Tag Archives: Investing: Features

The last few years haven’t done wonders for the reputation of the pharmaceutical industry. In 2015, Turing Pharmaceuticals faced public outrage after hiking the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat the parasitic disease toxoplasmosis in vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and AIDS patients, by more than 5,000 percent. This year, Mylan is embroiled in an ongoing controversy after the price of its emergency allergy treatment EpiPen increased sixfold in under a decade. Meanwhile,...

Activist investors have been living up to their name in recent years, waging campaigns against an increasingly diverse array of companies of all shapes and sizes. The number of activist campaigns more than quadrupled from 104 in 2000 to 487 in 2015 and, according to the Financial Times, more than 40 percent of the 500 largest public companies in the United States attracted activist attention between 2009 and 2015. Assets under activist management have been growing at nearly 20 percent a year...

In the years before the 2008 financial crisis, investors flocked to equities in fast-growing emerging economies. But when the crisis put the brakes on global growth, that attraction to emerging markets proved a fickle one, and investors sought safe haven in less risky investments. In late 2016, however, the pendulum is swinging back again, with investors citing several reasons for renewed confidence in emerging market equities. Among the most surprising? Their politics are relatively more...

The probability of Republican Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential election on November 8 seems remote at the moment—economists on Credit Suisse’s Global Markets team put it at less than 10 percent. So if it did happen, it would come as a major surprise for financial markets. The last time that kind of seemingly low-likelihood event came to pass—during last June’s Brexit vote—most investors were caught wrong-footed. So how might they best prepare for something as unexpected as President...

Will the recent upheaval in Brazil’s political leadership lead to a stronger economy? Investors certainly think so. Fueled by anticipation of embattled president Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment and economic reforms by her replacement, Michael Temer, the Bovespa has jumped more than 50 percent since late January. In the week after Rousseff’s official ouster on August 31, the index rose a full 4 percent, and Brazilian consumer confidence reached its highest level since January...

There are numerous reasons to be optimistic about global equities in the coming year. Capital is plentiful; central banks in Europe, the United Kingdom, and some Asian economies have an easing bias; and the equity strategists on Credit Suisse’s Global Markets team believe the equity risk premium is higher than warranted. But there are risks, too, including heightened political risk, slowing Chinese growth, and threats to existing business models from technological disruption and Chinese...

Latin American airline profits came in for a hard landing last year as the region’s economic woes grounded would-be passengers. Brazil-based Gol Linhas Aéreas posted a record-breaking loss of more than R$4.4 billion for the year, while Chile’s LATAM airlines reported a loss of US$219 million of its own. But this year promises loftier profits for the industry. And the prognosis is as simple as they come: As macroeconomic conditions improve across the region, Credit Suisse says...

What’s next for Japanese corporate earnings? Well, that depends. Consider the April-to-June Japanese earnings season, which can be considered a pleasant surprise or a bleak portend based on which numbers you choose to accentuate. Where you stand on Japan depends on where you sit.   The quarter was a winner in terms of performance relative to past expectations. Japanese companies beat consensus estimates for both operating and net profits by 11 percent, and twice as many companies beat...

Does the recent stabilization in oil prices portend better times ahead for energy companies? Investors in oilfield services companies (OFS), which provide equipment and support to exploration and production companies, certainly think so, as evidenced by the fact that the stocks of several such companies up by double-digit percentages this year. Can the rally continue? Equity strategists from Credit Suisse’s Global Markets team think so.   Why? The answer lies in a single number:...

Global equities have had quite the comeback since the Brexit referendum. After plummeting more than 5 percent in the two trading days following the surprise “Leave” result of the June 23 referendum, the S&P 500 took just ten days to reach a new all-time high. The Euro Stoxx 50 and MSCI All-Country World Index have likewise climbed, with both up more than 10 percent from their post-Brexit troughs. Can the rally continue? Equity strategists on Credit Suisse’s Global Markets team...