It's Christmas, but the earth is far from peaceful.

Beneficiaries are investors in arms manufacturers.

The only fund that is not tradable in Germany and that invests exclusively in armaments, iShares US Aerospace & Defense, achieved a return of well over 8 percent this year, similar to the year before.

Archibald Preuschat

Editor in Business

  • Follow I follow

For comparison: The Dow Jones index lost around 10 percent in the same period.

And anyone who bought a share in the German armaments manufacturer Rheinmetall for 85 euros at the beginning of the year could sell it again this week for just under 190 euros.

fallen out of time

Armor values ​​have somehow fallen out of time.

They are not at all sustainable, i.e. ESG-compliant, and more and more investors are paying attention to this.

But what is really sustainable?

The Dax 50 ESG index, which was launched in April 2020 and contains the 50 most liquid stocks in the Dax family, which are also said to be sustainable, also includes the shares of Daimler, Lufthansa and Bayer.

With a weighting of just over 8 percent, Siemens is the heavyweight.

The shares of the industrial group lost around 16 percent in value over the course of the year and thus underperformed the overall market.

So not an investment that brings tears of joy to your eyes.

But there may be shining eyes tonight when the Christmas presents are unwrapped.

Then one or the other smartphone or a game console should also be among them.

According to the German Retail Association, gift vouchers are among the most popular Christmas presents, followed by toys and – this is something that makes people sit up and take notice in an increasingly digital world – books.

Even in 2019, Apple, Samsung & Co. were not able to place themselves in the top 3 of the most popular gifts, but they were much more popular with buyers.

Tech isn't great anymore

This is symptomatic of how technology stocks have performed this year.

The Nasdaq-100 index, which focuses on technology stocks, lost around a third of its rating.

Its heavyweight, iPhone maker Apple, fell more than 20 percent, and Microsoft fared no better.

Experts know that this is a typical phenomenon, since a sector is always hit particularly hard when there is a downturn.

If it was the banks after the financial crisis of 2007/2008, now it's the technology stocks.

Many Deutsche Bahn customers liked the fact that oat milk is now served with coffee in the on-board bistro.

But the investors didn't get it at all.

A share of the Swedish market leader Oatley cost 8.37 euros at the beginning of the year, so it is now more than 6 euros less.

The same happened to Beyond Meat, which was founded in 2009 and stands for meat substitute products.

The price fell by a whopping 80 percent over the course of the year.

Not that consumers are again pouring cow's milk into their coffee or eating beef on their burgers.

Inflation and high energy prices are making customers turn to cheaper alternatives.

Very few investors buy shares in the New Year and then sell them again at Christmas.

Capital market experts are cautiously optimistic about the coming year.

Maybe it will still be a nice gift.

Even if it won't come in time for Christmas.