{"id":85044,"date":"2026-02-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/?p=85044"},"modified":"2026-02-04T09:20:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:20:34","slug":"weekly-securities-newsletter-4-february-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/weekly-securities-newsletter-4-february-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Securities Newsletter: 4 February 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-image uagb-block-50ebcba7 wp-block-uagb-image--layout-default wp-block-uagb-image--effect-static wp-block-uagb-image--align-none\"><figure class=\"wp-block-uagb-image__figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/WSN-Banner-2-1024x260.png ,https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/WSN-Banner-2.png 780w, https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/WSN-Banner-2.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 150px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/WSN-Banner-2-1024x260.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"uag-image-66099\" width=\"2952\" height=\"750\" title=\"WSN Banner\" loading=\"lazy\" role=\"img\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Multi-Asset Portfolio at the Core<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#012169\">Chart of the Week: <br>U.S. Corporate Capex Remains Firm as Markets Bet on Economic Resilience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. equity market has entered earnings season, with mega-cap tech companies\u2019 spending and AI-related revenues once again becoming key focus areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Meta (META) reported 4Q25 results with revenue up 24% YoY, beating expectations by 3%; non-GAAP adjusted EPS rose 11% YoY, beating estimates by 9%. Because 4Q25\/1Q26F revenue and guidance were 3%\/7% above expectations, the stock rose 8% after hours. Advertising and AI-related revenue also remained strong.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Microsoft (MSFT) reported F2Q26 results with revenue up 17% YoY, roughly in line with expectations; adjusted EPS rose 60% YoY, exceeding expectations by 38%. However, MSFT\u2019s quarterly capital expenditures surged 66%. With cloud growth slowing and earnings only meeting expectations, the stock came under pressure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>U.S. GDP grew at an annualized 4.4% in 3Q25, driven by the AI boom. The Atlanta Fed estimates that 4Q growth may accelerate to 5.4%. Markets are betting that Trump\u2019s tax cuts, deregulation, low interest rates, and the \u201cBig and Beautiful\u201d agenda are gradually showing positive effects. In addition, with this year being a midterm election year, Trump is expected to continue supporting strong economic momentum, which remains favorable for U.S. equities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#012169\">Market Recap 1: <br>U.S. Equities Trade Firm, but Lower-Than-Expected Medicare Advantage Reimbursement Weighs on the Dow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, President Trump proposed a Medicare Advantage (MA) reimbursement increase that fell well below market expectations, pressuring insurance stocks. Sentiment weakened further after UnitedHealth (UNH) reported first-quarter results and guidance that also missed expectations, extending its share-price decline and dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#012169\">Market Recap 2: <br>Trump\u2019s Comfort With a Weaker Dollar Pressures USD; Gold Pulls Back After Record High<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, President Trump stated that he feels \u201ccomfortable\u201d with a weaker U.S. dollar while criticizing Asian currencies for being excessively weak. His remarks accelerated the dollar\u2019s decline, with the Dollar Index briefly falling below 96 \u2014 its lowest level since early 2022. The euro and major Asian currencies (JPY, CNY, TWD) strengthened, and capital outflows alongside a shift away from USD-denominated assets further intensified the dollar\u2019s slide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#012169\">What\u2019s Trending: <br>Fed Holds Rates Steady; Outlook Points to Moderate Economic Growth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At its meeting this month, the Federal Reserve kept the policy rate unchanged at 3.50\u20133.75%, in line with market expectations. Governors Waller and Miran continued to advocate for a 25 bp rate cut, indicating ongoing divisions within the FOMC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#012169\">In Focus 1: <br>Multi-Asset Portfolios Show Strong Resilience and Can Serve as Core Allocation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Traditional equities and bonds differ fundamentally in nature: Equities represent ownership in a company, offering uncapped potential returns but carrying higher risk. Dividends are discretionary, and equity investors typically seek capital growth. Bonds, by contrast, provide predefined interest and principal payments, making them a more conservative investment focused on stable income. The goal of a mixed equity\u2013bond portfolio is to strike a balance between these two characteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color:#012169\">In Focus 2: <br>\u201cL.E.A.D.\u201d to Become the Driving Force Behind Multi-Asset Portfolios in 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We expect the 2026 investment framework, \u201cL.E.A.D.