While a slew of recent data from advanced economies have surprised to the upside, world trade data are still very much consistent with economic weakness in the near term. Not only did Q4 see one of the biggest drops in world goods trade since the 1980s, …
28th February 2023
Q4 property valuation scores rose from their Q3 troughs, as equity earnings yields fell and property yields all increased. Even so, that left all major sectors still looking overvalued, suggesting yields have further to rise before property looks fairly …
23rd February 2023
A surge in property yields helped commercial property valuations improve for the first time in two years in the final quarter of 2022. Jumps in alternative asset yields late last year following the ‘mini-Budget’ meant the shift was modest, but those …
8th February 2023
World trade has fallen in recent months on the back of slowing global growth. COVID-related weakness in Chinese activity in Q4 weighed notably on China’s exports, and while its seemingly rapid recovery has somewhat improved the global picture, weak …
26th January 2023
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that output was still depressed at the end of 2022, though it held up surprisingly well in the face of a huge reopening wave of infections. With the virus situation now improving, activity appears on course for a …
19th January 2023
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) reveals the extent of the economic damage being done by the zero-COVID policy in its final weeks. Hopes that its ending would lead to a rapid recovery have been dashed though, as the rapid spread of infections has caused …
22nd December 2022
Global risk appetite has improved in recent weeks, easing some of the strains in EMs. But economic and financial vulnerabilities in EMs are larger going into 2023 than they were at this point last year. More Frontier Markets are likely to join Sri Lanka …
7th December 2022
Property valuation scores fell further in Q3 as rises in alternative asset yields outweighed the marginal increase in all-property yields, but alternative asset yields have dropped back in Q4 to-date, meaning we may have reached a trough. (See Chart 1.) …
6th December 2022
Foreign capital inflows into EMs picked up sharply over the past month amidst improved investor risk appetite and a depreciating US dollar. But there are signs in the very latest data points that flows into both equity and bonds have eased a little. If …
Trade is beginning to slow as the world heads into a recession. In real terms, world trade barely rose in September, and timelier data from Asian economies suggest outright falls are imminent. Falling export orders and shipping costs point to a further …
28th November 2022
Download the PDF for the full report here . Our Long Run Returns Monitor provides our updated long-term projected returns for major asset classes, as well as a summary of the macroeconomic forecasts which underpin them. All projections in this publication …
25th November 2022
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that virus disruption led to a further decline in output in October. The combination of tightening COVID restrictions, voluntary isolation in the face of rising cases, problems in the property sector and falling …
23rd November 2022
Commercial property valuations began to stabilise in Q3, as a large rise in property yields helped offset a further rise in alternative asset yields. And with the reversal of the “mini-Budget” meaning 10-year gilt yields have now likely peaked, a …
10th November 2022
Even after the US dollar’s recent pullback, we estimate that the greenback is now more overvalued than it was at its last peak in the early 2000s. (See Chart 1.) This suggests to us that the dollar is set to weaken against most currencies over the …
28th October 2022
There is growing evidence that weakening demand in major economies is taking a toll on world trade. While trade volumes rose in August, early reporting Asian economies revealed a decline in imports in September, exports orders have fallen sharply across …
26th October 2022
As the recent breakdown of the UK Gilt market illustrates, policymakers face an increasingly difficult trade-off between combating inflation, supporting economic growth and maintaining financial stability. With core bond and currency markets facing very …
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that output declined in September by the most since the Omicron wave. The main culprit – renewed disruption from virus curbs – appears to have worsened further this month. We think the economy will contract this …
25th October 2022
While the latest change of plans by the UK government takes, in our view, a lot of the upside risk out of Gilt yields, we suspect stubborn risk premia remain that may take some time to fade completely. The latest U-turn in UK fiscal policy seems to have …
18th October 2022
While world trade was resilient in the first half of this year, there is growing evidence that it has since weakened, and we suspect that it will contract outright in 2023 as the world economy falls into recession. Weaker demand for traded goods and …
28th September 2022
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that virus disruption and cooling exports caused the economy to stagnate in August. September was likely worse and there is little upside in the near-term. The CAP is our attempt to track the pace of growth in …
Tighter global monetary policy and the strength of the US dollar continue to punish a number of frontier markets with weak sovereign balance sheets. Meanwhile, worries about Turkey’s balance of payments position remain acute, and external risks are …
5th September 2022
Despite a stabilisation in property yields, valuation scores fell again in Q2 on the back of further rises in alternative asset yields. Apartment and industrial pricing look most stretched, but also offer the best rental upside for investors. That …
26th August 2022
World trade was broadly unchanged at a high level in June, and timelier data suggest that the continued easing of supply constraints in China helped lift exports in Asia in July. But forward-looking indicators suggest that global demand for goods …
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that the economic rebound following the hit from lockdowns had petered out in July. And despite increased policy support, growing headwinds will continue to weigh on the economy during the remainder of the …
22nd August 2022
Download the PDF for the full report Our Long Run Returns Monitor provides our updated long-term projected returns for major asset classes, as well as a summary of the macroeconomic forecasts which underpin them. All projections in this publication are as …
