August 11, 2025 04:01 AM GMT US Equity Strategy | North America Weekly Warm-up: Waiting on Rate Cuts The July jobs report helps to confirm that we're transitioning to an early cycle backdrop—the rolling recovery is beginning. Attention now turns to CPI. A hot print likely means quality leadership, while a light print could mean small caps & lower quality stocks gain more durable footing. M Idea Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC Michael J Wilson Equity Strategist M.Wilson@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-2532 Andrew B Pa ...

Summary of Global Credit Strategy Conference Call Industry Overview - **Global Credit Market**: The conference call focused on the performance of various segments within the global credit market, including US Investment Grade (IG), US High Yield (HY), US Leveraged Loans, EU Investment Grade, EU High Yield, and Asia Credit. Key Points and Arguments US Investment Grade - **Spreads**: Widened by 5 basis points (bp) last week, leading to an excess return of -30 bp [2] - **Performance**: 7-10 year bonds underperformed, while basic industry, media, and telecom sectors lagged. Autos, banks, and real estate performed better [2] - **Net Inflows**: IG funds saw net inflows of $1.2 billion, totaling $30.6 billion year-to-date (YTD) [2] US High Yield - **Spreads**: Increased by 27 bp last week, resulting in an excess return of -78 bp [3] - **Sector Performance**: Consumer goods, basic industry, and media sectors delivered the weakest returns, while capital goods, utilities, and banks performed better [3] - **Net Outflows**: HY funds experienced net outflows of $167 million, with YTD inflows tracking at $11.3 billion [3] US Leveraged Loans - **Spreads**: Widened by 4 bp, with total returns dropping by 8 bp [4] - **Net Inflows**: Experienced net inflows of $255 million, with YTD flows at $6.4 billion [4] EU Investment Grade - **Spreads**: Widened by 1 bp, leading to an excess return of -5 bp [5] - **Performance**: 1-3 year bonds underperformed, with single A ratings also lagging. Tech, consumer goods, and leisure sectors had the weakest returns, while insurance, services, and real estate performed better [5] - **Net Inflows**: EU IG funds saw net inflows of $2.5 billion over the week, totaling $40.7 billion YTD [5] - **New Issues**: €4 billion of new issues lifted YTD volumes to €457 billion, a 13.9% increase year-over-year (YoY) [5] EU High Yield - **Spreads**: Widened by 6 bp last week, with CCC-rated bonds underperforming [6] - **Net Inflows**: EU HY funds saw net inflows of $314 million over the week, totaling $6.0 billion YTD [6] - **Issuance**: Reached €370 million last week, with YTD supply tracking at €96 billion, a 6.9% increase YoY [6] Asia Credit - **Spreads**: Both Asia and APAC credit spreads widened by 4 bp [6] - **Performance**: APAC IG outperformed APAC HY, with IG spreads widening by 5 bp while HY spreads remained flat [6] Additional Important Insights - **Market Sentiment**: The overall sentiment in the credit market appears cautious, with widening spreads indicating increased risk perception among investors [2][3][5][6] - **Sector Disparities**: There are notable disparities in performance across sectors, with traditional safe havens like banks and real estate showing resilience compared to more volatile sectors like consumer goods and media [2][3][5][6] - **Investment Flows**: The trends in net inflows and outflows across different credit segments suggest a shifting investor appetite, with a preference for higher quality credits in uncertain market conditions [3][4][5][6] This summary encapsulates the key takeaways from the conference call, highlighting the performance and trends within the global credit market across various segments.

Summary of Key Points from the Conference Call Industry Overview - The report focuses on the Asia Pacific and Emerging Markets (EM) sectors, analyzing over 2,000 stocks and their geographic revenue exposure in 2025 [1][10]. Core Insights - **Revenue Generation**: APxJ and EM companies generate 28-29% of their revenues from foreign markets, while this figure is significantly higher at 44% for Japan. Chinese companies have increased their foreign revenue share to 16% in 2025, up from under 12% previously [2][18]. - **Sector Performance**: The IT sector is a major driver of global exposure, with Software, Semiconductors, and Tech Hardware generating 70-79% of their revenues abroad, predominantly from developed markets [2][5]. - **Geopolitical Analysis**: A new stock-level geopolitical distance score has been introduced, assessing how foreign revenues are sourced from markets with differing UN voting patterns compared to the company's domicile [3][24]. Revenue and Cost Structure Updates - The report updates revenue and cost screens for various regions, highlighting companies with significant revenue exposure to the US, developed Europe, and China [4][10]. - The share of revenues sourced from China has decreased from 42% in 2022 to 35% in 2025, while revenues from Asia-Pacific-ex-China markets have increased, reflecting a recovery since 2022 [16][23]. Emerging Trends - **Foreign Sales Growth**: Chinese companies are experiencing a consistent growth trend in foreign sales, particularly in Europe, with the share of revenues from the Americas also showing a slight increase [17][20]. - **Investment Themes**: The Global Exposure Guide is aligned with Morgan Stanley's key theme for 2025, "Investing for a Multipolar World," emphasizing the importance of geographic exposure amid shifting end-markets and supply chain diversification [10][11]. Additional Insights - The report provides a comprehensive database compiled from 170+ analysts' forward-looking revenue estimates, enhancing the quality of geographic exposure data compared to competitors [5][10]. - The geopolitical distance scores range from 0 (domestic revenues) to 3.5 (significant divergence in UN voting patterns), allowing for stock-level rankings and market aggregates [25][26]. Conclusion - The analysis indicates a shifting landscape in revenue generation and geopolitical alignment for companies in the Asia Pacific and EM regions, highlighting both opportunities and risks for investors in 2025 [1][10].

