CoreMacro

The Buenos Aires election results are a setback for the government's political momentum, but not the endgame. Our long-term bullish view remains in place, but short-term investors should stay on the sidelines in the near run.

The European Central Bank has achieved a soft landing. Inflation is back to target, with well-anchored inflation expectations. The unemployment rate is historically low, and real economic growth is stable, albeit weak. Given that little to no additional easing will come from the ECB, investors should underweight government bonds relative to equities.

Although our recession conviction has risen, we conclude our strategy review by closing our equity underweight and our fixed income and cash overweights. AI momentum is too strong to have anything more than modest exposure to an equity decline via a small SPY put position.

Inflation expectations in the US remain reasonably well anchored and there are few signs of a brewing wage-price spiral. Thus, the near-term risks to growth outweigh the risks of higher inflation. Looking beyond the next year or two, however, we are worried about stagflation.

Special Report

The resilience of US non-tech companies' profitability has not been driven by top-line growth but by falling costs, which safeguarded profit margins. Presently, risks in US stocks outweigh the potential rewards – margin sustainability is uncertain while equity valuations are very stretched.

The bond vigilantes are circling over several targets right now: France, the UK, and Japan. But France is the most vulnerable because of a toxic combination: a total debt ratio well above 300 percent plus the worst primary deficit in the G7 plus political gridlock, which will get even worse if Prime Minister Francois Bayrou loses the September 8th vote of confidence in his minority government. We explain why the ECB cannot save France, and the investment implications. Plus, we unveil our brand-new complexity ‘heat map’ for global asset allocation which leads to a new tactical trade to underweight world communication services (WTEL).

I am pleased to announce the launch of PowerTrades, an exclusive new service for Global Investment Strategy subscribers that delivers our top trading insights directly to your inbox.

Political instability will persist in France as PM François Bayrou loses the confidence vote. The nomination of a new PM will not end the country’s political paralysis and will further fuel fiscal fears. Investors should remain underweight French OAT. French equities, especially French banks, should be bought on dips.

MacroQuant sees downside risks to stocks over a long-term horizon but is not yet saying that we are at imminent risk of an equity bear market.

We see two risks that could spoil the rally in US risk assets: (1) a tariff-driven stagflation, and (2) a US Treasury tantrum. Our negative view on EM risk assets is primarily driven by the outlook for global trade, which is set to shrink in Q4 this year.