Building Momentum Through Early-Year Volatility

2 March 2026

Following a cautious start to the year, February saw a modest stabilisation in global markets. While macro uncertainties remain, particularly around interest rate trajectories and growth expectations, investor sentiment improved slightly, supporting a broader recovery across diversified asset classes.

In this environment, SqSave portfolios demonstrated steady progress. Our AI-driven approach remained focused on disciplined allocation and risk management, allowing portfolios to participate in market recovery while maintaining a balanced risk posture.

SqSave Investment Performance

February performance reflected a more constructive market tone, with diversified portfolios generally delivering positive returns across all risk levels.

Latest 1 Month Returns - Feb 2026

Key observations:

• SqSave reference portfolios outperformed all our closest peers in the Conservative and Balanced categories, demonstrating our AI driven algorithm’s strong positioning with its diversified allocations.

• In our higher equity-weighted portfolios, some competitors outperformed in the short term, reflecting stronger exposure to recent equity market momentum.

• Overall, performance dispersion remained driven by beta exposure, rather than structural differences in portfolio construction.

This reinforces a consistent pattern: while short-term results may favour more aggressive positioning, disciplined, risk-managed portfolios tend to deliver more stable and repeatable outcomes over time.

2026 Year to Date Positioning

By the end of February, all SqSave reference portfolios remained firmly in positive territory, with improved 2026 YTD performance compared to January:

Latest 2026 Year to Date (YTD) Returns

• All portfolios showed clear improvement from January, despite the general markets being fairly directionless in the past month.

• Growth reference portfolio led latest month’s YTD performance, benefiting from balanced exposure to equities and other growth-oriented assets, especially precious metals holdings (i.e. GLD and SLV).

• Conservative portfolios continued to deliver stable gains, reinforcing capital preservation alongside participation in upside.

The consistency of positive returns across all portfolios highlights the robustness of SqSave’s allocation framework.

Investment Environment

Key themes shaping markets in February included:

• Interest Rates: Expectations for further US Fed rate cuts remained pushed out, but markets showed greater comfort with a “higher-for-longer” environment.

• Inflation: Continued moderation in headline inflation supported sentiment, though core inflation remains sticky.

• Equities: Broader participation improved compared to January, though leadership remains somewhat concentrated.

• Growth Outlook: Key US economic data remained mixed, with resilience in some indicators (e.g. business confidence, ISM services and manufacturing activity) offset by weakness in others, particularly the monthly Jobs growth data and consumer sentiment.

• Geopolitics: Ongoing tensions continued to introduce intermittent volatility, particularly in commodities.

Overall, markets appear to be transitioning from uncertainty toward gradual stabilisation.

Outlook

As we move further into 2026, the investment landscape remains balanced between opportunity and risk. Markets are no longer in a strong directional phase, but neither are they in decline.

In such environments, portfolio construction matters more than market timing.

SqSave’s AI-driven approach continues to focus on:

• Dynamic risk management

• Diversification across asset classes

• Data-led allocation adjustments

While short-term leadership may rotate, our focus remains on delivering consistent outcomes across market conditions, not chasing temporary trends.

Sincerely,
SqSave Investment Team

Disclaimer

The contents herein are intended for informational purposes only and do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any securities to any person in any jurisdiction. No reliance should be placed on the information or opinions herein or accuracy or completeness, for any purpose whatsoever. No representation, warranty or undertaking, express or implied, is given as to the information or opinions herein or accuracy or completeness, and no liability is accepted as to the foregoing. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. All investments carry risk and all investment decisions of an individual remain the responsibility of that individual. All investors are advised to fully understand all risks associated with any kind of investing they choose to do. Hypothetical or simulated performance is not indicative of future results. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all return examples provided in our websites and publications are based on hypothetical or simulated investing. We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

Footnotes:
^1. Portfolio returns are inclusive of ETF expense ratios and net of SqSave management fees. SqSave uses AI to design and manage diversified investment portfolios for each investor. Because SqSave is not an investment fund, there is no single return measure. Instead, every SqSave investor has his/her own investment performance as each investor is managed separately by our SqSave AI. As investors can withdraw and top-up any time, investment returns will be affected by individual investor decisions. Hence, SqSave uses reference portfolios which are actual portfolios managed on an ongoing basis, without any interference with withdrawals or top-ups, to measure investment performance.
^2. Performance numbers for peers are estimates.

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