Finnish pension insurer, Veritas, made a loss of -0.3% in Q1 2026.
Its Q1 results revealed that its return was slightly worse than its return in Q1 2025 (-0.2%).
By asset class, fixed income investments yielded -0.4% (-0.3%), equity investments -0.7% (-0.6%), property investments -0.2% (0.8%) and other investments 1.9% (0.5%).
Veritas investment director, Laura Wickström, said: “The start of the year has been very eventful, and returns on investments fell below zero.
“Fears of an escalation of the crisis in Iran led to negative returns on listed shares at the end of the quarter. But the investment year has only just begun and there is still plenty of time for things to happen.”
According to Wickström, investors have had to get used to volatility or market fluctuations during Trump’s second term.
“The start of the year has been marked by geopolitical uncertainty and rising energy prices. If the war in the Middle East drags on or escalates, it could have significant consequences for economic growth and the market,” she added.
Despite a weak Q1, Veritas’ investments turned positive by April, as the stock market has largely recovered from the shock caused by the war in Iran. In particular, the Helsinki Stock Exchange made a swift recovery and has outperformed the average for European stock exchanges.
Wickström said, looking forward, “economic growth continues to look stable, particularly in the US”. However, “rising energy prices have dampened expectations of economic growth” in Europe.
“It is also more likely that interest rates will rise in Europe than in the US, which in turn could affect consumer confidence in particular, as it is already at a low level,” she added.
