Gov Sovereigns/Treasurys

Please see attached our <i>Third Quarter Strategy Outlook<i/> which discusses the major investment themes and views we see playing out for the rest of the year.

We test three channels of contagion from the Brexit shock: political, banking system, and economic.

A number of divergences have emerged in global financial markets. These gaps are unsustainable. The recent improvement in Asian trade/manufacturing has been largely due to firming demand for electronics/semiconductors. Meanwhile, demand/output for industrial goods and basic materials - the areas leveraged to Chinese capital spending - remain weak. Fixed-income traders should bet on yield curve steepening in India: receive 1-year/pay 10-year swap rates.

Yield and Protector Portfolios should continue to benefit in current environment. Equities face seasonal headwinds.

A benchmark overall duration stance is still warranted, as central banks will maintain exceptionally accommodative monetary policies to offset potential Brexit-related shocks to confidence.

Some near-term upside in Treasury yields is very likely as flight to safety flows begin to unwind. However, given that global growth divergences remain in place, we will continue to look for an opportunity to increase duration on any meaningful back-up in yields.

Dear Client, After being ardent bond bulls for many years, it is time to shift gears. As I write these words, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield has hit an all-time low of 1.37%, the 10-year bund yield is at -0.18%, and the 10-year Swiss yield is at -0.61%. While we do not expect yields to soar anytime soon, the long-term risk for yields is now more to the upside than the downside. This suggests that investors should sell bonds on any rallies. We are maintaining a neutral stance towards global equities for now, but will be looking to overweight stocks later this year if (as we expect) the post-Brexit shock running through policy circles leads to a further easing in fiscal and monetary policy. With this in mind, we are opening a new structural trade recommendation: Short an equally-weighted portfolio of Japanese, German, and Swiss 10-year bonds. We regard these three negative-yielding markets as among the most overpriced in the world. Details will follow later this week in our Q3 Strategy Outlook. Best regards, Peter Berezin, Managing Editor

For the month of June, the model performed in line with both global equities and the S&P 500. For the month of July, the model is increasing its risk exposure.

Post-Brexit uncertainty will continue for some time. But we were already cautiously positioned, and would not go any more defensive.

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