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Straight Talk Asia


APS’ Founder, Executive Chairman and Chief Strategist, Wong Kok Hoi, explains investment decisions and other developments that affect APS’ investors whenever appropriate. The issues he discusses range from portfolio performance to sector analysis. 

Synopses are presented here and registered users may access our thought pieces here.

SYNOPSES OF STRAIGHT TALK ASIA

8 APRIL 2025

Trump's Tariffs and APS Portfolio Strategy

A lot has been written in the last few days about the impact of what US President Donald Trump calls “reciprocal tariffs” on the world economy, the US Dollar, US inflation, the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts, gold, oil, etc. Much of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs policy could be attributed to the controversial anti-trade economist and writer Peter Navarro, whom Trump again appointed to his team. He famously wrote a book, “Death By China”, in which he posited his bizarre theories on trade. 

In this note, APS Chief Strategist Wong Kok Hoi addresses the near-term implications for China tech stocks, China’s exports to the US, US companies like Apple, and China A shares, as well as the long-term consequences for the notion of China Plus One, the US dollar’s continued dominance, America’s sovereign premium, and countries’ view of China as a predictable and rational trading partner.

Lastly, he will elaborate on APS portfolio strategy, whereby we have been positioned towards stocks of companies with little exposure to the US for quite some time already. He touches on EV stocks, Economic Alpha stocks, semiconductor stocks, Temu’s parent, Top 3 China AI company Alibaba, Tencent, and seizing opportunities to add names.

Synopses of the Straight Talk Asia thought pieces by former APS’ Chairman and Former Cabinet Minister in the Singapore Government, Raymond Lim are presented below and the full documents are available upon request. 

Please send an email to cs@aps.com.sg, specifying the date of the articles you wish to receive.

22 OCTOBER 2018

Thailand – Back to the Future

We invited Raymond Lim, our Executive Chairman and a former Cabinet minister in Singapore, to share with us his views on Thailand ahead of its elections slated for February 2019.

9 APRIL 2018

Indonesia - The Just King

We invited former Singapore Cabinet Minister and APS Executive Chairman Raymond Lim to share his thoughts after a recent trip to Indonesia. In Straight Talk Asia: “Indonesia - The Just King” he argues that leaders make a critical difference to a country’s future and with Jokowi as President, it is as good as it gets. Hence he remains hopeful for Indonesia.

11 MAY 2017

Indonesia: Ties that Bind

We invited Raymond Lim, our Chairman and a former Cabinet minister in Singapore to share with us his views on Indonesia in the wake of the recent religiously divisive Jakarta gubernatorial election.

13 APRIL 2016

China – It’s the Politics, Comrade