Gavekal Research

Arthur Kroeber

Jan 14th 2021

A year after Covid-19 was first revealed in China, the country has emerged as one of the key economic winners of the global pandemic. In this video interview, Arthur assesses how it did this and looks at the new priorities for Chinese industrial development in a world that has become less open and more suspicious of Chinese intentions. He seeks to answer these questions with reference to US trade and technology policy toward China as a new...

Gavekal Research

Tom Holland

Jan 14th 2021

In investment, few things can prove as dangerous as a “safe bet” in the foreign exchange market. So, when 2021 began with a firm consensus that the US dollar was destined to fall, only for the DXY index to rally 1% over the last week, people quickly began to question the prevailing consensus. Within Gavekal, this sparked a spirited debate on the direction of the dollar. Readers will not be surprised to learn that there was a range of views, with...

Gavekal Research

Simon Pritchard

Jan 13th 2021

Last Wednesday Hong Kong police arrested scores of pro-democracy activists for joining forces to try and win a local parliamentary election and thereafter block government legislation. The use of a tough new national security law to suppress routine political organization threatens more international opprobrium that will further cut the city off from the Anglosphere.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave

Jan 12th 2021

For investors, the last decade has been the era of Big Tech. But since September, US social media and consumer-related stocks essentially went nowhere. The unexciting performance belies all the attention these companies have been attracting lately. Following last week’s upheavals in Washington, several Big Tech firms took action to block people and services.

Gavekal Research

Will Denyer

Jan 11th 2021

Friday’s US labor market figures showing a surprise 140,000 contraction in December’s non-farm payrolls emphasized just how tough the winter months are going to be for the world’s largest economy as coronavirus infection rates and resulting hospitalizations continue to accelerate. Yet the grim near-term economic outlook notwithstanding, the first week of 2021 saw inflation expectations push higher, with the 10-year breakeven inflation rate...

Gavekal Research

Will Denyer

Jan 11th 2021

Governments and central banks are giving users of fiat money reason to consider alternative mediums of exchange and stores of value. And it seems entirely possible that Bitcoin can rally even harder than it already has. But are there the makings of a good money? Because if the answer is “no”, then bitcoin is running on fumes.

Gavekal Research

Charles Gave

Jan 08th 2021

On Thursday, Anatole set out his view that undivided Democratic Party control of both the executive and legislative branches of the US government opens the door for unconstrained Keynesian stimulus, which will be highly positive for the US economy and equities. It will probably come as little surprise to Gavekal clients that I should dispute whether such unconstrained Keynesianism will be good news either for the economy or for US equities

Gavekal Research

Yanmei Xie

Jan 07th 2021

The sight of a ragtag army of diehard Donald Trump supporters storming Capitol Hill unopposed and seizing the floor of the US Senate shocked observers to their core on Wednesday. Yet despite widespread fears that chaos and political violence are set to become the norm, there were important indications late Wednesday that US democracy and rule of law will prevail and endure.

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews, Cedric Gemehl

Jan 06th 2021

On Tuesday, Germany followed the United Kingdom by imposing fresh restrictions on activity and movement that in effect amount to a new lockdown comparable—and in some areas even stricter—than the anti-coronavirus shutdown imposed over the second quarter of last year. With infection rates across Europe stubbornly high despite the controls already in place, and with fears mounting about the spread of new viral strains, the risk is high that other...

Gavekal Dragonomics

Wei He

Jan 06th 2021

The renminbi gained 1% against the US dollar in the first two trading days of 2021, leading China’s central bank to signal a pushback against appreciation by tweaking foreign-lending limits. In this Quick Take, Wei explains that such moves are likely to slow than stop the currency’s gains, as fundamentals still favor the renminbi.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Andrew Batson

Jan 05th 2021

The antitrust investigation into Alibaba, following close on the heels of the cancellation of the Ant IPO, has raised big questions about the changing political environment for Chinese internet companies. In this piece, Andrew considers the best- and worst-case scenarios, and concludes that at a minimum, growth prospects have dimmed.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave

Dec 22nd 2020

Unless something out of the ordinary happens (and given the year we’ve had, the bar is set quite high) this will be our last Daily of 2020. It is thus a chance for me to wish our readers a very Merry Christmas and to thank you for your support, friendship and interactions over the past year. As we never tire of saying at Gavekal, ideas presented in our research usually originate with our clients; or at least, the better ones do (we come up with...

