Dave Baxter

2 weeks ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Dave Baxter

The two promising investment themes can be accessed using both tracker funds and active portfoliosPublished on April 4, 2025Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement may have been a low-key affair, but it did serve as another reminder that defence shares could have even further to rise. The chancellor set out plans to make the UK a “defence industrial superpower”, committing to multibillion-pound increases in spending and investment for innovative technologies.

3 weeks ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Dave Baxter

With returns driven by a handful of stocks, recent years have been brutal to professional investors trying to outsmart the market. This is especially the case for global equity funds, which like their US peers have had to contend with the rise of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks. Less than a quarter of funds and trusts in the UK’s main global equity sectors have beaten the MSCI World index over a five-year period.

3 weeks ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Dave Baxter

Volatile market conditions tend to produce big winners and losers, and that much is evident in the funds space this year. With investors looking for safe havens, the iShares Gold Producers ETF (SPGP) is up by nearly a third so far in 2025. Others, meanwhile, look pretty bruised: the WisdomTree Blockchain ETF (BKCN) is off by a quarter, with Molten Ventures (GROW) and Augmentum Fintech (AUGM) each down by around a fifth.

3 weeks ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Dave Baxter

US equities are having a bad year, but some funds have bucked the trendPublished on March 28, 2025As is often the case, the biggest victims of this year’s market sell-off have been its erstwhile leaders. As of 21 March, Meta (US:META) is the only Magnificent Seven member not sitting on a year-to-date loss, with Tesla (US:TSLA) off by more than 30 per cent. This speaks to the fact that US shares have suffered more than most so far this year, dragging the US-heavy MSCI World index down with them.

1 month ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Dave Baxter

It has been a painful few weeks for global investors, with the S&P 500 giving up substantial ground. The reasons are clear enough, what with trade war rhetoric (and measures) ramping up, recession risk rising and the narrative of US exceptionalism hitting the buffers for the time being. But it’s worth observing that another development has intensified the losses taken by UK investors.