Latest from BCA Research

Lower oil prices are aggravating financial and social stress in poorer OPEC states, particularly in Venezuela, where the government recently executed a gold-for-cash swap ahead of looming debt payments.

Special Report

Headline and aggregate-economy statistics such as GDP and income are no longer representative statistics for the living standards of the vast majority of the population. This Special Report discusses the implications for politics, economics and investment.

A global comparison suggests that China's capacity utilization does not appear particularly weak compared to other countries. The excess capacity problem is not unique to China, and therefore cannot be explained by China's investment-driven growth model. Chinese stocks have been unduly punished by the "overcapacity" stigma, which is unwarranted and will eventually correct.

Special Report

Within the EM equity space, country effects still significantly overwhelm sector impact. In turn, the importance of country selection within advanced countries has dropped. Macro analysis is still very pertinent with respect to adding alpha when investing in EM stocks. At this moment, the macro outlook does not warrant a bullish stance on EM.

There are no indicators that consistently lead share prices or can differentiate cyclical bull markets from short-term oversold rebounds. Investors who are right on the big-picture view will be rewarded, and vice versa. From a big-picture perspective, our bias remains that EM/China growth will not pick up sustainably, and that EM EPS will not recover materially in the next 12 months. Therefore, we recommend fading this rally.