Check out this week’s stories about the market sell-off frenzy, 12 years to avoid climate disaster, Google’s Chinese search engine. What does it all mean for investors? (3:31 min read)

This information does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the relevant investment is appropriate having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs.

 

1. What’s with the global market sell-off?  

Markets have been particularly volatile this past week as major stock exchange around the world saw sharp falls.

This triggered the usual domino effect of doomsday news headlines, billions of dollars wiped off the market, and many panicked investors.

What does it mean if you’re invested in stock markets?

The stock market falls last week were largely led by technology shares, which is not at all surprising given the strong gains the tech sector has enjoyed for the last 12 months.

We believe the underlying fundamentals and growth prospects of technology companies remain strong, and the recent fall in stock prices are likely to be short-term.

Investing in listed shares inevitably involves some bumps along the road to build wealth; investing with a long-term mindset helps you whether this kind of storm, and others like it.

What does it mean if you’re invested with AtlasTrend?

AtlasTrend’s funds – particularly our technology-focused funds – had sold some shares to take profits ahead of the recent market falls.

All of our managed funds have a level of cash holdings. It allows our investment team to take advantage of any sustained fall in stock prices, and buy strong company shares at lower prices.

We realise these can be unsettling times for investors, and recommend reading these articles on investing for the long term, plus the biggest misconceptions about investing in tech stocks to put your mind at ease.

2. 12 years to slow down climate change, or else

We have ~12 years to avoid climate change-caused devastation according to a new report from the UN.

It’s a 700-page report, so in case you’re not into dense reading, here are the main points:

• Climate armageddon is coming earlier and more rapidly than expected
• There’s a 12ish-year window to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees celcius
• Just half a degree above this threshold would make a substantial difference to the severity of various factors

What does this mean if you’re invested in the stock market?

We believe the climate change risk is real from an environmental and investment perspective.

Extreme weather patterns we’re experiencing now indicate climate change is already here, and we believe more people will take personal action.

This could include making a conscious decision to reduce their carbon footprint, which will have a direct impact on many industries.

From a purely investment perspective, the biggest emissions contributors – industries like traditional energy, transport, manufacturing – may find demand for their products curtailed over the next decade.

What does this mean if you’re invested with AtlasTrend?

AtlasTrend’s Clean Disruption Fund was recently launched, and part of our mission with this clean, green fund is to invest in companies helping address climate change.

We believe investing in clean energy and associated technologies is set for a multi-decade growth path, as more people around the world grapple with the climate reality set to impact nearly all of humanity.

3. Google is serious about China

Google publicly admitted it’s working on a project that may result in them re-entering the online search market in China.

In case you missed it, Google pulled out of the Chinese search business in 2010 over censorship concerns.

What does this mean if you invest in Google?

Google recognises the Chinese market is very important given its size.

However, the company appears to be treading carefully to balance the economic benefits of operating in China, versus the ethical and political issues of building a censored search engine that will appease the Chinese government.

Google’s CEO recently suggested, even with a censored search engine, the company can serve well over 99% of search queries.

We believe this could be the start of Google’s public relations campaign to build momentum and understanding for a potential relaunch in China, which should be good news for investors.

What does this mean if you’re invested with AtlasTrend?

AtlasTrend’s Big Data Big Fund is invested in Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

We believe as technology companies like Google play an increasingly important role in society, they will need to make difficult decisions – balancing their values of democratising information access versus differing political views around the world.

It’s no surprise we see regulation and political risk as the major obstacles many large technology companies will face going forward.

 

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