The global economy is trying to battle its way out of the coronavirus movement restrictions, but the process is far from easy.
While some analysts still talk up prospects of a V-shaped recovery, others are wary as fresh Covid-19 outbreaks are reported in countries that thought they were clear.
This leaves investors in a quandary. Some will be looking to take advantage of recent share price falls to invest in assets at much lower prices than before the crisis. Others will be wondering whether to play it safe right now.
If you are looking to invest $10,000 (Dh36,725) over the next quarter, here are three investment trends to consider right now. The first will grow if consumers leave the house and start spending again, the second will rise if a lost continent plays catch up with the US stock market, and the third could help build a brighter, greener future.
Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial, says the stay-at-home trade was all the rage during the global lockdown, as investors bought shares in companies that benefited from a captive audience working or seeking entertainment at home.
Video teleconferencing giant Zoom, streaming company Netflix and e-commerce giant Amazon were hugely popular, he says.
Telemedicine and virtual healthcare company Teladoc Health, cloud computing software specialist Okta and digital payment company PayPal were also stay-at-home trade winners.
Mr Valecha says investors may now want to target the get out of the house" trend, as movement restrictions are lifted around the world.
Malls, theme parks and restaurants are starting to reopen. People will hit the gyms, go to movie theatres, and start travelling again. Even if we get a second wave, governments will be less inclined to reimpose a lockdown, says Mr Valecha.
This is a relatively high-risk trade, but rewarding for those who are willing to accept the potential downside, if nervous consumers prove reluctant to spend.
Mr Valecha suggests airline stocks including Texas-based carrier South West Airlines and British Airways-owner International Consolidated Airlines Group. UAE-based theme park operator DXB Entertainments, which owns Dubai Parks and Resorts, could be another beneficiary, especially when overseas visitors return, he adds.
Brave investors could even take a chance on cruise operators such as Carnival, whose ships include virus-stricken Diamond Princess. "It was one of the biggest losers in the March crash but has enough money to sail through 2020. Pent up demand for leisure travel should benefit the cruise stock.
Mr Valecha also tips ride-sharing company Lyft: This is Ubers only competitor in the US, and can rally as the ride hailing market recovers.
Europe is now emerging from the movement restrictions and this could provide an opportunity for this underperforming region to play catch-up with the superior performance seen on US stock markets lately.
Moukarram Atassi, head of investment management at the National Bank of Fujairah, says European equity markets have been trading at a discount of up to 20 per cent to US equities for years, but that may soon reverse.
He says the EUs massive 750 billion (Dh3.1 trillion) recovery plan is a major step towards greater fiscal union and should power growth. Similarly, Germany's U-turn from austerity, as the government embraces a programme of fiscal spending at home, will provide more than 30 per cent of gross domestic product available to offset the pandemic slowdown. Both measures coincide with more accommodative monetary policy from the European Central Bank, Mr Atassi says.
This massive fiscal and monetary stimulus should help European equities shine, in turn enticing "global institutional investors to increase their allocation to quality European growth companies with an international footprint", he says.
Mr Atassi recommends looking for companies with sustainable earnings growth and stable business models: The luxury goods, healthcare and technology sectors all have strong growth prospects.
Fund manager Invescos chief global market strategist Kristina Hooper expects Germany and northern Europe to recover fastest, due to their focus on manufacturing and business services. In the South and France, the share of GDP is heavier in tourism," she says.
Europe boasts plenty of top companies with global reach. These include pharmaceutical firms such as Germanys Bayer, Switzerland's Roche and Novartis and Denmarks Novo Nordisk. Other big names include Swiss food and drink multinational Nestle, and French luxury goods firm LVMH.
Alternatively, you could diversify and spread your risk by investing in a low-cost exchange traded fund that tracks European indices.
Options include Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK), iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF (EZU), and SPDR Euro STOXX 50 ETF (FEZ). Or you could target the continents powerhouse through iShares MSCI Germany ETF (EWG).
The Covid-19 pandemic is focusing minds on other threats facing mankind, of which climate change is perhaps the most serious.
Growing numbers are now investing in a socially responsible way, according to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles, to use the latest term for green investing.
Mitch Reznick, head of research and sustainable fixed income at global investment manager Federated Hermes, says green finance has grown in strength during the pandemic, with record flows into ESG funds.
During the long bull run, critics dismissed ESG investing as a mere nice-to-have as opposed to a necessity, he says. If that were true, we would have expected this wave to break in the first quarter of 2020. Yet green activity has continued to grow.
Mr Reznick sees evidence of this in unexpected places, with Barclays Bank and French oil and gas company Total committing to becoming net zero companies by 2050. Last week, London-listed oil major BP took steps to clean up its image and pay down debt in the process, by selling its petrochemicals business to Ineos for $5bn. New chief executive Bernard Looney has also set a target of becoming a net zero company by 2050 or sooner.
The pandemic has ushered in a heightened sense of social awareness as companies and policymakers seek to build resilience in healthcare, food and water security, as well as across supply chains, Mr Reznick says.
This is feeding through to investment performance. ESG indexes are now outperforming the broader market, he adds.
