“It’s defence time”, says Saxo Capital Markets’ Kay Van-Petersen

There are times for risk-on, go big or go home, and times for risk-off and play defence. Kay Van-Petersen (KVP), Asia Macro Strategist at Saxo Capital Markets, says “this is a time to play defence”. The theme of the moment is that there is an awful lot of uncertainty in global markets and most of it is coming from the US. A lot of this has to do with the ongoing US macroeconomic data which keeps missing market expectations. The one-year Citi US Economic Surprise index has hit the lowest level since 2011, given the string of misses. In simple words, it’s very hard for economists to forecast whether the Fed will confirm or not its rates lift-off in 2015. Poor growth data for the first quarter, along with poor April figures is leaving a lot of pressure for May and June to lift up growth data in the second quarter. “A hike in June, while technically feasible, I think is most likely off the table and September is still the main event”, says KVP. To read more visit: (VIEW LINK)