Topdown Charts is a chart-driven macro research house covering global asset allocation and economics. We primarily serve multi-asset investors and institutions.
There’s room to run in China A-Shares’ triple-breakout
First they said it was uninvestable.Then it broke out —but they said it was still in a downtrend.Now it’s broken that downtrend line.And there are still several reasons to expect further upside.Here’s why I’m bullish on Chinese stocks:Strong Technicals: as alluded to, we’ve seen 3 key breakouts (through the 200-day average, through long-term overhead resistance, and through the down trendline joining the last two major peaks).Stock/Bond Ratio: we’ve also seen a key breakout in an indicator almost no-one else watches; the Chinese stock/bond ratio (important risk-on signal).Cheap Valuations: Chinese stocks are reasonable vs history, cheap vs peers, and cheap vs bonds (very high equity risk premium).Macro Tailwinds: we’ve seen a steady drift lower in interest rates, incremental stimulus measu
Weekly Macro Themes: Bullish EMs, China & Commodities
Hi there,Here's the topics I covered in my latest Weekly Macro Themes report:1. US Dollar: Remain bearish medium/longer-term given expensive valuations, fading yield support, longer-term technicals, but wary of short-term upsides (sentiment, positioning, seasonality, technicals).2. EM Equities: Remain bullish emerging market equities given supportive valuations, monetary tailwinds, improving earnings outlook, light allocations, and strong technicals.3. China Equities: Remain bullish Chinese stocks given strong technicals, supportive valuations, improving sentiment, and mild but gathering macro/monetary tailwinds.4. Commodities: Remain bullish commodities given cheap valuations, supply tailwinds, improving macro-fundamentals, light allocations, skeptical sentiment, strong technicals.5. Comm
Bullish Consensus Builds as Cyclicals Break Out and Value Lags
Learnings and conclusions from this week’s charts:Sentiment is getting increasingly consensus bullish. $Cboe Volatility Index(VIX)$ & Credit Spreads are at complacent/confident levels.Transports, shipping stocks, EM, and metals are breaking out.Value is cheaper than usual vs history and vs growth stocks.Growth stocks are expensive vs history and vs value stocks.Overall, the mood remains distinctly bullish and increasingly so —and perhaps justifiably so as more evidence emerges in favor of a global growth reacceleration (and better performance from traditional cyclicals and risk-on assets). But with growth stocks already richly priced, and value still cheap, the next phase of the bull market might look a little unfamiliar to some…
1. Clues of catch-up: this chart shows how far the US has diverged from global equity valuations, but also the nascent catch-up trade clearly underway.2. Peak performance: this one shows US stock market outperformance peaking vs DM and EM. All good trends come to an end, and all good cycles do what cycles do.3. Stocks vs Bonds over the Long-run: the rolling 10-year total return premium for stocks over and above that of bonds looks stretched vs long-term average, and it looks late in the cycle (and it does look cyclical).4. The big reset in Commercial Real Estate: in real inflation-adjusted terms, the CRE downturn has been substantial (-30%) and drawn-out (almost 4 years since peak to initial trough). Some might say that’s “enough” (…downturn done?).5. Tech capex crowd-out: successive waves
Emerging Markets at a Major Bullish Inflection Point
Learnings and conclusions from this session:Technicals: EM is at a bullish inflection point.Valuation: EM equity valuations are still cheap.Positioning: investor allocations to EM are still historically low.Macro: EM earnings are breaking out +strong monetary tailwinds.Sentiment: some signs of complacency, increasingly bullish sentiment.Overall, there’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that we are going through a major bullish inflection point for emerging market equities. The below set of charts looks at the key technical developments, macro-fundamentals, behavioral aspects, and weighs what could go right/wrong for EM equities from here…1. Emerging Inflection Point: an inflection point is underway in emerging market equities. Skeptics will say that it’s just another false dawn.
No that’s not a typo, we are literally seeing a new high in new highs.(47 countries just chalked up new highs)The chart below tracks the weekly count of the 70 countries we track that have closed at their highest point over the trailing 52-week window.The latest reading is the highest on record, and is comfortably higher than any reading we’ve seen in the post-2008 era.This is highly significant because the last time we got close to this number (46) was back during the early-2000’s global equity bull market where commodities were booming, emerging markets were making transformative progress, and global stocks were outperforming their US counterparts.So I would say this latest reading bodes particularly well for global vs US rotation.Indeed, probably the biggest development of 2025 was the
Early 2026 Strength Signals Positive Trend for S&P 500
Weekly S&P500 ChartStorm - 11 January 2026This week: breakouts, good starts, fun with fund flows, animal spirits, shorts, long-term trends, generational changes, market cap movements, and energy sector in focus...Learnings and conclusions from this week’s charts:The S&P500 $S&P 500(.SPX)$ is getting off to a good start in 2026.Statistically, that bodes well for the rest of the year.Rotation out of cash and into stocks is ramping up.Animal spirits are stirring (seeing rotation into cyclicals).Energy stocks are unloved, undervalued, and underestimated.Overall, there are a number of very interesting dynamics playing out in macro and markets as we gear-up into 2026. Trend and momentum are positive overall, traditional cyclicals are picking
Industrial Metals Break Out, Signaling Stronger Global Growth
$Gold - main 2602(GCmain)$$Silver - main 2603(SImain)$$Copper - main 2603(HGmain)$ Industrial Metals Breaking Out Happy New Year — and Happy New High in industrial metals!While this year has already gotten off to a bang on a number of fronts, in my view this may well be one of the most important price developments in markets so far.Given the influence of economic growth on industrial metal demand, arguably this is both a bullish market development by itself and a macro signal of a stronger global economy heading into 2026.Base Metals vs Monetary MetalsBase metals are starting to play catch-up vs monetary metals.As previously mused: “The economic log
Learnings and conclusions from this week’s charts:The S&P500 $S&P 500(.SPX)$ gained +16.4% in 2025 (+17.9% including dividends).(yet it lagged behind global stocks, which saw 30%+ returns).Investor sentiment is booming (yet economic confidence is glooming).Tech sector earnings are going vertical, non-tech is going sideways.Tech/mega cap valuations extreme expensive, non-tech/SMID cap cheap.Overall, it turned out to be a good year for US stocks and a great year for global stocks. As such, sentiment is riding high as most everyone is patting themselves on the back following the gains of 2025. Keeping and building on those gains in 2026 is going to take a balance of optimism and trend following, as well as realism around some of the risks bui