Table of Contents

• Is a storm on the horizon?

  • What’s really moving

  • Winners and losers of the month

  • Data centres: the backbone of AI

  • Nvidia: the next test

  • Quick take for investors

• Few numbers

• Are we being played?

• B-R & H Finance

Market Review

Is a storm on the horizon?

Markets are still hovering near their highs, but the engine is getting narrower: Asia and AI‑tech in the lead, energy, India and China lagging, and Nvidia acting as referee this week.

What’s really moving

1. Equities this month are all about Korea (KOSPI +12.3% MTD) and the Nasdaq 100 (+5.6%), with the S&P 500 up roughly 3% and the MSCI World ahead 2.5%.

2. Europe is more mixed: Belgium’s BEL 20 (+2.8%) and Switzerland’s SMI (+2.6%) are up, while the CAC 40 (–1.1%) slips and the Hang Seng (–1.7%) showcases China’s malaise.

3. In commodities and FX, Brent (–6.1%), WTI (–2.8%) and gold (–0.7%) are all correcting, while ethereum is the worst line on the board (–6.6%).

Winners and losers of the month

1. The equity leaderboard is pure tech: Datadog (+56.9%), Fortinet (+46.4%), SK Hynix (+42.3%), joined by Micron, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, MediaTek, Cisco and MongoDB, all between +29% and +37% MTD.

2. The bottom of the table is full of names that have disappointed on earnings or guidance: Zoetis (–31.4%), OSI Systems (–26.3%), Herbalife, Amphenol, Boss Energy, Shopify (–16.8%), Under Armour (–15.4%), often on margin pressure and more selective consumer spending.

3. The clear pattern: winners are the critical links in the digital infrastructure chain (cybersecurity, data, monitoring software); losers tend to be yesterday’s growth or consumer stories.

Data centres: the backbone of AI

1. The “Data Centres” basket is already up 48.8% YTD on average (see table above), led by Ciena (+121.5%), Marvell (+107.1%) and Vertiv (+98.1%).

2. Add Comfort Systems (+93.2%), Quanta Services (+66.8%), Monolithic Power (+58.0%) and Schneider Electric (+10.1%), all exposed to power, cooling and equipment for server farms.

3. The market’s implicit message: AI is no longer just about a few software mega‑caps, but the entire industrial chain that keeps the models running.

Nvidia: the next test

1. Nvidia reports after the close on Wednesday; the Reuters/Refinitiv consensus is for EPS around 1.76 USD and year‑on‑year profit growth a little above 60%.

2. Analysts also expect a sharply higher revenue target, driven by massive capex plans from the tech giants in AI chips.

3. The options market is pricing a 7–8% move in the stock either way after the release – making it a genuinely systemic event for the whole AI/semiconductor complex.

Quick take for investors

1. Late in the cycle, returns are coming from a hard core: Asia ex‑China, AI‑tech, data centres. Wide dispersion argues for measured exposure to these themes, balanced with more defensive pockets (Switzerland, quality dividends).

2. Softer energy and precious metals, plus still‑volatile crypto, show that “classic” hedges are harder to find; the main short‑term risk is a disappointment from Nvidia that could trigger broader profit‑taking across AI

Few numbers

• 5% – Only about 5% of OpenAI’s 800–900 million weekly users are paying subscribers. Huge audience, very low revenue per head.

• 8.4× – The monetisation gap between the two AI leaders is striking: Anthropic generates around 211 USD per monthly user versus roughly 25 USD for OpenAI – an almost 1‑to‑8 ratio in favour of Anthropic’s B2B model.

• 60% – 60% of US adults now have an unfavourable view of Israel, up nearly 20 points since 2022. The rift is widening fastest under 50 and runs across both parties.

Editorial

Are we being played?

On the cover, they stroll along a beach, fingers intertwined in the golden light. He is the boy from Seine‑Saint‑Denis who has become the pollsters’ favourite; she is a princess of Bourbon‑Two Sicilies, heiress to a vanished kingdom. In a single shot, the whole story is there: the “anti‑system” tribune and the young woman of the gotha, working‑class France and Italian palaces.

The Two Sicilies once meant Naples, Palermo, a real state swallowed up by a unified Italy in the 19th century. Today, all that remains are disputed titles, private chivalric orders and a ballroom imagination that the family carefully cultivates. Maria Carolina grew up in that world, between Monaco, charity galas and a very visible life on social media. Meanwhile, almost unnoticed, the royal necropolis of Saint‑Denis quietly lines up under its Gothic vaults the effigies of 43 kings and 32 queens of France, stripped of their bodies by the Revolution and gathered into a common ossuary. This is where Jordan Bardella spent part of his childhood, in the Gabriel‑Péri housing estate he constantly invokes to fuel his “banlieue” narrative. And this is where another child of the projects, Bally Bagayoko, now runs the city as a first‑round‑elected LFI mayor in the name of social struggle. There is something dizzying in this criss‑cross: a national candidate who sells a suburb story, a princess who carries the name of former sovereigns, a basilica that guards their tombs and, in between, a far‑left mayor claiming the legacy of the nameless.

