MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S.: What it Means, How it Works, Calculation (original) (raw)

What Is the MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S.?

The Morgan Stanley Capital International All Country World Index Ex-U.S. (MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S.) is a market-capitalization-weighted index maintained by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI). It is designed to provide a broad measure of stock performance throughout the world, with the exception of U.S.-based companies. The MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S. includes both developed and emerging markets.

Key Takeaways

Understanding the MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S.

For investors who benchmark their U.S. and international stocks separately, the MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S index provides a way to monitor international exposure apart from U.S. investments. As of May 31, 2022, the MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S. held mid and large-cap holdings across 22 out of 23 countries classified as developed markets and 24 classified as emerging markets.

The top 10 holdings of the MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S. as of May 31, 2022, were as follows: {(index weight %) [_Sector_]}

These holdings span the following nations with country weights of Japan (13.93%), United Kingdom (9.99%),China (8.86%), Canada (8.29%), France (7.19%), and Other (51.74%).

MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S. index sector weights include Financials (20.43%), Industrials (11.93%), Information Technology (11.67%), Consumer Discretionary (11.02%), Health Care (9.4%), Materials (8.79%), Consumer Staples (8.61%), Communication Services (6.27%), Energy (6.1%), Utilities (3.34%), and Real Estate (2.45%).

Calculating the MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S.

The MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S. Index calculation is determined on the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes (GIMI) methodology. This approach to index construction allows for global views and regional comparisons across all market capitalization size, sector, and style segments and combinations. The methodology focuses on index liquidity, investability, and replicability.

Portfolio managers review the index quarterly—in February, May, August, and November. The aim of each review is to reflect changes in the covered equity markets. Managers re-balance the index during the May and November reviews and re-calculate the large and mid-capitalization cutoff points.

The MSCI ACWI Ex-U.S. Index should not be confused with MSCI, the independent provider of institutional investor insights and tools. Existing outside of any financial institution, MSCI consists of 222,000+ equity indexes that are calculated daily. Notably, 1+ trillion in equity assets are benchmarked to MSCI indexes worldwide, while 99 of the top 100 global investment managers are clients of MSCI. MSCI’s leading equity indexes include the following: