November general market comments

market comments

“Loser” – Beck, 1993

In November 2024, the loser was Mrs Harris and the winner Mr Trump. Equity markets reacted by designating the bulls as winners and the bears as losers. But they already made that choice prior to the US elections, so it is fair to assume that November’s party was more about this uncertainty about the outcome of the polls being cleared.

For the whole year 2024 so far, it was quite a challenge to be a loser: equity markets have been very strong, credit spreads are almost as low as they can be, and Gold and cryptos soared. Only long duration Government bonds struggled, while Oil slightly fell.

How to explain investors’ insatiable thirst for risky assets (equities, credit, cryptos among others) ? Although the craze about Artificial Intelligence is clearly part of the explanation (think about Nvidia’s 179% increase), the fact that the US economy has proven much more resilient than expected certainly gave equity and credit markets a solid reason to post pleasant returns. When it comes to cryptos, a combination of Mr Trump’s favorable stance, ever-increasing levels of Government debt everywhere and political as well as geopolitical uncertainties (also valid for Gold) must be the multiple causes for the spectacular performance of these assets in 2024.

If November has been strong, there were nevertheless different classes of winners: the US stock market and Growth stocks led the charge (+5.73% for the S&P 500 and +5.26% for the MSCI World Growth), while Europe was slightly up (+0.96% for the Stoxx 600), the broad dollar index and the Itraxx Crossover respectively gained 1.69% and 1.27%. And there were losers: the Japanese Topix abandoned 0.55%, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 3.66%, Oil and Gold receded by 1.82% and 3.67%. Long-term Government bonds yields headed down across the board, certainly providing another tailwind for Growth versus Value.

That’s it for this month’s Market Comments, stay tuned, markets never skip a beat.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. The views, strategies and financial instruments described in this document may not be suitable for all investors. Opinions expressed are current opinions as of date(s) appearing in this material only. References to market or composite indices, benchmarks or other measures of relative market performance over a specified period of time are provided for your information only. NS PARTNERS SA provides no warranty and makes no representation of any kind whatsoever regarding the accuracy and completeness of any data, including financial market data or other financial instruments referred to in this general comment. This document does not constitute an offer or solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is not authorized or to any person to whom it would be unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. Any reference in this document to specific securities and issuers are for illustrative purposes only, and should not be interpreted as recommendations to purchase or sell those securities. References in this document to investment funds that have not been registered with the FINMA cannot be distributed in or from Switzerland except to certain categories of eligible investors. Some of the entities of the NS Partners Group or its clients may hold a position in the financial instruments of any issuer discussed herein, or act as advisor to any such issuer. Additional information is available on request. © NS Partners Group

7 questions to a start-up: DXMarkets

Fusion – the first-ever FinTech business incubator in Switzerland – exists to shape innovation in financial services by combining up-and-coming tech talent with Swiss state-of-the-art financial know-how. As a Fusion member, Notz Stucki is actively involved in the incubation process.

Discover our series “7 questions to a start-up” to get a feeling of who are the participants of the incubator!

7 questions to Marcelo García Casil, Miguel Neumann and Federico Cardoso, founders of DXMarkets

DXMarkets is a platform for investors to issue, manage and trade digital assets. The company additionally offers a range of blockchain-based services for financial institutions.

1/ Who are you?

Our founding team consists of Marcelo García Casil, Miguel Neumann and Federico Cardoso.

Marcelo is our CEO and brings 10+ years of experience in financial technology, having built cutting-edge solutions for tier-1 investment banks including Barclays and Credit Suisse. Marcelo’s understanding of capital markets combined with his technical expertise puts him in a unique position to drive change through technological innovation in a way that is compatible with the financial world. Marcelo is a frequent speaker in the Fintech circuit and is considered a thought leader in the field.

