Asian Hedge Fund Manager, Long Short Equity, Macro

David Mudd

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>DC company share prices are rolling over, foreshadowing increasing pressure on their hyperscaler customers.  Since the July swoon in semiconductor stocks, the DC sector has underperformed both hyperscalers and semiconductors.</li>
<li>DC players face strong headwinds on multiple fronts, including high leverage/circular financing, supply chain delays, public opposition, and questions about aggressive forecasts of future compute demand.</li>
<li>Leverage is the most prominent risk in the DC sector, with questions looming about completion dates and customers' ability to meet their contracted offtake agreements.</li>
</ul>


DC company share prices are rolling over, foreshadowing increasing pressure on their hyperscaler customers.  Since the July swoon in semiconductor stocks, the DC sector has underperformed both hyperscalers and semiconductors.
DC players face strong headwinds on multiple fronts, including high leverage/circular financing, supply chain delays, public opposition, and questions about aggressive forecasts of future compute demand.
Leverage is the most prominent risk in the DC sector, with questions looming about completion dates and customers' ability to meet their contracted offtake agreements.


DATA CENTER SECTOR: From the Tip of the Spear to Canary in the Coal Mine

Director, Sentiment Matters

Lars Kreckel

Director

The mood of the market, mapped and decoded

Sentiment Matters

Investor sentiment is the overall mood of investors - how bullish or bearish they are on a market or asset.

Sentiment is part of every investor’s investment process. Whether for macro investors, stock pickers, or thematic investors, it matters whether a position is consensus or contrarian.

<ul>
<li>
Buy Side Sentiment Tracker: we aggregate asset-allocation views from 54 top asset managers across 73 assets, based on 1,400+ individual views.</li>
<li>
Bullish, but not extreme: Risk appetite is high and rising, yet equity downgrades and resilient sovereign demand show the Buy Side is far from universally risk-on.</li>
<li>
Max Contrarian: Infrastructure, Industrial Metals and Gold are most popular; Swiss Franc, Cash and Consumer Staples are least popular.</li>
</ul>



Buy Side Sentiment Tracker: we aggregate asset-allocation views from 54 top asset managers across 73 assets, based on 1,400+ individual views.

Bullish, but not extreme: Risk appetite is high and rising, yet equity downgrades and resilient sovereign demand show the Buy Side is far from universally risk-on.

Max Contrarian: Infrastructure, Industrial Metals and Gold are most popular; Swiss Franc, Cash and Consumer Staples are least popular.


Sentiment Matters: Buy Side Sentiment Tracker - October 2026

Equity Capital Markets and Advisory Business, Auctus Advisors

Auctus Advisors

Equity Capital Markets and Advisory Business

Auctus Advisors is a specialist Equity Capital Markets and Advisory business with a focus in the Energy Sector. The partners have complementary skill sets, with decades of experience across Equity Capital Markets, Investment Banking and the Energy industry. We have worked at Société Générale, Canaccord Capital, BMO Capital Markets and Schlumberger. Most recently we have worked together for many years at GMP FirstEnergy. Auctus has been set up at the beginning of a new decade in which we see significant opportunities in the Energy space. Globally, demand for energy is at record levels and continues to grow. Conversely, investment in traditional energy sources has been severely constrained. We believe this imbalance creates opportunities for both companies and investors. Auctus provides Corporate Broking, Equity Research and Investment Banking services.

Equity Bottom-Up

VAALCO Energy, Inc. acquires, explores, and develops crude oil and natural gas properties. The Company owns producing properties and conducts exploration activities in the Philippines and Gabon, and has interest in the Texas Gulf Coast area. VAALCO, through participation in a partnership, has additional international exploration interests in South and North America and Africa.

<ul>
<li>The ETSEM-3H development well on the SE Etame field encountered 300 metres of net pay along its lateral wellbore in high-quality Gamba reservoir sands.</li>
<li>The well achieved a stabilised initial rate of ~2,000 bbl/d (1,140 bbl/d net to Vaalco’s WI).</li>
<li>This compares with ~2,000 bbl/d at ET-15H-ST, 4,850 bbl/d at ET-14H and &gt;8,000 bbl/d at Ebouri-5H.</li>
</ul>


The ETSEM-3H development well on the SE Etame field encountered 300 metres of net pay along its lateral wellbore in high-quality Gamba reservoir sands.
The well achieved a stabilised initial rate of ~2,000 bbl/d (1,140 bbl/d net to Vaalco’s WI).
This compares with ~2,000 bbl/d at ET-15H-ST, 4,850 bbl/d at ET-14H and &gt;8,000 bbl/d at Ebouri-5H.


Vaalco Energy (NYSE: EGY): Another positive well result in Gabon

Decoding the Future of MENA Financial Markets, MENA Market Lab

Denis Collot

Decoding the Future of MENA Financial Markets

MENA Market Lab

Decoding the future of Middle East and North Africa Financial markets

<ul><li>UAE and Egypt renew for 5 year their currency swap agreement.</li><li>Frozen strawberries top the list of food exports .</li><li>The government cleans the debt owed to the National Investment Bank. Good reception for last bills’ auction.</li></ul>

UAE and Egypt renew for 5 year their currency swap agreement.Frozen strawberries top the list of food exports .The government cleans the debt owed to the National Investment Bank. Good reception for last bills’ auction.

<ul>
<li>
Treasuries Sentiment has turned sharply bearish, but not extreme. The SMA sits around the 30th percentile, still above its historical buy threshold.</li>
<li>
The underlying picture is mixed. Momentum and some speculative positioning are very bearish, while buy-side sentiment, options, analyst expectations and flows remain closer to neutral.</li>
<li>
This is not broad capitulation. Price action has been persistently poor rather than disorderly, leaving room for sentiment to deteriorate further before a stronger contrarian signal emerges.</li>
</ul>



Treasuries Sentiment has turned sharply bearish, but not extreme. The SMA sits around the 30th percentile, still above its historical buy threshold.

The underlying picture is mixed. Momentum and some speculative positioning are very bearish, while buy-side sentiment, options, analyst expectations and flows remain closer to neutral.

This is not broad capitulation. Price action has been persistently poor rather than disorderly, leaving room for sentiment to deteriorate further before a stronger contrarian signal emerges.


Sentiment Matters: US Treasuries Bearish, But Not Capitulation

Egypt
Insights on Egypt

DATA CENTER SECTOR: From the Tip of the Spear to Canary in the Coal Mine

The sudden plunge in demand for an Nvidia-backed data center company’s initial public offering is revealing fresh cracks in the AI funding boom....

David Mudd

Sentiment Matters: Buy Side Sentiment Tracker - October 2026

Buy-side sentiment is bullish and still rising, but not universally risk-on. Infrastructure, Industrial Metals and Gold lead; Swiss Franc, Cash and...

Lars Kreckel

Vaalco Energy (NYSE: EGY): Another positive well result in Gabon

The ETSEM-3H development well on the SE Etame field encountered 300 metres of net pay along its lateral wellbore in high-quality Gamba reservoir...

Auctus Advisors

Egypt October 2nd 2026

UAE and Egypt renew for 5 year their currency swap agreement. Frozen strawberries top the list of food exports . The government cleans the...

MENA Market Lab

Sentiment Matters: US Treasuries Bearish, But Not Capitulation

Treasury sentiment has fallen sharply, but not to capitulation. The SMA is around the 30th percentile, with momentum very weak but broader...

Lars Kreckel