Louis-Vincent Gave
Founding Partner & Chief Executive Officer
After receiving his bachelor's degree from Duke University and studying Mandarin at Nanjing University, Louis joined the French Army where he served as a second lieutenant in a mountain infantry battalion. After a couple of years, Louis left the army and joined Paribas where he worked as a financial analyst—first in Paris, then in Hong Kong.
Louis left Paribas in 1999 to launch Gavekal Research with Charles Gave and Anatole Kaletsky in London. In 2002, Louis left the London office and returned to Hong Kong; the idea at the time was that Asia was set to become an ever more important factor in global growth and that, consequently, Gavekal needed to offer its clients more information, and more ideas, relating to Asia. Since then, Louis has been living in Hong Kong from where he oversees Gavekal’s money management business. Nonetheless, Louis contributes episodically to the research. Louis has written six books, the latest being Clash of Empires: Currencies and Power in a Multipolar World which discusses the consequences of a world which seems to be breaking up into three distinct monetary zones, each with its own reserve currency, its own fiscal policy, its own imperial ambitions and perhaps even its own supply chains..
Louis has also been involved with different start-up ventures. He has helped seed a number of companies including Roboglobal LLC, Sponsorise.me, Think-Twice, Jobby-Pepper, On-Off Telecom, A-Ride Inc, Extreme Organics Inc, Ullr Maps Inc, and others. Louis currently sits on the board of Uniserve Inc, a Toronto Stock Exchange listed telecoms company, and is the non-executive chairman of Roboglobal LLC (the manager of the ROBO.US ETF, one of the largest robotics dedicated ETFs). He is also a non-executive director at Evergreen-Gavekal, a Bellevue, WA based private wealth manager. Louis also sits on the visiting board of Trinity college – Duke University.
In his spare time, Louis likes to spend time on the rugby pitch, whether in Hong Kong (where he plays for Valley RFC), or in France where he is the owner/president of the Biarritz Olympique, a club currently evolving in France’s Pro D2.
Louis speaks English and French. He spent many hours studying Mandarin and Spanish, which he once spoke decently. He is married with two sons and two daughters.
For Louis's article archive please click here.
The Daily
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Gavekal Research
November 12, 2019
The Hong Kong Conundrum
When I wrote on the Hong Kong dollar peg back in May, there was no inkling that trust between the police and much of Hong Kong’s population would fully break down. Today, Hong Kongers are saying: “We don’t trust the police to do the right thing, or even speak the truth”.
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Gavekal Research
October 29, 2019
Where Will Growth Come From Now?
In the spring of 2003 Gavekal posited that China would become the new locomotive of world growth. But now, the days when China could be counted upon to gear up its balance sheet and pull global growth up by its bootstraps are coming to an end. And as global activity slows investors are asking “where will the growth come from"?
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Gavekal Research
October 2, 2019
The Greater Good Versus Individual Liberty
Yesterday Hong Kong's streets were again the stage for violent clashes between protesters and police. At the heart of the conflict is a showdown between the shared identity in Hong Kong shaped by the common law system inherited by the British and the common narrative in China emphasizing the "greater good" over individual liberties.
Ideas
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Gavekal Research
November 5, 2019
The Knowledge Revolution And Its Consequences
From Hong Kong to Santiago to Paris, this year has seen protestors rage against out-of-touch political elites. But does anything more than anger connect these apparently disparate movements?
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Gavekal Research
October 21, 2019
A Canadian Election
Today sees Canadians go to the polls to choose a new government. The ruling Liberal Party faces an electoral squeeze, but it is not clear that the outcome of the election will unduly impact Canada’s economic prospects. Louis runs through the outlook for an economy that most people he speaks to are down on.
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Gavekal Research
October 16, 2019
The Age Of Range Trading
It is a Gavekal adage that 10-year treasury yields, crude oil prices and the US dollar exchange rate are “master prices” that have an outsized impact on economic activity and financial markets. Yet as Louis notes, in recent years, these three prices have shown little by way of a structural trend.
Multimedia
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Gavekal Research
October 18, 2019
Video: The End Of The Trend?
For the past few years, US treasuries, the US dollar and the oil price have all broadly traded in a range. In fact, the only bankable trend for investors has been the outperformance of US equities, without which global stock indexes would still be trading at 2006 levels. However, there are signs that the investment environment is changing.
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Gavekal Research
September 5, 2019
Audio & Transcript — Gavekal Research Call September 2019
In yesterday’s conference call, Anatole Kaletsky, Will Denyer and Louis-Vincent Gave outlined reasons for recent dramatic moves in bond markets and made arguments for what comes next. Anatole also addressed Brexit developments and Louis discussed the situation in Hong Kong.
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Gavekal Research
August 23, 2019
Video: The Anatomy Of The August Panic
As more and more government bonds around the world slide into negative yield, investors can draw one of two conclusions: either the world faces an economic meltdown, or there is a buying panic in safe assets. But although there is indeed a synchronous global slowdown in growth, Louis favors the latter explanation.