Asia’s economic squall will pass

Many countries in emerging Asia look set to experience their weakest growth in a decade. But while the short-term outlook may be bumpy, there are many long-term structural trends that favour the region.

Singapore Supertrees and Skywalk © iStockphotos

Singapore is the canary in the regional coal mine
(Image credit: Singapore Supertrees and Skywalk © iStockphotos)

"It keeps getting worse" for South Korea, say Moxy Ying and Heejin Kim on Bloomberg. The US-China trade war has hit exports hard and Seoul is also embroiled in a separate tariff dispute with Japan. Its Kospi index is inching ever closer to erasing this year's already modest 4% gain. Korean stocks comprise almost 15% of the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index, second only to China. No wonder the index has risen by just 10% this year, compared with an almost 16% jump for global equities.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.