Smartkarma Daily Briefs

• Last week, CICC Hong Kong and SOE Jilin Financial Holding Group tabled a rescue offer for Jilin Bank (6122 HK), as discussed in Jilin Bank (6122 HK): Another Hobson’s Choice
• This follows a similar bailout of Bank Of Jinzhou (416 HK) in early 2024, as detailed in Bank of Jinzhou (416 HK) To Be Taken Private.
• Tarring the sector with same brush is potentially oversimplifying the situation. But the issues faced by Jilin Bank and BoJ are unlikely to be isolated. Below I dig deeper.  

• As reported by Gaudenz Schneider , the 90-Day pause on country-specific reciprocal tariffs was set to expire on July 9, 2025 and Australia and its Minerals sector might suffer indirectly. 
• Australia has business with a number of Asian countries, especially China and Japan. Any shock to the growth of other economies in the region could affect the S&P/ASX 200 INDEX. 
• This insight will focus on the short-term tactical outlook and possible trend direction for the Australian index for the coming weeks. 

• The Arena REIT (ARF AU) vs. National Storage REIT (NSR AU) Price-Ratio has deviated more than two standard deviations from its one-year average, presenting a potential relative value opportunity.
• This relative value opportunity can be implemented as a long-short pair trade or as relative over-/underweights in a long only context.
• Why Read: Essential for quantitative traders seeking mean-reversion opportunities, with detailed execution framework, risk management protocols, and historical simulation showing the statistical basis for this relative value play.

• A global perspective on what happened overnight

Asian equities have outperformed the US and global markets this year and the manager of Henderson Far East Income (HFEL), Sat Duhra, expects this outperformance to continue, underpinned by a number of structural growth trends, such as the drive to enhance shareholder returns via increased dividend payments. Other supportive themes include financial inclusion and investment in technology and infrastructure. Since our last note, Duhra has continued his efforts to raise exposure to these structural growth opportunities, while still protecting income. These efforts, combined with an improvement in the performance of value stocks, have already improved performance in outright terms. The trust also looks set to deliver an 18th successive year of dividend growth in FY25 (ending 31 August 2025) (Exhibit 1). Duhra believes the trust is well positioned to grasp further opportunities to invest in structural growth, at attractive valuations, as they arise, and to reap the performance benefit of such exposure, including rising dividend payouts, over the remainder of 2025 and well beyond.

• In today’s Morning Views publication we comment on developments of the following high yield issuers: Greentown China, Nissan Motor, Continuum Green
• UST yields rose slightly yesterday, with yields up for a fifth straight day. There were no apparent catalysts, albeit the move was in line with a broader sell-off in European and Japanese government bonds.
• The yield on the 2Y UST was unchanged at 3.89%, while that on the 10Y UST advanced 2 bps to 4.40%. Equities were little changed near all-time highs, amid renewed tariff concerns. US President Donald Trump has told reporters at a White House meeting that he plans to announce a 50% tariff on copper imports.

• Spectral AI is developing an AI-guided predictive medical device that employs multispectral imaging (MSI) to estimate a wound’s capacity to heal.
• The company is pursuing indications in burn and diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) with the former receiving support from BARDA & other government agencies.
• Spectral is distinguished by its combination of MSI and AI to improve diagnoses.