In this edition, MSCI could benefit from international markets; we are confident about EVs accelerating in China; Scotts Miracle-Gro will bloom again; and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, Estée Lauder, and Tencent Holdings.

MSCI has described its mission as enabling investors to build better portfolios for a better world. MSCI’s largest and most profitable segment is its index segment, where it provides benchmarking to asset managers and asset owners. In addition, it boasts over $1.4 trillion in ETF assets linked to MSCI indexes. The MSCI analytics segment provides portfolio management and risk management analytics software to asset managers and asset owners. MSCI’s all other segment was broken out into ESG and climate and private assets segments in 2021. In ESG and climate, MSCI provides ESG data to the investment industry. In private assets, MSCI provides real restate reporting, market data, benchmarking, and analytics to investors and real estate managers.

MSCI has described its mission as enabling investors to build better portfolios for a better world. MSCI’s largest and most profitable segment is its index segment, where it provides benchmarking to asset managers and asset owners. In addition, it boasts over $1.4 trillion in ETF assets linked to MSCI indexes. The MSCI analytics segment provides portfolio management and risk management analytics software to asset managers and asset owners. MSCI’s all other segment was broken out into ESG and climate and private assets segments in 2021. In ESG and climate, MSCI provides ESG data to the investment industry. In private assets, MSCI provides real restate reporting, market data, benchmarking, and analytics to investors and real estate managers.

Peter Lynch famously noted that "insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise." Up until recently, 2024 was a very good year for equity investors, with all-time highs booked on a regular basis. So as insiders grew increasingly cautious over the past few months, it was easy to assume they were simply taking a little off the top. But about four weeks ago, the caution became pronounced, and last week, analysts at Vickers Stock Research noted that sell/buy ratios based on insider transactions were at their highest (most-bearish) levels since February of 2023. Indeed, Vickers' Total Eight-Week Sell/Buy Ratio has worsened to 5.15 from 3.59 in late June, this on a scale where anything above 2.50 is considered to be bearish. More important (and keeping in mind the words of Peter Lynch) is the following: Are insiders starting to think that prices are again attractive? Not yet. Current insider-sentiment readings from Vickers remain very bearish for a third week, with the action on the NYSE especially bleak: the index sports a one-week sell/buy reading of 11:00, up from 3.97 four weeks ago. Meanwhile, the Insider Index from Vickers (which looks at six months of insider activity) now sits at its most-bearish reading since August of 2021. This will all turn eventually -- but for now, playing defense remains the order of the day it seems. On a sector basis, selling by insiders last week was greatest in Information Technology, with shares valued at $114 million sold versus roughly $19 million bought. Buying outpaced selling in Communication Services.