Julius Baer<\/a>, said in a
\n recent presentation.\u00a0Laxminarayan\u00a0spoke
\n alongside\u00a0Mark Matthews, head of research Asia at Julius
\n Baer.
\n<\/p>\n
\n Yet financial markets, while hardly calm, have seen\u00a0global
\n equities reach\u00a0new highs, supported by solid corporate
\n earnings and ongoing investment activity.\u00a0The Swiss
\n bank\u00a0remains positive on equities in 2026, notably US and
\n Asian ones, AI and gold.
\n<\/p>\n
\n The S&P 500 Index of US stocks is up 7.23 per cent since the
\n start of 2026, but over the past week, it fell 2 per cent, as
\n investors became queasy about whether AI-linked Big Techs can
\n deliver revenues to justify all the capital expenditure going on.
\n It has been an area of debate throughout this year, as this news
\n service has heard on both sides of the Atlantic. Over one year,
\n the Index is up 18.5 per cent and over five years, 69 per
\n cent.\u00a0
\n<\/p>\n
\n Shifts are taking place.\u00a0In Laxminarayan’s view, the
\n environment is reinforcing a structural shift toward\u00a0higher
\n investment needs across defense, energy, artificial intelligence,
\n and supply chain resilience. After years of abundant global
\n savings weighing on bond yields, demand for capital is now rising
\n more visibly. \u201cIn short, periods of market volatility should
\n continue to be viewed as opportunities to redeploy cash and
\n remain invested,\u201d he said.
\n<\/p>\n
\n Equities
\n Matthews, meanwhile, stressed\u00a0how equities have rebounded
\n since March on strong earnings, easing geopolitical concerns, and
\n AI momentum. \u201cWhile the US has regained leadership, opportunities
\n are broadening across regions. With sentiment improving but not
\n excessive, a balanced and selective approach remains appropriate
\n for the second half of 2026,\u201d he\u00a0said.
\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe have a constructive global stance on equities. In the US, we
\n favor AI-related sectors with strong earnings momentum. This
\n supports US equities, while Asia \u2013 China and Japan, specifically
\n \u2013 forms an integral part of the AI value chain,\u201d he continued.
\n Matthews remains constructive on Asian equity markets, given
\n their role in the AI supply chain. He favors North Asia
\n \u2013\u00a0Japan, South Korea, China. In South Asia, he prefers
\n Singapore and India for country-specific reasons. \u201cIndia remains
\n attractive with longer-term upside, and Singapore and Switzerland
\n offer defensive strength,\u201d he said.
\n<\/p>\n
\n Within Asia, he believes that opportunities remain broad but are
\n becoming increasingly differentiated. \u201cJapan stands out as a key
\n beneficiary of AI optimism, underpinned by strong earnings
\n revisions and ongoing corporate governance reform,\u201d he added.
\n<\/p>\n
\n In emerging Asia, Matthews believes that China remains a key
\n allocation. Beneath the surface, AI-related segments \u2013
\n particularly onshore \u2013 have shown strong momentum.
\n<\/p>\n
\n Matthews highlighted that AI remains the dominant market
\n driver:\u00a0\u201cThe investment cycle continues to accelerate,
\n supported by strong capital expenditure and rising demand for
\n data center\u00a0capacity, while signs of monetization are
\n reinforcing earnings growth.\u201d\u00a0
\n<\/p>\n
\n He upgraded the communications sector to overweight, reflecting
\n both accelerating monetization among internet platforms and the
\n defensive characteristics of telecommunications operators.
\n \u201cFinancials remain attractive due to compelling valuations and
\n strong capital returns, while healthcare offers further
\n diversification through innovation and structural growth,\u201d he
\n said.
\n<\/p>\n
\n Fixed income
\n \u201cBy mid-2026, hawkish central bank expectations are priced in,
\n making yields more attractive. High-quality bonds may benefit as
\n oil prices ease, supporting an overweight duration stance,\u201d
\n Matthews said.
\n<\/p>\n
\n Julius Baer\u2019s fixed income research team favors extending
\n duration in bond portfolios if and when 10-year US Treasuries
\n trade around 4.5 per cent, and trimming again as yields move
\n towards 3.5 per cent.
\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cInvestment-grade corporate bonds look attractive, supported by
\n healthy balance sheets,\u201d Matthews\u00a0said. \u201cAlongside this,
\n emerging market bonds in hard currencies and select emerging
\n market local-currency debt remain a useful diversifying element,
\n offering access to higher real yields.\u201d\u00a0
\n<\/p>\n
\n Gold and oil
\n Similar to a number of wealth managers, Laxminarayan has a
\n preference for gold, which remains supported by structural
\n central bank demand and safe-haven buying. Over the longer term,
\n he believes that gold\u2019s fundamentals remain supportive.
\n<\/p>\n
\n He expects oil prices to moderate during the second half of 2026,
\n while the global economy is adjusting to the energy shock without
\n further escalation.
\n<\/p>\n
\n Alternative investments
\n Laxminarayan highlighted that private markets are seeing
\n moderating activity amid higher interest rates and valuation
\n uncertainty. Thus, manager selection remains critical. In private
\n equity, he favors managers with strong execution and operational
\n value creation. In private debt, especially European direct
\n lending, he believes that it remains attractive for its yield,
\n diversification potential, and floating-rate exposure.
\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cPrivate infrastructure provides downside protection and
\n differentiated performance, with exposure to structural demand
\n from AI, the energy transition, and reshoring,\u201d Laxminarayan
\n said. \u201cMulti-strategy hedge funds are well positioned to capture
\n dispersion, dynamically allocate risk, and manage drawdowns.
\n<\/p>\n
\n Laxminarayan thinks\u00a0that geopolitics, policy errors, AI
\n overspend, credit stress, trade tensions, and leverage are
\n significant risks. \u201cPeriods of geopolitical stress and energy
\n shocks may continue to influence inflation expectations and
\n market volatility,\u201d he said.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senior figures at one of Switzerland”s largest banks discuss how they see markets from this mid-year point, noting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[17592,17593,17594,17595,17596,17597,17598,17599,17600,17601,17602,17629,17631,17630,17632,17603,17604,17605,17606,8073,17607,2510,17608,17609,17610,17611,17612,17613,17614,17615,17616,17617,17618,17619,41,17,17620,17621,17622,17623,245,17624,17625,17626,17627,17628],"class_list":["post-94158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-family-office","tag-family-office-news","tag-family-risk","tag-family-risk-news","tag-family-wealth","tag-family-wealth-news","tag-family-wealth-report","tag-high-net-worth","tag-high-net-worth-news","tag-hnw","tag-hnw-news","tag-ifa","tag-ifa-news","tag-independent-financial-advisor","tag-independent-financial-advisor-news","tag-mfo","tag-mfo-news","tag-multi-family-office","tag-multi-family-office-news","tag-private-bank","tag-private-bank-news","tag-private-banking","tag-private-banking-news","tag-private-wealth","tag-private-wealth-news","tag-private-wealth-reporting","tag-registered-investment-advisor","tag-registered-investment-advisor-news","tag-ria","tag-ria-news","tag-sfo","tag-sfo-news","tag-single-family-office","tag-single-family-office-news","tag-swiss","tag-switzerland","tag-uhnw","tag-uhnw-news","tag-ultra-net-worth","tag-ultra-net-worth-news","tag-wealth-management","tag-wealth-management-news","tag-wealth-manager","tag-wealth-manager-news","tag-wealth-planning","tag-wealth-planning-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Swiss](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JuliusBaerIndiaoffice.jpg\"\/)
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