News surrounding the coronavirus quite rightly continues to dominate investor thinking today. It’s a saga which, along with its significant social, economic and political consequences will dominate the FTSE 100 and other share indices throughout this new decade.
But of course it’s not the only major obstacle that could derail financial markets during the 2030s. A new era of protectionism threatens to hurt global growth over the short-to-medium term at least. An environmental catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes. Central banks across the globe continue to flood the landscape with cheap money. So it pays to have some exposure to safe-haven assets. And one great way to do this is to buy shares in gold-producing Footsie stock Polymetal International (LSE: POLY), I feel.
Gold burst to fresh multi-year highs above $1,700 per ounce last month and it appears to be a matter of time before new record peaks are punched. But forget about growing broker expectations that 2011’s top around $1,920 is about to fall. Some market experts believe gold values will go truly gangbusters later on this decade.
Safe-haven star
Take technical analyst AG Thorson, for example. The bullion expert recently said that he expects gold to trade between $8,500 and $10,000 per ounce by 2030, reflecting the next asset shift following the 10-market bull run across equity markets. More specifically he said that “the 2020s should favour tangible assets and commodities as supply shortages, and currency debasement creates widespread panic and a global depression.”
Buying into gold producers like Polymetal clearly appears to be a good idea, at least in this Fool’s opinion. Reflecting the superb outlook for gold investment City analysts expect annual earnings at the Russian digger to swell 37% and 7% in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Right now the Footsie share can be picked up at a great price too. As well as sporting a low price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 12 times for 2020, it carries a dividend yield close to 5%. I reckon this a great share to buy for this already-turbulent new decade.
Another FTSE 100 hero
Just Eat Takeaway (LSE: JET) is another blue-chip that has witnessed a demand surge since the Covid-19 outbreak. But the explosive growth in the online takeaway market is no new phenomenon. Indeed, data from Statista shows that the number of UK food orders made via the internet has ballooned from 8% in 2008 to 55% in 2018.
It’s likely that the proportion has continued to grow and the overall size of the market swelled too, driven by the likes of Just Eat. But there is clearly a lot more business to be won as the world is increasingly digital.
This is why this particular FTSE 100 share justifiably carries an elevated forward P/E ratio of around 190 times. City brokers expect Just Eat to blast back into the black in 2020. It should then record an annual earnings jump of more than 120% in 2021. This is one mega-cap whose share price should explode during this new decade, I feel.
