Those who thought they could avoid the storm by betting on big caps got it very wrong. Mark Zuckerberg isn't giving up on his Metaverse idea and is sending Meta shares into the deep end. The capitalization of the social networking giant, heckled by TikTok and Apple's user protection measures, is down $600 billion in just twelve months. Betting on Amazon wasn't a good move as well. Jeff Bezos spread himself over a thousand and one businesses. Amazon.com is becoming unprofitable, while the electric vehicle brand Rivian is not looking much better. Introduced last year after the success of Tesla, the manufacturer has fallen by 82% since January 1. That is to say, some 60 billion dollars evaporated... Elon Musk is not doing much better. Tesla is in free fall (-68%) since its CEO, on whom rests the whole image of the brand, made a $40 billion purchase. His mood swings and questionable positions on Twitter have not gone down well with everyone, gradually eroding the myth of Elon Musk as a genius entrepreneur. Even the sectors where general optimism reigned in 2021 did not escape the correction. US semiconductor design and manufacturing company AMD is down 55%. A performance in line with its rivals in the sector: Nvidia -51%, ASML -30% and TSMC -38%.

Scandals? You name it, we've got it. Of course, how can we not mention the fall of FTX. Still awaiting trial, SBF has earned its place in the Pantheon of Crooks and now sits legitimately alongside Bernard Madoff and Elizabeth Holmes. Continuing on with the 2022 trends, it looks like the end of the Covid-19 craze has already come. Covid shares are suffering a harsh reality check. Beyond Meat gave up 81%, Zoom fell 63%, Spotify is down 66%, Snap dropped 81% and Netflix is down 52%.

All investors are having a tough time. All of them? No! A group of diehards are still having fun.

As is often the case in such markets, investing in old school sectors is the answer. Betting on energy companies or the medical sector was the wise choice this year. Pharmaceuticals, a typical defensive sector, has performed well this year, and so did energy, especially in the current context:

Sectors S&P 500

  • Energy : +56.6% (Exxon: +85% Chevron: +57% BP: +37% Shell: +33% Total Energies: +41%)
  • Utilities : -0.6%
  • Consumer Staples : -2.8%
  • Health Care : -3.2%
  • Industrial : -6.8%
  • Financial : -12.2%
  • Materials : 13.7%
  • Real Estate : -28.1%
  • Technology : -28.3%
  • Consumer Discretionary : -36.7%
  • Communication : 38.3%

 

In short, stay optimistic because...

"The market takes the stairs to go up, and the elevator to go down"

...and here's to 2023 !

By Amandine Victor