September, 2023
The Global Opportunities Fund declined in value but outperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month. Information technology was a top contributor for the fund alongside industrials and financials whilst energy, communication services, and health care lagged for the fund.
The top performing stocks in the portfolio were Relx, Progressive, 3I Group, UnitedHealth, and Dollarama. Online marketplace Dollarama saw its share price rise in September after the company posted Q2 profits that surpassed expectations and it boosted its same-store sales forecast for the year. Union Pacific, Home Depot, Danaher, and Thermo Fisher were among the detractors in September.
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Funds-Monthly-Report-DEC21-2-1.pdfAugust, 2023
The Global Opportunities fund outperformed the benchmark over the month. Financials were a top contributor to the fund's relative performance alongside consumer discretionary and industrials, whilst health care and energy lagged.
The top performing stocks in the portfolio were Progressive, Danaher, Berkshire Hathaway and Mastercard.
Progressive shares rose after Analysts said the company's month-to-month results showed improvements.
The biggest detractors in the portfolio included Texas instruments, UnitedHealth and American Express.
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Funds-Monthly-Report-DEC21-1-1.pdfJuly, 2023
The Global Opportunities in Australia fund rose in value but underperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month.
The top performing stocks in the portfolio were EOG Resources, Union Pacific and Old Dominion Freight Line.
Union Pacific shares rose in July as Analysts reacted positively to the new CEO who is expected to drive additional operating expertise and focus from the top down. The biggest detractors for the portfolio in July were Samsung Electronics, Ryanair and Progressive Corp.
Ryanair shares dropped in July after the airline company provided a cautious outlook in line with the impact of higher mortgage bills and price inflation on consumers.
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Funds-Monthly-Report-DEC21-8.pdfJune, 2023
The Global Opportunities in Australia fund rose in value but underperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month.
The top performing stocks in the portfolio were Old Dominion Freight Line, Netease, Amphenol and American Express. Old Dominion Freight Line rose in June alongside other transportation names as the Dow Jones Transportation Average rose by double digits in June on the back of optimism about the US economy.
The biggest detractors for the portfolio in June were Kotak Mahindra Bank, Nestle and Samsung Electronics. Kotak Mahindra Bank dropped the most in 12 months as traders took profits following the increase in it weighting in the MSCI indices. Kotak Mahindra Bank had performed well throughout April and May amid anticipation of this increase.
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Funds-Monthly-Report-DEC21-7.pdfMay, 2023
Global equities traded mostly within a tight range. Investor confidence was negatively impacted by declining PMIs, sticky core inflation and data out of mainland China that was largely weaker than expected. As the month progressed attention shifted towards the US debt ceiling which was clouded with uncertainty. There were pockets of outperformance, most notably with regards to tech, where investors began to consider the potential effects of AI. Conversely, weaker performance was led by more cyclical parts of the market such as financials.
The Global Opportunities in Australia fund rose in value and outperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month. 3i Group was the best performing holding due to the fund being overweight relative to the benchmark. 3i shares have been gaining since March when it announced that its largest portfolio holding company (Action) had a great start to 2023 leading many analysts to suggest that 3i's portfolio is robust. Other strong performers that the fund included Samsung Electronics and Copart. Copart rose on news that the company had beat its revenue expectations and that the company had a positive outlook going forward. As a result of investor optimism around AI and its potential, Nvidia was the biggest detractor, this was largely because the fund was underweight relative to the benchmark.
The stock performed extremely strongly on the back of good quarterly results and upgraded medium term profit guidance. Other detractors included Nestle, EOG Resources and Berkley Group. Nestle shares declined after the surprise departure of CFO Francois-Xavier which left investors 'disappointed' given the fact that Roger had built an 'effective partnership' with Nestle CEO Mark Schneider.
File:April, 2023
The Global Opportunities in Australia fund rose in value and outperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month on unhedged basis. Kotak Mahindra Bank was the best performing holding on a relative basis, supported by a combination of good 4Q22 results and the broader rally in Indian stocks.
