Find out why our top company and fund picks for 2021 can help you gain exposure to some exciting trends
New year, new ideas. After the challenges and opportunities posed by the markets in 2020, we’ve decided to revamp our Ideas of the Year. This means that rather than getting a small handful of company and fund ideas, we’re going to be revealing the top equities to help you gain exposure to five major themes.
In this webinar, we explain why we picked these themes and talk you through the process of selecting companies and funds to match them.
Click here to register for the event and watch a playback of the recording.
Webinar watchers submitted some great questions during the session, transcribed below is a selection of the best and our writers' responses:
Your questions answered by our experts:
UK equities have performed badly, should we be looking elsewhere?
Alex says: “I’m on the fence, but at the same time I think that the UK markets underperformance in recent years reflects a couple of things.” The fact that the FTSE 350 is commonly compared to the S&P 500 - which is full of super high powered tech stories - has been problematic. “The albatross around the neck of the FTSE has been a big weighting to natural resources. When growth has been the only story in town, that has been a negative. But the outlook for commodities has been better than it has been for quite a while.”
Dave has spoken to Keith Ashworth-Lord about the future of UK equities and found there is much to be cheerful about. Read the full interview here or listen to a segment here.
Is green energy the way forward or have traditional energy companies been oversold?
Nilushi says: “That depends on how much you believe that the plans of BP and Shell are doing enough to transition their business. It’s not like we’re going to stop using oil and gas right now. But the stock market reflects the future and the bet should be with green energy companies”
Head to our website to find out more about our views on BP and Shell, plus some ideas for green alternatives.
Mega-trends equals mega-hype: are we seeing parts of the market moving to bubble territory?
Dave says: “There is this idea of bubbles being all over the place”. It’s certainly hard to ignore with some of the structural growth stories, especially in the US. But being afraid of bubbles can mean you can miss out on opportunities. “You could have gone underweight in the US in the last few years seen disappointing underperformance”.
Nilushi says: “Since the beginning of the year, I don’t know how many articles have been written about whether bitcoin is the new gold. I’m not convinced, it’s fool's gold for me.”
Nilushi isn’t the only one concerned about bitcoin, click here to read why the FCA has warned on the speculation. Meanwhile Phil Oakley explains why current tech hype is not like the last big bubble.
