Emerging Markets

Going into April, MacroQuant recommends a modest underweight on stocks, offset by an overweight on bonds and cash. While MacroQuant is modestly bearish on stocks, we suspect that the downside risks to equities may be greater than what the model assumes.

Going into April, MacroQuant recommends a modest underweight on stocks, offset by an overweight on bonds and cash. While MacroQuant is modestly bearish on stocks, we suspect that the downside risks to equities may be greater than what the model assumes.

Stocks will continue to struggle in the second quarter as President Trump tries to implement tariffs. Tax cuts will only temporarily dispel growth fears, if at all. Middle Eastern instability will add oil price surprises to an environment that is looking fairly stagflationary.

There is an ongoing regime shift in Indonesia: SOEs will be used to drive economic growth. Bank loans will accelerate, but their profit margins will shrink. Despite higher nominal growth, Indonesian equity prices in US dollar terms will not see a sustainable bull market. Downside risks to currency and upside risks to domestic bond yields have also increased.

This report presents our interpretation of signals from the main equity, bond, and currency markets around the world. The key takeaways are: (1) Chinese stocks are behind the resilience of the EM MSCI Index; (2) Investors have become too bullish on Europe and will be disappointed; (3) The US dollar will likely rebound in the near term; (4) US long-term bond yields will be sticky in the short run; (5) The global equity selloff is not over.