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Market Signals From The Yen And US Bonds

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Market Signals From The Yen And US Bonds

Anatole Kaletsky
8 Sep 2026
This summer, three cases of mispricing escalated into what Anatole called “market madness”. The obvious one, which everybody has discussed, is the speculation in AI-related equities. But the two other mispricings are arguably even more important: the crazy cheapness of the yen; and the irrational faith among bond investors that the Fed will return inflation to its 2% target.
Are US Long Bonds A Buy? (Part III)

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Are US Long Bonds A Buy? (Part III)

Will Denyer
7 Sep 2026
The extraordinary amount of capital being raised to fund the US artificial intelligence build-out may be one of the biggest forces pushing bond yields higher this year, says Will. His Wicksellian spread suggests financing costs could rise another 60bp before they seriously constrain investment, arguing against an aggressive overweight in long bonds for now. However, with that threshold drawing closer and the AI investment boom vulnerable to other threats, investors should move toward a neutral duration position and reconsider long bonds as a hedge for equity exposure.

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The Record High Diesel Prices

Louis-Vincent Gave
7 Sep 2026
Because of soaring crack spreads, diesel prices everywhere around the world are making new all-time highs, at least in nominal terms. In real terms, the diesel price is still lower than the 2022 spike that followed the start of the Ukraine war. But Louis points out that with a real term diesel price above US$5/gallon, few good things happen.

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Investing In People Is Also Industrial Policy

Tilly Zhang
7 Sep 2026
China’s government is emphasizing “investing in people,” a slogan that has been written into the new Five-Year Plan and other authoritative policy documents. But what does this new priority really mean? Tilly argues that in practice, the slogan is mostly about creating a strategy for human capital that supports the drive for industrial development and advanced technology.

Gavekal Dragonomics

The Narrowing Profit Boom
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Thomas Gatley
Chokepoints Aren’t Changing
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Andrew Batson
Shrinking The Presales System
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Xiaoxi Zhang
Will An Aging China Save Less?
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Ernan Cui, Yu Wu
The Renminbi After Bessent’s Interventions
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Wei He

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Geoeconomic Monitor: India’s China Question
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Tom Miller, Tom Holland
Will India’s Growth Keep Defying Global Headwinds?
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Tom Miller, Udith Sikand
Video: The Bond Market’s Big Question
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Will Denyer
AI Versus The Labor Market
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Tan Kai Xian
Are US Long Bonds A Buy? (Part II)
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Will Denyer

Gavekal Technologies

The Deployment Challenge For Cheap Solar
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AJ Cortese
Alibaba’s AI Conundrum
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Laila Khawaja
China Wind Power’s Global Challenge
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AJ Cortese
The Next Stage Of The LLM Race
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Laila Khawaja
The Tech Truce Starts To Fray
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Arthur Kroeber, Laila Khawaja, AJ Cortese, Tom Hancock

Gavekal-IS

The Macroeconomics Of AI In Practice
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Didier Darcet
The Macroeconomics Of AI: Part II
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Didier Darcet
The Macroeconomics Of AI In Simple Terms
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Didier Darcet
Currency Momentum Trading
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Didier Darcet
The End Of The Risk-Free Asset
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Didier Darcet

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Who Is Copying Who? Part IV

Louis-Vincent Gave
27 Jul 2026
The growing push to restrict Chinese AI models could mark a major escalation in US-China tensions—and a watershed for the US economy. Louis argues that a ban would protect US tech giants at the expense of start-ups, consumers and productivity, while accelerating the fragmentation of the global technology system. Over time, the result could be weaker US equities, a softer dollar and higher bond yields, raising the question of whether such a policy would truly serve the public good or merely entrench corporate power.

