“China’s still the champ (so that means buy Apple) and Nigerian tech companies could be the next big thing. So says ‘Mr. BRIC’ Jim O’Neill, who tells MarketWatch he’s still keen on emerging markets, but is staying away from Russia for now,” Sara Sjolin reports for MarketWatch.
“The former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management retired in April last year, but hasn’t given up actively investing,” Sjolin reports. “His latest bet was on a mobile-payment company in Nigeria, but he’s also up for shorting the euro and playing the Chinese consumer.”
MarketWatch: Where are some of the best investment opportunities right now?
O’Neill: I believe in investing in favor of China and the Chinese consumer. One of my big things is to be long the new China and short the old China.
MarketWatch: And how do you define the new China?
O’Neill: It’s related to the consumer. In some ways, the Shenzhen index is more representative of the new China than the Shanghai, so one way to play this is to be long Shenzhen and short Shanghai. Another way is through global consumer stocks. Look at Apple’s latest results — again the main reason why they blew the market away was simply because of their sales to China… The more I think about it, Apple is a Chinese stock, not a U.S. stock. It’s a stock that’s got U.S. technology, but basically its future depends on China. BMW is another company with strong sales to China.
MarketWatch: So you don’t see a hard landing there?
O’Neill: I think it’s ridiculous. China is clearly slowing, but most of the reason it’s slowing is because the policy makers deliberately want it to slow and get China readjusted. So, as I’ve said for the past two years, China is never going to land anytime soon. It’s not soft versus hard landing — it’s kind of a crazy idea. China is always going to keep traveling. And I think compared with the other BRICs, China is doing a great job. I worry about Brazil and Russia a bit, and this ongoing election in India is a really important thing.
Full article here.