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Market Perspectives 
September 2014 
Sep. 3rd, 2014 
www.finlightresearch.com 
Sucked into the Draghinomics bullish vortex…
“Insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” 
Albert Einstein 
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they've tried everything else.” 
Winston Churchill 
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FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
Executive Summary: Global Asset Allocation 
 Economic news has been mixed with week consumption, but 
yet strong confidence. Demand growth is far below what the US 
economy is accustomed to. 
 Eurozone financial markets can hardly be read other than as 
anticipating a triple-dip recession 
 Risky assets are not priced for any alternative scenario other than 
the optimistic one. Current market sentiments are way too 
optimistic. We do not want to be exposed to such a biased 
situation.. 
 Equity markets are near record highs, but there are warning 
signals that should not be ignored. Stocks keep rising on bad 
news because bad news implies more central bank stimulus, and 
more cash injection. 
 We continue to see the main systemic risk coming from 
China. China debt crisis still remains to unfold in our opinion. 
 We remain neutral on global equities and think earnings growth 
should be the only driver of markets from here. We remain 
overweight commodities (but with a dispersion in views across 
the sectors as individual fundamentals matter) and underweight 
credit and government bonds. We continue to bet on USD 
strengthening and on a spike in the VIX 
 We summarize our views as follows  
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FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
MACRO VIEW 
 The Good 
 US Q2 GDP rebound was confirmed by the second estimate. Q3 Growth seems on track for 3%. 
 Durable goods orders have been strong, regardless of the fact that most of that strength was due to 
a surge in Boeing's aircraft orders. 
 Business and consumer confidence are at, or near, post-crisis highs.. 
 Any way you look at it, the 2014 Q2 earnings season has been very positive 
 The Bad 
 The picture is worsening for the euro zone : Its strongest economy is weakening, its inflation came in 
at a frighteningly low 0.3% and German consumer morale fell for the first time in 18 months 
 MA and IPO activity are getting close to 2007 peak levels. Stock buybacks seem to be declining 
 Bullish sentiment (interpreted as a contrarian indicator) has spiked again, according to the latest AAII 
Sentiment Survey 
 Personal income and spending were below expectations. US consumption actually declined in July. 
On a 3 month real growth basis, both personal income and expenditures continue to trend down 
 New home sales report for July was weak 
 The Ugly 
 Geopolitics remain a wild card: A war between Russia and Ukraine is by far the biggest danger. 
 China’s economy continues to be supported with credit and stimulus, strengthening the problem of 
excess capacity and deflating the PPI. Without this support, Chinese economy will sink. China debt 
crisis still remains to unfold in our opinion 
 Ebola epidemic is spiraling out of control… 
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FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
There is no indication of a recession using the indicators monitored by the NBER, even during Q1-2014 
 The average of these 4 indicators seems to suggest that the economy is moving sideways 
 When adjusted for inflation, retail sales appear to be flattening since March. This is rather 
5 
Big Four Economic Indicators 
disturbing for us. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
Even capital goods orders (that exclude transportation and defense sectors) have increased by over 
 Growth in US nonresidential fixed investment rose 8.4% during Q2, with investment in commercial 
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The Good: Durable Goods Orders 
 July durable goods orders rose by 22.6% thanks mainly to a surge in aircraft orders 
8% yoy. 
buildings up 9.4% and equipment investment up 10.7%. 
 All theses figures confirm the positive trend in US growth 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
7 
The Bad: PCE 
 Real personal consumption (PCE ~70% of GDP) grew at annual rate of just 2% in July. 
 PCE current range is 1% lower than the one that was prevailing before 2007 crisis 
 PCE rate of growth has been on a negative trend since Mar. ‘14 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
8 
Eurozone Deflation Risk 
 Deflationary forces are proving more 
persistent than previously thought, 
according to ECB President Draghi, who 
also said “within its mandate [the ECB] will 
use all the available instruments needed to 
ensure price stability over the medium 
term”. 
 In the Eurozone, short and medium-term 
inflation are plunging. 5Y5Y inflation swaps 
(one of the measures used by the ECB to 
gauge medium-term inflation expectations) 
has already slided below 2% 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
According to the large gap between potential and actual GDP, Fed seems a long way from adopting a 
9 
Fed Policy 
restrictive policy… 
 The Fed should keep an accommodative stance until the gap is eliminated. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
10 
Individual Investor’s Sentiment 
 According to the latest AAII Sentiment 
Survey, 
 bullish sentiment topped 50% for the first 
time since end of 2013 
 bearish sentiment fell below 20% for the 
first time this year. 
 Both figures are more than one standard 
deviation away from their respective historical 
averages. 
 According to this data, there are not many 
buyers left 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
11 
Individual Investor’s Sentiment 
 The “herd mentality is in action… 
 Individual investors’ exposure to stocks is the 
highest since 2007. Cash reserves are the 
lowest! 
 As stocks are hitting record highs, the level of 
cash held by mutual fund managers is also 
hitting record lows (3% of assets in June, 
according to Ned Davis Research). This is 
lower than previous market tops in 2000 and 
2007 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
12 
Consumer Sentiment 
 Michigan Consumer Sentiment for August came in at 82.5. 
 The Conference Board Index is reflecting the same optimistic mood… 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
The pattern of the NFIB Business Optimism (capturing the mood of small business owners) Index looks 
13 
Business Sentiment 
similar to the Michigan Index. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
14 
Any Financial Stress? 
 There is no stress at all within the system! 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
15 
GS – Global Leading Indicator (GLI) 
 Little improvement since last 
month. The Aug. GLI came in at 
3.1%yoy, flat from last month. 
Momentum increased to 
0.29%mom from last month’s 
reading of 0.25%mom. 
 GLI places now the global 
industrial cycle clearly in the 
‘Expansion’ phase (defined by 
positive and increasing momentum) 
but close to border with 
‘Slowdown’. 
 6 of the 10 underlying components 
improved in August 
 We continue to think that the 
current acceleration remains 
quite modest for a typical 
expansion phase. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
16 
US GDP 
 The second estimate of Q2-2014 US GDP 
was announced at 4.2%, confirming the 
weather-related rebound . This is a good 
number but still leaves the first half of 
the year hardly better than 1%. 
 In our view, reaching 2% is still a 
challenging target for 2014 
 The increase in Q2 real GDP is mainly due 
to positive contributions from PCE and 
private inventory investment, 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
Current GDP is far from filling the gap the financial crisis opened below the pre-crisis trend. 
