News & Insights

Avoiding the worst and building nations

By Gary Reynolds CFA

4 Apr 2025

Investment

With dust settling a little after the sell-off over the last couple of days, I thought investors would be interested to see how Courtiers Multi-Asset funds have fared so far in 2025.

Below are the returns from 31st December 2024 up to the close of markets last night, 3rd April 2025, against major equity indices.

(All figures are total returns and include income)

Prices will have been retreating throughout the day and that will reflect in Monday’s values, but so far, we’ve avoided the worst of the Trump tariff storm, which has hammered US large tech and growth companies.

In this morning’s article I said that Donald Trump may be remembered not as the “MAGA” president but as the man that inspired “MEGA” (Make Europe Great Again). With Putin waging war on its Eastern flanks and the US bullying from the West, Europe seems to be awakening from its slumber and finding things that its nation states can agree on. Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, put the situation in context when he said “This is a paradox, listen to how it sounds: 500 million Europeans are asking 300 million Americans to protect them from 140 million Russians. If you can do the math, then count on yourself.”

In a recent Bloomberg Odd Lots podcast, ex-Financial Times journalist and entrepreneur Nick Denton mentioned that Chinese people joke about Donald Trump being a great builder of nations, other than America. In fairness to the US president, his tariff intervention and threat of taking away the blanket US military protection of Europe’s Russian borders has forced Germany to boost its defence and fiscal spending, a feat that has been beyond the European Union and European Central Bank for decades. Every cloud…!

Gary Reynolds CFA Chief Investment Officer

Important information 

 Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns. The value of investments, and the income from them, can go down as well as up and is not guaranteed and you may not get back the amount originally invested. Any forecast, projection or target where provided is indicate only and is not guaranteed in any way. Certain types of funds might carry a greater investment risk than other investment funds. Further details of the risks are associated with investing in Courtiers funds can be found in the Key Investor Information Document or Prospectus, copies of which are available on request or at www.courtiers.co.uk. 

Disclaimer 

This communication is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon in making an investment decision. The views expressed by individuals and the business are based on market conditions at the date of issue and are subject to change without notice. The mention of any stocks or shares should not be taken as recommendation to deal and does not take into account the individual investor’s investment objective or risk profile. Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor’s currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor. Any third-party sites, or pages which are linked to the document, have not been reviewed by us and therefore we accept no responsibility for the authors or content of external link or pages. If you are interested in any of Courtiers Asset Management Limited’s range of funds, or require any financial advice, please speak to a financial adviser. 

Issued by Courtiers Asset Management Limited, CAM0325049, Courtiers Asset Management Limited is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority – Register No: 616322. Address: 18 Hart Street, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 2AU. Tel: 01491 578368. 