EM Fund Stock Picks & Country Commentaries (February 9, 2025)
Understanding the sources of value in EMs, gold is shiny again, opportunities from India's water crisis, tariff risk framework, DeepSeek & the US$, Richemont, Tbc Bank, Halyk Bank, UAC Nigeria, etc.
As of early February, I have updated the Other International Focused Funds section (our continuously updated post containing all funds is here with November research removed) plus a few January or more December or Q4 updates have become available. Starting with some non-EM pieces:
🔬🌐 Eight reasons to like investment grade bonds in 2025 (abrdn) - Felix Freund outlines eight key factors that he believes should support investment grade bonds in 2025:
Trump concerns likely well priced in now…
…and some potential Trump positives too
Attractive all-in yields
Relative safety benefits of IG bonds
Good corporate fundamentals
Interest rate-cutting environment
Likely inflows from money market funds
Moderate growth usually the ‘sweetspot’ for IG credit
🔬🎥🌐 Schneider’s Growth Turns Electric (2:13 Minutes) - Demand is on the rise for energy-efficient electrical systems and automation tools. This is helping Schneider Electric SE (EPA: SU / ETR: SND / OTCMKTS: SBGSY) to grow revenue at a rate that defies the stereotype of big, old Industrials companies.
New Asia Fund Documents & Research
🔬🌏 This JPMorgan piece covers India, China, and Korea plus mentioned several tech stocks: Optimistic about Asia’s technology powerhouses and improving corporate governance - The portfolio management team believe that the Asian technology powerhouses are reason enough to invest in the Asia ex-Japan region. As such, JAGI’s biggest overweight vs. the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan benchmark is in the technology sector.
📈🇨🇳 Harding Loevner Chinese Equity’s detailed Q4 quarterly report (detailed economic and portfolio) is roughly 4 pages and discussed a number of stocks.