Beyond re-opening: the long-term trends to watch in China

Optimism that China’s scrapping of its strict zero-Covid controls would boost the global economy has been tempered by weaker-than-expected data in May on retail sales, industrial output, and investments. But this short-term blip needs to be viewed in the context of the vast technological and demographic shifts underway in the world’s second largest economy that […]

Crouching tiger: the contrarian case for China

Following the end of zero-Covid, China is in the midst of a U-shaped rather than V-shaped recovery, which has been quite uneven across various sectors. Electric vehicle (EV) sales as percentage of new auto sales in China increased to 35% in 2022 and China is now a net exporter of cars. The Chinese EV sector […]

What gives, corporate hybrids?

Chartology

Meet the Manager: Sandy Pei

What’s your role at Federated Hermes? I’m deputy portfolio manager of the Federated Hermes Asia ex-Japan Equity Strategy and co-portfolio manager of the Federated Hermes China Equity Strategy. What did you want to be when you were younger, and how did you get started in your career? When I was a little girl, I wanted […]

Raising the roof

market snapshot

Collapse frequency: deposits, liquidity, and the new bank-body problem

A sculpture depicting an ancient animal

‘Black-body radiation’ – a phrase first dreamed up by Gustav Kirchoff in 1862 – is both a marvel of classic physics and a signal player in its undoing. The multi-talented Kirchoff was the first to mathematically formalise the relationship between radiation falling on an idealised black body and the subsequent frequencies of heat energy emitted […]

Uncut gems: The evolution of ESG in EM sovereign debt

Yellow and blue marble patterns

The lack of a systematic means of integrating ESG factors into the processes that underpin EM sovereign debt investment has led to a widespread overdependence on exclusions and quantitative data – which is often backwards looking – and typically fails to reflect the realities on the ground. In this paper, we look at challenges EM […]

The case for Chinese equities

in charts

Falling inflation brightens US outlook

market snapshot

Global Equity ESG, Annual Report 2022

Mountains reflected in the lake

Fast reading: Annual review 2022: A run-down of what turned out to be a topsy-turvy year for investors. Engagement overview: 145 engagement objectives with 76 companies engaged. An update on our progress in 2022. In the spotlight: ESG in healthcare. How responsible investors can achieve tangible results in line with sustainable goals through engagement and […]