Korea: Chaebol Under Pressure but Who Will Benefit? (Part 4 of 7)

Taiwan: Risks Rising but Remains Relatively Attractive (Part 5 of 7)

Malaysia: China, Cronyism and the Siege Mentality (Part 6 of 7)

China: Recent Corporate Improvement an Illusion Without Reform (Part 2 of 7)

Emerging Market Equities in 2017; Key Issues to Monitor by Market (Part 1 of 7)

Global Asset Allocation, Politics & Governance, Ecstrat

John-Paul Smith

Global Asset Allocation, Politics & Governance

Ecstrat

Ecstrat is a consultancy advising on asset allocation between global equity markets, with a focus on the intersection of governments, geopolitics, governance and markets.
 
Over the past few years and more especially since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), investors have become more focused on short-term market movements and real-time returns and have consequently neglected the analysis of the underlying structural themes that underpin longer term performance.
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More specifically we believe that the evolution of governance-based relationships between investors, controlling shareholders, labour and the state is one of the primary determinants of both relative and absolute performance between individual equity markets.
 
We will endeavour to provide investors with some of the context surrounding governance-related issues which encompass many different disciplines including history, economics and political science, as well as the financial metrics which are the most obvious manifestation of the structural characteristics of each market.
 
We will pay particular attention to the shifts and potential inflection points for governance in individual markets as these are often the best lead indicators for both economic and market performance.

Cross Asset Strategy

<p>There are three main issues facing equity investors in India in 2017:</p><ul><li>first, the likely impact of further significant outflows from emerging market equity funds on a market which is almost a default overweight for all except the few remaining EM value funds. The main economic ratios have improved since India was (laughably) labelled one of the so-called ‘fragile five’ in 2013, but Indian stocks are generally expensive relative to their history and to the rest of GEM. Still, given the relatively…</li></ul>

There are three main issues facing equity investors in India in 2017:first, the likely impact of further significant outflows from emerging market equity funds on a market which is almost a default overweight for all except the few remaining EM value funds. The main economic ratios have improved since India was (laughably) labelled one of the so-called ‘fragile five’ in 2013, but Indian stocks are generally expensive relative to their history and to the rest of GEM. Still, given the relatively…

India: Elections, Incremental Progress and the Decline of Deference (Part 3 of 7)