China

Daily China: Reforms/US-Canada-China/ Economic Gloom/Bike Crash/Stocks and more

In this briefing:

  1. Reforms/US-Canada-China/ Economic Gloom/Bike Crash/Stocks
  2. China’s Sluggish Inbound Tourism Industry
  3. EM Relative Strength Is Bottoming: Overweight
  4. Overview of My Winners and Losers in 2018…and 5 High Conviction Ideas Going into 2019
  5. RRG Global Macro – US Fed Positive Outlook – Stocks Fall.  Politics Take Over from Fundamentals

1. Reforms/US-Canada-China/ Economic Gloom/Bike Crash/Stocks

China News That Matters

  • No one dictates to China but me
  • US targets Chinese hackers as rift widens
  • Weak data raise pressure for stimulus
  • After high-speed climb, bike-share giant collapses
  • A brighter new year for China’s stock market?

In my weekly digest China News That Matters, I will give you selected summaries, sourced from a variety of local Chinese-language and international news outlets, and highlight why I think the news is significant. These posts are meant to neither be bullish nor bearish, but help you separate the signal from the noise.

2. China’s Sluggish Inbound Tourism Industry

How can we explain the fact that in the five years from 2012 the number of tourist visits to China fell from 11.6 to 10.5 million per year? True, business and family reunion visits have risen, but such a culturally rich country should have more tourists.

3. EM Relative Strength Is Bottoming: Overweight

Untitled

Relative strength for MSCI EM is bottoming vs. MSCI EAFE despite continued global equity market weakness.  Although the MSCI EM’s price index remains in a downtrend, we are seeing signs of outperformance ona a relative strength basis and would add incremental exposure. In this report we highlight attractive and actionable themes within EM.

4. Overview of My Winners and Losers in 2018…and 5 High Conviction Ideas Going into 2019

In a follow up to my note from last year Overview of My Winners and Losers in 2017…and 5 High Conviction Ideas Going into 2018 I again look at my stock ideas that have worked out in 2018, those that have not and those where the verdict is still pending.

Last year I provided 5 high conviction ideas and here is their performance in a brutal year for Asian Stock Markets:

Company
Share Price 27 Dec 2017
Share Price 20 December 2018
Dividends
% Total Return
0.70 HKD
0.88 HKD
0.01 HKD
+27%
0.20 SGD
0.27 SGD
0.0 SGD
+35%
2.39 HKD
2.82 HKD
0.147 HKD
+24%
0.84 SGD
0.85 SGD
0.02 SGD
+3.5%
1.44 MYR
0.32 MYR
0.0 MYR
-79%
source: Refinitiv

4 out of 5 had a positive performance.

Below I will make a new attempt to provide five high conviction ideas going into 2019.

5. RRG Global Macro – US Fed Positive Outlook – Stocks Fall.  Politics Take Over from Fundamentals

  • US: Stocks fall on political turmoil despite positive noises from the Fed with a dovish rate hike, a reduction in expected 2019 hikes and positive trends on employment and inflation.
  • Russia: Unexpected 25 bps rate hike in the face of higher inflation in Nov. Watch for impact of lower oil prices in coming quarters.
  • Turkey: Economic developments remain negative. The outlook for retail sales is poor as the economy in general is faltering.
  • Indonesia: Trade deficit in November. Exports down 3.3%; imports up 11.68%. This disappointing performance could be the beginning of a trend.