Checking The Boxes

Our short take on the latest news

Fact
Surprise
Takeaway

Japan's labor cash earnings rose 4.7% YoY in Jul, versus 4% in Jun

Stronger than expected 3.8%; real cash earnings rose 2.4% YoY in Jul, versus 2.2% in Jun

Strong underlying trend will give BoJ more confidence to hike rates

German industrial production fell -1.1% MoM in Jul, versus 0% in Jun

Weaker than expected 0.2%; YoY, industrial production fell -1.6% in Jul, vs -0.5% in Jun

Production hit by factory retooling and heatwaves; rising orders point to recovery

Eurozone Sentix investor confidence index rose to 5.1 in Sep, versus 0.9 in Aug

Above expected 1.7

Driven by improving growth outlook

Swedish CPIF rose 0.7% YoY in Aug, the same pace as in Jul

Inflation cooler than expected 0.9%; CPIF ex-energy rose 0.5% YoY in Aug, versus 0.6% in Jul

Mild inflation outlook allows Riksbank to remain on hold for now

Test Your Knowledge
The right-wing Alternative für Deutschland party scored its best result yet on Sunday in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election. Among Germany’s states, what record does Saxony-Anhalt not hold?
  1. The lowest real GDP growth in 2025
  2. The highest average age
  3. The steepest population decline since 2008
  4. The lowest nominal GDP per capita in 2025
Post Your Answer

Chart of the Week

Week 37, 2026
Although India's equity market has underperformed, the economy continues to grow, with the latest quarterly GDP figure coming in at 7.8% year-on-year. Skeptics question the government's revised methodology, but India’s soaring bank credit, which rose to 19.3% YoY in June, could be one of the first signals pointing to a revival in long-anticipated private-sector capital investment. This would indicate that India’s growth cycle is broadening beyond consumption. The acceleration, particularly in industrial lending, suggests that businesses are gaining confidence to invest, supported by healthier balance sheets.
Open Chart

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Essential Reading: A Book For Every Week Of The Year

Gavekal is often asked for a recommended reading list. So, here it is: a book a week that everyone interested in the world of macro investing—whether hoary veteran or eager apprentice—can benefit from reading.

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Webinar: Regime Change Can Cause Market Madness

Anatole Kaletsky, Tom Holland
3 Jul 2026
Markets continue to behave as if the world has not fundamentally changed, even as inflation, interest rates, geopolitics and global capital flows enter a new regime. Anatole argues that investors are systematically mispricing four major shifts: the long-term outlook for inflation and bond yields, the global growth cycle, the rotation from AI-led growth to cyclical value and the end of US exceptionalism.

The Iran War And Fallout

The Record High Diesel Prices
Because of soaring crack spreads, diesel prices everywhere around the world are making new all-time highs, at least in nominal terms. In real terms, the diesel price is still lower than the 2022 spike that followed the start of the Ukraine war. But Louis points out that with a real term diesel price above US$5/gallon, few good things happen.
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The Limits Of Economic Fury
The US administration is now switching its focus to a campaign of “economic fury” in an effort to achieve its strategic aims against Iran. It is not obvious that this latest phase of the conflict is any more likely to result in a quick and easy US victory than the kinetic war. However, the economic implications of a prolonged stand-off may be less ominous than they at first appear.
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Geoeconomic Monitor: Dominance And Decline
One upshot of the wars in the Persian Gulf and Ukraine is that the US oil and gas industry is booming. The drawback is that US consumers are paying twice Trump's target price for gasoline. With the midterms approaching, there is a risk the US administration might decide export controls are the only way to square the circle, writes Tom Holland. Meanwhile, Cedric Gemehl looks at how Germany is warming to the idea of protectionist measures to insulate its industries from Chinese competition.
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The Energy Risk Remains (Part II)
The energy risk from the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine continue to escalate, and away from the limelight, listed pureplay oil refiners (outside of China and its price and export controls) have been having a monster year of their own, with recent gains starting to go parabolic. The obvious risk is that as crack spreads rise, so does the pressure on politicians to do something about the rising price of gasoline and diesel. So how can investors guard their portfolios against such risks?
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US economy & markets

