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Professional Services

Top CIOs back º£½ÇÊÓÆµ stocks for 2025 as they fear Donald Trump's global impact

The chief investment officers of some of the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ's leading asset managers are upbeat on equities in 2025 - but have warned trade wars are the biggest threat to investors

Donald Trump(Image: Getty Images)

Chief investment officers from some of the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ's largest asset management firms have predicted that º£½ÇÊÓÆµ stocks will outperform global equities in 2025. However, they also cautioned that trade wars pose the greatest threat to investors in 2025, as the election of US President Donald Trump could exacerbate global supply chain issues.

Data from Asset Risk Consultants reveals that nearly a quarter of º£½ÇÊÓÆµ CIOs from companies such as Barclays Wealth, Brewin Dolphin, Investec, Rathbones and UBS identified trade wars as the single most significant risk to markets in 2025. The 98 finance chiefs surveyed ranked rising inflation as the second most critical risk, as reported by .

Overall, 20 per cent of respondents said the threat of increasing prices and the response from central banks could continue to negatively affect market sentiment. Government debt levels (15 per cent), stock market concentration (14 per cent), and a potential US recession (eight per cent) were also high on the list of CIO concerns.

"The reality is that many of the risks are interlinked," said James Cooke, deputy CIO of Asset Risk Consultants. "Trade wars combined with a China slowdown could lead to heightened Taiwan tensions which would lead to fears over advanced node semiconductor manufacturing, which in turn would impact many of the Magnificent Seven."

"Inflation rising too much could force central banks to tighten monetary policy more aggressively and the money supply is a significant detriment to the return on risk assets."

Following Trump's US election victory, 43% of CIOs took action in their portfolios, with 34% increasing their US holdings. Two-thirds of respondents expected US stocks to outperform in 2025.

CIOs favour º£½ÇÊÓÆµ stocks

Equities have outperformed bonds this year, and the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ's top CIOs expect this trend to continue in 2025. In contrast to bond market expectations, 57% of finance chiefs were optimistic about equities, while only 1% were negative.

Investment heads were divided on the pound's 2025 performance, with 21% positive and 24% negative. Only 5% expected the euro to perform well in 2025, while 56% were negative.