2024 Preview: Potential Opportunities Ahead

Last year, investors and traders had to traverse a tricky landscape.

There was a US and European banking crisis back in March, and the war that broke out in the Middle East in October, all amidst the uncertainties over what the Fed would do next with its benchmark rates.

For 2024, global financial markets may yet present potentially outsized trading and investing opportunities.

Markets are now predicting that the Fed will CUT interest rates by 150 basis points, and such forecasts serve as the basis for our annual outlook. Also, note the US Presidential Elections are due to be held in November.

With all that in mind, we now feature 3 different assets that could enjoy a spectacular year ahead:

1) Japanese Yen: year of the rebound?

Of all G10 currencies, markets are most bullish on JPY versus the US dollar for 2024.

After all ...

Markets expect the Bank of Japan to hike its rates, likely starting in April, in contrast to the rate cuts by the Fed.

Those BoJ hikes may push USDJPY back towards its mid-2023 lows around 137, perhaps by end-June 2024.

2) Bitcoin to reach new record high?

The world’s largest cryptocurrency more than doubled (+157%) in price in 2023, and is already taking off at the onset of the new year.

Such gains have largely been due to the optimism surrounding a first-ever Bitcoin ETF to be approved perhaps as soon as January 10th, 2024.

If the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does give the green light, and the expected inflows do ensue via that ETF, that could propel Bitcoin to levels never seen before, potentially beyond its current all-time high $69k.

3) JD.com to outperform on China recovery?

Shares of this e-commerce platform are forecasted by Wall Street to grow by 51% over the next 12 months!

That suggests that JD.com shares could hit $43.56 by end-2024.

Having fallen for the past 3 consecutive years, this stock’s recovery would depend on JD.com regaining ground among Chinese e-commerce players.

This stock could also be pushed higher if Beijing rolls out stimulus to aid its economic recovery, which could translate into more consumer spending on JD.com’s platforms.

Also, note that US Presidential Elections years tend to translate into annual gains for US-listed stocks.

But it's been a mixed record for JD.com since its US-listing back in 2014. It advanced for the year in 2020 - the last time the US held its presidential elections. However, this stock plummeted by 21% in 2016 when Donald Trump won the elections.