MSCI Inc. is a company that is best known for its global indices. MSCI also provides research and pricing capabilities to institutional investors.
MSCI was formerly a branch of Morgan Stanley, but grew to be so big that they spun off and formed the independent company, MSCI Inc. Perhaps its best known and used index is the MSCI EAFE, which tracks broad performance of Europe, Asia, and the Far East.
It’s most globally comprehensive index is the MSCI ACWI, which is the All Country World Index. This index tracks every country that has a stock market all in one index, so it paints the broadest picture of how world equities are performing.
A more useful global index, however, is the MSCI World. The MSCI World Index covers all economies categorized as “developed.”