12th August 2022
Commercial property valuations worsened for the sixth quarter in a row in Q2, and for all-property is now the most overvalued since late 2007. But since the end of June gilt yields have edged back and we doubt they will match their previous peak over the …
11th August 2022
We estimate that, in aggregate, the US dollar has become more overvalued over the past few months. (See Chart 1.) In our view, this is because fundamentals in the US relative to other major economies have not improved to the same extent that the greenback …
29th July 2022
A sharp rebound in Chinese exports helped lift world trade higher in May, and could boost trade further in the coming months. But outside of China, forward-looking indicators still suggest that weaker global demand will weigh on trade, meaning that …
27th July 2022
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that the economic hit from lockdowns had largely reversed in June. But infection numbers are ticking up again. And even if another large-scale virus wave is avoided, problems in the property sector and headwinds to …
21st July 2022
The valuations of euro-zone assets are now very low relative to those in the US, but we don’t think that’s a reason to expect the former to outperform the latter any time soon. The valuation of euro-zone assets has continued to fall over the past few …
15th July 2022
Official data showed that world trade rose slightly in April and limited data for May suggest that it probably rose further as disruptions from lockdowns in China eased. But weaker global final demand for goods, due to a gradual normalisation in spending …
28th June 2022
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that around half of the drop in output during the recent virus wave reversed in May. This recovery looks to have continued in June. But a lot of damage has already been done and we now doubt that China’s economy …
22nd June 2022
Higher alternative asset yields drove a sharp deterioration in European property valuations in Q1. (See Chart 1.) Valuation scores declined across all sectors, though retail remained in fair value territory. With the surge in bond yields continuing into …
9th June 2022
The effects of the war in Ukraine and strong dollar are causing sovereign debt risks to build in a handful of frontier markets with weak balance sheets, while public debt dynamics in parts of Emerging Europe also look increasingly concerning. Meanwhile, …
7th June 2022
There was a huge deterioration in property valuations in Q1, reflecting the sharp rises in alternative asset yields recorded since the start of the year. The size of those yield rises mostly dwarfed the differences in property yield changes across sectors …
31st May 2022
After a growth spurt late last year, world trade flatlined in Q1. The Ukraine war and lockdowns in China raised concerns that renewed supply bottlenecks would choke up world trade. However, notwithstanding the reported surge in US imports in March, it …
27th May 2022
Recently-released Q1 GDP figures showed that most EMs performed well at the start of this year, but headwinds are growing. Lockdowns are dealing a heavy blow to China’s economy and spillovers from the war in Ukraine will weigh on Emerging Europe in …
26th May 2022
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that all of China’s pandemic-era growth has been reversed by recent lockdowns, with output in April no higher than during 2019. Activity should start to rebound this month on the back of easing restrictions. But the …
So far, the sell-off across bond and equity markets this year has not triggered major signs of systemic risk. If that were to change, central banks would probably have to step in to prevent a destabilising cycle of panic selling and money market distress …
20th May 2022
12th May 2022
Commercial property valuations worsened further in Q1 and now look overvalued. The spread between property and gilt yields narrowed to its lowest level post-GFC, but still has some distance to fall to reach the lows of 2007. With more interest rate hikes …
10th May 2022
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that lockdowns in Jilin and Shenzhen triggered an outright contraction in the economy in March, even before restrictions were tightened in Shanghai and disruption to domestic freight traffic intensified this month. …
27th April 2022
While official data showed that world trade held up well in February, timelier national indicators suggest that exports from some Asian economies have fallen since then. This slowdown seems to reflect weaker global consumer demand, which we expect to …
26th April 2022
Many EMs have started the year on a solid footing, but challenging months lie ahead. While high inflation is likely to weigh on consumption, spillovers from lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine are likely to exacerbate supply shortages and hamper …
25th April 2022
We don’t expect ongoing tightening by the Federal Reserve will see the valuations of emerging market (EM) equities or bonds plunge, even if they are unlikely to rebound much either. Sharp rises in bond yields in developed markets this year – amid …
21st April 2022
We suspect the sectors of the equity market where valuations are the lowest will continue to weather the storm of rising bond yields a bit better than others. We highlighted in our previous DM Valuations Monitor how rising bond yields were taking a toll …
12th April 2022
The latest available official data suggest that world trade held onto gains from Q4 in January, and timely indicators suggest that it may have edged up in February. It will be May before we have comprehensive official data on the hit to trade activity in …
29th March 2022
We estimate that, on balance, the US dollar’s “fair value” has risen alongside an appreciation of the greenback against most major currencies. This increase in fair value largely reflects the relative strength of the economic recovery in the US as well as …
25th March 2022
Activity in large parts of the emerging world has rebounded following the easing of Omicron waves, but the war in Ukraine has caused the growth outlook for most EMs to worsen again. While commodity producers across the Gulf and parts of Latin America …
24th March 2022
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that the economy started the year on a stronger footing than it ended 2021. But these gains are already being derailed by China’s worst virus outbreak since Wuhan. The CAP is our attempt to track the pace of growth …
22nd March 2022
