Financial Markets

The combination of collapsing energy inflation and cooling wage inflation means that euro area core inflation will slump later this year. We discuss the consequences.

There has been a paradigm shift in Beijing’s approach to policy stimulus. The main purpose of government policy is now managing downside risks to the economy in both the short and long term. The priority for the central government is to build an economic and financial system resilient against potential negative shocks, including external threats.

This week we present our Portfolio Allocation Summary for March 2023.

A run of hot January data shook up financial markets, but we think they overreacted. We remain constructive on equities and the economy in the near term.

Rather than teetering into recession, global growth has firmed since the start of the year. While we still expect inflation to decline, the risk that central banks will need to lift rates more than discounted has increased. Long-term focused investors should start raising cash allocations by trimming their equity holdings.

US domestic politics, hypo-globalization, and Great Power Competition favor a revival of US manufacturing capacity. The industrial sector will benefit from the attempt to rebuild US manufacturing. Go long physical infrastructure and defense stocks. Find opportunities to take a long position on the universe versus the metaverse.

China’s housing market adjustment will be protracted, causing several years of sub-par growth in the world’s second largest economy. We go through the major investment implications.

The rebound in growth is pushing up inflation. More aggressive monetary policy is likely to trigger recession over the next 12 months or so. Investors should stay defensive.

Bulls and bears are perplexed because they suffer from recency bias. The investment roadmap and framework of the past 15 to 20 years should not be used to analyze current US financial markets. US corporate earnings will likely plunge substantially even in the case of a mild recession.

This report considers the outlook for the US corporate credit cycle based on a suite of economic, monetary and corporate health indicators. We conclude that both the default rate and US corporate bond spreads will grind higher during the next 6-12 months.