Investors are watching developments from President Donald Trump ‘s high-stakes visit to China on Thursday, with the U.S. leader hailing a “new chapter” for the world’s two largest economies. Tech names have been boosted by reports that the U.S. has approved sales of Nvidia’s H200 chip to a number of Chinese companies. Chinese premier Xi has also told U.S. tech leaders present at the meeting that the door to business in the country will “open wider.” Here are three investment strategies we heard in CNBC’s Singapore and London studios on Thursday to help navigate the noise. Corporate credit returns James Turner, head of global fixed income for EMEA at BlackRock, says investors should diversify income strategies, including taking on corporate paper, alongside sovereign bonds. He argues that the volatility we’ve seen in recent years has made corporates more cautious on managing their balance sheets, describing them as being in a “pretty healthy state.” “That has driven people towards looking at corporate credit as something that isn’t safer necessarily than government bonds, but at least it is more safe than it has been for some time, and also provides that diversification as well.” Downgrading chip stocks Steve Brice, global CIO, wealth solutions at Standard Chartered, explains why the bank is still overweight global equities but downgraded semiconductor stocks last week. Brice says the move was driven by “very concentrated gains in that area”, adding that the bank has been “advising clients to take profits on parts of their portfolio” and instead, rotate into a globally diversified portfolio. He expects a correction, “not too far around the corner, at least for Korean equities.” Shock absorbers in play Madison Faller, global investment strategist at J.P.Morgan Private Bank, continues to argue for a 60/40 portfolio, but said investors should add what she describes as a “shock absorbers.” I do think bonds are still the core protection [asset] during a growth downturn. Certainly, I think there is a tactical opportunity on the shorter end of the yield curve, given that we think that central bank expectations have re-priced a bit too hawkishly. But when you think about inflationary risks, that means real assets. It means specifically infrastructure, and it also means hedge funds., which can have less correlated returns relative to stocks and bond.” Faller goes on to advocate for a barbell between U.S. and emerging markets, saying earnings growth expectations for EM are anticipated to be north of 45% this year, which she describes as “really meaningful.” She cites Taiwan and South Korea, as well as Latin America, arguing that countries in this region “own a lot of the natural resources that the rest of the world really needs and wants.”
