Old Mutual Wealth's investment note navigates the tumultuous past four years, from the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic to the rise of AI, urging investors to stay diversified for long-term wealth preservation.

Global stock markets gained in February with emerging markets performing strongly as Chinese shares experienced a rebound. By contrast, fixed income yields were generally higher, meaning prices fell, as investors pushed out the timeframe for central banks to cut interest rates.

Over the past 11 years, the collective market capitalisation of the Magnificent Seven’s (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla) companies has grown from just over US$1 trillion to well over $13trillion. In this article, Andrew Dittberner, Chief Investment Officer at Private Clients by Old Mutual Wealth is investigating if the Magnificent Seven valuations are justifiable.

The awards recognise those funds and asset managers that have served investors well over the long term and which Morningstar’s Manager Research team believes will be able to deliver competitive risk-adjusted returns over time.

While the phenomenon of stock market delistings is not only restricted to South Africa, the picture locally appears to be acute. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange has seen the number of listings more than halving from 616 in 2000, to just 284 at the end of 2023.

Bad economic news could eventually become good news for Chinese equities if the rising risk of outright deflation prompts the authorities to take more aggressive fiscal and monetary action.