Equities

The conditions for a sustainable rally in Chinese stocks have not been met. In this report we discuss the four signposts which we will closely monitor to gauge when it will be warranted to upgrade our stance on Chinese equities both in absolute terms and relative to the global stock benchmark.

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?

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.

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.

While there is much variability in company profitability, earnings contractions have commenced and appear to be broad-based. We expect earnings growth to deteriorate further into year-end. Companies are reporting concerns about the trajectory of future economic growth and the uncertainty that it brings. Consumer spending on goods has slowed sharply, while spending on discretionary services has surprised on the upside. Business-to-business spending is still strong.

Europe is hampered by a lower trend growth rate, but has room to grow faster than the US over the next two years. How can investors profit from this outlook?

Financial markets slumped with the tough talk that followed last week’s FOMC meeting, but investors should recognize that the tone of the Fed’s communications is conditioned upon the inflation backdrop. Once it improves, Chair Powell and his colleagues will be able to relax their rhetoric.

As the FOMC explicitly acknowledged this week, monetary policy operates with substantial lags. We see the risks to stocks as tilted to the upside over the next 6 months but are neutral on global equities over a 12-month horizon.