US stocks are overvalued by most metrics, according to smart beta specialists Research Affiliates. Whilst this may come as worrying news for investors in US equity ETFs such as the $177 billion SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) or the $12.6 billion iShares Russell 1000 ETF (IWB), this does not mean that they might not appreciate further. While the valuation metrics are useful in estimating the long-term return of the market, Research Affiliates warns that they can’t tell us with any accuracy when market prices will be heading up or down: “Simply knowing a market is overvalued tells us nothing about when it is expected to revert to reality.”

By Jason Hsu, Research Affiliates. Every year we invite some of the investment industry’s most creative thinkers to speak about their work at the Research Affiliates’ Advisory Panel conference. Along with Nobel laureates Vernon Smith and Harry Markowitz, the speakers at our 14th annual meeting included Campbell Harvey, Richard Roll, Andrew Karolyi, Bradford Cornell, Andrew Ang, Charles Gave, Tim Jenkinson, and our very own Rob Arnott. The richness of the speakers’ presentations beggars any attempt to summarize them; I’ll limit myself to the points I found most intriguing and illuminating. I also acknowledge that this account may reflect my own capacity for misinterpretation as much as the genius of the speakers’ actual research.

A new survey from London-based exchange-traded fund provider Source points to continued demand for ETFs, particularly as a method of gaining broad market exposure, with growth in smart beta strategies also expected to be strong. Of the 559 professional investors and advisers interviewed, 71% were currently invested in passive tracker ETFs, with 37% of respondents expecting to increase their allocation in 2015.

FTSE Russell, a global index provider, and Research Affiliates, a pioneer in smart beta strategies, have announced the launch of the FTSE RAFI Equity Income Index Series. The indices are designed to track the performance of high yielding, high quality stocks by screening companies on dividend payments and financial health. Jason Hsu, co-founder of Research Affiliates, said: “For a good number of investors, accessing sustainable, high income remains an unmet need. Yields in fixed income remain historically low, while within the equity space, existing high dividend strategies tend to tilt toward low growth sectors or poor quality stocks.”