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Gavekal Research
Louis Gave, Anatole Kaletsky
Oct 11th 2018
Audio & Transcript — Gavekal Research Call October 2018
In this month’s Research Conference Call Louis-Vincent Gave examined the present bad tidings from markets and asked whether the global bull market faces a denouement. Anatole Kaletsky argued that this sell-off will likely prove to be a temporary setback for emerging markets and that the global bull market may have further to run. However, he warned that the outcome will depend heavily on where the oil price goes from here.
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Gavekal Research
Udith Sikand
Oct 10th 2018
The EM Value Question
After a grim seven-month sell-off, it is natural to ask whether emerging markets now offer attractive value. Since its January peak, the MSCI emerging markets index has fallen -22%. The corollary has been a deep derating, which has left EM equities trading below their long term mean P/E ratios. However, a healthy dose of caution is warranted.
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Gavekal Research
Louis Gave
Oct 04th 2018
Strategy Monthly: Are We Still In A Bull Market?
At the start of the year, markets seemed poised for a rotation out of US equities into non-US assets. In fact, US equities and cash are the only assets to have delivered positive returns this year. Louis examines the reasons why and concludes that portfolio managers should stay defensive, while looking for buying opportunities in oversold emerging markets, and in European assets in non-euro countries such as the UK, Sweden and Switzerland.
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Gavekal Research
Tom Miller, Udith Sikand
Sep 28th 2018
The Severity Of India’s Rout
It has been a torrid month for Indian markets. Equities have tanked by -7%, the rupee has dropped to all-time lows, and a new crisis is emerging in the financial sector. Liquidity is tightening in the money markets, threatening the survival of several non-bank financial companies and raising the prospect of contagion risk that could spill over to the rest of the financial system and lead to a broader economic slowdown. The rout in emerging...
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Gavekal Research
Louis Gave
Sep 26th 2018
Does Beijing Really Manage The RMB Against A Basket?
Possibly the only easy thing about studying China is that Chinese policymakers tend to “say what they do and do what they say”. Take the Chinese exchange rate as an example. From 1998 to 2005, the renminbi’s exchange rate was fixed at CNY8.28 to the US dollar. Then, in 2005, investors were told that the renminbi would be allowed to appreciate gradually and with a controlled daily volatility. When the financial crisis hit, the Chinese exchange...
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Gavekal Research
Tom Holland
Sep 25th 2018
Back To A Three-Figure Oil Price
Oil broke higher on Monday, with the price of Brent decisively breaching US$80/bbl, a level it had repeatedly tested since early May, when the US administration announced it would reimpose sanctions on Iranian exports. The immediate trigger for the break-out was the decision at the weekend by the Opec cartel plus Russia not to increase their formal output target in the near term. At first glance, the market response might appear an over-reaction...
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Gavekal Research
Udith Sikand
Sep 20th 2018
Heads I Win, Tails I Don’t Lose In Japan
A glance at the headlines suggests the story in Japan is still “stasis as usual”. As expected, on Wednesday the Bank of Japan reaffirmed its intention to keep interest rates low indefinitely. And later on Thursday, Shinzo Abe is all but sure to fend off a leadership challenge from within his ruling Liberal Democratic Party, setting him on course to become the country’s longest-serving prime minister. In tune with this “no change” refrain,...
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Gavekal Research
Udith Sikand
Sep 14th 2018
Why You Should Buy Indonesia
There are reasons to think that a 2% rise in the broad emerging market index over the last two days may be more than just a relief rally. For those investors who are minded to seek out EM equities, one of the more interesting options is Indonesia, which has unfairly been treated by investors as a sort of Asian Turkey.
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Gavekal Research
Anatole Kaletsky
Sep 12th 2018
Why The US Cannot Win A Trade War
The US has made a fundamental policy mistake in pursuing a trade war against China. A Keynesian macroeconomic analysis shows that the US will likely be worst affected by the conflict, while China should escape unscathed and several other emerging markets could be clear gainers. This sell-off may be an ideal opportunity to "buy the dip" in EMs
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Gavekal Research
Louis Gave
Sep 10th 2018
The Exit From A Liquidity Squeeze
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. By the same token, if central bank reserves are shrinking, the US dollar is rising, and emerging market currencies are cratering, we probably face a liquidity squeeze. None of this should be surprising, as the drains on US dollar liquidity have come from all directions this year.
