精明的牵制

You know by now, if you've been paying attention, that the coronavirus pandemic is,
如果大家一直在关注的话,现在你应该知道,此次冠状病毒
if not a turning point in history, then the midwife to profound change or, at the very least, an opportunity for a bit of a rethink.
即便不是一个历史转折点,也应该是深刻变革的促成因素,或者至少是一个重新思考的机会。

Everything has changed—except, perhaps, minds. Those who expected China

一切都发生了改变——除了思想。那些预计中国
(or the European Union or shareholder capitalism) to blow up are now more convinced it will.
(或欧盟或股东资本主义)会崩溃的人,现在更加确信了。
Believers in globalisation's retreat, or inflation's comeback, have fewer doubts.
相信全球化会倒退,或通胀会卷土重来的人,就没有那么多疑问了。
And if you were chary of emerging markets you might be more so now.
如果你以前对新兴市场很谨慎,现在可能会更加谨慎。
In March, when there was a mad scramble for cash, the cash everyone wanted was dollars.
今年3月,当人们疯狂地争抢现金时,每个人都想要的现金是美元。
When the dollar gets bid up, it hurts emerging markets. If inflation returns, meanwhile, it will surely show up first in the developing world.
当美元被推高时,新兴市场就会受到伤害。与此同时,如果通胀卷土重来,它肯定会首先出现在发展中国家。
Yet if these vices seem more apparent, so does the virtue of diversification.
然而,如果这些缺点看起来更加明显,那么多元化的优点也一样。
The ideal diversifier is not just something other than what you own, but something that contrasts with it.
理想的分散投资不只是你没有的东西,而是与你所拥有的相反的东西。
The typical portfolio is rich in dollar assets—in Treasuries and the leading American shares. It needs a counterweight, an anti-dollar trade.
典型的投资组合是拥有丰富的美元资产——国债和美国主要股票。它需要一种牵制力,一种反美元的贸易。
A benchmark basket of emerging-market stocks is a good one.
新兴市场的一篮子基准股票是个不错的选择。
It helps that such stocks are cheap. Valuations based on company earnings are often misleading at the start of recessions.
这类股票的低价是有帮助的。在经济衰退开始时,以公司盈利为基础的估值往往具有误导性。
Recent earnings figures flatter the appraisal; forward-looking estimates of profits take time to reflect grim reality.
近期收益数据让评估结果更加乐观;对利润的前瞻性评估需要时间来反映严峻的现实。
A way around this is to use a measure that takes in company profits over the cycle:
解决这个问题的一种方法是使用一种在周期内计算公司利润的方法:
the CAPE (cyclically adjusted price-earnings ratio) popularised by Robert Shiller of Yale University.
由耶鲁大学的Robert Shiller所推广起来的CAPE(经周期性调整的市盈率)。
A snapshot taken at recent market lows by James Montier of GMO, an asset-management firm, shows a healthy margin of safety.
资产管理公司GMO的James Montier在近期市场低点做的一个写照,显示了一个健康的安全边际。
Emerging-market shares look very cheap relative to both their history and to America's S&P 500 index of shares.
对比其历史和美国标准普尔500指数,新兴市场的股票看起来非常便宜。
Rich-world investors must also consider exchange-rate risk. Forecasting currencies is a mug's game.
发达国家的投资者也必须考虑汇率风险。预测货币是一件费力不讨好的事。
Even so, a shrewd investor should at least check she is not buying a currency that is obviously riding high, and thus at greater risk of a dramatic fall.
即便如此,精明的投资者至少应该检查一下自己是否在买入一种明显走高、因而面临大幅下跌风险更大的货币。


A broad analysis by Charles Robertson of Renaissance Capital, an investment bank,
投资银行复兴资本的Charles Robertson所做的广谱分析发现
finds that after recent declines, emerging-market currencies are as cheap in real terms as they have been since the mid-2000s.
在经历了近期的下跌后,新兴市场货币的实际汇率与21世纪中期以来的水平一样低。
Should inflation pick up faster in the developing world than in the rich one, the reckoning would change.
如果发展中国家的通货膨胀率比发达国家上升得更快,那么清算的方式就会改变。
Currencies would then need to fall further in nominal terms to keep the exchange rate steady in real terms, so that exports stay competitive.
届时,各国货币的名义汇率需要进一步下跌,以保持实际汇率的稳定,从而使出口保持竞争力。
Emerging-market economies tend to be more inflation-prone than richer ones. Because of that, central banks have generally been vigilant.
新兴市场经济体往往比发达国家更容易出现通货膨胀。正因为如此,各国央行总体上一直保持警惕。
A weaker currency has been typically met with higher interest rates to counter imported inflation—even if that hurts an already weak economy.
更加弱势货币通常会带来更高的利率,以抵消输入型通货膨胀——即使这会损害本已疲弱的经济。
But a lot of central banks in the developing world have relaxed monetary policy recently—understandable, given the severity of the economic shock.
但很多发展中国家的中央银行近期已经放宽了货币政策——鉴于此次经济冲击的严重性,这是可以理解的
For some countries, though, the dangers of inflation are not great. These more closely resemble rich-world economies,
虽然,对于一些国家而言,通货膨胀的危险并不大。这些国家与发达国家的经济更为相似,
where a weak currency leads to a temporary burst of inflation. The wealthier parts of Asia are like this.
在发达国家,货币疲软会导致暂时的通货膨胀。亚洲较富裕的地区是这样的。
But in other places inflation sticks around if not stomped upon. That tends to be because wages are indexed to prices;
但在其他国家,即使没有经济冲击,通货膨胀也会继续存在。这往往是因为工资与物价挂钩;
industry is somewhat cartelised; or trust in the currency is low, encouraging the local use of the dollar. Parts of Latin America come to mind. So does Turkey.
工业被卡特尔化;或者说对货币的信任很低,这鼓励了美元在当地的使用。拉丁美洲的部分地区就是如此。土耳其也是。
Indeed the options a country has when its currency falls define its status, says Eric Lonergan of M&G, a fund-management group.
基金管理集团M&G的Eric Lonergan表示,一个国家在其货币贬值时所拥有的选择权确实决定了它的地位。
If it must raise interest rates to counter inflation, it is an emerging market; if it has the room to cut rates without fear, it is developed.
如果它必须提高利率以对抗通胀,那它就是一个新兴市场;如果它有降息的空间,那么它就是发达国家。
Definitions matter, of course. Part of the appeal of indices of emerging-market stocks is that they are dominated by Asian economies that are fairly rich and well-run.
当然,定义很重要。新兴市场股票指数吸引人的部分原因在于,它们是由相当富裕且运行良好的亚洲经济体所主导。
They count as emerging markets, because the buying and selling of financial assets is not quite frictionless.
它们被视为新兴市场,因为金融资产的买卖并非完全没有摩擦。
All may prove quite resilient as the world emerges from lockdown. At the very least, the way they perform is likely to be different from rich-world economies.
当世界从封锁中复苏时,所有这些都可能被证明是相当有弹性的。至少,他们的表现可能与发达国家不同。
That feature alone should be appealing to a certain kind of investor.
单凭这一点就应该能吸引特定类型的投资者。
If the world is indeed changed radically by this health crisis, it may be in ways that are hard to imagine today.
如果这场健康危机确实从根本改变了这个世界,其方式可能是如今难以想象的。
And if you are unsure of the future, it makes all the more sense to spread your bets.
如果你对未来不确定,那么分散你的赌注就更有道理了。

来源:经济学人

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