Introduction Another highly dramatic quarter with a massive turnaround. What began as dominated by geopolitical panics - illustrated by the roller coaster oil price - ended up with an explosive stock market rally driven by the semiconductor companies. For example, Micron, Intel and SK Hynix all tripled in price during [...]

Introduction Last quarter we asked the rhetorical question: What will Trump do next? As if the Ukrainian conflict, tariff uncertainty, and China’s provocative actions did not create enough anxiety, we now have a belligerent US president joining Israeli forces in a hostile attack on Iran with devastating economic consequences. [...]

Introduction The Fund was down 1.1% in EUR terms, 1.2% in USD terms and 1.8% in AUD terms.  It was a pretty ordinary performance. Not only in absolute terms - the robots that invest blindly in the MSCI World Index performed better.For the year, thanks to a decline in the USD [...]

Introduction The Fund was up 3.7% in EUR terms, 3.8% in USD terms and 2.6% in AUD terms. Ordinarily one would be more than happy with that performance. But when compared to market indices which comprise, to a large extent, businesses expected to benefit enormously from AI initiatives, those figures [...]

Introduction We start writing this with the US market closed for Independence Day, and the “Big Beautiful Bill” having just been passed. Everything’s “Hunky Dory”. Forget tariffs - that’s yesterday’s news, it’s as if it never happened… That’s the expression we have found ourselves constantly repeating over the last few [...]

Introduction We are writing this on April 7th, just days after Trump’s “Liberation Day”. What a calamity! The Index is down 10.4% in two days (in EUR terms)1, 2. The “Trump Bump” has turned into a “Trump Slump”. And to think just a few months it seemed universally accepted that [...]

Introduction If you had asked us in late September about the short term market ramifications of a Trump election win, we would have refused to answer. Not because we don’t think about these things. Rather, because they are not knowable (despite what “so-called” experts may profess). But if pressed, perhaps [...]

Introduction The bull market continues. Equity markets in the main posted strongly positive returns, but masked some heightened volatility in early August - reportedly sparked by the 0.25% hike in Japanese interest rates and the release of a poorer than expected US jobs report. In three days the Japanese equity [...]

Introduction The Fund retreated by 2.3%, 3.0% and 5.3% in EUR, USD and AUD terms. Longer term performance is provided in Table 4. The AI euphoria continues. Some are comparing the current environment with the dot-com bubble of the late 1990’s. We are reminded of Scott McNealy (the former CEO [...]

Introduction You’ve heard it before. The index is extremely polarised, with a select few stocks driving returns. Recently, we can single out Nvidia (up 82.5% for the quarter, 225.4% for the year) and Meta (up 37.3% for the quarter, 129.4% for the year). There are more than 1,500 MSCI World [...]