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Current GDP vs Pre-crisis Trend 
This gap is still widening… 
 U.S., like Eurozone, real GDP stands 15% below the pre-crisis trend. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
According to Capital Economics, the latest Chinese data suggest a significant loss of momentum in 
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Chinese Economy 
China's economic growth coming into Q3. 
 Growth in electricity output seems to point to a deceleration in industrial activity. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
China’s housing market has reached a top at the end of 2013 and, since then, has been going down 
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Chinese Economy 
at an accelerating pace. 
 In July, home prices fell in 64 of the 70 cities the Chinese government tracks 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
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Chinese Economy 
 Another sign of weakening fundamentals 
is the SHIBOR interest rate curve. 
 The curve has become inverted while 
declining in level. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
Last month, we had argued that the correction of late July was the beginning of a typical technical 
correction with modest fundamental support, and that a fast rebound should follow unless medium-term 
 The dip of last July / early August was recovered and the SP500 closed above 2000 for the first time 
 Weak economic outlook is offset by good company earnings (especially in the US), lower bond yields 
 We stick, however, with our view that risk-reward trade-off points to a more cautious approach 
 We remain Neutral equities. Our prop. trading model is now short targeting 1947 with a stoploss 
at 2021. Breaking through the 1900-1920 pivot area on the SP500 would likely be the signal we 
wait for to go short stocks, as that could lead to a temporary sell-off in equities. We keep our UW 
on Europe vs. US. We remain neutral to UW on Japan. 
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EQUITY 
supports were broken. 
ever this week. Big gains in US and European stocks came on hopes for new ECB stimulus. 
and lower risk premia. 
to the equity markets, at least tactically on the near term. 
 We continue to think that any further upside on the SP 500 should be driven by earnings 
growth rather than P/E expansion. But the return potential for equity markets looks corrupted by 
limited room for valuation and margin expansion. 
 Given the point in the credit cycle, we favor equities over corporate bonds. 
 Bottom line : 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
We made the losing bet of underweighting EM stocks since early 2014. Since then, and after 
 Tactically, we are now positive again on EM equities, as the EM cycle continues to strengthen. 
 We like Brazil (fueled by the prospect of political reforms) and India. We remain bearish on China 
despite the recent rebound in stocks, as recent cyclical data have been mixed (July credit and 
August manufacturing PMI) 
 We favor an UW in US small caps vs large caps because of the relative expensiveness of the 
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EQUITY 
having spent 2013 in the red, the MSCI EM Index has gained 8.5% 
former. We are aware that the momentum is currently against us. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
The Q2 earnings season is over. Per FactSet, earnings grew at 7.7% yoy and sales grew 4.5%  
 Earnings growth rate for the SP 500 was 7.7% in Q2. Combined with the 2.1% growth rate for 
Q1, that averages out to less than 5% for the first half of 2014. We expect around 7% growth for 
2014 in full. Thus, SP 500 is trading today at 17.4 times 2014 expected earnings. 
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US Equity - Earnings 
Any way you look at it, the Q2 earnings season has been very positive 
 Sustaining 7% earnings growth when sales growth is just 4.5% requires more margins. 
Source: Factset 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
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US Equity - Earnings 
 Peaking earnings does a good job at predicting market peaks 
 Are earnings near a peak? Only time will tell… 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
25 
SP500 Technicals 
 The SP500 is currently testing 
the very important psychological 
2000 level. 
 The ability of the index to 
continue its upside trend will 
depend greatly on the price 
action around this major pivot. 
 Just keep in mind that the last 
move up was mainly driven by 
the BCE dovish statement. 
 The market looks stretched but 
bullish sentiment may drive 
higher on no/bad news! 
 On the downside, only a clean 
break of the Nov. ‘12 uptrend 
may change the global 
(constructive) picture. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
26 
Trading Model - SPX 
 Our prop. Short-Term trading model went short on Aug. 18th at 1971.74 on the index 
 The model targets 1941 - 1903 and stops its losses at 2021 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
27 
Emerging Markets 
 EM stocks are just recovering from the 
losses they experienced since early 2013. 
MSCI EM Index is up 8.5% YTD after 
having spent 2013 in the red 
 We expect EM equities to keep pace with 
DM equities (including US equities) and 
probably to outperform as they are 
supported by strengthening growth and 
supportive financial conditions 
 The downside risk on this view is linked to 
China’s cycle and global risk appetite. EM 
stocks are usually the first to suffer a 
pullback when conditions get less friendly. 
 Tactically (for one or so), we are positive 
again on EM equities 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
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FIXED INCOME  CREDIT 
 We stay underweight on government bonds. We keep our short positioning on UST and expect 
10-year yields to reach 2.90%-3.20% over next months, because of sustained US growth, increasing 
US inflation. Only a material weekly/monthly close below the 2.40-2.30 range could make us change 
our mind. 
 A sell-off in Govies will, in our view, induce a sell-off in equities. 
 We continue to OW Eurozone vs. US and UK given continued policy divergence and BCE action. 
 ECB credit easing measures should induce further Peripheral-Core spread convergence. We see, 
however, reasons to be cautious as the current low volatility environment is encouraging complacency. 
We remain neutral Peripheral vs Core as we see lasting spread compression to be very limited. 
 Our view on TIPS breakevens is unchanged. We remain bullish on them and keep our 5y-TIPS 
breakeven wideners. 
 Over 12 month horizon, we expect 10Y HICP swaps to move up 20-40 bps. Thus, we go long 10Y 
Euro HICP inflation swaps 
 As a tail hedge, we keep our 10y bund swap spread receiver swap 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
29 
FIXED INCOME  CREDIT 
 In corporate credit, investors appear to be seeking out risk on the margin, moving down in 
quality in search for yield, encouraged by low default rates and benign event risk 
 We remain UW on corporate credit, due to valuation, to position within the credit cycle, to the 
expected rise in government bond yields and given the weak total return forecast 
 Spreads are now so tight that carry and additional spread compression is not enough to compensate for 
the rise we expect in government yields (especially in the US). Despite this risk (which normally has a 
bigger relative impact on IG then on HY), we continue to prefer IG over HY on a risk-adjusted basis 
 Intra credit, we keep our Neutral stance between the US and Europe. European credit has the 
potential to outperform its US counterparty. But the tail risk of systemic shocks in European financials is 
too big to be ignored. 
 Bottom line : Still UW Govies, UW credit, OW TIPS and HICP Inflation, UW High Yield vs High Grade 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
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FIXED INCOME  CREDIT 
 This has been a minor move higher in spreads thus far, but as credit typically leads, one that 
should not be ignored. 
 We also like emerging market high yield corporates because they have relatively strong balance 
sheets and low expected default rates. Inflows into emerging market bond funds have also been 
positive, therefore generating positive price momentum for this asset class. 