Gavekal Research

Yanmei Xie

Dec 21st 2020

Having agreed another fiscal stimulus, the US government is poised to give its population a US$900bn Christmas gift. This revives relief programs set up at the pandemic’s outset, testifying to both their success in keeping consumers and businesses solvent, and their popularity

Gavekal Dragonomics

Rosealea Yao

Dec 18th 2020

Iron ore prices hit an eight year high in early December in response to a tight steel market. Rosealea writes that this uptick in steel demand, likely due to China’s strong steel-intensive export figures, is unsustainable and should subside in the new year—resulting in a correction for iron ore prices in the coming months.

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl

Dec 17th 2020

After averaging 1.2% YoY in 2019, the eurozone’s “harmonized” inflation rate went negative and settled at an abysmal -0.3% YoY in the last three months. Other price indicators have underwhelmed, as shown by the eurozone’s Citigroup inflation surprise index wallowing below -20%. In the US, by contrast, the same measure jumped back into positive territory after August. So what gives?

Gavekal Research

Vincent Tsui

Dec 16th 2020

Hopes for a return to normality as Covid vaccines get rolled out have helped fuel a global rotation from growth to value equities, and from previous “Covid winners” to “Covid losers”. Due to its better pandemic management, clear policy headroom and exposure to the electronics sector, Asia has generally been a Covid winner. Hence, Udith Sikand and myself have argued that beaten-up non-Asian markets are the way to play this rotation (see Asia’s...

Gavekal Dragonomics

Dragonomics Team

Dec 15th 2020

China’s economic momentum continued to accelerate in November despite an October peak in credit growth, with exports and manufacturing investment taking the lead while more policy-dependent sectors plateaued. In this piece, the Dragonomics team explains why China is likely to maintain its strong economic growth through 1Q21.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave

Dec 15th 2020

Two years ago, 10-year treasury yields were falling (and trading below their 200-day moving average), oil prices were falling (and also below trend) and the US dollar was rising (and trading above its trend level). Today, the situation has reversed for all of these anchor prices in the global system. This profound change can be explained with reference to 10 tectonic shifts in the global economy.

Gavekal Research

Tan Kai Xian

Dec 14th 2020

Today sees the US vaccination program initiated, and investors are enthused that some kind of return to normal life is finally becoming visible. Nowhere has this “glass half full” view been stronger than in the US corporate credit market, as yield spreads for both investment-grade and high-yield bonds have broken new lows. These moves have occurred despite treasury yields creeping higher, and are starting to look overcooked.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Rogier Creemers

Dec 10th 2020

China’s social credit system is widely misunderstood as a totalitarian tool. The reality is that it is a relatively low-tech part of a sophisticated Communist Party strategy to use digital means to deliver both better governance and social control. In this 22-page DeepChina report, Rogier Creemers explains the truth behind the social credit myths.

Gavekal Research

Udith Sikand, Tom Miller

Dec 09th 2020

India’s economy is starting to recover through a process that will be slow, painful and uneven. Growth may resume this quarter, but the economy is still on course to shrink by around -10% in the current fiscal year. The Covid-19 situation has stabilized and vaccines should soon be rolled out, yet local restrictions may feature right through next year. The government may finally ramp up fiscal spending, which should aid near-term growth prospects...

Gavekal Dragonomics

Louis Gave, Arthur Kroeber, Thomas Gatley, Wei He, Dan Wang

Dec 09th 2020

Arthur Kroeber and Dan Wang sketched out the likely course of the US-China rivalry under the new Biden administration; He Wei and Thomas Gatley analyzed key developments in China's economy and markets, and Gavekal CEO Louis Gave presented his views on the forces shaping global markets.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave

Dec 08th 2020

It is an axiom of Gavekal’s research that the starting point for looking at the global macro landscape is that three prices matter above all others: the 10-year US treasury yield, the price of oil, and the US dollar exchange rate. In the third of a three-part series, Louis examines the US dollar.

