The Economist (July 5)
Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo are facing off in Indonesia’s July 9 presidential election. While both candidates support protectionist policies, “Jokowi’s appears milder. Foreign investors certainly prefer him: Deutsche Bank reports that if Mr Prabowo wins, 56% of investors surveyed would sell their Indonesian assets and just 13% would buy, while a Jokowi win would cause 74% to buy and just 6% to sell.”
Tags: Assets, Candidates, Election, Indonesia, Investors, Joko Widodo, Prabowo Subianto, President, Protectionist
The Economist (June 14)
In China, golf is “a barometer of change.” Banned under Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping allowed a few golf courses for foreign investors. Then, with rising affluence, “more locals wanted to try the sport. Suddenly more golf courses were being built in China than anywhere else, despite the fact that their construction was technically illegal.”
Tags: Affluence, Barometer, Change, China, Construction, Deng Xiaoping, Golf, Golf courses, Illegal, Investors, Mao Zedong, Sport
Euromoney (May Issue)
“Dollar-denominated debt capital market volume in Asia reached almost $27 billion in April, the highest monthly volume on record…. These record volumes underline the fact that global investors remain keenly focused on Asia, despite continuing worries about a slowdown in China and India.”
Tags: Asia, Capital, China, DCM, Debt, Dollar, Global, India, Investors, Market, Record, Slowdown, Volume, Worries
Euromoney (May Issue)
Trading in fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) is being transformed in a manner that’s benefiting investors and putting the squeeze on many big banks. “The move to electronic trading is accelerating; margins are getting tighter (no sign of oligopolistic pricing here), as competition and transparency grows, and the costs of maintaining a leading tech platform, once built, never go away.”
Tags: Banks, Commodities, Competition, Currencies, Fixed income, Investors, Margins, Oligopolistic pricing, Tech platform, Trading, Transparency
Institutional Investor (May 15)
Voting in India took five weeks and the results won’t be announced until tomorrow, but the stock market has already rallied, which “suggests investors anticipate a solid victory” for Narendra Modi’s business-friendly National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Exit poll projections are notoriously unreliable and this year “several factors heighten the uncertainty,” especially the fact that “of India’s electorate of 814 million, fully 150 million were eligible to vote for the first time.”
Tags: Electorate, Exit poll, India, Investors, Narendra Modi, National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Projections, Rally, Results, Stock market, Uncertainty, Victory, Voting
Real Estate Investment Today (April Issue)
“REITs contribute to more resilient real estate markets and a more resilient financial system.” Sub-prime mortgages contributed to the residential property collapse, but REITs helped stabilize the commercial market. A recent study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the Bank for International Settlements found that REITs provide markets with much needed transparency and liquidity. It’s “clear that REITs provide real benefits for the broader commercial real estate industry, for investors and for our nation’s economy.”
Tags: BIS, Commercial, Economy, Financial system, Industry, Investors, Liquidity, Markets, Real estate, REITs, Residential property, Resilience, Sub-prime, Transparency, University of Wisconsin
Institutional Investor (April 17)
“Asean countries are resisting today’s turbulence in emerging markets thanks to reforms taken in the wake of the late ‘90s crisis.” To be sure there are concerns, such as China’s slow down, “yet most investors believe the positives outweigh the potential negatives across most of the region.” This confidence is symbolized by Japanese foreign direct investment. “According to Singapore’s DBS Bank, Japan increased its FDI in Asia by $40 billion in 2013, and fully 42 percent of the country’s FDI is now in Southeast Asia—Considerably more than in China.”
Tags: Asean, Asia, China, Crisis, Emerging markets, FDI, Investors, Japan, Positives, Singapore, Slow down, Turbulence
Financial Times (April 8)
“Whatever the thundering herd of investors may think, it is too soon to declare that Mr Draghi has won the war for the euro. The eurozone still faces deep underlying economic and political problems that are beyond the control of the president of the ECB and his colleagues.”
Tags: Colleagues, Draghi, ECB, Economic, euro, eurozone, Herd, Investors, Political, President, Problems
Institutional Investor (April 7)
In 2013, asset managers “poured a record of $43.7 billion into Japanese equities….and the massive net inflows helped propel the Nikkei 225 index up nearly 57 percent—it’s largest gain in more than 40 years.” As concerns mount about the sustainability of Abenomics, however, “many of those investors have been reversing course.” Nevertheless, some top analysts, such as Mizuho’s Yohei Osade and Nomura’s Jun Konoumi, believe the concerns are overblown and that any consumption tax related slow down will be temporary.
Tags: Abenomics, Analysts, Asset managers, Consumption tax, Equities, Inflows, Investors, Japan, Jun Konoumi, Mizuho, Nikkei, Nomura, Yohei Osade
Institutional Investor (March 19)
Volatility divides. Too much and it can be catastrophic. Too little and returns shrivel.” Increasingly investors are moving beyond hedging volatility to “trading volatility itself.” While specialists have been doing this for some time, trading volatility has “become more mainstream” since 2008 and the “go-to tool” many investors use to trade volatility is now “the VIX itself.”
Tags: Catastrophic, Hedging, Investors, Mainstream, Returns, Trading, VIX, Volatility