Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group / Technical Analysis

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316 JP)

<ul>
<li>Our global intermediate-term outlook remains bullish on MSCI ACWI (in place since our 5/14/25 Compass). We also remain near-term bullish on MSCI ACWI since our 4/23/26 Int’l Compass.</li>
<li>Support at $152.35-$153.70 on ACWI-US must continue to hold for us to maintain our near-term bullish outlook.</li>
<li>Despite our bullish outlook, we see some concerning developments that lead us to believe this current consolidation is likely to continue for the foreseeable future--as initially outlined on July 14</li>
</ul>


Our global intermediate-term outlook remains bullish on MSCI ACWI (in place since our 5/14/25 Compass). We also remain near-term bullish on MSCI ACWI since our 4/23/26 Int’l Compass.
Support at $152.35-$153.70 on ACWI-US must continue to hold for us to maintain our near-term bullish outlook.
Despite our bullish outlook, we see some concerning developments that lead us to believe this current consolidation is likely to continue for the foreseeable future--as initially outlined on July 14


Focus Remains on Non-A.I. Areas; Europe Remains Attractive; Energy, Gold Miners, Staples, Financials

Asia Pac ECM and Index Rebal, Shenton Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac ECM and Index Rebal

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China Biotech

Shenton Research

Shenton Research is an independent Asia Pacific equity specialist. Our quantitative research covers index rebalancing flows, alongside exchange data analytics accross Asia Pacific. On the equity capital markets side, we focus on Asia Pacific ECM, especially biotech and TMT. Our lead analyst is frequently cited by international media.

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>We analyzed the changes in margin trading positions of JPX stocks as of Oct 2nd. The aggregated net margin trading position is USD30,228m.</li>
<li>We tabulate league tables for top/bottom net long/short of margin trading by value, net margin buy as multiple of ADT.</li>
<li>We highlight net margin buy/sell changes in Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Advantest, Fujikura, Lasertec, Simplex, Furukawa Electric, Tokyo Electron, Nagoya Railroad, Taiyo Yuden, Toyota Motor.</li>
</ul>


We analyzed the changes in margin trading positions of JPX stocks as of Oct 2nd. The aggregated net margin trading position is USD30,228m.
We tabulate league tables for top/bottom net long/short of margin trading by value, net margin buy as multiple of ADT.
We highlight net margin buy/sell changes in Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Advantest, Fujikura, Lasertec, Simplex, Furukawa Electric, Tokyo Electron, Nagoya Railroad, Taiyo Yuden, Toyota Motor.


JPX Margin Trading Weekly (Oct 2nd): Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Advantest, Fujikura, Lasertec

Japan Economist, Japan Macro Advisors

Takuji Okubo

Japan Economist

Concise and Insightful Analysis on Japan Economy

Japan Macro Advisors

Our mission is to provide a concise and timely analysis on the Japanese economy for the benefit of global audiences. Communication, especially in foreign languages, has always been a weakness for the Japanese, which was fine when Japan's economic might attracted foreign media and various other institutions to study and report on Japan - such days are long gone. In the last two decades, we saw foreign institutions reallocating their resources from Japan to other more exciting parts of the world. As a result, when we read reporting on Japan in foreign media, we sense a subtle but noticeable decline in the depth of understanding what is actually happening in Japan.

Macroeconomics

<ul>
<li>No monetary policy signal. Himino's speech was entirely focused on digital finance and payment system architecture. This reduces the probability of a June rate hike, in my view.</li>
<li>He described Scott Bessent's stablecoin vision as designed to "induce people around the world to finance the US fiscal deficit", taking a mild jab at the credibility of US dollar.  </li>
<li>Japan will not follow the US toward lighter-touch crypto regulation. Himino's explicit reference to anonymity of crypto use as a "problematic motive" signals his weariness about crypto.  </li>
</ul>


No monetary policy signal. Himino's speech was entirely focused on digital finance and payment system architecture. This reduces the probability of a June rate hike, in my view.
He described Scott Bessent's stablecoin vision as designed to "induce people around the world to finance the US fiscal deficit", taking a mild jab at the credibility of US dollar.  
Japan will not follow the US toward lighter-touch crypto regulation. Himino's explicit reference to anonymity of crypto use as a "problematic motive" signals his weariness about crypto.  


BoJ Himino: A Blunt Critique of US Digital Finance Strategy

Asia L/S Equity PM/Macro/Thematic Idea Generation

Rikki Malik

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>We first review at Q1 performance in the major markets we follow</li>
<li>The worst may be over in but news flow will drive markets in the short-term</li>
<li>We look at foreign positioning and fund flow data to assess risks</li>
</ul>


We first review at Q1 performance in the major markets we follow
The worst may be over in but news flow will drive markets in the short-term
We look at foreign positioning and fund flow data to assess risks


Asian Hedge Fund Manager, Long Short Equity, Macro

David Mudd

<ul>
<li>The Asian Alpha Hedge Portfolio performance in 1Q26 was +17.83% versus its benchmark performance of +1.79% for an outperformance of 16.04%.</li>
<li>Over the last year, AAHP's Sharpe ratio is 4.39 with a mean excess annualized return of 69%.  The portfolio has a gross and net exposure of 132% and +30%, respectively.</li>
<li>The war has changed outlooks for economies and markets in the region.  Accordingly, we reduced risk in the portfolio and adjusted our long/short exposures to reflect this new reality.</li>
</ul>


The Asian Alpha Hedge Portfolio performance in 1Q26 was +17.83% versus its benchmark performance of +1.79% for an outperformance of 16.04%.
Over the last year, AAHP's Sharpe ratio is 4.39 with a mean excess annualized return of 69%.  The portfolio has a gross and net exposure of 132% and +30%, respectively.
The war has changed outlooks for economies and markets in the region.  Accordingly, we reduced risk in the portfolio and adjusted our long/short exposures to reflect this new reality.


Asian Alpha Hedge Portfolio (March, 2026)

Japan

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) is a holding company established through the merger of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and UFJ Holdings. As a financial group, the Company provides a variety of financial and investment services including commercial banking, trust banking, international finance, and assets management services.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG) (8306 JP)

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Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG) (8306 JP)

Focus Remains on Non-A.I. Areas; Europe Remains Attractive; Energy, Gold Miners, Staples, Financials

Focus Remains on Non-A.I. Areas; Europe Remains Attractive; Actionable Themes: Energy, Gold Miners, Consumer Staples, Services, and Financials

Vermilion Research

JPX Margin Trading Weekly (Oct 2nd): Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Advantest, Fujikura, Lasertec

We analyzed JPX margin trading positions report for the past week and highlighted Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (8306 JP), Advantest (6857 JP), Fujikura...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

BoJ Himino: A Blunt Critique of US Digital Finance Strategy

BoJ Himino Speech: No hints for near term policy decision, reducing June hike probability. His speech revealed a rare blunt critique of US policy...

Takuji Okubo

Q2 Outlook - Asian Equity Markets

Our outlook for Q2 2026 onwards. Separating the short-term noise from our longer-term investment themes. In Part 2 look at Asian equities

Rikki Malik

Asian Alpha Hedge Portfolio (March, 2026)

While we do not believe that the Iran conflict is close to a resolution, we believe that the U.S. side needs to reach one, and that will eventually...

David Mudd

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