Are US Long Bonds A Buy? (Part III)
The extraordinary amount of capital being raised to fund the US artificial intelligence build-out may be one of the biggest forces pushing bond yields higher this year, says Will. His Wicksellian spread suggests financing costs could rise another 60bp before they seriously constrain investment, arguing against an aggressive overweight in long bonds for now. However, with that threshold drawing closer and the AI investment boom vulnerable to other threats, investors should move toward a neutral duration position and reconsider long bonds as a hedge for equity exposure.
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AI Versus The Labor Market
Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh has argued that the AI revolution will support real GDP growth, raise productivity and and weigh on inflation. So far, however, solid US productivity growth since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 has coincided with rising inflation and real GDP growth continuing to chug along at around its 20-year median of 2.3%. The missing piece in the puzzle may be the labor market.
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Are US Long Bonds A Buy? (Part II)
With 10-year US treasury yields back at pre-2008-crisis levels and the US government trying to limit further increases, investors must ask whether it is now time to increase duration in their portfolios. In the second installment of his series attempting to answer this all-important question, Will looks at the US government’s own demand for debt financing and examines how it is likely to affect yields from here onward.
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A DTR Moment For The Fed And Treasury
The annual Jackson Hole symposium has often been used by Federal Reserve chairs to signal major shifts in US monetary policy. Given recent events, the market was looking for Kevin Warsh to use his stage to “define the relationship” between the US central bank and the US Treasury. He delivered on this score.
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China chartbook

Gavekal Dragonomics

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Macro Update: Pushed And Pulled

Wei He, Dragonomics Team
3 Aug 2026
China’s economy is being pushed and pulled by two external shocks: the supply shock from the Iran war and the demand shock from the AI capex boom. Both are creating lots of volatility in trade flows, prices and profits, although the underlying trend of the domestic economy has not yet changed much. Neither are China’s policymakers showing much sign of significantly changing course. In our latest quarterly chartbook, Wei and the Dragonomics team diagnose the current situation and the policy outlook.

India chartbook

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India Corporate Update: Waiting For Capex

Rohan Daswani, Udith Sikand
28 Aug 2026
India remains one of the world’s strongest growth stories, supported by resilient domestic demand, improving corporate balance sheets and strong credit growth. Yet as the boost from public infrastructure investment fades, the big question is whether these strengths can finally translate into a sustained revival in private investment. Rohan and Udith assess the prospects for that transition and the implication for Indian equities, where performance is increasingly diverging across sectors.

Latest video

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Video: The Bond Market’s Big Question

Will Denyer
3 Sep 2026
In the last few years, investors have generally done well to minimize their exposure to long-dated US treasuries. But now, with the 10-year US treasury yield up almost 430bp in the last six years and the US Treasury itself buying back long-dated debt, it makes sense to ask whether investors should reassess their stance on bond market duration.

Strategy Chartbook

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Quarterly Strategy Review: 2Q26

Louis-Vincent Gave
3 Jul 2026
The second quarter was dominated by an extraordinary surge in risk appetite as semiconductor stocks powered one of the largest increases in global equity market capitalization on record, yet beneath the exuberance, markets underwent significant macro shifts. Louis reviews the quarter's defining developments.

Emerging markets

EMs Are The New DMs
Emerging-market bonds have dramatically outperformed their developed-market peers since 2020, helped by greater policy credibility, deeper domestic financial markets and reduced reliance on foreign investors. With DM bond yields now hitting multi-year highs, policymakers may increasingly look to the EM playbook, including softer forms of financial repression, to stabilize their markets, says Udith. From the US to Japan, signs of this shift are already emerging, suggesting that EMs may have a thing or two to teach DMs.
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Video: Are EMs Back?
It’s been a good quarter for the broad emerging markets complex. The MSCI EM index has returned almost 7% in US dollar terms, while US equities are down by some -3.5%. So should investors jump on the EM train? Udith points out that there is a wide divergence in the performance of individual emerging markets, and the threat of tariffs hangs heavy over EM corporate earnings. Investors need to be selective.
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Video: Southeast Asia Under Trump 2.0
Global investors are rightly focused on the potential losers from the United States pursuing an aggressively protectionist trade policy agenda, but there may be winners as well. Tom went in search of such economies last week. Today he explains how such “swing states” are likely to perform in an intensified period of great power rivalry between the US and China.
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China Turbocharges EM Investment
As the rich world pulls up the protectionist drawbridge, investors risk missing a bigger story in emerging markets. Here, Chinese outbound investment is rebounding after the fallow Covid years, and is driving a new wave of industrialization that promises to lower the cost of the green-energy transition.
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Europe's economy

