Last month, the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) ended in Montreal with a landmark agreement to guide global action on nature through to 2030. Chaired by China and hosted by Canada, COP15 resulted in the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

One of the key targets of the agreement is the “30 by 30 deal”, which seeks to ensure the effective conservation and management of at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas by 2030. It also targets the restoration of at least 30% of degraded ecosystems. This marks the largest land and ocean conservation commitment in history, and will have major positive impacts for wildlife, for addressing climate change, and for securing the services that nature provides to people like clean water and pollination for crop.

In this episode, we hear from Low Pei Han, senior investment strategist at Bank of Singapore,  as she shares the key highlights of the agreement, and the resulting implications for investors. Tune in to find out more.

Professor Kishore Mahbubani shares his perspectives for the global and Asian economies going into 2023, discussing key issues and dominant macro trends which could impact investors in the year ahead.

Geopolitical risk was a major driver of financial markets in 2022. Soaring inflation driven by conflict in Ukraine prompted major central banks including the Federal Reserve to embark on a historic string of rate hikes - at their fastest pace since the 1980s. How will geopolitics play out in 2023 and what surprises will it bring?

In this dialogue session, Professor Kishore Mahbubani and Professor David Daokui Li discuss the complexities and challenges for our world, covering key questions on US-China tensions, possible outcomes for the war in Ukraine and key risks in the year ahead.

2023 will be a year of two halves. In the first phase, risk assets are likely to experience a volatile bottoming process, followed by a broad recovery in the second phase as the world moves past peak Federal Reserve hawkishness.

We also keep a watchful eye on the interest rate environment, the US dollar and China, an outlier whose growth outlook has turned incrementally positive.

As the interplay of inflation and central bank intervention continue to shape the story of economic growth for 2023, how will geopolitics, climate risk and monetary policy converge, and more importantly, how should investors position themselves for the challenges ahead?

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As volatility and uncertainty persist into 2023, the ability to diversify through access to alternatives investments will become increasing valuable for portfolios.

In this discussion, our expert panel of alternatives-focused, multi-asset strategists explore the art of building diversified portfolios and deploying capital into this key segment in order to generate alpha amidst these challenging investment conditions.

In this episode, we hear from former professional athlete turned investor, Chad Hutchinson.

Chad played professionally in both American football and baseball, first as a Major League Baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, before becoming a National Football League quarterback and playing for the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears. Private equity is now his third sport.

This rare two-sport standout shares his perspectives on how his professional sports experience has influenced his philosophies as an investor and helped build an incredible career in finance.

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This week bore witness to the biggest daily gain of the Yen against the US dollar in the 21st century.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has widened the Yield Curve Control’s (YCC) 10yr trading band from +/-25bp to +/-50bp while keeping its target at 0% and increasing Japanese Government Bond (JGB) purchases. This came as a shock for investors and market consensus, as many expected changes to the YCC only after BoJ Governor Kuroda leaves in April 2023.

The BoJ has largely downplayed their surprise move as a "technical" adjustment, but speculation over more BoJ policy shifts, implies potential volatility for Japanese equity and bond markets.

Bank of Singapore’s caution against using JPY as a funder is paying off, and we continue to see scope for greater downside in USDJPY to 125 by end-2023. On equities, we have advised adding Japanese financials over the course of 2022 which have delivered solid gains. We expect continued investor interest in the sector given it is positioned to benefit from potential future policy normalisation.

A small step for the BoJ, but a giant leap for the Japanese Yen!

Tune in to our latest podcast with Sim Moh Siong, Currency & Commodities strategist, and Camilia Goh, Senior Equity Research Analyst to find out more.

October’s US inflation data has raised hopes that the end is finally in sight for this year’s rapid Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

Financial markets rallied strongly after October’s inflation data was released. However, the Fed remains hawkish.

In this podcast episode, Mansoor Mohi-uddin, our Chief Economist, shares the latest outlook and reviews why investors should still be cautious about the near-term outlook for risk assets.

Tune in to find out more.

For more of our latest market insights, visit:  https://www.bankofsingapore.com/insight-listing.html?

Hong Kong and China equity markets have been severely punished after the 20th Party Congress, with the Hang Seng Index on last Monday alone, which went down over 6% – the sharpest single day plunge since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).

Caution has come back onto the radar.

In this podcast episode, Eli Lee, our Head of Investment Strategy at Bank of Singapore, shares the latest outlook on Hong Kong and China equity markets, and reviews how investors should prepare themselves in the coming weeks.

Tune in to find out more.

For more of our latest market insights, visit:  https://www.bankofsingapore.com/insight-listing.html?

Historically, credit spreads have always been a good leading indicator of future market performance, and since the end of September, global credit spreads have been tightening substantially.

In Emerging Markets Credit, High Yield spreads have tightened 35 basis points and Investment Grade has come in 5 basis points. In U.S Credit the trend has been even stronger with High Yield 58 basis points tighter and Investment Grade 7 basis points tighter.

Much of the rationale for the recent spread rally is pinned on a belief that the Fed has either passed its peak tightening, or the even more optimistic belief that the Fed will pivot and turn dovish in response to recent equity market weakness.

Todd Schubert, Head of Fixed Income Research at Bank of Singapore, explores five reasons why investors should not chase the credit rally and remain cautious, particularly in the U.S High Yield sector.

For more of our latest market insights, visit:  https://www.bankofsingapore.com/insight-listing.html?