The rallying cry that China is simply too significant a part of the world’s economy to leave out of a well-diversified portfolio is about to be last year’s cliché. For the moment, the country remains the second largest economic engine in the world, but its stunning growth in just the past few years has investors […]
China’s V-shaped economic recovery continued for a fourth consecutive month in June, led by strong domestic demand. And if the novel coronavirus remains under control, China can remain the world’s best consumer story. In China, consumer spending came back with force. Inflation-adjusted retail sales plummeted to a 23.7 per cent year-over-year decline in January and […]
US equities have dominated their global peers over the past decade. As of 30 June, the S&P 500 had returned 14.5 per cent per annum since hitting bottom during the global financial crisis in March 2009 compared to only 7.6 per cent for the MSCI All-Country World ex-USA Index. The outperformance of US shares isn’t […]
The International Monetary Fund has sharply lowered its forecast for global growth this year because it envisions far more severe economic damage from the coronavirus than it did just two months ago. The IMF predicts that the global economy will shrink 4.9 per cent this year, significantly worse than the three per cent drop it […]
China’s economy was the first to suffer the consequences of fighting the novel coronavirus and is the first on the road to recovery. If it can prevent a second wave of coronavirus cases and continue to support the small, privately owned firms that drive job creation, China’s economy could put a floor under global growth […]
Even amid the global chaos created by the coronavirus pandemic, China is too big an economy for institutional investors to ignore. A recent report by Greenwich Associates found the two main drivers for China allocations among institutional investors are diversification (54 per cent) and potential for alpha (31 per cent). But just as markets in Europe […]
In the end, the mighty bull was slayed by a tiny virus. The longest bull market in U.S. history can now be said to have lasted almost 11 years and rewarded investors with a return of 529 per cent based on the performance of the S&P 500, including dividends. The bull officially ran from March […]
The phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China was presented by the Trump administration as an “historic and enforceable” agreement that “begins rebalancing the U.S.‑China trade relationship.” While the pact makes incremental progress on issues like purchases of U.S. exports and market access, it more likely signals a détente, suggesting that trade tensions […]
In a surprise move, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a sizeable half-percentage point Tuesday in an effort to support the economy in the face of the spreading coronavirus. Chairman Jerome Powell said at a news conference that the virus “will surely weigh on economic activity both here and abroad for some […]
The fast-moving coronavirus isn’t just confounding health officials. It’s also bedevilling policymakers and central bankers who are struggling to assess the economic damage from an outbreak that’s reached 37 countries and territories, infected 80,000 people and killed 2,700 worldwide. They don’t know where or how fast the virus will spread. They can’t draw on clear […]