S&P500 Long-Term Return Warning: Jane Zhao at KIW 2026 on the Cost of Leaving the Market

Jane Zhao, head of quantitative equities at China Investment Corporation (CIC), warned on May 12, 2026, at Korea Investment Week (KIW) 2026 at The Shilla Seoul that stepping out of the market to avoid uncertainty can be costly for investors. Citing 36 years of S&P500 data, she said missing the index’s 10 strongest gain days could cut long-term returns by 50%. Speaking on designing alpha for sovereign wealth funds, Zhao presented strategic asset allocation (SAA) and nested cluster optimization (NCO), a framework that seeks alpha from market inefficiencies. The message was that long-term positioning and systematic risk management matter more than trying to time short-term downturns. Source: hankyung.com.