Two Fashion Victims

Friday, May 17th, 2024   Categories: China, Global Equities, Inflation, Real Estate, United Kingdom

UK and China climbing a wall of worry

Over the last month, two large equity markets, which have been out of fashion for many years, have suddenly surged up our rankings. There is no natural linkage between the UK and China, but both may be benefitting from a view that the authorities are making progress in tackling the big issues relating to their economies: the real estate crisis in China and stagflation in the UK. In China, we don’t think this is the end of the housing crisis, but we do think that recent announcements will successfully insulate the banking industry from any further contagion. China can once again be evaluated on the basis of its growth prospects, and not its balance sheet.  In the UK, recent data paint a picture of accelerating non-inflationary growth, which should be rewarded with falling interest rates. The real causes of the lack of enthusiasm for UK equities are more structural and relate in part to the biases of UK domestic investors. Behind the scenes, the Government is working hard to change these attitudes and these efforts will come to a peak with the planned sale of some its stake in NatWest Bank to UK retail investors, later this summer.