Thematic Investing

The war in Ukraine has hit the various business sectors in the equity market in different ways. In contrast, themes such as infrastructure, clean energy transition and cybersecurity have emerged as outperformers. A new whitepaper from Qontigo’s Applied Research team analyzes this divergent performance and what it says about asset-allocation approaches.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine spooked equity investors around the world, but losses were not distributed equally across all sectors, with some industries even exhibiting positive returns. This opens up opportunities for more focused strategies such as thematic investing.

Stocks fell in February as the military conflict in Ukraine and sanctions imposed on Russia prompted investors to sell shares in all industries except basic-resources and energy companies.

The iSTOXX® USA Ocean Care 40 Index follows on the success of the EURO iSTOXX® Ocean Care 40 Index and tracks companies whose operations and programs are helping stem the degradation of the world’s water bodies, marine ecosystems and the environment.

Stocks tumbled last month, posting their weakest showing since March 2020 and the worst January since 2016, as investors assessed the potential impact of higher US interest rates.

Stocks rose in December and wrapped their third consecutive year of double-digit gains, as fears of economic disruption stemming from the Omicron coronavirus variant abated.

Metaverse is an emerging technology theme that
aims to simulate the real world – or imagine a world
beyond it – integrating digital and physical interactions
for an immersive experience.

Stocks fell in November, with indices reverting gains in the month’s last three sessions, as the emergence of the Omicron variant raised concerns the COVID-19 pandemic may continue to undermine the global economy.

In the fifth anniversary of the launch of the first thematic ETFs resulting from the collaboration between BlackRock and Qontigo, we reflect on the performance of seven strategies covered in this partnership: Automation & Robotics, Ageing Population, Digitalization, Electric Vehicles, Digital Security, Healthcare Innovation and Smart City Infrastructure.

Stocks rebounded strongly from their September losses during October, as companies reported broadly better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

Stocks posted their first monthly decline since January during September as rising prices from food to energy stoked concerns that central banks may have to raise interest rates just as an economic recovery is losing steam.

Stocks rose for a seventh straight month during August, amid ongoing optimism that the global economy continues to rebound from the COVID-19 slump and as the US Federal Reserve indicated it won’t rush to raise interest rates.