No. of Recommendations: 5
I posted the following as part of a comment on another board, it seems more appropriate on this board.
The investing thesis is that given U.S. actions and policy changes, there will be increased defense spending in the EU and NATO/exU.S. countries. The idea of investing in EU and NATO/exU.S. defense contractors, given these crazy times, doesn't at first thought raise any red flags for me (who knows, it might later). Also, everyone is different.
I've narrowed my list of ex-U.S. defense contractors, available via ADR, to the following for further analysis.
BAE Systems plc BAESY (England)
Thales.S.A THLLY (France)
Leonardo S.p.a. FINMY (Italy)
BAESY is the most prominent, but apparently has large U.S. contracts so that complicates things, while THLLY and FINMY are apparently much less exposed to U.S. contracting. I say "apparently" because I never trust chatGPT until I manually verify what it says with a reference. I don't know if this direction will pan out, but the thesis is that defense contracting within EU and NATO/ex-US using non-U.S. companies will increase rather sharply. I've since searched a bit more, and added a couple more candidates.
Someone asked "Why restrict to ADRs?" and my answer was that I simply haven't used overseas brokers before, so am taking it one step at at a time.
I also found out the following about Schwab (cut and pasted from their page):
The Schwab Global Account provides real-time quotes during foreign market hours and multi-currency statement reporting, offering better insights into international investments.
Schwab One lacks these features, as it primarily operates in U.S. dollars.
No Account Minimums or Maintenance Fees:
There are no minimums or maintenance fees for the Schwab Global Account, making it accessible to a wide range of investors.
Suitability
The Schwab Global Account is ideal for investors who prefer independent online trading and want direct exposure to foreign markets in local currencies.
(tedthedog note: just the following twelve markets)
Australia (Australian Dollar)
Belgium (Euro)
Canada (Canadian Dollar)
Finland (Euro)
France (Euro)
Germany (Euro)
Hong Kong (Hong Kong Dollar)
Italy (Euro)
Japan (Japanese Yen)
Netherlands (Euro)
Norway (Norwegian Krone)
United Kingdom (British Pound).
