Asia-Pacific

Investing in Japan is not the same as investing in Japanese companies. Given the increase in their overseas exposure, we believe it is a good time to revisit opportunities in Japanese companies.

The release of the second quarter data on aggregate Japanese corporate profits confirms my twelve-year theme about improving corporate governance in Japan and how investors should not worry about the slow domestic economy.

Our equity portfolio manager who specializes in India concludes that reforms should have a very positive effect on that country’s growth.

As China’s economic development enters a more sophisticated and mature phase, it is beginning to challenge many of the status quos that have been taken for granted since the middle of the 20th century.

We identify the fundamentals that have supported Australian housing and the signals that investors should look for to determine if this period of positive appreciation is coming to an end.

We think Japanese companies are poised for a pickup in capital expenditure, led by productivity enhancing investments.

What is the prognosis for Emerging Markets as major global central banks begin to tighten policy?

The rapid development of the Asia Credit markets provides new opportunities to improve the risk and return profile for investors.

Our top Japanese Equity staff, including our CIO, report on how Corporate Governance remains on a strong upward trend, which should boost alpha for active managers and beta for the overall market via improvements in ROE and shareholder distributions.

The Global Investment Committee remains moderately optimistic about the global economy and equity markets, while being cautious on global bonds.