How to Invest $10,000 Right Now
Four investment experts point to opportunities in a time of turmoil.
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It’s a lot.
In less than three months, the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, financial turmoil rocked private credit funds, an “AI scare” trade hammered a host of industries, the US and Israel’s attack on Iran raised fears of a prolonged war accompanied by a potential energy crisis and a gauge of Magnificent 7 companies fell into a correction.
And that’s just a sampling. Small wonder the market is seeing a broad flight to safety. The S&P 500 is down about 3.7% since the strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 and the Nasdaq Composite Index has fallen more than 2%, while gold has been no safe haven, with its price dropping 8.6%. Investors seeking respite from the turmoil are instead piling into US money market funds, bringing assets to a record $8.27 trillion.
Against that backdrop, Bloomberg asked four investment experts to identify timely opportunities. They raised ideas ranging from defensive plays to opportunistic moves. Low-volatility stocks got the nod, as did commodities such as gold. Other picks included companies tied to the robotics industry and software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks integrating agentic AI into their platforms.
Asked how they’d spend $10,000 on a personal passion, the experts’ suggestions included a father-son scuba diving trip around the Caribbean island of Nevis, a South African safari and medical care for pets.
For those who like to invest using exchange-traded funds, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF research associate Andre Yapp points to ETFs that function as rough proxies for the experts’ ideas.
Russ Koesterich, portfolio manager, BlackRock Global Allocation Fund
Look to Low Vol Stocks
The idea: It’s been a strange start to the year. Technology is underperforming and the market is being led by cyclical and low-volatility stocks, the latter being a curious choice in a market supported by strong economic growth. That said, the conflict in the Middle East, coupled with lingering concerns regarding AI and job creation, suggest an allocation to low-volatility equities makes sense.
The strategy:
A prolonged conflict that keeps oil prices elevated suggests a more muted growth backdrop. At the same time, lingering geopolitical risk may dampen investor enthusiasm for the most volatile stocks. In this environment, low-vol equities typically outperform, as has been the case year-to-date.
This style allows investors to remain invested in a market still likely to advance on strong earnings growth, while also providing downside protection should recent volatility persist. Our research suggests leaning into stocks that demonstrate historically low price volatility, but also companies that have more stable business models. This includes companies not always included in low-volatility indices, such as long-cycle industrials [companies where pricing contracts are over a multi-year horizon], which often have surprisingly stable revenue and earnings.
The big picture: In a year that has already produced two military operations, an oil shock and growing anxiety over the long-term impact of AI, investors may need a moment to recover their animal spirits. It is during these periods that low-volatility stocks offer a more attractive risk-return profile.
Sarah Ketterer, chief executive officer, Causeway Capital Management
Look to SaaS AI Plays
The idea: Fears of large-scale displacement have weighed on software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks this year. Yet despite the panic, leading software companies are successfully integrating agentic AI into their platforms. Skeptics overlook how deeply entrenched top SaaS franchises are within enterprise operations. These companies possess valuable proprietary data and industry-specific expertise embedded in mission-critical workflows. Rather than disrupting their models, AI is enhancing their value proposition and accelerating growth.
The strategy: Identify companies embedding AI agents directly into enterprise applications. This positions established SaaS firms as the gatekeepers and distributors of agentic AI tools. AI agents transform software from passive tools into functional operators, enabling vendors to charge for outcomes instead of licenses or seats. Meanwhile, rising coding productivity continues to benefit the broader software ecosystem.
The big picture: Software that runs customer-relationship management or enterprise-resource planning systems — finance, HR, supply chain, manufacturing — is mission-critical and difficult to displace. Although the MSCI World Software Index trades roughly 28% below last October’s highs, earnings growth for the group remains largely intact. Valuations have reset meaningfully, creating an opportunity to own high-quality franchises at more attractive forward price-to-earnings multiples.
Ian Harnett, chief investment strategist, Absolute Strategy Research
Dip Into Gold, Value, Emerging Markets
The idea: Despite the events in Iran, we remain constructive on US risk assets. This may seem strange, given the scale of geopolitical risk, but we see several reasons why investors should look to “buy the dip.” Areas that could do the best include commodity plays, including gold, value factors and emerging market stocks.