Miguel acts as our COO. His background in business and marketing operations, added to several years in the digital space complements the technical expertise of the team with a focus on strategy and product. As former J.P. Morgan employee, he was heavily involved in large-scale transactional platforms covering the whole investment lifecycle. Miguel’s academic credentials include studies in Marketing, Project Management and an MBA from Durham University. He is also a regular speaker in the European Fintech space.

Federico, as the company’s CTO, brings 20 years of experience building and running large-scale enterprise-grade systems. He is particularly knowledgeable in areas of security, scalability and distributed ledger technology.

2/ What does your company do?

DXMarkets activities are organised around two streams within Financial Technology Innovation: platforms and services.

The Platform stream focuses on bringing the efficiencies of vanilla-type financial instruments into investment-grade physical assets characterised from market opacity or fragmentation, lack of liquidity and outdated models. Our platforms leverage blockchain technology and smart contracts to improve transaction speeds and efficiency.

The Services stream engages in co-creation projects working alongside financial companies by developing and integrating blockchain technology into their transaction models. DXMarkets structured approach starts with a proof-of-concept to validate the business idea driving the project, allowing to then move into a fully-functional solution.

In addition to these two streams, the company is regularly involved in workshops, hackathons and conferences organised by clients and industry bodies to support and promote innovation.

3/ What’s the founding story behind DXMarkets?

DXMarkets started with DIY crypto-currency miners working in spare rooms of our founding members across three continents. The idea quickly evolved into a marketplace, then pivoting into a business solution based on the underlying technology architecture of cryptos: distributed ledgers.

Since its inception, the team has been geographically-distributed, perhaps coincidentally mirroring the technology’s architecture itself; it was evident for the founders that the potential of using blockchain to redefine the financial services industry was enormous – much more so than cryptocurrencies themselves.

4/ What was your proudest moment in your company’s history so far?

For most of us it has been extremely satisfying to participate in events alongside immensely respected and successful companies. In addition to Notz Stucki, we shared stage with SIX, Nasdaq, Deutsche Bank and many other prominent global investment institutions, in addition to extremely bright thought leaders in the fields of Economy, Finance and Technology.

It is a humbling experience and something we all are proud of.

5/ What’s the vision behind DXMarkets?

We believe in a financial world where transparency and fairness are leading principles. We see the distributed ledger technology behind blockchain as a disruptor powerful enough to be a game-changer and shift financial power and control away from the very few into a larger, healthier global market.

We envision this shift been driven by efficiency and openness, on a levelled play-field where participants can transact and invest without being subjected to prohibitive fees or unfair market manipulation.

At DXMarkets we believe in financial technology as an enabler for positive change both for existing incumbents and new players alike.

6/ What’s your biggest challenge right now?

Our biggest challenge is to be able to expand sufficiently fast to take advantage of the market opportunities, while remaining focused and efficient. Escalating a company quickly but orderly is a challenging task, but we’re determined to have the best people on board to ensure that our journey is successful.

7/ Is there any inspirational saying or words of encouragement you want to share with other creative/disruptive professionals?

Entrepreneurship is where passion and pro-activeness overlap. Perhaps the words of Nutmeg’s CEO are something we find alignment with. I will paraphrase his closing remarks from a recent event in London: “don’t sit around thinking or asking others. If you have an idea, and you think is good… just go ahead and do it. Spend more time making things happen”.

Twitter: @fintechfusion

Photo & Text: Marcelo García Casil, Miguel Neumann and Federico Cardoso

7 questions to a start-up: DXMarkets

Fusion – the first-ever FinTech business incubator in Switzerland – exists to shape innovation in financial services by combining up-and-coming tech talent with Swiss state-of-the-art financial know-how. As a Fusion member, Notz Stucki is actively involved in the incubation process.

Discover our series “7 questions to a start-up” to get a feeling of who are the participants of the incubator!

7 questions to Marcelo García Casil, Miguel Neumann and Federico Cardoso, founders of DXMarkets

DXMarkets is a platform for investors to issue, manage and trade digital assets. The company additionally offers a range of blockchain-based services for financial institutions.

1/ Who are you?

