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27 results found.
Evergrande - Too Big to Fail?
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
The recent issues with China Evergrande Group have raised concerns over the broader health of China’s real estate market, the potential risk to its financial system and, more broadly, whether this could trigger a global financial problem. In our latest Q&A, Portfolio Manager Teresa Kong, CFA and Investment Strategist Andy Rothman provide their views and insights.
Corporate Emerging Market Debt Poised to Shine in 2021
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
A nascent global recovery presents both risks and opportunities for fixed income investors. Portfolio Manager Teresa Kong, CFA, discusses why China dominates the universe for EM debt and why Asia may outperform the rest of EM for the foreseeable future.
Q&A with Teresa Kong
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
In this short Q&A, Teresa Kong, Portfolio Manager, provides her insights on the economic impact of the coronavirus and where she sees risks and opportunities, and why the current prices could represent a once in a decade opportunity to buy Asia high yield.
Why the Fed Liftoff Matters
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
When the U.S. Federal Reserve finally lifted the key rate by a quarter point on December
16, it was arguably the most widely anticipated rate hike in U.S. monetary history. This
Fed liftoff matters precisely because no other major central bank in the world has the
ability to do it. This marks the end of ZIRP (zero interest rates policy) for the U.S. But
every other central bank is in ZIRP or is heading in that direction.
China's First SOE Default: More to Come?
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
A power equipment maker just became China’s first state-owned company to default on domestic debt. Is this a strategic move by the central government to further liberalize its capital markets, and to reform its state-owned enterprises?
Harnessing Solar in China
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
China has revised its solar energy targets several times in recent years. This year, it has set even more aggressive targets for solar deployment. But it still has a long way to go before large-scale adoption is possible. This week, Teresa Kong writes about her visit to a small town outside of Beijing to see a Greenpeace solar project that is encouraging households and enterprises to consider going green. What are the barriers to smooth implementation?
The Renminbi's New Normal
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
The gyrations in Chinese money markets in the last few weeks have caused much alarm in the financial press. The moves in these markets are not only inline, but healthy for an economy looking to increase the role of the market in allocating resources. Those who believe these moves indicate financial stress, or draw parallels between the recent volatility and that which preceded the subprime crisis in the U.S., might be looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
The Renminbi's New Normal
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
The gyrations in Chinese money markets in the last few weeks have caused much alarm in the financial press. The moves in these markets are not only inline, but healthy for an economy looking to increase the role of the market in allocating resources. Those who believe these moves indicate financial stress, or draw parallels between the recent volatility and that which preceded the subprime crisis in the U.S., might be looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
Trumping Cheap Labor
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
Wages in China have surely risen, and some pundits argue that this growth will eventually make the country less competitive. But more nuanced and recent theories suggest that manufacturing centers can cluster around pools of more skilled labor, transportation networks and economies of scale. This month, Teresa Kong, CFA, examines the reasons why China is about more than just low-cost workers.
End of Quantitative Easing Tapers Asian Returns? Part II
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
While yields have come off their historical lows in the U.S. and Asia, there is substantially more room for rates to continue to rise. In terms of credit spreads, we have seen investment grade and high yield spreads widen. We believe that spreads will have some room to widen given a repricing of risk across the globe.
Sri Lanka's Victory
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
Sri Lanka has begun to reap the fruits of peace. By diverting resources that were previously spent on its military toward things like infrastructure, tourism and education, its economy has experienced solid growth. As our small car sat in traffic on the main road leading to the Colombo airport, my driver told me about the newly planned highway scheduled to open later this year. The Colombo-Katunayake Expressway, he said, would reduce my 1.5-hour trip to about 20 minutes. More importantly, I thought, we wouldnt be driven off the road by rickshaws referred to locally as tuk-tuks.&#
The Allure of Panda Coins
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
While I waited in another long line in San Francisco International Airport recently, I struck up a conversation with the gentleman behind me. It turned out we were both returning from research trips in China. But rather than being an investor of securities as I am, this fellow traveler was an investor in Chinese coins, specifically, panda coins.
Designed in California, Made in Manila
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
When I saw the hit animation film The Incredibles a few years ago, little did I know that some of the animation was done by artists in the Philippines. Pixar, the American film studio that outsourced this work to the Philippines, is just one of many global companies to have taken advantage of the island nations thriving business process outsourcing (BPO) industry - contracting out work related to back office operations for cost savings.
Why Invest in Asia Bonds?
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
The development of Asias bond markets is one of the regions most profound economic changes of the last decade. This month Teresa Kong, CFA, writes about the diversification Asias bond markets can offer investors, and their three primary return drivers: credit, currency and interest rates.
Chinese Debt Restructuring at Work?
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
How long a restructuring takes will also have a notable bearing on recovery value. Given the myriad of jurisdictions involved, the legal battles will likely take many months if not years to resolve. Given the time value of money, a penny recovered today is worth more than a penny recovered tomorrow. Hence, investors must weigh the cost in terms of time and legal costs against any future recoveries. Asia offers great opportunities, but one has to be mindful that some of the regions markets are still developing.
The Impact of Uncertainty
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
While markets act like toddlers over the short term, what are the key drivers over the long term? The impact of the European crisis on global growth will be the key determining factor on market performance. Small, open economies such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan will likely be more greatly impacted. Countries with domestic consumption as large drivers of GDP, China, Indonesia and India, might be relatively sheltered due to their relatively large internal markets. While risk aversion may cause markets to overreact in the short term, we believe long-term structural growth should continue.
Postcard from Vietnam
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
The use of both the U.S. dollar and Vietnam?s currency, the dong, is widespread in Vietnam. Just as easily as you might pay for a new pair of jeans with cash or with credit in the U.S., you could do so in either dong or dollar in Vietnam. Over the last two decades, currency depreciation, in combination with bouts of hyperinflation, has led to Vietnam?s use of the U.S. dollar and gold as primary stores of wealth. Unlike China, which has experienced appreciation relative to the U.S. dollar over the last two decades, Vietnam has seen a drastic depreciation of its currency over the same period.
Love, Marriage and Housing
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
Imagine the United States in the early 1920s. Henry Ford had just developed the moving assembly line to build the Model T, leading to an era of rapid growth in the automobile industry. This further stimulated industries such as oil, glass and road building. Tourism soared and consumers with cars had a much wider radius for shopping. Many people abandoned agriculture to seek new opportunities in fast-growing cities. During these ?Roaring Twenties,? the construction of urban offices, factories and homes were booming and new buildings sprouted up everywhere.
Effects of Quantitative Easing on Asia
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
While the U.S. intends to stimulate its domestic economy with quantitative easing, the actual effect of QE has been to turbo-charge emerging markets, especially the markets of Asia. There is some concern that short-term portfolio flows or 'hot money' could cause sharp price volatility, and we will continue to monitor these effects and their implications on Asia.
Evolution of the Asia Bond Market
by Teresa Kong of Matthews Asia,
One of the most profound developments in the history of Asia's capital markets has been the deepening of the domestic bond markets over the last decade. The largest Asian issuers can now diversify their funding sources across both international and domestic currencies. While China's bond market is the largest in Asia outside of Japan, it remains largely inaccessible to most foreign investors. Korea's local currency-denominated bond market is the next-largest at just under U.S. $1 trillion, making it the single-largest bond market readily accessible to offshore investors.
27 results found.