\u201d, to become a major driver of multi-asset portfolio performance. As mentioned previously, on the Liquidity front, the U.S. remains in a rate-cutting cycle, and the Fed has halted QT, resulting in ample liquidity. Since multi-asset portfolios contain risk assets, they stand to benefit from a liquidity-rich market environment. On the Earnings front, U.S. companies have entered earnings season, and the market continues to price in a resilient U.S. economy. For Adding Credit, we believe multi-asset portfolios emphasizing investment-grade bonds are more suitable, as they allow exposure to credit with controlled risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator uagb-block-ed4e1152\"><div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator__inner\" style=\"--my-background-image:\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator uagb-block-075e5b76\"><div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator__inner\" style=\"--my-background-image:\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-9b755ae4\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-80bc606a wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/securities\/resources\/ck\/files\/docs\/Weekly%20Securities%20Newsletter\/KGI_Global%20Markets%20Weekly%20Kickstart_26%20Jan%202026_Client.pdf\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">Read Full Report<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator uagb-block-538fa70e\"><div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator__inner\" style=\"--my-background-image:\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator uagb-block-a3b933c6\"><div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator__inner\" style=\"--my-background-image:\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator uagb-block-09ce9008\"><div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator__inner\" style=\"--my-background-image:\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-5ae64502\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-a5d8cbdf wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/securities\/contact-us\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">Contact us to find out more<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator uagb-block-2a8e253e\"><div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator__inner\" style=\"--my-background-image:\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator uagb-block-3e950960\"><div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator__inner\" style=\"--my-background-image:\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator uagb-block-4467fd1f\"><div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator__inner\" style=\"--my-background-image:\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator uagb-block-fdd2c8c4\"><div class=\"wp-block-uagb-separator__inner\" style=\"--my-background-image:\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-image uagb-block-62b24b08 wp-block-uagb-image--layout-default wp-block-uagb-image--effect-static wp-block-uagb-image--align-none\"><figure class=\"wp-block-uagb-image__figure\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VayhkxMChq6JN6qO8x0B\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1-1.png ,https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1-1.png 780w, https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1-1.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 150px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"uag-image-69995\" width=\"760\" height=\"208\" title=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-image uagb-block-82e9f322 wp-block-uagb-image--layout-default wp-block-uagb-image--effect-static wp-block-uagb-image--align-none\"><figure class=\"wp-block-uagb-image__figure\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/kgisg\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2.png ,https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2.png 780w, https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 150px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"uag-image-69996\" width=\"760\" height=\"208\" title=\"2\" loading=\"lazy\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. equity market has entered earnings season, with mega-cap tech companies\u2019 spending and AI-related revenues once again becoming key focus areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":78162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-markets-weekly-updates"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/g9fb145868bbf4b2a0a600cc5191443399fbcb8b9a0187cdd7c7e76e4e43f03ce27420dc14de53e4d0b320ccd4e12316d_1280-582929.jpg?wsr",851,1280,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/g9fb145868bbf4b2a0a600cc5191443399fbcb8b9a0187cdd7c7e76e4e43f03ce27420dc14de53e4d0b320ccd4e12316d_1280-582929-150x150.jpg?wsr",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/g9fb145868bbf4b2a0a600cc5191443399fbcb8b9a0187cdd7c7e76e4e43f03ce27420dc14de53e4d0b320ccd4e12316d_1280-582929-199x300.jpg?wsr",199,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/g9fb145868bbf4b2a0a600cc5191443399fbcb8b9a0187cdd7c7e76e4e43f03ce27420dc14de53e4d0b320ccd4e12316d_1280-582929-768x1155.jpg?wsr",768,1155,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/g9fb145868bbf4b2a0a600cc5191443399fbcb8b9a0187cdd7c7e76e4e43f03ce27420dc14de53e4d0b320ccd4e12316d_1280-582929-681x1024.jpg?wsr",681,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/g9fb145868bbf4b2a0a600cc5191443399fbcb8b9a0187cdd7c7e76e4e43f03ce27420dc14de53e4d0b320ccd4e12316d_1280-582929.jpg?wsr",851,1280,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/g9fb145868bbf4b2a0a600cc5191443399fbcb8b9a0187cdd7c7e76e4e43f03ce27420dc14de53e4d0b320ccd4e12316d_1280-582929.jpg?wsr",851,1280,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Enya Tan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/author\/enya-tankgi-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The U.S. equity market has entered earnings season, with mega-cap tech companies\u2019 spending and AI-related revenues once again becoming key focus areas.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85094,"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85044\/revisions\/85094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kgieworld.sg\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}