Our founding team consists of Marcelo García Casil, Miguel Neumann and Federico Cardoso.

Marcelo is our CEO and brings 10+ years of experience in financial technology, having built cutting-edge solutions for tier-1 investment banks including Barclays and Credit Suisse. Marcelo’s understanding of capital markets combined with his technical expertise puts him in a unique position to drive change through technological innovation in a way that is compatible with the financial world. Marcelo is a frequent speaker in the Fintech circuit and is considered a thought leader in the field.

Miguel acts as our COO. His background in business and marketing operations, added to several years in the digital space complements the technical expertise of the team with a focus on strategy and product. As former J.P. Morgan employee, he was heavily involved in large-scale transactional platforms covering the whole investment lifecycle. Miguel’s academic credentials include studies in Marketing, Project Management and an MBA from Durham University. He is also a regular speaker in the European Fintech space.

Federico, as the company’s CTO, brings 20 years of experience building and running large-scale enterprise-grade systems. He is particularly knowledgeable in areas of security, scalability and distributed ledger technology.

2/ What does your company do?

DXMarkets activities are organised around two streams within Financial Technology Innovation: platforms and services.

The Platform stream focuses on bringing the efficiencies of vanilla-type financial instruments into investment-grade physical assets characterised from market opacity or fragmentation, lack of liquidity and outdated models. Our platforms leverage blockchain technology and smart contracts to improve transaction speeds and efficiency.

The Services stream engages in co-creation projects working alongside financial companies by developing and integrating blockchain technology into their transaction models. DXMarkets structured approach starts with a proof-of-concept to validate the business idea driving the project, allowing to then move into a fully-functional solution.

In addition to these two streams, the company is regularly involved in workshops, hackathons and conferences organised by clients and industry bodies to support and promote innovation.

3/ What’s the founding story behind DXMarkets?

DXMarkets started with DIY crypto-currency miners working in spare rooms of our founding members across three continents. The idea quickly evolved into a marketplace, then pivoting into a business solution based on the underlying technology architecture of cryptos: distributed ledgers.

Since its inception, the team has been geographically-distributed, perhaps coincidentally mirroring the technology’s architecture itself; it was evident for the founders that the potential of using blockchain to redefine the financial services industry was enormous – much more so than cryptocurrencies themselves.

4/ What was your proudest moment in your company’s history so far?

For most of us it has been extremely satisfying to participate in events alongside immensely respected and successful companies. In addition to Notz Stucki, we shared stage with SIX, Nasdaq, Deutsche Bank and many other prominent global investment institutions, in addition to extremely bright thought leaders in the fields of Economy, Finance and Technology.

It is a humbling experience and something we all are proud of.

5/ What’s the vision behind DXMarkets?

We believe in a financial world where transparency and fairness are leading principles. We see the distributed ledger technology behind blockchain as a disruptor powerful enough to be a game-changer and shift financial power and control away from the very few into a larger, healthier global market.

We envision this shift been driven by efficiency and openness, on a levelled play-field where participants can transact and invest without being subjected to prohibitive fees or unfair market manipulation.

At DXMarkets we believe in financial technology as an enabler for positive change both for existing incumbents and new players alike.

6/ What’s your biggest challenge right now?

Our biggest challenge is to be able to expand sufficiently fast to take advantage of the market opportunities, while remaining focused and efficient. Escalating a company quickly but orderly is a challenging task, but we’re determined to have the best people on board to ensure that our journey is successful.

7/ Is there any inspirational saying or words of encouragement you want to share with other creative/disruptive professionals?

Entrepreneurship is where passion and pro-activeness overlap. Perhaps the words of Nutmeg’s CEO are something we find alignment with. I will paraphrase his closing remarks from a recent event in London: “don’t sit around thinking or asking others. If you have an idea, and you think is good… just go ahead and do it. Spend more time making things happen”.

Twitter: @fintechfusion

Photo & Text: Marcelo García Casil, Miguel Neumann and Federico Cardoso