 Weak growth, low inflation, and easy money have all been very supportive for yield seeking strategies. 
We favor seeking extra yield in the higher-yielding government bond markets, both outright and as a 
spread to core markets: periphery Euro area, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil). These are followed 
by select FX carry positions in EM, earning roll in energy futures 
 Our caution on credit is that spreads are already near past cycle lows and credit tends not to perform 
well in later stages of the cycles as corporates then typically start re-levering their balance sheets 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
31 
US Yields 
 The long-term trend for 
10y UST yield remains 
clearly to the downside. 
But we detect signs of a 
trend exhaustion. 
 10y UST yield stands at a 
major support and should 
bounce higher from this 
point 
 We keep our UW on UST 
for the moment. Only a 
material weekly/monthly 
close below the 2.40-2.30 
range could make us 
change our mind. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
32 
German Yields 
 The 10y German yield 
has broken below its 
prior cycle lows, without 
showing any base 
formation. 
 The downtrend should 
continue over the short 
term. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
33 
Euro HICP inflation 
 Given last Draghi’s statement and potential BCE QE next year, we think that Eurozone headline 
inflation has reached a trough in Aug. at 0.3% 
 Over 12 month horizon, we expect 10Y HICP swaps to move up 20-40 bps.  Open long 
position in 10Y Euro HICP inflation swaps 
EUR HICP Inflation Swap EUR HICP Inflation Swap 
Source: Bloomberg 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
34 
High Yield 
 We remain UW on corporate credit, due to valuation, to position within the credit cycle, to the 
expected rise in government bond yields and given our weak total return forecast 
 Spreads are now so tight that carry and additional spread compression is not enough to compensate 
for the rise we expect in government yields (especially in the US). Despite this risk (which normally has 
a bigger relative impact on IG then on HY), we continue to prefer IG over HY on a risk-adjusted 
basis 
Euro HY  IG Total Return 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com 
Euro HY Total Return by Rating
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High Yield – Monitoring Ratings and Default 
 On an issuer base, rolling twelve-month default rate is bottoming 
 In the same time, upgrade to downgrade ratio seems to be bouncing. We should keep an eye on this 
ratio to detect the relapse we expect given the point where we stand within the credit cycle. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
36 
High Yield – Issuance 
 Easy access to credit has a tendency to increase 
defaults 
 The global picture is driven by the search for yield. 
Investors are moving down in quality and 
accepting less protective convenants. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com 
Convenant-lite loan new-issue volume ($Bln)
37 
EXCHANGE RATES 
 The US dollar is broadly higher against the major and emerging market currencies, mainly driven by the 
divergence between the US on one hand and the euro area and Japan on the other 
 We continue to expect the USD to strengthen against the major crosses. 
 The ECB’s dovish rhetoric and action should gradually drive the Euro weaker. US GDP surge to 4.2% in 
Q2 gave another sign that the US and Eurozone economy are diverging. The EUR-USD underlying 
structure looks very negative. 
 On EUR-USD, we remain UW and continue to target 1.31 - 1.28 and ultimately 1.25 – 1.23 
 The ongoing deterioration in Japan's current account deficit , further policy initiatives (including both 
additional QE and asset allocation out of domestic bonds), combined with the rise in US yields, should 
drive USDJPY higher 
 On the USD-JPY, after a consolidation phase during which we moved from UW to Neutral (please see 
our previous report), we switched from Neutral to OW with 105.45 as a target. (please see our 
previous report). As we are close to the target, we keep our OW position but set a close stoploss at 
104.84 and wait for a clear break above the big monthly pivot at 105.6 (that stands on the primary 
downtrend from 98) 
 EM fundamentals still feel less robust broadly speaking: As the Fed continues to taper (without being 
hawkish), we expect many EM currencies to remain under pressure versus USD 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
38 
EUR-USD 
 The string of weak 
activity data in the Euro 
area is clearly weighing 
on BCE and EUR 
 Over the short term, 
EUR-USD seems to be 
close to a first support at 
1.3105 – 1.3115, on 
which we may take some 
profit on our previous 
short views. 
 Breaking this level 
should bring EUR-USD 
to 1.28, our next target. 
 Over the long term, the 
picture remains very 
skewed towards 1.23 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
39 
USD-JPY 
 A set of disappointing data 
recently released for July has 
reinforced the doubts about 
Abenomics economic impact. 
Additional easing should be 
negative for JPY. 
 Last month, we saw USD-JPY 
breaking higher through 
a triangle consolidation 
pattern and set 105.45 
(January high) as a 
reasonable short-term target. 
 As we are close to the target, 
we keep our OW position but 
set a close stoploss at 104.84 
 We still wait for a clear break 
above the big monthly pivot 
at 105.6 (that stands on the 
primary downtrend from 98) 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
40 
COMMODITY 
 We have been OW commodities since end of June, with a preference for energy and base metals and an 
UW on agriculture and precious metals. Unfortunately, commodities are down another 1.6% over August 
(and a substantial -6.8% QTD : from Jun.30 to Aug. 29) led lower by energy (-7.5% QTD) and agriculture 
(-9.4% QTD). Our tilted position has made money vs. the benchmark because our losing bet on 
energy was counterbalanced by our UW on agri, and because we were also UW Precious metals (-3.3% 
QTD) and OW Industrial Metals (+3.5% QTD) 
 We continue to like owning the GSCI energy index. Prices have fallen too far in our view 
 We continue to think that commodities hold value as cross-asset portfolio diversifiers. 
 While we are neutral on prices we continue to see substantially positive roll returns in many 
commodities. 
 We remain OW commodities but with a dispersion in views across the different sectors. At this stage, 
individual fundamentals matter a lot! 
 We maintain most of our previous views: OW on energy (on geopolitical tensions), favoring 
commodity futures with steep backwardation (for positive carry). We also remained UW on 
agriculture (except on premium coffee and cocoa) and precious metals. 
 We become UW on base metals as Chinese manufacturing PMI has now fallen for two months in a row. 
Within the industrial metals complex, we prefer Zink, Nickel and Aluminium to copper and Iron Ore, 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
41 
COMMODITY 
 We choose to keep our OW bias on energy (especially crude oil) for strong roll and as a hedge for 
geopolitical risk in Ukraine and Middle-East, as well as supply risk in Lybia. 
