Evolving Markets

Despite good global economic growth, other commodity prices will likely remain quite flat in our view, partially due to a stronger USD.

We calculate that equity valuations are at fair levels and that stocks can grow along with earnings.

Real yields and inflation expectations currently suggest exceptionally low growth and low inflation far out into the future.

We expect that profit margins will expand further in coming quarters, driven by a large corporate tax cut and continued industry rationalizations that further prove that Japan's structural profitability trend continues upward.

We do not expect the recent steepening of the bund yield curve to be the beginning of a sustained new trend. Moreover, Eurozone and German economic data, albeit improving, are not sufficient to support the higher bund yields on a sustained basis.

We expect that Japanese pension funds will continue to shift their investments into risky assets in 2015.

The importance of President Xi Jinping's strong leadership cannot be stressed enough. Under him China is undergoing dramatic changes. While the most thorough cleansing of state corruption is ongoing, elements of China's grand strategy are becoming more evident both domestically and on the global stage.

The market isn't overheating even though the Nikkei stock average touched the 20,000 level, nor do we believe that overseas markets are overheating right now.

Due to the developments described in this article, there is ample room for growth at Japanese firms and much opportunity for investment success.

Given the significant proportion of real estate investment as a percentage of GDP, as well as the proportion of local government revenue generated from land sales, the property market remains a crucial driver of the Chinese economy.