Connect with us

Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website. .

Investing

Equity Monthly: Embrace volatility as trade war could escalate
Equity Monthly: Embrace volatility as trade war could escalate

Published : , on

By Peter Garnry, Head of Equity Strategy

As the books for the first half of 2018 were closed on Friday, the disappointing reality was clear to investors: almost all asset classes delivered flat or negative returns. Only momentum stocks (mostly technology shares) seemed to deliver strong results of around 7.5% for the first half. The biggest casualties were emerging market bonds (minus 10%) and equities (minus 5%) driven lower not only by the escalating trade war between the US and China, but also because of increasing financial pressure due to a stronger USD and higher US interest rates weighing on financial conditions.

Emerging markets could easily become the biggest victim in the second half if current trends continue. One thing stands clear in July: volatility will pick up as trade war headlines intensify and increase in frequency. Our overall message in July is to stay defensive and cautious as things could easily get more ugly before things turn around.

Emerging market equities (blue) versus bonds (black, source: Bloomberg)

Emerging market equities (blue) versus bonds (black, source: Bloomberg)

Stay defensive

Our dynamic asset allocation strategy (called Stronghold, which is a high-end service Saxo Bank offers to clients) went quite defensive in February due to the volatility shock altering the market structure and illuminating the fact that that tail-risks are constantly lurking around the corner.

In our Q1 Outlook, we highlighted that equities would soon take a hit as macro surprises would likely turn negative. While that call has been proven right, things have only become worse. We remain defensive on global equities as no firm positive catalyst is seen as ready to take equity markets to new highs. With the escalating trade war between the US and its biggest trading partners, uncertainty is going up and macro data will soon start to show the initial havoc from the tit-for-tat trade tactics.

In terms of industries, we recommend underweight exposure to semiconductors, industrials, and especially the car industry as these industries will become the battleground of the ongoing trade war. The best way to protect your portfolio (save for going all-cash or heavily into bonds) is to reduce cyclical sector exposure and increase exposure to health care, consumer staples, utilities, and telecom.

Outside these sectors, we believe software companies can also provide a good shield against volatility due to expected strong earnings in Q2.

Source: Saxo Bank

Source: Saxo Bank

Underweight trade surplus countries

June showed quite clearly where investors believe the biggest pain will be felt from the trade war. All countries with a significant trade surplus against the US performed worse than global equities. These countries are Canada, Mexico, Germany, China, Japan, and South Korea. It is our recommendation that investors reduce exposure to these countries for now. In the short term, China stands to lose the most as its hand is the weakest; the Chinese economy still needs a strong export sector to print high growth rates and thus an escalating trade war with the US is not in Beijing’s interest.

Single stocks

For the regular reader it should be no surprise that we run our equity research by quantitative methods. Our flagship model is called Equity Radar and is basically a factor model scoring around 1,800 global stocks across seven parameters: value, yield, quality, leverage, momentum, reversal, and volatility.

The table below shows the model’s top 20 picks based on the total score (a simple average of the seven factor scores). What has been interesting to note lately is that more Chinese companies have moved into the top 20 list; the main driver has been the reversal factor tied to the recent decline in Chinese equities.

Please note the two semiconductor stocks (Micron Technology and SK Hynix) in the list. While we are tactically negative on semiconductors, we do not overwrite the Equity Radar model with our tactical views on industries and sectors.

The top 20 global stocks based on our global equity factor model (source: Bloomberg, Saxo Bank)

The top 20 global stocks based on our global equity factor model (source: Bloomberg, Saxo Bank)

Uma Rajagopal has been managing the posting of content for multiple platforms since 2021, including Global Banking & Finance Review, Asset Digest, Biz Dispatch, Blockchain Tribune, Business Express, Brands Journal, Companies Digest, Economy Standard, Entrepreneur Tribune, Finance Digest, Fintech Herald, Global Islamic Finance Magazine, International Releases, Online World News, Luxury Adviser, Palmbay Herald, Startup Observer, Technology Dispatch, Trading Herald, and Wealth Tribune. Her role ensures that content is published accurately and efficiently across these diverse publications.

Global Banking & Finance Review

 

Why waste money on news and opinions when you can access them for free?

Take advantage of our newsletter subscription and stay informed on the go!


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Recent Post