19th June 2026

Global equities: one-country bias doesn’t always pay

The rise of US technology mega-caps has led to the US stockmarket dwarfing the markets of other countries. Several of the largest US companies, such as Nvidia, Apple or Alphabet, eachhave individual values which are comparable with – or bigger than – the total value of the entire stockmarkets of other countries such as the UK or Japan.

As a result, investors around the world are used to having large US allocations. If they based their portfolios on a global stock index such as the MSCI World, they would have 70% of their portfolio in US stocks (as of the end of April 2026).

But although the US stockmarket is by far the world’s biggest, it does not always generate the biggest returns.

The chart below shows how the fortunes of the US market have fluctuated in recent months, based on quarterly returns compared with other countries’ markets.

Investments

Registration

Free Registration and CPD

Rathbones Asset Management - The Sharpe End podcast: Fresh Intel

A month into Andy Burnham’s tenure as Prime Minister, the team are asking what he could possibly do to turn the UK economy and stock market around. Next, we explore the rally in software stocks, as improving growth expectations reignite enthusiasm for some names in the sector that many had written off just a year ago. Finally, this month’s stock spotlight is Intel – a company that helped build the modern technology industry and is now attempting an ambitious turnaround as a crucial beneficiary of the broad AI infrastructure build-out.

There's more to 'value' investing than valuations

Semantics matter. Words carry associations that can't always be neatly translated into a different cultural context. First impressions often determine whether investors are prepared to allocate money to an investment strategy.

Business Sentiment Tracker: Business confidence falls in Q2 2026

Business confidence has weakened in the second wave of YouGov's quarterly Business Sentiment Tracker, with businesses becoming less optimistic about the economy, their industries, and their own prospects.

Not yet registered?

Please complete this form to join our community

Name


Email


Company


Select your role:


Password


Confirm Password

About Us

Read

Learn

Attend

Connect

My Panacea

Press Centre