Using Growth Factors to Pick Investments in Equities and Bonds
Bloomberg Markets|October - November 2020
IN LATE MARCH, the U.S. markets started their amazing recovery from the Covid-19 chaos and economic uncertainty.
STEVEN GEE, CELESTINE LEON, and PUSHPINDER KAUR
Using Growth Factors to Pick Investments in Equities and Bonds

Stocks and credit rallied, and the Nasdaq-100 Index and S&P 500 topped pre-pandemic highs in June and August, respectively. With the Federal Reserve continuing to provide a backstop, investors expect government stimulus plans and ample liquidity to remain in place for the foreseeable future. Many have been looking past 2020 to an eventual recovery in the economy.

When you examine and prioritize investment opportunities, understanding what’s driving markets is crucial. Bloomberg workflows can help with that. In addition, they can enable you to sift through sectors and spot potential A-list performers.

BLOOMBERG’S FACTORS to Watch (FTW) function makes it easy to track which characteristics are systematically rewarded across equity market segments. To identify stocks that have those characteristics, you can use FTW for quick discovery.

Let’s dig into S&P 500 stocks. Type “Factors to Watch” in the command line of a Bloomberg screen and select FTW - Factors to Watch from autocomplete. (The shortcut is {FTW }.) Use the drop-down in the upper left corner of the screen to select SPX Index - S&P 500 Index under North America. Which stocks will offer the best growth potential as investors shift toward riskier assets? Let’s review all of the growth factors to find out. Under the Style column heading, the default selection is Highlights. Use the drop-down to choose Growth. Click on the YTD Ret column heading to sort the factors by year-to-date return from high to low (FIG. 1).

This story is from the October - November 2020 edition of Bloomberg Markets.

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This story is from the October - November 2020 edition of Bloomberg Markets.

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