President Donald Trump’s indefinite extension of the US-Iran ceasefire agreement dominated market talk on Wednesday, with asset prices reflecting a mixed picture.
Futures markets suggested major US indexes would open slightly higher, with European and Asian stocks in a mixed picture.
To cut through the noise, here are four investment strategies we heard from CNBC’s London studio on Wednesday.
real assets
As larger structural themes unfold, Grace Peters, co-head of global investment strategy at JPMorgan Private Bank, advises clients not to over-index on one-off events or underestimate what’s going on beneath the surface.
“When you think about enduring themes that have a sliding period of maybe eight to 10 years, security… whether it’s energy supply chain (or) physical security and defense, cyber, or even modern warfare, these are enduring themes that connect to sectors such as industrial, minerals, mining companies, and… real assets.
“If you think about the overweight to the US, the overweight to existing technologies,[real assets]are a very good complement to the portfolio. Still, AI is a topic that we have very strong beliefs about. But in a world of greater geopolitical risk, you need diversification.”
AI hardware
Peters also highlighted the opportunities presented by building AI in infrastructure and energy.
“We think we’re in the infrastructure stage right now, which means we prefer semis and hardware over software stocks…In general, I think theories about whether software and AI will self-destruct will be difficult to disprove in the short term.”
“So we tend to follow physical capital investments. Infrastructure and energy should not be ignored.”
Attractive UK valuation
of FTSE100 has risen more than 5% since the beginning of the year, with the British blue-chip index’s internationally oriented companies showing some resilience in the midst of the Iran war.
Sue Noffke, head of UK equities at Schroders, argued that the London-listed company was attractively valued compared to its global peers.
“Since 2021, the UK market has undergone a bit of a re-rating. Mainly the big players have been participating in it, and we’ve seen banks, energy, commodities, aerospace, defence, etc. all participating in it. Pharmaceuticals (within the industry) has also been undergoing rolling sector-specific re-ratings since the middle of last year.”
“Differences in sector composition and lower valuations are adding to the focus. Certainly, valuations are still quite attractive. Even further down the scale, they are very attractive, because the questions around policy and politics are weighing heavily.”
Emerging market initiatives
Latin American stocks outperformed U.S. stocks in 2025, and the region’s stock indexes continued to perform well this year as the U.S.-Iran war brought a new wave of volatility to international markets.
Luis Costa, Citi’s global head of emerging market strategy, argued that Latin America is better protected from rising energy prices as many countries in the region are net exporters of oil.
“Generally speaking, this seems like a very interesting stance, not only from an equity perspective but also from a fixed income perspective.”
Costa also said that building artificial intelligence will boost some emerging market economies.
“They are a critical part of the AI supply chain. So it’s the same in Taiwan and it’s the same in South Korea, and that’s the reason for the global price fluctuations.” Kospi No surprise to us at all. So I think this is also an interesting pocket of wealth. ”