The strategy:
First, despite the sharp rise in oil prices, oil inventories are already rising across the Middle East. This means that when the Strait of Hormuz re-opens, there is scope for a rapid increase in oil flowing into the markets, pushing down gas prices, which should ease inflation risks and boost consumer confidence. Second, even pre-Iran, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) had forecast a big rise in crude oil inventories, suggesting both the capacity and willingness of oil producers to increase supply. Those pre-Iran EIA projections are consistent with oil below $50, which would clearly be welcomed by markets and the Fed.
Finally, oil prices need to rise more than 50% and stay elevated for over six months before they negatively impact global GDP in a meaningful way. Without a big negative GDP shock, equities should continue to benefit from the unusual and highly supportive combination of double-digit US profits growth, while economists expect the Fed to cut rates. While this disconnect is unlikely to persist all year, historically, the bigger risk to risk assets comes if profit growth slows to justify the rate-cut expectation, rather than when rate expectations rise in response to persistent strong earnings.
Strong nominal growth activity shapes the types of investments that will probably do best. These tend to be commodity plays, including gold, value factors and emerging-market stocks. While all these areas have performed well in recent months, any pullback caused by Iran could be a good opportunity to see renewed rallies in all these areas. These assets are all under-owned relative to US AI-related stocks, which look set to be challenged in the coming quarters given their extreme capex plans.
The big picture: While nominal growth expectations remain strong, nominal earnings growth will likely be healthy and support corporate cashflows. Without a broad-based cash-flow shock, risk assets will likely bounce back from the immediate elevated levels of geopolitical risk.
David Waddell, CEO and chief investment strategist, Waddell & Associates
Pick Your Narrative
The idea: I looked at the dominant narratives in the market today and how, if you believe them, you’d play them in the markets. That led me to the Pacer Global Cash Cows Dividend ETF (GCOW), Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) and the ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ).
The strategy:
The first narrative is that a rotation trade is warranted out of Mag 7 and into more cyclical or value-oriented stocks. As a believer, you’d want companies with high free cash flow and dividend yields. You’d also want low price-earning ratios, because if you’re wrong — and inflation goes up and interest rates go up and stock valuations come down — you don’t want to be in a portfolio with a high PE. The Pacer Global Cash Cows Dividend ETF portfolio has an average PE of around 13, with about 26% of companies tracked based in the US, has a 6.4% free cash flow yield and almost a 5% dividend yield. That’s catnip at this point in the cycle. It will weather well, you can pick up the coupons, all of the balance sheets are crystal clear and you’ve got the free cash flow. Will these companies benefit from tech? Look at an old-line company like Deere. It’s been on fire and is benefiting from AI without being Snowflake.
Another narrative, and it’s not mine, is that the bear market is here. If you believe that, consider Berkshire Hathaway. It has about $400 billion in cash and a new CEO, Greg Abel, who will want to prove himself. He’ll either do share buybacks or announce a dividend, though he probably won’t do that while Buffett is alive. He has to do something to impress the Street and show he’s a capable steward. If you’re a new fund manager, you make sure that the first investment you make is a winner. But if he does nothing, he still has that $400 billion. If we’re in a bear market, you want somebody who can deploy cash into it, especially someone who’s heavily incentivized. And to me that’s Greg Abel.
My last idea is that while we may have overdone virtual AI — the OpenAIs and Anthropics have sucked up all the oxygen — what we really need is physical AI. If you look at worker shortages, they’re really for people who know how to do things like weld or build houses. So we need the robots, and they are coming. It’s taking a little while, but they are getting more dexterous every day. The size of that market will be ginormous. The ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ) is the only active ETF I can find in this space. Its second-largest holding is Teradyne, which provides testing and robotics equipment to support the robotics trade — it’s like an Nvidia of the robotics business.
The big picture: The earnings story continues. We’ve had four quarters of double-digit growth and that looks set to continue. It’s beyond just the Mag 7 now. If you look at emerging markets, European markets, mid-caps, industrials, materials — there are earnings everywhere with margins at all-time highs. The overall market is in a good spot and I don’t think the economy will go into recession. If that doesn’t happen, we have an 85% chance of having a positive year. If earnings top 9%, then the average return for the market is 13%. My best guess is that it’s another double-digit-return year, but there are ways to play beyond the S&P 500 that can improve upon those returns.