With fixed-income investors still recovering from a year that arguably saw nearly every cycle of the market, we look ahead to 2025 across sectors, including sustainability-linked bonds, securitized products and the ongoing effects of inflation and moves by central banks.

When it comes to managing portfolios, the role of risk, and risk managers continues to evolve. We hear from two industry leaders, recently returned from the MSCI Analytics Summit, on the future of identifying, measuring and managing risk.

We're joined by MSCI's Chief Research Officer, Ashley Lester and Chief Client Officer, Axel Kilian, who recently attended the 19th annual Institutional Investor Forum, hosted by MSCI. We discuss the benefits and considerations of a total portfolio approach, as well as the myriad of challenges facing asset owners and investors around the world.

From the effects of China's stimulus to the power of sustainability on portfolio performance and companies cost of capital, our panel dissects the latest market drivers and where investors may be focused for the rest of 2024.

Rate hikes from central banks around the world may offer a glimmer of hope to commercial real estate (CRE) investors, but will it be the panacea they're looking for? We discuss the state of the CRE debt market and the potential path for portfolios.

One of the key aspects of controlling or limiting climate change is the energy transition. That is, the global energy sector's shift from fossil-based systems of energy production and consumption - including oil, natural gas and coal - to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, as well as lithium-ion batteries. To discuss where things stand in the transition, we spoke to MSCI ESG Research's Chris Cote and Yu Ishihara, author of the recently published paper "Auto Industry: Emissions vs. Economics," along with Tyler Rosenlicht, Head of Natural Resource Equities at Cohen Steers.

As investors look to manage the outsized effect of the "Magnificent Seven" and the tech sector in general, we explore sector-based investing, which offers a strategic approach for investors looking to gain exposure to distinctive segments of the economy. MSCI's own Abhishek Gupta and Dinank Chitkara dig deep into their recent paper, "Incorporating Sector Investing in Portfolio Management," and Vanguard's, Andrey Kotlyarenko, provides a view into how investors put this all into practice.

With stubborn inflation, a plunging Japanese yen and unpredictable elections around the globe, 2024 has proven challenging for fixed-income investors — and for central banks. We sat down with MSCI’s global head of fixed-income solutions research, Afsaneh Mastouri, to talk about the state of fixed-income markets, and what the rest of the year may hold.

Our panel of experts, led by chief research officer, Ashley Lester, takes stock of global markets as we enter the back half of 2024. Ashley and team examine the short- and long-term issues affecting investors, including the ever changing geopolitical landscape, the continued impact of AI and the role of private markets in the carbon transition.

The Inflation Reduction Act provides large incentives for a shift to clean energy in the U.S. MSCI teamed up with the Rocky Mountain Institute to investigate its effects on utilities.