Investment Insights

It does not seem that there are enough differences between Abenomics and the proposed economic policies of likely new Prime Minister Suga to justify the completely new portmanteau “Suganomics,” as a few analysts have suggested.

In late August the Nikkei made a full recovery from the "Corona shock" lows touched in March, amid initiatives by the government and the central bank.

The Australian bond market (as measured by the Bloomberg AusBond Composite 0+ Yr Index) returned -0.42% over the month.

The S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index returned 2.8% during the month. Australian equities lagged most developed markets in August.

Although it is fairly clear that Buffett’s investment is not just a passive one in that he intends to collaborate on business ventures with these trading companies, the fact that the world’s most famous investor has committed to such large sums has ramifications for both domestic and international perceptions about Japanese equities.

Many media reports are suggesting that Yoshihide Suga is leading the race to be Japan’s next prime minister, with a main question being whether he, without a large faction of his own, will just be a temporary placeholder for new leader.

It is attention-grabbing for some analysts and soothsayers to speculate on politics, but this is no casual matter.

Regional markets enjoyed another bout of strong performance in July. Global market sentiment remained buoyant due to optimism about the development of a vaccine for COVID-19; upbeat earnings of big technology companies; and assurance from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) that monetary policies would remain highly accommodative in the foreseeable future.

US Treasury (UST) yields traded in a very tight range, with the yield curve ending flatter in July.

The global economic recovery is continuing, although at a marginally slower pace; this is to be expected considering the impact of the second COVID-19 wave on the US sunbelt.