Week in review
- U.S. Oct ISM manufacturing PMI fell to 48.7
- China Oct exports dropped to -1.1% y/y
- Japan Sep average cash earnings rose to 1.9% y/y
Week ahead
- U.S. inflation rate
- China October activity
- Bank of Japan Summary of Opinions
Thought of the week
Asian credit has delivered robust performance this year, posting a 7.5% year-to-date return as spreads have continued to compress. Similar to other global credit markets, spreads are now approaching the lower bound of their historical range, leaving limited scope for further tightening. This dynamic has been partly driven by muted new issuance in Asian credit since 2022, as a strong dollar and elevated interest rates have discouraged corporates from issuing dollar-denominated debt, adding a supply-push factor to valuations. Additionally, as corporate balance sheets are strengthening and credit quality across Asia has recently shown consistent improvement this year. Rating upgrades have outpaced downgrades, most notably following S&P’s upgrade on India’s sovereign rating, which led to upgrades for a range of other Indian corporates. Consequentially, while valuations appear elevated across credit markets, the combination of solid fundamentals and supportive technicals suggest that Asian credit spreads may remain supported in the medium term.
Fundamental and technical metrics on Asian credits
Rolling 12-month
Source: J.P. Morgan Economic Research, J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Data reflect most recently available as of 7/11/25.
Market data
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All returns in local currency unless stated otherwise.
Currencies’ return are based on foreign currencies per U.S. dollar. An appreciation of the foreign currency against the U.S. dollar would be positive and a depreciation of the foreign currency against the U.S. dollar would be negative.