Other strong performers included Berkshire Hathaway and Nestle. Berkshire was boosted by the release of strong earnings from some of its key underlying holdings. Similarly, Nestle's Q1 results were better than consensus estimates and surprised on the upside. Elsewhere, not owning Tesla was also highly favourable to relative performance as the stock fell sharply following further price cuts to its EV models.
At the other end, Texas Instruments was one of the most notable detractors. The company's Q1 results were mostly in line with estimates but the forward guidance was slightly below consensus expectations which saw the share price come under pressure.
File:March, 2023
The Global Opportunities fund in Australia outperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month. From a geographic perspective, the US was the fund's biggest driver of relative performance, led by Microsoft and Texas Instruments which rose as part of the broader rally in tech stocks. China was also a strong area for the fund where NetEase was a key contributor. The stock was boosted by an analyst upgrade and strong China PMI data.
The latter of which also supported stocks such as Tencent. The UK was also a bright spot for the fund, with Relx and 3i being the main drivers. Sector-wise, relative gains were driven by financials and information technology, while consumer staples also performed well. Moderate weakness came from the fund's health care names as defensives lagged the broader market rally in what was largely a 'risk on' month.
File:January, 2023
The Global Opportunities in Australia fund rose in value and outperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month. From a geographic perspective, Asia Pacific was the biggest area of strength for the fund. China was the key contributor, as our gaming and internet holdings NetEase and Tencent took support from the easing regulatory environment. Our US holdings also aided relative performance, led by American Express and Nvidia. AmEx notably advanced after reporting strong 4Q earnings and an optimistic 2023 forecast, while the semiconductor manufacturer was buoyed by a broader chip rally. 3i, the London-based private equity company, was behind the strength in the fund's UK holdings, following a significant 3Q earnings beat. Sector-wise, healthcare was the fund's biggest contributor to relative gains this was down to our significant underweight in what was the market's weakest absolute performer over the month. Industrials closely followed, in particular driven by Ryanair after the airline operator boosted its full-year profit forecast following strongerthan-expect demand over Christmas.
The consumer staples name, L'Or al, jumped amid a broader rally of France's luxury stocks on softer-than-expected inflation and China optimism. However, further gains were held back by our underweight consumer discretionary which outperformed in January, and our materials names modestly lagged
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Australian-Smaller-Companies-Fund-Class-A-Monthly-Report.pdfDecember, 2022
Global equities fell in value in December, undoing some of the previous months' gains. Broad headwinds included China reopening and the Fed's reiteration of their hawkish stance against inflation, with markets pricing in higher and longer interest rate hikes than expected. As a result, all major US indices lost ground, with the technology sector the most impacted. European and UK shares also ended lower as rising interest rates and weak economic data weighed on investor sentiment. Both the ECB and the Bank of England hiked rates by 0.5 percentage points to reach their highest level in 14 years respectively. Asian equities marginally lost ground, with positive news coming from China offset by selected outflows in other Asian markets amid interest rate and China reopening concerns. China's earlier-than-expected reopening and promising growth agenda stated at the annual Central Economic Work Conference boosted investor optimism.
The Global Opportunities Fund in Australia fell in value but outperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month. From a geographic perspective, most relative gains came from the portfolio's heavyweight, the US. The largest contributor was not owning Tesla, whose share price fell further on a report of plans to temporarily halt production at its China factory, rekindling fears around demand risks. Our smaller holding in Apple relative to the benchmark was also a bright spot, as supply chain and demand issues worried investors.
The fund's overweight in the UK also buoyed performance, with 3i Group, the London-based private equity company, the key contributor. After a strong month, having no exposure to Japanese equities was the fund's main detraction to performance. Strong stock selection namely the omission of Tesla from the portfolio drove the outperformance of the fund's consumer discretionary sector. The two Chinese gaming companies, Tencent and NetEase, were behind the strength in our communication services holdings, both rallying amid Beijing's latest monthly game approvals and new regulatory shift. Our underweight in health care dragged on relative gains, however.
