Top Picks – Funds Selection – May 2023

We are showing here a selection of funds that might be of interest to you, either due to their recent outstanding performance, the attractive return potential or diversification benfit they may offer in the given market conditions.

In April, the global economy remained resilient despite further interest rates hikes and growing headwinds particularly in the banking sector. However, business surveys showed recently some improvements, but a recession outcome is still discounted for the second half of the year.

This positive economic momentum still supported risk assets.

Developed global equities rose by 1.8% over the month, with value stocks modestly outperforming growth counterparts.

Global government bonds were broadly unchanged returning a modest 0.1%, while investment grade credit led the table with returns of 1.2% over the month.

Within equities, better than expected Q1 earnings coupled with falling energy prices supported developed equities, particularly in the large cap and in thematic space.

On the other hand, EM equities lagged despite macro resilience and attractive valuations.

Outperformes in our selection

Equity

Artemis SmartGARP Global Emerging Markets (+274 bps), M&G Global Listed Infrastructure (+156 bps) and Robeco Global Consumer Trends (+68 bps) were the noteworthy outperformer funds.

Fixed Income

Alpha generation was well spread among the fixed income sub-asset classes. Vontobel TwentyFour Strategic Income (+81 bps) remains a good choice for a total return fixed income fund, with an unconstrained, active and flexible approach to navigate the current environment.

Our selection in the EM debt continues de deliver solid returns across all the buckets, BNY Mellon EM Corporate Debt (+38 bps) and Barings EM Local Debt (+24 bps) being the best performers.

Pimco GIS Capital Securities (+84 bps) and Federated Hermes Multi-Strategy Credit (+34 bps) also outperformed, benefitting from their flexibility to invest across the capital structure.

Performance figures in bracket are monthly alpha compared to respective funds’ benchmark, not absolute performance.

All the mentioned funds are exclusively extracted from our OpenList service, a fund selection list for use by Wealth Managers in Switzerland.

To access the full list, fund reports and all related services, subscribe for FREE via this link.