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Gavekal Research
Louis Gave
Sep 06th 2018
On Getting It Wrong
Louis went into 2018 with a set of assumptions about how growth and markets around the world would play out. It hasn’t exactly worked out as expected and in this mea culpa he seeks to understand how he got it wrong and what comes next. He concludes that a key driver of the changed investment environment was not so much the strength of the US dollar but China’s decision to allow a renminbi devaluation.
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Gavekal Research
Udith Sikand
Sep 05th 2018
The Korean Advantage
Yesterday was another bad day for weak-link emerging markets battling a rising US dollar. Still, my contention during this year’s EM sell-off has been that investors should sort the wheat from the chaff. With a current account surplus of 5% of GDP and forex reserves of US$400bn, exhibit-A is South Korea.
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Gavekal Research
Will Denyer, Tan Kai Xian
Sep 04th 2018
Strategy Monthly: A Simple Guide To US Asset Allocation
We synthesize four years of work on asset allocation and present a model portfolio built around analysis of the cost of and return on capital; the real rate of return on equities, bonds and cash; and the ideal duration of fixed-income holdings. Today we recommend that US portfolios hold 75% in equities, 25% in cash, and shun bonds.
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Gavekal Research
Udith Sikand
Aug 31st 2018
Disentangling The EM Mess
It has been tough reconciling weak emerging market performance this year with their generally decent macro fundamentals. Charles pins the blame on a US dollar squeeze and will publish an update later today. By contrast, Anatole reckons that markets have made a mistake in assuming that EMs are especially vulnerable to a strong US dollar. I see merit in both positions, but do not buy the fact that there is a catch-all explanation for what is going...
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Gavekal Research
Anatole Kaletsky
Aug 30th 2018
Tail Risks That Worry Me
Yesterday I made the case that emerging markets should be superior performers in a global bull market, which I characterized as the most hated in history. What that analysis left out was the relative prospects of the other big blocks in the global equity universe; namely, Europe and Japan. My core point yesterday was that trade wars do more harm to economies that close their markets than those countries which supply them, and on this score...
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Gavekal Research
Anatole Kaletsky
Aug 29th 2018
Misunderstanding Today’s EMs
Suppose that, like me, you think the global equity bull market has a few more years to run and hence the sell-off which culminated with Turkish debt being downgraded two weeks ago was a merely a correction. Where are the best opportunities to “buy the dip”? The answer depends on whether you also share my view about the underlying causes of this year’s market setbacks.
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Gavekal Research
Udith Sikand, Tom Miller
Aug 29th 2018
India Macro Update: A Mixed Masala
As public spending is cranked up ahead of an election that is expected to be held next spring, India should be able to sustain its current level of economic growth for a while yet. However, the rate of expansion has likely passed the high water mark for this cycle, argue Udith and Tom in this quarterly update.
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Gavekal Research
Charles Gave
Aug 22nd 2018
Trouble With Monopsonies II: Joan Robinson Versus David Ricardo
Among the discussion topics at this week’s Jackson Hole meeting of world central bankers will be whether the market power of giant corporations is so great it allows them to hold down workers’ wages at the global level. Charles has no doubt, arguing in this paper that the development of platform companies into labor monopsonies accounts for what has been misunderstood as “secular stagnation”.
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Gavekal Research
Arthur Kroeber, Udith Sikand
Aug 16th 2018
How To Assess The Stresses On EMs
Emerging market equities are officially in a bear market, with the MSCI EM index down -20% from its January peak. EM-related commodities are also hurting, notably copper which has fallen -18% since June. The central question now is whether one should steer clear of all EM assets, because the rout is general and likely to get worse; or if one should keep an eye out for buying opportunities here and there. With some trepidation, we advise the...
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Gavekal Research
Tom Miller
Aug 15th 2018
Why Indian Tourists Are The New Chinese
Some 25mn Indians traveled abroad last year, making sub-continent tourists increasingly important for a range of major destinations. They may not yet rival Chinese travellers who are by far the biggest group of globe-trotters, but in this piece Tom argues that is only a matter of time. Already, it is cheaper for Indians to travel to a range of overseas destinations than within India itself and the middle class increasingly has the travel bug.
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