themselves – and the way companies have responded to this new dynamic – is significantly and fundamentally different as a result of the rapid convergence between...