The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

The investment bank has returned to the defensive strategy it pursued in early 2025

Goldman has lost interest in Asia's high-yield bonds. What does he advise instead?

The first half of 2025 proved to be a roller coaster for small-cap investors. Exchange-traded funds investing in European and Asian small caps delivered strong returns, while U.S.-focused peers largely hovered around flat performance or slipped into the red.

Small-cap ETF outperformers and underperformers in 1H25: Non-U.S. DMs ascendant

In recent years, South and Southeast Asia have attracted investors as a trove of new ideas and high-growth companies, with economies across the region undergoing rapid expansion and transformation. While investor attention often remains focused on large corporations, smaller firms in Asia are also delivering impressive growth and innovation, frequently achieving success within their respective niches. The MSCI Asia Apex Small Cap 200 index, which tracks the performance of the 200 largest and most liquid small caps in the broader MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Small Cap index, has soared 79.8% over the past three years and is up nearly 14.0% year to date. By comparison, the MSCI AC Asia Pacific index has risen 11.8% and 13.6% over the same periods, respectively.

Three small caps that reflect different aspects of Asia's growth and transformation

Hanwha Aerospace Co., Ltd.

SK hynix Inc.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

South Korea's main stock index, the KOSPI 50, has gained more than 28% since the start of 2025, becoming one of the fastest-growing in the world.&nbsp;The index has significantly outpaced the U.S. S&amp;P 500, which is up 3.58% YTD, and Asia's Hang Seng and Nikkei 225 indices - the former adding 20.52%, the latter down 2.4%, respectively.

#Asian stock market: 4

Goldman has lost interest in Asia's high-yield bonds. What does he advise instead?

Small-cap ETF outperformers and underperformers in 1H25: Non-U.S. DMs ascendant

Three small caps that reflect different aspects of Asia's growth and transformation

Asian favorite: how to capitalize on the reforms of South Korea's new president