Managers launched about 100 sustainable ESG funds in the first quarter of this year, up from just over 80 last year, Mr Reznick says, quoting Morning Star research. He says this is nothing short of astonishing, given current pandemic disruption.
Separate research from Deloitte shows that in 2017, some 48 per cent of investors applied ESG principles to at least a quarter of their portfolios. By last year, that had risen to 75 per cent.
A wide range of ETFs now invests in ESG themes, but check for any that match your own ethical principles, as all use slightly different criteria.
Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund Admiral (VFTAX) gives you a diversified portfolio of companies in non-controversial industries, with low of fees of just 0.14 per cent a year. The iShares MSCI Global Impact ETF (SDG) targets companies that aim to further the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
Meanwhile, the iShares ESG MSCI EAFE ETF (ESGD) invests in developed world stocks, while iShares ESG MSCI EM ETF (ESGE) targets emerging markets. There are plenty more and their numbers will grow.
Updated: July 5, 2020 01:30 PM
Read more:
Three ways to invest $10,000 in the next three months - The National
- 7 Reasons to Retire and Relocate When Savings Fall Short ... - ThinkAdvisor - October 9th, 2023 [October 9th, 2023]
- Strive Asset Management vs. Engine No. 1: How Did the Activists ... - Morningstar - September 21st, 2023 [September 21st, 2023]
- New Taskforce to build UK nuclear skills - GOV.UK - July 31st, 2023 [July 31st, 2023]
- National Bank of Canada FI Has $16.22 Million Position in ... - Defense World - June 26th, 2023 [June 26th, 2023]
- RIT part of National Science Foundation grant to help spur next ... - Rochester Institute of Technology - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- 2023 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Regional Awards - U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- P&I wins ASBPE national gold award for managers microsite - Pensions & Investments - May 22nd, 2023 [May 22nd, 2023]
- The National - January 30th, 2023 [January 30th, 2023]
- Dimon Highlights Need For More Oil And Gas Investment As Vanguard Bails On ESG Group - Forbes - December 16th, 2022 [December 16th, 2022]
- About Us | National Vanguard - November 19th, 2022 [November 19th, 2022]
- Vanguard News Network - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Retirement Clearinghouse Announces Auto-Portability Network with Fidelity, Vanguard and Alight | PLANSPONSOR - PLANSPONSOR - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Abenaa Jones named Ann Atherton Hertzler Early Career Professor - Pennsylvania State University - August 6th, 2022 [August 6th, 2022]
- City of Detroit, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, join the Black Theatre Network (BTN) to host Broadway Comes Home to Detroit, a... - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- California Senate Votes to Keep Legalized Slavery in its Prisons - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Schneider National (NYSE:SNDR) Now Covered by Analysts at Credit Suisse Group - Defense World - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- Introducing the Truckstop.com Partner Marketplace: A Comprehensive Transportation and Logistics Ecosystem Empowering the Freight Community - Yahoo... - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- A Pilgrimage to the Birthplace of the Modern Womens Rights Movement - AFAR Media - June 29th, 2022 [June 29th, 2022]
- White Child Adopted by Black Reality TV Star Beaten to Death - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- National Car Rental - Wikipedia - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Down 15% in 2022, is it time to jump on Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF? - The Motley Fool Australia - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- LIVE BLOG: 2022 Corps at the Crest - San Diego - FloMarching - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Greater Sacramento Attends Bio International Convention in San Diego - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Vanguard International Semiconductor : VIS and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Cofound Intelligent Manufacturing and Management Laboratory -... - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- The Shadow Of June 12 - The Left and Nigeria's Democratic Revolution, By Baba Aye - SaharaReporters.com - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Yolo County Honors Juneteenth with Celebration - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Commentary: Why San Francisco May Not Be the Best Test Case for Progressivism - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- As tennis fans gather Wimbledon worries expansion won't get over the line - The National - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Vanguard Charitable survey: More than 1 in 3 American donors gave half or more of their charitable contributions to disaster relief efforts in the... - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- National Grid warns on cost-of-living challenges after strong profit (NYSE:NGG) - Seeking Alpha - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- Is it a good time to buy the Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF? - The Motley Fool Australia - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- Student Opinion: The Biden Administration and Cable Companies Working Together to Bring Internet to Millions of Households - The Peoples Vanguard of... - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- THE POWER OF LEADERSHIP - THISDAY Newspapers - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- Vanguard may be shorting much vaunted 'owners' of its low-cost index funds as it upshifts to more Wall Street-style exec-comp tactics to thwart... - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Opinion | BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street Control a Piece of Nearly Everything - The New York