“A capital markets union is vital for greater independence from the USA.”

For the traditionally high-profile capital market panel in the afternoon, the audience was able to determine the topics through live polling for the first time. Asked for his assessment of the market, Timm Höynck, Head of Portfolio Management at R+V Versicherung, explained how he is currently seeing significant support for risk assets. Sonja Laud, CIO at Legal & General Investment Management, also attested to the current risk-on approach in the markets yet added that the market’s next moves depend on action taken by the Trump government.

On China, the panel unanimously agreed that the country currently faces significant challenges. Höynck expressed scepticism and emphasised that confidence in China has only ever been extremely limited, even in periods of high growth. Laud, on the other hand, warned that underweighting the world’s second-largest economy could be painful. Wolfgang Ratheiser, Vice President Corporate Finance & Treasury at Porsche AG, pointed out that China is already a leader in many areas of technology and still offers plenty of potential despite its current challenges, while Alexander Raviol, Partner and CIO Alternative Solutions at Lupus alpha, highlighted the country’s position as the world’s largest car exporter and the progress it has made in nuclear energy and telecommunications. He stressed that collaboration is also unavoidable for China.

Turning their attention to Europe, all of the panel called for better capital market integration. Ratheiser especially stressed that a capital markets union is essential for European innovation and reducing the region’s dependency on the USA and China, pointing out that around 70% of investors in German blue-chip companies come from the UK and the USA.

On the subject of market stability, Höynck highlighted the increasing scepticism among investors and widening spreads, particularly in France and Italy, while Germany is perceived as being more stable. Laud picked out governments’ increasing funding requirements for migration and strategic investments as negative factors, while Raviol suggested that inflation and negative real interest rates could be the only way out of the global debt mountain without a crash.