Economic Indicators - US factories experienced an unexpected decline in orders for business equipment in June [1] - The decline suggests companies are cautious about capital spending [1] Factors Influencing Investment - Trade policy uncertainty is a factor influencing companies' capital spending decisions [1] - Fiscal policy uncertainty is also contributing to companies' cautious approach to capital spending [1]

Investment Rating - The report does not explicitly state an investment rating for the industry Core Insights - The report highlights flow-driven factor rotations due to rising volatility from external shocks and policy changes, leading to frequent shifts in investor positions and flows [5][8] - Retail Trading Proportion (RTP) is used as a proxy to gauge investor sentiment, indicating that capturing alpha from flow-based signals is easier during flow-driven markets, especially with high retail participation [8] - The best investment ideas identified are Offshore Ownership and High-Dividend stocks, which serve as informative indicators for stock picking [122] Market Overview - China's domestic equity market offers diverse investable universes with approximately 2,700 eligible names as of April 2025, facilitated by the Stock Connect program [13] - The market capitalization distribution across various indices shows significant liquidity and varying P/E ratios, with the CSI300 index having a P/E ratio of 28.7 and a dividend yield of 2.3% [14] Performance Comparison - The annualized return for the CSI300 index is 7.5%, while the CSI500 and CSI1000 indices show returns of 10.2% and 10.6% respectively, indicating a performance trend favoring smaller-cap indices [17] - The maximum drawdown for the CSI300 index is -71%, highlighting the volatility in the market [17] Policy Highlights - Key policy events have influenced market volatility, including liquidity improvements from policy easing in February 2019 and the impact of COVID-19 in February 2020, which led to significant market recovery [24][25] - Recent policies in November 2023 focused on regulating algo-trading, indicating a shift towards more structured trading environments [25] Investor Landscape - Retail investors account for approximately 40% of market capitalization and contribute around half of the total market turnover, indicating their significant role in market dynamics [31] - Northbound investors hold over RMB 2 trillion in market capitalization, contributing about 7% of total market turnover, while Southbound investors have seen substantial inflows since 2017 [48][56] Factor Rotation - The report discusses three phases of factor rotation in the market, with the current phase characterized by increased volatility and frequent shifts in investor sentiment between fear and greed [90][93] - A factor timing strategy based on retail investor sentiment has generated an annualized return of 9.6% since 2018, outperforming an equal-weight factor model [118] Smart Money Analysis - The report identifies smart money trends amid volatility, emphasizing the importance of onshore margin financing and short selling as indicators of market sentiment [120] - Offshore ownership and high-dividend stocks are highlighted as key areas for capturing alpha in the current market environment [122]

Investment Rating - The report maintains an "Overweight" rating for Capital Goods and Software sectors, indicating a favorable outlook for these industries [57]. Core Insights - Leading indicators suggest a stronger earnings backdrop than anticipated, with high-single-digit EPS growth projected over the next year [4][9]. - Earnings revisions breadth has improved significantly, moving from -25% in mid-April to -9%, indicating a positive shift in earnings expectations [4][9]. - The Non-PMI Leading Earnings Indicator points to mid-teens EPS growth by the first half of 2026, driven by stable demand and reduced material costs [4][9]. - A weaker US dollar, down 11% from January highs, is expected to provide additional support for US earnings trends, with further downside anticipated [4][9]. Summary by Sections Earnings Outlook - The main earnings model forecasts high-single-digit EPS growth for the next year, supported by improving earnings revisions breadth [4][9]. - The Non-PMI Leading Earnings Indicator suggests mid-teens EPS growth by 1H26, driven by demand stability and lower material costs [4][9]. Sector Preferences - Capital Goods and Software sectors are highlighted as key beneficiaries of a weaker dollar, with significant inverse correlations between earnings revisions breadth and the dollar [16][21]. - Capital Goods are expected to benefit from infrastructure build-out, while Software is positioned to leverage GenAI for cost efficiency and revenue growth [13][15]. Market Dynamics - The report emphasizes the importance of earnings revisions breadth as a driver for industry group outperformance, particularly for Capital Goods and Software [12][22]. - The US equity market is preferred over international equities due to stronger earnings revisions in the US compared to Europe and Japan [22]. Financial Sector Insights - The Financials sector is viewed positively, with expectations of a stabilizing M&A environment and resilient consumer conditions [31][33]. - Companies are leveraging AI to enhance operational efficiency, which is expected to contribute positively to earnings growth [37][39].

