B&L Capital Management

After a prolonged decline, lithium prices began to show signs of bottoming out. We saw a potential turning point in the lithium cycle, supported by falling interest rates, greater liquidity and a rotation of capital into previously weak commodities.

At company level, we focused on operating performance: revenue and production rose significantly while costs fell. Potential catalysts included a recovery in lithium prices and an improving economic environment in Argentina.

The largest US health insurers were under heavy pressure, and sentiment towards the entire sector was extremely negative — a classic contrarian indicator for us.

At the same time, the healthcare sector was showing positive signs again: many large US healthcare companies exceeded expectations. Other factors included anticipated interest-rate cuts, the possibility of improving sentiment after the next quarterly results and takeover potential. Our technical analysis identified clear support levels for our entry.

Emerging-market equities were trading at historically low valuations. Many developing countries, particularly Brazil, are major commodity exporters and benefit strongly from rising commodity prices.

We expect substantially higher prices for both emerging-market equities and many commodities in the coming years. Attractive valuations, strong support from commodities and an intact upward trend make this ETF an attractive investment in our view.

We currently see exceptional opportunities in European healthcare. Redcare Pharmacy, formerly Shop Apotheke, stood out to us in particular.

We focused on customer growth, strong customer retention and electronic prescriptions as a key driver of growth in the German prescription-drug market, where Redcare is already the market leader. Following the price declines of recent months, the chart also showed clear support — potentially the beginning of a trend reversal in our view.