Stock Picks
In my short tenure in analyzing the financial markets at EasyResearch, the world has evaded a nuclear war, trade wars, a pandemic, and now possibly a world war?
But guess what? We are still here, moving forward much like the stock market, which has seen much worse than you or I have experienced and still managed to make a full recovery and then some!
Here are some options to explore across our EasyWallets during uncertainty:
Energy sector
As geopolitical tensions intensified over the last week, Western nations unleashed more sanctions against Russia, the world's third-largest oil producer. Oil prices have skyrocketed as the commodity was already in short supply to meet rising demand from opening economies.
The current sanction against Russia has disrupted the oil supply even further, which have some analyst speculating that oil prices could reach $115 a barrel by month-end.
Here are some of the securities that might be topical in the energy sector and should perform well with rising energy prices:
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Safe-Havens
The investment term “Safe Haven” should not be new to our EasyVSTRs, but to recap, a safe haven is an investment that is expected (not guaranteed) to increase in value during times of market turbulence like we see now. Hard assets like Gold and Silver are probably two of the most popular and renowned haven investments during uncertainty, other than cash and bonds.
Locally our mining stocks have been placed back on center stage as hard commodities like gold surged to new yearly highs. Below are some of the mining securities to take note of when hard commodities start to rally:
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Diversify, Diversify, Diversify
Diversifying your portfolio should always be top of mind when it comes to managing your long-term investment portfolio. Growth stocks have been soaring the last couple of years, and that's great, but when the markets turn, investors should not ignore good dividend-paying value stocks. The essence of diversification is to protect or curb losses your portfolio will endure in times of drawdown or uncertainty.
Another cost-effective way to diversify your portfolio is through Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), which can cover a whole sector in one basket. Here are a couple of ETFs across our EasyWallets to investigate:
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Informed decisions
Negative sentiment is expected to increase market volatility over the coming days and weeks, which means investment portfolios could remain under pressure. We have no idea how long the Russia/ Ukraine aggression will last but remember, stay the course and think long term.
During turbulent times, opportunities will present themselves, either to capitalize on or as portfolio protection just, as we have seen with the recent pandemic downturn.
New to investing
and want to know more about our recent stock picks?
Read: Dividends during uncertainties
Sources – EasyResearch, U.S Energy Information Administration (eia), Bloomberg, Rob Verdonck and Serene Cheong, Fin24, Reuters.
Follow Barry Dumas
@BEEF_FINMARKETS
Barry is a market analyst with GT247, with a wealth of experience in the investment markets. Now in his tenth year in the markets, Barry "The Beef" Dumas brings a combination of technical analysis and fundamental insights to the table.
