The barbecue needs to be set up, the garden inaugurated and the golf swing recalled to memory. Accordingly, we summarise—briefly and concisely—the overall pleasing developments in the first quarter of 2017 here.

Compared to the historically poor start to the stock market year 2016, the markets were significantly more optimistic in the first months of this year: there was little turbulence and the lines of the major indices trended upwards overall.

Viewed globally, the MSCI World indicates a good start to the new year with growth of almost 2.8%. The Stoxx Europe 600, which is representative for Europe, also developed positively and grew by just over 4.2% within the first quarter. In March, the DAX was able to position itself just below its approximately two-year-old all-time high of 12,390 points. The medium-sized companies in the MDAX also exceeded the 24,000-point mark for the first time in the index's history.

In America, the first months of the year also progressed positively. The S&P 500 showed a few favorable movements and achieved growth of just over 4.6%. The developments in emerging markets were also exciting: while they were partly responsible for the poor start in early 2016, strong starts here are now contributing to the overall positive picture. For example, the leading Indian index recorded 11.14% growth and the Argentine index even 13.14% growth in the period from January to March.

In this overall positive environment, the Ginmon portfolios were able to consistently continue their strong performance from last year. For instance, portfolios in Strategy 9 closed with a quarterly return of 4.38%, following on from the good results of 2016—13.35%.

How the portfolios developed in the first quarter of 2017:

How the portfolios developed historically:

Ginmon itself is also growing by leaps and bounds

We are currently aiming for the largest financing round to date in the German robo-advisor market and expect a double-digit million amount. With this growth capital, we will continue to improve our platform and customer service and advance our expansion plans.

The impressive growth path that Ginmon is on would not be possible without the continuously increasing support of our customers. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the trust you have placed in us. We are delighted that customer-oriented and technology-based wealth accumulation is successively gaining ground in Germany too—together we are bringing movement to the previously sluggish financial industry.