Riskwatch for Feb. 23, 2015

RiskWatch provides recent data on volatility and correlation, the two components of risk, for U.S. and global equity and fixed-income markets. The equity data are derived from Axioma’s medium-horizon fundamental risk model. The first set of tables is designed to capture U.S. industries, countries and currencies with the highest and lowest levels of volatility and how that component of risk has changed since the end of the prior quarter. The highest and lowest correlated countries within developed and emerging markets are also highlighted. Another chart illustrates how currency volatility has been a major driver of risk in multicountry benchmarks as well as a cause for concern in individual countries. The fixed-income data, detailed in the multiasset-class section, consist of government yields, investment-grade and subinvestment-grade spreads for the U.S. and eurozone as well as correlations between those asset classes. Data are as of Dec. 31, 2014.