Quants With $2 Trillion Hit by Correlations at 20-Year High Many quants are hoping now that as people get vaccinated and economies recover, factors will move to their own beat again and trade on the fundamental rules discovered by academics decades ago. Justina Lee | Jan 12, 2021 (Bloomberg) -- Stock market records are doing little to revive fortunes in factor investing, a $2 trillion corner of the quant world that dissects stocks by attributes like how cheap they look or how fast they’ve risen. The strategies are failing to live up to their diversification label in an era when recession-spurring lockdowns, rally-inducing stimulus and game-changing vaccines are all moving markets.