 .Among base metals, we still prefer Aluminium, Zinc and Nickel as these metals suffer from a low 
supply growth following years of underinvestment 
 Over the second half of 2014, we continue to see significant downside for : 
 Agriculture, as there are expectations of record inventory builds for staple cereals. We keep 
however our OW view on premium coffee and cocoa because of the risk of El Nino and weather 
volatility around the equator 
 Precious metals: We think that recent gains in gold cannot be sustained as US real rates, the 
SP500 and the US dollar move higher. We expect precious metals to resume their downward trend 
(targeting 1170-1150 on gold and 17 and eventually 12.50 on silver) 
 Among base metals, Copper is expected to underperform sharply over a 3-12m horizon, due to 
sluggish demand growth, especially by the construction sector in China. We target 6400 (Q3-2014), 
and ultimately 6000. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
42 
Market Sentiment 
 Accourding to SentimentTrader, market sentiment is at “excessive pessimism” level. 
 If history is any guide, commodities should bounce from this point 
Source: Sentimenttrader 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
43 
Gold 
 The weak gold demand from China and 
India and strong dollar are weighing on 
gold prices, On the other hand, 
geopolitical events, and gold buying by 
central banks are still supporting them. 
 At this stage, the risk is still biased to the 
downside. Our model favor another low 
(around 1050-1150) before reaching a 
multi-year bottom. 
 We remain bearish on gold and silver, 
but aware that if the situation in Middle- 
East or Ukraine deteriorates then gold 
prices may break to the upside (above 
1350-1400). Under 1170-1150, we start to 
accumulate gold, even if an eventual 
retracement towards 1000 looks possible 
 Technically speaking, it’s a matter of 
weeks before we see the final 
resolution (up or down) 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
44 
Gold Miners 
 Most of gold miners 
underperformance vs. gold 
(the commodity) since early 
2012 could be explained by 
delays in new projects and 
cost overruns. 
 Given the new focus of 
CEOs on containing costs 
and correctly assessing / 
boosting profitability, we 
think that gold miners 
could outperform gold 
going forward, but still wait 
for a bounce in gold prices 
(after a last leg down) before 
betting on that 
outperformance. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
45 
VOLATILITY 
 We stick to the view that volatility is 
bottoming after months of historical lows 
through improving economic outlooks. We still 
expect an upward pressure on vol over the 
coming months, with rising inflation volatility, 
rising earnings volatility and increasing default 
rates and macro surprises 
 The rise in implied volatilities we’ve seen in 
July has reversed in August, especially on 
equities and credit. It was more technical than 
fondamental. 
 On average, implied vols across the 5 asset 
classes has fallen to historical lows. But 
realized vols has fallen even more making 
it very unattractive to be long vol. 
 Buying hedge funds with volatility positive 
positioning is probably the solution 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
46 
ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES 
 As markets recouped their losses of early August, Hedge Funds which are overall long risk, recovered 
from their previous difficult months. 
 Long Term CTAs were among the best performers during the month as they made money out of their 
long equities, long rates, short energy and short EUR/USD. 
 Things were more mixed for Global Macro which suffered from long energy positions and made 
money from directional trades in the Yen and the Euro 
 Market Neutral recovered strongly thanks to both positive beta and alpha contribution. They made 
gains across factor-based models as well as fundamental and trading oriented strategies, according 
to HFRX indices. 
 Within the Vol. Arb. Universe, the picture was mixed: Only funds with short positioning on volatility 
made money. 
 We maintain our previous positioning: While preferring risk diversifiers to return enhancers, on a risk-adjusted 
basis, we keep our OW on: 
 Equity Market Neutrals both for their “intelligent” beta and their alpha contribution 
 CTA’s and Global Macro as a diversifier and tail hedge. 
 Vol. Arb strategy and prefer funds that trade volatility globally (all assets / all regions). This strategy 
has shown a great ability in terms of protecting capital during adverse periods, and a volatility that 
compares favorably with the hedge fund industry. 
 We keep our Neutral stance on Event-Driven, as MA activity is calming down, volatility is likely to 
bounce, and geopolitics are threatening… 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
47 
Event Driven 
 Event Driven strategies have been the best performing strategy over the last 12 months. 
 37% of investors surveyed by Preqin in July 2014 stated that Event Driven performance over the 
previous 12 months has exceed expectations. 
 We think that MA activity is calming down. Deals withdrawn or terminated are increasing… 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com 
Hedge Fund Strategies Sought by 
Investors over next 12 Months
48 
Global Macro 
 In term of performance, global macro 
strategies are ahead of where they 
were in 2013. Macro was the best 
performing strategy in Q2 2014. The 
last time it did that was in Q3 2011. 
 Like CTAs, Macro strategies funds 
have clearly failed to meet the 
expectations of institutional 
investors, with 48% of investors 
(Preqin Survey) saying that this 
strategy had disappointed. 
 Nevertheless, we like Global Macro 
for their lower volatility, lower 
correlation to equity markets, and 
their proved ability to mitigate losses 
should the tides turn in equity 
markets. It’s well known that Macro 
hedge funds deliver higher Sharpe 
ratios during recessions than any 
other hedge fund strategy. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com 
Hedge Fund Portfolio Performance Relative to Expectations 
over the last 12 Months by Strategy
49 
CTA 
 CTAs has reduced their exposure to European 
equities 
 CTAs have been also reducing their net 
exposure to Energy since June. This move 
was beneficial for the performance over 
August. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
Bottom Line: Global Asset Allocation 
 Economic news has been mixed with week consumption, but 
yet strong confidence. Demand growth is far below what the US 
economy is accustomed to. 
 Eurozone financial markets can hardly be read other than as 
anticipating a triple-dip recession 
 Risky assets are not priced for any alternative scenario other than 
the optimistic one. Current market sentiments are way too 
optimistic. We do not want to be exposed to such a biased 
situation.. 
 Equity markets are near record highs, but there are warning 
signals that should not be ignored. Stocks keep rising on bad 
news because bad news implies more central bank stimulus, and 
more cash injection. 
 We continue to see the main systemic risk coming from 
China. China debt crisis still remains to unfold in our opinion. 
 We remain neutral on global equities and think earnings growth 
should be the only driver of markets from here. We remain 
overweight commodities (but with a dispersion in views across 
the sectors as individual fundamentals matter) and underweight 
credit and government bonds. We continue to bet on USD 
strengthening and on a spike in the VIX 
 We summarize our views as follows  
50 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
51 
Disclaimer 
This writing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an 
offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation regarding any 
securities transaction, or as an offer to provide advisory or other services 
by FinLight Research in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, 
purchase or sale would be unlawful under the securities laws of such 
jurisdiction. The information contained in this writing should not be 
construed as financial or investment advice on any subject matter. 
