Homin Lee

The speaker's firm maintains an "overweight" position in gold in its portfolios as a hedge against geopolitical risk and a structurally less inflation-sensitive Fed. Geopolitical priorities are dominating macroeconomic discipline, leading to a view that the Fed will be slower to hike even amid supply-shock inflation, which is bullish for non-yielding hedges like gold. Gold is a preferred portfolio hedge in an environment of binary geopolitical risk and shifting central bank reactions. A swift and sustained de-escalation in the Middle East, coupled with a return to hawkish Fed prioritization of inflation.

The speaker's firm maintains a "country preference for South Korea" because memory remains a key bottleneck in the AI ecosystem, and they forecast ~140% earnings growth for South Korea this year. The market has gotten cheaper as prices haven't kept up with significant earnings upgrades, and the underlying AI supply chain fundamentals remain firm. If the Middle East event risk can be overcome, the valuation and growth outlook for South Korean equities, particularly in tech, is constructive. A significant escalation or prolonging of the Middle East conflict that triggers a broad risk-off event impacting all equities.