Thematic Investing

European stocks rose for the fifth consecutive month in November on optimism about the path of economic growth. Concerns about high valuations in artificial intelligence-related stocks weighed on US indices, while global benchmarks were flat for the month.

Stocks rose for the seventh consecutive month in October, the longest positive run in over four years, following strong corporate earnings reports and amid investor expectations that global economic growth will be sustained.

European defense and AI stocks were the focus of discussion during a breakout session at this year’s gathering in Frankfurt. ETF experts from Amundi and BlackRock weighed in on the drivers and outlook for two of the market’s strongest investment themes this year.

In a recent webinar, Lukas Ahnert, Senior Product Specialist at Xtrackers by DWS, and Arun Singhal, Head of Product Management and Client Success at STOXX, discussed the drivers behind Europe’s stock rally and the latest investment strategies designed in collaboration by both firms.

Stocks rose for the sixth consecutive month in September, the longest positive run in four years, on investor expectations that falling US interest rates and sustained economic growth will help corporate earnings.

In this Perspectives report, we weigh the military sales exposures of a European defense portfolio, and examine its alignment with current sustainability regulations.

STOXX Ltd., part of the ISS STOXX group of companies, today announced its expanding collaboration with DWS, with DWS’ launch of its Xtrackers Europe Defence Technologies UCITS ETF tracking the STOXX® Europe Total Market Defence Space and Cybersecurity Innovation index, as the continent undertakes a historic upgrade of its military capabilities.

The underlying index combines revenues- and patent-based stock selection methodologies, capturing companies across the spectrum and life cycle of the targeted themes.

Large-scale investments in the area of AI infrastructure — such as semiconductors and cloud computing — herald gains in company efficiencies and profits in coming years. The iShares AI Infrastructure UCITS ETF, which tracks a STOXX index, has topped USD 100 million in assets only nine months following its launch in December last year.

Amid strong demand for European defense stocks this year, seeking ‘pure’ exposure to the theme through military equipment revenues has enabled investors to outperform.

Stocks gained for a fifth consecutive month in August amid expectations the Federal Reserve is poised to cut interest rates as early as this month.

Seismic shifts in the environment, technology and socio-demographics — known as megatrends — as well as geopolitical drivers are transforming our world and creating investable themes such as artificial intelligence, defense, digital assets and energy transition metals. Thematic indices offer investors a chance to target the beneficiaries of these trends.