Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews

Sep 16th 2021

The United Kingdom got a sharp lesson in the perils of energy dependence on Wednesday. A fire shut down its imports of electricity—mostly nuclear-generated—from France, pushing domestic natural gas prices up by as much as 20% in intraday trading. The fire may keep as much as a third of the UK’s capacity to import power from France closed through the winter months. Given that the UK has the capacity to import 3MW from France and on average...

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews

Sep 10th 2021

Ahead of Germany’s election in a couple of weeks, the center-left Social Democratic Party has recently climbed up the polls to eclipse the previously dominant Christian Democratic Union. If the polling is right, the SPD is likely to form a coalition government with Germany’s smaller parties. Nick breaks out the tea leaves to see what a political shift is likely to mean.

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews

Sep 10th 2021

For decades, urban England has had an under-supplied and over-bought housing market. UK governments of all political stripes have tried and failed to unblock building pipelines. Britain is hardly alone in having seen home prices rocket due to pandemic effects, but there was a grim inevitability to UK home prices rising 13% in the last year. Yet, at the same juncture, there is evidence that a mixture of decent policymaking and smart market...

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews

Sep 06th 2021

To taper, or not to taper is the question for the European Central Bank at Thursday’s policymaking meeting. The market seems to think that monthly bond purchases will soon be lowered by about €20bn to €80bn, as shown by 10-year German bund yields rising 14bp in the last two weeks. Economic output in the eurozone is back near pre-pandemic levels and consumer price inflation in August spiked to 3%. There have even been putative sightings of the...

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews

Sep 01st 2021

European equities have had a stunning 10 months, returning 46% since the beginning of November 2020 and outperforming even the MSCI US. This performance has been driven by expectations of strong earnings growth— supported by buoyant demand and full order books. Peering ahead, however, there are good reasons to look for the pace of new orders to slow.

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl

Aug 24th 2021

Questioned by opinion pollsters, most Germans say the campaign ahead of the country’s September 26 federal election is dull. Yet those same opinion polls now point to the most wide-open election race in recent history. In the last few weeks, support for the center-left social democratic SPD has surged, even as the popularity of the center-right conservative CDU/CSU has slumped and the Greens have stalled.

Gavekal Research

Charles Gave

Aug 12th 2021

Last month, Charles reviewed the efforts China has made to build an alternative to Asia’s US-dollar-based trading system. Today, he peers into the future, and looks at what China is doing, not just to offer an alternative to the US dollar or euro, but to build a new monetary order for Asia.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave, Anatole Kaletsky, Anatole Kaletsky, Arthur Kroeber

Aug 06th 2021

The US growth outlook may be softening as the reopening boom weakens but equity markets seem relaxed as this outcome could delay the day when monetary stimulus is withdrawn. In our sign-off webinar for August, Gavekal partners asked if markets are right in their benign assessment, or whether a nasty surprise could emerge over the usually quiet summer months.

Gavekal Research

Louis Gave

Aug 03rd 2021

Forget the recent easing signals sent by the Chinese Politburo (and consequent drop in Chinese bond yields). Forget fears about the “Delta variant” giving Western central banks cover to keep extremely loose monetary policies even as inflation rises. Forget also the upcoming US stimulus bill, or the unleashing of European fiscal expansion. A positive signal that no one is yet talking about is the deflationary signal that could have materialized,...

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl

Jul 30th 2021

Two weeks ago, after US consumer price data for June showed inflation had climbed to a 13-year high of 5.4%, my colleague Tan Kai Xian examined the three main drivers of this year’s rise in US inflation: base effects, supply-side constraints and demand-pull factors. He concluded that base effects have started to wear off and supply-side constraints will soon begin to ease. However, demand-pull factors are set to strengthen over the coming...

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews, Cedric Gemehl

Jul 26th 2021

The eurozone’s economy has continued to pick up in July, with the flash composite PMI released on Friday beating expectations to hit a 21-year high. The manufacturing component continued to fire strongly, and notably the services index topped 60 for the first time since May 2006 as governments relaxed Covid restrictions and the summer tourist season got under way. However, after nine months in which eurozone data has consistently come in ahead...