Times - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Somalis receive explosive threat reduction training | Shephard - Shephard News - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- JV Article: Platinum Group Metals is at the vanguard of next generation lithium-ion batteries - The Northern Miner - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Neo-Nazi Alex Davies guilty of belonging to banned terror group National Action - Tell MAMA - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Firearm-Related Homicides Reach an Unprecedented Level in the 21st Century - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Satellites, the Space Race, and Supercomputing: How NASA Goddard's Beowulf Cluster Computer Became an Award-Winning Space Technology - NASA (.gov) - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Vanguard may be shorting much vaunted 'owners' of its low-cost index funds as it shifts to Wall Street-style exec-comp tactics to thwart competitors... - May 15th, 2022 [May 15th, 2022]
- Senate Democrats Fail to Codify Abortion Rights; Don't Have Votes to Overcome Filibuster Dem Manchin Votes with GOP - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis - May 15th, 2022 [May 15th, 2022]
- The School Buzz: Vanguard rocketry team competing for national title - KRDO - May 9th, 2022 [May 9th, 2022]
- The Anglo-Indian-Nigerian designer at the vanguard of British fashion - The National - May 9th, 2022 [May 9th, 2022]
- Candidate for Yolo County District Attorney Cynthia Rodriguez Announced Her Growing List of Endorsements in a Press Release on Thursday - The Peoples... - May 9th, 2022 [May 9th, 2022]
- Commentary: Trends Are Pushing Tech, Housing Toward Sacramento Region - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis - May 9th, 2022 [May 9th, 2022]
- UK Government announces 2 billion investment into nuclear submarines - The National - May 9th, 2022 [May 9th, 2022]
- Workers grapple with new stresses as they return to office - Tampa Bay Times - May 9th, 2022 [May 9th, 2022]
- Who is Ib Kamara, the new Off-White art director to fill Virgil Abloh's shoes? - The National - May 9th, 2022 [May 9th, 2022]
- Vanguard Lions Defeat Statesmen To End The Year - Victory Sports Network - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Other days - Arkansas Online - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Democrats are in danger of losing three congressional strongholds in South Texas - Standard-Times - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Remembering the WNBA's Portland Fire - Vanguard - Psuvanguard.com - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]
- Honoring the life of Amara Marluke - Vanguard - Psuvanguard.com - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]
- The grim outlook of owning and renting - Vanguard - Psuvanguard.com - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]
- 2022 NAIA Women's Outdoor Track & Field Rating Index Week 3 - U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]
- ECOWAS and Nigeria Agree on a Roadmap to Institutionalise a Government and Society Wide Approach - African Business - March 17th, 2022 [March 17th, 2022]
- LA Treasurer joins other states in divesting Russian investments - KATC News - March 8th, 2022 [March 8th, 2022]
- How the US and Europe helped Ukraine prep for insurgency - ArmyTimes.com - March 8th, 2022 [March 8th, 2022]
- A Trailblazing Engineer Says Invention Is in Everything I Do - Tufts Now - March 8th, 2022 [March 8th, 2022]
- Russias Invasion of Ukraine and Implications for the Korean Peninsula - Council on Foreign Relations - March 8th, 2022 [March 8th, 2022]
- Vanguard University saying goodbye to the Pit - Los Angeles Times - January 14th, 2022 [January 14th, 2022]
- Energy Ended Up as a Good Bet Last Year. But Now What? - The New York Times - January 14th, 2022 [January 14th, 2022]
- Kensington Vanguard National Land Services - December 19th, 2021 [December 19th, 2021]
- Barry Harris, Pianist and Devoted Scholar of Bebop, Dies at 91 - The New York Times - December 10th, 2021 [December 10th, 2021]
- From Our Archives: a Profile of Bob Dole, Once the Senate's "Funniest Member" - Washingtonian - December 7th, 2021 [December 7th, 2021]
- National Auto Care on acquisition spree amid F&I consolidation - Automotive News - December 5th, 2021 [December 5th, 2021]
- A decade of marketisation has left lecturers with no choice but to strike - The Guardian - December 5th, 2021 [December 5th, 2021]
- A New Vanguard Is Reshaping the Art World - HarpersBAZAAR.com - December 5th, 2021 [December 5th, 2021]
- Opinion | The Trump Conspiracy Is Hiding in Plain Sight - The New York Times - December 5th, 2021 [December 5th, 2021]
- The forgotten importance of the War of Jenkins' Ear - The Economist - December 5th, 2021 [December 5th, 2021]
- What Conservative Critics of Higher Education Share - The Atlantic - December 5th, 2021 [December 5th, 2021]
- The Unite the Right trial is exposing the chasm between who plans White nationalism's battles and who does the fighting - ABC17News.com - November 19th, 2021 [November 19th, 2021]
- Tordue Salem: Journalists ask National Assembly to order independent inquiry into death of missing reporter - Premium Times - November 19th, 2021 [November 19th, 2021]
- Abu Dhabi to Welcome Two New Museums in Addition to Guggenheim and Zayed - Artforum - November 19th, 2021 [November 19th, 2021]
- Gauteng government at the vanguard of SAs green economy plans - Business Day - November 17th, 2021 [November 17th, 2021]
- 25 years of school and family connections | Hub - The Hub at Johns Hopkins - November 17th, 2021 [November 17th, 2021]
- Opinion: Organized crime is a top driver of global deforestation and climate change - Houston Chronicle - November 17th, 2021 [November 17th, 2021]
- Letters to the editor: Lend a hand to these family caregivers - Austin American-Statesman - November 15th, 2021 [November 15th, 2021]
- University of Chicago to award four honorary degrees at 2022 Convocation - UChicago News - November 9th, 2021 [November 9th, 2021]