Deep Dive: Healthcare stocks act as last wall of defensiveness in volatile market

Avoid the ‘pandemic winners’

As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare has become a global focus both socially and financially.

Three years on from the start of the pandemic and the characteristics that made healthcare a more defensive sector prior to it are still in place - and are even more relevant now amid heightened market volatility - experts told Investment Week. Ian Jensen-Humphreys, portfolio manager at Quilter Investors, said the beauty of the healthcare sector is it is not a trade "just for today's environment, but one that investors can benefit from over many years". Long-term dynamics such as an ageing population and an emerging global middle class means healthcare spending is going to carry on gr...