US equities

Wall Street’s relentless climb offers both a spectacular show and a precarious wager on the world’s most dynamic economy .While sceptics see a bubble ready to burst, optimists argue that growth is justified.

The year 2025 can only be an exceptional one for equities if geopolitical stability materialises, a prospect that seems unlikely. Large asset managers are once again emphasising diversification to withstand the anticipated volatility.

Quintet chief investment officer Daniele Antonucci shared where the private bank has increased and decreased its exposure, plus investment trend shifts among its European clientele.

Major technology companies such as Amazon, Google, and Oracle are aggressively expanding into nuclear power, sparking significant investor interest in the sector’s stocks and ETFs. However, concerns are emerging about potential ‘pump and dump’ schemes in the rapidly growing space.

The US stock market is always more expensive than other markets. However, America’s premium over Europe is now so high that betting on Europe may be a better option for investors, according to Joost van Leenders, who explained Van Lanschot Kempen’s outlook during a recent interview by Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s Dutch-language sister publication.

“The United States remains the place to be for investors, despite the significant outperformance in recent years. Nowhere are you better served as an equity investor. For emerging markets, caution is especially necessary after the recent debacles in China.

It is better to reduce overweight positions to neutral and wait until the fog lifts. Especially in China,” investment strategist, consultant and author Jan Longeval of Kounselor Consulting BV told Investment Officer in a recent conversation.

According to traditional valuation metrics, US equities are expensive. In this analysis, we provide two arguments for continued outperformance of US equities, and two in favour of better performance of non-US equities.

As the head of the BL - Equities America fund, Luc Bauler emphasises the importance of favouring stocks with solid and visible growth prospects. Portfolio turnover is low in this strategy, which is approaching its 30th anniversary.

Despite its recent slide, the US dollar is still overvalued. In time, the greenback could go much lower. This has positive implications for European, Japanese and EM equities, but is a bad prospect for Wall Street, according to Michael Devereux, multi-asset fund manager at Schroders.

The impending economic recovery may well mean the big tech stocks will cede their market leadership for the time being. But the FAMAG stocks remain attractive on a long-term basis, says Julian Cook, portfolio specialist for US equities at T. Rowe Price. Apart from one though.