The SNAPS Portfolio 2024 - selecting stocks when expecting the unexpected

What a shocking weekend in America. The full ramifications of the Trump assassination attempt are yet to unfold, but this is yet another illustration of increasing political turbulence and uncertainty on both sides of the pond. This creates a difficult environment for investors and one which I’ll be musing on later in this article. Nonetheless, in the short term, markets continue to have a positive frame of mind, with the US futures indicating strength at the open. At the end of last year, the UK stock markets flagged an extreme oversold indicator, followed by a strong change of trend. I’ve been fully invested since, and see no reason to change that stance.

The NAPS year to date

The NAPS Portfolio has outperformed all the major indices and continues its strong run of form since inception almost ten years ago. By June 30th, the portfolio had returned almost 14.8% (now 18%), versus the FTSE All Share at only 5.2% and a flat AIM market. Both the portfolio and the index have a more than 3% dividend yield which push these returns further. The NAPS has even continued its outperformance against the Samp;P 500 which had returned...