2018 Strategy Podcast: Aging Rally or More to Play For?

9 January 2018 One of my New Year's resolutions was to broaden the types of content offered on this site to make life easier and more stimulating for investors and subscribers.  In this spirit, you are invited to listen to our first podcast.  This broadcast summarises a blog published in December outlining key investment themes [...]

US Tax Reform: Panacea or a Risk too Far?

2 December 2017 In a swanky Washington restaurant in 1974, economist Arthur Laffer presented Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (future VP and US Secretary of Defence) a doodle on the back of a napkin.  What appeared was a diagram of the now infamous “Laffer Curve”.  The graph depicts the relationship between tax rates and tax [...]

Can Trump Pry Open Asian Markets?

President Trump will use his Asia trip to discuss America's swollen trade deficits with the region. Trade imbalances are caused by macro factors: America saves too little, Asia saves too much.  This Chart, however, does indicate that America's penetration of some key Asian markets is far lower than their access to the US market. China [...]

Asia: Coping With Trump, China, and the Fed

2 November 2017 Despite the flare up of dangerous geopolitical risks, Asian assets have performed exceptionally well in 2017.  Indeed, after years of underperformance, the 28% gain in Asian equity markets is twice that of the S&P500.  Likewise, shrugging off initial concerns after last year’s US election, most of the region’s currencies have appreciated handsomely [...]