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Funds-Monthly-Report-DEC21-6.pdfNovember, 2022
The Global Opportunities in Australia fund rose in value and outperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month. From a geographic perspective, the US drove most of the fund's outperformance. Our underweight in Apple relative to the benchmark was the top contributor, as the tech giant slid in value amid continued Covid-driven lockdowns around the largest iPhone production factory in China.
The omission of Tesla from the portfolio also benefitted, with Elon Musk's company facing a dip in its share price as the Twitter turmoil continues to impact the EV maker, and Wedbush removed the stock from its well-recognised best stock ideas list. The prospect of lower rate hikes from the Fed buoyed Nvidia's share price, and the semiconductor manufacturer also benefitted from easing US-China tensions, as well as improving sentiment after Warren Buffet invested c.$5bn in Taiwanese chipmaker, TSMC. Our French and Chinese holdings were also a bright spot, with cosmetic manufacturer L'Or al participating in a broader rally of European luxury stocks, spurred on by China's said plan to end their system of penalising airlines for bringing virus cases into the country. The fund's information technology holdings led gains, with Apple the main driver, followed by the communications services sector as Tencent and NetEase participated in the broader rally in Chinese equities on reopening hopes.
Our energy stocks did well too, with Total Energies in particular benefitting from a broader rally in oil names as crude advanced after Saudi Arabia denied a report stating that it is discussing increasing the oil production for the OPEC+. Our underweight in materials the sector with the highest absolute returns in both the portfolio and the benchmark was an area of weakness however.
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Funds-Monthly-Report-DEC21-5.pdfOctober, 2022
The Global Opportunities in Australia fund rose in value but underperformed the MSCI AC World index over the month. From a geographic perspective, most of the fund’s weakness came from our US holdings.
Despite its 3Q earnings beating estimates, Danaher, along with other life-science tools makers, dropped on bioprocessing demand normalising as Covid recedes. Danaher, along with Swiss pharmaceutical Roche, dragged on the fund’s health care holdings. First Republic Bank also lost value after announcing that its 2022 net interest margin (NIM) is expected to be at the lower end of their guidance range. In line with other large, US technology stocks, Amazon and Microsoft also detracted from performance on disappointing 3Q corporate earnings results as revenues slowed. Having said this, the fund’s information technology stocks overall did well relative to the benchmark thanks to strong stock selection, with Mastercard a notable contributor after an earnings beat.
Chinese gaming companies, NetEase and Tencent, underperformed amid a global mobile-game sales slowdown and Chinese market weakness. Both drove underperformance in our communication services holdings, our weakest sector over the month. The fund’s UK stocks did well however, with Relx and 3i the two strongest performers, as did stock selection in South Korea. Our underweight position to Japan was additive to performance. JP Morgan was the fund’s top performer, as the investment bank rebounded after reporting better-than-expected earnings and boosting its annual NII (net interest income) guidance. The consumer discretionary sector was also an area of modest strength, largely due to the omission of Tesla from the portfolio.
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Funds-Monthly-Report-DEC21-4.pdfSeptember, 2022
Both the hedged and unhedged Global Opportunities funds fell in value and underperformed their benchmark during the month of September. From a geographic perspective, most detraction came for our US stocks, with our technology names particularly impacted by continued hawkish Fed rhetoric. Adobe fell as investors deemed their purchase of design platform Figma as too expensive, while NVIDIA faced the continued headwind of limited exports to China imposed by the US, although the company obtained licenses to export some chips to China-based US customers.
Some Chinese stocks also detracted from performance, namely the US-listed companies Tencent and NetEase which were dragged down by waning risk appetite and tensions between Beijing and Taiwan both also held back the fund's performance in the communication services sector. Our UK holdings also struggled against broader headwinds of continued growth fears and concerns around the government's new fiscal package. Our industrials holdings were relatively weak, such as Ryanair which lost ground amid staff strikes and flight disruptions.
