Fixed Income and Currency Strategist

Gautam Jain, PhD, CFA

Gautam Jain has over 25 years of experience covering global emerging fixed income and currency markets, both as a strategist and a portfolio manager. He has worked in buy-side and sell-side firms, including The Rohatyn Group (TRG Management), Barclays Capital, and Millennium Partners. He has helped manage emerging markets local-currency and hard-currency debt funds. The assets that he covers include currencies, interest rates, sovereign credits, and related derivatives. He specializes in portfolio construction, smart-beta index creation, and asset allocation. Mr. Jain holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Columbia University and is a CFA charter holder.

FX Dashboard: Hungary’s Outperformance Is Playing Catch-Up

FX Dashboard: Did the Dollar Spike Create Opportunities in EM FX?

Forint to Lag Even as the Hungarian Central Bank Raises the Pace of Rate Hikes

FX Dashboard: Which Currencies to Target in a Carry Trade Environment?

FX Dashboard: Leaders and Laggards in EM FX as US Yields Retreat from the Peak

FX Dashboard: Winners and Losers in the EM Turnaround

FX Dashboard: Does the Indian Rupee Have More Room to Run?

FX Dashboard: EM FX Is Fair in REER Terms but Differentiation Abounds

FX & Rates

<p>In this week’s Alpha Bites, we recommend going long the Romanian leu (RON) against the Czech koruna (CZK) in a beta-neutral ratio. The growth bounce this year from last year's contraction is expected to be much stronger in Romania than in Czechia. CZK though has outperformed RON and most EM currencies because of the imminent rate hikes, which are already priced to a reasonable extent. RON was being weighed by the risk of downgrades, which did not materialize in the April semi-annual reviews by the rating agencies. Indeed, S&amp;P raised its outlook to stable from negative.</p>

In this week’s Alpha Bites, we recommend going long the Romanian leu (RON) against the Czech koruna (CZK) in a beta-neutral ratio. The growth bounce this year from last year's contraction is expected to be much stronger in Romania than in Czechia. CZK though has outperformed RON and most EM currencies because of the imminent rate hikes, which are already priced to a reasonable extent. RON was being weighed by the risk of downgrades, which did not materialize in the April semi-annual reviews by the rating agencies. Indeed, S&amp;P raised its outlook to stable from negative.

Alpha Bites: Long Romanian Leu (RON) Vs Short Czech Koruna (CZK)