Managing Director

Elan Gore

TMI Data Science

TMI Data Science utilizes Natural Language Processing to build custom leading indicators using unstructured data sourced from the global financial, trade & traditional media.  Our proprietary software, TMI Machine, is a text-mining platform designed with the buy-side & capital markets professional in mind, text-mining the global media to discern and quantify nuanced qualitative shifts in press coverage as they apply to macroeconomics, equity indexes/ETFs, commodities, currencies, fixed income & individual equities.  TMI provides custom leading indicators and systematic trading strategies, operating at the nexus of linguistics & statistics drawing on vast experience in investment banking and hedge fund settings in senior quantitative and fundamental roles.  

TMI Data Science was founded by Elan Gore, an award-winning Senior Global Basic Materials Equity Analyst & China Economist with 15 years of experience in North American hedge funds & institutional managers; and Alessandro Porrino, Ph.D., an Algorithmic Trading Analyst and Programmer with 10 years of front-office experience ranging from complex FX option pricing to auto-hedging strategies at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered.  Mr. Gore holds an MBA in Finance from New York University Stern School of Business, and Mr. Porrino holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Brunel University London.

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>Going into the new year, Brazil featured prominently as a key overweight EM on commodity &amp; China leverage, undervalued BRL and potential upside from reforms</li>
<li>In the past month, MSCI Brazil (EWZ) underperformed MSCI EM (EEM) by ~9% and the BRL underperformed on fiscal policy worries, an unwelcome upside inflation surprise, disappointing retail sales, delayed vaccine timelines, pandemic resurgence and concerns on potential breach of spending caps</li>
<li>Our text-mined indicators saw a melt-up in sentiment on Brazil &amp; EMs hitting record highs in late December with &gt;3x STDEV readings; after a slight pullback, overall EM sentiment is on the rise again but our Brazil macro indicator has yet to recover</li>
<li>Aside from the IPCA inflation and retail disappointment, our Brazil indicator has been impacted by news of Ford's announcement of 3 auto plant closures eliminating ~8% of total Brazilian auto production last week</li>
<li>Despite the barrage of bad news, not all indicators are negative:  Incoming December activity indicators and flows are new positives, while yesterday's approval of AstraZeneca &amp; Sinovac vaccines is another incremental positive after mismanagement &amp; anti-vax messaging from Bolsonaro</li>
<li>While idiosyncratic challenges in Brazil are significant, this is "business as usual"; stability in USD and treasury yields would likely help re-establish conviction in Brazilian equities and the BRL on the broader EM flows theme, for a much-anticipated catch-up trade</li>
</ul>


Going into the new year, Brazil featured prominently as a key overweight EM on commodity &amp; China leverage, undervalued BRL and potential upside from reforms
In the past month, MSCI Brazil (EWZ) underperformed MSCI EM (EEM) by ~9% and the BRL underperformed on fiscal policy worries, an unwelcome upside inflation surprise, disappointing retail sales, delayed vaccine timelines, pandemic resurgence and concerns on potential breach of spending caps
Our text-mined indicators saw a melt-up in sentiment on Brazil &amp; EMs hitting record highs in late December with &gt;3x STDEV readings; after a slight pullback, overall EM sentiment is on the rise again but our Brazil macro indicator has yet to recover
Aside from the IPCA inflation and retail disappointment, our Brazil indicator has been impacted by news of Ford's announcement of 3 auto plant closures eliminating ~8% of total Brazilian auto production last week
Despite the barrage of bad news, not all indicators are negative:  Incoming December activity indicators and flows are new positives, while yesterday's approval of AstraZeneca &amp; Sinovac vaccines is another incremental positive after mismanagement &amp; anti-vax messaging from Bolsonaro
While idiosyncratic challenges in Brazil are significant, this is "business as usual"; stability in USD and treasury yields would likely help re-establish conviction in Brazilian equities and the BRL on the broader EM flows theme, for a much-anticipated catch-up trade


TMI Snapshot: Our Brazil Sentiment Signal Diverges from Rest of EM - Opportunity or Warning?