Investment Rating - The report maintains an Equal-weight (EW) stance on MSCI China within the global EM/APXJ framework [9]. Core Insights - The report anticipates higher near-term market volatility due to the US imposing additional tariffs on China, raising the total tariff rate to up to 65% [2][4]. - The A-share market is viewed as better positioned for hedging and diversification compared to the offshore market, as A-share investors are less sensitive to tariff changes [3]. - The direct impact on earnings from the tariffs is expected to be smaller than the overall drag on macroeconomic growth, with the MSCI China universe generating only 13% of its total revenue from markets outside China, and less than 3% from the US [7]. Summary by Sections Market Volatility - The report highlights that the recent tariff hikes could lead to elevated market volatility as the market adjusts to the potential economic impacts [2][4]. A-Share Market Positioning - The A-share market is recommended for investors seeking stability, as it has shown lower correlation with global markets and less volatility compared to offshore markets [3]. Earnings Impact - The report suggests that the overall drag on equity market earnings will be less severe than the impact on macro growth, primarily due to the limited revenue exposure of listed Chinese companies to the US market [7]. Companies with High US Revenue Exposure - A list of 30 companies with the highest revenue exposure to the US market is provided, indicating potential negative impacts on these companies in the near term [8]. Key Indicators to Monitor - The report advises monitoring the USDCNY exchange rate, signs of US-China negotiations, and any significant policy easing measures to stabilize domestic growth [9].

Summary of Earnings Call for Asia EM Equity Strategy Industry Overview - The earnings results for Emerging Markets (EM) and Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APxJ) in 4Q CY24 were generally in line with expectations, with EM showing a slight increase of +0.8% and APxJ at +1.5% [2][10] - Japan reported a strong earnings season with a notable increase of +13.7%, driven by a high net beat ratio of +23 percentage points [2][6] - China also showed positive momentum with earnings growth of +7.7% [3][6] Sector Performance - The Communication Services sector led the earnings surprises with a +15.2% increase, particularly driven by Telecom Services which saw a remarkable +36.0% [4][31] - Real Estate also performed well with an earnings surprise of +11.9% [31] - Conversely, the Materials sector faced significant challenges, reporting a decline of -15.2%, with Paper & Forest Products showing a major miss at -68.4% [4][31] - Utilities also underperformed with a -6.9% surprise [31] Regional Insights - EEMEA (Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa) reported a solid aggregate beat of +6.8%, with notable contributions from the United Arab Emirates (+12.6%), Saudi Arabia (+9.1%), and South Africa (+8.6%) [3][6] - In contrast, Latin America faced major misses, with an overall decline of -16.8%, primarily due to Brazil (-20.7%), Chile (-20.3%), and Mexico (-10.8%) [3][6] Key Stock-Level Surprises - A list of companies expected to see upward revisions in their earnings estimates includes: - Sea Ltd (Communication Services) with a market cap of $76.85 billion and a price target upside of 31% [5] - XPeng Inc. (Consumer Discretionary) with a market cap of $19.21 billion and an expected upside of 18% [5] - Tenaga Nasional (Utilities) showing a significant upside potential of 53% [5] Earnings Surprise Ratios - Japan's earnings surprise ratio was the highest at 13.7%, with 54% of companies reporting above expectations [6][25] - In contrast, Brazil had the lowest surprise ratio at -20.7%, with 28% of companies missing consensus [6][25] Additional Insights - The breadth of earnings surprises was weaker across EM and APxJ, with EM showing a -7 percentage point breadth and APxJ at -4 percentage points [2][6] - The overall revenue performance across the region slightly beat expectations, with EM at +1.8%, APxJ at +1.4%, and Japan at +1.9% [2][6] This summary encapsulates the key findings from the earnings call, highlighting the performance of various sectors and regions, as well as specific stock-level surprises that may present investment opportunities.