Not holding any real estate or utilities companies in the portfolio buoyed relative gains, as both sectors underperformed the broader market. While our underweight in healthcare was an area of weakness, the two stocks we do own in the sector, Roche and Danaher, were the fund's top performers. Notably, Roche's share price rose on positive news flow around a successful Alzheimer's drug trial by industry peers.
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Funds-Monthly-Report-DEC21-3.pdfAugust, 2022
Market review
Global equites declined in August, as macroeconomic headwinds persisted. In the US, the summer rally was quickly undone as investors digested the Fed's unexpectedly hawkish announcement at the annual Jackson Hole meeting, increasing risk-off sentiment. Inflation did however edge lower, and the US labour market continued to show strength. European shares also fell on the back of news of the Fed's resolve to raise interest rates, and Eurozone inflation hit another new record of 9.1% as wholesale gas and electricity prices also rose to record levels, prompting increasing calls for the ECB to raise rates more aggressively in September. Asian stocks similarly declined, with Chinese equities trading flat on Fed news and macroeconomic data pointing towards softness in domestic demand and cautious private sector sentiment. Technology stocks in Taiwan and Korea were out of favour, while India continued to outperform as annual inflation dropped. Emerging markets marginally advanced, outperforming the developed markets.
Contributors to performance
In August, the Global Opportunities Fund fell in value, on both a hedged and unhedged basis, and underperformed the MSCI AC World index.
July, 2022
The Global Opportunities fund outperformed its benchmark on both a hedged and unhedged basis over the month.
From a geographic perspective, our US stocks led relative gains, led by Amazon whose share price rose following strong 2Q earnings results and an upbeat forecast, producing its biggest one-month percentage gain since 2015. The electrical components manufacturer, Amphenol, and life science and diagnostics manufacturer Danaher similarly rallied after positive results and outlook. The fund's UK stocks also demonstrated strength, as Berkeley Group, the residential and commercial property development company, and 3i, the private equity firm, both rose on the back of better-than-expected results. Meanwhile, Asia Pacific ex Japan disappointed, as names such as Tencent came under pressure on fresh uncertainties regarding their US listing status. Sector-wise, our overweight in information technology was a positive, as was stock selection, led by the aforementioned Amphenol. Some favourable stock performances from the likes of Amazon and Installed Building Products in the consumer discretionary sector also buoyed relative gains. On the flip side, Tencent held back performance in the communication services sector, as did TotalEnergies, the French integrated oils company, in the energy sector as oil prices corrected downwards.
September, 2021
Global Equity returns were negative over the month, as a result of the pressures from a global energy crisis, supply chain disruptions and a slowdown in China’s economy. US equity markets slipped, as the Federal Reserve continued to back their tapering timeline amid an increase in inflation forecasts. Asia also faced the ongoing threat of regulatory crackdown in China affecting a number of sectors, largely created by China’s imposed power shortages and a weakened property sector, combined with sporadic virus outbreaks. Emerging markets followed suit, although energy-driven markets like Russia’s fared better. The UK equity market similarly ended lower as economic growth showed signs of slowing as businesses came under pressure from global supply chain disruption and staff shortages. Events in China, discussions around central bank tightening monetary policy and continued supply issues also weighed on European stocks.
