Top Picks of the Month – December 2021
We show here a selection of funds that might be of interest to you. They were chosen either for their outstanding performance, which is likely to continue, or for their potential for attractive returns or diversification given current and expected market conditions.
After a positive start, equity markets fell in November amid renewed Covid concerns with suddenly rising case numbers in Europe and uncertainty over the impact of a new Omicron variant. The usual “work from home” versus “Covid reopening” rotation dominated the last trading days of the month.
Almost every equity markets ended November in negative territory with noteworthy exceptions being the tech sector worldwide, Nasdaq and US large cap growth stocks, Swiss index and some EM indices (onshore China, Taiwan, South Africa and Turkey). Sector-wise, energy and financials were the laggards weighting heavily on value-oriented indices.
US and Europe bond markets rose on lower risk appetite and as investors pared back their expectations of central bank tightening due to renewed Covid-related growth concerns.
Threadneedle Global Technology (+3.9%) outperformed its benchmark by 120 bps, benefiting from its exposure to US mega tech names, particularly its overweight in US semiconductors (Synaptics +45.1%, Lam Research +20.6%, Teradyne +10.7%, Applied Materials +7.8%).
Sustainable and Environmental Transition remained supportive themes for investors within equities. Mandarine Global Transition (+0.9%) and Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity (+0.1%) outperformed their benchmark by +0.6& and +2.4% respectively.
In Alt-UCITs, Prosper Stars & Stripes, a long / short in US small & mid-caps, posted solid performance (+1.7%), benefitting from a strong short book performance.
In the Fixed Income, AXA IM WAVe Cat Bonds (+0.4%) proved again this month to be resilient and consistent in risk aversion environments.