Gavekal Research

Tan Kai Xian

Dec 07th 2020

Investors are looking ahead to us economic growth picking up as vaccines are deployed and restrictions dialed back. With the Federal Reserve having anchored short rates near zero, this dynamic is causing a yield-curve steepening. The question is whether higher yields feed back into a still vulnerable US economy and choke off the recovery.

Gavekal Research

Will Denyer, Vincent Tsui, Thomas Gatley, Udith Sikand, Cedric Gemehl

Dec 04th 2020

The US equity market is seeing a switch from the winners of the pandemic like technology and online retail, to the beaten-up losers such as travel plays. At the same time, hopes for a strong economic recovery in 2021 are juicing up value stocks. Similar dynamics are being seen in other major markets. Our team of analysts discussed what happens next, and what’s in store in 2021.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave

Dec 03rd 2020

US equities have just had a record month on hopes that a successful rollout of vaccines will allow the world economy to return to normal. The questions is what that will look like in financial markets, especially given that the US government is spending record sums.

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl

Dec 03rd 2020

In the last couple of days the euro has broken higher against the US dollar. The last time the euro hit US$1.20, European Central Bank officials led by president Christine Lagarde emerged to talk the currency down, worried that euro strength would import deflation and erode European competitiveness. The question now is whether the ECB will again come out to jawbone the euro lower.

Gavekal Research

Tan Kai Xian

Dec 01st 2020

In the four weeks since the US election, the S&P 500 has climbed 7.5%. The bulk of that run-up can be attributed to hopes for an early vaccine roll-out, but at least some is due to the perceived decline in US political risk, Yet although US electoral risk may have diminished, it has not disappeared, and may yet return to affect investor positioning in markets over the coming weeks.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Wei He

Dec 01st 2020

China’s financial regulators recently stepped in to calm a corporate bond market roiled by the unexpected default of a local state-owned enterprise. In this report, Wei argues that this reassurance does not translate to a reassertion of the implicit sovereign guarantee for local SOE debts; in fact, more local SOE defaults look likely for 2021.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Dan Wang

Nov 30th 2020

The US government’s August decision to deny Huawei access to every advanced chip in the world was a death sentence for the firm, but its execution has not been swift. In this report, Dan outlines the uneven effects of the decision on Huawei’s different business lines and explains why any solution to the firm’s troubles will have to be political.

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews

Nov 27th 2020

The balance of probability points towards a steeper US yield curve over the short to medium term as US short rates remain pinned at zero and long-dated US treasury yields push higher. One might think that higher US long rates should attract capital inflows, but what matters is the relative shift in gradients, notably between the US dollar and euro yield curves.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave

Nov 26th 2020

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand was the first central bank to successfully argue that being independent from government direction would let it foster better economic outcomes. Yet the RBNZ still seems one to break down barriers—or perhaps have them broken down for it. On Tuesday the Kiwi finance minister proposed that control of house prices should be added to its inflation remit.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Ernan Cui

Nov 25th 2020

China’s consumer recovery from lockdown initially lagged other economies, but now looks more sustainable. Discretionary goods are booming, and the online shakeout of retail continues, though other services and staples are less exciting. In this chartbook, Ernan presents a special Covid-19 edition of her annual review of the Chinese consumer.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Dan Wang

Nov 24th 2020

Chinese bureaucrats are now busily drafting plans to achieve self-reliance in high technology. But as Dan argues in this piece, this latest industrial-policy push will be different. Thanks to US restrictions on Chinese firms, notably Huawei, the private sector is already convinced that developing substitutes for imported technology is necessary.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave

Nov 23rd 2020

In the last three weeks, investors in Chinese assets have suffered a series of shocks, with the suspension of the Ant IPO, antitrust actions against China’s tech giants, and the high-profile default of a local state-owned enterprise. Louis examines what may be going on behind the scenes, and sets out how investors should interpret these successive shocks.

Gavekal Research

Charles Gave

Nov 20th 2020

...in Thursday’s Daily you argued that Hungary and Poland’s effort to veto yet another power grab by Brussels represents a mere hiccup in the march towards a European nation state. You can add Slovenia into that basket of recalcitrants. I believe that these three countries are posing an essential question: where does the legitimacy of a government come from?

