Procrastinate the right way in 2024

There is a good type of procrastination, according to organizational psychologist Adam Grant. It's the type that drives your creativity. It leads to better processes and results. It midwifes better ideas and strategies.

The key, he says, is to be deliberate about it and let initial input or information incubate for some time in your subconscious.

This week, we offer some input you can ruminate on during the holidays as you think of your investment strategy next year. Our head of mulit-asset investments shares his analysis and some key ideas in the article "Shaping your investment strategy in 2024".

We also have something to say about China in "The Great Wall of Woe: An overview of China’s struggling economy".

Finally, we present some of our top picks for local government securities in "Peso GS Weekly: Muted demand ahead of the holidays". Again, this article requires logged-in access. If you are a Metrobank client, ask your relationship manager or investment specialist to help you. If you're not yet a client, please consider signing up with us here.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

You're in good hands.

Metrobank Wealth Insights Team

Shaping your investment strategy in 2024

As the year comes to an end, investors naturally take the opportunity to review their portfolios and think of their game plan for 2024.

Clients come to us for advice, insights, and even inspiration. For us at Metrobank, we can only say there will be no drastic change in strategy. Fixed income will still play a major role in anyone’s investment portfolio. But there are some key changes steering the markets into some exciting possibilities.

Read more: Shaping your investment strategy in 2024

The Great Wall of Woe: An overview of China’s struggling economy

For the ratings agency Moody’s, the writing is on the wall. On December 5, 2023, credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., slashed China’s credit outlook from stable to negative.

This decision was attributed to several factors, including rising evidence of financial support for regional and local governments (RLGs) and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), structurally lower medium-term economic growth, and the ongoing downsizing of the property sector. While Moody’s maintained the A1 rating for China’s sovereign bonds, the negative outlook indicates a potential risk of a downgrade in the future.

Read more: The Great Wall of Woe: An overview of China’s struggling economy

Peso GS Weekly: Muted demand ahead of the holidays

The week started on a quiet note as yields of peso government securities (GS) mostly took cues from the global market due to the lack of local catalysts to drive the movement of yields either way. Risk appetite in the GS space was mostly subdued as investors and dealers remained wary ahead of the key interest rate decision from both the US Fed and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).?

Come Thursday, buying interest dominated the local GS market throughout the day as dovish comments from US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell pushed US Treasury yields lower. Later in the day, the BSP also kept the key rate unchanged at 6.50%, pushing renewed risk-taking or buying in the local GS market.

Read more: Peso GS Weekly: Muted demand ahead of the holidays

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