File:August, 2021
US equity markets were up over the course of August, with the S&P 500 index gaining 3%, buoyed by the positive July job data pointing towards a continuing economic recovery. Powell, chair of the US Federal Reserve, reassured investors of a longer period of loose liquidity and a very gradual tapering process to come, which helped strengthen global markets in the latter half of the month. Asian markets also posted gains in a context of favourable economic data and upbeat earnings reports, despite the flat performance of Chinese equities due to an imposed lockdown and continued regulatory tightening. Emerging markets outperformed the world as the EMEA region and south Asia performed strongly. UK equity markets ended higher, however showed signs of slowing down as global supply chain disruption and staff shortages left businesses under pressure. Similarly, European markets saw further gains with the percentage of European companies beating analysts’ earnings estimates hitting a 5-year high
File:July, 2021
US equity markets were the strongest performers over the course of July, with the S&P 500 index rallying for the sixth month in a row despite concerns over the COVID-19 Delta variant. Asian markets finished down after tightening Chinese regulations on the internet, healthcare, property and education industries impacted consumer confidence, with share prices giving back most of their year-to-date gains. Emerging markets underperformed the developed markets, also feeling the shockwaves of China’s regulatory activity and struggling to deal with the rise of the COVID-19 Delta variant. Europe and the UK, which boast more developed vaccination programmes, were not as affected by COVID-19 worries, both showing modest gains over the month.
File:June, 2021
Despite the US Federal Reserve signalling that interest rates could be hiked in 2023, the S&P 500 rallied for the fifth straight month, supported by the announcement of Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar infrastructure plan. Asia markets lagged, notably China, which suffered an uptick in new COVID-19 cases. Emerging Markets followed suit after underperformance of their currencies, however commodity-orientated markets rallied. June saw further gains in European markets, as strong economic data such as a rise in the Eurozone’s Composite PMI to 59.2, its highest level since June 2006, showed further signs of strong rebounding. UK markets were also flat as the Delta variant weighed heavily on investor confidence.
File:May, 2021
Europe, UK and US equity markets continued to gain ground with the S&P500 index rallying for the fourth straight month, the longest run since August 2020, on the back of strong economic data. Asia markets also generated positive returns, even despite the increasing transmissibility of new COVID-19 virus strains and low vaccination rates. Emerging Markets also benefitted from the strengthening of global equity markets, with the Latin America region rallying strongly.
File:April, 2021
European and US markets were up in April, as optimism surrounding reopening and lockdown endings boosted market sentiment. PMI data suggested that the manufacturing and services sectors are strengthening on the back of President Biden's USD $1.9tn fiscal stimulus. Asia recovered their losses of previous months, heaquarter dlined by china's 8.3% GDP growth in the first
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Fund-Hedged-Class-R-Monthly-Report-APR21.pdfJanuary, 2021
Returns from the portfolio were marginally negative for the month on a hedged and unhedged basis, and the MSCI AC World Index was likewise marginally negative for the month on a hedged basis while marginally positive on an unhedged basis. Areas where the COVID-19 situation is being well managed continued to do well with our holdings in Asia, especially China and Taiwan, doing relatively well.
Gains here were led by Tencent, NetEase and TSMC (portfolio is overweight these three stocks). While positions held in Alphabet and Microsoft contributed positively towards performance, US stock selection elsewhere was less rewarding given the underperformance of financials and consumer staples, which had a negative impact on our holdings in Progressive, Colgate-Palmolive and Coca-Cola. Exposure to UK stocks through Berkeley Group and Melrose Industries also detracted from relative performance.
File: https://commentary.quantreports.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Invesco-Wholesale-Global-Opportunities-Funds-Monthly-Report-JAN21.pdfasset_class: Foreign Equity
asset_category: Large Blend - Fundamental
peer_benchmark: Foreign Equity - Large Fundamental Index
broad_market_index: Developed -World Index
manager_contact_details: Array
ticker: GTU0102AU
release_schedule: Monthly
commentary_block: Array
factsheet_url:
Note: in the PDF, grab the “Contributor to Performance”
fund_features:
Invesco WS Global Opportunities-Unhedged aims to provide long-term capital growth and some distributions by investing in securities listed on global sharemarkets. The fund primarily invests in global shares. The fund actively takes positions in global shares with the aim of delivering consistent returns above its benchmark.
structure: Managed Fund