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Active Quantitative Equity (AQE)

Fund Update – November 2023

2 min read

Global equities reversed in November after three down months, delivering a strong return as rates fell on a more benign inflation outlook and optimism increased for an economic soft landing. Manufacturing activity saw some improvement but continued to contract for the fifteenth consecutive month, while service sector performed better.

Attribution:

The State Street Global Equity Fund underperformed the MSCI World ex Australia Index during November.1 Our Alpha model performance was down in November, with negative contribution from Sentiment factors followed by Value, and Catalyst. Conversely, Quality factors contributed positively to relative returns. From a country and sector perspective, negative stock selection in US Health care and US Consumer Staples were the key detractors. On the other hand, good stock picking within UK Consumer Staples and underweight exposure in Japanese Financial sectors were key contributors towards relative performance. Currency hedging contributed 2.7% during the month.

Notable changes during the month:

During November, we made minor adjustments to the overall portfolio with the aim of improving expected risk-adjusted returns. The rebalance involved slightly increasing our exposure to select names in the Research & Consulting Services industry with Industrials (notably Wolters Kluwer N.V. on the back of increasing Value and Sentiment scores) and Integrated Telecommunication Services company - Verizon Communications on the back of improving Sentiment score. At the same time, we reduced our exposure to Packaged Foods & Meats Services company – such as General Mills and Hershey on the back of falling Sentiment scores.