Can Spanish Dominance Continue?
Following a decade of disappointing performance, Spain is once again dominating international league tables. The MSCI Spain index has delivered a total return in US dollar terms of 250% over the past four years, more than twice the 100% return posted by MSCI AC World over the same period. The question now is whether this dominance can be sustained.
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The Good, The Bad And The Ugly For Eurozone Bonds
Energy prices have picked up since late June, once again pushing inflation expectations higher and leading markets to price in more ECB rate hikes. But broadly, energy prices remain below their March highs. In contrast, eurozone sovereign bond yields are now well above their March high. This suggests that there are other forces beyond energy prices driving up eurozone yields. These forces can be divided into three categories: the good, the bad and the ugly.
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Europe’s Public Investment Boom Changes Shape
The end of the EU’s post-Covid investment program at the end of this month will bring a significant shift in Europe’s public investment cycle, but not necessarily the investment cliff that might have been feared. As Brussels-funded civilian spending winds down, investment will rotate toward defense and geographically from Southern and Eastern Europe toward Germany and Northern Europe. August examines how these shifts will reshape Europe’s growth impulse in 2027 and change the beneficiaries of public spending.
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The (Better) Case For European Banks
After more than a decade in the wilderness, European bank stocks have now had four good years, outperforming their US counterparts since 2022 in US dollar terms. The question is whether this outperformance can continue. The short answer is yes. European bank stocks are no longer priced at distressed levels, but with the earnings outlooks for European and US banks both solid, there is still room for European valuations to improve compared with the US.
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Equities

Profit Maxing And Social Anti-Fragility
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The (Better) Case For European Banks
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Should Equity Investors Be Reassured By Record Corporate Profits?
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Important Recent Developments
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A Buy Recommendation
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Why Is Hong Kong Struggling?
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Fixed income

Are US Long Bonds A Buy? (Part III)
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Video: The Bond Market’s Big Question
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Video: Breakdown Or Buying Opportunity For US Bonds?
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Important Recent Developments
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A Buy Recommendation
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May You Live In Interesting Times
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From the archives: oldies but goodies

Deficit Deniers Of The World Unite
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Deficit Deniers Of The World Unite

Anatole Kaletsky
In our politically correct age the pressure to bow down before certain popularly accepted and apparently proven “truths” can be overwhelming. In the aftermath of the US elections, two such nostrums are unnecessarily vexing investors—the urgency of deficit reduction and fear of higher taxes. I believe that both of these obsessions will soon be forgotten.
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Are We Entering into Revolutionary Times?
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Are We Entering into Revolutionary Times?

Louis-Vincent Gave
The role of a society’s elite is to rise to the challenges of the times, and find solutions fitting to those times, even if this involves a radical break with the past. But the modus operandi for most leaders is to try and maintain the status quo. But if the problems are large enough, this does not work, and the same challenges reappear until either a solution is found, the elite is replaced by a new elite, or the country, system or civilization disappears.
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The High Cost Of Free Money
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The High Cost Of Free Money

Charles Gave
Perhaps the most famous economic law is the one that there is no such thing as a free lunch. By keeping US short rates at abnormally low levels beyond the financial crisis and as growth bounces back beyond the dreams of the wildest optimists, the Fed increasingly seems to be trying to ‘feed the US economy for nothing’. This is worrying, for extended periods of cheap money typically come back with a hefty price tag.
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