FinLight Research expressly disclaims all liability in respect to actions 
taken based on any or all of the information on this writing. 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
About Us… 
 FinLight Research is a research-centric company focused on Asset Allocation from a top-down 
perspective, on Portfolio Construction, and all related quantitative aspects and risk management issues. 
 Our expertise expands along 3 axes: 
 Asset Allocation with risk control and/or risk budgeting techniques 
 Allocation to alternative investments : Hedge funds, rule-based strategies (momentum, value, 
carry, volatility), real assets (real estate, infrastructure, farmland, timberland and natural resources). 
Private equity and venture capital should be the next step… 
 Allocation with a factorial approach built on the understanding (profiling) of the risk/return drivers of 
the different asset classes 
 FinLight Research is an innovation-oriented company. We target to fill the gap between the 
academic research and the investment community, especially on real assets and alternatives. We survey 
on a continuous basis the academic literature for interesting published and working papers related to 
quantitative investing, non-linear profiling, asset allocation, real assets... 
52 
FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
Our Standard Offer 
Provide tailor-made 
quantitative 
analysis of your 
portfolios in terms 
of asset allocation, 
risk profiling and 
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Offer a turnkey 3- 
step factor-based 
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with factor 
selection, risk 
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assets) in terms of 
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integration in a 
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•Global Asset Allocation 
(GAA) 
53 
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Finlight Research | Market Perspectives - Sep 2014

  • 1. Market Perspectives September 2014 Sep. 3rd, 2014 www.finlightresearch.com Sucked into the Draghinomics bullish vortex…
  • 2. “Insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they've tried everything else.” Winston Churchill 2 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 3. Executive Summary: Global Asset Allocation Economic news has been mixed with week consumption, but yet strong confidence. Demand growth is far below what the US economy is accustomed to. Eurozone financial markets can hardly be read other than as anticipating a triple-dip recession Risky assets are not priced for any alternative scenario other than the optimistic one. Current market sentiments are way too optimistic. We do not want to be exposed to such a biased situation.. Equity markets are near record highs, but there are warning signals that should not be ignored. Stocks keep rising on bad news because bad news implies more central bank stimulus, and more cash injection. We continue to see the main systemic risk coming from China. China debt crisis still remains to unfold in our opinion. We remain neutral on global equities and think earnings growth should be the only driver of markets from here. We remain overweight commodities (but with a dispersion in views across the sectors as individual fundamentals matter) and underweight credit and government bonds. We continue to bet on USD strengthening and on a spike in the VIX We summarize our views as follows 3 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 4. MACRO VIEW The Good US Q2 GDP rebound was confirmed by the second estimate. Q3 Growth seems on track for 3%. Durable goods orders have been strong, regardless of the fact that most of that strength was due to a surge in Boeing's aircraft orders. Business and consumer confidence are at, or near, post-crisis highs.. Any way you look at it, the 2014 Q2 earnings season has been very positive The Bad The picture is worsening for the euro zone : Its strongest economy is weakening, its inflation came in at a frighteningly low 0.3% and German consumer morale fell for the first time in 18 months MA and IPO activity are getting close to 2007 peak levels. Stock buybacks seem to be declining Bullish sentiment (interpreted as a contrarian indicator) has spiked again, according to the latest AAII Sentiment Survey Personal income and spending were below expectations. US consumption actually declined in July. On a 3 month real growth basis, both personal income and expenditures continue to trend down New home sales report for July was weak The Ugly Geopolitics remain a wild card: A war between Russia and Ukraine is by far the biggest danger. China’s economy continues to be supported with credit and stimulus, strengthening the problem of excess capacity and deflating the PPI. Without this support, Chinese economy will sink. China debt crisis still remains to unfold in our opinion Ebola epidemic is spiraling out of control… 4 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 5. There is no indication of a recession using the indicators monitored by the NBER, even during Q1-2014 The average of these 4 indicators seems to suggest that the economy is moving sideways When adjusted for inflation, retail sales appear to be flattening since March. This is rather 5 Big Four Economic Indicators disturbing for us. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 6. Even capital goods orders (that exclude transportation and defense sectors) have increased by over Growth in US nonresidential fixed investment rose 8.4% during Q2, with investment in commercial 6 The Good: Durable Goods Orders July durable goods orders rose by 22.6% thanks mainly to a surge in aircraft orders 8% yoy. buildings up 9.4% and equipment investment up 10.7%. All theses figures confirm the positive trend in US growth FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 7. 7 The Bad: PCE Real personal consumption (PCE ~70% of GDP) grew at annual rate of just 2% in July. PCE current range is 1% lower than the one that was prevailing before 2007 crisis PCE rate of growth has been on a negative trend since Mar. ‘14 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 8. 8 Eurozone Deflation Risk Deflationary forces are proving more persistent than previously thought, according to ECB President Draghi, who also said “within its mandate [the ECB] will use all the available instruments needed to ensure price stability over the medium term”. In the Eurozone, short and medium-term inflation are plunging. 5Y5Y inflation swaps (one of the measures used by the ECB to gauge medium-term inflation expectations) has already slided below 2% FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 9. According to the large gap between potential and actual GDP, Fed seems a long way from adopting a 9 Fed Policy restrictive policy… The Fed should keep an accommodative stance until the gap is eliminated. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 10. 10 Individual Investor’s Sentiment According to the latest AAII Sentiment Survey, bullish sentiment topped 50% for the first time since end of 2013 bearish sentiment fell below 20% for the first time this year. Both figures are more than one standard deviation away from their respective historical averages. According to this data, there are not many buyers left FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 11. 11 Individual Investor’s Sentiment The “herd mentality is in action… Individual investors’ exposure to stocks is the highest since 2007. Cash reserves are the lowest! As stocks are hitting record highs, the level of cash held by mutual fund managers is also hitting record lows (3% of assets in June, according to Ned Davis Research). This is lower than previous market tops in 2000 and 2007 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 12. 12 Consumer Sentiment Michigan Consumer Sentiment for August came in at 82.5. The Conference Board Index is reflecting the same optimistic mood… FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 13. The pattern of the NFIB Business Optimism (capturing the mood of small business owners) Index looks 13 Business Sentiment similar to the Michigan Index. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 14. 14 Any Financial Stress? There is no stress at all within the system! FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 15. 15 GS – Global Leading Indicator (GLI) Little improvement since last month. The Aug. GLI came in at 3.1%yoy, flat from last month. Momentum increased to 0.29%mom from last month’s reading of 0.25%mom. GLI places now the global industrial cycle clearly in the ‘Expansion’ phase (defined by positive and increasing momentum) but close to border with ‘Slowdown’. 