Economy

In this report we scrutinize the state of US consumer finances, which are a key driver of the Payment Processing Industry. We expect demand for services to pull back in the early 2023 on the back of still high inflation and tighter monetary policy. The payment processing companies thrive but live on borrowed time. We are overweight for now but monitor this position closely.

The decline in the US CPI is a tailwind for European stocks, but does it compensate for weaker global growth?

In this report, we identify the Norwegian krone as a currency that could outperform especially at the crosses, irrespective of the broad dollar trend.

Stocks will only get temporary relief from gridlock. Inflation will abate but then remain sticky. US and global policy uncertainty and geopolitical risk will remain historically high.

CBs proved to be savvy buyers of gold over 3Q22, scooping up record volumes of the metal as prices remained weak. The exorbitant privilege accorded the USD’s reserve-currency status will continue to erode as EM states move to insulate themselves against US financial and trade sanctions being turned on them. Based on our modeling, we believe as long as the Fed is intent on keeping the real effective USD exchange rate and real UST rates positive, demand for higher CB gold reserves will persist. Given this view, we are getting tactically long gold at tonight’s close.

A client concerned about the slump in asset prices, the stubbornness of inflation, and rising bond yields asks what went wrong, and what happens next? This report is the full transcript of our conversation.