The Economist (December 8)
“Already at risk of unraveling,” the unsteady truce between China and the U.S. has just become more precarious. “Even before news of Ms Meng’s arrest, global stocks see-sawed as investors wondered if hostilities might resume.” For China, at least her arrest “looks like a political salvo. Huawei is a pillar of the Chinese economy—and Ms Meng is the founder’s daughter. The fate of the trade talks could hinge on her encounter with the law.”
Tags: Arrest, China, Hostilities, Huawei, Investors, Meng, Risk, Stocks, Trade, Truce, U.S., Unraveling, Unsteady
Financial Times (October 21)
“Investors should expect decades of selling pressure on Japanese stocks from the most implacable bears in the market: the recently deceased…. The relentless sell-off, which threatens to intensify until the year 2040 as the huge, wealthy postwar baby boom generation expires, arises from an estimate that about 80 per cent of inherited shares are immediately sold by heirs.”
Tags: Baby boom, Bears, Deceased, Heirs, Inherited, Investors, Japan, Market, Selling pressure, Stocks
Institutional Investor (October 9)
In the U.S. many “asset management stocks are trading like ‘junk equity,’” despite the relatively buoyant market. And “given the lackluster potential for growth, traditional asset managers’ cheap valuations are unlikely to change soon.”
Tags: Asset management, Growth, Junk equity, Lackluster, Market, Potential, Stocks, U.S., Valuations
Reuters (June 7)
“Despite a torrid start to 2018 and with Brexit uncertainties looming large, British blue-chip stocks have jumped to record highs thanks to a weak pound, a torrent of mergers and acquisitions, and bouts of political anxiety in the euro zone.” This is less the result of long-term optimism and more a re-calibration that UK positions had been marked down excessively.
Tags: Anxiety, Blue-chip, Brexit, Euro zone, M&A, Optimism, Record highs, Stocks, Torrid, UK, Uncertainties, Weak pound
Equities.com (May 30)
“Ultimately, we believe at present that the majority of important economic, financial, and market indicators, as well as the established historical pattern, suggest that a final period of rally and exuberance lies ahead before the bull market that began in March 2009 finally ends. It may be that this rally is led by smaller U.S. companies, by non-U.S. companies, or by commodity-oriented stocks. The culmination of the rally could take place later this year, or more probably be delayed until 2019 or 2020.”
Tags: Bull market, Commodity, Companies, Economic, Exuberance, Financial, Indicators, Market, Rally, Stocks, U.S.
South China Morning Post (May 21)
“The direction is clear, and the pace is picking up. For investors around the world, the biggest mistake would be to ignore China’s markets and their enormous potential now.” As China’s capital markets continue opening up, “investors—be they European hedge funds, pension funds in Australia, sovereign wealth funds from Asia, or ordinary savers around the world—will need to look at what might be a once-in-a-generation opportunity.” The June 1 inclusion of 200 of the mainland’s large-cap companies into the MSCI alone might “prompt well over half a trillion US dollars to pour into Chinese stocks in the next five to 10 years, as institutional investors adjust index-linked portfolios to MSCI’s change.”
Tags: Capital, China, Direction, Hedge funds, Index, Institutional investors, Investors, Large-cap, Mainland, Markets, MSCI, Pension, Portfolios, Sovereign wealth, Stocks
Bloomberg (January 12)
“Since Kuroda took office five years ago, bank stocks have underperformed the broader market by more than 50 percentage points,” but there are signs that Japanese banks will soon lose their “cheapest in the world” status. Despite a 5.7% average ROE, large Japanese financial institutions trade at just 0.69 of book. If, as widely expected, the BoJ relaxes its yield curve control, these large financial institutions would receive a welcome boost.
Tags: BOJ, Japanese banks, Kuroda, ROE, Stocks, Underperformed, Yield curve
Wall Street Journal (January 9)
“The S&P 500 inched higher Monday, extending this year’s run of records. Stocks have begun 2018 on an upbeat note, buoyed by investors’ optimism over the global economy and bets that central banks are unlikely to pressure markets by raising interest rates faster than expected.”
Tags: 2018, Central banks, Economy, Interest rates, Investors, Optimism, Records, S&P 500, Stocks, Upbeat
Wall Street Journal (December 31)
“Global stock benchmarks have surged to multiyear highs or records this year, boosted by a rally in shares of technology companies, a synchronized pickup in growth around the world, and unexpectedly benign inflation readings that have kept central bank policy ultraloose.”
Tags: Central banks, Global benchmarks, Rally, Records, Stocks, Surged, Technology Inflation, Ultraloose
Bloomberg (December 6)
“Every bull market is unique, but the one in China right now looks downright strange. The Shanghai Composite Index has climbed 24 percent from its January 2016 low, and yet a majority of stocks in the benchmark gauge have fallen during the period.” China has become a global outlier. “For all 45 of the other national equity gauges that have climbed at least 20 percent since last January, a majority of index members have recorded gains.”
Tags: Benchmark, Bull market, China, Gains, Gauge, Outlier, Shanghai Composite, Stocks
