The secret life of Swiss stocks
This week’s edition is dedicated to the happy few who are still following markets during the presumed summer lull. We take the opportunity to share some secrets about Swiss stock markets with you.
Secret #1:
Swiss stocks have outperformed US stocks in my lifetime (see our number of the week) and provided investors with stellar returns.
Secret #2:
Swiss stocks are growth stocks – two out of the top three European growth stocks are Swiss mega caps.
Secret #3:
If you buy Swiss mid-cap stocks, you get ‘Swissness’ on steroids, both in terms of growth and return. Of course, Switzerland may be considered a boring niche market with good defensive appeal by global investors – yawn. So if you are looking for glamour stocks, you may want to turn elsewhere. However, if you want to get solid returns at unspectacular risks, you are well served investing your funds in Switzerland. Just to put it into perspective: Swiss stocks are not for the faint-hearted either, but as with most things in life, it is a relative game.
The speed of the economic recovery is tapering off
Boring, solid, growth: this is exactly what investors are up to this summer, especially after growth momentum has peaked globally – or, financial jargon aside, the speed of the economic recovery is tapering off. Granted, the US employment report showed that the recovery is still on a solid footing. However, employment is so much of a lagging indicator after all. Even if the deceleration of economic growth proves to be correct, the slowdown in non-farm payroll numbers could be seen towards year end – or even only in 2022. China shows some less shiny figures as well, as the flaring up of infections will likely cause some dents in consumption. We have revised down our forecast for the growth numbers by half a percentage point to 8.3%.
Conclusion for investors
So investors keep looking for alternatives to stocks that are tied into the global business cycle; they tend to end up with so called ‘growth’ stocks. These are shares of companies that tend to outgrow the average company in the longer term. That is another reason why we have upgraded Swiss stocks to Overweight (refer to secret #2). Do not tell anyone, please.
Number Of The Week