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SE 
The fund gave a stable return during August in a volatile stock market climate. Despite the fact that the krona strengthened and gave a relatively large negative profit contribution, the fund gave a positive return of 1.40 %. That takes the fund up to 25.67 % for the year.
Cybersecurity companies had a strong month following quarterly reports from the likes of Fortinet, Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, Intel and Cisco. Fortinet came out with a strong report, with increased margins and, as a result, increased profit. The forecast ahead was also positive and the company is judged to have a strong market position in the sector's strong growth.
| Best positions for the month | Worst positions for the month | |||
| FORTINET | 31,41% | SAFFRON | -2,22% | |
| CRWD STRIKE | 17,12% | BABCOCK | -1,88% | |
| ROLLS ROYCE | 11,25% | SAAB | -1,82% | |
| PALO ALTO | 10,31% | MICROSOFT CORP | -1,25% | |
| ZSCALES | 9,98% | GENE DYNAMICS | -0,29% | |
Best performing position was Fortinet (+31 %) after a strong quarterly report, followed by CrowdStrike after a recovery. The cyber security sector was strong as a whole and is evident from the above. European defense industry with Safran, Babcock and SAAB had the weakest development during the month.
Market development
After the sharp decline in August, we have received many explanations as to why the stock market recovered and that the development was an overreaction. Better inflation data came in, a dovish Fed chief in Jackson Hole and strong tech reports that included Palo Alto and Cisco. We had a strong recovery in August, but now market concerns have flared up again at the beginning of September. Tech giants like NVIDIA have gone down hard along with more chip makers. The probability of a recession in the US has increased according to most forecasts and we have received weaker jobs numbers from the US. As the USA is the main driving force, an American recession has a big impact and creates anxiety. Market concerns also have to do with the market feeling that the FED is acting too slowly even though the direction and interest rate target levels are reasonable. The probability that the FED will cut by 50 basis points in September has increased according to the pricing of the futures contracts.
There is a lot of talk about sector rotation and the state of the stock market now after declines. It requires market timing to enter the market correctly and it is not an easy maneuver. These rotations can also turn relatively quickly and defensive sectors have already had an uptick.
We are convinced that our themes of defense and security have long-term strong growth, where defense has a lower cyclical sensitivity than the market as a whole. Geopolitical risk in the short and medium term continues to be high and is driven by the global strategic competition between superpowers and regions. There is an increased degree of increased military presence and defense armaments, cyber attacks and industrial espionage. We already have a transition to a more multipolar world order where regional great powers try to establish spheres of interest with limited foreign interference.
Geopolitical competition has started a global structural change consisting of protectionism, de-risking, near-shoring and it directly affects global growth and can also lead to increased inflation. The trend is central to the stock market and the reason why all major financial institutions list geopolitical risk as of the most significant risks going forward.
Above dominant trends drive investments in defense and security over time and provide good conditions for growth and returns as well as risk spreading going forward.