If you don't want to back individual stocks like Nvidia, Microsoft or Alphabet, you can invest in tech funds. These are also benefiting from the trend toward artificial intelligence. Also very popular: money market funds.
June 1, 2023 FRANKFURT (Frankfurt Stock Exchange). Higher interest rates, the further monetary policy and U.S. debt dispute - these are the topics that currently determine fund trading. "The U.S. debt dispute is still a burden," notes Anja Deisenroth-Boström, trader at Baader Bank. At least the U.S. House of Representatives has now approved the solution negotiated by President Biden and Republican McCarthy, and now only the Senate's vote is pending. "Overall, there is restraint in the fund business in view of these issues," explains Jan Duisberg of ICF Bank.
"We also notice that 75 funds are suspended from trading because they contain securities of Russian issuers," Deisenroth-Boström also explains. "This also affects extremely high turnover funds such as Arero (LU0360863863)." Duisberg also points out, "Some funds have not been traded since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, but in recent months some more have come out of the 'gray zone'." According to regulator Bafin, capital management companies can temporarily suspend the redemption of unit certificates if it is not possible to calculate and publish the unit value.
Deisenroth-Bostroem
Money market funds remain popular
The high level of interest in money market funds continues to be striking. "We see many purchases," reports Deisenroth-Boström. For example, the DWS Rendite Optima Four Seasons (LU0225880524), the CB Geldmarkt Deutschland (LU0052221412) and the FF USD Cash (LU0064963852) from Fidelity are being bought.
Money market funds have been recording high inflows since last fall; according to Fidelity, more than 700 billion euros have flowed into the funds worldwide this year. One reason is interest rates, which are sometimes even higher at the short end of the yield curve than at the long end. But there are also recession fears and worries about the banks: "Demand for liquidity strategies had increased further due to the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank, discussions about the stability of Credit Suisse and fears of a bank quake," explained Annika Milz of Fidelity.
According to Duisberg, the 3 Banken Euro Bond-Mix (AT0000856323), the Parvest Bond Euro Medium Term (LU0086914446) and the Gothaer Euro-Rent (DE0008471095), all of which focus on European government bonds, have been well received.
Tech stocks take off
What's more, tech funds are all the rage - after all, the Nasdaq 100 is up 31 percent this year. "That's driven by the hype around artificial intelligence," Duisberg comments. The latest drivers: the extremely good quarterly figures of chip manufacturer Nvidia. In the fund space, Franklin Technology (LU0260870158) and BlackRock Global World Technology (LU0171310443) are very popular. The former is up nearly 30 percent this year, the latter 28 percent.
Duisberg
In the business with broadly diversified equity funds, however, Baader Bank's sales predominate: For example, the DWS German Equities Typ O (DE0008474289), the BlackRock Global Funds Continental European Flex (LU0224105477), the Morgan Stanley INVF Global Opportunity (LU0552385295) and the DWS Top Dividende (DE0009848119) are on the sell lists.
On the other hand, the DWS Deutschland (DE0008490962) and the GLS Bank Aktienfonds (DE000A1W2CK8) have been added to. The GLS fund is committed to "consistent sustainability in the capital market" and invests worldwide in companies that are active in forward-looking business areas: from renewable energies to sustainable mobility and healthy nutrition. This year, its share price has risen by 4.7 percent, and over a three-year period by just under 5 percent a year.
Deisenroth-Boström reports only "mediocre" sales for funds with Asian stocks. "From an investor's point of view, there is not much to be said for Asia at the moment." Selling, for example, would be Robeco Asia Pacific Equities (<LU0084617165<) and Templeton Asian Growth (LU0029875118). Both have performed poorly compared to European equity funds this year: The Robeco fund is up 3.4 percent year-to-date, while the Templeton fund is up just 0.4 percent.
Immo funds: Mood remains scratched
Real estate funds remain under pressure. "Sales continue to predominate," Duisberg notes. "The high interest rates are making themselves felt, but also the government's plans for heating replacement, which are causing a lot of uncertainty." Affected are for example the UniImmo Europa (DE0009805515) and the HausInvest (DE0009807016), he says. Price losses were also suffered by Deka-ImmobilienMetropolen (DE000DK0TWX8), DEGI International (DE0008007998) and Deka-ImmobilienEuropa (DE0009809566).
by: Anna-Maria Borse, June 1 2023, © Deutsche Börse
Anna-Maria Borse is a finance and economics editor specializing in financial markets/stock markets and economic topics.
Feedback and questions to redaktion@deutsche-boerse.com
Borse