6 of the 10 underlying components improved in August We continue to think that the current acceleration remains quite modest for a typical expansion phase. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 16. 16 US GDP The second estimate of Q2-2014 US GDP was announced at 4.2%, confirming the weather-related rebound . This is a good number but still leaves the first half of the year hardly better than 1%. In our view, reaching 2% is still a challenging target for 2014 The increase in Q2 real GDP is mainly due to positive contributions from PCE and private inventory investment, FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 17. Current GDP is far from filling the gap the financial crisis opened below the pre-crisis trend. 17 Current GDP vs Pre-crisis Trend This gap is still widening… U.S., like Eurozone, real GDP stands 15% below the pre-crisis trend. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 18. According to Capital Economics, the latest Chinese data suggest a significant loss of momentum in 18 Chinese Economy China's economic growth coming into Q3. Growth in electricity output seems to point to a deceleration in industrial activity. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 19. China’s housing market has reached a top at the end of 2013 and, since then, has been going down 19 Chinese Economy at an accelerating pace. In July, home prices fell in 64 of the 70 cities the Chinese government tracks FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 20. 20 Chinese Economy Another sign of weakening fundamentals is the SHIBOR interest rate curve. The curve has become inverted while declining in level. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 21. Last month, we had argued that the correction of late July was the beginning of a typical technical correction with modest fundamental support, and that a fast rebound should follow unless medium-term The dip of last July / early August was recovered and the SP500 closed above 2000 for the first time Weak economic outlook is offset by good company earnings (especially in the US), lower bond yields We stick, however, with our view that risk-reward trade-off points to a more cautious approach We remain Neutral equities. Our prop. trading model is now short targeting 1947 with a stoploss at 2021. Breaking through the 1900-1920 pivot area on the SP500 would likely be the signal we wait for to go short stocks, as that could lead to a temporary sell-off in equities. We keep our UW on Europe vs. US. We remain neutral to UW on Japan. 21 EQUITY supports were broken. ever this week. Big gains in US and European stocks came on hopes for new ECB stimulus. and lower risk premia. to the equity markets, at least tactically on the near term. We continue to think that any further upside on the SP 500 should be driven by earnings growth rather than P/E expansion. But the return potential for equity markets looks corrupted by limited room for valuation and margin expansion. Given the point in the credit cycle, we favor equities over corporate bonds. Bottom line : FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 22. We made the losing bet of underweighting EM stocks since early 2014. Since then, and after Tactically, we are now positive again on EM equities, as the EM cycle continues to strengthen. We like Brazil (fueled by the prospect of political reforms) and India. We remain bearish on China despite the recent rebound in stocks, as recent cyclical data have been mixed (July credit and August manufacturing PMI) We favor an UW in US small caps vs large caps because of the relative expensiveness of the 22 EQUITY having spent 2013 in the red, the MSCI EM Index has gained 8.5% former. We are aware that the momentum is currently against us. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 23. The Q2 earnings season is over. Per FactSet, earnings grew at 7.7% yoy and sales grew 4.5% Earnings growth rate for the SP 500 was 7.7% in Q2. Combined with the 2.1% growth rate for Q1, that averages out to less than 5% for the first half of 2014. We expect around 7% growth for 2014 in full. Thus, SP 500 is trading today at 17.4 times 2014 expected earnings. 23 US Equity - Earnings Any way you look at it, the Q2 earnings season has been very positive Sustaining 7% earnings growth when sales growth is just 4.5% requires more margins. Source: Factset FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 24. 24 US Equity - Earnings Peaking earnings does a good job at predicting market peaks Are earnings near a peak? Only time will tell… FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 25. 25 SP500 Technicals The SP500 is currently testing the very important psychological 2000 level. The ability of the index to continue its upside trend will depend greatly on the price action around this major pivot. Just keep in mind that the last move up was mainly driven by the BCE dovish statement. The market looks stretched but bullish sentiment may drive higher on no/bad news! On the downside, only a clean break of the Nov. ‘12 uptrend may change the global (constructive) picture. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 26. 26 Trading Model - SPX Our prop. Short-Term trading model went short on Aug. 18th at 1971.74 on the index The model targets 1941 - 1903 and stops its losses at 2021 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 27. 27 Emerging Markets EM stocks are just recovering from the losses they experienced since early 2013. MSCI EM Index is up 8.5% YTD after having spent 2013 in the red We expect EM equities to keep pace with DM equities (including US equities) and probably to outperform as they are supported by strengthening growth and supportive financial conditions The downside risk on this view is linked to China’s cycle and global risk appetite. EM stocks are usually the first to suffer a pullback when conditions get less friendly. Tactically (for one or so), we are positive again on EM equities FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 28. 28 FIXED INCOME CREDIT We stay underweight on government bonds. We keep our short positioning on UST and expect 10-year yields to reach 2.90%-3.20% over next months, because of sustained US growth, increasing US inflation. Only a material weekly/monthly close below the 2.40-2.30 range could make us change our mind. A sell-off in Govies will, in our view, induce a sell-off in equities. We continue to OW Eurozone vs. US and UK given continued policy divergence and BCE action. ECB credit easing measures should induce further Peripheral-Core spread convergence. We see, however, reasons to be cautious as the current low volatility environment is encouraging complacency. We remain neutral Peripheral vs Core as we see lasting spread compression to be very limited. Our view on TIPS breakevens is unchanged. We remain bullish on them and keep our 5y-TIPS breakeven wideners. Over 12 month horizon, we expect 10Y HICP swaps to move up 20-40 bps. Thus, we go long 10Y Euro HICP inflation swaps As a tail hedge, we keep our 10y bund swap spread receiver swap FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 29. 29 FIXED INCOME CREDIT In corporate credit, investors appear to be seeking out risk on the margin, moving down in quality in search for yield, encouraged by low default rates and benign event risk We remain UW on corporate credit, due to valuation, to position within the credit cycle, to the expected rise in government bond yields and given the weak total return forecast Spreads are now so tight that carry and additional spread compression is not enough to compensate for the rise we expect in government yields (especially in the US). Despite this risk (which normally has a bigger relative impact on IG then on HY), we continue to prefer IG over HY on a risk-adjusted basis Intra credit, we keep our Neutral stance between the US and Europe. European credit has the potential to outperform its US counterparty. But the tail risk of systemic shocks in European financials is too big to be ignored. Bottom line : Still UW Govies, UW credit, OW TIPS and HICP Inflation, UW High Yield vs High Grade FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 30. 