Latest news with #EmilyBadger
Japan Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Man Group's Japan fund buying bank stocks in bet on inflation
An investment manager at the world's largest publicly traded hedge fund, Man Group, is adding Japan's financial shares to her portfolio on the view the nation's central bank will need to hike interest rates to tame inflation. The relative stability in the yen also provides room for the Bank of Japan to act, according to Emily Badger, a co-manager of the Man Japan CoreAlpha Fund, which has £2.45 billion ($3.3 billion) of assets and outperformed 93% of its peers over the past three years, according to compiled data. "Inflation is higher than last year, the yen-dollar is more stable than last summer,' said the U.K.-based portfolio manager. "We have therefore taken the opportunity in the short term to increase our position in the bank sector slightly, as we think the path is clearly towards normalization.' While buying may be slight, the shift for the long-only fund is notable given that it was underweight Japan's financial sector at the start of the year. And back in late 2023, when investors were split on the fate of bank stocks ahead the BOJ ending negative interest rates, Badger was among those who viewed the benefits of future tightening as already priced in. BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda last month rebutted claims the central bank was behind the curve in raising interest rates, which tempered expectations of near-term hikes. Although the BOJ raised inflation forecasts at its last meeting that concluded on July 31, investors viewed the overall stance as dovish. Overnight index swaps now suggest a 55% chance for a hike by the end of the year, down from 79% before the July BOJ decision. Swaps had suggested 100% before U.S. President Donald Trump's barrage of "liberation day' tariff threats in early April. "Once the trade situation and the political uncertainty die down, the policy rate will be pushed towards 1%,' said Badger. Badger describes the increase in her fund's bank holdings as "very gradual,' adding that her larger positions remain in the auto sector and factory automation, where she anticipates a rally once there's more clarity on the U.S.-Japan trade deal. She is hopeful further corporate governance improvements will boost Japanese stocks, which struck record highs this month but still lag their regional peers year to date. She said the next phase of corporate governance reforms will involve enhancement of longer-term profitability and growth. "Because of that we think that long term Japanese equities remain an opportunity,' she said.
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Man Group's Japan Fund Buying Bank Stocks in Bet on Inflation
An investment manager at the world's largest publicly traded hedge fund, Man Group, is adding Japan's financial shares to her portfolio on the view the nation's central bank will need to hike interest rates to tame inflation. The relative stability in the yen also provides room for the Bank of Japan to act, according to Emily Badger, a co-manager of the Man Japan CoreAlpha Fund, which has £2.45 billion ($3.3 billion) of assets and outperformed 93% of its peers over the past three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Mint
6 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Man Group's Japan Fund Buying Bank Stocks in Bet on Inflation
(Bloomberg) -- An investment manager at the world's largest publicly traded hedge fund, Man Group, is adding Japan's financial shares to her portfolio on the view the nation's central bank will need to hike interest rates to tame inflation. The relative stability in the yen also provides room for the Bank of Japan to act, according to Emily Badger, a co-manager of the Man Japan CoreAlpha Fund, which has £2.45 billion ($3.3 billion) of assets and outperformed 93% of its peers over the past three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 'Inflation is higher than last year, the yen-dollar is more stable than last summer,' said the UK-based portfolio manager. 'We have therefore taken the opportunity in the short term to increase our position in the bank sector slightly, as we think the path is clearly towards normalization.' While buying may be slight, the shift for the long-only fund is notable given that it was underweight Japan's financial sector at the start of the year. And back in late 2023, when investors were split on the fate of bank stocks ahead the BOJ ending negative interest rates, Badger among those who viewed the benefits of future tightening as already priced in. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda last month rebutted claims the central bank was behind the curve in raising interest rates, which tempered expectations of near-term hikes. Although the BOJ raised inflation forecasts at its last meeting that concluded on July 31, investors viewed the overall stance as dovish. Overnight index swaps now suggest a 55% chance for a hike by the end of the year, down from 79% before the July BOJ decision. Swaps had suggested 100% before US President Donald Trump's barrage of 'liberation day' tariff threats in early April. 'Once the trade situation and the political uncertainty die down, the policy rate will be pushed towards 1%.' said Badger. Badger describes the increase in her fund's bank holdings as 'very gradual,' adding that her larger positions remain in the auto sector and factory automation, where she anticipates a rally once there's more clarity on the US-Japan trade deal. She is hopeful further corporate governance improvements will boost Japanese stocks, which struck record highs this month but still lag their regional peers year to date. She said the next phase of corporate governance reforms will involve enhancement of longer-term profitability and growth. 'Because of that we think that long term Japanese equities remain an opportunity,' she said. More stories like this are available on
Telegraph
16-02-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
‘I invest £2.5bn in the world's most surprising economy'
Fund Of The Week quizzes fund managers about how they're investing your money. If you'd like to suggest which funds you want to hear about and pitch your questions to the managers, sign up to the Investor Newsletter here for more details. After decades of deflation and economic stagnation, Japan has reached an inflection point. The Bank of Japan has raised interest rates twice since July to around 0.5pc, marking a major shift from negative rates. At the same time, corporate governance reforms are finally gaining traction. These initiatives encourage listed Japanese companies to improve shareholder returns by investing for future growth and distributing the cash they have hoarded for many years. Emily Badger, who co-manages the Man Japan CoreAlpha fund alongside Jeffrey Atherton, Adrian Edwards and Stephen Harget, believes corporate governance improvements are a major boon for investors looking to snap up cheap Japanese shares. She explains why Japanese car makers look attractive, even though the sector is overshadowed by the threat of President Donald Trump's tariffs. The fund manager also tells Telegraph Money why Japanese property companies, like Mitsubishi Estate, look cheap. Over the past three years, the Man Japan CoreAlpha fund has returned 44pc versus a sector average 20pc offered by rivals. How do you invest? We have a value tilt and take a contrarian approach to investing in Japanese large caps. We go against the herd and invest in stocks that are unfashionable, where we think valuations look excessively depressed. We look to buy assets the market wants to buy, they just don't know it yet. What is your outlook for Japanese car makers? We are optimistic about the auto sector. Last year, concerns about increased competition from China and the potential impact of tariffs weighed heavily, so with that in mind, we felt it was one of the most contrarian areas within the Japanese market and therefore a big opportunity. For example, in August of last year, we built a position in Toyota [which is held alongside Honda and Nissan].
