The past trading week has once again demonstrated what investors should expect from the stock market in 2026: high volatility.
While our portfolio was still showing a high return of over 2% since January 31 after February 3, yesterday's close saw it down to just 0.64%.
In February, we outperformed the $SPX500, our relevant benchmark, by 0.74%. Since the beginning of the year, our outperformance has even reached 17.55%.
This is a great achievement, and we can all pat ourselves on the back with satisfaction at this return!
Of course, after such a trading week, especially after Wednesday and Thursday, people are wondering what triggered this market movement. My feed here at eToro was flooded with narratives about the AI bubble. But in the end, no one really answered the question of whether it would burst or not (yet).
In the end, one thing above all else must be understood: this is just noise. Ultimately, the media and people are just trying to draw attention to themselves. But this does not help those who are looking for structure. Success in the financial markets depends on calm, composure, and structure.
I expect the stock markets to continue to rise, with volatility in individual assets remaining as high as in recent weeks. What will be truly (!) relevant this year are the US midterms and the IPOs of OpenAI and Anthropic. Until at least these IPOs, Mag7, but also all invested VCs, will try to portray the AI world as an intact ecosystem, come what may.
Perhaps next week I will write about why the big tech companies have such a vested interest in these IPOs.... Show More
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