30 FIXED INCOME CREDIT This has been a minor move higher in spreads thus far, but as credit typically leads, one that should not be ignored. We also like emerging market high yield corporates because they have relatively strong balance sheets and low expected default rates. Inflows into emerging market bond funds have also been positive, therefore generating positive price momentum for this asset class. Weak growth, low inflation, and easy money have all been very supportive for yield seeking strategies. We favor seeking extra yield in the higher-yielding government bond markets, both outright and as a spread to core markets: periphery Euro area, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil). These are followed by select FX carry positions in EM, earning roll in energy futures Our caution on credit is that spreads are already near past cycle lows and credit tends not to perform well in later stages of the cycles as corporates then typically start re-levering their balance sheets FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 31. 31 US Yields The long-term trend for 10y UST yield remains clearly to the downside. But we detect signs of a trend exhaustion. 10y UST yield stands at a major support and should bounce higher from this point We keep our UW on UST for the moment. Only a material weekly/monthly close below the 2.40-2.30 range could make us change our mind. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 32. 32 German Yields The 10y German yield has broken below its prior cycle lows, without showing any base formation. The downtrend should continue over the short term. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 33. 33 Euro HICP inflation Given last Draghi’s statement and potential BCE QE next year, we think that Eurozone headline inflation has reached a trough in Aug. at 0.3% Over 12 month horizon, we expect 10Y HICP swaps to move up 20-40 bps. Open long position in 10Y Euro HICP inflation swaps EUR HICP Inflation Swap EUR HICP Inflation Swap Source: Bloomberg FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 34. 34 High Yield We remain UW on corporate credit, due to valuation, to position within the credit cycle, to the expected rise in government bond yields and given our weak total return forecast Spreads are now so tight that carry and additional spread compression is not enough to compensate for the rise we expect in government yields (especially in the US). Despite this risk (which normally has a bigger relative impact on IG then on HY), we continue to prefer IG over HY on a risk-adjusted basis Euro HY IG Total Return FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com Euro HY Total Return by Rating
  • 35. 35 High Yield – Monitoring Ratings and Default On an issuer base, rolling twelve-month default rate is bottoming In the same time, upgrade to downgrade ratio seems to be bouncing. We should keep an eye on this ratio to detect the relapse we expect given the point where we stand within the credit cycle. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 36. 36 High Yield – Issuance Easy access to credit has a tendency to increase defaults The global picture is driven by the search for yield. Investors are moving down in quality and accepting less protective convenants. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com Convenant-lite loan new-issue volume ($Bln)
  • 37. 37 EXCHANGE RATES The US dollar is broadly higher against the major and emerging market currencies, mainly driven by the divergence between the US on one hand and the euro area and Japan on the other We continue to expect the USD to strengthen against the major crosses. The ECB’s dovish rhetoric and action should gradually drive the Euro weaker. US GDP surge to 4.2% in Q2 gave another sign that the US and Eurozone economy are diverging. The EUR-USD underlying structure looks very negative. On EUR-USD, we remain UW and continue to target 1.31 - 1.28 and ultimately 1.25 – 1.23 The ongoing deterioration in Japan's current account deficit , further policy initiatives (including both additional QE and asset allocation out of domestic bonds), combined with the rise in US yields, should drive USDJPY higher On the USD-JPY, after a consolidation phase during which we moved from UW to Neutral (please see our previous report), we switched from Neutral to OW with 105.45 as a target. (please see our previous report). As we are close to the target, we keep our OW position but set a close stoploss at 104.84 and wait for a clear break above the big monthly pivot at 105.6 (that stands on the primary downtrend from 98) EM fundamentals still feel less robust broadly speaking: As the Fed continues to taper (without being hawkish), we expect many EM currencies to remain under pressure versus USD FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 38. 38 EUR-USD The string of weak activity data in the Euro area is clearly weighing on BCE and EUR Over the short term, EUR-USD seems to be close to a first support at 1.3105 – 1.3115, on which we may take some profit on our previous short views. Breaking this level should bring EUR-USD to 1.28, our next target. Over the long term, the picture remains very skewed towards 1.23 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 39. 39 USD-JPY A set of disappointing data recently released for July has reinforced the doubts about Abenomics economic impact. Additional easing should be negative for JPY. Last month, we saw USD-JPY breaking higher through a triangle consolidation pattern and set 105.45 (January high) as a reasonable short-term target. As we are close to the target, we keep our OW position but set a close stoploss at 104.84 We still wait for a clear break above the big monthly pivot at 105.6 (that stands on the primary downtrend from 98) FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 40. 40 COMMODITY We have been OW commodities since end of June, with a preference for energy and base metals and an UW on agriculture and precious metals. Unfortunately, commodities are down another 1.6% over August (and a substantial -6.8% QTD : from Jun.30 to Aug. 29) led lower by energy (-7.5% QTD) and agriculture (-9.4% QTD). Our tilted position has made money vs. the benchmark because our losing bet on energy was counterbalanced by our UW on agri, and because we were also UW Precious metals (-3.3% QTD) and OW Industrial Metals (+3.5% QTD) We continue to like owning the GSCI energy index. Prices have fallen too far in our view We continue to think that commodities hold value as cross-asset portfolio diversifiers. While we are neutral on prices we continue to see substantially positive roll returns in many commodities. We remain OW commodities but with a dispersion in views across the different sectors. At this stage, individual fundamentals matter a lot! We maintain most of our previous views: OW on energy (on geopolitical tensions), favoring commodity futures with steep backwardation (for positive carry). We also remained UW on agriculture (except on premium coffee and cocoa) and precious metals. We become UW on base metals as Chinese manufacturing PMI has now fallen for two months in a row. Within the industrial metals complex, we prefer Zink, Nickel and Aluminium to copper and Iron Ore, FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 41. 41 COMMODITY We choose to keep our OW bias on energy (especially crude oil) for strong roll and as a hedge for geopolitical risk in Ukraine and Middle-East, as well as supply risk in Lybia. .Among base metals, we still prefer Aluminium, Zinc and Nickel as these metals suffer from a low supply growth following years of underinvestment Over the second half of 2014, we continue to see significant downside for : Agriculture, as there are expectations of record inventory builds for staple cereals. We keep however our OW view on premium coffee and cocoa because of the risk of El Nino and weather volatility around the equator Precious metals: We think that recent gains in gold cannot be sustained as US real rates, the SP500 and the US dollar move higher. We expect precious metals to resume their downward trend (targeting 1170-1150 on gold and 17 and eventually 12.50 on silver) Among base metals, Copper is expected to underperform sharply over a 3-12m horizon, due to sluggish demand growth, especially by the construction sector in China. We target 6400 (Q3-2014), and ultimately 6000. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 42. 42 Market Sentiment Accourding to SentimentTrader, market sentiment is at “excessive pessimism” level. If history is any guide, commodities should bounce from this point Source: Sentimenttrader FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 43. 