The VP Blog
A blog about financial markets and the VP investing framework
Room for UK Consumer Staples to Catch Up
This post was taken from our January 22nd weekly report. In line with the global rebound, UK equities have regained considerable ground in January following the fourth-quarter sell-off. However, consumer staples have underperformed, creating a sharp divergence with...
read moreBuy the USDCNH Dip
VP’s China leading indicator has shown few signs of rebounding and remains in negative territory, presenting a persistent headwind to the RMB. Historically a negative China LEI has led capital outflow by about 6 months and points to further outflow pressures (top-left...
read moreTrading a Bear Market
This post was taken from our January 8th weekly report. We would characterise US equity indices today as being in a bear market. The official definition is a 20% decline from the recent high, close to close, but what does this mean in practice for investors? (The S&P...
read moreA Brief Bout of Market Optimism
This post was taken from our December 4th weekly report. We wrote last week about the absence of bottoming signals for the S&P. From a price perspective, there was little to suggest a sustainable rally was on the cards, as few of the usual signs of selling exhaustion...
read moreMoney markets show no faith in ECB to hike
This post was taken from our December 4th weekly report. While attention will inevitably be focused on the upcoming ECB monetary policy meeting in December and the expected end to asset purchases, money markets are increasingly pushing back against higher policy...
read moreMarkets Repricing for Eurozone Lowflation
Market-based measures of euro area inflation expectations have shifted lower, which could point to a delay in monetary policy normalisation. The first chart below shows the EUR 5Y5Y forward inflation swap, which has dropped sharply in recent weeks. A few years ago,...
read moreSupport for Gold rally is building
Gold has been in a narrow range since mid-August, and is down about 6% YTD in USD terms. It has had several opportunities to sell off more given a hawkish Fed, a rising USD and speculators going net short, but tellingly it has remained quite well supported. Today...
read moreLocals see Opportunity in LATAM
We have previously highlighted that despite the global equity selloff there has been only a marginal decline in flows to emerging market equity ETFs, which suggests that investors remain committed for the time being. We have dug further into fund flows for Brazil and...
read moreSwedish Housing Market Starting to Crumble
We have previously flagged Swedish property as both a precariously overvalued asset and a risk to systemic stability given the high degree of household leverage. The scale and intensity of the Swedish property bubble is reflected in the two charts below. In real terms...
read moreCompany Story