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl, Nick Andrews

Nov 20th 2020

European markets were ebullient earlier this week on news that an effective Covid-19 vaccine may be approved for use early next year. In the meantime, regional lockdowns aimed at curbing the escalating pandemic threatens Europe's economic recovery. This all but guarantees loose monetary and fiscal policy for the foreseeable future. In yesterday's webinar Nick and Cedric discussed how this shakes out for investors.

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews, Cedric Gemehl

Nov 19th 2020

This week, Hungary and Poland vetoed the European Union’s €750bn recovery fund in a fit of pique at a new mechanism that will stop money going to “bad boy” states deemed to impede the rule of law. With southern Europe waiting for EU cash to support its post-Covid recovery, the two eastern bloc countries hope to force a compromise that will stop outside interference in their domestic affairs. The issue tops the agenda of today’s EU leaders’...

Gavekal Dragonomics

Wei He

Nov 18th 2020

There was a record increase in foreign holdings of Chinese bonds in the second and third quarters of 2020, almost all of it from private-sector investors. In this report, Wei explains why foreign investors will likely continue to buy up Chinese bonds and why Chinese authorities appear relaxed about this second wave of inflows to the bond market.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Xiaoxi Zhang, Wei He

Nov 17th 2020

A missed debt payment last week by a local state-owned enterprise in Henan province has created turmoil in China's corporate bond market. In this report, Xiaoxi and Wei explain why the default undermined one of the market's fundamental supports and why investors are now likely to be more discerning between provinces.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Dragonomics Team

Nov 16th 2020

Economic data released on Monday showed China’s continued economic normalization, with property sales and infrastructure investment outperforming expectations, industrial activity staying strong and the consumer recovery picking up. In this Quick Take, the Dragonomics team outlines why this environment is favorable for bonds and risky for equities.

Gavekal Research

Tom Miller

Nov 16th 2020

On Sunday, China signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. With the 15-nation trade agreement, Beijing has successfully positioned itself at the center of the region’s trade and investment networks. This will make it hard for US President-Elect Joe Biden to fulfill his pledge to place “America back at the head of the table” in international relations, at least in Asia.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Dan Wang, Thomas Gatley

Nov 13th 2020

President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday barring US investments into a list of 31 Chinese firms, 13 of which are publicly listed. In this Quick Take, Dan and Thomas outline what obstacles the order faces before implementation, what impact it would have for investors and what the move means for Chinese equities both on- and offshore.

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl, Nick Andrews

Nov 13th 2020

Given the violence of Monday’s rotation-driven rally on soaring hopes of an early coronavirus vaccine rollout, it is small surprise that equity markets are now giving back some of those gains. Expectations are still high that developed economies will be able to begin vaccination programs as early as the first quarter of next year. But the intervening days have given investors a keener appreciation of the challenges involved. Meanwhile, the...

Gavekal Research

Will Denyer

Nov 12th 2020

Heading into the US elections, there were three big reasons to be bearish on the US dollar. With the results as they stand, one of those concerns has diminished. But the other two continue to weigh on the US currency. Meanwhile, the US equity market is looking extremely expensive compared with equity markets elsewhere. Together, these factors favor unhedged positions in selected non-US equity markets.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave

Nov 11th 2020

China is emerging from the pandemic stronger than its big economic rivals in the West. It is an irony that the US and Europe are applying expansive Keynesian-type solutions of the type China has deployed in recent crises, but now seems to be rejecting. The result, Louis argues, may be that China starts to enjoy a "triple merit" scenario.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Dan Wang

Nov 11th 2020

Both the US and China now seem eager to reduce their mutual economic dependencies. However, such a process is different for either country: Dan explains that China’s reliance on the US is narrow and technical in scope while American dependence on China is more wide-ranging. The US therefore faces more complex challenges in the “race” to decouple.

Gavekal Dragonomics

Rosealea Yao

Nov 10th 2020

China’s property sector led the rebound from Covid-19 lockdown, but how long can the new boom last? In her annual chartbook, Rosealea explains the outlook for 2021 after a very volatile 2020. Housing policy has turned tighter after signs of overheating, which points to sales flattening and construction activity declining next year.

Gavekal Research

Anatole Kaletsky

Nov 09th 2020

For once, everything went according to plan. The US election has passed without any big surprises—and the initial market reaction has been exactly what would be predicted in any textbook of finance, when a centrist and predictable conventional politician replaces an extreme and erratic populist as US president.