43 Gold The weak gold demand from China and India and strong dollar are weighing on gold prices, On the other hand, geopolitical events, and gold buying by central banks are still supporting them. At this stage, the risk is still biased to the downside. Our model favor another low (around 1050-1150) before reaching a multi-year bottom. We remain bearish on gold and silver, but aware that if the situation in Middle- East or Ukraine deteriorates then gold prices may break to the upside (above 1350-1400). Under 1170-1150, we start to accumulate gold, even if an eventual retracement towards 1000 looks possible Technically speaking, it’s a matter of weeks before we see the final resolution (up or down) FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 44. 44 Gold Miners Most of gold miners underperformance vs. gold (the commodity) since early 2012 could be explained by delays in new projects and cost overruns. Given the new focus of CEOs on containing costs and correctly assessing / boosting profitability, we think that gold miners could outperform gold going forward, but still wait for a bounce in gold prices (after a last leg down) before betting on that outperformance. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 45. 45 VOLATILITY We stick to the view that volatility is bottoming after months of historical lows through improving economic outlooks. We still expect an upward pressure on vol over the coming months, with rising inflation volatility, rising earnings volatility and increasing default rates and macro surprises The rise in implied volatilities we’ve seen in July has reversed in August, especially on equities and credit. It was more technical than fondamental. On average, implied vols across the 5 asset classes has fallen to historical lows. But realized vols has fallen even more making it very unattractive to be long vol. Buying hedge funds with volatility positive positioning is probably the solution FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 46. 46 ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES As markets recouped their losses of early August, Hedge Funds which are overall long risk, recovered from their previous difficult months. Long Term CTAs were among the best performers during the month as they made money out of their long equities, long rates, short energy and short EUR/USD. Things were more mixed for Global Macro which suffered from long energy positions and made money from directional trades in the Yen and the Euro Market Neutral recovered strongly thanks to both positive beta and alpha contribution. They made gains across factor-based models as well as fundamental and trading oriented strategies, according to HFRX indices. Within the Vol. Arb. Universe, the picture was mixed: Only funds with short positioning on volatility made money. We maintain our previous positioning: While preferring risk diversifiers to return enhancers, on a risk-adjusted basis, we keep our OW on: Equity Market Neutrals both for their “intelligent” beta and their alpha contribution CTA’s and Global Macro as a diversifier and tail hedge. Vol. Arb strategy and prefer funds that trade volatility globally (all assets / all regions). This strategy has shown a great ability in terms of protecting capital during adverse periods, and a volatility that compares favorably with the hedge fund industry. We keep our Neutral stance on Event-Driven, as MA activity is calming down, volatility is likely to bounce, and geopolitics are threatening… FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 47. 47 Event Driven Event Driven strategies have been the best performing strategy over the last 12 months. 37% of investors surveyed by Preqin in July 2014 stated that Event Driven performance over the previous 12 months has exceed expectations. We think that MA activity is calming down. Deals withdrawn or terminated are increasing… FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com Hedge Fund Strategies Sought by Investors over next 12 Months
  • 48. 48 Global Macro In term of performance, global macro strategies are ahead of where they were in 2013. Macro was the best performing strategy in Q2 2014. The last time it did that was in Q3 2011. Like CTAs, Macro strategies funds have clearly failed to meet the expectations of institutional investors, with 48% of investors (Preqin Survey) saying that this strategy had disappointed. Nevertheless, we like Global Macro for their lower volatility, lower correlation to equity markets, and their proved ability to mitigate losses should the tides turn in equity markets. It’s well known that Macro hedge funds deliver higher Sharpe ratios during recessions than any other hedge fund strategy. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com Hedge Fund Portfolio Performance Relative to Expectations over the last 12 Months by Strategy
  • 49. 49 CTA CTAs has reduced their exposure to European equities CTAs have been also reducing their net exposure to Energy since June. This move was beneficial for the performance over August. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 50. Bottom Line: Global Asset Allocation Economic news has been mixed with week consumption, but yet strong confidence. Demand growth is far below what the US economy is accustomed to. Eurozone financial markets can hardly be read other than as anticipating a triple-dip recession Risky assets are not priced for any alternative scenario other than the optimistic one. Current market sentiments are way too optimistic. We do not want to be exposed to such a biased situation.. Equity markets are near record highs, but there are warning signals that should not be ignored. Stocks keep rising on bad news because bad news implies more central bank stimulus, and more cash injection. We continue to see the main systemic risk coming from China. China debt crisis still remains to unfold in our opinion. We remain neutral on global equities and think earnings growth should be the only driver of markets from here. We remain overweight commodities (but with a dispersion in views across the sectors as individual fundamentals matter) and underweight credit and government bonds. We continue to bet on USD strengthening and on a spike in the VIX We summarize our views as follows 50 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 51. 51 Disclaimer This writing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation regarding any securities transaction, or as an offer to provide advisory or other services by FinLight Research in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, purchase or sale would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. The information contained in this writing should not be construed as financial or investment advice on any subject matter. FinLight Research expressly disclaims all liability in respect to actions taken based on any or all of the information on this writing. FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 52. About Us… FinLight Research is a research-centric company focused on Asset Allocation from a top-down perspective, on Portfolio Construction, and all related quantitative aspects and risk management issues. Our expertise expands along 3 axes: Asset Allocation with risk control and/or risk budgeting techniques Allocation to alternative investments : Hedge funds, rule-based strategies (momentum, value, carry, volatility), real assets (real estate, infrastructure, farmland, timberland and natural resources). Private equity and venture capital should be the next step… Allocation with a factorial approach built on the understanding (profiling) of the risk/return drivers of the different asset classes FinLight Research is an innovation-oriented company. We target to fill the gap between the academic research and the investment community, especially on real assets and alternatives. We survey on a continuous basis the academic literature for interesting published and working papers related to quantitative investing, non-linear profiling, asset allocation, real assets... 52 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com
  • 53. Our Standard Offer Provide tailor-made quantitative analysis of your portfolios in terms of asset allocation, risk profiling and risk contribution •Risk Profiling Offer a turnkey 3- step factor-based process in GAA with factor selection, risk budgeting and dynamic portfolio protection •Factor-based GAA Process Provide assistance with alternative investments (including real assets) in terms of profiling, and integration in a GAA •Alternative Investments Provide assistance with asset allocation and related risk control and/or risk budgeting techniques •Global Asset Allocation (GAA) 53 FinLight Research | www.finlightresearch.com