The turbulent year of 2024 is over and despite all the adversities, such as the ongoing crises in Ukraine and Israel, the markets generally recorded gains. At the turn of the year there was still a positive development, the dictatorial Assad regime in Syria was supported, but only time will tell whether the successor will really introduce a democracy or whether there will be another totalitarian Islamic state. At the moment the development looks very positive. On January 20th there will be another high point, the inauguration of Donald Trump, then the world will also see what his final government team looks like and be able to estimate where the journey is going.

As already briefly mentioned, the markets have moved upwards over the year 2024, only in the last few trading days there were some declines. The S&P500 gained more than 25%.

The fact that the European economy is weakening is also clearly shown by the euro exchange rate, one can only hope that a recovery will soon emerge, although the new election in Germany does not necessarily contribute to this.

Our focus for 2025 will continue to be on economic development and of course on geopolitical conflicts, but we still assume that 2025 will also end on a positive note and we can only hope that it will not be quite as turbulent as 2024.

We wish all our readers a successful new year!

The election in the USA is over and despite all the polls saying otherwise, Trump has clearly won. The poor economic situation and the high inflation of the last two years have forced Americans from all ethnic groups and classes to change direction. The team that Donald Trump is now gathering around him is extremely questionable; in any case, he is only looking for YES-sayers who will support his course without objection. Since the Republicans also have a majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, we can only hope that some representatives are aware of their task and obligation to the people and thus put a stop to it. The new administration could also cause global political trouble on the issue of the Ukraine war and the Israel problem.

The stock markets reacted positively to the election and started to soar to new heights. This is understandable, as change always plays a decisive role in the markets and brings movement to the prices. Since voters also expect an upturn from the new government, the trading platforms are already pricing this in.

In Europe, the economy is looking even bleaker than in the USA. There is no longer any talk of economic growth, and people are hoping that there will not be a serious recession. The situation in Ukraine is also putting pressure on the European market, and the disagreement among EU members on substantive issues is further weakening confidence. This can be clearly seen in the change in the Euro/USD exchange rate.

We are currently in the strongest quarter of the year and are therefore expecting a good end to the year. We would not be surprised if the indices increased further and reached new highs.

Nobody had expected this, a war in Israel. The market was very turbulent in October and we struggled to maintain our positions and find sensible investments. But despite all adversities, the VMJV was able to generate a profit in the 4th quarter. The market calmed down in November and good markups were recorded in December. All of this resulted in a dividend of $1.59 per share or 3.62%.

We continue to make decisions about investments based on the same aspects of value preservation, risk management and profit-oriented. We therefore continue to invest in large stock corporations, as well as in energy and foreign exchange assets. We will reduce the precious metals we have built up again.

Outlook:

There are still several factors to be observed for the next year, the war in Ukraine continues to play a role, as well as the war in Israel, the interest rate policy of the national banks also needs to be monitored, the ECB and the FED have recently not made any further interest rate moves. At 5.5% in the USA and 4.5% in the EU, the key interest rate is already at a high level. This also resulted in a number of bankruptcies, the most famous in Europe being Sigma. We will also pay further attention to the development of climate policy, according to which the summit in Dubai produced more results than expected, although there is still considerable room for improvement.

Merry Christmas and a happy new Year

to everyone, who visit our site.