Investment Strategy
The Berenberg Sentiment Fund invests in a well diversified portfolio of different asset classes. The underlying investment philosophy aims to generate positive returns over the entire market cycle by analysing globally written and spoken news in different languages (alternative data). Latest technology enables us to turn this unstructured data into actionable insights and use these for the prediction of price movements in financial markets.
Several hundred thousand global and unstructured real-time messages are analysed daily with latest Machine Learning technology and transformed into investment decisions, this process is fully automated. In addition, to the income from the active investment decision from sentimentmodels, ongoing interest income is to be generated through a bond floor portfolio.
- Globally diversified macro fund based on alternative sentiment data (market sentiment) and state-of-the-art technology.
- Less exposure to the development of the equity and bond markets.
- Good and highly diversified addition to many other fund concepts
- Investment universe with a focus on the asset classes commodities and currencies
Further details on the opportunities and risks of this fund can be found in the sales prospectus.
Indexed performance
Performance in 12-month periods
Currencies
Countries
Asset classes
Top Holdings
Monthly market comment
March continued to be shaped primarily by the new political leadership in the United States and persistent concerns about economic growth. Anticipation of President Trump's upcoming tariff announcements in early April—referred to as “Liberation Day”—was already weighing on the markets throughout March. The S&P 500 recorded its sharpest monthly decline since December 2022. In contrast, optimism prevailed in Europe after Germany passed a comprehensive stimulus package. As weaker U.S. economic data and a declining equity market took their toll, the yield on 2-year U.S. Treasuries fell by 11 basis points over the month, while yields on 10-year Treasuries remained largely unchanged. However, the real momentum was in Europe: yields on 10-year Bunds surged by more than 33 basis points, driven by Germany’s fiscal measures. This also pushed up Gilt yields by more than 19 basis points. Risk aversion was evident in credit markets as well, with high-yield spreads widening significantly in both euro and dollar segments. The U.S. dollar weakened under the pressure of intensifying recession fears and strengthening European currencies. Gold, benefiting from political uncertainty, reached a new all-time high in March, while oil prices declined by more than 3%.
Portfolio Management
Nico Baum
Nico Baum has been with Berenberg since July 2018. As Head of Innovation & Data and Head of Data-Driven Investments, he is responsible for AI research & development as well as the bank-wide AI transformation. Previously, he was COO and portfolio manager of a fully regulated asset management fintech, with a focus on artificial intelligence and big data analytics. He began his career in the investment banking division of a leading German bank, with positions in Frankfurt, London, and Hong Kong.