Emerging Markets

There is little evidence suggesting that declining productivity growth in recent years has resulted from measurement error. Businesses have plucked many of the low-hanging fruits made possible by the IT revolution, while cyclical factors stemming from the Great Recession have also weighed on productivity. Low productivity growth tends to be deflationary in the short run, but inflationary longer-term. For now, this is good news for bonds, but is likely to become bad news by decade-end.

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.

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.

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 <i>vice versa</i>. 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.

While the FOMC was more dovish than expected, rising inflation may cause the Fed to escalate hawkish rhetoric. The bounce in oil should help high-beta stocks. Underweight U.S. equities versus Europe, Japan and H-shares. We estimate U.S. equities will deliver returns of 4%, ann. over the next 10 years, <i>vis-à-vis</i>  9% for the euro area and Japan, and 14% for H-shares. Central banks have more options to combat any possible debt-deflation spiral in Europe/Japan/China than is often recognized.

If the EM rally is sustained, the Fed will once again become resolute in its commitment to hiking interest rates. This in turn will spur another relapse in EM risk assets. Chinese policymakers are attempting to juggle contradictory objectives without a clear and realistic plan of action to resolve existing problems.

A Chinese reflationary cycle is unfolding. Capital spending is showing signs of regained vigor, driven by both housing and infrastructure. Chinese PPI deflation will ease further. This will help reduce balance sheet stress of materials producers and boost overall industrial profits. Remain positive on Chinese investable stocks.

This <i>Special Report</i> reviews all of our active recommendations, including our over/underweight country and asset allocation positions, as well as our current tactical trades.

Bearish sentiment, higher oil prices and Chinese policy stimulus leave room for a continued bounce in stock prices. But this rally is unlikely to prove sustainable.