2017

There has been much concern lately about the new US administration’s trade policy. Taking a step back and looking at global trade numbers, we can draw a number of conclusions that might explain America’s new thinking on trade.

Asia’s Credit market has come a long way since the Asian Financial Crisis of 1998, having evolved into a large, deep and liquid market.

With President Trump announcing that he will be releasing his tax plans in the coming weeks, we have shifted to a more cautious position on US duration. The risk is that President Trump announces a sizeable stimulus package, with the backing of the broad Republican base.

Our Senior Portfolio Manager in New York, who specializes in natural resource equity funds, explains the outlook for oil prices.

Asia ex-Japan (AxJ) equities returned 6.2% in US Dollar (USD) terms, outperforming MSCI World. Singapore, Hong Kong and Chinese equities outperformed while Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand lagged.

US Treasury (UST) yields ended higher in January as weaker-than-expected payroll data led markets to moderate their forecasts for Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hikes in 2017.

Trump...that is the first and last time we will comment on the US president in this update, given the proliferation of such commentary in all main stream media at present.

Given the challenges, why bother?

Our head of Global Strategy in New York analyzes and forecasts the developments of major topics arising from the new Administration.

Credit markets are expected to have another positive year. We expect economic growth in Asia to be stable but see some potential downside risks.