As AI advances, the real edge shifts to soft skills: relationships, networks, the ability to connect. But what happens when you don’t recognise the person opposite you? When every exchange is the work of stitching a face to a place, a conversation, a context? In that arena, AI won’t spare the introvert, the reserved, the shy; it will methodically sideline them.

Table of Contents

• Hanging on his every word

• Few numbers

• Sad news

• Real Estate 2025

• B-R & H Finance

Market Review

Hanging on his every word

Latest news: LVMH up 12.5% at EUR 600!!!

Markets are moving to the rhythm of a jagged dialogue between Washington and Beijing: a Friday scare, then a rebound as soon as the language softens. President Trump imposes his own grammar on markets; he makes and unmakes consensus in a single sentence, while his son-in-law is the linchpin of the biggest deal of the year (EA – Usd 55 Mia). Despite the political mess in France, the CAC40 is holding up better than well (+0.50% MTD), but the OAT–Bund spread has climbed to a high since January and French banks are, somewhat, under pressure.

Japan: Equities are on fire, lifted by the prospect of the first female Prime Minister and a “more flexible” read of the policy–BoJ mix. The Nikkei 225 is leading the month (+7.11% MTD). But the story isn’t written yet; if the coalition stumbles, the whole path will need to be walked back.

Two US companies are posting the best MTD performance. They’re in critical metals / rare earths: Energy Fuels (+52% MTD and +337% YTD) and MP Materials (+35% MTD and +429% YTD). Investors are cottoning on to the strategic role they play in US energy independence.

Laggards: Ferrari records the biggest MTD drop (-22%); Alibaba gives back a slice of last month’s rally (-11.4%).

Korea & Switzerland: Samsung prints its best Q3 in three years and the KOSPI tacks on +4.5% in its wake. The SMI gets its mojo back with a solid +4% MTD, boosted by Lindt & Sprüngli (+7.6%). It took investors a while to notice cocoa prices are down 50% YTD.

Metals & energy. Gold crosses the Usd 4'000/oz threshold (8 Oct.), then sets a fresh record a few days later (13 Oct.). Silver trades above Usd 51. Bank of America sets a Usd 5'000 target for gold in 2026, while Goldman Sachs reminds us that silver, lacking state buyers, remains a traders’ metal. Brent slides toward the lower end of its range (Usd 63–66) after the Gaza truce. It’s very rare, in an investor’s living memory, to see gold rising while oil is falling.

Few numbers

• In Europe, 96% of companies generating more than Usd 100 million in revenue are unlisted; in the United States, the share is 81%.

• Today, 43% of the French dine alone at home, versus 29% twenty years ago; and only 57% say their diet gives them pleasure, −16 points in nine years, according to the Observatoire Société & Consommation.

• In the United States, fewer than 4 in 10 children born into the top 20% of households remain there as adults. That downward mobility among the privileged fuels part of “progressive activism”.

Editorial

Sad news

Jane Goodall left us on 1 October 2025, aged 91. She spent a lifetime listening to chimpanzees. The tributes hit the essentials: Gombe, the discovery of tool use in chimps, then decades of advocacy. She leaves us a way of seeing: treat each chimpanzee—and each human—as an individual, and let ethics arise from that attention.

Goodall lived with an invisible handicap few mention: prosopagnosia, facial blindness. She didn’t recognise people, or so poorly that she often pretended to, to spare their feelings. I know that state too well; I have it. For those affected, the scene is routine: in a crowded room, 40% of faces come into focus, 60% stay blurred. It’s neither indifference nor snobbery; it’s the constant work of tying a first name to a silhouette. This isn’t rare: medical journals put prevalence at 2% to 3% of the population. Mild for some, disabling for others. And invisible.

Meanwhile, tomorrow’s connected glasses—think Meta x EssilorLuxottica x Ray-Ban—will recognize the person in front of us and discreetly whisper, ‘That’s Anne, met in Geneva in 2022.’ Just as GPS gave a sense of direction to those who didn’t have one, these glasses will give people like me a supercharged name-to-face memory.

Why raise this in a finance newsletter? Because as AI advances, our human alpha shifts elsewhere: to social glue, tact, intuition. Goodall, despite prosopagnosia, built a body of work based precisely on close observation of others. I read a lesson in that: our weaknesses don’t disqualify us; they point to our competitive edges.

