W: Will the launch of bitcoin futures bring stability to the digital currency?
IP: I would be wary because a bitcoin future not a true future because it’s not deliverable. At the end of the day, cash is given, not bitcoin. So I’d take it with a pinch of salt. It will loosely follow and loosely indicate the direction of bitcoin. I think you’ll see quite a discrepancy based on how much it comes up and down versus bitcoin because there is not that physical asset.
The futures market will help legitimise bitcoin and bring it on to Wall Street. Although going onto Wall Street kind of goes against why it was created in the first place, and it could create more volatility because you might see short sellers and hedge funds. The more mainstream it gets, the more volatility we’ll see.
W: What assets should investors be looking at investing in during 2018?
IP: Definitely equities. I do prefer Europe and Asia, from the valuations perspective, looking at regions. I quite like Indian bonds and interest rates are going down there. Bonds are one less-volatile way to access their economic development, as opposed to equities.
Asian corporate investment grade bonds sit in a very nice area of stability, but still with yield. You’re still looking at 4-5%, which is pretty high in this interest rate environment. In general though, I prefer equities. As a region, I like Asia the most. In terms of sector, healthcare also looks interesting and represents good relative value today
With most asset classes in six to nine months, we will see some healthy corrections. Every investment house is bullish on commodities, which I think will be a trend for the rest of the year as well. In regards to property investments, you really need to look country to country, but as an asset class generally, real estate, like equities will have a really good year.
W: Complete this sentence “The year of 2017 was the year of cryptocurrency, and 2018 will be the year of…”
IP: Financial advice. Don’t leave anything in cash and get the advice on when to buy and sell, and what to allocate it to.