MSCI rebounds to record highs as data-focused software stocks recover

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MSCI rebounds to record highs

Highlights

MSCI returned to record highs after a long consolidation, reversing heavy earlier selling in software and data-focused stocks.
AI developers' increased demand for proprietary data has renewed investor interest in information products, disregarding previous concerns about data abundance reducing pricing power.
MSCI's recovery signals a broader shift as markets now value proprietary data assets more highly, strengthening financial information firms’ strategic importance.

MSCI rally follows long consolidation

As reported by CNBC, MSCI has broken out of a long consolidation and returned to record highs after being caught in an earlier wave of heavy selling across software and data-related stocks.

The move marks a reversal from a period when investors broadly assumed that data, like software code, would become abundant and effectively free, undermining the pricing power of companies built around information products. That view is now looking misplaced as AI developers and automated agents consume large volumes of data for training and ongoing use.

Josh Brown highlights MSCI as one of the names that has made a strong comeback from that sell-off, putting the stock back on investors' radar this week.

Data demand reshapes the investment case

MSCI's roots stretch back decades before its 2007 public listing. In 1968, Capital International, a division of Capital Group, launched global equity indexes that gave institutional investors a benchmark for international holdings.

In 1986, Morgan Stanley, an early client of the business, took a large stake and secured full rights to the indexes, leading to the Morgan Stanley Capital International name. Morgan Stanley still held a majority stake when the company went public, underscoring the business's long-standing role in the financial information sector.

The stock's recovery points to a broader shift in how markets value proprietary data assets. For financial information companies, the renewed appetite for trusted, structured data is strengthening the case that these businesses remain strategically important even after the earlier software-sector washout.

Our earlier report on the Philippine Social Security System’s equity portfolio outlined how the pension fund defended its strategy amid scrutiny over recent paper losses, emphasizing that unrealized declines do not become cash losses unless assets are sold below cost. It highlighted long-run realized gains and steady dividend income from core holdings as evidence of portfolio resilience, alongside a continued focus on diversified, income-generating allocations to manage volatility.

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