Ronald van Genderen

Historically, US smallcaps have outperformed their European peers, with a difference of about 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent over 5-, 10- and 15-year periods, depending on the timeframe. In the first seven months of 2025, however, the situation has been reversed.

In recent years, global equity markets have been driven by the performance of largecaps, particularly in the technology sector, leaving smallcaps behind. That was the case in 2024, for example, when the Morningstar Global TME Index gained 25 percent while the Morningstar Global Small TME Index managed only a 16 percent increase.

Emerging markets extended their strong start to the year with another solid quarter. The Morningstar EM TME Index rose nearly 3 percent in Q2, outpacing the Morningstar Global TME Index, which gained 2.5 percent. As a result, emerging markets have now widened their outperformance over developed markets to nearly 4 percent year to date.

“Diversification is the only free lunch in investing,” said Harry M. Markowitz, the father of modern portfolio theory. He referred to the idea that broad diversification is likely the best way to limit portfolio risk without sacrificing returns.

Sustainable investing has been under pressure for some time, not least due to the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. This shift in sentiment has also hit ecology funds hard.

Emerging markets delivered a relatively resilient start to 2025. Morningstar this week compares the Pzena Emerging Markets Focused Value fund and Stewart Investors Global Emerging Markets Leaders fund.

For investors in alternative energy companies, the election of an American president whose slogan is “drill, baby, drill” was bad news. Since Donald Trump won the election on November 6 and became the 47th president of the United States, funds in the Morningstar Equity Sector Alternative Energy category have significantly underperformed global equities.

Sustainable investing has faced a challenging period since 2021, following years of seemingly unstoppable growth. While investor capital has continued to flow into sustainable funds, the pace has significantly slowed compared to the boom years.

With a loss of approximately 1 percent in euros during the fourth quarter, emerging markets ended 2024 on a slightly negative note. Although the year delivered a return of 14 percent, the emerging markets index lagged behind the global index, which achieved a return of 25 percent.

The African continent appears to generate little enthusiasm among investors. In fact, the total assets under management in African equity funds are so small that the survival of many funds is in question.