Over the past several months, markets have cycled through a variety of themes and regimes. Most recently, leadership has shifted away from many large-cap, growth-oriented areas that previously dominated performance. In an environment where market dynamics can change quickly, having a systematic and adaptive investment process becomes increasingly valuable.

A few months ago, the NDW team launched several new factor-based strategies, including a comprehensive multi‑factor approach known as the NDW Multifactor Model TR (NDWMULTIFACTOR.TR). This strategy is built on a disciplined, rules‑based framework designed to adapt across changing market environments. The model integrates four distinct factor sub‑models—quality, low volatility, value, and growth—with each sub‑model contributing its top five securities based on proprietary ranking matrices. The result is a well‑diversified portfolio of 20 total holdings that captures multiple sources of return across style factors (Click here to read more). The image below shows the different sub-models that make up the NDW multifactor model.

An important nuance of this approach is that by continuously selecting the highest-ranked securities from each sub-model, the strategy implicitly incorporates momentum as a “hidden” overlay. Securities must demonstrate relative strength against their peers within each factor sub-model, which helps the model stay aligned with evolving market leadership.

The chart below highlights the NDW Multifactor Model’s performance across multiple time horizons. Year-to-date, the model is up 10.42%, outperforming the S&P 500 Total Return (TR.SPXX) benchmark by more than 12%. Since inception in 2002, the model has delivered an annualized return of over 17%, exceeding its benchmark by over 7%. Notably, the strategy outperforms the benchmark across every time interval shown in the chart.

A deeper look “under the hood” reveals a well-balanced portfolio across market capitalizations (large- and mid-cap) and investment styles (growth, value, and blend). This diversification helps mitigate concentration risk and enhances the model’s ability to perform across different market environments. From a downside-risk perspective, the model has demonstrated strong resilience. Its maximum drawdown of -43.48% is meaningfully less severe than the benchmark’s -55.25%, highlighting improved capital preservation during periods of market stress.

Perhaps most compelling is the model’s Sharpe Ratio, a widely used measure of risk-adjusted returns that evaluates how efficiently a strategy converts risk into performance. The NDW Multifactor Model posts a Sharpe Ratio of 0.88, substantially higher than the benchmark’s 0.56. This indicates that the model has not only generated superior returns but has done so with greater consistency and efficiency.

By combining multiple complementary factors within a disciplined and adaptive framework, the NDW Multifactor Model offers a robust approach for navigating changing market regimes—delivering strong absolute performance, consistent relative outperformance, and attractive risk-adjusted returns over time.

Amid all of the talk about commodities, markets seem to have forgotten about the overall strength of international equities. While we will need to watch the recent rise of the U.S. Dollar (most recent article linked here), international equities continue to flex their muscles toward the top of the pack on NDW’s broad rankings. The average global/international fund on the Asset Class Group Scores Page has a strong 4.14 (of 6) fund score… and while that metric has fallen off slightly, the overall technical picture for many international groups remains quite strong. Broad ex U.S. representative (ACWX) maintains a superior 5.38 fund score as of 3/18, having advanced roughly 4% so far this year. On its default chart, the fund has reversed back up into Xs providing a level of localized support around $68. While it is closer to testing this support than printing additional upside, the path of least resistance remains higher as the fund sits just under 7% away from its respective chart high at $74. In terms of its relative strength, ACWX returned to a buy signal on its 3.25% RS chart against the equal-weighted S&P 500 SPXEWI in January. The move marked the first buy signal favoring the international representative since 2006- the lone signal that lasted over 2 years until late 2008. While domestic equities have indisputably dominated this RS relationship, a switching strategy that owns whichever asset (SPXEWI or ACWX) is on a RS buy signal is an overall profitable strategy over a buy-and-hold of either asset on its own. While there is no way of telling whether this signal will ultimately last another two years or reverse right back down, it will certainly be something to watch going forward.

Breaking this relationship down even further, we can utilize a simple rolling six-month performance spread between ACWX and SPX. Through 3/16, ACWX had outperformed broad SPX by just over 6%. While this value may seem insignificant at first glance, it is well above the historical (1998-2026) average that sees SPX best ACWX by roughly 2.5% over any given six-month timeframe. The historical spread is displayed below. A few interesting points to note- you’ll see that outside of the 2000s, sustained, positive (favors ACWX) values have been hard to come by. Other instances throughout the 2010s have rarely risen above 10% before quickly retreating as domestic names took over. While the 2020s have remained somewhat sporadic in terms of overall performance leadership, the magnitude of domestic outperformance has dwindled. So far in the 2020s, SPX has outperformed ACWX over any given 6-month period by roughly 3.5%, compared to nearly 4.5% throughout the 2010’s. While the decade isn’t over yet, this is a meaningful reduction and signals an uptick in relative leadership from international representatives.

To contextualize how the 2020s are shaping up against other decades, we can run a simple count of days in each period that the spread was positive (favoring ACWX). In doing so, we can see that roughly 26% of the days throughout the 2020’s have seen international outperforming domestics over the preceding 6-months… well above the ~17% observed throughout the 2010s. Comparing the count to other periods, it sits roughly on par with our pre-2000 bucket (27.5%) and still well behind what we saw throughout the 2000’s. Remember, we still have quite a ways to go in this decade, but the message here is clear: There is an increasing number of international options that are able to compete with your domestic space.

Remember, the global stage brings with it several risks not quite present when considering suitability on the domestic front. Keep this in mind when going out and finding ideas to plug-and-play in your client portfolios.

Each week the analysts at NDW review and comment on all major asset classes in the global markets. Shown below is the summary or snapshot of the primary technical indicators we follow for multiple areas. Should there be changes mid-week we will certainly bring these to your attention via the report.

Remember, these are technical comments only. Just as you must be aware of fundamental data for the stocks we recommend based on technical criteria in the report, so too must you be aware of important data regarding delivery, market moving government releases, and other factors that may influence commodity pricing. We try to limit our technical comments to the most actively traded contracts in advance of delivery, but some contracts trade actively right up to delivery while others taper off well in advance. Be sure you check your dates before trading these contracts. For questions regarding this section or additional coverage of commodities email james.west@nasdaq.com.

Data represented in the table below is through 3/17/2026:

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