Comparing intelligences, without using the wrong tool

Until recently, IQ tests were a human affair. For a long time, IQ served to place oneself “against the average” and against others. We were the smartest in the room, therefore entitled to decide. To reassure ourselves, we tested chimpanzees: IQ 20–40. Excellent; the “step” stayed high. We linked that to the 2–4% genomic gap; the “missing link” seemed found.

We now run IQ-style tests on AI models. The results, as of October 2025, are blunt: GPT-5 Pro 137/143; GPT-5 116/128; Grok-4 135/123; Claude-4.1 Opus 125/118; Gemini 2.5 Pro 118/116. It’s legible for the public, imperfect scientifically, but it shows the line: the machines are moving fast.

On the human side, the base doesn’t move: IQ 100 is a mean renormalised regularly, typically every 10–20 years. The 20th century saw a marked rise in developed countries (the Flynn effect, ≈3 points per decade), then a plateau, sometimes a dip since the 1990s–2000s in some places. A pattern suggests itself; as AI gets smarter, we look dumber. It isn’t biological fate.

The investor’s conclusion: as “compute” becomes a commodity, the edge shifts to soft skills; listening, networks, deal-making, the ability to decide under uncertainty. The contrarian style is buying what everyone flees and selling what everyone adores, holding when it’s uncomfortable; an AI trained on consensus and the short term doesn’t (yet) do that. Until emotional AI delivers, that is where the difference lies.

NB: Invisible handicaps exist at the office as in society. If I fail to recognise you at the next AGM, just remind me of your first name. It’s not you; it’s my prosopagnosia.

Receive market insights (and more) on the first and third Friday of each month.

If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it

Wealth

Real Estate 2025

Every autumn, the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index gives us a barometer. It predicts neither the date nor the size of a correction; it measures the gap between prices, rents and incomes. This year: Zurich and Geneva are flagged as high risk, Dubai as well, while London, Paris and Milan sit in low risk. Translation: the higher you climb on the risk scale, the more you are betting on future price gains rather than rental yield.

In Zurich, prices rose another 5.0% year-on-year, while rents advanced “only” 2.9%. More striking, a world record: it takes 43 years of rent to “repay” a 60 m² flat. Values are 60% higher than ten years ago; they have risen twice as fast as rents and five times as fast as incomes. Impressive, but thin padding for investors; cash flow is slim, the horizon must be long. Geneva plays the same score, a little less extreme. Over one year, prices +4.1%, rents +2.4%.

Dubai is the counterpoint: prices +11.1% year-on-year, rents +4.7%, and only 15 years of rent to cover the purchase. In other words, rental yield is better, but the city is moving into the high-risk zone. Rapid population growth since 2020, supply coming back, incomes not always keeping pace.

London and Paris are digesting. In real terms over one year, London shows prices −2.1% and rents +2.7%; risk falls back to low after years of exuberance. Affordability is not truly improving, but the shortage of new projects keeps upward pressure on rents; absent a supply shock, it will take time. Paris is near balance: prices +0.1%, rents +0.9% in real terms over one year, low risk. Less a speculation story than a sorting exercise: standards, quality, neighbourhood, liquidity.

Milan’s results are counter-intuitive given the influx of newcomers from London or Brussels: low risk, prices −2.7%, rents −0.5%, and a price-to-rent multiple around 27 years. Less spectacular than Zurich or Dubai, more reasonable for a Eur sleeve looking for entry points without giving up urban quality.

One last marker: buying 60 m² near the centre remains out of reach for a qualified employee in most major cities; Hong Kong asks roughly 14 years of average income, Paris takes second place at 13, and London follows at over 10.

In short, the “Swiss premium” is expensive; London/Paris are for a foreign clientele; Milan ticks the “reasonable” box, Madrid looks like the deal of the moment.

Prices tell a story; rents finance it.

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.

Affiliate Programs and Sponsored Content: Please note that while we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, we are not responsible for the content of external sites referenced in our articles, reports, or any other materials. Some links may direct you to affiliate programs or sponsored content, which will be indicated by an asterisk (*). We do not manage or endorse the privacy practices, content, or policies of these third-party sites. We encourage you to carefully read their privacy policies and terms and conditions before engaging with them.

Disclaimer: This newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell securities or adopt an investment strategy. The information, opinions, and analyses presented here are based on sources believed to be reliable and are expressed in good faith, but no explicit or implicit guarantee is made regarding their accuracy, completeness, or reliability. Stock market investments are subject to market and other risks, and there is no guarantee that investment objectives will be achieved. Past performance is not indicative of future results.