Making Sense of Copper and the Global Economy

Download PDF: Copper price jumped 14% last month before reversing its gain amid the shutdown of refineries in China that trigger concerns of refined copper shortages at a time when inventory at commodity exchange warehouses is low. The impact of the electricity shortage in China is not limited solely to copper, but also to otherContinue reading “Making Sense of Copper and the Global Economy”

Brazil: Fiscal Crisis in the Making?

Download PDF: The Brazilian 10-year bond yield has continued to shoot up to 11% this month amid the political debacle in the country and lack of credible proposal from the government to reign its growing public debt. A hawkish Fed, deterioration in Chinese growth and flareup of the pandemic globally all point to downside riskContinue reading “Brazil: Fiscal Crisis in the Making?”

Yields Meltdown, Excess Savings and EM Policy Rate

Download PDF: Global stocks continue to experience a dichotomy in recent months amid unequal economic recovery in the developed and emerging world. With vaccination rate crossing above 50% of total population and covid-19 number goes into the rear-view mirror in the rich world, both manufacturing and service sector has rebounded strongly amid last year’s pent-upContinue reading “Yields Meltdown, Excess Savings and EM Policy Rate”

End of Year Chart Update

Download PDF: With the year almost ending and asset prices have rebounded strongly, we are becoming increasingly cautious on adding position to our core portfolio holdings and prefer to stay on the sideline until the next correction, at the risk of missing further upside moves. Technical and valuation point to an overbought and overvalued U.S.Continue reading “End of Year Chart Update”

Commodity Plays, Copper and Yield, Caution on U.S. Equity

Downlaod PDF: Earlier this week we published our long-term global themes, outlining the possibility of stronger inflationary pressure and the danger it poses to corporate sector. Meanwhile, we also publish our next year outlook last month, where we argue that Chinese growth will rebound strongly and liquidity will remain plenty, buoying asset prices. With ourContinue reading “Commodity Plays, Copper and Yield, Caution on U.S. Equity”

Mapping Global Post-COVID Recovery

Download PDF: This month’s monthly piece is a short note on three signposts to monitor the growth recovery, taking a bird-eye perspective on risk assets after three separate publications last week detailing our view on oil, precious metals, and select country outlook; links are provided at the end of the piece. First, we are revisitingContinue reading “Mapping Global Post-COVID Recovery”

Equity Signposts, Commodity Rebound and Chip Wars

Download PDF: 5 Signposts for Global Equity Recovery The decline in DXY of late has arguably help global equity grind higher amid easing financial condition. For long, we have been highlighting the widening valuation between U.S. equity and the rest of the world, which has gone much cheaper post-COVID19 correction. In-line with previous crisis experience,Continue reading “Equity Signposts, Commodity Rebound and Chip Wars”

Monthly March 2020: COVID-19 and The Bait and Switch in Global Equity

Downlaod PDF: Monthly_202003 Blame it on the COVID-19 Global bond investors have largely benefitted from the COVID-19 scare this year amid plunging global yields led by the U.S. Treasury. The budding signs of reflation beginning late last year have largely dissipated and investors have been running to safe haven assets, with gold price increasing almostContinue reading “Monthly March 2020: COVID-19 and The Bait and Switch in Global Equity”

Tactical Trade: Short U.S. 10-year Treasury Notes

After a massively successful copper trade (up 7.17% since Dec 2nd monthly piece and closed today for profit taking) based on the thesis I wrote on this and last month’s monthly piece, I thought it would be great to supplement Putamen Growth Fund performance by also adding tactical trades based on current macro conditions. Derivatives,Continue reading “Tactical Trade: Short U.S. 10-year Treasury Notes”

The Sweet Spot for Emerging Market Bonds

Downlaod PDF: Emerging Market Bonds High-yielding EM government and corporate bonds are likely to perform well in negative yields environment as investors search for yield. Although debt level has been rising, interest cost has been declining. Profit growth has also been outpacing the increase in interest cost, which does not translate the increase in debtContinue reading “The Sweet Spot for Emerging Market Bonds”