After a strong autumn, stock markets continued to perform well. One driving force during the autumn was the continued strong reports from several global technology and industrial companies. The extensive investments in new infrastructure and data centres are seen by many as a sign of the structural growth that digitalisation, automation and AI continue to generate in the economy. Despite geopolitical tensions, global GDP grew by around 3%, with forecasts gradually being raised during the second half of the year. At the same time, the fixed income market began to discount further interest rate cuts in the US, which contributed to more stable valuation assumptions for 2026. The outlook for 2026 is positive for both global GDP growth and corporate earnings.
As of 31 December 2025, our Nordic fund, NE Strategy, has received the highest rating of 5/5 in Consistent Return over 10 years and since the inception of Lipper Leaders. As confirmation of our strategy, NE Strategy was named the best Nordic fund in Europe over the past five years by the rating agency Lipper in 2024 and the best Nordic fund over the past five years by Lipper France in the spring of 2025. The award underscores the importance of investing in quality companies over time – an important part of our investment strategy.
NE Global Stars was named one of the absolute best in its category according to Lipper’s assessment as of 30 April 2025, ranking 5 out of 5 in terms of ‘total return’ and ‘risk-adjusted return’ over both 3 years and overall for demonstrated stability and performance in both rising and falling markets.
During the year, there was diversification between regions and sectors. The US and tech continue to be profit drivers, but Europe, Japan and parts of the emerging markets offer more defensive or value-oriented alternatives.
Global stock markets performed well in December, with the MSCI World rising 0.6%, STOXX Europe 600 rose 2.7% and OMX 30 was up 3.4%.
The Swedish krona strengthened in 2025, particularly against the USD, JPY and EUR. This had a negative currency effect for Swedish investors in foreign assets, while imported inflation was dampened.
Developments in December remind us of the importance of combining optimism with discipline. In an environment where leading technology companies are delivering record profits alongside discussions about overinvestment risks, it is crucial to stick to a fact-based, long-term and quality-oriented approach. We therefore continue to focus on companies with strong balance sheets, sustainable cash flows and a proven ability to translate structural trends – such as AI, digitalisation and demographics – into lasting profit growth. It is these types of sustainably profitable companies that are best positioned to generate stable and attractive returns over time.
The 2025 stock market year was characterised by an unusually high spread of returns between individual companies and sectors. At the index level, the market appeared stable, but performance was largely driven by a limited number of stocks, while the broader stock market performed more weakly. For long-term investors, this meant that index returns reflected the actual performance of the majority of companies to a limited extent.
Company reports from several large global companies showed continued stability, supported by long-term investments in digital infrastructure, automation and efficiency improvements.
Nordic Equities invests based on a fact-based, long-term analysis model that focuses on historical experience, structural themes and companies’ ability to generate sustainable profit growth. The model is based on the assumption that share returns over time are driven by profit growth rather than short-term changes in sentiment or thematic rotations.
Kind regards,
Nordic Equities