Monaco is home turf for the Bourbons of Two Sicilies. It is also where Princess Stéphanie of Monaco once threw herself into the spotlight: songs, catwalks, romances with a bodyguard or a circus artist, fluorescent swimsuits, heady perfumes. She was the darling of the 80s and 90s tabloids, the princess who refused the rules, ready to expose everything and pay the price, divorces and scars included. With hindsight she has become a period piece, filed away with Patrick Juvet and Jeanne Mas: what we once called vulgar now looks nostalgic. With Stéphanie there was no grand plan, just a desire to live freely and a few wounds that never really healed.

Thirty years on, the Bardella–Bourbon couple arrives in a world where the line between endured private life and curated private life has almost disappeared. Rumours were already swirling; the “reveal” did not come from a stolen shot but from a Paris Match cover – owned by Vincent Bolloré – with a carefully selected photo spread. Le Monde recounts the hesitations around paparazzi, the desire to seize back control, and how this coming‑out fits a very deliberate political timetable. A critical outlet even speaks of a “carefully choreographed” sequence where love story, image and strategy become one and the same.

Are we being manipulated? It is a reasonable question. For Bardella, appearing with a princess softens his image, reassures part of the elite and gives any future presidency a whiff of national romance. There is a touch of Bel‑Ami about him. If an aristocrat who has everything can fall for a cleaner’s son, then why not us, ordinary voters? For her, shifting from aristocratic influencer to partner of a possible head of state multiplies her reach and restores a symbolic political role to a dynasty without a kingdom. Voters are handed a full soap opera: social rise, château, beach, the promise that all this remains “close to the people”, published by Harlequin.

If I were a communications adviser, would I have dared pitch such an idea? Probably not in those exact terms, but the appeal is obvious: a storyline where everyone gets something and where private life becomes just another campaign tool. A speech makes headlines for a day; a beach photo with a smiling leader and a princess is shared, memed and etched in memory for years. Today, narrative trumps everything else: a good love story beats a long manifesto, and the couple formed by Bardella and Maria Carolina is no exception. The real red line is no longer on the side of the protagonists, but on ours: at what point do we decide to stop confusing information with a glossy photo novel?

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Wealth

Branded doorbells

Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, Six Senses, YOO, Armani, Missoni: in 2026, these names are no longer just on hotels or catwalks, but on the letterboxes of private residences across Europe. According to Savills, these branded residences now form a standalone asset class, with more than 140 schemes delivered by end‑2025 and over 300 expected by 2032.

Europe: small continent, big playground

Europe is one of the most mature markets for branded residences, just behind North America and Asia‑Pacific. As the rest of the world accelerates, its share of global projects will shrink to 16% by 2032, but the actual stock will more than double, from 141 to over 300 schemes.

The map is being redrawn fast. Turkey is set to double from 22 to 44 branded residences in five years, while Spain (36 completed or pipeline projects) and Portugal (33) overtake the UK in total volume. London remains the flagship city, ahead of Istanbul, Lisbon, Madrid and Athens, all with pipelines larger than their current stock.

Town mouse, country mouse

Until now, Europe’s offer was almost evenly split between city and resort, 49% urban and 51% resort. By 2032, about 65% of branded residences will be in resort locations along the Mediterranean coasts or in the Alps, reflecting the rise of the “two‑hour home”, easily reached from a main residence.

Major capitals remain hard to build in because of scarce land and heritage rules, which boosts the value of the few new addresses, such as the first project in Paris. Resorts that combine residences and hotel services, by contrast, can be used over twelve months of the year, which supports both income and resale.

Logos, a 38% premium and discipline

Marriott dominates the European hotel‑branded landscape with 37 projects; Accor has the largest pipeline, while Radisson is catching up fast. Mandarin Oriental will grow from 5 to 18 operating residences by 2032, Radisson Blu will reach 12, and Four Seasons and Six Senses are multiplying openings in the Alps, countryside, seaside and cities.

On the non‑hotel side, fashion and design brands are shaping the market: YOO counts 16 completed projects and 9 in development, Ando Living has become a force in Portugal, while Pininfarina, Fendi and Nobu pick up speed. Overall, this universe commands an average price premium of 33% globally and 38% in Europe, sharply higher than last year’s 29%, especially in the luxury segment, which already accounted for half of 2025 deliveries.

For a private investor, the real question is not “which brand?” but “which place, with which operator, and what liquidity in ten years?”. The report’s reminder is clear: despite the hotel DNA, these are first and foremost real‑estate products, and the old rule still applies – location, management quality, depth of market. Chosen well, a branded residence can be both a “two‑hour home” for the family and a distinctive asset in a diversified property portfolio – provided you accept that 30–40% brand premium with your eyes open.

B-R & H Finance

Founded in 2004, B-R & H Finance SA is a Swiss entity specialized in wealth management. We offer a full range of personalized and independent investment services and advisory solutions. Regulated by SO-Fit and authorized by FINMA, we are also members of the ASG (Swiss Association of Independent Asset Managers) and work with leading custodian banks.

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