U.S.-China tensions shouldn’t stop Asian stocks from outperforming, UBS says

CNBC reports that stocks in Asia have the potential to outperform even as tensions between the U.S. and China have escalated in recent months, according to Swiss wealth management giant UBS.  

That’s because any potential move that U.S. President Donald Trump may take against China will likely be “more bark than bite,” Kelvin Tay, regional chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, said on Wednesday.

“We don’t think the ratcheting up of U.S.-China tensions will be a risk simply because this is (an election) year and the U.S. is in a recession,” he told CNBC.

“Therefore, any further significant action that the U.S. might have to take will largely be symbolic rather than on the tariff front,” he added. “If that’s the case, it should not be a big impediment for Asian equities to outperform.”

Recent disputes between the world’s top two economies include China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak — which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan — and Beijing’s growing influence over Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory which has a special trading relationship with the U.S.

Such developments raised concerns among investors that the two countries would resume a tariff war that’s damaging to the global economy.