2023 has presented many situations that include both risk and potential opportunities for investors, including inflation, continued war in Ukraine and China’s lifting of the zero-COVID policy, which allowed people and goods to travel as freely as they did before the pandemic gripped the globe. We look into how it’s gone so far.

As temperatures rise in China, comprehensive adaptation and response plans are crucial to mitigate the physical risks of extreme heat. We assess which sectors could be most at risk under both orderly and extreme warming scenarios.

China recently ended its “zero-COVID” policy by lifting restriction and reopening its economy. We analyze the key takeaways from China’s 14th National People’s Congress and provide context on previous growth targets.

China recently reopened its borders and eliminated COVID-19 quarantine requirements, which could conclude its three-year-long, “zero-COVID” policy. With this in mind, we examine the potential impact of this action on the markets and global economy.

The U.S. and China represent two of the largest and complementary global-equity markets. We detail whether home-biased investors in China may be neglecting long-term growth and diversification opportunities.

The MSCI China A 50 Connect Index aims to provide investors with a mega-cap-focused index with a sector-neutral approach that tracks the broad Chinese equity market more closely than a simple top-50 approach.

Following the recent sell-off in Chinese equities, global investors may have some concerns and questions about their China exposure. Have fundamentals changed? What role did the Russia-Ukraine war play? Which factors are important to keep an eye on?

Given the recent spike in energy prices we ask: How have higher energy prices affected the performance of climate indexes, which normally have less exposure to traditional energy companies?

We present a framework to analyze market-capitalization-weighted indexes’ role in setting equity-risk-premium and capital-market expectations. It breaks return drivers into dividend yield, sales-per-share growth, profit margin and valuation change.

Market fundamentals may not be significantly affected by new regulations in China. But, given the regulations’ focus on ESG-related issues, investors can use ESG data as they seek to identify risks and opportunities across industries and securities.

Concerns over corporate leverage in China, and nervousness about inflation and the direction of interest rates were just a few of the reasons behind the shift toward defensive factors in the third quarter. We analyze the third quarter from three continents, with MSCI’s Hitendra Varsani, Mark Carver and Shuo Xu.

For investors seeking exposure to the mega-cap segment of the China A market, a simple top-50 market-cap-weighted approach can lead to large sectoral biases. We explore how a balanced mega-cap approach may help.

China’s rise in economic influence, market size, improved market accessibility and inclusion in global indexes have led more investors to consider a dedicated China allocation. In the first of our “Foundations of Dedicated China Allocations” series, we discuss investment policy and asset allocation as investors think through setting up such a program.

ESG ratings have reflected financial risk and returns in developed-market and emerging-market equities. But was this true in China, where ESG considerations are still in their infancy?

Market turbulence amid COVID-19 presented risks and opportunities. We explore how indexes , combined with the use of fundamental data, provided a wealth of information to help identify potential market dislocations.

Though relatively new to wealth investors, index-based factor investing has some similarity to a high-conviction, outcome-oriented approach. We explore combining the two when seeking outcomes such as equity growth, yield enhancement and risk mitigation.

During market crises, institutional investors have employed derivatives contracts to hedge market risks or express views on certain performance/risk characteristics. We explore prior use of futures for exposure management and tactical asset allocation.