2025 started well for International Investors with the Gross Morgan Stanley Standard Indices (MSCI) reporting a 1.56% increase in the US index while the MSCI Ex-US was up 4.05%.
There was great dispersion among region and sectors, but Europe led the pack with its All Country (AC) index up 6.93% and the STOXX 600 index reaching a new high. Some analysts credited ECB’s decision to lower rates as the reason for inflows and others anticipated that European companies will release shareholder value with some drastic restructuring. Looking at sector performance, growth opportunities driven by AI also created interest in European stocks – the leading sectors in the region for January were Media and Entertainment and IT.
Asia was among the worst performing regions with the AC Asia index up only 1.05%. Singapore, Korea Taiwan and Australia did well for January, but concerns over tariffs, growth and immigration weighed heavily on the Chinese A, Hong Kong and Indian shares. Smaller markets like the Philippines and Malaysia also suffered.
A month doesn’t make a year, but it is an indication that we can expect some volatility in stocks and markets depending upon the seemingly hourly change in the outlook for tariffs and growth, but January indicates that investors believe there are both growth and value opportunities in stocks outside of the United States. At Bastion Fiduciary, we believe that, too.
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