Emerging Markets

There has been a decoupling within the global semiconductor industry. Demand for AI and advanced chips has been booming. Yet, sales of legacy and non-AI semiconductors have failed to recover. Given their spectacular run-up, share prices of high-end and AI-chip producers might continue selling off even if their sales continue to grow rapidly.

The ongoing rally in ASEAN currencies will fizzle sooner rather than later as they are not supported by fundamentals. The ringgit and the baht, however, will fare better than the peso and the rupiah during the coming global risk-off period. This report explains why.

Even after the Fed cuts rates, policy will remain restrictive for some time. Moreover, in history, stocks have tended to fall around the first rate cut. We remain cautious on the outlook for the economy and risk assets.

MacroQuant continues to recommend underweighting equities and overweighting bonds. This is consistent with the Global Investment Strategy Team's decision to downgrade global equities to underweight in late June.