Gavekal Research

Will Denyer, Nick Andrews, Wei He, Vincent Tsui

Jul 23rd 2021

The reflation trade has ebbed in recent weeks as investors have gotten more comfortable with the trajectory of US monetary policy and concerns have risen over the Delta variant of Covid disrupting economic opening. At the same time, China continues to crack down on its high-growth internet sector. Our team assessed the market implications of these trends.

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl, Nick Andrews

Jul 09th 2021

The European Central Bank on Thursday jettisoned its longstanding inflation target of “below, but close to 2%” in favor of a symmetrical target centered around the 2% mark. The formal adoption of a symmetrical target is significant, because it acknowledges just how far the ECB has traveled from its origins as the institutional offspring of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl

Jul 08th 2021

European companies are hiring again—or at least they would be if they could get the staff. The rebound in eurozone economic activity has fueled employers’ demand for labor. Having languished at about one standard deviation below its long term average through 4Q20 and 1Q21, the European Commission’s index of eurozone businesses’ hiring intentions has risen to over one standard deviation above its long-term average, as of end-June. The number of...

Gavekal Research

Will Denyer

Jul 07th 2021

Starting in the early 1980s, the world became increasingly flush with people in their prime working and saving years. That trend, however, has largely run its course and may now be going into reverse. As a result, investors should consider what economic trends have demographic drivers, making them vulnerable to a structural shift occurring.

Gavekal Research

Tom Holland

Jul 06th 2021

Last year, when Opec+ talks broke up without an agreement on setting production quotas, the oil price collapsed. On Monday, when Opec+ talks broke up without an agreement on setting production quotas, the oil price surged. The majority of market watchers see no inconsistency, but they are making some large assumptions, which deserve close scrutiny.

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews

Jul 01st 2021

In response to the Covid economic shock, the European Union has vowed to adopt more expansive fiscal responses and limited mutualization of national debts. The country where this approach will fall, or rise is Italy. In this interview, Nick offers a view on whether it will be enough for Italy to mount a comeback.

Gavekal Research

Nick Andrews

Jun 28th 2021

The Bank of Mexico last week joined a growing number of emerging-market central banks that have hiked policy rates this year. Developed markets, in contrast, have stayed dovish as they are not overly worried about inflation and fret about chocking off their recoveries. But there is a good chance that the BoE will be the first big Western central bank to normalize policy in 2022.

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl

Jun 24th 2021

On both sides of the Rhine, celebrations were afoot on Wednesday night after France and Germany managed to earn spots in the knockout phase of the Euro 2020 football tournament. But once a winner is finally decided on July 11, the citizens of both countries will be forced to focus some attention on politics. After a summer of fun, the specter is being raised of European political risk.

Gavekal Research

Cedric Gemehl

Jun 22nd 2021

A few years ago, European carmakers and auto parts firms raised white flags and ceded the market for electric vehicle batteries to mostly Asian competitors. Today, they are back in the fight. If European companies’ development plans come to fruition, writes Cedric, their share of the continent’s manufacturing capacity will rise from 5% in 2020 to 67% by the middle of the decade.

Gavekal Research

Tom Holland

Jun 16th 2021

Writing here on Tuesday, Louis argued cogently that energy prices will be the “linchpin” that decides the future direction of inflation. But, in asking whether governments can successfully engineer a green energy transition, it’s fair to say he was thinking in terms of years ahead. Energy prices also have a major influence on inflation and inflation expectations on the scale of months.

Gavekal Research

Charles Gave

Jun 15th 2021

Let’s begin with the basic principles underlying any currency, at least according to economics 101: it should be a medium of exchange, a standard of value and a store of value. I have long argued that central banks’ determination to pursue the “euthanasia of the rentier” rather than protecting money as a store of value would lead to big problems.

Gavekal Research

Udith Sikand, Vincent Tsui, Tom Miller

Jun 11th 2021

In yesterday's webinar, Udith Sikand, Vincent Tsui and Tom Miller weighed up the risks of capital flight from emerging markets as the Federal Reserve again starts talk of tapering. They focused on the different outlook for Asian exporting powerhouses and commodity producers, and discussed India, which is emerging from a severe second wave of Covid-19.

Gavekal Research

Yanmei Xie, Udith Sikand

Jun 07th 2021

Counterintuitively, the agreement on a global minimum corporate tax rate struck at the weekend by G7 finance ministers may in the near term prove positive at the margin for global equities in general. In the longer term, however, the weekend’s agreement is likely to prove the thin end of the corporate taxation wedge.