In this article, we extend the standard paradigm for portfolio stress testing in two ways. First, we introduce a structured set of tools that enable investors to envision and administer extreme scenarios. We show how to take account of historical and hypothetical covariance matrices in scenario...

We gauge the return-generating potential of four investment strategies: value weighted, 60/40 fixed mix, unlevered and levered risk parity. We have three main findings. First, even over periods lasting decades, the start and end dates of a backtest can have a material effect on results; second,...

The authors extended the standard paradigm for portfolio stress testing in two ways. First, they introduced a toolkit that enables investors to envision and administer extreme scenarios. The risk model is integral to the stress test. They demonstrated the substantial impact of using historical...

Factor models are standards in investment management. For decades, Barra factor models have provided valuable risk forecasts and inputs for the portfolio construction process. Most uses of factor models have targeted longer horizons of months or years. However, we demonstrate in this paper that...

In this article, the authors measure the impact of estimation error on latent factor model forecasts of portfolio risk and factor exposures. In markets simulated with a Gaussian return generating process, the authors measure errors in forecasts for equally weighted and long-only minimum variance...

This paper describes an empirical study of shortfall optimization with Barra Extreme Risk. We compare minimum shortfall to minimum variance portfolios in the US, UK, and Japanese equity markets using Barra Style Factors (Value, Growth, Momentum, etc.). We show that minimizing shortfall generally...