Asia will be most powerful driver of equity market returns over 5-10 years

ON ASIA

JOHIM's Edward Stileman says despite a few months of potential volatility, the long term Asia story remains compelling.

Equity markets have had a volatile start to the year as investors have trained their attention on Asian inflation and possible tightening or capital control measures. As with most things, China’s inflation numbers are extra heavily scrutinised so, after a +5.1% print for November and two rate hikes in the last quarter, China bears grabbed the opportunity to stake their bets. Undoubtedly, inflation is a worry but we feel it will likely peak in most markets before the second half of the year. We see no real signs central banks are behind the curve. Several have already raised interest r...