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Multilingual AI-driven EM Outlook

Thailand and Vietnam have come to terms with their new tariff regimes on exports to the US, and local investor sentiment is brimming, as is that of domestic investors in Mexico who are rallying behind the government’s success in rehabilitating oil giant Pemex. But the mood is very dour in India and South Africa over the tariffs in the latest week of sentiment tracking in the EM universe. EMAlpha’s Macro Monitor uses multilingual AI to track the current state of local sentiment in the newsflow across the EM universe.   

Most Positive EM Sentiment
 
Thailand/Stock Market-FDI-Housing:Improving local sentiment for equities, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Housing is reflected in a 14% gain in the SET Index over the past month, a top performer among Asian markets. These three macro themes (Stocks, FDI, Housing) were among the top 5 in the EM universe over the past week. The 19% tariff rate imposed by the US, in line with expectations, is actually leading to a positive market reaction. The country’s GDP growth rate of 2.6%, which exceeded expectations, and core inflation rate of 2.8% suggests indicates a resilient economy and potential rate cut in the offing. But there is concern locally about slowing tourism. Government officials are now speaking of doing a better job attracting FDI and further weakening the Thai baht (-6% YTD) as an antidote to the tariffs and to stimulate economic growth.

Fig. 1: EMAlpha’s Multilingual AI inspected local Thai media and used local language sentiment analysis to detect sentiment scores for various macro themes. The scores are normalized such that +1.00 signifies extreme optimism and -1.00 signifies extreme pessimism.

Vietnam/Stock Market:Upbeat sentiment towards equities continues into this week as investors are expressing a sense of relief that the 20% tariff on exports to the US avoided the
worse-case scenario. Signs of investors shifting from large cap stocks into medium and small caps is noted in the sentiment along with the comforting validation of foreign portfolio investors, who have only now shifted to being net buyers of Vietnamese equities after the VN Index’s 25% gain YTD.
 
Mexico/Government: Ratings agency Fitch upgraded its credit rating for Mexico’s oil giant, Pemex, by two notches from B+ to BB on the government’s strong support for the oil firm and
its financial strategy. It’s the first credit upgrade for Pemex in a decade. The government has been helping Pemex reduce debt and restructure its operations but ultimately plans to cut its financial ties with the firm by 2026. Domestic investors are cheering the relief that this presents to the government’s budget. 

Fig. 2: Vietnam Macro Theme Sentiment Scores: EMAlpha’s Multilingual AI inspected local Vietnamese language news and used local language sentiment analysis to detect sentiment scores for various macro themes for the country. The scores are normalized such that +1.00 signifies extreme optimism and -1.00 signifies extreme pessimism.

Most Negative EM Sentiment 
 
South Africa/Trade Tariffs: Tariffs of 30% kicked in on August 7 affecting some of the 7.5% of South Africa’s exports that go to the US. The impact will hit automobiles and agriculture, primarily, since copper, pharma and semiconductors are exempted. Local sentiment on Trade
Tariffs darkened in the run-up to the official start date, but has been poor since the last week of July when it became likely that a trade deal with the US was not likely. Forecasts are for a loss of 30,000-70,000 jobs in an economy that already suffers from a 33% unemployment rate. So far, South African equities have been unphased, rising 24% YTD and 4.2% over the past month, as domestic investors perhaps see deepening ties to China in the offing.
 
India/Trade Tariffs: The 25% US tariff rate on India, which went into effect August 7, doubles to 50% on August 27 unless there’s a resolution on India’s oil purchases from Russia. About
$86 billion of exports to the US hangs in the balance, along with India’s once warm relation relationship with the US. Local investors appear to understand that this puts Prime Minister Modi in a very difficult position and sentiment for most all macro themes have deteriorated since late July. Indian equities have also been strained by the trade uncertainty, declining more than 4% over the past month and are barely in positive territory YTD, severely lagging the
MSCI EM Index return of +16%.

Fig. 3:  EMAlpha’s Multilingual AI inspected India media sources and used local language sentiment analysis to detect sentiment scores for various macro themes. The scores are normalized such that +1.00 signifies extreme optimism and -1.00 signifies extreme pessimism.

Developed Market Sentiment Highlights:  On the bright side, Australia sentiment surges as an increase in FDI counters the global decline in FDI over the past year. US FDI is also buoyed by transactional trade deals that are putting a premium on a country’s investments in the US. On the more grim side, sentiment from German media sources on the Trade Tariffs is at their lowest in six months. Sentiment in Switzerland on tariffs has also tanked, understandably, with it’s new 39% tariff on exports to the US, it’s largest trading partner, among the highest rates imposed by the Trump administration.

For Media Inquiries, contact Brad Durham, [email protected]

Over half of the world’s web content is in languages other than English. Book a demo to discover how the Macro Monitor leverages EMAlpha’s multilingual AI to uncover investable signals in local-language content.

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