S&P Global Sector survivals: Momentum effects in sector indices underlying iShares

This study investigates survival of the momentum effects in S&P Global 1200 Sector index returns which are underlying indices for iShares, by employing a methodology which allows analyzing the momentum effect without being dependant on zero-investment portfolios. We design a trading strategy based on momentum survival time for 10 S&P Global 1200 Sectors and show that for most of the sectors, long, short and long/short momentum strategies are profitable at the realistic level of transaction costs, generating substantially higher Sharpe ratios than buy and hold sector index strategy.